Make It Monday, 12th August 2024

Good morning!

We had a glorious week. The rain stopped and the sun came out. Some days were positively warm, with a north wind blowing. 

I let the fire burn down once the house warmed up, getting it going again about 4pm when it started to get cold. 

All our meals were cooked from scratch using ingredients from our pantry. We had ravioli, a chicken parma bake, pizza, curry, chicken enchilada wraps and soup and toasties.  Sides were green beans, cauliflower, corn cobs, garlic bread, salad, steamed rice and naan. All the ingredients came from the pantry, I didn't have to buy a single thing.

I added to the pantry with meat and chicken bought on sale. It took me two days to get it all canned and seeing the jars cooling on the bench made me smile. They went a long way towards restocking the canning cupboard. 

​I canned:
14 pints mince
16 pints ugly chicken
6 pints corned beef
6 quarts meatballs
6 quarts ugly chicken
5 quarts corned beef

The freezer grew by:
20 meals brisket
4 packets of burgers @ 4 per pack

All up it the cost was $418.57, giving us enough meat and chicken for 77 meals for an average of $5.43 per meal or 91c per serve based on six serves per meal. I can live with that, especially with the inflated prices of meat and chicken at the moment.

​Time in the craft room was welcome. We have some special occasions coming up, so out came the sewing machine (at last) and three gifts were made using fabric from my stash. I love how they turned out.

The Happy Mail Project is back on track and the cards were made using cardstock, designer series paper and stamps I had. I also made the September birthday cards, wrote in them, addressed them and put them in my diary ready to send. 

I took a free online card making lesson. I used materials from my stash for the test card, then made a few more. 

I also took a free online lesson using the Scan and Cut to perfect making cardstock bobbins. So much easier to get the machine to do the cutting! I love how they turned out, and they have gone into the present box.

​One sunny afternoon the pots all had some attention. It was needed, this winter has been so wet, they all needed cleaning and then the plants needed a little TLC. They look so much better.

The lavender is still looking beautiful, so I cut a few more stems to strike. Not sure what I'll do with them, but lavender is very easy to strike. It takes a bit of time, so I need to be patient, but it's worth it for the free plants. Lavender plants start at $7 from the nursery.

​What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?