It's A Dusty, Dusty World!

Remember the furnace filter from last week?  Turns out it's the tip of the iceberg!

Janet noticed the vacuum hasn't been working so well lately.  Wonder why?  This is the bucket to the built in vacuum system - chock a block full of dog fur and dust!

Janet says it's like having a new vacuum!

 Next up - the bottom drawer of the dishwasher has ceased to function as it is misaligned.  When the bottom drawer is taken out - a secret bonus of dog fur!

By now, it should be apparent that Janet's cleaning skills are limited to what you can see.  Never, never open a closet door!

As usual, Peter came by on Friday after squash.  Janet made them sit in the living room as she was using the island in the kitchen to cut some fabric.

We troop it out at Willows Beach park.  I've got a really good stick that Noodles doesn't give a rats ass about.

Janet channeled her inner Asian and made fried rice and gyoza.

Look!  Our new doggie tags.  It's so cool they are purple this year as it matches my collar.  We are 719 and 720 this year.

We love each other.

Janet and Karen shared a fabric order and had it sent to Brownyn's house.  After Janet brought the fabric home, she divided it up into her pile and Karen's pile which was placed on the bottom shelf of the foyer table.  After Karen came to pick it up, Janet couldn't find a bundle of fat quarters.  She looked all over the place, and in the end, decided she was nuts (Hello!  What took so long?!?) and went upstairs and gave Karen her bundle.

Bonus!  We might love each other, but a puppy girl has to look after her own butt!  Not mentioning any names, but I did not take the bundle of fabric off the table, down to the bedroom and chew all the labels off.  Doggie who is now in Witness Protection also managed to undo the bow and puppy handle the fabric a bit! 

Some Last Minute Hawaii Tid Bits And We Are Home!

Janet says the only thing wrong with going on vacation (aside from having to pay for it) is that eventually you have to call it a day and head for home.  Of course, she was super happy to see us, but still, sun and sand are a tough gig to give up.  We whined and cried a royal storm when they came in so they were appeased. 

This is the old school rice cooker that was in their condo.  Normally, one can make rice at any time throughout the day and you can bank on it still being hot at dinner time.  Not so with old school rice cookers!  Janet says the timing is as crucial as hot potatoes or putting dressing on the salad.

This saltwater pool was outside their building, but does not belong to the condo.  There had been some big storms, so it was all cleaned out.  People, including Phil, sat or stood on the edge near the water and waited for a big wave to swoop you in.

They went for lunch one day at a restaurant that was rated third best on the Big Island by Honolulu Magazine.  It was in a little town called Hololua.  Low and behold, but Phil runs into another realtor from Victoria.  A realtor, Janet points out that was staying for a whole month!  The sad truth of the matter is, if a guy can take a month off work, it's less expensive to stay for a month than 10 days.  Perhaps next year!

While the food was good, and the setting lovely,  Janet says there wasn't a hope in hell it was worth the wait - at she means from when they were seated.  It can't be a good sign when the waitress tells you your food will be out "pretty soon"!

Fresh Ahi tuna melt.

Catch of the day - Ono.

They left the condo on the last day and again stopped at the seafood restaurant at the harbour, "Bite Me".  Look!  Another doggie snuggled up to the bar!

I wonder if these doggies have boats as well?

It was a very quick stopover in PDX as the last Coho ferry for two weeks was on the morning of the 18th.

Bye, Mikey!  Bye, Bronwyn!  See you soon!  Bye, Noodles bum!

In the space of 24 hours, Janet and Phil went from this:

and this:

to this:

Janet was not a happy camper!

It was super fun staying in the hotel again.  They forgot our water bowl in the car, so turned the ice bucket into one.  Don't tell the hotel people!

Home again, home again!  I reunited with all my toys and dragged out as many as I could.

Further proof we are home - Phil's breakfast dishes on the counter,  and yes, the dishwasher has space inside for dirty dishes.

We have noticed for the last few weeks that the entire house is super dusty.

The furnace filter needed a little TLC!

Bronwyn Says They Are Coming Home!

We have had a great time in Camp USA, but now we are pretty excited because they are coming home tomorrow.  Yay!  I wonder if we get to do the hotel gig in Port Angeles again?

Here is how they have spent the last few days!  They troop off every morning to get their latte and take little baby size bottles of Baileys with them.  Phil has done this for three or four years and Janet is a new convert. Janet is somewhat worried about putting the Baileys in the coffee as she doubts slinging alcohol on the street at 9AM is widely approved.  Not Phil - no covert actions there!

This is in front of Lava Java, which is on Ali'i Drive in Kona.  Just to the left of the photo is some major road work that has been going on all week and ties up traffic in an unbelievable manner.  Phil says traffic here is stupid crazy when things are going well.  Now toss in some road work and it's barely controlled chaos.

Quite similar to the rest of the world, there are about 8 workers and two guys actually doing anything.

Move over, Meg and Bronwyn!  Check out this guy ridin' the waves on his SUP!

And, Mr. Baby...check out this little keiki - playing in the sand pool at the Sheraton Hotel.  Perfect for tiny tykes - shallow, sandy, warm and no big waves!

Janet and Phil went for a small car trip.  They drove to Captain Cook where they visited the Manago Hotel, which is still in operation.

You probably can't see it, but there is a sign advising the TV room is for hotel residents' only.  Seriously?!  Who would cross the street to watch that antiquated TV and not have control of the remote?

Next door was the Kona Chip factory where they make all their own potato chips.

The whole potatoes with skin on went up the little conveyer belt and then all of a sudden were sliced super thin and dumped into  a vat of hot, spinning oil below.  After just standing outside for a few minutes watching made both Phil and Janet smell like they worked in the factory 8 hours a day.

They took a look at some coffee trees.

They went to an incredibly tacky seafood restaurant and fish market.  Food was really good and look at this really lucky guy!  I want to be him!

Janet thinks perhaps he has been there many times as he curled up around the bar stool so well.

Janet has been working on a scarf for our Poppa as he is always cold.  Somehow, the yarn became so knotted it has taken Janet longer to unknot it than knit the scarf.  Phil loves Janet's artistic endeavours little crafty gigs and gives her a hand with the yarn.

Good night!

We Go On A Trip!

To PDX, that is.  Some people were lucky enough to go to Hawaii, but not us.  Noodles might not be on board, but I think I will start wrapping my head around this crate business so I can go on big trips as well.  Imangine, Pashyminders running on the sand and playing in the surf (Cranky Pants probably wouldn't allow it there either, but a puppy girl needs a dream).

Did anyone mention it was my birthday before we left YYJ?  Yup, I'm nine years old now!  We went through the hat B.S. but Noodles was not in a cooperative mood.

Janet put a couple of mats down on the floor because Noodles is having a hard time standing up.

My toy box was behind the sofa, but Janet moved it while the Christmas tree was up.  What shall I play with?  How about one of my Prairie Pals?

Before Janet and Phil left for Kona, they had lunch in Gresham.  Front seat action!  Up came a police car and stopped the car ahead of him.  After much discussion, the police officer let the man go, but the woman in the vehicle had to drive.  Clearly, the man did not have a valid drivers' license.

This is the view from Janet and Phils condo:

They had lunch at the harbour one day.  Check out how big the boat lifter upper is!

Janet likes this trucks "tat".

On another day, they drove to Hawi.  Mile wise, nothing is very far away, but time wise is another story.

Behind the statue of King Kamehameha is the meeting room for a church.  Two years ago, there was a choir of older women practicing.  Janet listened to them for a really long time and they invited Janet inside.  Their voices were so pretty.

Lots of people in Hawaii think Phil is "a local boy", which he loves to play up.  Sadly for him, the locals pack one left "slippah" and one righ "slippah".  Not so Phil - two lefties!

A Christmas Countdown!

It's here and there is no stopping it..Christmas that is!

They are here!!

In fairness, Janet embellished this photo!

Someone (Phil) bought side ribs rather than back ribs which was not a pretty picture for dinner on the 23rd!

 Our usual Christmas dinner is tourtiere with Caeser salad.  Janet lives for tradition is stuck in a rut, so that's what they had this year as well.

There were two and as Janet was not well, turns out this year all the leftovers were eaten!

Our children made Christmas Day Brunch, which made Janet so happy!  Janet had signed on to volunteer Christmas Day morning, but there were some mixed signals as there were already 6 people there who knew the ropes.  Janet went back home.

See the glass flour jar in the front?  That belongs to Gwen.  Janet says this is the first time in her adult life she can recall running out of flour, and of course, it has to be late Christmas Eve.

Frittata and Apple Puff Pancake and Sausage

Home made bread

Cinnamon buns. 

We doggies quickly ascertained the best spot in the house was under Mr. Baby's high chair.  One day the tray fell off and I had the coup of trying Beef Stroganoff for the first time.

Here is Mr. Baby's Stryder that Santa was super excited about!

Yoyo just loves watching Mr. Baby dine.

And, Mr. Baby loves to do the real estate deals with his Grandpa.

OK...Poppa!  I'll bring up the contract and you can start filling it.  In the meantime, I am going to massage this deal on my Tike Size Cell.

Yay, Poppa!  I just got off my cell and they had agreed to our conditions.

I love being CBR. (Certified Baby Realtor)  It's so rewarding and now Poppa is going to print off the contract and we are good to go!

Christmas by the numbers:

   1 - number of times Janet watched "Love Actually" - an all time low! 
   7 - number of days Janet has been super sick since Christmas Day
  11 - days since we blogged
  14 - 4 litre jugs of milk
  80 - eggs
257 - pairs of shoes by the front door at any given time

Janet made a different kind of shortbread this year and it was a huge hit! Some of the regular kind is still here, but this one is long gone.

Yummy with Toblerone Chocolate Bars

Jeremy discovered a new game, called Cards Against Humanity, which is probably the single most politically incorrect game out there.  Janet went to bed early as she was feeling so poorly, but from the far end of the hallway, she could hear her children splitting a gut laughing. 

They were laughing so hard - Janet says it's really special to see your children have so much fun together!