A Day In The Life

Our lives are fascinating and filled with days that we can only describe as incredible.  This is in part because we can watch Janet and Phil stumble from one mishap to another!

Janet had planned to make Prime Rib for Thanksgiving dinner, but Meg announced she really wanted turkey.  Now the hunt is on for a nice free range turkey that has lived the good life and doesn't weigh 35 pounds!  Best they good do was 19 pounds, but in the end it turned out to be OK.  We invited Karen and Ken, Lolo and Steve and Brad and Kim over in an effort to help.

The dinner went well.  Every year, Janet fancies herself a soup maker and sets up using the carcass to make stock.  She consulted many recipes and started out with this:

Looks good, right!  Wrong!  Yet another stock failure.  The end product was a really delightful dark grey colour, similar to mud.  One of the cooks at Our Place suggested that perhaps she had cooked it for too long.

All was not lost, however.  She managed to make some Turkey Pot Pies and use up all the turkey meat.  In addition, one night they had Hot Turkey Sandwiches.

Janet, Janet, Janet....why don't you tuck the pastry edges under so they look pretty?

Janet doesn't like brussel sprouts, but thought this was pretty amazing.  They were selling them on the stalk at The Root Cellar.  In fact, Janet hates brussel sprouts.  She has never made them and has no clue if Phil even likes them.

This is how we roll in Victoria, for at least the last week.  Heavy fog.  Some days, it doesn't burn off at all.

Thursday was a pretty busy day at Our Place.  They had a fire drill at 9AM.  Then there was a funeral service for Priscilla, a woman that Janet very much liked at 10AM.  They had just started to serve lunch at 11:30AM when the fire alarms went off again.  First they were told it was a false alarm, but a few minutes later everyone was told to evacuate the building.

The firetrucks came while everyone waited outside.  The culprit - the Volunteer Coordinator, Rodrigo, was lighting sparklers on top of a birthday cake he was giving to a volunteer and it set off the alarm!

 Speaking of birthdays - remember all the parties and festivities chat about how Phil had done squat for Janet's 60th birthday?  Absolutely.  Nothing.  The other day, he starts telling Janet about the plans he is making for his 65th birthday in December.  She didn't say too much, but her eyes glazed over and she gave him her WTF face.  We doggies left the kitchen before it turned ugly.

Check out this huge pumpkin and squash (Janet thinks) that they had in the kitchen at Our Place.  The black bin on wheels comes up to Janet's knees.

I'm such an important doggie, I take up two dog beds.

Good night, everyone.

Last but not least, a cooking success!  Chili with Ground Beef and Italian Sausage, topped with sour cream, cheddar cheese and green onions.

Mr. Baby's Visit

Mr. Baby and his handlers stayed for 10 days.  Now, Janet is sad as the house is so quiet.  However, you know the Canadian version of Mary Poppins - Janet likes to stay upbeat and is focusing on the positive aspects of a quiet, lonely house.  Now, they can start to replenish their life savings that have been greatly diminished with the use of hot water and laundry soap and once again have free and unfettered use of the laundry equipment!  We have even heard Janet talking about installing coin op machines in the basement before their next visit.  They are going to Winnipeg next month and will stay with Derek's Aunt and Uncle - Janet wonders if she should give them a heads up so they can start saving now!

Mr. Baby did his best to pay his own way.  He was giving Phil a hand with some computer work.  He looks quite concerned, so we are thinking he just stumbled across the price of laundry detergent! 

Mr. Baby says now he needs the new iPad and it had better be under the Christmas tree this year!

Meg and Derek went out twice in the evening while they were here.  Janet and Phil "babysat".  Actually, Mr. Baby was asleep, so all they did was monitor him.  Nowadays, it's not necessary to go and check on babies because you can have a fancy monitor that lets you know if the baby is crying.  It also tells you the temperature of the room!

Mr. Baby and his handler do some smart card exercises.  You can see how riveted he is with the cards.  He says "sheesh, I have already looked at this one!"

Mr. Baby has, however, learned how to high five with one of his handlers.

And he his learning how to swim!  We think the handlers are having more fun than Mr. Baby is.

Noodles, ever the daredevil, stole Mr. Baby's toy not once, but twice!  She really wanted the squeaky giraffe, but it was buried too deep in the bag.

To make amends, she decided to help with Mr. Baby's meal plan.

Me?  I want my breakfast.  Please?

Every single time they go to Sun Wah, they say they should have brought some plastic containers to put the leftovers in.  This same conversation has been going on for more than a year.  Finally, success!

Victoria Marathon - 34th Annual!

Yesterday the weather was perfect for a marathon.  The participants run down Beach Drive, just one block behind our house.  They actually turn around further down Beach Drive, so we have the opportunity to see them twice.   There are three distances in the Marathon as well as a Kid's Run.  There were nearly 12,000 people participating.

Just down the street, outside of Glenlyon Norfolk School was a refresh station, complete with live music.

Janet tried in desperation to catch an actually runner, but always missed them.  This was the best shot she could get.

The music.

Right beside GNS.

Janet missed the leaders the first time down Beach Drive, but caught them on the return.  They are escorted by Police officers on motorbikes and a truck with a timer on top.

The leaders.

Lean, mean running machines.  All Kenyans, that live in various parts of the world.  One is based in Lethbridge!   Apparently running marathons is where it's at as most people were as slim as could be.  See our garage door in the background?

Mr. Baby makes Janet really nervous, but not so Phil.  He holds onto Mr. Baby with ease with one hand.  This also makes Janet nervous.  Janet was really worried when he was newborn and now she's nervous because he wriggles a lot.

Janet told Meg that Seinfield says only people who have given up wear sweat pants, but Meg says that doesn't apply to babies.

Meg is busy eating and Noodles is determined to give her a hand.

Meg and Janet went for a bike ride and snapped a photo of each other, snapping a photo!

Phil is still kind of sickish.  One day when he was more sickish, Janet went outside and did some yard work and put away a real estate sign that Phil left propped up against the gate.  He more times than not leaves signs there.  Janet, thinking she is doing everyone a favour, put the sign in the garage.  A few minutes later, Phil comes stomping into the house and shouts out "WHERE IS MY SIGN?"  Janet calmly advises she put it in the garage, where it belongs.  Wisely, she omitted "the where it belongs part".  Janet has the temerity to ask how she is supposed to differentiate between the signs he has just dumped there because he is too lazy to go to the garage and the ones he has just removed from the garage.

STOMP, STOMP, SLAM.  Now he has gone back outside.  He STOMPS back in a few minutes later  and SHOUTS out "SORRY".  It was so kind and heartfelt Janet was moved to tears asking herself WTF!

He says he has been way more diligent about putting them in the garage, but Janet asked him point blank what planet he had been living on.

Janet Gets Even More Famous!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Dinner at Our Place.  They served 1,120 plates of food between 11AM and 2PM!  As it is Janet's regular shift, she gets to be a server.   After standing  in the same spot for more than two hours putting stuffing on plates, Janet is uncertain if "gets to be a server" is appropriate!  Her legs were sore, but she said it was still fun.

Juice, poured into large containers and then ladled into jugs.

Pretty tables.  The First Nations art on the pillar is new.

Next day, Janet's right arm and a portion of her left arm are in the newspaper!  Her left wrist is in the right hand bottom corner of the photo.  She is pretty excited and we think she might want to consider getting an agent.  This is not the first time her arms have been in the news.  Now is the time to request autographed photos before this gets out of hand (no pun intended!) and Janet becomes a celebrity!  With her own reality show!  We can be doggie stars!  Limo's, the paparazzi, photo ops....oh what fun!

After busting her butt, they went out for lunch and when they went home, look who arrived!

Look how excited Blurry Noodles is!  Her ears are up in the air and she rarely ever runs.

Mr. Baby and his handlers settled in quite quickly.  Janet watched them move all the stuff they bring from room to room, redecorating as they go.  TV room - gone!  Now it's Babyland!

Mr. Baby has a bath every night before he goes to bed.  He splashes and kicks and has a really good time.

Remember the tree that was blocking Beach Drive?  Almost gone.  So sad, it was such a beautiful tree, we can only guess it was diseased.

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree on the Illingworth side of the family.  Here is how Phil and Meg recycle.  They are under the misguided belief (or not!) that there is a recycle fairy that follows behind them and flattens all the boxes and moves them outside.

Phil's recycle pile and don't you just love the '70's wallpaper we are rockin' in the basement?

Meg's smaller recycle pile.

The Calm After The Storm

After our huge wind on Sunday, we had absolute buckets of rain on Monday.  It was raining so hard, you could barely see across the street.

Fortunately, that was then and this is now!

It's getting pretty tense around our house.  Porkey's  Phil's neck is swollen more than ever now and he has been sick all week.  Janet follows him around from room to room to gather up used tissues, refold for the hundredth time the blanket in the TV room, throw away the wrappers on his lozenges and pick up his water glasses.  You get the picture.  She does it with a smile on her face gritted teeth and we have heard her mutter on more than one occasion, if we had a gun she would put him out of his misery.  He should be OK because we're pretty sure we don't have any firearms and Janet won't have a clue about how a guy buys one.

Phil also has a stiff back and says he wishes Bronwyn were here so she could fix it.

Look at the pretty cauliflower from Silver Rill Farm!

Burritos! 

Karen, Ken and Raeleigh loaned a very nice crib to Janet and Phil.  The screws arrived separately.  Mr. Baby's arrival is imminent and the crib is still in pieces.  Why?  They can't find the screws.  They have spent several hours searching and searching.  Janet is normally blamed when stuff goes missing as she lives to put things away.  This time, however, she is off the hook because Karen confirmed she had given the screws to Phil.

The bedroom downstairs was flooded this summer.  We won't go into details, but Janet's also off the hook for this $1000 fiasco!  Everything was taken out of the room so the carpet people could address the mess.  Now the room needs to be put back together and look what Janet found yesterday!

Noodles really likes to rip apart the roll that paper towels come on.  She seems to get quite a kick out of it, so I felt I should investigate what all the excitement is about.  Turns out, it's not that interesting.  Look how clever I am holding the paper towel roll in my paws!

Janet is such a sucker.  She just loves the way I lay when sleeping.  We doggies barely have to do anything to earn her admiration.