Year: 2014

It’s starting to look like fall outside but every time I go out in my boots and coat I end up sweating my face off.

She only ate the fries, then deconstructed the sliders and used the buns and patties to make a tower.

Sym needed to print out some old pictures for a project at school and I can’t get over this one. Her sweet little face! This was just a few weeks after her second birthday, so a little older than Gwen is now.

A custom drippy banner for Halloween.

Literally the first time I successfully caramelized onions in my entire life.


Waking up daddy.

Happy Friday-before-the-long-weekend-we-all-need-and-deserve! At least I need it; this week has been interminable for some reason. We are going over to the Island to spend Thanksgiving with my mom & some of my family for the first time ever so today I need to clean the house and pack everything so we can catch the ferry at 8:30 tomorrow morning. (Aside: Taylor just used voice commands to turn off the Xbox, and I CAN’T WAIT until Gwen starts talking and learns how to turn it on and off all the time. I mailed all the paperwork back to the speech therapists but we don’t have an appointment for her to see one yet, although she is scheduled for a hearing test on December 1st. Also on December 1st I’m supposed to go off my thyroid medication to see if my thyroid is functioning normally on it’s own so that’s gonna be a fun month! Phew this was quite the aside.)

Anyway

Tiny Acorns
Yesterday after school drop-off (now that the strike is over I’ve been looking after a kindergartener before & after school) Gwen and I went for coffee & took a walk on the Seawall with a woman I know from preschool drop-offs. Making friends when you are old and grizzled is hard and I’m happy to have made a new one who is local and a mom and idk, likes tiny stuff and crafts and coffee and dogs and the Seawall and living downtown but also imagining moving to the country. At one point on the walk Gwen became very fussy in her stroller so I let her out so she could bobble around in her little green boots and red coat. While we were standing there my new friend realized the trees we were under were some kinda ornamental oak trees and the ground was covered (COVERED) in teeny-tiny little acorns. We both love tiny things and Gwen loves picking up stuff off the ground so we all crouched down and started stuffing our pockets with little acorns & acorn caps. I’m sure we looked deranged to all the people walking by but who cares? Tiny acorns! Now I have a cup full of them and Im not exactly sure what to use them for. An autumnal display, I guess. A miniature pumpkin and some twigs with wild rose hips and a scattering of little acorns would be perfect.

The Tale of Elke
During my many years of doing childcare I’ve known lots of kids with a lovey toy they NEED to have in order to fall asleep, both at bedtime and at naptime. Usually it’s one of those toys that like a small blanket with a teddy bear head on one corner, and it needs to go back and forth between home and daycare or WOE BETIDE. I can’t even tell you how many times I had a parent knocking on my door at 8pm because they forgot the lovey here, or they’ve had to run home in the morning after dropping off their kid to fetch it because there is NO WAY a nap will be happening without that special sleepy-time friend.

When I was pregnant with Gwen I discussed this lovey situation very seriously with Taylor and we decided that whichever toy it was, we’d buy two. Not that Gwen would be going to daycare somewhere else but in the event of the lovey being misplaced or even just needing to be washed we’d have a backup. We chose one of those toys with the animal head on one corner, except instead of a bear it’s a deer. We named it Elke and Gwen took to it immediately.

Having two Elkes worked perfectly; if ever we couldn’t find one we’d have the other ready to tag in, and I was able to wash whichever one was dirty as needed (which was often because baby Gwen liked to chew on Elke’s nose, or just hold its nose to her nose, even when she had a cold). Then a few months ago, everything went to Hell. One morning Gwen woke up and brought Elke out to the living room with her. When it was naptime I couldn’t find Elke so I grabbed the spare and when she woke up from nap she brought that Elke out to the living room and we had a double-Elke situation. Taylor found the first Elke in the dining room and went to put it in the wash, but I told him it wasn’t dirty so instead he put it…

Somewhere. And we haven’t seen it since! Neither of us can remember where he put it, all we know is it’s somewhere in the house where Gwen couldn’t see it or reach it, and we’ve looked all those places! Every shelf, every cupboard, every drawer, every place has been searched. We’ve emptied boxes and bags and peered under beds with a flashlight. We’ve dug through closets full of clothes, craft supplies and camera equipment. No one can find this damn thing! This morning Taylor was putting Gwen’s bedclothes on to wash and he decided to pop the only remaining Elke in as well since it was supremely gross, and Gwen stood in front of the washing machine and cried and cried. We spent another couple hours searching all the places we’ve already searched and still had no luck.

My apartment isn’t that big, and there are a finite number of places what Gwen can’t get into. So. Where’s Elke?

Somebody’s been playing with my camera….


Gwen chose her own outfit for brunch on Sunday: sweater (she got a lot of compliments on it) and jeggings, Old Navy; Hunter boots, thrifted by Katie

Still on that soup roll, this is roasted red pepper & black bean.

WOW do I ever have a case of the Mondays. So far this morning I’ve:

• dropped a ceramic tea filter lid on the floor and broke it in half
• gotten in a fight with Sym about something dumb
• set one of the snaps on a pair of boots backwards, boots I’d been working on all weekend
• gotten in a fight with Taylor about something dumb
• forgot my coffee when I went down to the school
• stepped on a slug

And that was all before 9:30, I mean COME ON, universe! Whaaaaaaaat evennnnnnnnnnn giiiiiiiiives. UPDATE: further Monday-ish events:

• Gwen has developed a gross cold with a runny nose and sneezing
• when I went to check the mail I ran right into a giant spiderweb some stupid spider spun across my stairs

Luckily I was able to salvage the boot by mangling the socket of the mis-set snap with a pair of pliers until I was able to snip it off the cap (the cap is the part of the snap that shows on the outside of the boot, the socket attaches to the back of the snap and is the part that the stud snaps into- the stud is attached to the post which is the part that shows on the inside of the boot. It’s all very technical). These boots are a new pair for Gwen; she’s pretty much outgrown the brown ones I made for her in the spring and I had an idea for how to improve the pattern that I needed to test out. I made the sole and the vamp a little narrower to get a better fit on the foot, and other than a small snafu at the start of construction when I forgot to adjust the size of the cut-out in the front of the shaft where the vamp attaches (more technical terms!) it went well and in the end they turned out great.

This week I’m going to be working on the shoes & boots for kickstarter rewards, and once they are all done I’ll be adding them to the shop for sale, which is really exciting. I’ve already put up the snap pouches, you can find them here in the Little Mountain section.

And don’t forget you can still get free shipping on all orders $20 and over with the code SHIPFREE, valid until Friday.

The four tiny white dots on the far side of the lagoon are swans.





Apple pie with gold glitter.

Today I went down to Second Beach. At the playground there were three adults, two women and one man, playing on the swings. The man gave one of the women an under-duck and she screamed with laughter.

Gwen sang little songs to herself.

A new mother with a tiny infant in a purple stroller stopped to talk babies with me. The way she described her daughter’s wonder at all the things in the world expressed her own wonder at this little being she’d created.

Crows and seagulls pick mussels off the rocks and drop them onto the Seawall to break the shells open. Acorns and horse chestnuts are falling out of the trees onto the sidewalks so the cracking noises followed me all the way up the hill towards home.

How thoughtful of the weather to be bright and sunny all weekend and only rainy during the week.





Baby’s first pannekoek.

red coat, Old Navy; jeggings, Carter’s; checkered shoes, Vans



True story: the other week I was walking the dog and there were these things all over the ground and I literally said out loud, “What the heck is this, acorns????” I was standing under an oak tree.



She was trying to carry more acorns than her hands would hold so I showed her how to put them in her pockets. When we got back to the house they were stuffed with acorns, wood chips and bottle caps.








I DID IT, I MADE A SECOND SOUP. This is potato with bacon & green onion.

“Hello” sweatshirt, Zara; leggings, Old Navy; dishwashing gloves (worn as boots), CasaBella

A few things…

During the extra-long summer vacation one of Sym’s daily chores was to tidy up the living/dining room/kitchen and vacuum every afternoon. Now that she’s back at school she generally doesn’t get it done until the evening, and IT SUCKS. The house is so messy and I’m well out of the habit of tidying up.

On the weekend I had the brilliant idea of making an apple pie today, so I bought all the ingredients I needed and then last night I was up all night with mild food poisoning. I feel fine now, but I’m super tired and the last thing I feel like doing is peeling a dozen apples.

Last weekend I ordered Gwen some new fall clothes, mostly new leggings and socks to replace the ones from last winter that she’s outgrown, as well as a new puffy winter coat that was on sale. I also got the red coat she’s wearing in a lot of the pics above and we are both in love with it. It has a major storybook vibe, and if she wasn’t already being a wolf for Halloween she might have to be Little Red Riding Hood.

On the weekend I started working on the leather snap pouches for kickstarter rewards and so I used my new shears and snap setter for the first time and o m g I’m in heaven! They are AMAZING and I was able to make some good progress! I have two pouches finished and the rest are all cut & have the snaps set and just need to be sewed (because that’s the easy part? ok Tanie). I’m hoping to get them all finished and ready to send out this week and then I will just have the shoe & boot rewards left.

Sad Ghost typewriter.


I DID IT, I MADE SOUP. Now I just need to do it one more time. This is a carrot soup, or kind of a smoked carrot soup, with the smoky flavour imparted by the fact that I may have scorched it a little, oops.

A few of Gwen’s friends: Hazel Village Gwendolyn Raccoon, Jellycat Bashful Bunny, Bijoukitty bear, H&M sleepy bunny, Roving Ovine rag doll.

Over the past few weeks I’ve ordered SO MANY things online (stuff for Little Mountain and new fall clothes for Gwen & me), it’s all starting to arrive and I think I’m going to be at the post office a lot in the next week. Yesterday I got an email that I would have a package to pick up today, and before I went to go get it just now I checked the mail and I had a small package in the mailbox PLUS a notification slip that I’ll have another package to pick up tomorrow. I usually have a couple banners ready to ship each time I go in so I am staying well ahead on my etsy orders. Since I reopened the shop I’ve had quite a few; I’m trying to save up enough my sales to pay for at least the ferry portion of our Thanksgiving weekend and I’m only $50 short right now. If you’ve been wanting to place an order you can get free shipping on orders $20+ with the code SHIPFREE, and two of my most-frequently-sold-out colours, pink and fuchsia, are finally back in stock!

I really don’t like the new etsy layout though. Now when I go to the front page it’s not the front page, it’s the feed of all the things people I follow have favourited. I liked going to the main page and seeing treasuries and stuff! I found some pretty great stuff that way. I actually just went and looked at the front page while not logged in and it’s totally different. Also I don’t like that they switched the shop feed tab (of all the people who’d liked my items) from being with the favourites feed & interaction tabs to the dashboard. lol if you don’t spend a lot of time on etsy this probably won’t make a lot of sense but idk, it just used to be better and now it feels sloppy and all over the place.

ANYWAY. I’m just waiting on one item, my custom leather stamp, and I’ll be able to start making the leather goods for kickstarter rewards, so if you back me at the leather/suede snap pouch, shoes, or boots level, keep watch for an email from me.

I mentioned these cinnamon roll baked mini donuts at the end of my last post and they were delicious and really easy to make and we ate all of them in one fell swoop. I have these mini donut pans.



C’mon, dadda!



I’ve been in a real rut with my hair recently, it’s a very annoying length on me right now and I’d been hoping that by now it’d be long enough to get bangs but it’s not so it’s always in my face. Plus it’s grown out unevenly and I feel like I should get it trimmed to even it out BUT I know I’d probably lose like, four months’ worth of growth so maybe I’ll just suck it up? It’s almost hat season anyway.





First-day-of-school breakfast special: Nutella pancakes with raspberry compote.

Of course after I write this it was sunny and hotter’n heck all weekend long. Today it’s rainy again, and Gwen’s little friend doesn’t have boots yet so I think it’s going to be mostly an inside day.

Today is also the first day of school, FINALLY. Or sort of. It’s considered “day 0,” the day that would normally be the day after labour Day, where the kids just get attendance taken so the school knows for sure how many students they have (this wasn’t a thing when I was a kid but I grew up in the country and there wasn’t as much moving around or options for different schools as there are here. Of course, with the strike that’s been going on for the last three months the teachers never had a chance to prepare their classrooms so the students are just going to the gym to get marked in, with different times set aside for different grades. Sym is moving up to the school this year and her grade is the last group, so she doesn’t have to be there until 1:30.

I never had a problem before with sending Sym off to school, I mean I was the one to walk her there and pick her up every day until she was old enough to do it herself, so this is the first time I won’t be taking her to the first day at a new school. It’s kind of killing me not to, like I really want to go and help her and make sure she doesn’t get scared or lost but she’s starting high school, how embarrassing would it be for me to tag along??? It seems crazy though, she’s only 12, what is she doing in high school? SHE’S JUST A BABY.

Last night I made her text a friend who lives nearby to make plans to walk down together, and the high school she’s going to is really small- less than 500 students in grades 8-12. This is even smaller than my old high school, and it kind of makes me feel better, like it’s a little school with not that many students, that’s less scary, right? I hope so.

OH AND JUST A QUICK REMINDER: from now until October 10th get free shipping on all orders over $20 from the shop with the code SHIPFREE. I’m trying to earn enough money to pay for at least part of our Thanksgiving weekend trip, and the frigging ferry to get to Vancouver Island & my mom’s house costs $120 EACH WAY, plus we have to rent a car. YIKES.

The rain is here.



I think I post a lot of pictures that make it look like I don’t live downtown in a major city so here’s a charming alley view before I get to the raindrops on rosehips.









The mysterious pumpkin tree…

Gwen needs a new Newt Suit; the one she has now is from last year and is way too short in the arms and legs, although I think it’ll do until I break down (save up?) and get her a size three. Her rainboots are new to her and a total score: the lovely Katie thrifted them for $5 and sent them to us. I paid her for the $15 shipping, but considering that in Canada a new pair costs $60 I’d say that’s a pretty fricking good deal! They are a little big for her right now so I think she’ll be able to wear them all winter.

I also need new rainboots, I keep cheaping out and buying whatever bargain ones I can find and they always end up a) being super uncomfortable and b) splitting open after a single season. Super lame. Anyway since I need boots of course I’m buying jackets and shirts and sweatpants? Because that’s logical? I just ordered this jacket (I know I’m wearing a green jacket in the pic above but it doesn’t have a hood so OBVIOUSLY I need a second one) and this shirt last night. American Eagle has some really good deals, their fall stuff is buy one get one 50% off, plus 25% off friends and family rn, plus free shipping? CAN’T ARGUE WITH THAT. I also really want some olive or forest green or dark brown skinny sweatpants but the only ones I’ve been able to find that aren’t disgusting are at Roots and they only have XS and XL left. I know I’m not an XS but I’m not quite sure if I’m in XL territory yet. Oh and also they are like $70, bleagh. Someone give me a line of some cheaper options!

The cooler, wetter weather has me wanting nothing more than to curl up with warm drinks and comfy clothes and cozy blankets. We put the duvet on the bed this week and picked up some fuzzy pillows to make it even more of a dream, and I DEFINITELY have not wanted to get out of it in the mornings. I’ve been wearing a lot of wool socks and flannel shirts. I’m really into the idea of homemade soup. Every fall I get into the idea of soup and every fall I only make it once, but now I have an immersion blender so I declare that for really real this will be the year I make soup more often. And baking! I need to bake more things. I’ve started following a lot of tumblrs that are just pictures of trees and mountains and fog and clouds. And I was finally able to put this dress on Gwen. I bought it when I was 9 months pregnant because I couldn’t resist the little foxes and it’s been in storage for the past two years.

Too sweet. Anyway now I’m off to make hot apple cider and cinnamon roll baked donuts.

Just a quick note to let everyone know the shop is open (I closed it temporarily so I could focus on making kickstarter rewards), and I also have a new item; ombre banners with hex glitter! This was kind of an accident; the very last order I had before closed the shop was for an indigo-to-silver ombre banner, and when I went to make it I discovered I didn’t have enough of the regular fine glitter left in silver to make it, but I did have a whole jar of small hexagonal silver glitter. I mixed the two together and I am just IN LOVE with the result.

It has a more dimensional & textural look than the regular ombre. Right now I only have 5 colours of hexagonal glitter but plan on adding more in the future.

Also from now until October 10th get free shipping on orders over $20 with the code SHIPFREE.

Rocker baby chose her own outfit on Sunday: vest & high-tops, Old Navy; “Princess of Power” tee, hand-me-down from big sis; sunglasses, H&M; jeggings, Carters.













The goose that got away.

I think I must have some sort of special gift for wanting to go places at the most inopportune times. Let’s go down to English Bay! except it’s January first so it’s packed because of the Polar Bear Swim. Let’s go to Sunset Beach! except there’s a run going on and all the streets are blocked. Let’s go to Stanley Park! except it’s Pride Weekend there’s a parade between us and our destination. It’s one thing about living downtown: things happen here, and sometimes we’re trapped because of it, or at least forced to go many blocks out of our way.

This weekend was no exception, and on Sunday I had the brilliant idea of walking down to Second Beach to the toddler playground. It was pretty early in the morning and I figured it wouldn’t be that busy yet. Except. It was the Terry Fox Run, and it started right next to the playground on Ceperley Meadow and the routes for the various distances were on all the trails that lead there. ALL OF THEM. I cleverly avoided all the runners on one trail only to walk straight into another pack of them on a different trail, and this group included children, who are super bad at looking where they are going while running, apparently. Since the runners were heading away from Second Beach and we were heading towards it, there was a real salmon-swimming-upstream vibe happening.

We eventually made it and it was actually a good time to be there, as the playground was effectively deserted. I wonder though, does it make me a bad Canadian, indeed a bad Vancouverite, that I didn’t even KNOW the Terry Fox Run was happening? In my defense I basically live in a hole underground, but maybe that’s not an excuse?

Anyway Gwen tired of the playground quickly so we decided to walk around the Seawall to Third Beach, and then cut back through the park. Of course, there were runners on the Seawall as well (how many different routes are there for this run???) but it’s a lot wider than the trails we were on previously so there were no more near-collisions. At Third Beach we contemplated going down on the sand with Gwen but she wasn’t really dressed for it (see rocker baby, above) so instead we headed straight into the forest. This isn’t a way we normally go into the park so the trails were sort-of new-ish to us; I’m sure we’ve walked them before, but not in a long time.

We chose our path at random and took a totally circuitous route back to Lost Lagoon. It was a gorgeous day to be in the park, sunny and hot out in the open and cool under the trees. I pestered Taylor to take a lot of pictures since I hadn’t brought my camera. He inexplicably started a discussion about the merits of riding out a zombie invasion in the park because apparently you could build a secret shelter and forage for food, which I call bullshit on because Taylor can’t forage for shit (although he can build a mean fire). Basically the end result was he’s going to have to take some wilderness survival courses or something. You know. In case of zombies.

Also this weekend…

On Saturday morning we went out to the leather supply store so I could buy some hides ‘n’ sides to make baby shoes with. I’d originally planned on getting a couple neutrals, a couple brights and a metallic. Apparently someone forgot to tell my brain that because…

THESE ARE ALL NEUTRALS. Okay so there IS a metallic (platinum leather) and that light grey suede on the top looked like pale lavender in the store lighting but yeah. I CAN’T HELP IT OKAY I JUST LIKE NEUTRALS.

I also bought tons of snaps (in four different finishes), proper leather shears, a new mallet & small cutting board. Then I went online and ordered a snap-setting kit (I already have some snap setters but this one has like a little stand and I think it may work better, at least until I break down and spend $250 on a setting press), muslin bags for the finished shoes, and two custom stamps: a metal one for the leather and a rubber one for the bags. So much cool stuff! I need to buy a cupboard just to keep it all in.

After the leather store we met up with Jenn for our LAST EVER BRUNCH before she moves to Berlin; in fact she might be on her way there as I type this. She’s going to be gone for a year so I’m now accepting applications for a new friend to eat brunch and watch terrible movies with.

All the walking and activities this weekend were just like TOO MUCH for my sad old bones and both Saturday and Sunday nights I was DEAD. Actually Friday night as well, since I walked a lot that day too. It’s good though, I could use the exercise. On a related note I’m adjusting my gym-going goal from 3x a week to twice a week, not because I’m tired and lazy (although I am) but because with Taylor’s and my work, parenting and sleep schedules and the gym’s hours there are actually only two times during the week we can go together.

Sister time at the playground on Wednesday. After three months of no school Sym had turned into a weird hermit, lurking in her bedroom all day and growling whenever I asked her to do any chores. This week I banned her from hanging out in her room and forced her to come outside.

Another of Sym’s out-of-her-room activities: baking! The results were enjoyed by everyone.





Gwen finally overcame her fear of going down stairs.



Grooming time for swans.







Blueberry lemonade + watermelon grapefruit + Sprite.

A Two-Playground Day

This morning I took Gwen and her little friend to the playground at the school by my house. I called Sym to let her know where we’d be as she was at her dad’s still and it “creeps her out” to come home and find no one here. She was about to leave when she discovered she was having a key emergency; she’d left her keys at our house so she couldn’t lock the door behind her at her dad’s. Since this was partly my fault (I used her keys yesterday and left them in her cubby instead of giving them back to her to put in her purse) I decided to pop the little ones into the stroller and head down to bring Sym the keys.

When I got there she suggested a walk in Stanley Park down to Second Beach. There’s a pretty good playground there so we spent a little time on the swings and slides to make up for cutting our visit to the other playground short. Afterwards we walked around the Seawall back to English Bay and stopped for slushies on our way up the hill. At one point Gwen kicked off one of her new checkered Vans and we had to backtrack a block and a half to find it. We got back to the house super late so the kids had a quick lunch and then went straight down for their nap.

Why Meal Planning Doesn’t Work For Me

One day last week I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I had potatoes and salad fixins on hand so I asked Taylor to pick up some chicken on the way home. “Perfect,” I thought. Then I realized it was Tuesday, and Sym goes to her dad’s on Tuesdays, and if I made my best-in-the-world mashed potatoes on a Tuesday when she wasn’t here Sym would murder me, so I decided to postpone the chicken/potatoes/salad until Wednesday. No big deal, right?

Wednesday BOTH sump pumps for my building up and died, and while TECHNICALLY we could still use the sink, every drop of water that went down the drain increased the likelihood of sewage coming up through the toilets. There was NO WAY I was going to be able to drain boiled potatoes and wash vegetables without using the sink, not to mention handle raw chicken without being able to wash my hands! The plumbers weren’t finished until 6pm, which was way to late to start cooking dinner for Gwen so we got takeout instead and I decided to postpone the chicken/potatoes/salad until Friday.

Friday my cat died and I was too sad to cook so I decided to postpone the chicken/potatoes/salad until Monday. I put the chicken in the freezer because it was nearing its best before date and made a mental note to take it out of the freezer on Saturday night so it would be defrosted by Monday.

Saturday I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer.

Sunday I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer.

Monday the chicken was still frozen. I took it out of the freezer and decided to postpone the chicken/potatoes/salad until Wednesday.

Wednesday I FINALLY made the chicken and potatoes, but the salad greens had wilted (no surprise there) so we had corn instead.

Time from planned date of meal until actual cooking & eating of meal: EIGHT DAYS

Weekend Plans

At the start of this week the money I raised on kickstarter was transferred into my bank account, so tomorrow I’m going to the leather supply store to choose the hides (as well as snaps, a snap setter, better scissors, etc)! I’m super excited about it.

In the end after all the fees were deducted I received about $1,150 (so the fees were close to $170). That extra $150 above my goal is still enough that I can get a custom leather stamp made, which is pretty cool! I’m going to be ordering that today.

Other than that I think I’m going to:
– drink wine
– watch Life After Beth

– get my nails filled because it has been FIVE WEEKS and they are seriously disgusting, like super grown out and way too long so I keep catching them on things and hurting myself
– work on the custom mini-banner backer rewards

Happy Friday, everyone!