New Research!

I heard on the radio this morning that there is new research which has found that eating a small amount of chocolate everyday will reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke by 40%.

Hooray, I knew there was a legitimate reason for eating chocolate!!!

Beach Carnival

Mighty Mutch House won the marching!!

Heads down ready for the flag race.

Emma concentrating hard as her house get set for the tug-of-war - they lost this one!

Another year at YAHS and Beach Carnival again. It was a very enjoyable day watching the kids compete for house points and the honour of being named the winning house. Mutch House won the carnival - woohoo, so it'll be a pizza night for Ryan and Emma next week!!

Mamma Mia!!

For Christmas last year Farmer Phil, Ryan and Emma gave me two tickets to the musical production of Mamma Mia at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne. Farmer Phil and I went on Wednesday evening and had an absolutely fabulous time. It is such a fantastic production from the singing and dancing, to the wonderful costumes. I'd definitely recommend you go and see it if you get the chance. I'd love to take Emma as she is studying musical theatre as part of her music elective at school.

The next morning I dragged Farmer Phil around IKEA for two hours. He admits now that he had a good time there, but at first he didn't want to be there at all. I came home with a car-boot full of interior lights and other bits and pieces. I'll definitely have to go back there and stock up again!

Emma is 14!

My computer has been out of action for about 10 days after contracting a nasty virus! It's finally home and recovering well! A few things have happened in the last week or two, so I'll now do a catch up.

Emma was 14 on the 14th. She had a quiet weekend at home with her "BFF" Vanessa. They went to the movies and saw "Dear John" and had a tearful time there! I wasn't sure what to get her for her birthday, but we ended up giving her a very cute "Lovelinks" bracelet. She loved it!

Casella Wines Honours Country Women Competition

In October last year my mother-in-law entered me in this competition honouring country women which was advertised in The Land newspaper. I had no idea she had done it and I was very surprised when she told me I was one of the winners. I don't know what she wrote about me but it must have sounded good to the judges!

I received $1000 from Casella Wines which I put towards purchasing this Weber Genesis 310 barbeque.

I've just spent all afternoon putting the barbie together - it came in a million pieces and I don't have any spare pieces left, so I must have done it correctly!

It's Raining Again!

We received 143mm (almost 6 inches) of rain over the weekend from Friday to Sunday. We cannot believe our luck at the moment. Farmer Phil has added up that we have had 13 inches of rain so far this year which is almost the total of rainfall we received for the whole of last year!

This photo is of one of our dams which couldn't cope with the amount of water coming down. It has broken it's bank and the water is heading down the paddock.

The only downside to this wonderful rain is that heaps of weeds are growing rapidly in the paddocks, but they are easily controlled with some Roundup.

It's nice to know that all this rain is soaking into the ground and hopefully we'll have a very moist soil profile to sow into in April/May.

Queanbeyan Rodeo

We spent the weekend in Queanbeyan and all of Saturday at the Queanbeyan Charity Rodeo.

We were there to help good friends at the BBQ tent to raise money to send their girls Jenna and Jayme to the Waterski Nationals in Perth at Easter.

It was a very long day on your feet and I don't want to see another bacon and egg roll, sausage sandwich or steak sandwich for quite a while!!

After the dinner rush was over Farmer Phil and I watched the final hour of the rodeo featuring the steer roping and the bullriding.

Happy Birthday Farmer Phil!

Farmer Phil is 44 today - Happy Birthday!!!

Busy, Busy!!

Ryan jumping with Jake crouching down under the jump ramp after bucketing water onto it.

Nice photo of Ryan mid jump.

The smile says it all after Emma landed a jump on her first attempt at jump skiing.

Jenna, Ryan and Emma on their trick skis.

Great bunch of teenagers at waterski tournaments - Ryan, Jayme, Emma, Taylah, and Deanna at the back with Jenna and Jess in the front.

The past 2 weeks have passed by in a blur they've been so busy! We've had:

2 family funerals - both elderly ladies who were unwell

1 weekend waterski tournament

3 waterski training days

1 trip to Melbourne for Farmer Phil and Ryan to watch AC/DC's Black Ice Concert

1 orthodontist trip for Emma to have braces fitted to her teeth
1 chemical users course for Farmer Phil and I
1 trip to Sydney to craniofacial clinic for Ryan regarding more surgery this year
1 40th birthday party
1 day helping friends butcher 30 lambs - yummo, fresh lamb to eat!!
2 appointments with a builder to start building our patio roof
1 ag n chat meeting
3 trips via school to Wagga for Emma's singing and music lessons

I travelled over 2000km in the car last week - I'm over it!! Thankfully this week is much quieter and I am home all day today!

Farmer Phil is busy spraying herbicide on the paddocks after 8 inches of rain fell in February. There are lots of weeds growing and they need to be eliminated before they get too big.