This week at gymnastics I did a chin-up pull over on the big bars all by myself. I am the only one in my class who can do it and my coach is so proud of me.

He said

The post for me this week comes much earlier on our Sunday as I have another one of those 1-10pm repair shifts at the store with a few from our Genius Team. So it will leave Danielle with the duties of both Sunday night bedtime and the weekly posting this evening, and then we’ll convene on the couch for a quick veg out session to put the finishing touches on the week before we take the Slumbersville Train to the new week.

This week was a tough one work-schedule-wise for Danielle, Emelia and I. I had a couple closing shifts and then, the favourite shift of Danielle’s (8-5pm) culminated in me heading right from work down to Toronto to see our friend Jim Bryson play a show at the infamous Dakota Tavern—one of my all-time favourite music venues. So, that meant that Danielle had to do solo bedtime with Emelia three nights in a row as a result.

Thank G-dash-D for Danielle’s friend Kelli and her ‘taxi service’ ferrying both Danielle and Emelia to the YMCA so Emelia could get to her weekly activities and Danielle could sneak in abbreviated workouts! I am fearing we’re getting closer and closer to regrettably needing a second vehicle.

By Friday I sensed there might be a mutiny on my hands and I can’t say I blame Danielle or Emelia as I was missing getting the bedtime story n’ snuggle routine with Emelia too. Thankfully Saturday’s shift was an 8-5pm which left us plenty of evening time last night to connect to our beloved routine—the whole lot of us. And because of the shift I have today, it also afforded us a very slow-paced start to the morning that would look slow even in a time-lapse video!

As for the show I snuck down to this week… It was a doubly great reunion of sorts for me. First off of course there was seeing my good friend Jim play his first show in some time, showcasing his new music. But, secondly I got to go to the show with my ‘concert wife’, Dawn who I had not seen or hung out with in quite some time. Our last visit I think when we got together with CBCB Radio 3 friends in June for the annual NxNE picnic. It has been far too long since we’ve seen each other and just hung out. So this night of mutually favourited music to see our friend Jim was the perfect remedy. And his music and—more importantly—his stage banter is perfectly entertaining. It was a great night that culminated in poutine for me and a rootbeer float for Dawn at the Lakeview Diner. Then it was back to home and to the comforts of our bed.

The other thing that made this week hurried is our long search for a couch to replace the rib-punching rock pile that ours had become ended this week. Danielle had found a couch and chair set that we both immediately fell in love with the mid century design of, but it was going on a half off sale as of Friday. The only night we had to check out the couch at The Bay was Monday night as soon as I was done work at 7pm. So Danielle with the help of Kelli’s Taxi met me at the mall and we made the trek from the north end of the city to the south like banshees to go take a test drive on the couch. And to our delight we were both very happy with Danielle’s find.

The other news this week is we’ve started to plan our trip down to Toronto to see Jill Barber play at Massey Hall. We have a place to stay in one of those AirBnB type finds—a condo in the heart of the entertainment district, and we’re mapping out tons of visit time flanked on either side of the show to visit with Todd and Charlie. We’ll head down first thing Saturday morning and then head back early afternoon on Sunday. Should be a great little weekend escape in the big smoke with all the things we love: family, music, and friends.

Aside from waiting for the couch and chair that is now ordered and going to take a month before it is delivered, that was all that is on the TeeterPod radar this week. Well other than it is Danielle’s birthday this week, and we have Christmas approaching very quickly!

She said

This week was a bit of a blur. John’s work schedule and the week filled with evening activities before I knew it we were at the end of the week.

As we spoke about in the last couple weeks we are in the process of redecorating the living room. We made a trip to ikea earlier in the month to look at a couch set that we loved. We did like it but I was concerned about a few things about it. Then we came to a post on a mom board I belong to and the perfect couch fell in our lap.

For a long time John and I loved the simple lines of the mid-century modern style. So a friend of mine on a message board had just sold her victorian home and moved to a mid century home and was in the process of redecorating to reflect the style of the home. So what does that mean for us? Well she posted a link to a couch she was considering. And it was perfect with a capital P. The couch was simple, clean lines and in the mid-century style we had long been seeking. And even better news, the set was going on ½ price at the end of the week.

Well what that did mean with our busy week and more particularly John’s schedule that the only day we could get to the store before the sale started was Tuesday night and late. John worked until 7 and my best friend Kelli was sweet enough to drive us to the mall after the kids activities and our workout. We made the mad dash across town to the only Bay that had a furniture section and checked out the set. It was perfect. Now the debate was the colour. Do we go bold with the vintage pumpkin or do we go neutral and go with the vintage grey tone and use colour in the art and the accessories? After a fair bit of back and forth we chose the neutral and matching chair and couch and decided we would look for a vintage secondary chair for that perfect pop and find lots of fun pillows to give lots of colour to the room.

So the fun has begun. As soon as I could on Friday I called in and ordered the set. It will be 5 weeks before we get the set but since it is made to order we have to wait. What this will allow us is the time to find the perfect accents. I have already told John that this is what I want as our Christmas presents this year and I have a feel an accent chair will be my birthday present to myself this year.

This weekend with John working a few late shifts I started the first big step in the transition of the living room from run down daycare zone to a comfortable family space that will still double as some space for the daycare kids. I took the first step of cleaning and clearing out the unnecessary clutter. I had a fair bit of toys and games that the children didn’t really play with, had missing pieces or were just a source of constant dumping. So they went. The end result at the end of Friday night was two boxes and three garbage bags of donations to goodwill and two garbage bags going to the curb this week. It was a big first step.

The end step is making the storage that houses John’s vinyl, our movies and what I have left of the daycare toys on the main level a clean stream line look. I have to order the shelf inserts and drawers from Ikea. I thought this meant another trip down to Ikea but with the shipping being a less than what it would cost us in gas to get there I think we will order them online soon.

The next step after that is finding a few things, the perfect art, accent chair, coffee table, and side tables. It will be a labour of love and we will pick away at it but we are hoping that if we find things we love at reasonable prices we can stay in budget and once and for all replace the broken down living room to a room we are comfortable in and looks pretty nice as well.

That was our week, off to bed and crash for the night.