Gone But Not Forgotten

I have been one BUSY lady lately!

I have decided that we have too many birds and our present set-up is not working. So...instead of complaining, I have decided to do something about it! I realize that right now our cage is too small for the amount of birds that we have, even though it is the largest cage that we could find. Here's a picture of all our little ones in their little cage:



Everyday we put the cats in the bedroom for an hour or so for their afternoon nap and we let out the birds for a fly around the house. They are very good birds and we have devised a system of putting sheets over plants and other perching places when we want them to go back into the cage. But it is seriously getting ridiculous! Sometimes we spend a good half hour trying to lure them back in and running around like idiots! And worst of all: the other day the cat got out of the bedroom by accident and he ended up with a bird in his mouth! We pried the little one out and he seemed to be unharmed but the poor little guy ended up dying a few hours later anyway. (We nicknamed him Kibbles...please excuse our dark humour!) That was the final straw! So....drum roll please...I'm going to build an aviary!!!!!! I have never built anything other than IKEA furniture and I think that a two-year old could do that...needless to say, I am generally not too adept at woodwork. My endeavour should be interesting and I will definitely keep you posted on my small disasters along the way! :D Here is a picture of the future home of the aviary. I'm basically going to put a front on the window seat that is hidden under all that junk.



My aviary will be lovely! I've already done all the blue prints and have begun scouting out supplies at Home Depot! However, there is a little hang-up...I haven't painted that room yet and the paint fumes will kill the birds if I do it after the birds are in their new home. So....I began to paint! And this is a picture of my life this week:



My hubby likes the California look of white walls and lots of plants. I'm totally cool with that because I don't have to mess about with wall colors. I am fully aware that interior design is not my forte... but I'm doing well with my attempts. All of our furniture is cherry wood and it looks gorgeous against the white walls. The room I am painting is the only room that we still need to replace the furniture. It still has my old white furniture from university days. Here's a pic of the one half of the room that is complete...sort of...the computer desk won't be there for long, just while I'm painting the other wall. Once the desk moves I will put in my big comfy leather reading chair! SOOOOOO excited to get that back! Anyway...the picture...my two first loves: books and shoes!!!



So that is my life lately...Oh, and my one cat got taken into the pound this week again by a thoughtful neighbour and I think he got a cold while he was there. Here is my little snuffly kitten Apollo:



And so that my other little kitten doesn't feel left out, here is Jericho (the bird killer):



Well, this has been one long post about everything and nothing all at the same time! But I have saved the best for last: STITCHING!!!! Yes, I have actually gotten a lot of stitching done in the last little while. I started my Lissandrea project! She is beautiful! I'm already on page 2!!! Here's my progress:




Did you notice that it is on a scroll frame? Yep, I bought myself a new gadget! I can't believe that I ever lived bereft of one of these before! I LOVE it! Here's a picture of the full thing, just because I am so proud!



Well, that's all for today. I've started jogging to help my wibbly bits get firmer and my knees are killing me! I need some ice and to curl up with my book. I'm reading Michael Cox's "The Meaning of Night" and I highly recommend it. All you Canadians might recognize it because it was a Heather's Pick at Chapters a while back.



Ok, I'm seriously going now! Tomorrow I promise to write a very special post because a very kind stitching/blog friend has nominated my blog for an award!!! More on that shortly as my knees feel like they are going to blow up!

Last Bird Post...I Promise

Well, while I was at the computer typing my last post, Delta arrived out of the nest. I missed it! Oh well. I took a look in the nests to see what was going on and look at what I found: two little ones have decided to visit the other nest!


Count the Heads: There's SIX of them in there!!!


Petry All Alone :(

First One's OUT!!!

My first little bird has left the nest! The first thing the little one did was land in the food bowl and look around startled. I got a picture of this moment but it's pretty blurry but so cute! Omega (yes, I went with Omega in the end)keeps trying to get into the wrong nest. It's adorable because his parents are freaking out trying to get him back but they aren't allowed in the other nest. I took the bird bath out of the cage; now that we have kids we have to build a fence around the pool to prevent accidents! LOL! I hope you like the pictures below. I promise the next post will be completely stitching related. :)


Omega in the Food Bowl


Omega Looking Cute


Omega Has Realized the "Mama-razzi" Have Spotted Him (LOL)

Widget Happy Randomness

As you can probably tell, I have become slightly "widget-happy" today. I have added a plethora of these things and I hope this explains the excitement I have over my blog!!!

I have made stunning progress with my projects and I will post pictures very shortly! Also, my little birds are doing SOOOO well!!! They are so close to leaving the nest. Mom and Dad have been sitting outside the nest waiting for them to pop out for the last two days straight. I can't believe their diligence!

All for now and to all a good night!

Baby Birds and Old Friends

I'm going to start by showing you pictures of our new baby birds! They are adorable and I'm so glad that they are FINALLY starting to look like real birds and less like furry caterpillars!!! Hopefully in a few days they will start venturing out of the nest. I hear that's a very cute stage. While they're learning to fly they look a little drunk because they can't quite aim correctly to land on a perch and so they miss and fall a lot...kind of like kids learning to walk: it takes some practice!!!



Above are Aurora and Finnegan's babies. I'm not sure how old they are because I didn't keep track of their birthdays but they are a few days older than Barbie and Merlin's babies. (below)



So I need a little help from everyone...You can't tell the gender of the bird until they have their first molt in a couple months. So I need some help on unisex names for these little ones. My ideas so far are Petry (from The Land Before Time...remember..."Petry fly?" "No Petry fall..." so cute!), and maybe Omega and Delta, but I'm not too keen on the last two so I need some help! I've got seven babies and only ONE name!

Wow, that was a tangent...back to stitching!

I wrote to the kind people at Dimensions and asked them for the remaining floss that I need to complete my Oriental Fan project but I haven't received anything yet. So that one's on the back burner for a while. HOWEVER, I have started back with The Elegance of the Orient!!! I love this pattern and was jumping up and down when I got it back out again! It was like visiting with an old friend! This one's a little more difficult because it's on 18 ct. instead of the 14 ct. that the previous was on....my eyes are feeling the difference! LOL! Well, here's my progress so far.