Tune in on Monday December 29th at 10pm on HGTV’s The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price , Martin Swinton will appear as an expert on episode about upholstery. It was shot last summer.

Jim Byers featured the story of local small business owners fighting to get their A-frame signs back from the city only to be told that they can’t put them out because the sidewalk is too narrow.

We feel for them. On north Avenue Road, we are facing the similar problems. The bylaw officers have told us that we can’t even put our A-fram sign on private property in front of our shop. This, to us, is insane. 

Once again, lots of enforcement of bylaws by city of Toronto inspectors; little services from the city for the high commercial property taxes that we pay.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

“The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price” is coming to HGTV in fall 2008. Ambrose was a designer contestant on the recent Designer Superstar Challenge.  Although he did not win the title of Designer Superstar, he caught the producer’s attention and a new show was conceived.

An episode the new show is being shot in the shop today with Martin appearing as an expert judge. Tune into the show in the fall to see the episode.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

The city of Toronto’s city inspectors are hyper vigilant in enforcing city bylaws with respect to A-frame signs and garbage removal. These laws unfairly target small mom and pop merchants. 

A recent article in the Toronto Star highlights problems for mom and pop merchants in The Junction area of Toronto. 

This article hit home for us as we and other merchants on north Avenue Road have felt the heavy hand of city inspectors. My letter to the editor on this topic appeared in today’s paper.

I could go on at length about the lack of services that is disproportionate  to the taxes we pay and the fact that Martin spends time each day sweeping leaves in spring and fall, shovelling snow in the winter to generally keeping the walkways decent and passable.

Martin’s out there so much cleaning the front area of our block that one day a security guard from the CIBC , a few doors down from us, mistook him for a city worker and demanded that Martin clean the walkway in front of the bank!

Can’t recall the last time we saw a city worker cleaning up Avenue Road, yet we see the city inspectors regularly.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

One of our fave new websites is OurFaves Toronto where you can list your favourite places in the city. If you post enough faves you can become a featured faver like us. 

It’s fun to let people in our your favourite restaurants, shops, hair salons and neighbourhoods. Plus, we like it because it gives us an opportunity to promote our favourite neighbourhood North Toronto.

I’ve entered a contest they are running right now. I’d be thrilled to win it and be able to take some friends to our favourite restaurant Celestin.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

Our Grampus and pickle ornaments continue to be popular this year.

In Germany, the birthplace of the Christmas traditions, a pickle was hidden in the tree. Whichever child found it, received another gift. Pickle ornaments carry on this tradition. An extra present continues to be appealing to children today, as families are buying these ornaments to continue this tradition.

Grampus or devil head ornaments were put on trees to remind naughty children that St. Nicholas may be inclined to pass over them. Seems parents from  generations gone by were interested in tricks to keep their kids in line.

We also carry some other ornaments that come from German tradition.

Peas in a pod were given to newlyweds and signifed fertility. Peas in a pod ornaments carry on the tradition.

A purse was given as a good luck charm for a new year filled with money. Purse ornaments are still popular with ladies today.

A small keepsake card is included with these ornaments and tells the story.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

This Christmas season we’re happy to sell Unicef Christmas cards. It’s the first time we’ve carried them and we’re happy to be supporting this great cause as we’re the only North Toronto shop stocking them.  Packages of ten are priced at $13.50 with multi-lingual greetings on the inside.

Canada Post’s  suggested holiday season mailing dates  are fast approaching. Surface deadlines for many locations have already come and gone.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

The Fall Cottage Show  scheduled for November 2 – 4, 2007 at Toronto’s International Centre will feature Martin Swinton talking about antiques and doing appraisals.  We’re still finalizing his appearance times during these days.

This is a new show for us and Martin is looking forward to meeting all the cottage folks.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

Traditional Home featured a great article on breathtakingly beautiful silver by Doris Athineos. We see lots of silverplate in our shop, less sterling silver and even less that’s as lovely as this silver.  We always remind customers to care for their silver and try to communicate the basics.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com

A Random Act of Kindness

Our three flower laden bathtubs were moved by the kind construction workers who are currently replacing the sidewalks in front of our soon to be old location at 1927 Avenue Road.

Once again, Martin’s charm came in handy as he enlisted some workers and their forklift to move the three bathtubs. The tubs are now securely in front of 2064 Avenue Road. Saved us both money and another trip to Caruso’s Rentals to get a pump truck. Sweet.

This sidewalk construction has put us in a real pickle for the move. Wouldn’t you know it that the sidewalk directly in front of 1927 Avenue Road was ripped out on Tuesday morning with only half the shop moved out. Talk about bad timing for us.

Good news though – the move itself is almost complete. Monday, May 28th was a 9am – 11:30pm night with the movers. Tuesday, May 29th was a 6pm – 12:30pm evening with two trucks this time. Today is a number of runs with our trusty Dodge Caravan equipped with the handy stow away seats (a much needed feature this week. We love our Caravan). Plus a junk removal pick up this afternoon.  Martin is truly beyond tired at this point.

May 31st in the evening I meet with the landlord for the inspection and hand over the keys.

Then Take-A-Boo at  2064 Avenue Road will begin. With an eight-year lease, we can settle in, try to recuperate and forget this whole exhausting process.

More good news – it looks like our marriage will survive this highly stressful life event.

Andrea Swinton
www.takeaboo.com