DIY birdfeeder

The finished product. Doesn't look as pretty as the one
that I saw, but hey, it serves it's purpose!

So I found this on Pinterest, and thought it looked like something fun for D and I to make, so I got all the bits and pieces together and away we went!

You need:

1 enthusiastic "helper"

A 1.5l soft drink bottle

2 dowling rods for perches (I used 2 hot dog sticks)

Something to pierce holes in the bottle (I used my sewing awl)

Scissors

String

Bird feed (I got vita pet wild bird seed, $2.75 at New World) 

You might also see the bike rack hook. This is only because we have no trees with reachable branches at our house, and I can't reach the top of the archway in the garden, so I only used this to hang it over and hook over archway.

Make sure you keep any helpers away from the sharp objects.

He was like a moth to the flame...

 Pierce 4 holes around bottom of the bottle. These need to be in line so that you can thread the rods/hot dog sticks through the holes. These will serve as perches for the birds to sit on.

Then you want to pierce corresponding holes slightly above where the perches will be. This is where the seed will be accessible for the birds. I made them approx 3cm above the holes.

Pierce 2 holes at other end of bottle to thread the string through. This is where I got incredibly frustrated and my helper got incredibly bored. Couldn't get the thread through the opposite hole. Made the holes bigger and this made it easier!!

Cat thought if she helped she might get to enjoy the fruits of our labours.

 Tie string to the bottle, insert "perches" and you are ready to fill it with bird seed!

Here's an idea, if you want to fill in 10 minutes or so, tell your helper that they need to put the bird seed in by hand. Takes FOREVER!!!

Once you have a bit of seed in there, (I only half filled it) quickly flip it up the way it will hang from the tree, and hang it up. 

Et voila~! One finished bird feeder.

 Now you just need to wait for the birds to come and find it!

And wait some more...

Ok so at this point, I am yet to see any birds feed out of it, but the cat won't go away, so that is probably half the problem. Now it is raining and the feed is probably getting soggy through the holes... 

Ah well. We had fun making it!!

Weigh in Friday - Oh, hello.. It's me again.

Amber at 13 weeks. She's now 15 weeks but I love this picture

Well, my scales and I are back. I don't want you to think i haven't been weighing in, because I have. There's just been no weight loss to speak of. In fact, there was weight GAIN. EW.

Dex and I at Pilot Bay, he was sad cos Daddy had
gone off in the Kayak and left him.

But back on track now and scales are heading back down again YAY. I'd love to say going back on the (breasfteeding friendly) pill was to blame, as last time I was on it I gained 10kg in 3 months with no other explanation (oh and I went pretty crazy too), and that is actually a big part of the weight I am trying to lose now!!. But alas, no. I can't blame the pill this time around as my diet was atrocious this last few weeks.


So, back down to 89.7kg. My aim for next week is to be in the 88's. That will make me happy, since it's coming off so slowly.

My cute kiddies. Love em!

Looking at my birthday goal of 75kg I have lose lose .5kg a week. Which as I have said so many times, is very achievable. It just requires me to stick with it of course. But now it is cooler, my broken toe is finally back on the mend after hurting it again, and baby A is much more in a regular routine with her feeds.


But look! hubby bought a Kayak this week and this gives us another fun outlet for exercise, we had a great time, just hope we get to go out quite often.

It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow and we got given a huge leg of lamb from the in-laws as a congrats, cannot WAIT for that, even though I am well aware it isn't so great for the weight loss!

Me and my gals. Can't believe it's been 5 years already!!

Hope you have a great weekend.
Nikki

Things I want to achieve for 2012

Having a baby could be considered a pretty damn good achievement already I think. But I'd like to think I can achieve a few other crafty/blog things. Here's my list I have been putting a whole lot of thought into.


In terms of Bloggy Stuff...

1. Update The Undercover Bloggers so that it is all fresh and new and people want to get back into contributing to it. For now it is just sitting there and every few months someone puts a post up. Need to fix that!!

2. Update the NZWAHP's Showcase Blog so the directory is all current and useable. Am half way through this but need to complete it and liven it.

3. Get The Mummy Diaries up and flowing again. I co write this with Bonnie from The Baby Bump, and we both had to stop for awhile since life took over, but we are keen to get it up and cranking again.


4. Liven my crafty Facebook page once there is more stuff on there to sell (more on that below)




I have a few blogs on the go huh?




For the Crafty stuff... this is a biggie

5. Get enough stuff made up to start going to markets/selling online in the hope that people will like said stuff and want to buy it! So far I have narrowed down the many many things I want to make to just a few that I hope to make really well, and am in the process of re-setting up my crafty corner, which my hubby packed up on my behalf while I was pregnant with Amber, as we were planning on putting the house on the market once she was born. So now I am unpacking it and setting it up the way I want it. Will do another post soon with more on this.


For Personal Life stuff..


6. Carry on with my weight loss. Am 4kg lighter than when I got pregnant with Amber. My goal is to be at 75kg by my birthday, which, while it is still ages away, it is getting closer all the time and my weight loss seems to have stopped for the time being. Because of all the rubbish I keep eating. I am under no illusions of this, and hold myself completely responsible!! No excuses, it is what it is.


To be honest, I could go on and on about my goals, but you don't have all day and I will never acheive them if I spend all day writing about what they are!! So let's leave it at that for now :)

Weigh in Day Friday (on a Saturday)

I'm starting to think I should change weigh in day to Saturday, seeing as I am always weighing in a day late!


Anyway


Scales went down slightly again this week, down another 100g. So I am 89.5kg. At this rate I will not be getting to 75kg by my birthday at end of October, but the husband and I have started a bit of a 12 week challenge between the 2 of us, as of today.


Is starting trying even harder to eat better and exercise more (hopefully not just for 12 weeks), on April Fools Day a recipe for disaster? I hope not.


That's all for today, I think we are about to head off to Hamilton so best go get myself and the kiddies ready.


Back soon
Nikki