Valentine's Day

Janet did our last post on Valentines Day as early as possible to free up the evening for opening of gifts and going out for dinner.

At about 9PM, Janet reminded Mr. Romance it was Valentines Day.  Dinner = whatever Janet made.

The collection of gifts =

Abso-f**ck-lutely nothing!  This is now filed in Janet's memory bank.  This may or may not be a problem for Phil as quite frankly, Janet's memory sucks big time, although it does appear to be more acute for shit she wants to harbour and nurture.

Janet has been half sick/half well for more than three weeks.  She wishes her cold/flu would grab hold so she could be really ill for a couple of days and then move on.  As a result, she has been working with half a brain for way too long.

To wit - Janet's loves the Volunteer Manager, Julia, at Our Place Society.  Julia is now going to a new job, so Janet wanted to give a quilt to Julia on behalf of everyone at OPS.  Here is the quilt:

Photos of Julia receiving the quilt?  No.  Photos of Julia's bye bye party?  No.

This photo of a bathtub, filled with hot water probably isn't very exciting to anyone.  Unless your name is Janet.

We don't have a hot water tank.  We have hot water on demand.  For months, the flow of water has become increasing noisy, with a big clunk part way through.  Charlie, our Gas Man said it need to be checked out immediately.

Hot Water On Demand unit.  Never bursts, like too many water tanks we have had!  Isn't our basement to die for?

A valve was required and had to come from outside Victoria.  This is how Janet bathed for more than a week!  There was so little water in the tub, it didn't cover her calves!

Janet says she thinks it's a very sad situation when just after a couple of days, you now have a "system" for your new bathing habits!

I fear there is some bad news on my front.  First, I hear a lot of mention of the "P" word and then I see this on the computer screen this afternoon.  This is NOT the kind of food I eat!!

I just love my Teddy Bear so much!

Good night!

Janet Returns From Her Blog-Cation!

A series of incidents have prevented us from posting on our pupplog.

First, in a failed effort to sync her fitbit to her iPad and upgrade her iPhone, tech savey Janet lost ALL the photos on her iPhone.  When she explained this to Phil, he said.."no, no..remember, I removed all the photos for 2015".  He didn't understand it was every single photo.  This was devastating!  Second, Janet has been in varying degrees of cold/flu almost since they arrived home from Spain.

However, today marks four full weeks without an update on our rich and diverse lives, so we decided it was about time!

One of the first things Janet did after they arrived home was to make some chicken stock and in turn, make the stock into homemade Wor Won Ton Soup.  The stock was easy - a recipe from Smitten Kitchen that was done in Janet's fancy pants slow cooker.  The stock was super.

The won tons, not so much.  Janet is very familiar with Gyoza, which are Japanese dumplings.  Gyoza skins are fairly thick, so easy to fold.  Won Ton skins are much thinner, thus more difficult.

End result, after hours of work and using every bad word she knows, the Won Ton Soup was only marginally better than a restaurant version.

This falls into the "not bloody likely again department".  Phil told Janet his client, who is house hunting and currently staying in a motel with a kitchenette makes his own Won Ton Soup from scratch - including making the dough!  He uses a bottle to roll out the dough!

We also had some painting done, which was super for me as I was able to bond one on one with my favourite painter.

She loved the way I touched her leg with my paw.

And, we had some doggie play dates.  Now that I am 11 years old, I am less likely to frolic and more likely to be crafty and scheming.

First Miss Bean from next door came to stay overnight.  I spent three weeks with Miss Bean while Janet and Phil skipped town went to Spain.  Amber brought over Bean's bed and guess what - it's way better than mine!

She tried to pal up with me.

I allowed Bean to share in our Friday Night Peter Edamame party.

See the home made chicken broth on the stove top?

When it was nighty night time, I forced her to sleep on my sub-standard lumpy bed whilst I sawed logs and counted dog cookies on hers.

Unfortunately, I made a tactical error and got off Bean's bed briefly in the middle of the night.  She reclaimed it in a heart beat, which only strengthens my argument as to why Mr. and Mrs. Tightwad can't buy me a new one!!

Next up was Lola!  She was only here for the day and we engaged with each other from opposite ends of the Manor.

Lola is super cute and super little.

Phil made me look silly with this We Three Kings of Orient costume.

We had snow....lots of it in just one day!

Only in Victoria, would riding a sleigh down a small slope be considered huge fun!  Janet says she remembers tobogganing on the "huge" hill in front of Lacombe Home in Midnapore.  Lacombe Home was built in 1910 and was originally a refuge for orphans, the aged and the poor, which sounds like it might border on a prison camp.  Janet thinks it was a Catholic school when she was a child and it was run by Nuns wearing their full habit.  For some odd reason, it was fun to hit huge bumps, careening down the hill and crashing.