Here at home

I've had a very busy weekend writing various things, re-working the blog and looking after Hanno. He injured his back last week and is in a lot of pain. He can't lift anything, even cleaning his teeth and dressing brings the pain on so I've been bringing him cups of tea and making sure he keeps up with the medication. He's like a cat on a hot tin roof when he's sick. He watched the Hamburg Harbour 823rd birthday celebrations on his computer for a couple of hours but he looked very uncomfortable sitting there trying to support his back. If he's not showing some signs of improvement today, I think we'll be off to the doctor. 

With the weather getting cooler, I've had a chance to keep my feet warm with the Ugg boots I bought when I was at Tricia's. They're so cosy! Another cold weather treat was a delicious lamb roast on Sunday night. The leg will see us through a few meals and sandwiches so, although it was fairly expensive, with careful handling and planning, it works out to be quite reasonable. I made enough roast vegetables to do us for two nights and on the third night, I'll make a lamb curry with herb rice.

We've been going quite well with our 50 percent meat reduction. Last Wednesday night we had mushroom omelette, Thursday night we had mixed vegetables in a cheese sauce; Friday night a chicken schnitzel  (one breast sliced in half), homemade potato wedges, raw vegetables in the form of homemade coleslaw and a garden salad and Saturday night it was tuna, boiled eggs, the rest of the coleslaw and garden salad. The chooks are laying a lot of eggs at the moment and the garden is starting to produce well, so there is no shortage of fresh food coming from the backyard. It's a great way to cut costs. I hope you're harvesting plenty of fresh food from your garden too.

The grocery challenge is going very well. I did some shopping on Friday afternoon and apart from milk and some fresh vegies late next week, I doubt we'll need anything for another 10 days or so. One of the good parts of late afternoon shopping is that you sometimes find some unexpected bargains. On Friday I picked up a couple of packs of premium mince (ground beef) that had been marked right down. One interesting thing I have discovered is that doing the shopping myself has given me the motivation to completely eliminate food waste. Food is so expensive now and it's a good reminder of that sad fact when you go to the supermarket and stretch your dollars as far as you can. When I come home, I make sure everything is stored properly and all leftovers are eaten for lunch the next day or made into another meal. How are you going with your meat reduction and grocery challenge?

Although it was a busy weekend, I still had time to do a tiny bit of knitting and to make a button necklace. I'll write about it soon. We'll be making button necklaces at our craft afternoons soon as part of our recycling theme. They're a simple idea and easy to make but they look wonderful.

The week ahead looks like it will be another busy and exciting one. Every day it gets a little cooler, the flannel sheets are on the bed, extra blankets and quilts are out and we're all set for winter.