Lazy List

All my loves #tinybuttonsblog #baby #sleepy #angelsarereal

Really excited about Kori’s new blog!

The supremely amazing & talented Maitri finally opened her etsy and I’m like ♥____♥ A lot of her pieces have sold already (I got mine!) but I’m predicting big things for this shop!

Meg & Katie both roadtripped to Nashville and it’s making me want to roadtrip somewhere.

This “Perfect Picnic Dress” literally IS the perfect picnic dress.

In case you missed the link in my post on Monday, the Vancouver Aquarium live cams are the greatest. I particularly recommend the spotted jellies for calming.

Even though we never left the house, I still managed to put clothes on my baby so check out what Gwen wore.

Progress

I’ve been toiling my ass off this week, trying to get all my outstanding etsy orders done so that next week I can just relax and do what I want. I got a bunch of orders in the days after deciding to take my break so for a while there I was worried I’d have too many to finish in a week but I’m pretty sure I’m going to get them all done (barring one banner that I can’t make until I get more silver glitter sheets, my supplier was out).
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Here’s what I’ve done so far, and I just have to finish one “Stay Sassy” and make three mini “Feminist Killjoy”s (hopefully by this evening so I can ship everything today) and I’ll be freeeeeee.

Part of the reason I’ve been able to make so many banners in just three days is because I haven’t left the house. The weather has been total crud this week so I haven’t been going on any Seawall walks, so I’ve been going a little stir-crazy. It’ll be worth it to have all of next week off though.

Some random things…

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Gwen has been having a bad week. I’m not going to get into it because it’s definitely tmi but it’s been very hard for her, and also for me since she’s been so happy and easy-going for the past almost seven months that I wasn’t used to having a crying, clingy baby. Tuesday was literally the worst day of her entire life but she’s been improving since than, thank goodness.

Sym went away on an overnight camping trip with her class. It was weird, she normally spends a lot of time in her room, drawing and reading and watching Netflix (H2O: Just Add Water is ALWAYS in our “Recently Watched”), plus three nights a week she’s at her dad’s, so we don’t really see that much of her. You’d think it wouldn’t be strange that she wasn’t home last night but it really was. Taylor and I both felt “off” all evening. MISS YOU, SYM!

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Claire is a feline disaster right now. She’s so decrepit that she does a terrible job of grooming herself. Her hair is really fluffy and fine so it tangles and mats really quickly and really close to the skin, and the only way to deal with it is to hold her down and shave it off. Eventually I plan on taking her to a real groomer but for now she looks like this.
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Sorry, kitty cat.

A Sad Day

DR. HENRY MORGENTALER
Rest in peace, Dr Morgentaler.

Six years ago, not longer after Taylor and I first started dating, we accidentally got pregnant. Our relationship was very new and I was trying to get my business off the ground. Having been through pregnancy and five years of parenting I knew that I didn’t want to do it again at that time, so I decided to have an abortion. My procedure was on March 19th, 2007 at 9:15 (I looked it up in my old livejournal, haha). I’ve never regretted my decision, I did what was right for me and I don’t feel guilty or ashamed about it. I believe that every woman has the right to decide for herself if and when and how to have a baby, and I know I’m lucky to live in a place where I can make those decision, and when my daughters grow up they can too. So thank you, Dr Henry Morgentaler, for everything you’ve done for women in Canada. You will be missed.

Weekended

Jellyfish Party.
As I mentioned, on Saturday Taylor and Sym took me out to make up for royally screwing up Mother’s Day. I didn’t know what the plan was but the night before I had a PSYCHIC FLASH that we were going to the Vancouver Aquarium for JELLY INVASION, and happily, I was right!
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Even Sym couldn’t refuse the jellies!
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A classic aquarium activity, play “Spot the Sloth” in the Amazon Gallery.
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Otter paws!
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Watching this dolphin was Gwen’s favourite. Like most of the sea mammals at the Vancouver Aquarium she was rescued and rehabilitated (in this case after being entangled in a fishing net) and deemed unreleasable.
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You can see what the jellies, otters, belugas and penguins are up to on the aquarium’s live cams here.

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Afterwards we were going to go for brunch but we’d been thoroughly rained on during the beluga & dolphin shows so we decided to just come home instead, and save brunch for Sunday.
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The rest of the weekend we spent in cozy time on the couch with some of my faves.
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The very last thing I did this weekend, at about midnight last night, was put my etsy shop in vacation mode. I feel so free… except for the 18 outstanding orders I’m hoping to complete this week.

Do Over

Today Taylor and Sym are taking me out for a Mother’s Day re-do to make up for actual Mother’s Day. I don’t know what we’re doing, all Taylor would say is we probably won’t need to take a bus and we’ll be walking outside some of the time and inside some of the time, so I might want to wear layers? WOW THNX FOR THE LACK OF INFO. Anywhere here are some adorable pictures of Gwen and Dougal to start your weekend off cute!
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Gwen’s favourite thing is when the dogs be near her. Dougal is rarely being near her so this was a special treat. The fact that I was able to take pictures of them before Dougal slouched off like a surly teen is a super-special treat!

Lazy Afternoon Links + Important Announcement

Thanks everyone for indulging my sad-sackery this week. I’m still in a pretty crudly slump but I’m trying to feel better.
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lol I kid

ANYWAYS. I really feel like one of the reasons I’ve been down recently is because I’m stressed all the time about how much stuff I have to do and how little time I have to do it in. Basically, I need a break! Obviously I can’t take a break from my life and my family and myself, but I CAN take a break from working- hell, I’m supposed to be on maternity leave anyway! After Jezebel linked to my etsy shop on Halloween I got swamped with banner orders, and I’ve pretty much stayed swamped. So after this weekend, I’m going to be taking a little vacation from my etsy shop. It’ll be closing May 27th and I’ll reopen June 10th– I figure two weeks will give me enough time to finish all my outstanding orders and then (hopefully!) have a week to relax- by which I mean catch up on housework and finish rearranging my office!

On to the links!
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The greatest Beverly Hills, 90210 tumblr in the history of time.

This explains my dog obsession.

Ocean Sole makes toys and sculptures from old flip-flops that wash up on the beaches in Kenya (they can be purchased here).

The cutest thing I saw on the internet all week.

This moon clock diy is super clever.

My favourite take on the gif/jif debate.

Girrafics Interchange Format

What Gwen wore.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Endless Bummer

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jumbo sized Endless Bummer tote from fieldguided

After the patheticness that was Mother’s Day I was feeling pretty down about motherhood, and that quickly spread through my system until I was feeling down about MY ENTIRE LIFE and it JUST KEPT GETTING WORSE. I felt like no one appreciated me because I wasn’t worth appreciating. I felt unhappy with my appearance and my body but too miserable to do anything about it. I felt old; I felt sad.

Last Wednesday I walked around the Seawall to meet Taylor like I normally do. I thought it might rain and be cold down by the water so instead of my nylon pullover jacket I brought my waterproof raincoat & wore a hoodie. IT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE. It didn’t rain and it wasn’t cold, but I was just wearing leggings and an old maternity tank with a grease-stain on it (lovely) so I kept the hoodie on, but even unzipped it was still too warm and I was sweltering. As I came off the Seawall and was passing the stadium I saw these two girls walking across the parking lot, and they looked SO GREAT. Perfect hair, stunning faces, flawless outfits.

Normally I feel pretty alright about my appearance but when I saw them I flet like a slovenly blob and reflexively sucked in my stomach. Then, HORROR OF HORRORS, they came over and talked to me. Fucking fantastic, please let me get an up close look of how amazing you are, ladies. As I walked away I wiped my hand over my face and it came away all sweaty. and a few blocks later I caught sight of my reflection and I looked like a red-face, shabby, bloated bag of rags with frayed, tatty hair. I looked like the scene in Away We Go when Verona says the women in the pregnancy workout video look like The California Raisins. I looked bad to me and it made me feel bad.

After that I tried to pull myself out of it. I spent some ~me time~ pampering myself and indulged in some retail therapy. I came up with ideas for new creative projects to keep me from feeling stagnant. I tired to stay positive.

Then today something happened (I’m not going to get into it, it’ll just make me sound petulant when it’s all just about THE PRINCIPLE, blah blah blah whatever who cares) that brought back all the original sad, shitty feelings from last week. I cried and laid in bed and cried some more, although I didn’t even have the luxury of actually having a real, good cry because I still had Gwen to deal with. Now I just feel sad and hollow and just like… what is the point?
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Well? What is it?

Weekended

It’s funny, I find myself actively doing nothing on the weekends now, because it’s so much more convenient to go for walks or run errands during the week when everyone else is at work. Only three and a half more months of that luxury 🙁
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Gwen with the Winnie the Pooh ty Sym brought her from Disneyland.

Sym got back on Friday night with a suitcase full of dirty laundry and stories about all the things she ate. Because she was gone for the whole week she stayed with us over the weekend instead of going to her dad’s. Her being her gave us the opportunity to get a good start on marathoning Arrested Development before the new episodes come out.

I have a rule that I only work on etsy orders during te week (otherwise I find myself at it all day, everyday), but I do sometime still make non-custom banners on the weekend. I made the first non-custom banner in quite a while, this teeny-tiny turquoise & coral WHATEVER.
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I actually get very burnt out on making banners, it’s a lot of the same stuff over and over so it’s nice to make something for myself once in a while (not to keep, but you know). It sold just a few hours after I listed it which made me feel pretty fantastic.

I also made a new header for my shop and new packaging for the banners, I was tired of the old colourful ones and wanted to simplify things.
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Normally Taylor and I would have gone for a seawall walk today, but it’s a holiday here in Canada and after that one horrible walk on a Sunday we had no interest in seeing if it would be as crowded today. Instead we took the dogs & baby out to wander the street so I could indulge in one of my lamest favourite activities: HOUSE CREEPING (house creeping is just my version of imagining actually owning a home instead of living in this basement apartment). I’ve done this a lot when we’ve gone out to East Van, but there are actually quite a few creepable houses in the West End if you know where to look. Right now my favourite house to creep is this one down the hill.
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The old grey cedar shake siding, multi-paned windows on the main floor and plants spilling over the fence make me think of like… a seaside cabin or something, and I find that weird window on the second floor intriguing. What’s the deal with it??? Why???? Anyway I know this is very creepy of me BUT in my defense I didn’t take this picture, I screencapped it off Google Maps, because THAT’S NOT CREEPY AT ALL.

Where Pear?

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We’ve been doing BLW (baby led weaning) with Gwen for a few weeks now. She doesn’t have great hand coordination yet so picking up foods and putting them in her mouth (that doesn’t have any teeth) is kind of beyond her still. She has been trying though, and with a little help from me she actually ate- as in, bit off, chewed and swallowed- her first piece of food last night! I’ve provided this handy illustration as proof:
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CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE.
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Even though I’ve been off work for almost nine months these two idiots haven’t forgotten that babies in high chairs = forbidden people food falling on the ground.
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Soggy Doggies

The other day I decided I’d finally had it with these two smelly mutts and gave them both baths.
Wash day #pomeranians #poms #pomsofinstagram #wetdogsofinstagram #whydoesitsmelllikewetdog
Why is is that after a bath dogs always go demented, tearing around the house and flailing all over the furniture like they are possessed? It’s SO SILLY.
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Bonus pic of someone else in the bath…
Bath time for the silliest baby