Feathered Friends

Many of you know that if there is a scrapbook supply with a bird on it that I will be the first in line to own one (or fifty), but you may not know that I have birds all over my home. No, they aren't live birds, just statues, paintings, drawings, or photographs.

My love of birds began when I was very young. I lived with my grandparents for large periods of my life and my Gram loved birds. At their home in Maine they had lots of wonderful feeders around the property and on the windows. The clear window feeders were my favorite, the birds were just beyond the glass and you could really see God's intricate creation. Their home was only 78 feet from the Atlantic Ocean and my Gram would spend lots of time looking out the bay window of their den with a tiny pair of binoculars at the ducks and Loons swimming by. She would call to me in excitement "Huse, come see the Loons they have their babies with them." or "Huse come see the woodpeckers." Gram could identify so many birds and very rarely needed the help of her National Audubon Bird Guides, yet she kept them on the side table near the window just in case. I used to love to look through those books at the beautiful color photos.

Now that I am older I have feeders in my yard and watch for the birds from my kitchen window. I can identify some, but others are new to me, they are different from the birds in Maine and I enjoy spending time discovering what they are. One of my favorite Colorado birds in the Flicker, it has coloring similar to a Mourning Dove, light tan streaked with peachy pink and chocolate speckles, but it makes a noise like a Guinea Pig! Whenever I gaze at the feeders I am reminded of the warmth and love of my grandparents and I feel close to them even though they are gone.

Another reason I love birds for scrapping is that we call Coleman "Bird". It all started when he was an infant. Coley would squawk and not cry, he would flap his folded arm like a wing when he drank his bottle, and he would make little motions with his mouth like a baby bird. Coley has always loved sitting on the sofa as the sun rises and listening to the birds outside. He was our "Baby Bird", our "Little Bird" and now our "Bird"y boy.

Well, I have so much more I could write but I will stop here. Enjoy the peace of the snow today.

Houston

Home Sweet Home

Hi All,

It's Sat-ur-day! I am so happy to hang out in my own home, sometimes I just forget how much I love my nest!

What I can see right now, my cute boy playing his Lmax, the tail of a Dachshund wagging from under a blanket, my second cup of coffee, my bird family, my kitchen (LOVE my kitchen), my AW painting that looks like my dearly missed Bellarosa, the cute pillow C made in kindergarten sitting on the rocker that was in his nursery, wonderful pictures of my family, the turtle bookends my Daddy gave me for graduation, the copy of The World Of Pooh my Grandpa read to me each night, my collection of green plates from Portugal, the super heavy buffet that was the first real furniture "piece" I bought  (so glad it fits in this house too:), and Phil (my philedendrom, the only plant I can keep alive).

What do you love about your nest? It's the little details that really make it yours.

Love to you all,
Houston

Backyard Villians

I can tell that it is spring because Bad Bad Billy The Birdfood Stealer is back. I saw him today. At first he just leaped gracefully across the tender new shoots of green grass, I thought 'I know it's you Billy.'. He came to a stop underneath the freshly filled bird feeder and pretended for a few moments to be satisfied with the seeds the birds had dropped. 'You can't fool me' I thought as I watched from the kitchen window. I turned briefly to get my camera and as I turned my face back to him I saw him sneer and his beady little eyes glinted in the faint rays of sun peeking through the clouds. Quickly I rushed to turn the camera on, I wanted to see his expression when he realized I had fixed the feeder. You see I have a "squirrel proof" bird feeder, it is spring loaded and when something as heavy as a squirrel attempts to climb onto it the outer part lowers and closes off the feeding holes with what previously appeared to only be decorative metal leaves!

Last fall Billy had somehow managed to pop one of the springs out of the feeder, thereby allowing himself a buffet of black oiled sunflower seeds. I discovered his crime only after he had emptied the feeder. It took a good twenty minutes for me to repair his handiwork, unfortunately by then most of the birds had migrated south for the winter and I stopped filling the feeder, knowing it would not be visited.

A few days ago I heard the birds singing from the trees once again and rushed out in my delight to fill the feeder. Slowly they are coming back to it, enjoying a nibble here and there. I love to watch them as I sip my second cup of coffee. Today, however, Billy came back and I was there for the show. Hee, hee, hee, I could just see the anger flash in his eyes as he found the feeder once again functioning properly. His tail shook violently as he chattered what I can only believe were curses at me. Finding the seed out of his reach, he dropped to the ground, beaten but not defeated.

I know he will be back. I will be watching. He will not win.

Inspired

Wow, I was so excited to read what inspires you ladies. I have to say that I am inspired by product, I get so giddy over the new stuff that comes in. It's probably good that MK developed the two week rule, because I have way more stuff than I will ever use and I am beginning to fear that my scraproom will get so stuffed that it will fall into the basement:) Seriously I have had nightmares about this!

So what else inspires me, I really got to thinking about this and ala Chrisytn I thought I would come up with a list, of 10, not seven because we all know I can't stop there! Please know these are in random order, that is how my brain works.

1. Moments with Coley, quiet or loud, happy or sad.

2. Nature, I love to hear the sounds of birds early in the morning, it reminds me that each day is new and fresh, sure the same old problems are still there but how I approach them can be different.

3. Friends, I am blessed to have amazing friends, they teach me new things about myself everyday. I love to read their blogs or chat with them on the phone, even in dark moments they are still light into the world.

4. Laughter, it comes in so many different forms, but sincere laughter is pure and inspirational.

5. Reading, I love to read and I find so much to think about between the covers of a book or magazine. Sometimes I take action on the topic and sometimes I don't but either way I am inspired to think.

6. The Grocery Store, I love to cook and the endless array of ingredients at the grocery just sets my mouth to watering.

7. Classical Music, I know it sounds corny but I love that it's sort of a soundtrack to life, I leave it on quite often at home and in the car.

8. Color, there are so many amazing colors out there and each one has mood or feeling to it.

9. Smell, I love the different scents of life, most of my memories include not only the people but the smells of the time. I can walk down a street and certain odors bring things to mind.

10. Art, I love all sorts of art work and mediums. I love to play and get dirty in paint. I love to wander the museums. I love historic art that depicts a certain time period.

Bathmats and Birthday Cards

Nothing feels quite as nice as waking up on a cold morning and trudging into the bathroom only to be greeted by a shiny tub and fluffy white bath mat! (Insert smiling face here)

This afternoon I came home to find my fluffy new bathmat on the sofa alongside three different shoes, one shoe belonging to each member of our family, and Coleman's pajama pants. Snuggled in amongst the oddities was Edgar.

Edgar is a peculiar dog.

Yesterday, he won the lotto.

I came home and discovered him atop a nest of glitter, paper, and cash. It seems that Coleman's birthday card from Grandma arrived in the mail. Edgar believes, wholeheartedly, that mail is his enemy, so... he destroyed it. Oh Eddie. (Insert sigh here) Thankfully none of the money was torn and was happily accepted at Toys R Us.

In the spirit of all things crazy that Edgar does I have included one of my favorite Edgar photos.

Have a good weekend and watch out for Weiner Dogs, you never know what they are going to do!

Tagged

Okay Vivian tagged me and all the other people I would tag! I guess this means I just get to share, 7 random things about me....

Hmmmm...

1. I am a "nester"... this means that I can't live with a room for more than 2 years without changing it.

2. I am notorious for leaving Nalgene bottles or travel mugs in my car too long, I should buy these things in bulk.

3. I cannot make good coffee or smoothies.

4. The majority of my pajamas have Dachshunds on them:) I LOVE DACHSHUNDS!

5. I have panic attacks in Super Target or Super Walmart, I just can't take it all in, don't know why, but after a half an hour I freak out, even if I have a list.

6. Edgar sleeps under the covers :)

7. My whole family calls me Huse and all my friends call me House.

8. I have a huge late fee at the library, I just can't seem to get the books back in time.

9. I am a creature of habit, I always order the same thing, and if I find something that I like to wear I buy it in every color.

10. I walk around TJ Maxx for relaxation.

CHA Highlights

Due to the fact that I have been wordy or wordless the last few days, I think that I will recap CHA quickly for you....

Lots to see, lots to do, stayed with really cool girls.

Heather won a Slice on Day 1 f the show, Erin won a Slice on Day 2 of the show, I won a Slice on Day 3 of the show, thanks to the help of Emily and Heather "Here's Technique Tuesday" more about this later, Vivian won a Slice an hour later, and Mary Kay won a Slice 2 minutes after Vivian, thanks to my screaming, she can no longer complain about how vocal I am. Then Day 4 ... Emily wins a Slice! After some thought we realize Em was with each and every one of us who has won and that she is the talisman! This was pretty amazing considering she worked the October Afternoon booth half days, everyday! Thanks Emily for hanging with me when I was in my hour of desperation!

Okay the show was great and I loved hanging out with Mary Kay and the girls at night. Janna was super cool and Erin was just as nice a person as you could ever want to meet. The Two Peas party was so-so, but they gave out prizes - I am always up for free goodies. The Hilton was nice but the breakfast was super costly. Mary Kay had her first experience ordering a Starbucks for me .... Triple Venti, Non Fat, No Whip, Mocha, On Ice, say it with me now.....! We were mistaken for drunken CHA revelers and asked to sing kareoke with a woman I am sure was mentally disabled. The truth is we weren't drinking, we were just having a good time! It's nice to know friends that you can be really silly with and then serious with in the next minute.

Vivian introduced me to In and Out burgers, yummmmmm! Heather made me laugh like no other on the way to the airport. I was chased by a security guard because my winnings weighed down my suitcase. I spoke with a woman in the airport who confessed to me that she has mice in her scrapbook store, ewwww. I sat next to a woman who was married to a higher up at one of the big scrap companies, but I can guarantee you she doesn't scrap. Then it was over, I was home, back in my car (I love my car, it's my second home) and back in the land of reality TV and Wahoos to go. Back in my bed. It is so amazing how good your own bed can feel.

So that is my silly little recap, I should probably go back and proof it, but I need to go to work. Hope you all have a great day!