The first guinea fowl eggs....and bargain hunting

Our 2 girl guinea fowl have just started laying eggs. I plucked (haha) up my courage and tried one tonight with a normal egg on toast for an easy dinner. It looks and tastes exactly the same...no difference except a bit smaller. I can see why they were so popular many years ago in pioneering times, as they mainly forage for their food when they need to, and lay nice eggs to boot. I don't know how reliable they are as regular layers though, so will see how they pan out over time.

(The guinea fowl eggs are the 2 middle ones, they are more pointed at the top as well, more of a teardrop shape)

Things are very busy here at the moment, I have been doing lots of running around buying building materials for the new shed house, as well as some furniture, I have been getting some great bargains. I picked up a gorgeous small silky oak dining table and 4 matching chairs, that extends to seat 6 for $100.  I plan to do a little restoration on it, but will update on all of that when I get some time. The leg carvings on both the table and the chairs is absolutely stunning.
 I am up at the property for a week or so from this Friday, so hopefully I will get time to catch up then. The shed is on track to be started next Monday, crossing fingers that they are running on schedule and don't put us off. Lots of photos coming for all of that. Just got back from picking up a trio bunk bed (double on bottom, single on top) for Kasey's room in the shed house, was $130 including 2 good innerspring mattresses, can't complain about that. I have a steam cleaner, so will give the mattresses a good going over with that, even though they both look clean anyway, but I will just feel better freshening them up and sterilising them before we use them. We thought that way it would give us extra bedding for when the older kids come up to stay.  I have also picked up numerous large windows, a sliding glass door, internal doors, an ironing centre, a couple of wardrobe shelf and drawer inserts, vanity, queen size bed and mattress with bedside tables, a dishlex dishwasher, gas cooktop and gas stove with separate grill, all the door handles we will need, 4 ceiling fans, 3 with lights,  and also a lovely chocolate colour microsuede chaise lounge, bargain of the week at $80!. It does need me to fix the spring in one of the cushions, but that is a small thing that will only take an hour of my time. We have saved about $10,000 by shopping around and buying things off gumtree and ebay, definitely worth the running and ringing around!  I prefer gumtree as you are buying at a set price, not bidding against others for the same item, driving prices up. We will need to buy the framing pine, steel, plasterboard etc new, as it is quite hard to find exactly what you need from private sellers for this type of thing. We would have to work a lot of hours to make that $10,000 that we have saved so far.

(These are just some of the items I have purchased over the last few weeks, there is also a full kitchen, oven, cooktop, cupboards etc filling up the shed, and windows in the carport. I will be glad once the shed is up at the property, so we can start to transport some up there and the verandahs down here can be empty again! )

So very busy, but a good busy.