C'est la vie.....

The last two weeks I've had a bit of everything....we started out with a beautiful wedding ... and attended the reception of a happy couple starting their lives together.  So much joy and happiness at the church, followed by an amazing reception at Zinc in Melbourne....I love Italians.

The daughter of very good friends of ours looking radiant on her special day

Then three days later my husband's beautiful auntie passed away after a brief illness... she was such a delightful little lady...tiny at just 4'11"..... her funeral last Thursday was a very sad day indeed....she will always be remembered with much love.....may she rest in peace.

Our delightful Auntie Mae in happier days at her grand daughters wedding..
she always looked immaculate and was an absolute joy.

The day after the funeral my elderly father was hospitalised and once again we have gone through the fears of wondering if this is the time we will lose him... he has been so sick for over 4 years now..... I've spent many hours this week in hospital with him and running mum back and forwards to visit him...seeing his doctors.. and talking to his nurses..... Thankfully he appears to be slowly recovering and fingers crossed will be back home soon... ..It's so hard to watch loved ones suffering when you are powerless to help.... ... ..such is life.

Happy Chicken Pie......

Already we are half way through January, the year is flying....One of my new year resolutions was to save money, reduce spending and stop any unnecessary waste.  I had a left over BBQ chicken breast, some broccoli and a lone sheet of puff pastry so I added a cheese sauce, corn and carrots and made a "cheesy chicken pie".  This is a first for me, usually the dogs would probably have scored the left over chicken but I was so happy to have found a way to utilise the left overs...I can hear others saying "so what", but this is new for me.....basic steps along the road to living more cost effectively.

 

Happy Chicken Pie...I enjoyed playing around with pastry too.

Smells good....dinner for two tonight

On a completely different note the local supermarket is already displaying Easter Eggs....I have had enough of consumerism and how stupid retailers want to market junk at the earliest opportunity...why would they be selling Easter Eggs and hot cross buns now...the mind boggles....!!

It's All About the Yolks Folks.......

Production is down in the hen house due to the new chicks born in November....and I'm only getting one (sometimes none) eggs a day....For the first time in 3 years I've had to buy eggs....I bought "free range" eggs from the supermarket yesterday.  I had one of my girls eggs that was laid yesterday and poached it along with the supermarket egg for breakfast this morning.....can you spot the difference !!  That gorgeous golden gooey ball of deliciousness is my egg...that insipid looking, pale yellow watery blob is the supposedly free range egg from the shop.  People often ask me why I go to all the trouble of having chickens, picking up their poops, cleaning out their house and making sure we have locked them away safely every night, even running late if we have trouble getting them in before we have to go out....well people, this is why!!   I actually fed the shop egg to the dogs, I couldn't bring myself to eat it.

There is no comparison to a home grown freshly laid egg....

The First Day of 2015.....

I spent the first day of the New Year doing everything I love...even managed to do a couple of hours work from my home office.........then let the chooks out to have a scratch around the yard.......


The ladies scratching around under the fruit trees....

 looked around the vegie gardens in amazement at how much they have grown in the last week...lots of sun and rain....everything is flourishing.

Herb garden, and the pumpkin vines which have gone crazy.

More vegie beds....some nearly finishing and some just taking off..

 My mums birthday today...she turned 82 ....my G boy who turns 4 in March had the best seat in the house...very proud of the cake that he had decorated himself with loads of candles and assorted birthday bits and pieces.

Loving the decorated cake.....lots of birthday love in there.

 Back home in the afternoon to literally put my feet up.....spent a lovely hour or so reading on the back deck in the sunshine....Bliss !

Everyone should take the time to put their feet up once in a while...it's on the NY list.

 Then BBQ dinner outside with my main man.....just waiting for him to cook the sausages for him and tonight for me a lentil pattie....trying to reduce my meat intake...it's on the New Year  list !!


Dinner for two.....in the back yard with the late afternoon sun...lovely

Would be great if the rest of the year goes as well as today ..... fingers crossed.