Quote for the Day

"It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a

pessimist who is always right."

-- Unknown

Cinnamon Buns

We had no family obligations this past Easter weekend, and Jp wasn't in the mood for any coloured eggs or other baking so I decided to make cinnamon buns - nobody turns down fresh homemade cinnamon buns - do they?

Taking the photograph is the easy part, remembering to take the photo is the hard part - so here you have my finished cinnamon buns, after it has already been served:

And here's how you can 'see' how good they were:

Online Live Crafting Event

This is so cool - a live on-line crafting event! Link is here! 

The downside -it's today between 9am-11am. I guess there is no good time for everyone, but aww shucks during the work day?

Maybe it'll stream after the live event....

Happy Easter

My sweet brother sent me a lovely chocolate dog 

(a chocolate lab, maybe?) for an Easter present see? 

I didn't realize it was going to be a puzzle and that some assembly was required! 

Wishing you a Happy Easter, and hope you're having a wonderful weekend. 

Thursday's Favourite Video

Here's a lovely video that I think you will enjoy. I know I did!

Watch this!

My Desk

I don't usually like to post pictures of my desk because it's rather messy and cluttered but I thought I'd share two things with you.

1) This is what sometimes happens under my desk:

Eco hinting that she wants to play with me, by making her presence known. (What a strange way to sit, it looks completely awkward)

2) Jp brings me some "Fat Girl Tea" and a snack plate, all wrapped up in cello like they do at the hotels.

What goes on at your desk? 

This is a thing of beauty

Even if you don't consider yourself a handyman, or handyperson, I'm sure you can appreciate the beauty in this tool chest. The organizational skills are amazing and the craftsmanship is stunning. I am absolutely in awe of the creator's ability to produce such a stunning piece of functional, practical, art. It really is very creative.

Confident Dog!

For some weekend blog-candy, you must watch our favorite VW commercial  - I'm pretty sure you'll laugh so hard you cry!

The Second Day is Harder

Earlier this week I was back in Kelowna for another mini vacation. We returned home late Wednesday night but I was up at 6:30am Thursday morning as I'm always anxious to see Eco again  - she stays at our neighbour's house and they are early risers, so as soon as I hear them letting the dogs out, I know I can come over for Eco.

 I did okay yesterday, energy wise, but did end up skipping dance class which now I realize was a mistake.  However, this morning it was hard to get out of bed - and today it's nice and sunny and the birds are singing. But I have sooooo much work to do and it's Friday and ..... it was hard to get up. The second day is always harder, don't you think?

We had a very nice large hotel room, and I thank Jp for arranging that. It's nice having two bathrooms and a living room away from the bedroom. The first night I took a bath in the big tub but had to turn off the jets because you can't hear the TV - I know!

While Jp  was at work, I walked around the waterfront area and did some shopping. I ended up buying these craft books - which I'm not supposed to do but they were both so inspiring and the prices were good, so I couldn't resist:

I was in one store that I absolutely loved everything in it, including the cutest most original leather purses except the shop owner was too busy talking on the phone about her jewelry order and getting higher price points that she completely ignored several customers in the store, so I walked out. I liked the purses but didn't feel like giving that store my business. I guess she just doesn't care.

My upper back is sore. I was hoping to get a break from dog walking and dance to give my shoulders a break, but dragging my suitcase makes it worse. And my abs are sore from a yoga routine I did while I was away - but sore abs are much better to deal with that an aching upper back. Maybe that's just all part of getting older, don'tcha think?

So I'm back in the saddle again, 200+ emails came in  at work while I was gone so I have lots to catch up on,  but so glad it's the weekend. And glad it's sunny, we had some snow yesterday - I didn't like that at all! Soon it's time to start gardening!

Snow in April - no foolin'

In all the years I have lived in the Metro Vancouver area, I have never seen snow after St. Patrick's Day. I remember this date very clearly because one year when a cousin was about 4 or 5 years old, he asked for snow on his birthday - March 17th - and all the adults laughed at him and prepared him for the possibility that he wouldn't get his birthday wish - but he did!

However, I have never seen snow as late as April 14th! I just took these photos in my garden, snow on a tulip and snow on a hyacinth.

By the way, now the sun is out and it's almost all gone - it lasted about 2 hours.  Crazy, crazy weather.

Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

I just finished reading one of the best books I have read in a long time. The story is written from the dog's point of view as he is aging, I don't want to say too much more because I really encourage you to read it, as I'm sure you'll enjoy it too. It had me in tears about 80% of the time, but still it was a very good book - I could barely put it down. (Ignore me, I'm a sap when it comes to most dog stories!) But this book is not just about the dog, it's about his family and the trials and tribulations his owner must endure. Go Enzo!

The official website is here.

I know I'm a little late to the party as the book has been out for a couple of years, but it's never too late to learn about a good read, is it?

That's how I've spent part of this rainy Sunday afternoon, how about you?

Oh I like this one too - Hanamatsuri

Did you know... that today is Japanese Flower Festival (Hanamatsuri) Day?This Japanese festival celebrates the birth of Siddhartha Gautama. "Hana" means "flower" in Japanese, and "matsuri" means "festival," so Hanamatsuri means "flower festival."

You can read more here and here. 

Festival of Pure Brightness

Did you know...... that today is Festival of Pure Brightness Day? This Chinese festival celebrates the pure brightness of inner life. At this time of year the weather has begun to turn warm, and the earth is once again covered with green. People love to goto the outskirts of  cities to walk on the grass, fly kites and appreciate the beauty of spring. Celebrate your own pure brightness today!

It's perfect time for those of us in and around Vancouver as today and tomorrow are forecast as sunny days. The first sunny days we've had in a long time - it's seems it's been raining for so long

Find more about it here, and here, and here. 

Saying Good-bye to Heidi

First, I’ll start by telling you that Heidi was a car - my 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit

And yes, I had named it. If that seems strange to you just Google ‘naming your car’ for more examples of names people give to their vehicles: Bessie, Jelly Bean, Big Red, etc.

Anyway, back to Heidi. She wasn’t mine to begin with; Jp had picked her out as he thought she’d be a good economical car being a standard and a Diesel. He didn’t drive manual transmissions but figured it wouldn’t be so hard to learn. So he bought the car, and I drove it home. He tried it for a bit and then decided he didn’t like driving standard and since I absolutely love shifting gears, we traded cars.

We had a few hiccups in the beginning being that she was old; little things like a wire disconnecting from the fuel pump leaving me on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway (luckily near an exit so the tow truck could get me pretty easily). Trust me, when I tell you – if you have a car older than 10 years, you must get a membership to a Roadside Assistance Program (we have BCAA).

Compared to new cars things were underpowered, like my headlights, which were pretty dim - luckily most of the roads I drove on where pretty well lit. And the fan was underpowered – on a rainy day, of which we have many, I’d have to drive with my window open because I’d fog up making visibility a concern. I always kept a pair of gloves in my car and made sure I had a warm coat. Driving in the winter in below zero temperatures with the window down was not fun. If I had to transport one of my dogs, I most definitely had to drive with the window down and they’d fog me up so fast! In the summer, I’d roast at every red light/stop sign because there was no airflow – again, not a fun experience if I had a hot dog in the back seat. My wipers took about 4 seconds to go from the bottom to the top, if I put it on high – maybe 2.5 seconds? And there was drip on my right foot, so I couldn’t move because I’d have to keep it on the gas pedal.

By now you’re starting to wonder why I kept this car. Well after a couple of visits to the Volkswagen dealer we got her running really well and I didn’t have any mechanical problems with her the last couple of years. And because I didn’t drive too much and I could get almost 800 kms to a 30litre tank of diesel, I only had to get gas about 6 times a year – no kidding! And did I mention I loved driving a standard transmission?

I didn’t think I had complained too much about her, but according to Jp I did and he said he was tired of hearing about it. Plus every time I had to drive more than 20 minutes away from home, he’d worry that I’d make it back so he’d rearrange his schedule so I could take his car for the longer trips. Then recently we bought a new car, and the Rabbit was no longer needed. Because it was so old, he convinced me I couldn’t sell it for very much - however, when I looked on the internet I found lots of people who loved the old Rabbits, and mine was in really good shape. But then I was faced with taking out want ads and going through the whole process of people calling and test driving and all that selling stuff and he persuaded me to put it in the Scrap-it Program. And so, reluctantly I did.

Friday was the day I had to turn her in. She hadn’t run for a while and I had to call BCAA to jump start her, and then we headed to Chilliwack to the nearest scrap dealer who participated in the program. We had a good drive, she ran well, shifted well and it was difficult to turn in a car that looked good, ran good and who’s only major fault was that she was old. She passed Air Care with low emissions ratings but still according to this program, old vehicles had to go off the road due to emissions.

I was not happy signing her over to the scrap yard. And when I drove away, I was all verklempt (that’s really the best way to describe it) - I know it’s just a car, but it was an emotional moment for me.

So Goodbye Heidi, and I’m sorry.

There is no turning back. I didn’t want to do it. I’m sorry that you served me well, and now they’re going to crush you just because you’re old. I’m sorry I couldn’t find another person who would keep you going. You are gone but not forgotten.

You don't need fingers for keys

This video just cracks me up. It's one thing when a dog howls at music that we make, in fact, some people even feel that it's cruel of us to inflict painful sounds on our dogs sensitive ears, but this dog does it to himself. Watch now...



Don't you think that's one crazy dog? Apparently he does this 3-4 times a day, but hasn't gotten any better at playing the piano.

And then you'll probably like this one too: