Unexpected Visitor

This morning was like any other. We were sitting in the living room, talking about Sadie - who was playing with Tony's jeans. We were talking and playing with Sadie until Tony asked "Is that inside???"

Whoa! Whats inside!?!? Where??!?! He pointed at the window across from us, and lo and behold, we had a small visitor. I couldnt tell what it was, but immediatly, Tony told me to take Sadie into the bedroom for now. As I did, he called back to me and told me, it was a cute little bird. He had no idea how to deal with this.

I shut the bedroom door, bathroom door, and came running in...with the camera. I totally know how to deal with these situations :) So as he was trying to shoo the chickadee back out the window, I was snapping pictures of our new little friend.

 (the first sighting of our visitor)

 Sadly, our friend didn't stay long. Maybe just long enough to get warm and then get out. Too bad he couldn't be our budgies friend. Looking back, I feel bad for not feeding our guest...

baby and the bird

obligatory bird photos

I was really bored today and the bird was being cute. He was getting really excited about seeing himself in the lens reflection, and being afraid of bird kisses on my lens, I stopped.

Its getting gross outside, so I am going to get going to the store to buy flour and drop of some mail.

playtime and homework

This is how we play. We have a quarter or silver piece of money (quarters are the favourite), and then we drag it around on the desk or tap it or just hold it. Bird LOVES his shiny things. He can play for hours with spare change. Yay for cheap thrills. Bird looks especially pretty as hes not molting and has no pokey feathers sticking out of his head.

I also may have taken over the living room floor. You can see where I was camped out doing homework while watching tv. This homework was to cut various things from magazines and paste them as references onto other paper. Tony has stolen my printing paper that I was going to use for this, so I cut up some of his wired magazines. Don't worry, I'm not as evil as I sound. He doesn't read them over and over again, like I do, and I have butchered many of his magazines in the past. He wont notice at all as long as I put them away in their place. Wired ones are my favourites for this project, they always have interesting layouts and flashy colours! Oh how I am attracted to flashy colours. I'm a little like the bird and his money.

hello to you too bird.

Felt better knowing that the bird was so excited to have me home.  As soon as I had the keys in the door jingling around, I could hear the bird shrilly chirping. He didn't stop until I came into the living room. Tony was away at his friends for the first time in a while. He needs a break and that means that I get to fall asleep to a show on my ipod. Very thankful to have one with video.

Tonight's class left me very frustrated at the beginning, and I just felt like going home early, but I stuck it out and did some stuff at the end that wasn't too bad. I could have just stayed home and worked on my homework that I've been stuck in a rut on for 3 days. I have a plan for that, something that should work that's different than what I've been doing for days which is throwing out all my half done ideas and starting over. Just going to stick to one and finish it and be done with it.

I think Tony annoyed our baby. He had his hand on my belly and was waiting for her to move about and she started moving. He pressed down a little harder to feel it better and she seemed to be more upset and kicked on both sides and kicked twice as hard. It made us laugh cause she was not impressed that he was taking up her space. Poor baby. More braxton hicks contractions today, happens more on the way home and just now.  I guess that's a good thing. Doctors appointment tomorrow, early in the morning. Oh I hope its not busy, cause if it is, I usually wait like an hour past when my appointment was supposed to be. :P I end up getting so irritated unless I see little babies in the office. Then its ok.

I has the cutest bird

He was napping on the laptop, and was really sleepy because he kept wobbling on his one foot.

Apparently budgies tuck their beaks under their wing to rest their necks. Tony found this out yesterday. I find this adorable.  If I have a folder of cute bird images and videos, I can only imagine what this baby will get when its out.

Tony's second bowl of apple berry crisp was on his desk, lucky the bird is sleeping or he would be fighting to get into that.

apple berry crisp (and then some)

Today was my "empty-half-used-baggies-from-my-freezer" day. I found many half full and quarter full baggies of berries. These are the berries that you forget about that grow like an inch of ice crystals around them and you can barely tell what they are. I had apples and decided to make crisp.

I made this by myself a long time ago and it did not turn out well, it turned out dry and icky. Well this was much better.

Emptied all baggies of berries into a bowl in the sick to get the ice off and then did all my apples up and made the crumbly crumbly crust. While it was baking in the oven, I realized that its best with ice cream. I had less than 20 minutes and boogied to the Safeway in the rain (3 minute walk). Made it home with time to spare!

Tony was quite pleased with this desert, and was telling his best friend Ian all about how awesome it was. This made me very happy since its been a crappy day.

Its been very crappy for us both. He's been super busy with projects at school and it makes him stressed and grumpy. He stays up really late at school and comes home at like 1 or 2 am. Lack of sleep doesn't help him. He is fueled by coffee it seems.

I get all grumpy cause I am at home doing school work alone or at school and so we hardly see each other. Today has been the most I've seen him. He even goes into school on Saturdays to try and get things done.  I think its cause hes super stressed about being the group leader. He's never been the leader before for a project of this magnitude. They are making a robotic tank that you can steer by flexing your muscles.  Haven't seen it yet, but next week I think they are testing it, so I shall go down to UBC and take pictures of this crazy device.

Since Tony has been away from home a lot, the bird has been clinging to me way more. We usually do the dishes and have a shower together when I wake up. Bird sits on the shower head and gets all excited about the steam. The bird usually licks the tiles that have condensation on them. funny bird.

Re arranging day + Happy Bird

He was being so sweet today. Always would fly to the room I was in to sit on me. When hes super happy, he likes to get close to your face and flap his wings when you talk to him. He gets all excited.


Rearranged my room a bit while bird was sleeping. Bed is moved, bedside table is moved. Need to vacuum again :P I hate and have always hated vacuuming. Almost ready to move the crib into that room. Then we shall see what else we can move in there. I am hoping one dresser in the room and one in the closet and maybe a small bookshelf.

sexy mac store + shopping

These were the cookies that I almost left in the oven when I left the house. Perfect timing that I raced back inside and they were done and I didn't burn down the house. My brain was just not working yesterday. I think I might blame pregnant brain on that (sorry baby).


Speaking of baby...I went shopping this morning. The trip was intended for picking up a new mouse and instead I headed to Zellers just to see if they had any plain onsies and I found recieving blankets and a onsie. These blankets were on sale and my momma said I could never have enough of these suckers, so they came home with me.

While shopping it also occurred to me that little girls get Hello Kitty things! OH MY! Tony might not appreciate the extreme cuteness of Hello Kitty and her friends, but he is a boy and he will never understand. Larissa appreciates this though, and that makes me happy.

These were things on my desk. My little notebook that I've deemed the homework book. It also has notes in it, but red text = homework. I have rainbow pens that now travel to school with me always. I heart rainbow pens and cute little things :)


There it is, my photoshop homework for this evening. Notice that nothing is checked off yet...

And here is the bird admiring the new mouse. He has now marked it as his own because as soon as I put the camera down, he was licking its glossyness and getting all excited...oh dear. We are going to have issues with this, I know it. There will be fighting, biting and swatting. Tony shall find this humorous I am sure.

Note: plain onsie is for experimental screen printing baby clothes.... :D that is a project that will be documented later

Lentil Soup

I was bored with all my food options yesterday, so I decided to make soup. I had all the ingredients for soup here *BONUS* and so off on another soup making adventure!

This was the recipe that I used and modified a little:

3 tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tbs. tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 to 1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3-4 cups quart chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup red lentils
1 large carrot, diced (at least 1 cup) --- I used 2 carrots
2-3 tbs lemon juice
chopped fresh cilantro and plain yogurt to top (optional) --- I only had yogurt

(I also threw in 2 stalks of celery)

In a medium sized pot, sauté onion, carrots, celery and garlic in olive oil on medium high heat until golden, about five minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, cumin, black pepper and sauté another five minutes.

Add 3 cups broth if you prefer a chunky soup, 4 cups for a thinner version. Add lentils. Bring to low simmer and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the lentils and carrot are soft (about 20-25 minutes).

Blend soup, using an immersion blender (first time I used it and it was great!) or in a countertop blender. You can choose to blend completely for a smooth and supple soup, or leave some texture if you’d like it a bit chunky. Both are good.

Add lemon juice. I like this soup quite lemony and use somewhere between 2 and 3 tbs. You may want to stop at 2 tbs.

Add salt. Depending on the salt content of your stock, you may want more or less salt. Start with 1/2 teaspoon and work your way to where you like it. I always use at least 1 tsp, sometimes more.

Serve topped with yogurt and chopped cilantro, if desired. It’s also delicious without any topping.

I loved it, tasted great, got to eat veggies and the lentils that would otherwise just sit there in the back of the cupboard.



This I thought I'd post cause it was kinda cute. This is what the bird traveled in on the way to the bird hospital. Apparently people use "bird incubators" which is just fancy talk for a small hard plastic insulated box with a handle and no perch (so they don't fall off). PFFT to that! I had a scarf and fleece blanket that worked fine. Tony wants a bird incubator for incase we ever have to transport the bird again...like around Christmas :P oh Tony...he loves his bird so much.

sick bird :(

The bird is sick :( He's been very quiet all morning which is his usual time to be super happy and energetic. Hes not flying around a lot and sits in the cage by the cuttle bone. Tony noticed him straining and fluffing up but not pooping. He did a small poop but had to shake his tail to get it going. poor thing.

So unusual for the bird who is a little poop machine. I am gonna watch him today and if things don't get better I might be taking him to the Night Owl Bird Hospital. For a tiny budgie it seems a little much, but Tony would be crushed if this bird died. I was looking up things about constipated budgies and all I could find is to feed them veggies (which our bird wont touch) or put a tiny amount of apple cider vinegar in his water. I am a little too nervous about doing that as I don't want to be the one to kill the bird.

Oh bird, why couldn't you get sick after payday. We are both worried about him. Budgies hide their sickness as a natural instinct so that they dont seem weak in their flock. Well once they show signs of sickness they are usually very sick. We both know this.

:( :( :( :(

Corn potato chowder soup recipe

Now I kinda did this with vague instructions from my mother, but this how I made the soup and you shall also need to tweak this a bit:

Ingredients:

3 carrots
3 celery stalks
2-3 potatoes
1 onion
1 can creamed corn (use frozen or whatever works for you) if you like corn, maybe 2 cans of corn or creamed corn
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water
2 cups milk
flour
1tbsp olive oil (optional)
salt and pepper
thyme

So chop all your veggies. I had my pot on med heat and then added the olive oil and veggies to cook a bit.

Then I added the veggie stock and 1 package of chicken bullion, potatoes and corn. Thyme, Salt and pepper now!
Once the potatoes were all tender, I whisked the milk and flour and then strained it while it was going into the soup to avoid the icky lumps. Depending on if your mixture is thick or not, you may want to add more flour or less. I added 1/2 of flour to the milk.

Once things get thick, I tasted it I added more salt and pepper (I like soup peppery).

Done!


In other news, today was the first day the bird bathed in the sink. He was in the bathroom with me while I was doing my hair and I noticed that he kept peering into the sink, and flying from one side of it to the other. He was too afraid to go in by himself. I helped him get down in there and turned on the water to just a dribble. He really enjoyed drinking from the stream of water and then he got all excited about getting wet. He got right under the stream and fluffed his feathers up like a big fluffy ball and wiggled around. He likes to get his chest wet, that is why he looks like hes falling in one of the pictures.






This last one is where he was wiggling around on his chest with his wings all open. He really had a good time. When he came out he landed on my shoulder and did what all animals do after getting wet, he fluffed up and got my face and neck all wet with wet bird. He stayed fluffy and has been very happy listening to the postal service with me.

chocolate milk bubbles

I forgot how fun it is to make milk bubbles, even better ones are the chocolate milk bubbles!

Bird and I were cleaning in the bathroom this morning. He has the best time in front of the mirror chirping and dancing around.

We put a sand paper like covering on his pearch and hes been rubbing his beak and head against it (I think hes sharpening his beak, Tony thinks hes just ready to molt again). Turns out I was right. He has been biting Tony more in the evenings and it hurts a lot more than it used to.

Sandpaper was not for his beak, but to sand down his little claws (which is not happening).


So during my crazy busy thanksgiving we went to my Mother-in-laws house and did dinner. Got a chance to look through old photo albums (one of my favourite things). We did this at my Grandmas thanksgiving dinner. Awesome blast to the past. Anyways, one of the things we got to take home was Tony's blanket that his mom made for him. Its beautiful and intricately made, and so warm!


Its perfect to be wrapped in to watch tv in the evenings. I used to have one that was blue, but it was made more loosely than this and got huge holes in it.

home made card challenge

I challenged Tony to a home made card challenge. I told him not to buy me a card but to make me one. I sent him off to work with one of my blank cards and an envelope. I was busy most of the day making things like cake and almost forgot to make my own card.

He was coming home in an hour, so out came the paints. Man, made me miss painting things. My card looks like valentine, but anniversaries are kinda like valentines. Here are our cards:


Tony's has a guide as to whats on his card and helpful information:

lazy day

Todays been pretty lazy for me. Beth came over and the three of us saw District 9. While the movie was disturbing to me, it was very well done and the affects were awesome. I felt disturbed cause even though it was all fake, it was very realistic and Tony really liked it.

I have stew sitting in the crock pot, so there's no cooking really involved today. "It stinks up the apartment and hallway of the building" said Tony. Its an improvement to the pork smell that I have to live with that lingers in the hallway.

The bird has been very happy to have both of us home and paying attention to him. Hes been sitting on one of us most of the day and playing with the quarters on my desk.

I think its time to taste this stew and see how I did. Most of my measuring cups and such are stuck in my cutlery drawer. Its been stuck for a few days and we've both tried to get it out. No luck, so I think its time to ask the landlord for some help.

I am off to eat some stew and play a game with Tony.

Student loans make me unhappy

I'm getting stressed about this student loan not appearing yet. I am sure it will be processed soon, but now its just the waiting that is getting to me. I ate some oreos and milk to combat this stress. That helped a little.

What else is new...we might go to Tony's co workers place tomorrow to watch the fireworks. I dread getting home, but its Canadas night and the theme is the wizard of oz! I will be going with the family on the UK night if they come out. That will be fun as well.

Tony and I were looking at the bird last night and I noticed its feathers were darker. This makes Tony sad cause now his bird isnt bright greeny yellow. I also pointed out to Tony that this means the bird is older, and I am sure that in bird years its a pre teen now.

Baby Penguins on a mug

The latest thing in the making. Almost done, one more coat of black paint for the other little guys on the opposite side of the mug. They don't look that bad I think. They are the first time that I did baby penguins.

So today was especially boring. Work was the same stuff, kinda lame. I just want to get out of there. Its near the end, only 14 more days of work before left. I have a countdown to help. I am being laid off and then off for a couple months till school starts and the end of September. Its not the end of the world, I am getting severance that will cover that time of me being away.

Saw Harry Potter this weekend. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed that book way more than the movie though. I think that's the case with most of them, except the Prisoner of Azkaban. That one I really liked as a movie. This recent one was a little too happy for me. I was hoping it would be a little more darker. Oh well.

Next movie on my list of ones to see is Funny People. It looks very good, and I like Seth Rogan.

Anyways, I am off to read for a bit.

Puppy laid eggs

This is Beth's budgie. We all thought it was a boy until it looked really sick and then popped out a bunch of eggs. Right now it has 4 eggs (as you can see).


Puppy is pretty protective of her eggs and was getting really angry at the camera making clacking noises.


Shes been a pretty good mother though, keeping those eggs warm. Too bad there aren't babies in them. Apparently baby budgies are really ugly. I do want a baby budgie anyways though. What a cute bird.

Killer Bird Bath

Finally got some video of the bird, bathing in Tonys water.

Family time / movie night

I had just hauled my mac into our room to watch a movie before bed and was setting it up when Tony appeared with the bird on his shoulder.
I dont really like the bird in there because birds poop on my bedside table.
Tony could see it in my face that I was about to tell him to get the bird out, and he said "Its family time, we need to watch it together!" He said it with such conviction that I couldnt say no.
He thought it was pretty darn cute of him to say it and get away with it.
So the bird got to sit on an old towel on the bed and watch with us.

The bird won...


and here I leave you with Tony bonding with his bird.