Another Week Flies By!

Where does the time go?  We sleep, eat, sleep, go for walks and sleep some more.  Except in the case of Noodles where you need to toss in some relentless pacing, staring at nothing and barking at nothing!

Phil spent some time next door helping do a couple of things and had a tiny little helper whose name is Wolf.  By the way, Wolf is the one with the tiny little bum!  Wolf and his handlers moved in at the start of January and he is a little rock star!

Look at this pretty array of chopped peppers from Janet's work:

They kind of layered themselves.

This week marks 7 years Janet has been a volunteer at Our Place!  She can't believe how quickly the time has gone by.  She helps Patricia, who is the Program Coordinator on Mondays and Patricia was kind enough to give Janet some flowers.  Janet was afraid she was going to cry!

Now that the weather is nicer and the Fitbit is waging a guilt battle, both Janet and Phil are trying to walk more.  Top record for Janet - 19,000 steps in one day!  She walked by this little stand when she took an unusual way home from "work".

We watched some Finley TV

Who needs Netflix?

They are still finding little reminders of his visit.

Quilting!  This is Janet's newest favourite.  She loved making the little squares in the centre.

First three blocks.

Whole top, waiting to go to Longarm Arlene.

Janet loves this pattern and wants to extrapolate it into Queen bed size, but needs to get some help.  We are not being modest when we say math is not one of her strong suits.

This one is also hot off the sewing machine.

She made this one in blue and another one in red tone fabrics.

Off to bed...good night everyone!

How can you not just love my blocky little head?  If this persons bed was mine, I would tidy up the bed cover!

Family Day Weekend - Activity Edition

Except for when he is sleeping, Finley could otherwise be known as "Action Jackson".  He pretty much moves all day.

On the first day they were here, Janet needed to go to the Hairdressers to purchase some hair care product.  She, Finley, Derek, Noodles and I all trooped out the door.  Noodles was walking really slowly and it was getting dark and windy, so Janet asked Derek if he would take Noodles home so we could pick up the pace.

On the way home, we went to the beach playground.

Finley had some snacks, but Yaya's hands were freezing, so she convinced him to eat them on the way home.

They also went to the park at the end of our street.  This is the park Meg says she is going to spearhead a movement to change from Fireman's Park to Firefighter's Park.

The whole family went, and yes, we mean everyone!  Janet was worried that it might be necessary to bust out the Iron Lung, but all went well.

Janet was angry with Bronwyn because she made me go down the slide!  I'm a puppy for f**k sake and don't want to go down stupid slides.

Look at my little toe nails....hanging on for dear life~

Finley loves his scotch tape.  He "fixed" many things in the house.  The kind of thing you might not think of repairing, like the cracks in the floor:

 Noodles tail:

Noodles didn't even know she had a problem with her tail!

"Watch this Yaya......I fix it with a big piece!"

When not "fixing" things, he tapped into his musical side.

Janet is surprised we went as long as we did without Finley figuring out the piano.

And helped his Grandpa write up a contract:

"Grandpa...I know black ink is the proper colour for official documents, but how about we kick it up a notch with yellow and pink?"

Then, they got Craftsy!  Finley loves what they call "Circle Time" at his daycare.  Felt shapes that are attached to a felt board.  Yaya dusted the moths off Grandpa's wallet and dropped the bomb on some felt and plastic board at Michaels.  She is also now an avid coupon clipper (keep this on the down low, please!) and cut out the 40% of coupon and took it with her.

They made different shapes and even some characters from Gruffalo!

The piece d' resistance was Banana's bacon!

The adults had a rousing round of of what is probably the most ignorant game in the world - Cards Against Humanity.  It is well worth the price of admission.  For Janet, the funniest part is watching her children split a gut and/or try not to split a gut.

Starting on the left - Bronwyn, Meg, Banana, Heidi and Jer.  No, it's not cold in our house - toques are a fashion statement.

Here's Janet, trying really hard not to crack up.

Janet hopes and prays Briana doesn't get it into her head to move to Vegas and become a croupier at a casino.  It will not go well.

Concentrating, concentrating.

 This getup is also a fashion statement in our super cozy uninsulated home.

Before we knew it, everyone had to go home.  We are used to the silence now, but at first it was really hard to get used to.

Fortunately for us,  Finley leaves little treasures that we find after they have left and we are reminded of his visit.

Fixed Grandpa's pillow cover.

Family Day Weekend - Food Edition!

Everyone came home!  We were super busy and the people ate a lot of food!  Mr. Stingy Guts portions our food out to the ounce, so no chance of us over eating.  He and Bronwyn think I'm getting chubby.  Janet is on my team and is willing to sign an affidavit swearing my fur is just fluffier.  She didn't win!

They had Lori and Steve and Karen and Ken over for a big pot of Chili with Cornbread.  The only photos Janet managed to take was the mess at the end.

An actual live person/food photo:

Swallows Cheesecake - Janet makes this often as it is super easy - make it the night ahead, bake it for 30 minutes, shut the oven off and next morning - Voila!  She also made Raspberry Red Wine sauce for the topping.  The green onions in the background were not part of the cheesecake.

They went for big Chinese lunch as the next day was Chinese New Years - Year of the Monkey!

Phil looks worried!  Brian looks hungry!  Derek looks studious!

Janet doesn't remember this dish from before, but Briana requested it.  Salt and Pepper Tofu - really delicious.

Janet and Phil had ham at Karen and Kens' a few months ago and Janet has been craving it since.  Initially, she was going to do a Prime Rib Roast, but all the roasts at Costco were too small.  They ordered a really beautiful bone in ham from Village Butcher that Phil says cost the earth.  He is such a tightwad sometimes.  I think we mentioned before that his quite new, expensive camera could be ruined but what we don't hear are any grumblings about the replacement cost!

Again, the only photos we have are the aftermath.

They had the ham with a Mustard Glaze, Scalloped Potatoes, Cauliflower with Cheese and Mustard Sauce and Green Beans.  Two nights in a row, nearly all the food was gone!

On the holiday Monday, all the "girls" went to the Penny for two for one Fish & Chips!

After almost everyone had left, they had Split Pea Soup with some of the leftover ham!   Janet always thinks of Mikey when she makes this soup as he really likes it and because Mike and Bronwyn have the same slow cooker.

If you can stand the excitement and the wait, our next post will be about our Family Day activities!

Life Is Pretty Boring Around Here For Doggies!

Not too much is going on in Doggie Land.  We have had some rain, so muddy feet are the order of the day!

Noodies has had an eye problem that seems to be under control now.  Nothing some good old cash couldn't solve at the Vets.

When my paws are clean, this is one of my favourite spots to sleep.  Actually, I don't give a crap if my paws are clean or not, but Janet will go nuts if they aren't.

Leave me alone, please Janet!  I want to go back to sleep.

Phil and Janet took me for a big walk along Beach Drive and past the golf course.  Part way up Newport Avenue, I kept stalling.  Finally Janet told Phil to let me stop in case I needed to go to the bathroom.  Phil argued that I was swinging the lead, looking for a rest.  Guess who was correct?

Looking as innocent as possible.

There is a new restaurant in Cook Street Village that Janet and Phil really like.  It's called "The Next" and is Japanese food; some of it fusion.  They went last Sunday.  What do you think the chances of this happening are?

$50 - even!

Here is the collection of toys I have in Janet and Phil's bedroom alone!  I do enjoy my toys.

While our lives might be dull, Janet's life is as fascinating as ever.  She made a new soup!  White Bean with Bacon!

It was from Pioneer Woman and the people said it was pretty good. After years of fearing making soups, Janet is all over it now.

There was a really nice, two page article about Don Evans, Executive Director at Our Place in Sundays newspaper.  Yet again, Janet's right arm is focused in the article!  We think she's nuts, but she says she wants to get an agent for her right arm.  She remembers the success George on Seinfeld had when he was a hand model!

That's her wrist and hand on the right of the photo.

Mr. Fitbit is taking a bit of a rest.  Briana sent Janet a funny article written by David Sedaris and his addiction to his Fitbit.

Fitbit sends you an email once a week to let you know how far you have walked in one week.  Janet averages around 39 miles.  Now, she can track her sleep as well!  It tells you what time you went to sleep, what time you woke up, how many times you were restless in the night and how many times you were awake.  You might be interested to know that on average, Janet wakes up twice a night to go to the washroom and each trip takes 4 minutes!  Riveting stuff, right?

There are some ins and outs on the Fitbit that we have yet to sort out,  but rest assured, Janet is lucky to have 8 friends, never mind 86,822!  We might have a party when she takes her 1 millionth step!