The Arbolog |

Ross, Kale, and I are leaving tomorrow for Victoria for a three city Christmas tour. We start in Victoria where we have plans with the Grans, and we’ll head up Island for the rest of the weekend. On Monday we’re back here for the day and on Tuesday at 1:50pm we board a plane from Abbotsford to Calgary where we are spending 8 whole days frolicking in the cold and dry weather of Alberta.

I’m not really worried about taking Kale on his first plane trip – a flight to Calgary takes more time to taxi from the hangar to the disembarking area than it does actually up in the air. Whatever he throws our way we can deal with, and apologize profusely to neighbouring passengers.

Things I am sort of worried about:  Kale hasn’t been sleeping well for the past few weeks. Sleeping at places other than home will likely just get worse. Alternatively, it might just make it all better, who knows. But it’s an unknown and one I am sort of nervous about.

I’m not worried about it, but three days ago, Kale elected to stop breastfeeding. He was down to once a day, in the mornings, and over the past while he has gone from crawling into my lap and asking for milk, to making the hand sign for milk and racing us to the fridge to get out his sippy of milk. If we are done breastfeeding, well, that’s okay. I really don’t feel sad about it. But what I’m worried about (a bit) is whether the three city Christmas tour will prompt a return to wanting to breastfeed only to find out there is no more milk. How much there was before, I’m not really sure. My breast (since he hasn’t nursed on one side in months) isn’t showing any signs of being unhappy about Kale’s departure – no hardness, soreness, redness or anything. So in my mind, we’re done. Just like that.

The funny thing is that with a vacation, I’ll likely have more time to post blog entries, rather than less time. Or at least, I hope. I need some serious downtime.

I’m also researching a new phone. My Blackberry, which was bought used a year or so ago, has started randomly shutting off, randomly choosing not to check new messages, and randomly choosing not to ring. I’m starting to look at iPhones… primarily because their user interface and toddler fuss-busting applications appeal to me. Bell is offering me a pretty attractive rate plan as well, that will save $20 a month on the plan over 3 years but initially cost me $200 for the phone. Anyone out there with an iPhone or a Blackberry who has recently made the switch from one to the other have some advice to share?

I’m one of those “large calfed” girls. Stores call it “plus size boots” and most places offer the style of a water buffalo for those of us who actually have muscular calves. Also, just because I have large calves doesn’t mean my feet are big. I have a size 6 or 6.5 boot, and my foot is narrow or normal sized. So are my ankles. I just have hugely over developed calves from years of soccer. A physiotherapist once told me that my overdeveloped calves might account for knee problems over the years. I have never been able to wear tall boots and it’s sort of become a bit of a holy grail for me to find “the perfect boot”. 

I’ve been on a hunt for the elusive perfect boot – boots I can wear with jeans, skirts, and dresses. Especially jeans. Originally I wanted the boot that did it all: confortable, with good support, made of leather, with a heel, etc etc. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that you can’t get a heeled boot with excellent support and 100% comfortable. I need to buy two pairs of boots, actually. A winter pair of boots I don’t care what the sole looks like and stylish boots to covet and wear out. 

About five years ago, I bought a pair of slightly beat up looking black rugged boots from the thrift shop and they were on sale plus they were having some sort of shoe clear out and so they ended up costing me a total of $0.50. I am not kidding. 50 freakin’ cents. I took them home, and polished them up and discovered a) they were awesome boots that fit perfectly, and b) someone had recently paid to replace the soles and they had fabulous tread on them and c) the boots were actually Daytons. I bought some wool inserts the other day to make them cozy and these are now my winter boots. 

So a few weeks ago I went on a hunt for the elusive perfect stylish boot. And I found them. In England, of course. The company is called “Duo Boots” and prides themselves on their ability to fit larger calfed gals. I found the perfect pair of boots, that blends the style I want with the comfort I want too:

They were £141 and I sent the link to Ross and sort of mooned over them and tried to figure out a way to justify their purchase. £141 is about $250 Canadian dollars. Add into the equation the duty, tax, and import fees I would have to pay, and these were looking like a $300 pair of boots. 

Well, I’ve sold a bunch of stuff on Craigslist. I’ve sold a bunch of socks. I sold a few dayplanners. So when Duo Boots emailed me this morning to tell me the boots I have been coveting were on sale for £100, well… I did it. I bought them. 

Its going to completely empty my mad money jar. I feel kinda light-headed, actually. 

I’m also looking for a new purse. I have a zillion purses, I know, but I can’t function well anymore with a baby and with any purse meant to be carried on the forearm or in the hands. I’ve been finding myself taking my wallet, my dayplanner, my keys etc OUT of my current bag and shoving it into my shopping bag.  I own one of these Mountain Equipment Co-op messenger style small satchels, but the amount of style on a bag like that? Well, it hurts, to put it mildly. Plus, I’m all anti-MEC ever since they stopped making their own women’s clothes, jacked up their prices to cover the cost of all those brand name labels like Prana and Patagonia, and stopped selling sizes that might fit the average women. Because apparently women who have a bit of substance apparently aren’t active.

ANYWAY, not to get all ranty here, so moving on.

I don’t really think the MEC messenger tote will work for a night out – its made of waterproof ripstop nylon or something, so that hardly goes with knee high ruched leather boots. It hardly goes with anything ruched. So I have been eyeing up purses to find “the” bag to last me for a few years, rather than continually buying a cycle of cute and trendy bags.

So my list of wants includes real leather, hopefully made in Canada, and something a little unusual – not just black leather. It needs to be worn as a shoulder bag, and be large enough to house my dayplanner, a wallet, a small bag of cosmetic-y things (lip balm, hair elastics, etc), and be able to carry a diaper, a couple wipes, and a small baby spit cloth. Oh, and keys and a cell phone. Ross and I were out and about not too long ago, and I saw this bag on the side of a bus. Let’s see. Style is correct. Colour is awesome (it comes in purple or grey, and I like both). Size is about right. Its made in Canada. Um… hello? Can I please have this? 

Of course they are on sale for Boxing day, but I just blew my entire mad money jar on my dream boots, so the purse will have to wait. There is a Roots outlet store by my house and who knows, maybe one of these purses will find their way to the outlet store. if any of you have any suggestions about a bag, I’d love to hear them.

With December right around the corner, its time to think about Christmas shopping. I’m one of those people who you love to hate – I’m generally done shopping before December even rolls around and this past few years I am also one of those people who actually takes Martha Stewart’s suggestion and wraps the gifts as soon as I walk in the door from acquiring said gift. With the addition of a child this year, however, I can’t say with my usual smugness that I am “done” per se, although the list of things left to pick up is really small and if I could just find a local retailer who has the four or five things on my list, I’d be set. I could easily knock them off in about 30 seconds (barring the 30 minutes to find parking) at Metrotown, but I’m really hoping to find these few things here in New West, or at least at a small retail shop. 

Bree over at Tenth to the Fraser has an excellent suggestion about shopping local and it’s something Ross and I have been trying to do for years, not just for Christmas. It’s hard though, when you live in a city poised on the verge of greatness but still stuck in stasis in the planning stages of the impending greatness with no less than eleventy-billion dollar stores and a high number of “antique” stores trying to pass off crap as valuables by calling it “vintage” or “shabby chic” . Ross and I also put a caveat on our gifting last year that items needed to be handmade by us or by another person, further complicating and making it more of a (fun) challenge to find that perfect gift for each other. Its about effort, not price.

I spend a lot of time on Etsy looking for gifts from local crafty folk and also, admittedly, looking for ideas to steal for myself. I used to spend a great deal of time on Craftster but I don’t like their search functionality and I really don’t like the huge amount of well… emo-based crafts that seem to be posted. One can only look at so many sarcastic Nintendo inspired belt buckles. Blog reader Gillian has an Etsy shop (buy some slings and stuff!) and, actually, so do I, although there is nothing there at the moment. Soon there will be some goodies up for sale if I can find time in between the current list of crafty gift projects and the needs of a 5 month old noisy wee beast to complete the items you shall soon be able to purchase. 

I’m volunteering at the West Coast Christmas Craft and Pet Fair in Cloverdale this weekend, and will be working the No Puppy Mills Canada booth, one of the few animal-related volunteering I do now that I have Kale (the other three groups being Greater Vancouver Street Cat Society,  Vancouver Shiba, and New Westminster Emergency Pet Services.) I’m hoping to find some good stocking stuffers for the animal lovers and non-animal lovers in my life and getting out and about in disguise as a non-mom is always fun. 

Today the weather is rainy and piss, but I will be bundling Mr. Kale up in fleece and headed uptown to Cartwright Jewelers which is not only where Ross and I had our wedding rings made at, but is also a great place to get jewelry repaired. I have a bracelet that I like that the little catch chain is broken, and ideally it will be repaired before I head off to my staff Christmas party. 

So tell me, dear readers, do you have your Christmas gift shopping complete and do you have any amazing items to share? 

Kale says hi, by the way:

From Kale 3 to 6 months