Haiku is home....

What's green and blue, cuddly and sweet, noisy and gentle?

Why, it's Haiku!

He's only three months old, a Blue Crowned Conure....

He loves to cuddle and have his head rubbed, and he chirps and flutters his wings like a baby..

And if Maia could shoot fire out of her eyes, he would be a charcoal briquet!

Finally... new carpet and paint!

You know, carpet is something that you take for granted until you begin to realize that it has gone waaaaaay past its time. When it is covered in spots that don't come out,and you begin to buy throw rugs to cover them. When it has gone so flat that even the strongest vacuum won't make it fluffy again. When it... smells. Like old dog, and gym shorts, and abandoned school lockers. Ugh.

So, we ordered new carpet... good old Home Depot credit card! No interest if paid within six months. We bought our furniture like that, and just paid it off, so we had room in the budget for carpet payments. I knew it would be a hassle... especially the china cabinets... but I kept that goal in front of my mind, like a beacon.

And boy, did I need a beacon. A beam of light. A torch in the darkness. Because it was MUCH more work than expected.

We wanted to paint first, of course. No use putting in new carpet and then having to cover it, so that you can paint! Who knew that Southern California would experience the wettest fall in decades... and it always rained on the weekends? We bought a zero VOC paint (no volatile organic compounds) so that we wouldn't kill Maia, because paint fumes are toxic to birds. It is great stuff! Craig and I usually get a headache from paint fumes, but no headache this time! We could even close the windows at night and not be halfway sick. It's about $10 a gallon more, but since it only took five gallons to paint the living room, dining room, and hallway... no headaches for $50? You bet! The colors were more limited, but I am in LOVE with the color now that its up! It dried quickly, too. Very nice product.

We also decided to replace the baseboards. The old baseboard was the very cheapest, small junk. We wanted something more updated. Craig ("Mr. I-have-a-compound-miter-saw-and-I-know-how-to-use-it") was enthusiastic about doing that, since he knew how good it would look. You know, it went pretty well all considered. I was hesitant about using the pneumatic nail gun but it's pretty safe and easy, once you figure out how to put the nails in. (The instructions said "put the nails in". That's it. All the rest was warnings, cautions, and bold exclamation points inside of nuclear triangles I swear)

We also had to tear the old carpet and pad out ourselves... they wanted $600 to do it! Took us one day, and one dump load, for a total of $25. Not counting the backache and lost work time... and the nose full of dust. Oh, and stepping on the tack strip... twice... barefoot.

Took four days to pack the chinas up, because I kept inhaling so much dust that my nose would run and I couldn't pack any more. Then I moved them out onto the patio, in cardboard boxes, and the china cabinets out into the front yard. And it promptly rained. All night. We were out at 11 pm covering everything with tarps, in our PJs. Sigh.

Well, to cut a long story short, everything is done, and back in, and all that remains is the china collection needing to be put back into the cabinets. They moved to the dining room, they look super there!

Casper shows off the new tile that Bob and I did (my pattern, I am so proud of myself!) and the new door, with the carpet, tile and wall color.

The dollhouse is now over next to the door. My Grandfather built this dollhouse from scratch, when I was young. We took the floor plan and front style from a 1910 architecture book. Everything in it is hand made, including the window frames and door, the staircase, hardwood floors, and turned brass fixtures. Eventually, it will be decorated with decent furniture now that the kids are grown...

And to match the new wall color, the new bird... Haiku! What a sweetie! More on him later...