attempt to blog

unable to publish new entries. now trying from a different computer.
K

Relaxing

This spot and position in the living room has quickly become Logan's favorite....much to the chagrin of Daryl. It's always a race; will Logan get there first so that Daryl is unable to put the couch into the "recline" position, or will Daryl get there first and be able to put his feet up? In the end, Daryl almost always puts his feet up, and Logan, sadly, lays underneath the foot rest instead of rolling onto his back with his legs propped up in the air. Logan also has to be careful if Daryl wants to put his feet down. There have been many times when he (Logan) had his head accidentally whacked with the foot rest coming down too quickly when his huge melon has been in the way..... silly dog. Ginger's the smart one. She just stays on her little bed, out of the way.

Spring Break

Daryl went to the coast to pick up Gavin and "Shifty" (shayla) for spring break a few weeks ago. We really enjoy having them here with us! This visit, we played a lot of games. We also watched movies, got firewood (at Gavin's request) and shot the rifle (at Gavin's request). Shayla and I (Karen) made a stuffed pig from the plans out of the back of a Jillian Jig's story book. We also did a lot of art projects together. One evening we had a fire in the backyard and roasted smokies. Please note the "little helper" Daryl has in the bottom corner of the first picture.

The Door

Downstairs in our games room we added another door going into the washroom. Daryl had to reroute electrical, measure and cut a big hole, frame, drywall and mud the new opening. We made a new doorway because the original layout was stupid and required anyone in the main area to walk through the utility area, through another bedroom and finally into the bathroom. the guy who layed out and "remodeled" the basement originally, was not skilled nor did he have any knowledge as to safety and building codes. Thankfully, Daryl has been able to tear most of the work out and make the place safe for us. Karen's job, during all of Daryl's hard work is to paint (insert Karen's gagging sound here, as she sooooo loves to paint.) Actually, I don't mind it. We have wood throughout the house and it is framing everything, but some of the doors in the basement were white, and have stickers and glue and sparkly stuff all over them which I (karen) was unable to scrub off. Therefore, I decided to "faux" paint the doors to cover up all the mess and to try to make them blend in with all the other wood.

New Years With the Kids

After Christmas, Daryl went to the ferry to pick up the kids, except for Justin as he did not want to visit. Though our time together was short (like Karen) it was great to see them again. We spent our time together doing various activities such as: several games nights which incuded billiards, darts (we have just finished patching the wall) foosball, wii video games and lots of board games. Our favorite quickly became Apples to Apples. We also went tobogganning, ice fishing and attended a WHL hockey game. Unfortunately, we only remembered the camera once (for the ice fishing trip) and sadly the batteries died after three pictures. At least we have our memories!

Christmas Eve Gathering

On christmas Eve, the tradition thus far has been appy's and drinks at Dan and Yvette's house (Daryl's brother and sister in law). This is our second year going and we decided to make and take sushi. Here is an action shot of us making it and in the top picture you will see what's left of two full plates. It was a big hit. We used shrimp instead of salmon (the pre-cooked frozen kind from super store). Also, we put carrot slices inside instead of watercress to add some colour and crunch. It takes very little time to make these, if you cook the sushi rice the day before. You can get all the ingredients at any store. I tried to cut and paste the recipe but this stupid program wouldn't let me. So here is the link:

www.cbc.ca/bestrecipes

p.s: this show always has really good recipes on it, the recipes were originally published in the Canadian living magazines (back in the day) and they have made it into a show. We have made many of Kerri's recipes and they all turn out well.

chillin'

Sometimes Daryl likes to hang out with the dogs on the floor. With it being -14 outside and Karen accidentally letting the woodstove go out today, Daryl claimed the only way for him to get warm was to lie around with the dogs. Logan especially likes to roll into you (so that he is on his back and his feet are in the air) if you are lying beside him. He also likes to wrap his arms around you..... a "hug" if you will.... I'm sure the dog whisperer would have something not so positive to say about this, but hey.....we don't really care.