Pages

Saturday, March 17, 2012

HOET DESIGN

Hoet Glasses (Image by Hoet Design)
As some of you know I was shopping for new glasses recently and well I did not end up buying glasses from Hoet Design but came pretty close.  I flip flop between a pair by Hoet and a pair by Theo for about an hour.  When it came down to it the Theo's worked better for me but I wanted the Hoet to work so much.  They are hands down the most comfortable glasses I have ever put on my face.  They are so light. The strong clean modern lines on the frames are also just gorgeous.  However they only come in black, silver and gold - those colours really do not work with my personality and skin pigmentation; so no Hoet for me this time around but I will certainly look at what they have next time I need glasses.

Check out their site not only do they have fantastic eye wear Hoet also does some fantastic accessories and other design pieces.

Friday, March 16, 2012

KITCHEN - GETTING ORGANIZED PART 1

My new house has a lovely kitchen but it was so hard to organize as there are a lot off deep cupboards and tall ones too.  Since our cutlery tray were screwed in at the old house they had to stay behind this means we have none here.  

My parents were visiting and my dad helped me get started on organizing.  We got 2 bing things done. The first is we used base cabinet dividers to sort out all my pans and trays. However instead of installing them in the bottom cabinet I installed them in the top of my pantry.  See I can only reach about 3 inches higher then the top shelf in the pantry; this lets me reach all the trays and so on and uses up space that otherwise would need a step stool for me to get anything from. We installed then upside-down so that the shelf can still be removed for cleaning. 


The second thing was my spice rack. Before we put the other house on the market we took this down in the old house because I spent a small fortune in 2010 organizing my spices. See I cook a lot so I have lots of spices; as of today I have 63 kinds.  I started getting these little tins from The Spice Trader 2 years ago and collected them all and refilled them as they were empty until all my spices were in matching containers. Then we used magnetic toll bars to hold them up to the back of a cabinet door.  It can hold up to apron 78 jars.


There is lots more to do in the kitchen but at least it's a start.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

WHAT TO DO IN TO

I wanted to compile a list of places in Toronto that I want to visit with the C Monster and I was trying to figure out were to write the list what better place the on The Wiseman Conspiracy.  Every time we visit a place I will update the list.
  1. Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament
  2. Cirque du Soleil 
  3. Young People's Theatre
  4. Solar Stage
  5. Casa Loma
  6. Hockey Hall of Fame
  7. Royal Ontario Museum - Visited; great children section
  8. Textile Museum of Canada
  9. Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum and Arts Centre
  10. Toronto Refrence Library
  11. Fort York National Historic Site
  12. Gardiner Museum
  13. National Film Board of Canada
  14. Luminato
  15. Royal Agricultural Winter Fair
  16. Nuit Blanche
  17. Art Gallery of Ontario - Visited; great children section but it has limited hours
  18. Tall Ship Kajama 
  19. Canada's Wonderland - Visited
  20. Centreville
  21. Fantasy Fair
  22. Sky Zone - visited in May 2012 I think I had as much fun if not more then him
  23. Wild Water Kingdom
  24. Evergreen Brickworks 
  25. CN Tower - Visited; I am pretty certain C would be willing to go up the tower everyday if we could afford it
  26. Indy Toronto
  27. Toronto Leafs Game
  28. Toronto Raptors Game
  29. Toronto Football Club Game
  30. Toronto Marlies Game - done April 1st 2012
  31. Toronto Blue Jays Game
  32. Toronto Argonauts Game
  33. Ontario Science Centre - Visited; we are members :-)
  34. Toronto Zoo - Visited; we are members :-)
  35. Riverdale Farm - Visited; I think C Monster could go here every week and never get board
  36. Reptilia - Visited; we did this about 2 years ago and I keep on meaning to go agin C really enjoyed himself
  37. Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory - Visited; C Monster was afraid that the butterflies would land on him 
  38. African Lion Safari
  39. HtO Park
  40. Toronto Island Beaches
  41. Allan Gardens Conservatory - Visited March 12 with papa
  42. Centennial Park Conservatory
  43. Cummer Skateboard park
  44. Franklin Children's Garden
  45. High Park - Visited; we try to go here once a year
  46. Music Garden
  47. Toronto Botanical Gardens
  48. Trinity Public Labyrinth 
  49. Take the Ferry to Toronto Island
  50. S Walter Stewart Library - visited; this is C's favourite library
  51. East York Farmers Market - visited
  52. Evergreen Brickworks Farmers Market - visited
  53. Leslieville Farmers Market 
  54. East Lynn Farmers Market 
  55. Apple picking - we go every year
  56. Raspberry picking - done in 2011
  57. Strawberry picking - done in 2011
  58. Blueberry Picking 
  59. Maple Syrup Farm - we go every year 
  60. Honey Farm
  61. Camping
  62. Lionel's Pony Farm & Petting Zoo
  63. North York Fire Dept. Museum
  64. Take the Go Train
  65. Douglas Snow Aquatic Center
  66. Corn Maze
  67. Bizzy Bee Play Center - Visited 
  68. Playground Paradise - Visited; this is probably our favourite indoor playground so far
  69. Book bank  - visited 
I am certain I have missed things and will add to the list as times goes by.  What are your favourite places to go with kids in Toronto?

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

4 YEARS IN IMAGES

So the C Monster turned 4 this March here is a look back at some of my favourite picture taken of him over the last 4 years...



Taken in the first week he was born

2nd Halloween







He lived in his new helmet for 3 days; even slept in it.





I miss his mohawk it was soo cute


C Monster falls asleep anywheres when he is tired



Once again; he was playing upstairs too quietly I when to check and found him sleeping.

Halloween 2011







SHOPPING FOR NEW SPECTACLES

About a month ago I realized I could not read street signs properly when I was driving.  Geoff and I were looking for a street and he asked me to read the street names out for him as he was driving.  We quickly realized that he could read the signs way before me.  Time to get my vision checked!

So last Monday I went in and got my vision checked it changed but not by much at least not enough to make my vision as blurry as it has been.  The culprit was the anti-glare film on my glasses was so scratched up that it's like I am looking true fogged up piece of glass.

As much as I love my Theo's that I have had now for I think 8 years!!!! It was time to get new glasses.

A few pairs of glasses back for Geoff when our regular Eye Glass Shop changed owners we discovered Karir Eyewear.  See we used to shop at Envy in Beach however when the owner sold the shop we found that the new management did not carry any unique frames.  They still have a good selection on contemporary mainstream frames but that is not what we usually look for.

Not only does Karir have great selection; the manager at the Yorkville location is amazing.  He always remembers us by name and "frames".  When we walked in on Saturday the first thing he said to Geoff "How are your glasses treating you?" I would like to point Geoff was not even wearing his sunglasses.

Stay tuned for some pics of me in my new spectacles.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

MAMA BUY A NEW ONE...

Grandma bought C Monster this shirt about a year ago and well this week when we tried it on it was too small.  For the first time he had a fit he started crying and was very upset that his robot shirt would no longer fit him.  This was a first; he has never really cared about clothing.

So I told him I would see if I could find a new one for him.  See this came from the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, so no guaranties that I would find it again.  After googling the name on the tag I found the artisan that made the shirt and contacted them to confirm they would be at the show this coming spring.  Not only did Petra from Kiki Kids Wear confirm they would be at the show she offered to place a shirt on hold for me to ensure I get one in the right size.  Thank you Petra.

On another note in the clothing world C Monster is definetly turning into a fashionista these days.  This morning he wanted to select what he was wearing making certain the colours matched.  As he was putting on his t-shirt he looked at it carefully and said:

him :  "Mama I can't put this t-shirt on"
me: "Why"
him: "It's not perfect"
me: "I don't understand what is wrong with it"
him: "the picture is not all the same colour"
me: "show me I don't understand"
him"look mama there are crakes in the picture it does not look right anymore"

The image on the shirt was starting to crackle and fade, I think I am heading for trouble....


Monday, March 12, 2012

FRONT HALL RENO - PART 2

My parents were visiting for the last few weeks and my dad helped out with the front hall he finished the painting and hung up some of the hooks.  Now I need to set up some sort of organization for shoes, hats and gloves.  I need up painting twice the first yellow we selected turned out to be a fit too florescent; I am really happy we took the time to re-paint.



For the shoe organizing I have a design in mind that I want to have custom built for the space.  If you know any good carpenters in Toronto please do share their info with me.

I also wanted to take tho moment to share a picture of one of the many details from our house that made us fall in love with it when we first saw it.


The above is a picture of the stained glass window that is in our front hall.  We have another one that matches in the staircase and I am pretty certain that once upon a time their would have been one also in the top half of the front window of the house.  One day we will change the front window and have an artist recreate a matching stained glass window for us.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

FARMER'S FRUIT MARKET - OPEN

For over a month a sign at 1620 Gerrard Street East in bright green letters has been taunting the Coxwell and Gerrard area .  All it read  "Farmer's Fruit Market" no date when it is opening or any other information.  Today as I went for my walk to No Frills to my surprise the little market was open.  They were not fully stocked yet but the produce they had was beautiful and well priced.  They were obviously overwhelm by the amount on customers on there first day open. That did not stop almost every customer in there from buying something and saying as they were paying we will be back and man are we ever happy you opened.

I picked up everything I was planning on buying at No Frills and checked out in probably half the time it would have taken me at the grocery store.

Here is what I bought with todays prices:

Fresh Grapes - $2.94
Zucchini - $0.20
Strawberries - $1.59
Organic Blueberries - 2 @ $1.99 each

for a total of $8.71

Saturday, March 10, 2012

BIRTHDAY PARTY A LA C MONSTER

For his 4th birthday the C Monster asked for a Robot party and his mama delivered...


Robot chocolate cupcake cake that C Monster selected and I created with the aid of this super awesome cookbook that my friend Lisa bought for me. What's New Cupcake? by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.



I found these really nice robot banners, plates and 3D glasses at Chapters.  I plan on reusing the banners  for decoration in C Monster's room. They were also on a 50% off sale when we got them.


As a cute little surprise I decorated his gift with a robot.  As C monster put "I be real careful mama I want to keep my bag forever."



I even made a robot piñata for him and his friends. It was pretty easy I used an old show box and decorated it with construction paper.  It was hit :-)

I feel like I have to mention this one I am always torn about getting balloons.  C Monster requested them he said he wanted 2 balloons for every friend and 4 for him.  Balloons are hard on the environment as they do not biodegrade and well stay there forever.  They also pose a hazard to animals that try to eat them.  What are your thoughts on balloons?