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Archive for the ‘house and home’


My next career should really be in landscape design.

When we moved to this house, we doubled our mortgage and reduced the size of our yard by at least 75%. It’s tough to design such a small space.

We spend a lot of time in our back yard. If we’re home, we’re playing outside 90% of the time. We really need a playground of some kind because the slide we bought Primo for his 1st birthday is way too small for him now. We’re broke but, funny enough, our kids aren’t. They have enough in their bank accounts to split the cost of a (very small not the one we want but it will have to suffice) playground.

Primo and I chose between the few (cheap) ones that would fit and ended up picking one with two slides, one that will fit Bella for the next two summers and one that will fit both kids until they are 6-8. When they’re big enough, the smaller slide flips over into a ladder. When I let the BG know that we had made a choice, he asked to see a complete plan for the yard before we make an investment and add to it. We’re also building a patio area and adding a slide to the deck over the next few years, so he wants to make sure it fits or some crap like that.

He got what he asked for.

Allow me to present the plan for our yard.

back yard plan

My next career should really be in landscape design, no?

Posted on on June 4th, 2008 in house and home, i'm a moron | 6 Comments »

Renos Suck Butt

Some ideas, if you will…

1. We tore the carpet off our stairs and replaced the floor, but now have gross glue covered stringers to clean up and paint. What would you use to get the glue off? A scraper? Just sand like hell? Wanna come do it? Because I really really don’t want to.

2. We need to do moldings & baseboards, doors and other finishing crap within the next few months. Suggestions to make it easier? Do we need to buy/rent a nail gun? Will my staple gun’s nailing function work?

Posted on on November 3rd, 2007 in house and home | 3 Comments »

Weekend Review & Recap

Weekend Review

I recently read The Little Black Book of Style and it was something completely different than what I’d usually read. It’s for people who care about being “fashionable” as opposed to “comfortable” and that’s just not me, but it was still an interesting read. For a young person going in to the world of fashion design or advertising, it would likely be a big hit. For me, it was okay. The “How to dress when…” section was interesting, but one part really pissed me off. The “How To Dress When Pregnant” section seemed like it was written by and/or for a fourteen year old who didn’t want anyone to know she was pregnant. It instructs women to wear lots of jewelery (which, of course, the guy needs to buy for you…barf) to detract attention from the belly. That part really ruined the book for me, but I can certainly see a population that would enjoy it. Want my copy? Leave a comment and let me know.

Weekend Recap

It was a busy one! I had a conference to attend and lots of shopping to do with my parents in another city on Saturday. The boy hasn’t really slept well all week because of the damn teeth again so we were excited to be able to get him to sleep via rocking last night before 7:30. (He usually falls asleep on his own between 6:30 and 7:00 and has needed rocking until 11:00 to pass out this week.) He woke up at 6:30 this morning with a fever so I gave him some medicine and brought him to bed with us where he snuggled and slathered us both with kisses. It was awesome! Now it’s 8:15 and he’s still screaming so it might be another rough one. Cross your fingers for at least 6 hours for the big fat 29 weeks pregnant chick or I’ll be too cranky for words.

If you’re swapping, you should have received the email with your partner’s info. If you didn’t then please let me know asap!

Our basement is getting emptied and drywalled this week so our servers will be shut down and I may or may not have internet access. I can’t blog from work because anything fun is blocked so if you don’t hear from me for a week you’ll know why!

Posted on on October 14th, 2007 in house and home, product whore, random crap, reading | 3 Comments »

Two hundred and fifty six.

That’s the number of unread posts in my bloglines. Ugh. I’m going to read them tonight, but won’t be leaving any comments. Sorry - I just can’t. I’m sure you understand.

More deets on the move coming soon. We’re in. We’re swimming in boxes. We have a fantabulous new bed that makes it all worthwhile. We have amazing friends without whom we certainly would have died this weekend. My mom brought mega food to feed all the movers and we’re still eating it because I really need a major grocery shop. Thank God for moms.

Internet is back, and therefore all is well with the world.

Need sleep.

Mwah!

Posted on on August 13th, 2007 in house and home, random crap | 4 Comments »

Trick: I ran a half-marathon and am training for a full. (And some news. Sort of.)

This was kind of a trick question, but I didn’t really realize it at the time that I wrote it.

I ran a half marathon in 2000 or 2001 - you’d think I’d remember that pain - but am not and have no desire to ever train for a full. The half was the perfect distance - long enough to be a challenge but not so long as to be too hard on the body. The training took a lot of discipline but I really enjoyed it. I trained with a club early Sunday mornings (long runs) and Wednesday nights (hills, sprints etc.), did one or two short runs on my own and cross-trained at least once a week. I was single with no children so it was much easier than it would be right now. Now I’m lucky to get a good workout once a month!

Damselfly, Kris & Amy W. got this one correct!

The Tally:
Karen:3
Deb:3
Amy W:3
Kris: 4
Damselfly: 2
Chelle:2
Josie:1
Julie:3
Sue:1

We're putting an offer on a house tonight...

The basement is unfinished so we can afford it while I'm on mat leave. To the left of it is the entrance (walking path) to a beautiful and very large green space which the boy was next to impossible to remove from when we were looking tonight. The dining and living area look out onto the park. It's another stepping stone house for us on the way to our dream home, but it'll easily do us 5 years if we finish the basement. (Which we intend to do asap with some of our leftover profit from our current house after putting 25% down, with ethernet and more - it’ll be really nice to have it done our way - I mean, you know - IF we get this house. Time to start the vibe dancing, people!)

Posted on on June 26th, 2007 in house and home, random crap | 6 Comments »

Keeping It Under Control: Organization With A Baby

New parents get SO much “stuff” and have to quickly figure out what to do with it all before they get buried in it.

Clothing, toys, bedding, paraphernalia…there’s so much of it all. Luckily, I’m addicted to organizing and my label maker is my favourite toy so I kind of get off on it all. I’m often asked (a) How I have time to be so organized and (b) Can I come to x’s house and do it there. First of all, I find that if you take a little time each week, you’ll never get totally overwhelmed by it and it’s a lot easier. And, no. Unless you pay really well, or you’re my mom, I’m not organizing your stuff for you.

However, I will share my ideas with you and appeal to the parents of the internet to do the same!

How do you organize your kids’ clothing? Other stuff. Here’s my method. Or some of it anyway. Please share yours in comments.

  • When I see a great sale on something I really like, I buy several sizes.
  • In the boy’s dresser, I keep his current size and a few things that are one size up just in case I’m desperate and haven’t done laundry. It happens more than I’d like to admit.
  • In his closet, I have three lovely large taupe Rubbermaid bins labelled “Neutral Baby Clothes,” “Boy Baby Clothes,” and “Boy - Grow In To.” They stack neatly in the corner of his closet.
  • As he grows out of items, I sort them into 3 piles.
    Consignment, Neutral and Boy.
    Of course, I’ve already thrown anything with permanent poop stains or tears in the garbage.

  • Anything that I really like that’s appropriate for a baby of either gender (usually only up to 3 or 6 months because from there he was pretty obviously dressed boy-ish) goes in the “Neutral Baby Clothes” bin.
  • Anything that I’d definitely want to use for another baby boy goes into the “Boy Baby Clothes” bin.
  • The ‘consignment pile’ is tricky for some parents. Here’s my rule: If I don’t love> it, I don’t keep it. If it doesn’t snap in the crotch, it’s gone. If it has no neck snaps, it’s gone. Just not really my style? Gone. Funny fit? Gone. Stretched out? Gone. Pilling or showing signs of wear? Gone. Cheap piece of crap? Gone. From Walmart? Gone. Since I know they’ll be used by someone else, it’s easier to get rid of things I don’t love. The best thing about this pile? When I take them to the store, I get a store credit to get things that I do love. Our favourite local consignment store has both used and new items. I take in stuff I don’t want anyway and come out with brand new items that I really like. They have clothing, toys, gadgets…pretty much everything. It’s a great feeling to get something for ‘nothing.’
  • Because I’m picky about what I keep, I have only one full large 31 gallon bin up to 9 months for a boy, and one full of the same size for either gender. The neutral one also contains things that I only needed for the newborn phase but are appropriate for either gender. Things like white hats/booties/blankets, a newborn bath support that only fits for a few months, nursing pads, a newborn journal to track latches, poops, sleep, vitamins, mama drugs and all those other things that placenta brain prevented me from remembering (I just tore out the used pages and there’s enough left for another baby for at least 6 weeks), small swaddlers etc.
  • I have one additional bin in the closet that is simply labeled “Baby Stuff.” That’s where I’ve put items like our front carrier, the blow up tub he grew out of, small packaging for things I may want to resell at a garage sale like cloth diapers, small but pricey toys etc. Stuff I’ll want in the first months no matter the gender.
  • Speaking of garage sales (or e-bay/consignment…whatever floats your boat), I have one more tip. Things sell better with their original packaging. We have a 9 inch space between our washing machine and the wall in the basement. I’ve collapsed all of the boxes for things like the Intellitainer, exersaucer, high chair, carseat, stroller etc and stuck them in there. When I re-sell them, they’ll be in a lovely new-ish looking box and hopefully much more appealing to customers.
  • What about the manuals? Some can obviously be tossed. Believe it or not, we got a manual with a ball. That one was immediately recycled, but there are many we’d like to keep. I especially recommend keeping anything requiring assembly. We kept manuals for the crib, ride on toys, play centres, Intellitainer, high chair and some of the more complicated toys.

    I have a file box (on wheels with hanging files kind of like this but clear) with all of our household manuals in it. The files are organized into categories like ‘outdoor appliances’ (lawnmower, weedeater…), ‘large kitchen appliances’ (fridge, stove, dishwasher), ’small kitchen appliances’ (blender, food processor…), ‘permanent’ (air conditioner, furnace, water heater…), ‘furniture’ (assembly for armoire, lazyboy warranty etc), ‘electronics’ (DVD player, stereo equipment…) and a few more.

    When I was pregnant and we started to purchase, I added a hanging file called ‘kids.’ Within that I have folders labeled ‘furniture,’ and ‘toys.’ I have the receipts for all items stapled to the manuals in case I need to return something or find out where it came from. This system has worked great for us.

    • What about you? How do you keep it under control?

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    Posted on on March 7th, 2007 in good things, handy household hints, house and home, little people, the boy | 11 Comments »

    Cutting Down On Frustration: Baby Clothing Sizes Revealed

    I spent an hour or so on Saturday night weeding through the boy’s bin of upcoming sizes. I do that once a month or so. (Yes, on Saturday nights. Shut up.) I still had a few of the bigger 12 month items in there, and also pulled out all of the 18 month items. Today he’s wearing one of the 12 month outfits that I just pulled out, and it will probably be the only time he wears it. Apparently Nike is short and wide. He’s swimming in it in width, and yet I can see his ankles and belly button.

    Baby clothes can be frustrating for any parent. Who knows before they have a baby which brands fit true to size and which are way off? Well, parents of the blogosphere…(that’s you!). We can help!

    I’ll include a list of my opinions about clothing here, and you can add yours in comments. Hopefully we can help expectant and new parents to pull the right sizes out of the bin early enough that they actually get some wear out of them. Everyone’s baby is different (mine’s long & lean…must be nice) so be sure to let us know your baby’s shape along with your opinions. Feel free to include comments about quality as well as size. Also, I’m in Canada but over half of my readers are in the US and Europe/Asia so feel free to include stores and brands from wherever you happen to be. I favour indie companies myself, but will focus on mainstream brands here. You? Comment on whatever you like!

    Here we go…

    Baby Gap: For us, Baby Gap has been fairly true to size (slightly small). They fit our long and lean baby perfectly. the 6-12 month size fit him from about 5-10 months. I love the quality - everything still looks almost new when I pack it away. Snaps in all the right places, and very comfortable. We have pants up to 2T with crotch snaps, which are hard to find and much appreciated. Adjustable waistbands rock.

    Carter’s: Fits slightly small, but very soft and lovely.

    Cherokee (from Zellers): Fits slightly small. Sleepers shrink and are fairly low quality. Other clothing seems much better and also fits truer to size.


    Children’s Place/Baby Place    : Fairly true to size. The 6-9 month pants fit him from 6-9 months. The shirts were a little bit larger, but very close. The quality of the shirts was fairly low - flimsy, I guess, but for the time he wears them they’re fine. The pants were all great quality. All items are very comfortable.

    Little Tikes: I didn’t even know they made clothes until last month! They seem to fit a little large. The outfit we got was lovely plush fleece with soft seams and a quality zipper. I really like it.

    Mexx: Fits large. The 4-6 month size fit the boy from about 6-10 months. Great quality - they still look brand new after months of washing and wearing.

    Nike: Short & fat. Great for the wider variety of baby. For the long & lean, buy at least one size larger than you think you need in order to get the appropriate length. Quality isn’t as good as I would expect for the price.

    Old Navy: Slightly small, but not too bad. The jeans in 12-18 months fit him from 9 months and he’ll be in them for a while yet. Decent quality for the price. I find the pants better quality than the tops. We love their jeans.

    Please Mum: As true to size as any we’ve found. At ten months, the boy’s in 12 months from Please Mum and it fits perfectly. 18 mos is slightly large, as you’d expect. I love the quality. I also love the sales. They have regular 50% off sales and scratch & save days in store.

    Snugabye: I’ve found them a little on the small side, and have had some that seem high quality and some that seem lower. I love the convert-a-foot concept!

    Tommy Hilfiger: Fits very large. The boy’s currently wearing 3-6 months in a polo shirt and in the jeans, and he’ll be able to wear them for some time yet. Some of the fabrics are low quality in the tops. The pants seem to be very high quality.

    WalMart - George: A little on the small side. The 12 month size fit him from about 8-9.5 months. They still fit in girth, but they’re too short. Cute, and decent quality for the price. (All gifts, I have to mention that I refuse to shop there. Read this blog for a few reasons why.)

    Walmart - other: Everything we received from Walmart (all gifts) shrunk terribly and fit for about a week. In this case, you get what you pay for. At 3 months, the boy was in their 12 month diaper shirts, and he’s not that huge. If you must buy from Walmart, buy big. And buy their George brand. Crappy quality, but I don’t expect anything great to come from Walmart.

    That covers most of what we’ve gotten over the past year. Let me know what you think.
    Anyone with older children? How do their clothes match up in terms of size and quality?
    How about the American stores like Target etc.? Let’s help those new parents out!
    (And, honestly, help me. I still don’t get it.)
    I’ll keep this one open indefinitely so we can keep sharing the wealth of knowledge that is parent bloggers.

    Come back Wednesday for an interactive post on organizing the plethora of kids’ stuff filling your home!

    This post got way too long, way too fast. Please check the comments for some great information!

    When you’re done, head over to The Opinionated Parent - there are currently five valid contests to enter, with more coming every day!

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    Posted on on March 3rd, 2007 in good things, handy household hints, house and home, little people, the boy | 22 Comments »

    Now you’ll really want to sleep with me…updated

    For the first time ever, we have expensive sheets. Like, really expensive sheets. Sheets I would never have bought full price. Four hundred thread count, luxury Egyptian cotton sheets.

    (What makes Egyptian cotton better than North American cotton? I don’t know, but it’s truly amazing.)

    We’ve been living with one set of sheets for our bed since we got married. That means they go in the wash about noon on Saturday. I remember to put them in the dryer around 6 pm. Then we remember on our way to bed that there are no sheets on it and cussing ensues.

    So, yesterday, I rocked out to the Bon Jovi in my badass mommy-van all the way to Linens and Things to check out their sale. (Incidentally, on my way, I saw no less than three illustrative examples of the big truck~small dick phenomenon, but that’s another post.)

    Regular $140.00. Clearance 70% off. Coupon for an additional 20% off from the flier. Sale price of $34.00 for the smoothest, softest, almost too nice to have sex on, most luxurious sheets my big white butt has ever been lucky enough to sleep on. They’re white, which is kind of scary, but that was the only colour they had for such a drastically inexpensive price.

    (And I got two pairs of these as well. Buy 1 Get 1 @ 50%. I got “dill” and “saffron.” Sounds yummy, no? Don’t you want to eat my sheets now? Much cheaper regular price than the other set. Not as nice, but much nicer than what we had before. I’m now addicted to sheets. I think I’ll change them every 2 days now. Like Oprah.)

    I highly recommend spending extra money on sheets if you can. It took me over 30 years to figure it out, but it’s worth it.

    UPDATE: Having great sheets did not, unfortunately, miraculously give me the ability to fold a freaking fitted sheet. Grrrr. Anyone have any tips? Right now I have a giant pile of wrinkles that’s pretty much rolled up and then smooshed.

    You have until Friday at midnight to enter to win the cutest kids booties you ever did see at MMO. The prizes are size medium (6-18 mos). Sorry, I forgot to mention that in the post. They make a great gift if they don’t fit your kids!

    We have no less than a butt-load of awesome reviews in the wings simmering for your pleasure. Be sure to check back every week. If you haven’t already, be sure to blogroll us. Click here for the sidebar image code. Please let us know if you have added our image to your sidebar. Once we confirm it’s placement, you will be entered for a random draw to win a selection of prizes from our sponsors. You can let us know via email or leave a comment on this post.

    Posted on on January 16th, 2007 in house and home, opinionated | 18 Comments »