Big Smile :)

Today we woke up to a big dump of snow. It made driving very difficult for many people and my husband had to shovel the drive way for the first time in the past ten years! We know this because he had to take off his wedding ring that he has been wearing for 10 years - it was digging into his finger and making it difficult to shovel. Plus we never had a driveway until we moved recently. 

At least one of us was happy...!

Yay, Snow!

Olympic Memories

There was a news story about London floating the Olympic rings up the river Thames to mark 150 days to go until the start of the summer Olympics. This of course reminded me of the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Yes, it was a winter Olympics and it was very different from London's summer event, but as a Vancouverite at that time, it was very special.   

My husband and I used to rent a condo in downtown Vancouver. It was in the middle of the all the action, I remember the city was just crazy for those two weeks. We were able to see the torch marathon from our living room, the fireworks at BC place from our kitchen window, walked a few blocks to mingle with thousands of strangers from all over the world to experience the excitement! I must say we had some loud nights, specially the night of the Men's Hockey game for the Gold medal. We were on Robson Street where everyone came to see the game on the huge screen, or any screen they could find. That was a great memory. Overall, we all enjoyed being in the moment and being a part of this big event in history.

I was just thinking.. it was almost two years ago. We moved to Vancouver Island right after the 2010 Winter Olympics. We didn't have Snoop at that time. We had a 600 sqf, one bedroom apartment. Life was so different. My husband said a few days ago he misses some of the good parts of Vancouver, and I agree. But we both know we love our lifestyle now and we don't regret our decision to leave Vancouver. The best part? We found Snoop on the Island :)

English Bay: Mild February in 2010 - we loved it but worried about lack of snow for the Olympics

Robson Square: Crazy Party Every Night with thousands of people!

Sunny Sunday

Cold but beautiful day!

Early morning mountain view from the dog park, just behind our house

Blue sky, White fluffy dog :)

UDON

We had another stormy night and we, all three of us, didn't get much sleep. I heard it was snowing 30 min south of where we are, but it didn't reach our city.It stopped raining in the late afternoon, but Snoop missed another good & satisfying walk today. The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow, Snoop :)

I made an UDON dish for dinner tonight. UDON is a type of Japanese noodle, made from wheat flour. Recently I started to notice Japanese foods in regular grocery stores. When I first came to Canada in 1995, I remember asking my family to send me a box full of Japanese goodies. Now I can buy most of things at the closest grocery store or on the internet. Living overseas is much easier than it used to be.

Update

Snoop is fine!

Chocolate Incident

When I came home in the afternoon, Snoop welcomed me as usual, standing up on his two feet, jumping and smiling. I went to the kitchen and put some groceries in the fridge, turned around and saw something on the carpet by the fireplace. ...? What is it??

"SNOOOOOPPP!!!!!!"

It was a plastic container with the lid chewed open. I remember seeing that container on the dining table earlier, there were several pieces of dark chocolate in it and of course I didn't see any chocolate in it now.

Chocolate is toxic for dogs, and dark is even worse as it contains higher % of theobromine. This is called Theobromine poisoning. The first signs of theobromine poisoning are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and increased urination. These can progress to cardiac arrhythmias, epileptic seizures, internal bleeding, heart attacks and eventually death! (above info from Wikipedia)

He ate quite bit for a small dog, we thought, about 1 oz or so, and it was a dark chocolate, we were worried about him. My husband called the vet and was able to get some good advice from them. Not sure how long ago Snoop ate the chocolate, but best thing is to make him vomit by giving him some Hydrogen Peroxide. We looked at each other and wondered if we should give him this as it sounded like poison, but we did as the vet recommended. It took him a while but he vomited a bit! It worked!

He seems better now, but we were told to keep eyes on him tonight...

Snoop, you are so in trouble!

 I am feeling sick.. :(   but it was so tasty!

Snoop and friends

Today started out with heavy rain and wind. We were all looking outside thinking it might be another stay-home day. Around 3pm, it cleared and the sun came out! I called my friends & dogs to get together at a school yard near by.

Although at first Snoop found it difficult to get along with other dogs, he has learned how to socialize and made many good dog friends. 12 people including kids and 4 dogs came together this afternoon and had a great time running around and enjoying sun. 

Hope the weather stays nice like this tomorrow :)

Coco - 9 yrs old, Hunter - 1.5 yrs and Snoop. We are missing the puppy Romeo. Where is he?

                                                    

Card Swap

Do you know "Card Swap"? They are a company in Toronto who buy and sell gift cards for a discounted price. I know the name, but I had never used them before.

We won a gift card at my husband's company's Christmas Party. It's worth $50, but I can only use it at this clothing store that sells cheap, not so good quality products! Plus, we can only buy items on line and pay extra shipping cost as there are no retail stores near by.. the closest store in 2 hours away!

Anyway, I was looking on line for something, but I just couldn't decided what I wanted. In fact, there was nothing I wanted!

I checked out the "Card Swap" website and I found out they would offer me $43 cash for the $50 gift card. The cheque came in the mail today and it was a very easy process. Any unwanted gift cards sitting in your house somewhere?

It was a stormy rainy day here. Snoop is getting tire of this winter weather! 

I'm dreaming of nice warm spring...zzz...zzz

BC SPCA Lottery

How was your Valentine's day? I had a pretty good one that my husband made dinner for me and gave me BC SPCA lottery tickets for a special Valentine gift!

We often give donations to the SPCA as birthday gifts and other occasions for each other or other family members. If you are planning to give a gift to someone, check out the SPCA website, "Shop SPCA". There are nice T-shirts, jackets and hoodies. You can buy them as gifts and the money will actually be donated to help animals. This SPCA lottery is another good one as we can donate money and there is a $100,000 cash prizes! Yay!

If interested, check out this link. Tickets are still available and there are so many animals in need.

I am a dog from the SPCA, but I now have a much better life :)

My Valentines♥

My hubby & son♥