I mean, besides the fact that we eat out every other night. Easy to do without a kid. Right now half the clothes in my laundry basket are pajamas or pajama related.

And the heat isn’t on here yet. Let me tell you, it is chilly. I slept with a hoodie on last night, hood up to keep the old ears warm. The fish aren’t fans either, they’ve been huddled at the bottom of the pond for 3 days.

Not a great pic of me, but it was the only one where her eyes were open. Out of 8. She was wide awake.

I’m hoping to get some decent sleep tonight. On top of my usual stresses in life, I lost my skull ring on Monday afternoon. I noticed it missing when we got home from High Park, ugh, and we drove back to do some searching and turned up nada. Tears, many tears were shed. Teeth gnashed. More tears. I turned our rather messy home upside down looking in all the obvious spots, then the less obvious spots and then the ridiculous spots. Nada. Looked everywhere another dozen times. I made posters for the park (honestly, I had no idea where I lost it) and a craigslist ad and told my neighbors and posted on Facebook and twitter.

Agony. My heart was in serious amounts of pain. And then my dad had his hip replacement surgery that did not go as well as planned and when I talked to my mom to find out how he was doing, I burst into tears in the grocery store.

No sleep+stupid amount of stress=crying in public. Vodka helped. Vodka is very helpful in small amounts. Ditto mind numbing video games.

Fast forward to today, 5 days from the day I lost it and guess what? Ari found it on the floor of the truck, in the back seat! I don’t often hug and kiss her, but today was certainly exceptional and I did plant a few on her rosy cheek. As a reward I gave her the pink knitted squid that she has been begging for since I made it. And Shannon got her a new game for her ds.

And my dad is recovering nicely, he is out of bed and enjoying the women’s world cup soccer.

Sleep? Come back please. You are missed!

Gosh, right? Where to begin?

The main fabric, the largest swath that everything else is sitting upon, that was from Libs, it’s 2.5 yards and it’s Anna Maria Horner and it’s decor weight (a little heavy) and it will be the back of my yellow quilt. GOSH! Look at it again, it’s so seriously beautiful. And goes perfectly with everything else. Yes, I’m dying over here.

The fan of yellows is what I got in the mail today (except the honey comb, that’s Tula Pink from the workroom), it’s mostly a fabric line called Hideaway (very available on etsy) and it’s all clocks and yodeling and alpine scenery. The yellow and white stripes is by Lecien and it’s nice but it might be a little dull with the rest of the yellows but I might still use it.

The purples, I was supposed to get one full yard of the smaller print but the woman that sold it to me realized after the fact that she’d run out so she sent what she had of it, half a yard, and another half yard of the larger print and I LOVE them too. SO pretty and that’s the binding of my yellow quilt, friends. You’re seeing it in it’s very earliest stages.

Other super exciting news: Libs is having a girl! The noise I keep making starts loudly, it’s like “EEEE!” and then continues for a few seconds and then more of the same and my eyes start watering because I am seriously so deliriously happy and excited. I will spoil this child, I promise everyone that. I wasn’t living in Toronto when her first kiddo was born so he got the shaft but not this time!

And to cap it all off, I think I broke my left foot (yes, foot this time, yay!) ring toe. I dinged it getting into the shower (in a truly wretched hangover state) and stood there making a less joyous eeee noise while the water warmed up. I couldn’t sit around and baby it because it was my mom’s 70th birthday party and I had to go go go. It turned nice and purple over the course of the day and it hurts like hell 24 hours later.

The birthday party was super fun. Her friends really like to hug everyone and each other and it’s all very loving and sweet. And a giant bowl of shrimp helped. And the gravlax. Gimme some of that any day.

This is after an enormous amount of sushi and a giant slice of iced cream cake. Hopefully that excuses the look of discomfort.

Taken to mark my 39th birthday. I had a great day, thanks, I did a bunch of lounging, then I went to VV and got a couple plates, some black and white gingham (I am addicted to gingham!) and a 1026 piece puzzle that I am already about 1/4 done. For gifts Ari gave me an amazing box she made AND $5, and Shannon gave me a super bling watch, Portal2, a couple books and some crazy thread that glows in the dark.

Now to top the perfect day off with the perfect evening, Survivor and ANTM.

*Birthday Girl Edition

Yes, I still go there. No, the pigs weren’t organized as such, I did that. It was easy though, there were so many. These guys weren’t the only ones either. Or the ugliest.

See what they did there? It says “PIG” just in case you couldn’t tell what the heck it is.

Oh, I liked this part:

Ha ha! Get it? They’re charging $1.99 on an item that sells at Dollarama (the sticker is still on it!) for…a DOLLAR! Amazing, really,  I didn’t realize just how much junk from the dollar store could appreciate over time. I’m going back tomorrow to buy this kitty and it’s orange friend (not pictured) to save for my retirement.

Please, no one explain this small dish to me. I like it’s air of mystery.

Well. I did spend a few bucks. I got a book about card tricks and stunts for Shannon, a couple drinking glasses and a giant bag of spools of thread. And a zipper but the nice check out lady threw it in for free. I’m mostly psyched about the thread, I love the wood spools.

Lots of it is Coats and Clark, some are new. I have a sewing class this weekend, finally learning to put in zippers.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking: Caitlin must live in one classy building if people can afford to throw away such beautiful couches. Well, it’s true, I do live in a class encrusted building. Don’t be jealous, don’t hate. That couch is still there AND it has a friend if you’ve got a truck or a couple strong friends. For free.

Oh, and I posted more ducks a few days ago. I have a pretty crazy back log of submissions to go through, it’s forcing me to be picky. If something doesn’t look like a duck or it’s blurry or stupid, I delete it. With no reply. I know, so mean, huh?

This time, on the third run, they don’t do that. I’m not being anal about them, I don’t feel the need to get every single one, so I’m happy with the group I got, my favourite being the Beastie Boy guy with a boom box.

I also love the fisherman, the nice girl working at the cash register helped me feel up every single package until we found him. The witch is holding a maraca as a poison bottle (the Mexican guy came with an extra).  I also really like the elfy guy, sort of Link, I guess.

If anyone has extras of any I don’t have I’d be thrilled to get mail!

Ali, you are going to be a GREAT MOM!!! You are going to ace this, I know it! I wish I could be there to help out more. And I hope your address hasn’t changed, ok?

Love you!

The Irishmen found the cardinals to be so exotic.

I do too. Lovely.

This is the house I think of when I smell pancakes frying, use a white board, look at dollhouses and walk on shag carpeting. It’s the house that made me love Siamese cats, model trains and fake fireplaces. Every time I eat a cherry or see someone canoeing, pat a spaniel puppy, it’s this house.

Did I mention the laundry chute?