People are SO generous

I have egg-citing news - I put a post up on Backyard Poultry if anyone had any fertile eggs that they would give/sell cheaply to me as I had 2 broody hens. After the disaster of Blackie losing her baby, I thought this may lift my spirits.

Well, many lovely people responded however I got 12 eggs from a lady in Tassie who wanted to test her fertility and and got about 15 eggs (plus 3 muscovy duck eggs) from a lady in Sydney who had heaps of spare!!!

The lady from Tassie was a bit worried about how her eggs would travel (the reason I got some more from the Sydney lady) BUT they arrived in PERFECT condition the next day. Oops - now I have way too many eggs - so I have popped the incubator on again :-)

Yesterday I put as many of the Sydney eggs under Frizzie as I could - so she has lavender Araucana bantam eggs (blue egg layer) & 2 Cochin X eggs. Here she is - she gets VERY angry if you look at her whilst on the nest (sounds like she is screaming at you LOL)

Not the best pic but she fluffs up if you look in hehe.

Today (after waiting for the eggs to settle from Tassie), I put 2 Cochin x eggs & 3 Araucana eggs & 5 tassie eggs (x breeds) under Whitey. Here she is (not as agro as Frizz)

The remaining ones will go in the incubator tonight. We are just getting the temp right as I think it ran too hot last time. It is ok at the moment but still a little wee bit too hot so I will get Greg to turn it down this afternoon and then set the eggs. I wont set the duck eggs as we cant keep them (I have put a request on BYP if anyone would want them if they hatch - will wait & see).

I am meant to work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at work. Michael is just constantly getting sick with colds etc and we can't send him to Daycare. This week I am off today as he is really sick with conjunctivitis, URTI and fevers of 40deg!!!! Mum will mind him for us tomorrow and he may be ok to go back on Friday, or Greg will take the day off. I feel really terrible taking so much time off. Last week I got a migrane and had to leave at 3pm!!! Does it NEVER end!!!!!

I also put a request out on FreeCycle for egg cartons as I desperately needed some - look at what I got today!!! Thanks to everyone!!!

Also, another lady I know via BYP saw my post and is lending me some rabbit hutches for the hens, when the eggs hatch!!! WOW - thank you Lilian :-)

People are so generous and I am such a lucky person.

Another busy week

This week was another busy week.  It was interesting as we had a dust storm come through which put a orange haze over everything.  We had to wash the car on Saturday as it was brown, not white!!

I got a migrane headache on Thursday at work, which was terrible.  Thank goodness I went home when I did as I was hardly able to get home without vomiting.  It was awful and I went to bed when I got home (after being sick) and then it probably took about 45mins to actually be able to get off to sleep as I swung between nausea & pain for that time.  I was ok on Friday.

Our little baby chicken disappeared.  When Greg got home on Thursday, the little black hen was running around madly and the baby was no where to be found.  Greg searched the yard but it was nowhere.  Tonight it reappeared in Donuts mouth (the dog) - dead.  Greg said it seemed it had been dead for a while but we have no idea where it came from or what happened.  We are very very sad at losing the little one.

Two more of the chooks are clucky, so I have decided to obtain some fertile eggs and put them under them.  I should be getting approx 24 eggs this week, so fingers crossed we will have more babies in about 3 weeks.  I am looking out for some rabbit hutches to put the cluckys in but they are very expensive & I cant seem to find any on ebay or Gumtree.  If you have an old rabbit hutch that I can buy please let me know!!!  I may just move them into the baby coop and see what happens as I prefer them to be in there than the big coop.

A friend came over today and cut Jemma's hair into a cute bob.  She looks lovely (she says she looks like Lady Gaga) but it also is functional as she keeps getting head lice from school and it would take hours to get that fine tooth comb through her hair.  Fingers crossed this works better!!!

Mum is coming down tomorrow to mind Michael as I am working tomorrow at Citizenship.  He has just got another cold and is not very well.  I hope he will stay well.

I hope you have a great week :-)

Beautiful weekend - fun at the park

Wow what a great weekend we have had (and its not over yet!!).

Yesterday I drove up to my parents house to see them and they minded Michael while I got my hair cut. He was a very good boy for Nan and although he made a big mess of their house, mum said he was the perfect little bubba.

After that we got home and Greg had finished the backyard off and we both cleaned out the chook pens while Michael had a sleep. We watched a video that night and had apple pie and ice-cream for dinner hehe

Today we went to the park and met a friend, Anne there. Other girls from Mums group were of course invited but they didn't come so it was just us. The kids had fun and so did we!!! Then off to the shops (which wasn't that much fun) but we picked up a hat for Michael and some other bits and pieces.

Back home, put the washing out and feed the scraps to the chookies. I dropped some eggs around to Anne as she said she had run out. We have HEAPS of eggs at the moment so no worries there.

Now we're just bumming around for the afternoon. Nice!!

Tonight I will do the grocery shop, cook a weetbix slice or 2 for mothers group tomorrow and then relax a bit more. I have Monday & Tuesday off work now which is great, so will do a bit of housework then.

I'm thinking I will sell some eggies at work & see if MG ladies are interested as we have so many at the moment. It will help pay for some of their feed etc. I will need to buy some cartons to put them in & will source some tomorrow hopefully. I checked with the boss at work and he said I could sell them, so that is great. Will update how I go :-)

I hope your weekend was nice too.............................

Rach :-)

New counter

Aggggrrrrhhhh

My counter on my blog died??? Goodness knows why???

I loved to see how many people looked at my blog - so I have added another. Hopefully it won't die too............

hmmmmm.......................

Guess What I got???!!!

a new car!!!! Yes, I finally bit the bullet and did it.

I had been thinking for quite a while about a new car, however they are SUCH a total waste of money (and I hate spending money!!). I do also get car envy, which I can rationalise and say how silly I am but I did think a new car would be a good idea as the dear Astra was getting a bit smallish for all our stuff, especially with Michael and Jemma's stuff!!!!!

So I had been searching Carsales.com.au for ages and did my homework as to what car I wanted. My pick was the Toyota Kluger as it was a 7 seater. I wanted an occassional 7 seater for friends or when Alex & Troy came somewhere with us to save taking 2 cars. It happens occassionally & I really wanted this option. I also considered the Holden Captiva, Hundayi Santa Fe, Honda Odyessey, Ford Territory etc etc, however I liked the Kluger the BEST!!! and it had brilliant reviews and my mechanic said we couldn't really go wrong with a Toyota.

In checking prices, getting a newer model (eg 2years old) was totally out of my price range for any of the above LOL I was TOTALLY dreaming that I could have that. So I decided to check out older models - CVX (which were in my price range).

Anyway, to cut a long story short there was a car at the local Toyota dealer. It had been bought there and then traded in. Always serviced there, fairly low KM's, in beautiful condition for a 5yo car, never gone off road etc. PERFECT!!! So I checked it out last Friday as Michael was off kindy as he was really sick with gastro. I was so tired of the poor little bubba whinging that I decided to go and have a look (he loves going out and about & totally stopped grizzling whilst we were out and about). On the Saturday I went back (without Michael) and took it home and Greg checked it out. We decided to buy it.

So, GOSH I HATE SPENDING $$$$$ but I am now the owner of a yuppy 4 wheel drive car LOL. It is beautiful to drive and there is heaps of room etc. I am very happy but our mortgage is a fair bit heavier for it, but I paid cash. I worked out that if I got a car loan it would have cost about $7K MORE for a depreciating asset - NO WAY - better to withdraw the money we have paid in advance on the mortgage and pay cash.

I traded in the Astra, after I researched that it takes some time to privately sell your cars (a friend was having problems selling his), so I just traded it, which is probably lazy but I didn't really want to muck around.

Now poor Greg has to build a carport for the Kluger (we pronounce it the kglug - er). It should last me quite a number of years I hope.............well, at least 10years - fingers crossed!!!!!

I really am not a car person. I look after my cars but I don't really value them or love them like some people do (but I did get car envy as I wanted a more suitable car to my needs). Well I have the perfect car for our needs now but I still hated spending the money on something that will only go down in value over time - but that is life (and it is a beautiful car I must say!!!) - at least I didn't pay $50K for it!!!!!!!!!

Oh what a feeling...................................

Some NEW things!!!

We have had a lot of stuff going on around here lately - mostly good and a bit not so good.

The not so good is Michael continually getting sick with bugs :-( We didn't celebrate his birthday on 27 August 2009 because he was very ill with tonsillitis (sp?). Poor little bubba. He was better by Sunday and we had a cake at the park with some of his friends!! YAY

Greg has nearly finished the new coop for the babies (who aren't babies anymore). Sadly out of the nine chicks I hatched, only 3 were hens. Here they are:

The coop is very cool!!! Greg did a fantastic job, using an old A frame we had laying around. It cost a bomb to build but its a great little coop. Just needs a coat of paint now.

One of the little silky x's had gone clucky too. She just sat and sat and sat and nothing was going to move her. I didn't get her any fertile eggs because I had just gone back to work, where would we put her etc. Anyway, she was SO persistant that I got her 2 little week old chicks from a bloke. Sadly one died the next day for reasons unknown (it seemed a bit dodgy when I got it home), but the other one is going great. Here is a pic of them - so cute.

We had them in the brooder box for a week before moving them into the pen. The other (old baby) chooks were curious and tried to assert their authority (we were monitoring closely) however DO NOT MESS WITH A MUMMY CHOOK!!!! She took a chunk out of one of them (the boss of the baby pen) and the others were certainly put in their place if they got too close!!!! All is going very well now and they are both SO cute chooking around. It's lovely to watch.

Will update with some more NEW things soon!!!........................

My wedding suppliers

Ok so it is about time I put down my suppliers for my fabulous wedding!!!

My day cost under $9,000 for EVERYTHING and I mean every little thing!! (I kept a spreadsheet) I probably could have got it cheaper by cutting back on some things, but I didn’t want to compromise so didn’t. Some savings were made by:

• only had 50 people
• morning wedding on a Sunday and in winter (23 August 09)
• had sit down, but platters of food for people to help themselves to as little or as much as they wanted
• didn’t have exclusive use of restaurant but this didn’t affect the day at all due to the layout of the restaurant
• had ceremony & reception at same location
• shopped around on everything
• kept it simple (it is very easy to get caught up in wedding stuff – be strong!!!)

My Suppliers:

PhotographerGemma Clarke Photography – http://www.gemma-clarke.com/

Everyone who has seen my pics is raving about them. I cannot highly recommend Gemma enough. Her pictures are absolutely amazing!!! She is also a beautiful person too – so lovely. Greg & I are NOT photogenic at all but she has captured us so well, we look stunning. My children (bridesmaid, flower girl & best man) all look stunning too. I would recommend Gem in a heartbeat – please check her out for your photos. She does a budget deal too (you just get a disc). This is what I got (the up to 6 hr one) and it was a little above my budget but TOTALLY worth it (I was skeptical too). TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!

Cake

Michelle Rea - http://www.inspired-by-chocolate-and-cakes.com/Inspired-By-Michelle.html

Mobile Phone 0437 893 932 Email inspiredbymichelle@gmail.com Site may take a little while to load. Michelle is totally amazing with what she does with cakes. I got a budget cake and I received so many comments about how fantastic it was it was amazing. It was a beautiful work of art that tasted even better than it looked. It was a choc mud with white & dark truffles on top and decorations. Brilliant!!! Highly highly recommend Michelle – even if you are on a budget – my cake was only about $100 more than a Michels Patisserie one!!!!

Dress - second hand from ebay for $100 hehe, but was a Barbara Wilson dress (who is a designer apparently!!) A friend did minor alts to it (hem etc)

Wrap - from Wrapor in UK - website - http://www.wraporshrug.co.uk/ Can highly recommend them, they send fabric samples and are really lovely to deal with. Brilliant communication, great delivery, nothing was too much trouble- Really lovely.

Fascinator - Hats By Kelly Anne at Ebay. Has a store: http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/Hats-by-Kelly-Anne__W0QQ_armrsZ1 Email - http://webmail.bigpond.com/webedge/do/mail/message/mailto?to=hatsbykellyanne%40y7mail.com Can also highly recommend to deal with as she was lovely, great communication etc. Made the hat specially for me.

Flowers - Ebay seller name: hadwel . http://myworld.ebay.com.au/hadwel/ Email - http://webmail.bigpond.com/webedge/do/mail/message/mailto?to=pmc28748%40bigpond.net.au Also highly recommend to deal with. Had great ideas, great communication, well priced etc They wern't quite as nice as fresh but I had them for months (didn’t want to muck around in the morning with flowers), they wouldn't bruise or get wrecked and looked great in the pics. My girlfriends who asked about them didn't realise they were fake until I told them!!!!

My celebrant was Philip Holland - http://www.sydneycelebrant.net/Home.html or http://www.philipholland.com.au/ He was a really lovely guy and was great to deal with too. Had a great PA system and spoke beautifully. Highly recommended.

Venue

Regal Rendezvous Restaurant at Annangrove (10 mins from Dural). http://www.regalgardens.com.au/ click on restaurant link Beautiful location, beautiful food – excellent day had by all. They had just been taken over by a greek family and know their stuff (I think they own about 6 restaurants). Everything was wonderful. They did platters of food on the tables which worked out great for everyone. My parents & I also went for lunch prior to the day and it was devine. The gardens looked great and we got some brilliant pictures.

My makeup lady was Kath from Kats Eyes Makeup http://www.katseyes.com.au/ Kath did a wonderful job of my and my daughters makeup and was at our place at 6.15am!!! Can highly recommend Kath, she is very professional.

My bon bons were little choc hearts from ebay and pouches from The Pouch Place http://www.thepouchplace.com.au/ The pouches were well prices and delivered quickly. As were the choccies!!!

Leave me a message if you want to know more!!!!!

Rachael's Budget Wedding!!!

Well the wedding is over and we had a brilliant day. It was perfect in every way and it was a budget wedding.

When I say budget wedding, I don't mean 'cheap', but it was budget. It cost less than $9,000 - and that is for absolutely EVERYTHING that we bought - and I mean everything (including wedding rings). The only thing I haven't included in this is the cost of buying pictures. I have bought a very large framed print from my photographer which cost a fair bit and I have ordered 2 canvas pics from a website which was having a sale buy one & get another for $1. These were totally optional and as I have the disc, I didn't need to purchase from my photographer. However, Greg and I love her work so much we decided this after we received the pics that we would get the BIG pic from her. We are very happy with that decision!!!

We have not gone into debt for our wedding at all. This was deliberate and planned as we have a mortgage & kids, however it applies to anyone. It is very easy to get caught up in the moment and spend a fortune (& I think I spent a fortune!!!). I personally don't think it is worth it, but that is me. I have seen people still paying off the Credit Card months (years) later...............

We could have gone cheaper too.........much cheaper!!! But, some things I didn't want to comprimise on - so I didn't. I could have got a cheaper:

• photographer
• cake
• venue
• flowers (bought a small bunch from the florist the day before)
• alcohol (guests pay their own)
• nails (not worried)
• rings
• makeup (done our own - we did our own hair)
• table decorations (not worried)
• bon bons (not worried)

But, I really wanted these things, so it boosted the cost up.

To save money you need to do the following:

• Keep it small & simple (we had 50 guests only)
• What time? (we had brunch on Sunday in Winter - weather was beautiful)
• Food (we had platters on the table rather than sit down single serve meals)
• Cake as a sweet
• Didn't get a photo album, only a disc package (no hard copy prints)
• Shopped around - Gregs suit $40 from Rivers, my dress $100 from Ebay - I checked prices on everything!!!
• Borrow what you can - I borrowed shoes, necklace, Jemmas dress, vases
• Buy to resell - I will resell my wedding dress, Michaels suit, flowers, hair piece, wrap - anything I can
• Simple - my invitations were simple but elegant. RSVP was via email, phone or return card (& I didn't provide stamps). Table decs were simple too - stones from Aldi for $7, vases we had & I borrowed from my sister, sticks from local florist.
• DIY - My lovely sister made my invites, RSVP's, name tags, petal throws. I just provided her with the equipment. I think they looked brilliant, she did such a great job.

I will post my suppliers when I get time for anyone who is interested. I think my wedding was quite expensive but honestly any function is dear when you are providing food and drink. I hope I can give some ideas to other brides, that you can have something elegant and gorgeous but not spend $20K++++