Another Day In Paradise!

Janet turned 63 on Sunday.  Her knees agree!  Like all birthdays, this one was also ticker tape parade worthy!  The only thing out of the norm was that Briana and Ted came, which they orchestrated on their own.

 In hind sight, it might be baby steps as at least Phil remembered, unlike last year.  And on another good note, Janet barely turned the stove on all weekend!

Pizza Prima Strada for lunch!

Part of Janet's birthday was another card from the Watson Line of Fine Stationary and Cards!  Check it out!

As with all cards in this high quality range, there is a photo on the front, in the centre and one on the back!  Briana says that anyone who thinks it's easier to make a nice card at home than go to the store and purchase one is nuts!

This is Janet's newest, not good idea food item....homemade Onion Rings!  Too delicious!

They have "kind" of a healthy look, don't you think?

One of the neighbours who lives on Lulie stopped by to chat with Phil about some real estate.  Noodles, who has become completely shameless made short work of turning her into a BFF.

I'm off to a roaring start on baseball season.  Nineteen balls thus far and it's still only May!  The 19th one was hard work - I had to go in 7 or 8 times, bushwacking Holly which has many sharp pointy leaves to finally get.

Janet says I am so smart!  I never go in if I don't know for sure a ball is there.

Success was enjoyed!

Mrs. Spoil Sport tries to take them from me right away.  She says it's because she doesn't want me ingest the leather cover, not to mention the million little rolls of string inside.  We always take the good ones back to the park for a team to reuse.

 

Move over, Hawaii!  Poke Sushi has arrived at Janet and Phil's favourite sushi joint - Shizen Sushi!  Jimmy, sushi chef and super guy has been talking about doing it for some time and has now produced the goods!  Really, really delicious!  Janet says in case you don't know, Poke is a Hawaiian specialty which consists of chopping fresh, raw fish and mixing it together with a variety of ingredients such as sesame oil, shoyu, avocado, onions, etc, etc.  There are many, many variations.

Noodies old age is starting to catch up with her.  Sometimes, when Janet wants to take us for a walk, Noodles will get all leashed up but can't face going down the front steps and Janet is afraid she can't safely carry her down.  This is a new condition.  Ted helped carry her down the stairs twice this last weekend.

Also, her nose is really, really dry and is starting to crack.  Computer Whiz Janet did some research online and found a product to help.  This isn't the same product, but someone at A Pet's Life had special ordered this one and never picked it up, so now it's ours!

 

Things Are Looking Up!

Now that Mr. Watson and Mr. Finley are out of the picture, we are back to being the centre of attention!  About bloody time, Mate!

As if we hadn't had enough of him, Phil turns Watson's photo into a line of cards - Watson's Fine Stationary and Cards!  Sheesh...we can't wait for him to grow out of this incredibly painful and cute puppy stage!

Hurry up, Mr. Precious and stop being so adorable!

Janet has been as busy as can be getting quilts ready.  If Janet goes to Quilting Class on Thursday, the instructor Lezlie will very kindly take Janet's quilts to Long Arm Quilting Lady Arlene as they live very close together.

See the red and black quilt, top on the right had side?  It was a kit that Janet purchased in Seattle that at the end of the day, she wasn't all that nuts about, but shit happens.

Stack o' quilts, ready to roll.

The backing for that quilt, Janet purchased in Portland and it was so saturated with dye that she had to wash it 6 times with Colour Catchers and twice use a dye retentive.  She feared the fabric would wear out!

The water was as black as the fabric!

It's Ball Season!  Yes!  Thus far, I have found 13 balls and the little tykes have barely started to play.  Down at FirePersons Park, in addition to my regular fan club, I also have my Baseball fan club.

It took Janet a few minutes to figure this out - can you see me, off in the distance?  I started to follow this kind of grumpy baseball coach as soon as he got out of his car.  His bag is stuffed with sweaty, dirty children's baseballs!  I so want to be the Team Mascot!  We keep taking back all the balls I find (and don't destroy)  to save the teams money....do you think Janet can swing this for me?

Summer is upon us which means it's time for Janet to ready the garden and pots and resort to every bad word she can think of whilst she does so.  After all this time, Janet's large and deep vocabulary for bad words never ceases to amaze us.

Chaos!

Calm!  Janet says there had better be an on ground brick patio with wide steps leading down next summer or else!

This falls into the Once In A Blue Moon department - Phil actually helping with the recycle!

In the same department, what do you think the chances of having wasps start a nest in the back door of your car?

Hope somebody addresses this before we go on a road trip!

Today, Noodles is 14 years, 5 months and 5 days old!  She is an old doggie, but still eats all her meals and likes to go for short walks.  She loves to roll in the grass, but was unable to get the momentum rolling today.

Noodies sleeps about 20-22 hours a day.  We love her!

Good night, everyone!

The Competition Around Here Is Insane!

We older doggies actually did get to go to Portland, but by then, Mr. Watson (aka Dog Extraordinaire, according to literally everyone!) had gone to his puppy dog boot camp.

We had super fun in Portland!  Check it out!

The stash in the corner is a portion of the batting and fabric Janet purchased in Portland.  30% off and no tax takes a serious bite out of the difference between our dollars.  Noodles can sleep anywhere!

There is a Japanese restaurant quite nearby to their house and this was Janet's favourite sushi - Poke!  It was delicious.

So, we barely get over this Mr. Watson business and Mr. No. Longer. A. Baby arrives.  Sheesh.  What's a doggie to do?  Meg attended a conference all day Saturday, so we doggies (Janet and Phil helped a little) were in charge.  We took him shopping.

 It goes without saying that we took him to Fireperson's Park, which is cool as this is where many members of my fan club congregate.

 We had Crafty Time together and Janet not only requested, but fervently insisted Finley post his artwork on the dining room wall.

And of course, he needed a bath.

I can shampoo your hair, little buddy!

 The people purchased some sukiyaki meat from Uwajimaya in Portland and made......sukiyaki!

They said it was yummy.

 Mr. Watson is now home from boot camp.  Bronwyn had purchased a couple of bandanas for him and asked Janet if she could make some.  Janet made four - two for Mr. Watson and two for Bronwyn's friend Amy who also has a new puppy.

Since Janet made these four, Bronwyn has been to Fabric Depot twice in two days to purchase fabric to make more.  We have a theory that Bronwyn is actually from a Hutterite Colony as she likes to go big.  She now has enough fabric to make a bandana for every man, woman and child in the colony.

We were bribed with liver treats to model them.  Is it obvious?

Never mind Watson and Finley.  We still have a couple of cute tricks up our paws.