New Bird Room / Office Done, Finally!

We finally almost finished the new bird room / office yesterday and moved the bird's upstairs. Here is the final project this morning with Miran at work and the birds exploring. 

Miran still needs to hang the rope perches from the ceiling, but they are still wet because I ran them all through the dishwasher yesterday. He also wants to install lights under the shelves that are over the windows. These shelves are hopefully to prevent the birds from chewing on the window frame. We also nailed plexiglass over the mullions and on the window sill to keep them from chewing on those as well. Notice also the shelf on top of the space heater on the far wall. It has tile on top so will be easily cleanable (unlike the heater) when it gets pooed on. We also got a plastic chair mat to put under the hanging rope perches for the same reason. And the new, built in bird table also has a tile top for easy cleaning and lots of storage space beneath. Finally, the cage is new. Its almost exactly like the old one, but that had a few rust spots so we got them a new one for the new room.

Here it is with the separating curtain drawn. A few adjustments to the curtain will be made when Mommy gets here - they have already been peeking through the top between the curtain and the rail, so that needs to be blocked. Also the whole thing needs to be hemmed. We also want to add some velcro to the walls so we can secure the sides so they can't get around the curtain.

 And a view of the office side:

And here is the abandoned old bird room ready for a serious cleaning and some cage deconstruction.

And here is Azra's room as storage depot with a lot of the stuff that will go in the old bird room when it becomes Milada's bedroom. 

I thought I'd include another picture of our Christmas tree now that it actually has some presents underneath.

And finally, here is Miran's target after a round of shooting yesterday - all four in the yellow. The second photo is taken from where he stands when he shoots.

Brno, Take 3!

We have booked our return trip to Brno for the first week of March to try again with our last two frozen embryos. The transfer is scheduled for Tuesday, March 4.

I have an appointment to see Dr. Taeff here in Charlotte the first week of January to discuss any new strategies for this time around and to get all the proper prescriptions. I've also started doing acupuncture again in hopes that it will help. Its already helping I think with my energy levels - so that is good.

This is the fifth post today which brings me up to the present. I have been negligent for the past month with my blog - despite lots of goings on!

And by the way, our blog is no longer under top secret security. I'm pretty sure that no one we didn't know ever tried to look at it, but we do know that a lot of people we do know were having trouble seeing it. So we lifted the extra security measures. Now it should appear in the feeds of our followers again as well.

Trees and TVs

Ok well really only one tree. Which I put up this week-end. Here is a picture of the tree in the room - notice the lovely new end tables dad made and we picked up over thanksgiving as well as my new digital photo frame on the right side bookcase.

Here is a portrait of the whole tree.

Finally, a detail of this year's new ornaments - glass crystals and silver balls. You can also see the white ceramic and gold glass bird ornaments I got last year nicely in this shot.

We don't have a lot of decorations, but two fancy reindeer are hanging out on the entry table!

There aren't too many presents under the tree because instead of a couple small things, we pooled our Christmas money and got each other a new 55" smart TV for the family room. Its huge. As has been noted, we think the box is bigger than the tree.

Here it is installed! Notice in this picture the fan that Dad and Miran labored to install last month - we moved it down from the old master bedroom to the family room - to replace the hideous gold and fake wood one that was there.

And perhaps the best part of the new TV for the family room is that we moved the old one up to our bedroom which is already making watching shows before bed more comfortable. A week ago this TV seemed big and now it looks so small.

Archery!

Miran has taken up a new hobby and is getting very into it. He bought a recurve bow a little over a month ago - which is the Olympic style of bow. And there are lots of accessories for his bow - like sights and fletching tools. He is really enjoying researching and trying different things.

When he first got it, he took his bow to an archery shop in town for a little instruction and to buy some arrows. They let him test it out on their range.

And here he is just after a release in our back yard.

Here is the target after an average set of shots. He hits the box almost every time and is getting better about getting in the red or yellow. An occassional arrow still misses altogether and leads to a hunt in the grass.

And here he is fletching arrows. The arrows come in pieces and he has to put the points and other tips on as well as attach the feathers using this little gadget he bought.

My Birthday

Miran planned an action packed birthday for me this year. First, we had cookies and cream ice cream cake for lunch and I opened my gift - a big digital frame.

Then we went to see a modern adaptation of the ballet Sleeping Beauty. The music was Tchaikovsky but the story and the choreography were totally changed. Prince Charming was a vampire (thats how he could still be around to wake her up 100 years later).

Then we went to the mall and I bought a sweater and a dress. I later returned the dress because it was pretty expensive and not the kind of thing I'd get much use out of.

November Work Week-End

In November Mom and Dad visited and we worked on some house projects - mostly forcused on transforming the master bedroom into a new bird room / office for Miran.

Dad and Miran removed the ceiling fan and installed a sliding track across the middle of the room.

Mommy and I repainted ...

And prepared components to build a new bird cage stand - including painted some cabinets I bought at home depot as well as putting peel and stick tile on a door to make an easy-clean surface.

Everyone was involved in the assembly of this new bird cage stand / table:

And here is the room so far (still not quite done) - bird room side and office side:

Mommy and I also struggled to recover one of my dining chairs with pale gray fake leather to help tie the dining room together with the new living room. We only got one done, and hope to finish the other seven on her next visit in January.