an ikea facelift

So, today is my last day before embarking on a new journey. One I hope will be the last for a long time. I start my new job tomorrow. I had told Mr C that today is the day where I will sit down and park myself on the sofa. I will do nothing. Absolutely. Nothing. He just went, "uh huh". He knows me too well.

I must have ants in my pants because after dropping Keira off to school and sitting on the sofa for about half an hour.. I decided to sew something. So I headed off to Ikea.

Our really old sleeper sofa, warts and all.. 

The ill-fitting & expensive slipcover.. eeeeyuk.

We've had this sleeper sofa for a very long time. I believe it was Mr C's first sofa purchase. Believe me, that was a long time ago! I have never been able to properly recover that sofa because of it's odd cushion shape and thin arms. I've spent quite a few dollars buying slipcovers that never fit. So today, I decided to do something about it. Even though we bought new sofas for the basement, we decided to keep this sofa because of the extra sleeping area it provides. But I hate how it looks.

Ikea has great graphic fabrics at amazing prices. I bought 8 meters of this Saralisa fabric and eventually only used about 6.5 meters in total. From beginning cut to the end sew, this Ikea project took only 2.5 hrs and cost me only 45,44$ (cdn)! Not too shabby...I'm really happy about the end result and can only thank my memory of Trading Spaces for being able to complete this thing!

Cutting the fabric to fit

Pinning the pieces together

The end result! I love it!

happy weekend!

Yes, matching Hello Kitty dresses (smack me someone)

Keira was in top form this weekend. Making her dad sing nonsensical songs while she danced away in the backyard, zipping in and out of the house, playing outside all weekend long, chalk drawing in the driveway & just generally being a happy kid. Love it!

Happy Memorial Day to my Stateside friends! I hope you have a lovely long weekend. What'd y'all do?

This weekend, I finished up painting trim and doors in the living & dining room of the house (amazing how refreshed our house looks now!), took care of 2 bff princesses and dropped off Keira to a friend's birthday party. Whew. I was also supposed to take my mom shopping for some necessities but she cancelled on me because I asked her to go shopping before 11am. Um, okeedokee. We were late for the birthday party today because I thought it was for 10:30 but it was for 10. Oops. At least I remembered the date and wrapped the gift (ok, I did that this morning too).

We also went furniture browsing while the Keikster was at the birthday party today and actually ended up buying our sofas for the basement! Wow. First of all, it was an amazing deal. Second, we are fed up with waiting. Third, I think the huz is itching to get his man-cave happening and ditch the women upstairs. lol. He does know I'm having a sewing/craft corner in the same basement.

Trim are all white now, not the horrible yellowish off-white it was before. The hutch & corner stand (out of picture) will be painted black and chairs.. well, we're still looking for our dining room chairs. That's our new dining table though. Custom-made!

Now, we stop spending and save again. Did I tell you I got rid of the horrible orange-what-the-hell-was-I-thinking-buying-these-fugly-drapes along with the underlying filmy orange sheers from the dining room window? I can't believe how much light we're getting in there now!

So, I'll just keep perusing/browsing/bookmarking and saving for new fabric to sew into something. Can't decide if I'm going with roman blinds (I can make it myself now, save some more $), or sew into regular curtains & also fabric choices.. Ah well, I waited this long, I can wait a bit longer.

Hope you all had a great weekend everyone!

i've been tagged!

I've been tagged! By Kristin Loffer Theiss of the amazing KLT Works!

I met Kristin via twitter and I've really gotten to admire her as an artist and amazing mom & person. Her products can be found here where she sells handmade, beautiful eco-friendly t-shirts and children's plushies, mobiles & more. They are seriously gorgeous! Her choice of fabrics amazes me all the time.

Please check out her incredible video on Vimeo where she draws on her sewing machine. Non-stop! Be amazed. Please stop by and peruse Kristin's blog here..

So where was I? lol. Oh yes, being tagged..

Here are the rules:
The Tag game goes as follows:
Go to the 8th folder in which you store your photos
Select the 8th photo
Post it to your blog and tell the story behind it.
After following the above instructions, you are ‘supposed’ to tag 8 other bloggers.


So, on to the 8th folder and 8th photo I found...  this! I think this was the day when Keira and I went downtown shopping together. We found the big bow headband à la Madonna circa 80's at Forever 21. Gotta love that store! It was less than 7$ and she felt like a princess wearing it. Of course, Keira hates wearing stuff on her head so the bow lasted about 5 minutes before she tore it off and flung it somewhere. lol.


Thanks Kristin for tagging me! 
And here are my list tagging 8 others! Like Kristin wrote, please don't feel pressured to post anything, it's just pure fun..


Sheri on http://www.happylittlebento.blogspot.com/
Susan Yuen on http://susanyuen.wordpress.com/
Lia on http://www.mybentolicious.com/
Kristi on http://kribssiscatchingup.blogspot.com/
Evelyn on http://ohmywordblog.blogspot.com/
Sandy on http://www.sandyalamode.com/
Jen on http://www.sophieandlilihandmade.blogspot.com/
Nath on http://mimimouse.canalblog.com/

Keira's drawing  à la Miró

victoria day weekend

Let's go!

I love that moose carving!

Dude, let's pose..

The Dinosaur section.. reminded me of the Smithsonian..

Happy Victoria Day everyone! Okay, happy belated Victoria Day weekend. How did you all spend it?
First, thank you all so much for your kind and encouraging comments for the last post! I was so surprised how many of you commented. Thank you!

So.. this weekend we drove out to Ottawa to visit some friends, staying over at their new home (which is beautiful by the way). I don't know when was my last visit to Ottawa but it was Keira's first time in our nation's capital!

The Parliament

Peekaboo!

These pronghorns remind me of Keira.. small head, big eyes and skinny legs.

The Magical Rainforest Creatures - amazing costumes!

Remember this pose.. Here's Keira's imitation..

Reach for the frog!

We decided to go to the grand re-opening of the Canadian Museum of Nature. I think the entire city of Ottawa also decided to go this Grand Re-Opening because the amount of people who were there was insane! But the kids liked it (I think). Keira especially loved the Dancing Magical Rainforest Creatures. She imitated the iguana dancing afterwards perfectly.

I also met friends of my friends who were super nice and they told us about the Children's museum at the Canadian Museum of Natural History. The kids had a blast in there! The Grand Hall and the First Peoples hall as well as the Pacific Coast Aboriginal exhibits are first rate. I loved it! I only wished we could have stayed longer and seen the rest of the museum.

The children's theatre. The kids loved this part, you got to dress up and 'act' on stage!

Get on the bus! Looked like Bus driver Bob's bus (Doodlebops)

Alright, how do we get the kids to do this at home??

This large ship is a hit with kids.. 

The rest of our visit was nice and relaxed. Keira loved playing with Alex and the neighbor's kids. She really doesn't have a problem making friends. Sadly we had to leave right after our visit to the Natural History museum and the kids were not happy about leaving each other. Ah well... we'll see each other soon enough this summer!

The incredible Grand Hall at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation

Uh yeah. 

There is amazing totem art everywhere!

Keira imitating the iguana..

goodbye & hello

You know all those posts about how much I've begun to hate just getting to and from work? All those hours wasted on driving my car, then taking the bus, then being smushed in the métro during rush hours and finally walking all the day down to work? Also the posts about not spending enough time with the kiddo??

Well, I've gone and done something about it.

I got a call out of the blue from a company I had actually turned down a few years ago but have kept in touch with the HR person (who I think is just a wonderful person! hence the keeping in touch part). They offered me a job and I'm taking it. Of course, I went through another interview process beforehand. The company is just a few minutes from my house, beside a nature area and is into a healthy way of living. 

As much as I love the cachet of working downtown, I have never liked working in Old Mtl. Apart from the almost daily walks in the Old Port during my lunch hours, there's not a lot of shopping, getting errands done type of places to do. It's great to eat out (if you want to shell out 20$ for a sammie & salad), it's great to go for walks and people watch. But that's it. If you're into the night scene, there are some great bars and hotels here as well for 5 à 7's but let's be realistic. How much 5 à 7's do you think I'm able to actually go to? Of course, I now know all the little places to get great deals on meals at lunches but.. I'm not even going to miss that. Shopping? Amazing trendy little boutiques. A little too high priced for me.

Time is money and money is time someone recently told me. It's true. Time also happens to be going by at warp speed! And time doesn't wait for anyone. I've lost my uncle, my 2nd mom, family friends.. I've seen kids getting sick and one passing away becoming an angel before his time all within the last 3 years. It's worn me down. I don't want to start a business of my own, only to be spending more time doing that than being with Keira. Believe me, I know what it is to own your business. I've lived it with my own parents though on the other side of the stick. I hated that they never had time for us, always working (and worrying about making money), always re-investing money back into the business instead of the new bike I wanted. Or the new this or that that I longed for. And most importantly, never spending more time with my sister and I. Zero vacations! Zero time.

So goodbye trendy Old Mtl, trendy cafés, trendy little stores. Goodbye soon-to-be ex-coworkers who have surprised me by actually telling me they'll miss me (sniff sniff). Hello to a new company, to being able to cycle to work, to hopefully having more time, to another way of life. I hope a less stressful type of life. 

Hello to my absolute wonderful little kid! I love you.

Soundbite

I came home tonight after work & visiting my mom and had this conversation with the Keikster:
K: My shoes are too small! My toe hurts. 
Me: I don't know how your feet grew, you only eat junk! You eat junk and you get smaller not the opposite. You only grow if you eat fruits & veggies like strawberries, blueberries..."
K cuts me off: uhkay uhkay (rolls eyes). I try to be good and eat the good stuff.. (pause) but not carrottes cuz I don like dat. My legs are allergic to them too.


Yesterday's soundbite:


We were outside gardening & Keira was humming to a Pink tune. So I told her she was singing a song by Pink. She looked confused and pointed to the pink flower beside her:

K: Pink? Like this flower pink??
Me: Yep, like the flower. 
K: Just Pink?
Me: Yep, like Madonna.
K: Huh? Who?
Oh boy..

flower sunday

She even cleaned up.. awesome

Selecting her flowers..

Selecting flowers to go in the pots.. 

Her own gardening gloves!

Mr C started gardening a few weeks ago, cleaning up our yard, adding more space for plants and creating our vegetable garden box. We finally got out to the garden center today to pick a few more annuals and perennials. Mr C also transplanted a few hostas around. He did an amazing job! We had a great little helper this year.. Keira! She did a great job too and is now crashed out in her bed (since 5pm!).. I guess we'll give her a bath tomorrow first thing am.

we want miles! @mmofa

The double butts at MMoFA

After Keira's school concert, we decided to take her to see the We Want Miles exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Get some culture into this kid! Put some jazz into her moves!

Mr C loved the history part of the exhibit, I loved all the album covers & paintings, especially ones by Jean-Michel Basquiat. I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit but here's one painting I especially loved..

"Horn Players" - Jean-Michel Basquiat

Keira loved the little rooms painted and illuminated by different colours for different albums. There was a red room, orange, blue, pink, green... Halfway through though, Keira had had enough. She wanted out. The black walls, the pops of colour plus music playing everywhere was attacking her senses. She's had this overloading of senses ever since she was a colicky baby. It's why she never wants to go to a movie theatre. Too much sound, too much visual.

So we quickly made our way to the last part of the exhibit, lingered & bought some stuff at the shop and waited for Mr C to make his way out. I also got to see the Inspiria exhibit which was incredible! Jewellery made by Boucheron inspired by Cirque du Soleil! Gorgeous.. Once we get our basement finished and invest in some surround sound, we'll definitely get Miles Davis on disc and watch. Jazz fest in our basement? Foh sho!

Keira doing her best Miles homage..

Duet

Memories.. this was where Mr C & I held our wedding reception..

A skippety-skoppety-doo