Bird House Love

I love birdhouses! I have always loved bird houses. I especially love bird houses on Posts.
On day, future Ashli and Lee will have lots of bird houses on posts . . . but we'll probably need more than 200 square feet of backyard for that, so for now I will have one fabulous Sophie Conran bird house. 

I love that the inside pulls out for easy cleaning!! 

I also think it's pretty cool that it matches our bird feeder as well.

We screwed it to our fence post, beside and a bit behind our new cedar trees.

I love it . . . one day we'll have multiple birdhouses . . . but for now one house, on one post makes me happy!!

Girl Crush

Last week was a crazy week I think I might be behind in just about anything a person can be behind in . . . but this weekend we were able to not only catch up but make some serious backyard progress. :) I will have photos to share tomorrow! I am so excited to share. Our backyard project was one of those projects that you plan out . . . and you think it will look great, but it turns out to be so much better than you thought. I love those projects.

Now on to the girl crush part of my post. If you caught last weeks post you would have seen our new Sophie Conran measuring cups and spoons and I told you about our new dishes . . . but it seems like my new girl crush with Sophie Conran doesn't stop at dishes I picked up this adorable little bird feeder and brought it home . . . it wasn't until I read the tag (at home) that I realized my new BFF ;) Sophie designed it. Too funny.

I found my bird feeder at Chapters . . . $34.50 with 50% off so I paid just over $17.

I love that the little teal tray pulls out for easy cleaning,

and I LOVE how the white pops against the green from the cedars and maple trees.

It's definitely something that can be DIY'd. We chose not to, I am working on a post about our DIY philosophy . . . but in a nut shell it basically comes down to time vs. savings/payoff. (I will definitely go into more detail in my post . . . it seems to be a question we get asked a lot).

So there, I've opened up about my new girl crush. I am also working on a post about Simplicity , and I'll share my new dishes and some of my thoughts and feelings on simplicity. I don't know if it's because we're hoping to add a baby to our life soon . . . or if I'm getting older, but the urge to simplify is stronger than ever.

Make sure to pop back tomorrow, I'll have some of our first outdoor photos of the season as well as all of the big changes in the backyard!

Big Changes in the Office

We are planning some changes in the office. Good changes for Good reasons. The 'ol blog has been growing in readership, which we are so so grateful for!!! But working from the dining room table or the sofa isn't really cutting it for me anymore.
We do have the big desk in the office but Lee works from home often so it's usually covered in blueprints. We had a talk about it and thought it would be really nice if we could both work in there at the same time. For that reason we are going to add another desk to the office.
If you remember we did have a smaller corner desk in the office, but it was a bit too small and pretty uncomfortable to do any long stretches of work.
Getting rid of the corner desk also gives us room for a large cage for Carson. I have always wanted a large, 'aviary' cage for Carson, I am so excited!!!
We found the cage from a local bird rescue group and were able to trade our old cage for a bunch of money off so the new cage ended up costing us under $50!

It came with a ugly metal stand but I knew that I wanted a piece of furniture for under Carson. I wasn't sure what piece of furniture but I knew it had to be wood.

We found this piece on Craigslist for . . . $20! It was in rough shape (more on that later) but it was the perfect size.

We are so happy to have our Carson all set up in his new cage.
I always think of the quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"You are responsible, forever, for that which you have tamed."  

I want to do what's best for our little pets, and having a Big cage for Carson makes all of us happy.  We still have to raise one of the white shelves above the cage and paint the parts we had to patch but we are almost there, then we can add an extra desk and get posting! ;)

I Love my Canary

I really do Love our Canary, 'Carson' . . . 'Carson the Canary'.

He is the easiest pet I have ever had. He is really next to no work, and he sings so beautifully and has so much personality.

I posted a photo of our little Carson on Instagram last week and I realized I hadn't done a post on him since 2010! Which is weird because I seriously couldn't imagine our home without him in it.

He's a Fife Canary, they are a little bit smaller than other breeds of canaries. Like I said before he sings beautifully, and loudly. He has very discerning musical tastes, he will only sing along with, classical music, Motown, and Country Music, or a hockey game, seriously a hockey game on the TV is his signal to let 'er rip! (If only I could get him to chant Go Canucks Go!)

Canaries are really easy to care for, clean water, and fresh veggies are all they need on a daily basis. They would make an amazing starter pet for anyone.

I'm not going to lie . . . birds kind of freak me out. I will never have a parrot just because when we were little my cousin's parrot bit my sister's thumb . . . why her thumb was in the parrot cage in the first place, I will never know, but since then I am afraid of parrots, like a paralyzing "The Birds, The Birds!" fear. But canaries are way too cute to be afraid of . . . how can you be afraid of this face:

 If we get up early enough on the weekends we will get to catch him taking his bath. He only bathes in the morning, and during the week we are usually to busy to notice but on the weekends we get a show! He hops in, chest deep, and splashes around like a maniac. It's not at all refined, but it's so cute.
We've had Carson for almost 6 years now . . . which is a bit sad because their life span is 5-9 years, but he's as healthy as a horse (a tiny yellow horse). So we are hoping for many more years, of early morning baths and karaoke sing alongs. Carson is a HUGE part of what makes our house a home.

There you have it . . . 6 years in and still in love with my little Carson Canary! We just picked up a new cage for him . . . it's HUGE. I'm not kidding, I could fit inside it! We'll have pictures of the whole set up and his new spot in the house next week!!!

Weird Carson Facts: 
- Favorite Song: "Chicken Fried" by The Zac Brown Band
- Favorite Food: Broccoli
- Favorite Show: Gilmore Girls (he loves to tweet along to the Gilmore Girls)
- Favorite Sport: Hockey-->

Pet Drawer

It's not pretty . . . but it's a very necessary part of our house. It's amazing how much stuff a 5 lb dog and a bird that weighs less than an ounce need, but there you have it.
We use to throw all our pet stuff in the drawer, it was a big 'ol mess.
It was definitely time to conquer and organize. Some round plastic containers from the dollar store, a big rubbermaid container, a couple of oxo containers and we had organized chaos!

1) For all of Carson's different types of seed, I used a label maker to mark each container, and if the seed needed instructions I wrote those on the label maker, and stuck those on the lid too.

2) The Rubbermaid container holds Corn Cobb bedding for the bottom of Carson's cage. We made sure to get a container that fits a full bag of bedding!!
3) The oxo containers are for Max. The big one holds his teeny tiny kibble, and the small one holds his treats.
4) The two small boxes on the right hold Max's dishes and his travel water bottle.

So it's nothing super pretty but it is super functional! Originally we stored the bird seed and bedding in the library where the bird cage is, but every time we cleaned the cage we would have to drag it into the kitchen, so it just made more sense to store it in there!
I wanted to tackle this project first thing this year, it definitely simplified our cage cleaning routine! Not to mention it's much better to look at than a bunch of half empty bags rolling around in a drawer!

I've shown you mine, I'd love to know where you store your pet necessities!!!

Project 13: Max's Rescue Story

Serena from Pretty Fluffy, started a wonderful cause, it's called Project 13! 13 things we can do to help shelter or rescue animals.

This is a cause especially close to our hearts as our little Max is a rescue. We adopted Max when he was just over 3 years old. He had been a puppy mill stud dog. His coat was terribly matted, his paws were sore from walking on wire for his entire 3 years. His first day out of the mill, he found himself at the vet, getting a huge umbilical hernia fixed (a big lump coming out of his stomach), 13 teeth removed because they had rotted, a big dose of antibiotics for the cuts and scraps and he was also neutered. Some of his ribs are fractured, and his front legs bow out like a bulldog (our vet has the theory that he was crushed at one point in his life).
Surprisingly he was still very friendly . . . to me! When it came to men (including Lee) he was very unsure. Once in the beginning Lee had raised his voice at the TV and Max just started peeing, he was so scared. That was the first moment we realized how 'damaged' he was.

To be fully honest I wasn't prepared for the challenges that came with adopting a rescue. Because he had lived in a crate since he was 8 weeks old he had never learnt to hold his pee. He would pee on everything and anything. He peed on the leg of the couch, the leg of each dining chair, the bed frame leg, the dining table legs, the coffee table, the console table everything. Slowly but surely we taught him to ask to go out, and I guess he felt he had sufficiently peed on everything in the house :). We still weren't able to leave stuff out of place, seriously you couldn't put a bag of groceries on the floor without him feeling the need to "claim" it, once Lee left his runners out and Max let him know that they weren't suppose to be there with a shoe full of pee, that might be why we're pretty good at putting our stuff away now! haha

Another thing we had noticed was that he had NO idea what toys were. We would buy him cute little dog toys and he wouldn't even touch them. He never ran (unless he was scared), and he never played. 

Another issue was eating, he wouldn't take food from us. We would have to walk away from him while he ate and he would very tentatively pick at his food. Clearly he has gotten over that issue:

And his last big issue was some SERIOUS separation anxiety! He would scream when left him, have diarrhea, pee, the whole nine yards.

Slowly but surely he got better, he stopped peeing in the house about 6 months after we got him, he stopped being scared at loud voices about a year after that (although he still hates it if Lee raises his arms into the air, seriously he jumps up and barks at him until he puts them back down). He's now obsessed with toys, and will steal food right out of your mouth if you're not looking. And very slowly his separation anxiety went away, once he realized that we'd always come back he stopping being upset!

Max brought out the best in both of us. I found patience I never knew I had. 7 years later he's a dream dog minus his all consuming hatred of big black dogs (I'll explain that in another post). And through all the challenges I would do it again in a heartbeat with out hesitation! It's almost selfish. I see him snuggled in front of the fire, or eating his birthday cupcake and I think of how far he's come and how lucky we all are to have found each other!
I realize that not everyone is able to adopt a rescue right now (we aren't in a position to do it again right now) but there are still  lots of things that you can do to help the cause. Here's 13 of mine:

1. Donate old towels, and sheets to our local shelter. 
2. Donate old toys to local rescue groups for other small dogs like the rescue group we adopted Max from: Little Paws Rescue.
3. Donate time to take photos of shelter dogs. Sometimes the difference between getting adopted and getting euthanized is a good photo. 
4. Buy a Puppy Mills Bite T-shirt from The Fleas Knees Tees.
5. Instead of Christmas Cards, save that money, send out Christmas Emails and donate the money saved to a local shelter. 
6. Promote Project 13! ;)
7. Share profiles of adoptable animals on facebook. You never know when a photo will result in a forever home. 
8. Take part in more adoption events at Petsmart and Bosley's. 
9. Continue to donate to Little Paws Silent Auctions and fundraising events. 
10. Never Ever shop at stores that sell puppies or Kittens! NEVER EVER! Not even to pick up a toy, not even to spend a penny.
11. Consider fostering another dog. A few years ago we fostered the sweetest wire haired chihuahua named Chewy. We fell so madly in love with him it broke our hearts. We still talk about him at least once a week! We said we couldn't do it again, but time heals all wounds and we're thinking that for short term fosters we might be able to do it! 
12. Consider fostering a Bird. Dogs aren't the only animals that need help! We adopted our Canary, Carson, from Greyhaven Bird rescue when he was just a little chickadee. Greyhaven receives many many birds that need foster homes. We could definitely do that!  
13. Lastly, share Max's story! I will always consider Max a huge success story! He overcame so   much to become the amazing dog he is today and I know that when he passes I will have no regrets about his final years with us. 

Remember small acts done with great love can change the world!

*if you decide to do your own 13 list feel free to link up to Pretty Fluffy's Link Party! 

Max loves Jute Rugs too!

I think he might just like the proximity to his food dish. He has a habit of rolling around on carpet after he eats, and sometimes he even likes to drag his kibble to the carpet and eat it there.
So the fact that there's a rug mere steps from his food dish makes Max a happy puppy!

It's also a bit of a toy grave yard. Apparently the wood floor is not a suitable spot for Max's toys, he ferries the toys from the living room rug, to the front hall rug, to the dining room rug and back.

 

So if you have a doggy who likes his toys, maybe you should buy him a jute rug too ;). haha 

SAY CHEESE:

Dog Days of Summer

Just checking in quickly, We're in FULL SWING party prep here. I thought I'd check in and share a quick pic of Max! Lee was snuggling Max when cuteness erupted!

And lastly I snapped a photo of Max's favorite toy!! We call him Kermit!

Wishing you a great weekend! and Thank You for all the Feng Shui support I can't wait to share more next week!!!! 

 

Super Cute Dog Bed for a Super Cute Dog!

 This weekend at Homesense we picked up a super cute dog bed for our super cute dog. I seriously couldn't resist. Max's favorite space to hang out is in front of the fireplace, so a big overstuffed bed was too good to resist.  <*If you love the fabric as much as we do you can find it on Fabric.com, here's the link>

I loved the BIG yellow flowers, and I love the teal and blue colors. I love the teal and blue so much that I'm going to try and work in a blue accent or two in the living room!!
We might have the first living room in the world that took it's inspiration and jumping off point from a dog bed! ;)

And lastly,
I guess the most important part would be how does Max like it?
He's in LOVE! and I have video documentation to prove it ;). This is Max post bath, attempting to use his new bed as a towel, while dancing to the Bee Gees . . .    

A day in the life of Max

My name's Max this is my life: 

6:30 am Lee takes Max out for a pee. He literally has to pick him up, carry him outside and put him down in the grass or Max won't go.

Max runs full tilt back into the house and up the stairs, barks at the bed until I wake up and put him back in the bed.

8:30am Max jumps up at the first sign that I might be thinking about getting up. I usually pull him under the covers with me and we'll close our eyes for another 30 minutes.

9:00am Max eats a little food, takes another little pee, then curls up on my lap while I work on blog posts.

11:00 am I kick Max off my lap so I can do some chores, if it's cold out he will immediately find the fire place,.

 If it's warm he'll spend the rest of his morning following me around room to room while I clean. Sometimes I'll pop down a piece of dehydrated chicken for him to chew on . . . errrr . . . he only has 3 teeth but he still likes to suck on it . . . so I should say a piece to gum on! :)

 12:00 pm My sister and her dog stop by for Lunch so Max gets a good play in with his cousin Luna.

2:00 pm He'll give me the saddest puppy dog eyes when I leave to run errands. But he's already tired from his morning and will probably nap while I'm gone.

4:00 pm Lee's home so it's time to grab a toy and PLAY!!!

 4:30 pm I'm taking photos so that's Max's cue to stick his cute little face in front of the camera! He's ruined countless amounts of photos by popping his head up just as the camera goes off. 

5:00 pm Max eats while we're eating . . . we started feeding him at the same time we eat so that he doesn't beg for food. Sometimes it works . . . sometimes he still begs and then eats his own food when we're done.

6:00 pm WALK TIME!!! When 6 pm hits you can find Max by the front door waiting to be taken for his walk. Up the block, down 3 blocks then back home.

7:00 pm Tired from his walk,  he might hang out on the couch with Lee and help him do some work on the computer.

8:00 pm Falls asleep on the couch, beside Lee.

And just for fun I thought I would add in Max playing his favorite game with his favorite toy!!!

Our Newest Family Member: Goldie Hawn

In almost every home we've had together, we've had a fish tank. Maybe it's because Lee is an Aquarius and has a natural affinity to water, or maybe it's because fish are good feng shui, or maybe it's because in another life I was a mermaid!

The reason that we've waited so long to put one in here is because . . . Generally fish tanks are UGLY! There I said it!

We were at Petsmart buying birdseed for Carson, and there it was . . . a pretty fish tank. And double bonus it's also a fountain! The water bubbles out over the top and lands back into the tank. It's like the perfect feng shui tank . . . then I read the box and it's called the CHI tank it was built with feng shui principles in mind! (Tank on the right is the picture off of the box, the Tank on the left is how it looks on our console table).

There are no visible wires and obvious filters. The small square at the top holds the filter and the lights. The water gets sucked up through the bottom of the square then spilled gently over the top and back into the tank.
I also loved that there are all different accessories for it (this girl LOVES her some accessories ;).

So for around $60 we brought it home.

We chose the front hall console because:
-We can see the tank from the Library (soon to be Office) and watching fish swim is a proven de-stresser and Anxiety reducer (something welcomed and needed in an office).
&
-It's on the East side of our house which, according to feng shui, should bring energy, ambition, health and  family luck.


We filled it with water and let it cycle (run) for about a week to make sure everything is balanced and good and then we added two fish! Why is there only one fish in the tank now, you ask????
Well clearly it's because the other goldfish jumped out and Max ate it!! Seriously, I'm not joking! We filled the tank a bit too full and the fish jumped out landed on the carpet, and before we could get to it, Max ate it!
I debated telling you guys about this, I felt really bad for the fish, and I don't want to upset anybody about his terrible demise,  but we share almost everything on Mini Manor, the good, the bad and now the truly disgusting!
We now keep the water level lower and Goldie Hawn hasn't jumped out so we feel comfortable adding another one sometime soon.

Here's how it looks on the console:

And for those of you wanting to see another angle of the carpet, here's one looking at the the front door:

I hope you like our new fish tank as much as we do. I think My favorite part is the trickling noise it makes as the water bubbles out of the top, and over the rocks.
Welcome Home Goldie Hawn!!! (Sorry about your buddy).

Halloween Part 2 of 3

We're almost done with the Outside Decorations for Halloween, but I thought Max would like to get in on the Halloween Action too.
I'm far too nice of a puppy mommy to dress him up as a hot dog or giant pumpkin, so I pulled out his little Halloween sweater. And maybe it's a case of my kid's the cutest but I think he's adorable!!

I also grabbed a shot of Max out front by the mums.

And maybe just one more for the road!

We bought a stairway to . . . . our couch :) Dog Stairs

Did you get the reference? "and she's buying a stairway to heaven", in this case I was buying a stairway to the couch . . . for Max.
Our little man is growing up old. It's so easy to forget he's getting older because he stays the same tiny size. hehe
At the ripe old age of 8 1/2 he's having trouble jumping onto the couch, and after a particularly bad spill last weekend we decided to get the little fella his own set of stairs. But pet stairs are not the prettiest of living room apparel. We has 3 choices, big wood ones, too heavy, and super slippery. Plastic ones with carpeted inserts (not going to happen, not in this house anyways), or plastic steps with their own little wool slipcover. We went with the slipcover ones :)
I liked the color of the wool cover, I liked that they were light and could be easily moved around, and I liked that they were fully covered so Max won't slip and I can remove the cover and wash it.

I half expected Max to walk past the stairs, give them a sniff, and jump on the couch, but I was pleasantly surprised, or unpleasantly surprised that he went straight up and down on them. Unpleasantly surprised because he really is getting old, he had a look of . . . finally!

The steps were more expensive then I originally thought, we bought ours from Canadian Tire for $40, but I saw the same set on Amazon for $29, but they weren't eligible for free shipping and with shipping the cost was about the same. I figure the cost of a broken doggy leg is much worse then the $40 for steps.
So there's our newest living room accessory, I think they're kind of cute, and Max is super cute using them :) But most of all we're happy he won't be hurting himself trying to get on and off the couch, but we are sad he's getting older :(