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five faves

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A lil late is better than never, right? I’ve been really struggling with completing tasks this week and blogging is no different. However I have a super-important meeting coming up this week so NO MORE SLACKING ALLOWED.

When I am not so broke I rly want to get some patches from PONY PEOPLE.

Two of my fave tumblrs: Colorful Gradients and Daily Minimal.

I spent a good amount of time this week on what-dog.net. Georgie got Pomeranian, Mark Fluffalo got Pomeranian. I’m a Sheltie, Taylor’s a Golden Retriever and Gwen got Dogue de Bordeaux:
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Broad City is back next week, yaaas!

Food prices in Canada’s north are a serious issue, highlighted perfectly in this mock ad. Fun fact: last year I was reading posts on a facebook page about this problem and some dipwad actually said people should “just grow their own food!” like I don’t think you know how the GODDAMN ARCTIC CIRCLE WORKS???

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gwen lately

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Gwen’s speech is progressing nicely. Everyone always said “oh she’ll be caught up by the time she’s three!” and now she’s three and she’s not caught up BUT she is definitely talking more and more every day. She asks for things by name, she uses adjectives to describe things and numbers to describe quantity (usually how many chocolates she wants…). She tells jokes! Kid jokes, like when I ask her what colour her pants are she’ll say “pint (pink) pants!” when really they are black. Hilarious.

Potty training is basically done; it took like… three days. Not even. The other week on a Monday I stopped putting diapers on her except for quiet- and bedtime, and on Thursday she said she didn’t want a diaper at quiet time. She only used the potty a little that day, on Friday she did a great job and by Saturday there were no problems. I always try to not get too hung up on milestones and where other people’s kids are at but it was a little frustrating hearing about 2-year-old who are fully there when Gwen was not even close. But NOW I’m glad I didn’t bother trying to force it to happen before she was ready, because it was SO EASY! Even though she’s completely out of diapers during the day (even when we go out places) we’ve only had one accident.

Her favourite toys right now are Duplo (she asks us every day to “pway wo” with her) and this week she is really into tea parties with the toy food and dishes. Other faves are any kind of tiny baby animals, like Calico Critters or the toys that come out of the bath bombs we get for her at Daiso; her stuffed Peppa Pig; and the little wooden trees, mountains and houses Sym painted for her for Christmas. And Play-Doh! She would play Play-Doh all day if she could.

As for her favourite show, it’s all about Peppa Pig right now. That’s the only thing she wants to watch on the tv although I can usually convince her watching the Lego Movie is a good idea. She doesn’t sit still for very long watching tv though, and will often run around or get up to go play in her room. She WILL sit still for probably forever watching her weird little kid youtube videos on a tablet or phone though. She loves unboxing videos (WHY) and the ones where people act out terrible skits with their toys (WHY). She’s only allowed to watch them during quiet time and I have to remind myself to go get her up after a certain amount of time because she will stay in her room for hours watching videos if we let her.

She loves kitties and bunnies and foxes. Her favourite colour to wear is pink but she always walks on the green stripe of the rainbow crosswalk. She likes any kind of small bread products and calls them all “buns.” She always wants to help do the laundry, make coffee, feed the dogs, wipe the table, and will even clean up her toys when asked nicely (though she usually wants one of us to help her). She’ll steal my phone and tweet pictures from Neko Atsume (sometimes with emoji commentary), she will always give us a hug or kiss (or bart-kiss) but she’s still very shy with strangers. She’s 40 inches tall, weighs 42 pounds and wears size 4 clothes.

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five faves: monochromatic

Happy Friday to everyone… and happy birthday to me! Today’s post is all about my fave black & grey & white things.

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This Scully piece by beautiful angel Jessica Sea is a treat. Get 50% off orders of $20 in her shop until the 13th with the code FEBFRIENDS.

For days when I don’t want to wear my silver star necklace, a silver moon like this one from Little Pancakes would do nicely.

I have the long-sleeved version of this dress already but obviously I will need a short-sleeved one for spring!

The “Nordic Village” blanket from Little Unicorn is too cute.

Teletubbies x Joy Division

Also! get free shipping on most items & discounts on throw blankets & pillows on Society6 all weekend long! I put up some new designs this week so go browse, fave & maybe even buy?

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pajama party: flowers in space

Gwen is growing out of most of her pajamas again, all the size 3 two-pieces are getting very short and showing A LOT of tummy and she can’t wear the size 3 footies anymore at all. She’s even growing out of her teddy bear slippers! I actually found some size 4 pajamas from last summer when I was going through all her old clothes (how???) but they are shorties and it’s just not warm enough for them yet, especially since she insists on sleeping on top of the covers now. Inspired by the zinnias on the International Space Station, here are some cute new bedtime looks I’m eyeing for her for late winter/early spring:

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lilac floral nightie // moon phase footies // star print top and leggings // planet print sleep set // periwinkle floral footies // navy floral sleep set // these are neither space- nor flower-themed but who can resist bunny booties!

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five goals

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I’ve been super stressed out and frazzled this week so I don’t have any faves to share (except for maybe my keen ability to not barf during a panic attack). Instead, here are five goals I want to accomplish this year:

1. The first and most important thing, that I really need to do, is improve my job-slash-financial situation. I need to get my child care license again and get some more clients! At the moment I only have one little boy in care part-time, and I just found out this week that they will be leaving the country at the end of February (originally they’d planned on staying here until late spring/early summer). I have been hustling hard to find some new families to work with and I finally, FINALLY sent in my license application (it only took me five months).

2. Replace my dishwasher. This is contingent on #1 going well but I really need to do this. My current one, which I inherited from the previous tenant and was secondhand to her, is super decrepit and barely works. Like it doesn’t even wash the dishes anymore, just rinses and sterilizes (I need the dishes sterilized for work) them, so I have to completely pre-wash everything. It is SO not energy/water efficient, and I read online that modern dishwashers are SO GOOD that the only way a human could equal their efficiency level would be if they could wash all the dishes with the water running for just two minutes. I WANT THAT.

3. Fix all the holes/dings/gouges in the walls. I used to keep on top of fixing this kind of small damage but I’ve majorly slacked on it in the past couple years. There are a bunch of places where things bashed into the walls or I’d moved shelves or furniture from one place to another, and it really doesn’t look cute having holes all over the place.

4. Repaint the half-bath and the hallway. I’m so sick to death of the orange bathroom and yellow hallway! The hallway is the worst because when I painted it I accidentally used the high-gloss yellow paint left over from my desk instead of the eggshell yellow paint left over from idek what. It’s horrible, this shiny yellow hallway. And the orange in the bathroom is not fun anymore and when the light is on the whole room glows like the surface of the sun. I want to paint them both white or light grey or something else inoffensive.

5. CANCEL MY GYM MEMBERSHIP. I put this on my list of goals last year and did not accomplish it, thereby wasting $240 on fees that could have gone towards my dishwasher fund or hallway paint or literally anything at all. I’m going to do it this year, for reals this time.

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little fox

01 cinnamon hearts

02 fox

03 fox

04 shadow cat

06 ivy

07 legos

I have been LOVING this new ready-to-ship banners change I instituted in my shop earlier this month! I love not feeling bogged down with making the same banners every week, I love being able to ship orders so much faster, and I love love love all the extra time I have to work on different projects!

On the weekend I started embroidering a little grumpy fox and I just find it so fun and relaxing. I hadn’t really done any embroidery since I made the patches for Taylor’s anniversary gift two years ago, and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it. I even like buying the embroidery thread; the subtle variations of the colours make choosing just the right shade fascinating AND they only cost sixty cents each (less with a coupon; I got the new oranges I needed for this fox for 45 cents each)! Combine that with how inexpensive the wooden hoops are and the fact that I’m upcycling the fabric from a torn pair of linen shorts and this is a very cheap hobby.

Bad news for poor lil Symmie: after two weeks having her palate expanded with a palate expander she went to the orthodontist to get it removed… or so she thought. Turns out that while we don’t have to adjust it anymore, she has to keep it in the whole rest of the time she has her braces! I feel really bad for her, it makes it hard to talk and hard to eat and it leaves a weird impression on her tongue that really bothers her. Thankfully she only has four months of braces left, or maybe less! Everyone cross their fingers that it’s less.

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self care sunday

At the end of last year I was so busy with orders I really didn’t have any time to spend on myself. Some days I literally couldn’t even squeeze in a shower, let alone any pampering. This year I want to make a more conscious effort to get a little more me time. For me a perfect opportunity to do this is right after Gwen goes to bed; while Taylor takes the dogs for a walk I love to hop in the bath with some fizzy salts, a mask on my face and a good book, then afterwards wrap myself in a cozy towel.

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Bison Fresh Grapefruit hot bath salts // Tony Moly Choco Mushroom face mask // The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman // Bespoke Post Turkish bath towel

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five faves

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It’s been a while! This week’s faves are all things I would be super pleased to get for my birthday in two weeks.

This Tales from Moomin Valley poster would fit perfectly in my house.

BOTH of my favourite pairs of boots totally disintegrated this winter, so I need something new that will last for ever and ever, like these classic Blundstones.

There was a sample of this Lvnea L’Alchemie perfume in my Christmas stocking and I am just IN. LOVE. with it and will definitely need a full-size bottle.

I would live in this Simka Sol Sonia Robe Dress.

Even though I have a cat of my own I still really want to check out the Catfe which opened here a few months ago… and on my birthday I will! I actually made the reservation during Christmas break, and February 5th was the first day they had space for all four of us (serendipity!).

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life right now

01 messy room

02 dining room

03 fawn & cardinal

04 gwendolyn

05 marie

06 bottles and goblet

07 gwen on the table

Last fall I got super into making to-do lists for myself so I wouldn’t forget things I had to do. I fell out of the habit in late November (because at that point every list was like… “MAKE ONE THOUSAND MINI KILLJOY BANNERS, MAKE ONE THOUSAND EVERYTHING IS OK BANNERS” so it seemed pointless). Yesterday I made my first to-do list in months and WOW did I ever get a lot done. Like so much cleaning and work and organizing and meal prep. It was amazing and inspired me to get a jumpstart on spring cleaning, and also force Taylor and Sym to get a jumpstart on helping me with spring cleaning, by posting a big household to-do list on the fridge.

It took me two days but I finally sorted through all of Gwen’s old clothes. I think living with the messy piles and bins everywhere for weeks really helped to take the sentimentality out of the process and I was able to ruthlessly pare down the precious keepsakes down to just one huge bin. I didn’t even include the little footie pants you guys. I sorted everything else (four other huge bins and one medium bin) by size and it’s all ready to take back to storage or get rid of, whichever I decide.

There is a lot going on with Gwen this week. She’s decided she no longer naps in the afternoons and after a couple of days of fighting to get her to nap just a little I gave up and now I just let her quietly watch videos in her room during quiet time. TERRIBLE PARENTING I KNOW but like… it works so whatever. I just set her up in bed with my phone and turn out the lights and she won’t get up until I go get her. Yesterday I discovered she had subscribed me to like a billion of those toy-opening youtube channels. Why do kids like those toy-opening videos so much??? It’s weird. Anyway I’m making the executive decision that little girls who don’t need a nap don’t need to wear diapers either (except for quiet- and bedtime). So far we’ve had no luck with going on the potty but no accidents either as she will hold it all day if she has to. I had also meant to quit giving her pacifiers (she only has them at sleep time) but I swear the very day I decided this she started asking for them, which she’d never done before. COOL MOVE, KID. So rn I’m just being stricter with the sleeping-only rule for them, because I think NO naps NO diapers and NO binkies all in the same week is too much.

Sym is doing well with her palate expander; she’s having less trouble eating and is almost halfway there. It’s less painful for her and I’m getting better at cranking it without getting the little tool jammed in it. This morning she did stamp her feet in a little huff when I reminded her we had to do it, but I think that was mostly because she was trying to leave for school and I’d made her “late” by making her take Georgie out for a pee (not really late, she leaves for school like an hour early and it only takes ten minutes to walk there). Teens!