More Birdhouses!

My Hubby saw the blah birdhouse I redid for the Bling Your Birdhouse Blog Party. He was so impressed he got out some wood and made several more.
A Lavender one and...

Here are four more posing in a line up. He is cranking these on out. Hey, uh Dear, what am I going to do with all these birdhouses? How about making something else?

Our little garage workshop...he started a birdfeeder - a Gazebo Birdfeeder - something I have always wanted.

I am painting this soon-to-be Gazebo Birdfeeder green to match the trim on our house. The birds will be dining in high style.

Lumber is super cheap now due to building taking a back seat in this economy. This is so much fun to do and I am getting out there in the garage workshop also, learning a few power tools.

Faux Fur may not be Fake

Ugh, I could have sworn that sometime last year I heard someone utter be sure you buy fake fake fur and not ‘fake’ fake fur. Horrors, it turns out some faux fur has been actual dog fur. I am not talking about a canine cousin of dogs as in dog raccoon but domesticated dogs. Seems this was easier to ‘produce’ than any synthetic fur.

I was actually going to get in a supply of fake fur for any Santa’s I would make for the holidays. Not now. When you get respected news organizations reporting on this you know something is going on. This dog fur is coming from China (hmmm, they seem to be bringing us so many chest clutching scares – what with the lead toys and dog food scandal).

And on another note about dogs – today (April 4, 2008) Oprah has a show devoted to her beloved dog Sophie who passed away recently. In this tribute show she is revealing what goes on in puppy mills. This is a topic near and dear to me as I have a puppy mill rescued dog named Silkey.

Both of these important dog topics are something that we don’t just wring our hands about and wonder what can I do? Being consumers we can make all the difference by being informed and making purchases based on information.

We don’t buy pet shop puppies (there are so many wonderful pets at your local shelter) and now I will be very careful to buy fake faux fur. One exciting trend…faux fur from organic cotton – and this stuff looks fantastic, would make a fabulous trim on a Santa’s coat. But, do I tell Hubby now that a faux fur Jacket by Loyale at $340.00 would be bought to cut up for my fake fur stash? Maybe I better not! Or maybe I should find a cheaper way to get the organic cotton faux fur.

Seems now the key thing is to specify what type of faux fur you want. I do not want any fur in my faux fur.

Easter Basket Swap

My basket ready to go, look at the little faces peeping out - excited about their trip to Australia!

This is the beautiful basket Linda sent me:

Linda was assigned as my Easter Basket Swap buddy. This was my very first swap and it was so much fun. I got to meet an international e-friend, but more exciting her basket had an Australian flair that I truly enjoyed.

What fun to have a big box arriving and opening it up. Hubby and me immediately ate the huge chocolate bunny she included. I unpacked everything and would later sit down to truly enjoy the experience she sent me.

Me and my new pals Kanga and Roo sat down together (I love them). I simmered the delicious tea (even had a little sugar cube packed with it) and sipped and read the postcards she sent of her town. Kingaroy in Queensland is where she lives. I looked at her beautiful card she made for me and sorted out the eggs of many varieties she sent. A rose bookmark, a little pillow with my initial, and even some footies were among the things she sent. And paper items for crafting. Thank you Linda!

And I must mention what a doll she is. My basket got to her on Monday the day after Easter. This was our first ever international shipment and she did not get it in time. I felt so bad I sent her a 'sussie' - a little extra gift. She was so nice about it all - she is a great e-friend.

The Morning After...

The morning after…

The fabulous Bling Your Birdhouse Blog Party.

That was a lot of fun, and I did set out the red birdhouse and this morning spied Mr. Cardinal checking it out. He loves it.

Hubby loved hearing I had ‘putered’ (a kid word for computer) all by myself –no long night of picture taking and loading and editing awaited him.

Maybe I am getting the hang of some of this stuff after all.

Ba-da-BLING

Ba-da-Blah
Ba-da-Bling

What a fantastic spring fling!

This birdhouse was a very old faded withering white – and the effect was not even shabby chic. It was as bleak and drab as this lingering winter.

I thought of the phrase ‘riot of color’ and got this. Since this is an actual birdhouse I am going to leave it in my backyard. Already the birds are chirping more merrily in anticipation.

The wonderful Karla and Beth are hosting a Bling your Birdhouse and this is my result. This is so exciting as I have always wanted a red birdhouse. And here I did it. Thanks Karla and Beth for hosting such a fun event to herald in Spring!

Ba-da-Blah

Rules to Blog by

As one journeys further into Blogland and participates in exciting things found in this land you learn a few things. The hard way. Things that leave such an impression that you make some of those lessons into rules.

These are:

1. Never, ever think you have your e-swap buddy’s address in your email folder. Print it out pronto. Have several hard copies. You sure would not want to be ready to mail the package and look at the saved email and realize with complete dismay that you have saved their blog address! No not even in blogland do packages get mailed to blog addresses.

2. Always write down upcoming dates of blog events. Refer to it often.

3. Keep a list handy of the full names of your e-friends so that you don’t comment on their page/blog and/or have numerous correspondences with someone who you refer to by the wrong name. There is no edit button to undo that.

4. Be ready for things ahead of time. Make the item, buy the item, get the item days before it is needed. Then you are truly prepared in time for whatever blog event you have entered.

5. Have passwords written down especially if you have several different ones for different forums/groups/blogs. This should be so obvious. I have run into difficulties not paying attention to this one. Frantic typing in of passwords that don’t work and then having to retry with that number/letter entry thing over and over without results - that’ll get ya worked up.

6. Always study computer-ology even though it is frustrating trying to become techno-savvy when this just is not your forte. It also starts to dawn on you that as you seem to master one skill several more needed skills pop up to be learned. A purchase of Photoshop just nets you yet another instruction manual to read.

7. Try not to ever give in to the great temptation of having a pictureless art blog.