Uninvited Guests

In early summer, we had some uninvited guests move into our home- starling birds.  I previously shared how these birds built a nest in our stove exhaust vent (I originally thought it was my dryer vent).  Turns out starlings are pretty crafty and can sneak into vents even if they have covers.  But although the birds weren’t invited, we left them alone as they laid eggs and hatched their youngins’.  They might have been uninvited guests but I believe in good hospitality!



A short while later we could hear that the little baby birds had hatched.  We kept an eye on their parents as they flew in and out of the vent bringing them worms, Big Macs, or whatever birds like to eat.  But then it started to sound like the baby birds were getting closer and closer.  So close that it sounded like they were in our kitchen.  At first I thought my husband was crazy for suggesting that it sounded like they were behind our microwave (which connects to the exhaust vent), but by the next morning I agreed that it sounded like they were behind it.

So the microwave came down so we could get to the exhaust vent behind it.  And by “we” I really mean my husband took it down while I stood across the room in the corner hoping a flock of birds wasn’t going to fly out and attack me.



Behind the microwave was a metal panel with two small vent openings.  We could tell through the little openings that the birdies were really behind there. 



Hubby took down the metal panel so we could better access the birds.  Contrary to my fears, the birds didn’t just take off and fly around our house pecking at us as soon as the panel was removed.  Actually, Hubby had to reach into the vent to pull them out individually (wearing his Phillies gardening gloves of course).



He took them out one by one and placed them near a bush on our backyard.  They were actually pretty calm and didn’t put up a fight, I’m sure they were tired of being stuck in a dark spooky vent.  In total, there were four birds in the vent.  One flew away as soon as it got outside, but the other three didn’t know how to fly yet and hopped around our backyard for the next few days until they learned how to.



They hung out behind a big bush for a while and eventually worked their way over to our patio, cutely snuggling together.



After doing some research online, I learned that it was best to leave displaced baby birds alone and their parents would hear their chirps and find them.  Sure enough their parents showed up after a short while and continued to feed them and care for them for a few days as they hopped around our backyard before learning to fly and getting on their way.

I’m happy all of the little guys got out safely and it worked out well for them, but it was sure a hassle to remove the microwave and reinstall it.  Since the existing flaps on the vent didn’t stop the birds, we bought a vent cover from the Home Depot (also available on Amazon) to avoid future infestations of the avian kind.  To tell you the truth we didn’t get around to putting this cover up yet, as the birds didn’t come back for a second round, but we will definitely put it up soon so we don’t get another nest of birds next spring.
Have you ever had birds or other creatures pack their bags and move in without your invitation?  Any other tips for keeping these guests away?

Back in Business

I'm bacccckkkkk!  I was taking a blogging break for the summer, but now it's after Labor Day which means my white pants are packed away and I'm back in the swing of blogging things!

It was nice to take a break away from blogging and have one less thing on my plate, but I've been really itching to get back to it!  Now I feel refreshed, inspired, and have a great backlog of projects to share from over the past few months.

So what have I been up to?  At the start of summer, I put together my Summer Fun List - 2012 Edition with all of the just-for-fun things I wanted to accomplish.  Here's a reminder of my summer fun intentions:



I'm happy to report that I've managed to get almost everything on the list checked off (except for: pie - I ate pie, but didn't bake one; bike rides - my lazy summer included lazy legs; road trip- we traveled but I wouldn't classify anything as a road trip;  baseball - we watched Phillies games on TV, but didn't make it to the ballpark this season).

But pretty much everything on the list was accomplished (tough, I know, when "ice cream" is on my
to-do list!)  Here are some snapshots of just what it was that I was up to:



Ah, I love looking at all those summer snapshots at once, it reminds me of all the wonderful summer memories that took place this year and that I’m a very lucky girl!  I just made that photo my computer desktop background so I can savor the memories a little more. 

But I did plenty of things around the house too, and made sure to take photos so I can share them now post-hiatus.  To give you a sneak peek, my summer house accomplishments include: an update to our staircase, new lighting fixtures, outdoor updates, a fun new chalkboard, and tasty new recipes.  I'll be sharing each of these things soon and I'm going to get back to posting regularly, but I'd love to see what you guys have been up to too.  So if you have a project you'd like to share, please email me and I'd love to feature it!

How was your summer?  What did you check off your fun-to-do-list or productive-to-do-list?  Anyone miss me?  Please someone who's not related to me tell me that you noticed I was gone!

Summer Fun List 2012

I’ve been taking a short break from blogging to relax and enjoy the lazy days summer over the last couple of weeks.  Of course I couldn’t stay away too long, so I wanted to share what I’ve been up to via one of my favorite formats: the summer fun list!  A couple of years ago I made a summer fun list to keep track of the things we did and wanted to do during summer. 

This year I wanted to do a different twist on the list, so I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration.  Luckily, I was just in time to participate in the Pinterest Challenge: Summer Edition!  I had pinned some cool looking art prints which gave me the inspiration I needed for this year’s summer fun list.  I also got to thinking that my list would look cool in an old concert poster style, so I searched for some more inspiration.  Here are the pins that inspired me:

Sources: Pin 1 – Pin 2 – Pin 3

I must say that I totally respect Etsy sellers and any artists who post their works online.  So I would never rip off and recreate an artist’s work that I saw online.  But since art is meant to be inspirational, I think it’s great to look at to stir up your own creative thinking.

These prints gave me some ideas about the pretty colors, funky fonts, and layout I wanted to use for my summer fun list poster.  After searching for some new fonts (found on FontSpace.com and LostType.com), I played around with the colors I wanted for my list.  I threw everything together in Powerpoint and messed around with the text alignment and text effects until I had something I liked.

So here’s what I’ve been up to and what I hope to do this summer:

I love how this poster turned out and I’m putting it right on our fridge to remind us of all the fun summer has to offer.  I’ll be popping in and out of blogging for the next few weeks, so if you’re ever wondering what I’m up to I might be doing something as simple as “ice cream” or taking a trip to the “Jersey shore.”  How’s your summer going? 

This is my 4th Pinterest challenge, but only the first one that wasn’t map related.  You can check out my previous projects: map photo frame, travel gallery wall, and photo coasters.  I’ll be linking up this challenge to the Pinterest parties from our wonderful hosts Young House Love, Bower Power, Centsational Girl, and Ten June.  Are you participating in the Pinterest challenge?