Puggin' around

Annual bath time

2010-01-24T15:16:00.003Z

A belated Happy New Year to everyone!

Jerry decided that it was time for Pepe's "annual" bath :>

Polish dog bones up on English - News - Manchester Evening News

2010-01-13T19:49:00.001Z

Polish dog bones up on English - News - Manchester Evening News

Posted using ShareThis

Christmas catch up

2009-12-29T11:55:00.011Z

Christmas day came and went...

Jerry made us some snazzy party hats, as we never got any crackers

For dinner we had Roast pumpkin stuffed with wild mushrooms and hazelnuts and all the trimmings

Here I am writing in my adorable new Scheduler for 2010 (ok, the link isn't for the exact one, but very close and very cute!)

I think I'm frowning trying to remember something difficult, like Jerry's birthday ;)

And of course we needed to walk off all that food!

Here's Pepe modelling her snazzy scarf of Auntie Sandra- it is all the way from a shop called Doggie Goodie in Hong Kong

Actually Pepe has HATED the snow. If we don't keep her on her leash all the way around the park she just plonks herself down and refuses to take another step. These past few days it has melted a bit, but we're predicted for more heavy snow these next few days!

Christmas- Eve- questions!

2009-12-24T10:58:00.005Z

This was over on Poopsie's "My True Colours" Blog x

There were 22 questions, but I know how rubbish I am at completing these memes fully, so we're just going to see how many I manage!

1. What is your favorite Christmas movie?

I like Gremlins (1984), and more recently Jack Frost (1996).

I had a Gremlins videogame on the Spectrum when I was a kid- I was rubbish at it - probably too young to understand what I was supposed to do, and always got ate by them!

Pretty scary huh?

I like Jack Frost because it's a ridiculous premise, and I think I first watched it over Christmas with my sister when we were both really bored & suffering from complete Christmas lethargy.

(2) What is your favorite Christmas drink?

I treat myself to a bottle of Baileys, (Jerry has port), and like Poopsie also enjoy Bucks Fizz on Christmas Day.

*Still needs to buy the Champagne for it

TOP TIP: you need to use Smooth orange juice, otherwise the bubbles make all the 'juicy bits' rise to the top

Cheers everyone!

(3) What do you LOVE about the holidays?

Time off work, people being a bit more relaxed in work before holidays, spending time with loved ones, an excuse to eat & drink ... oh, and maybe presents :>

(4) What annoys you about the holidays?

Shopping online for gifts that then get delivered when no-one is home!

(5) Do you prefer star or angel on top of a Christmas tree? Or something else?

We actually have an owl on the top of our tree!

(6) What is your family favorite recipe at Christmas?

We don't have any family recipes, but I do enjoy making my own Christmas puddings & mincemeat. These are made from a combination of Delia Smith & Nigella Lawson recipes. Infact I may even make some mincemeat/ mince pies today (waiting in for a delivery). We got the pastry & bits and bobs from the supermarket yesterday :> Jerry loves mince pies!

(7) Christmas cards - do you send them, yes or no?

I like to send them in the post to special people- my sis. I've not given any out in work for a long time... This year we received a card & a lovely surprise of presents off relatives in Hong Kong- including gifts for the pets! These might even be the most exciting ones to open, as I've got no idea what might be in there (although Jerry's might well be fancy Chinese tea)

(8) What is the best thing about Christmas, in your opinion?

Getting to spend a few days off work in the middle of winter huddled up with the ones you love, hopefully with plenty of nice things to eat & drink!

(9) What is the worst thing about Christmas?

Worrying over silly things like presents.

(10) When do you put the tree up and take it down?

This year we put up the tree, as per Jerry, 12 days before Christmas... far too early when you have a cat like Jesse James, who just Loves to chase around the baubles... never again. We also never got around to buying any lights for it, oh well (eco friendly!) It's supposed to remain up until 5th January ??!? um, we'll have to see about that

(11) Out of the 12 days of Christmas, which day and item would you want your truelove to give to you?

LOL, good question!

I think I'll go for the three French hens, as it would be nice to have fresh eggs!

(12) What is your favorite smell at Christmastime?

I like warm spicy smells, like mulled wine or mincepies baking. Or maybe new perfume? Last year Jerry got me this beautiful perfume- the bottle is so pretty I have it in the front room!

(13) What would make you happy at Christmas this year?

Jerry having more days off, ditto my sister so that she could come for a holiday. Seeing the Homers. Winning the Lotto rollover- £7 million :>

Snow day!!!

2009-12-20T19:16:00.010Z

We have snow!

My mum & dad were supposed to come over today, but they cancelled because of the weather, le sigh. I'd reserved a table at Pizza Express and everything.

Regardless, Jerry, Pepe & I still went for a wintry walk in the snow

"I Love Me" award

2009-12-19T17:28:00.011Z

Many thanks to Caitlin aka The August One for the above award.

So, recipients have to list 10 things they love about themselves...

1. I love my fashion sense and style (ditto Caitlin!)
I guess my taste has always been a bit different, unusual. These days we don't really have much spare cash for clothes shopping etc. but in a way I'm glad- it means I get plenty of wear out of clothes I love. Actually Jerry would be glad to see the back of my duffle coat LOL
* remembers I need to buy a new belt to replace the one I lost off my green coat

*wants

2. I love giving myself new challenges, e.g. blogging, setting up as a seller on Etsy, knitting, crochet

3. I love that I am a pet owner, that I have room in my life and heart to love these animals and the duty of care & responsibilty that I have for them

4. I love being a bookworm! I love Bookmooch, Librarything and my real-life public libraries. I've always got my limit of books out from the library and probably 10 more on Reserve. Using bookswapping websites these days it's so easy to turn your home into your very own library. Shelves filled with books are always a tasteful decor choice I think

5. I love being petite
Admittedly it can be a pain getting trousers that fit without having to take the hems up, but because I am a Lady I can just wear skirts or dresses instead. Infact I find it so boring in work where colleagues just wear (the same?) pair of black trousers all week.
I think Shakira summed it up
"I'm actually very proud of my short legs. They take me to places. Actually when you're short, people feel pity for you, so you can get away with a lot more stuff. If I was tall I'd be in big trouble."

... well maybe 5 is enough for today... to be continued... ?

Oh Christmas tree...

2009-12-12T21:49:00.013Z

Today we put up the Christmas tree!
Jerry insisted that it has to go up 12 days before Christmas... I only thought that it had to stay up for 12 days starting from Christmas day?

We made mulled wine

red wine, Cointreau, cinnamon, nutmeg, muscovado sugar, a clementine cut into quarters and studded with a clove in each piece

and then got down to business
...sometimes I think my secret power might be the ability to always have my eyes closed when someone takes my picture, doh
Jesse was understandably very curious

Jerry got to add the finishing touch
And wah-lah!
I don't think there will be very many presents underneath it this year as we are both broke, but that's not the point right ?

Fursday Fashion

2009-12-03T21:59:00.005Z

Hooray, Pepe's new Pug Snuggly finally arrived. It was held up in Customs for a week and then we had to pay VAT on it and a handling charge!!! I am so sick of this happening when I buy stuff from overseas :< (Actually Jerry was an angel and paid it for me xxx) However, the Pug Snuggly is worth it Yup her one from last year:
http://pugginaround.blogspot.com/2008/11/fashion-on-friday.html
no longer fits, aww!

In fact, it suits Jesse James better these days

What a suave kitty!

Let the countdown commence!

2009-12-01T22:20:00.003Z

One of the Christmas traditions in the Homer household is the making of the Christmas pudding - see "Monday munchies" entry last year
http://pugginaround.blogspot.com/2008/12/monday-munchies.html

this year was no different, and over the weekend preparations began. First the dried fruit was soaked in alcohol overnight. Then the rest of the ingredients were added. And the most important part? The stirring! For 'good luck' everyone in the household has to give it a stir and make a wish:

Yey!

On TV tonight was Delia's Classic Christmas. I loved it! It made me start to feel a little bit excited about Xmas this year. She was saying that sometimes people think they don't like Christmas pudding, but that's because they've only ever had shop-bought ones, and that if you have a homemade one it's miles different- better!

Sunday snacks

2009-11-01T20:17:00.006Z

Here are the pics of Jerry's birthday cake from last week:
Vegan Black Forest Cake

We didn't have any birthday candles, so I used sparklers- which I think look better !

I tried a piece and it was sooo rich, like a chocolate fudge cake!

Today we've made Vegan Spiced Ginger Cookies. I was thinking that they might be nice stuck together with some of the leftover buttercreme filling from the cake :)
The spicy flavour is nice especially at this time of year when the weather is starting to get chilly.

Happy Halloween !

2009-10-31T20:41:00.011Z

This year Jerry was in charge of Pumpkin carving duties, and I think he did a very good job !

scooping out the gruesome insides

Pepe gets a fun hat

Moved into the front room for the tricky bit- carving. Pepe 'snoopervises' very closely

Ta-daaa !

Happy Halloween everybody !

Got a baby? Good luck keeping your house clean

2009-10-29T22:44:00.003Z

What's a bigger enemy to a clean home: a puppy or a baby?

> A baby stays a baby for a lot longer than a dog does a puppy !

Happy birthday Jerry

2009-10-25T10:52:00.006Z

Yesterday - 24th October - was Jerry's Birthday !
Here we are celebrating having a meal at Chaophraya. We went there with my mum & dad:

The food was okay; the "Tapas" starters were the nicest part. We went at 3pm so I think they were only serving the Lunch menu... Jerry chose a papaya salad- but it was a bit too spicy for him !

Today I am going to finish off making his birthday cake: Vegan black forest cake. I've made a couple of amendments to the recipe on the site so will have to report back on whether it's any good :>

Pepe and Jesse are good. Pepe has outgrown her winter coat from last year, the big fatty! Over on Pug Snuggly I love the 'Sailor Tattoo' ones. The clocks have changed for winter here so although it might not start getting colder right away, it'll definetly be too dark when I get home from work (5.30pm onwards) to be taking a walk in the park :<

Sunday summary

2009-09-27T22:29:00.003+01:00

We went to the vets again on Saturday... but it was only for Pepe to have her booster vaccination. (annoyingly I couldn't find the record for her previous vaccine, must remember to have a 'proper' look for it). The vet also gave her a bit of a once-over and said that she still had some of her baby teeth! We were just talking to another dog owner during the week about their 5-month old puppy losing their baby teeth (a Bedlington Terrier). So, the vet said it'd be better for them to be removed - Pepe's mouth would be less crowded with less places for food to get trapped, then causing plaque which can lead to worse problems. Has anyone else needed for their Pug to have baby teeth removed ?
Pepe says: "if you take out my baby teeth, I won't be able to chomp my rawhides as much!"

More good news... bad news

2009-09-15T20:54:00.003+01:00

Good news: Jesse's back !
I busted the outlaw out of the vet's (once again) this evening, and this time we nabbed a handful of drugs as well- he has to take Dantrium (to help relax his bladder) & Baytril antiotic ;(
I dread to think how much his tab has run up to now, but like I say the vets have been very nice about it & we can pay monthly- phew!

Bad news- Jerry didn't get the Waterstones job. Oh well. The wages were crappy anyway. At the moment he has an application for 8th Day Vegetarian cafe. Well, he even goes one better and is actually a *Vegan* and he has also worked in kitchens before so I think >hope< that he's a shoo-in for it. In fact we used to go in there quite often when we were "courting" *blush

Good news/ bad news

2009-09-13T16:22:00.005+01:00

Well I'll get the bad news out of the way first- Jesse James is at the vets again for the weekend. On Saturday morning he was struggling to urinate again, and we know the drill by heart by now... At least we know he's in the right place to get the treatment he needs. The vets are also very good and are allowing us to pay off his bills in monthly installments, although at the moment it feels like we'll be paying it off for the rest of our lives ! ...so that's the reason why I've not been blogging very much, as I don't want to have to keep on putting gloomy posts about him continuing to have problems :(

And the good news is that Jerry has an interview for a bookseller position for the Waterstones chain. The rate of pay isn't great (£5.75), and it's only 20hrs per week; but it'd be a start. And I think after he completes a probation period he'd then be entitled to a staff discount (I'm a real bookworm!) :>

Other good news was that Jerry's dad visited us today and took us for a 'big shop' at the supermarket. It was so much fun! We got big packs of spaghetti & penne pasta, rice, loaves of bread, tofu, multipacks of chopped tomatoes and Baked Beans (Jerry's favourite), plus loads of fruit & veggies. I could have easily spent double what we did, but didn't want to take advantage. Normally we go shopping on an almost daily basis- not to the supermarket but to closer shops for bits & pieces, it's very strange for the cupboards to be full !

Man-cat Monday- Jesse's return

2009-08-24T22:26:00.005+01:00

Jesse is home!
It's so lovely to have him back.

The vet said he was very timid while he was in there, so I half-expected him to be a little traumatised by it all and hide when he came home, but he doesn't seem to be too bad.

They have tied the collar on using a strip of gauze- so it looks like he has a bonnet on LOL
He's also had a patch shaved on his front right leg from where they sedated him- pretty tough guy huh?

Thanks for all your comments guys xxx

Cat-astrophe

2009-08-23T11:18:00.004+01:00

Another bad weekend.

Yesterday Jesse James was having toilet troubles again- in his litter box looking like he was trying to wee but nothing at all happening. Our vets is only open 10-12 on a Saturday, we only started thinking that he needed to be checked out after they were shut. Another vets was open til 5pm, but when we called them they said we couldn't really take him there as they weren't where he was registered & to call our normal surgery - even tho they were closed-to get details of their Emergency surgery...
We called the Emergency surgery which had a £75 fee to even look at him and it was in Cheadle Hulme- an area which we are not familiar with & we don't drive ... at this time the bottom line was that we couldn't really afford for him to be sick in any way, let alone having to pay £75 for the privilege of him being looked at. So we took the option of hoping that he'd be okay until Monday when his normal vets reopened (why do they always get sick outside of opening hours?)

Unfortunately in the evening it was clear that this wasn't going to happen, and at 9pm we set out to take him to the Emergency vets.
He has needed a catheter in his bladder, and has been kept overnight on a drip. He is being kept in today as there is blood in his urine... the bill so far is £565; there are going to have to be a couple of phone calls to parents today I think to ask for help.
It's such a horrible situation; if he needs any more treatments I think we're having to say we can't afford them ... apart from all this he's a healthy, happy and young cat. But if we don't get him completely sorted out and better then I'm sure the problem will just recur.

Yes, we will be taking out insurance after all this gets sorted :<

Sunday sad

2009-08-16T20:28:00.003+01:00

Sadly Simba passed away last weekend. She had lost weight in recent months, but was still keenly eating and active, so we thought it was just old age (she was about 15 years old according to Jerry). But then towards the end last week she started to have toiletting problems so she went to the vet's on Saturday. I kindof thought in my heart that one of their options for her would be to put her to sleep, but we couldn't do it there and then, so she came home for what we hoped would be a weekend of pampering. Unfortunately on the Saturday afternoon she did seem to go downhill and she passed away that night.

Wacky weekend

2009-07-26T21:32:00.008+01:00

It's been a while huh ? ;)

Well me & Jerry had our holiday in Paris:

> Modelling my Eurostar ticket

> Modelling a baguette

> A Parisienne Pug !
My mum & dad looked after all 3 pets ! They said it went fine, bless them.

We had a very exciting time this weekend. We went for a goodbye BBQ in Doncaster. Pepe was a big brave doggie and went on a train for the first time!

Pepe met Momo & Jaijai for the first time...

> ... and also lots of human family members

> What a spread!

...We're all a bit pooped now, but we had a great time !

Easy like a sunny Sunday morning

2009-06-28T20:19:00.004+01:00

Easy like Sunday morning

2009-06-21T17:27:00.003+01:00

Thursday three

2009-06-18T21:13:00.002+01:00

One for sorrow, two for joy; three for a girl... Pepe!

Tuesday Tannoy

2009-06-16T21:58:00.003+01:00

The cause of the disruption in service has been located. A Simba-shaped blockage has been found in the laptop area. This has now been cleared and we hope to resume blogging henceforth. Thank you for your patience.

Wonderful (But wet) weekend !

2009-06-07T17:16:00.011+01:00

Yey my sis was here for the weekend.
On Friday I called in work sick :)
We had a walk in Fletcher Moss and it seemed so strange to be there so early in the day, a little like we were trespassing because it was so quiet !
We went to Pizza Express, where I had the Padana.
Just as we were going out for a drink in the evening it started to rain...

And seemed to continue all night and into Saturday, the day of the 30th Annual Didsbury Festival. This started at 11am with a parade:
Pepe did some barking when the marching band went past.

Here I am registering for the Dog Show; Pepe got entered for two rounds- Prettiest Female, and Best Puppy
Just look at those prizes !

I couldn't get Pepe to turn around to look at the camera for her picture next to the sign, LOL
Here we are in the ring for Prettiest Female

There was quite a large crowd, despite the terrible weather - if you zoom in on the pic you can see people's faces when they see Pepe !
Getting judged

The winners- including Pepe!
L-R; Katie, Phil, Brill
Front- Pepe
Champions!

Thursday Thoughts

2009-06-04T23:26:00.004+01:00

What do we think happened here ?

Jesse James doing an Andrex puppy impression ?

High temperature Tuesday

2009-06-02T20:47:00.005+01:00

Simba is still enjoying the sunshine :)
But Pepe is pooped ...

Sunny Simba Monday

2009-06-01T20:55:00.004+01:00

It's official - we have The Hots here !
It is currently 21 degreesC in Manchester, and we had a lovely weekend :)
It's so amazing, you just forget that it can be this nice.

Excitingly my sis is coming for a visit starting on Thursday (actually she's coming because she split up with her boyfriend)... I'm going to have to call in work sick on Friday as the holiday book was red !
And then on Saturday it's the Didsbury Festival! We've been for the past two years and it's always fun. We invited my parents over for the day last year and they enjoyed it too- but they're on holiday at the moment and are going to miss it this time.

But most of all the highlight of the Festival is... the DOG SHOW !!!
Pepe is totally getting entered into every category she is elegible for and fingers crossed she will wipe the board :D

Wordless Wednesday - new shoes

2009-05-27T21:02:00.004+01:00

Sundal Sunday

2009-05-24T19:54:00.005+01:00

(I can see on my Dashboard that I'm getting close to 100 posts, which I really want to achieve (and beyond!) but some evenings the last thing I want to do is sit down in front of the PC again ...)

Anyway, here is a recipe I made last weekend: Sundal
It is supposed to be a snack of chickpeas, peanuts, coconut and other bits and pieces to spice it up ! We ate it as a meal instead with basmati rice. It was very filling !

Anyway, the best part was probably the fresh coconut. Jerry broke it open- the water inside was really sweet ! Then we had to prise out the flesh. I generally don't like coconut things- cakes at least, but I think that's because dessicated coconut is so dry, ugh! But the fresh coconut was really creamy. I also loved the contrast between the coarse hard hairy shell and the perfect white flesh inside- like snow !

Of course at the end we gave Pepe one of the halves of the shell to play with (after we took as much of the hair off )... and it has become her new favourite toy
1. it is nice and hard to chew on
2. it is noisy if she scuttles it along the floor-

3. if she has it the other way up it can make a handy crash helmet :)

Sentimental Saturday

2009-05-16T19:11:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was our Wedding Anniversary- one year! And where has the time gone... ?

As a paper present I got Jerry a new Paris guidebook (we're going in July). For his modern present- which is clocks - I got him the 'Sailing' Swatch:

And my present off Jerry was a clock- a Kit-Cat Klock ... I love it ! We've put it in the front room and hopefully so far Jesse James hasn't biffed it off the wall

Next year it is either cotton, or china...

Mancat Monday- poorly pussy cat

2009-05-11T22:48:00.003+01:00

Well Jesse James has been having a little trouble over the weekend... in the litter box area.

He has been going in his litter box lots, but not really producing a lot of urine; and what he has has been quite dark.

We took him to the vet's today to get him checked over. The vet was quite nice and said it was a surprise that such a young cat should have a urine problem.

So first of all he had to suffer the indignity of the thermometer up his bum, then an injection, and then the vet started explaining how a male cat's penis wasn't like a human male's and basically a bit rubbish- poor Jesse !

We've got some tablets to give him for the next week, and hopefully that will be everything cleared up xxx I might look into seeing how much getting him pet insurance would be, if I can get a discount if I add him onto Pepe's premium ...

The vet also suggested a water fountain to encourage him to increase his fluids intake... and also flavoured water ???

Easy like Sunday morning

2009-05-10T20:07:00.004+01:00

Yeah maybe we would get them a bigger bed, but then they wouldn't have so much fun snuggling up :)

Friday Forecast

2009-05-08T21:49:00.004+01:00

The weather here has been so strange all day. In work people didn't bring their coat because it had been nice in the week, but today was cooler and windy, so they regretted their decision.

When I was finishing I called Jerry at home and he said it was pouring down. In town we had blue skies however...

Then this evening it started to hailstone ! I couldn't resist running out in the yard to see if Pepe would follow- I don't think she's seen hailstone before ? Please excuse the pink rubber gloves as I was in the middle of washing the dishes LOL (I'm a big nerd I know)

The hailstone only lasted for a few moments; it was also raining really heavily which is why I'm cringing from the big splashes of cold wet rain :) But as you can see the sky looks bring like it's going to be over in a few seconds.

Please also note the large tree in the background. It's a horse chestnut and is blossoming at the moment. The blossom blows into our yard and Pepe loves to nom it all up which drives me Crazy !!

Thursday - food parcel

2009-05-07T22:26:00.005+01:00

Hooray, our package from Pets at Home arrived.

Mainly the order was placed to get Jesse James some more food, but some fun stuff always sneaks in :) We received:

2x 2kg bags of James Wellbeloved Adult cat food.
1- Turkey & rice; 1- Ocean white fish & rice
These were on Buy 1 get 1 free :)
Jesse James is now approx 1 yr old so we have moved him onto Adult food! No more 'junior' Jesse and 'Senior' Simba

1x Handi-Drink Pet Travel Bottle
The weather seemed to be getting nicer when I placed the order, I thought Pepe might have been panting more esp. when we took her for a jumbo-walk so this seemed a good idea for her to be able to get refreshments

1x Kong Snugga Wubba
Pepe used to have a puppy Wubba Kong, which got chewed & chewed until this is all that remains:
(When the fabric cover got too frayed it got removed & put in the bin !)
I got the Snugga one because on the page it said: "perfect for... cuddling up to at night" which I thought sounded sweet; but on the actual product packaging it says NOT for unsupervised use - which if we had gave it to her at bedtime then she would be unsupervised so I might contact them to point out that their advice is inaccurate :(

and finally
2x Giddy Kipper Catnip Toys
these were the real 'silly' item. My sis has recently got a thing for having kippers for her breakfast, so when I saw these toys on the site I thought it would be fun to order one for her - yes, she has a cat ! He is a Maine Coon called Louis x
When these arrived, they were massive. On the site there is no information re their size so I guess I expected them to be a 'normal' cat toy size.

Here is a side-by-side comparison to Pepe's Snugga:

It's even bigger than Pepe's toy !!!
I dunno if it's supposed to be life-sized or something ? Jesse James or Simba don't seem to be too fussed about their one :(
Maybe Louis will enjoy his more; I'm pretty sure it will at least bring a smile to my sis's face when she opens her package :)

Wordless Wednesday - and s t r e t ch !

2009-05-06T07:10:00.002+01:00

Tuesday review; Gok's Fashion Fix

2009-05-05T20:16:00.004+01:00

Gok's Fashion Fix is a TV programme, on C4 8pm-9pm.

It's not something I'd desperately tune into, but is okay for something to have on in the background, e.g. ironing !

The premise is helping women make the most of less and offering alternatives to excessive shopping. On tonight's episode a lady had 200+ items in her wardrobe, 50 of these being white T-shirts !!!

Another part of the show is where the presenter, Gok Wan, does a challenge to put together a series of outfits from high street shops, which are put up against expensive designer pieces for the same look. So here's the reason why I'm mentioning the show on my blog- the presenter who finds the designer clothes - a Ms. Brix Smith-Start, has pugs !!!

So for me now the whole point of the show is waiting for the sections that have her on, just incase I get to see her doggies. Usually they are running amok in some designer boutique LOL

And there you have it- a pug = the ultimate accessory ?

Sunday Super Walk

2009-04-26T21:13:00.010+01:00

Today we went for another big long walk around Fletcher Moss park:

There are lots of different areas and trails thru the park. Each time we try to explore a different path, and we always see something new.

However Pepe's favourite part is the 'Beach'- just look at those sandy paws :

She is getting braver going into the water :

Chasing after the Stoopid ducks ! :

... we normally spend about 2 hours walking around. We then have a very tired Pug who tends to conk out and sleep all evening :)

Belated Brill's Birthday

2009-04-24T20:27:00.005+01:00

Thursday April 23rd was my 29th birthday !

Naturally I took the day off work. In the morning I opened my presents off Jerry, which were all lovely and got to eat Tarte au Citron for breakfast in bed :)

In the afternoon I made a coffee & ricotta cake. It was my dad's birthday on the 22nd so I wanted to make a cake and give him half when we saw him today :)

In the evening we went on the Wheel

it was quite fun. We've been on a couple of times in the past, and normally go around Christmas-time, but last year never got around to it. I like to go at night and see the city all lit up :)

Because it was also St George's Day there were also Morris Dancers- which we would not have seen if we hadn't gone up on the Wheel :

Today we saw my parents for a meal. We were going to go to Ning, which serves Malaysian food and had Vegan options for Jerry. We walked up there for their Friday Lunch menu, only to find the place closed and a note on the door saying they had stopped Friday Lunches ! Oh well.
So we went to Red Chilli instead. Jerry & I have been there before, when we had 'Sichuan Mrs Spotty's Beancurd' which was amazingly hot ! This time we were gobsmacked when all the food arrived- there was so much ! We got takeaway boxes for the leftovers :)

'til next year... the Big Three- Oh !

Wednesday Warning

2009-04-22T22:23:00.004+01:00

Warning: we have a celebrity in our midst...

Months ago I uploaded some pics on LOLCats website, and kindof forgot about them. You don't receive any notifications if people put captions on them ?

Anyway this week I got an email... asking if they could use one of my pics in their second book - a book called I Can Has Cheezburger?: Lolcats Teach U How To Take Over Teh Wurld !!!

there are a number of captions on the pic, I dunno which one they are going to use on it... or maybe make another one up altogether !

Of course I have said YES !!!

Tuesday review- Lush

2009-04-21T19:39:00.004+01:00

Well we have all recently celebrated Easter, but for some this is easier than others.

Jerry is a Vegan, so rather than getting him a dairy-chocolate egg I thought Vegan-friendly shop Lush might have some fun Easter items for him. We went into one of their shops here in Manchester, where they had bunny and egg shaped Bath Ballistics, but none of the labels said they were Vegan :(
I asked one of the staff who said that the ones that had a sweet on them might not be suitable - the sweet contained gelatine... but I was a little disappointed overall about such an oversight.

I emailed the Customer Services for advise if Any were suitable, and they got back quickly telling me which were- including one called "Honey Bun" which I thought was silly because Honey is NOT Vegan.

Anyway the customer services rep said "give me your address and we'll send you some Vegan stuff to make up for Easter" ... and this is what we received:
1x Ice Blue soap.
I'm not sure if we've had this before, but it has a lovely zingy smell. Peppermint flavour.

1x Uluru Bath Ballistic.
We've not used this one before, but look forward to doing so. It has a sandalwood scent- the most expensive essential oil which caused a massive cock-up on last week's Apprentice !

1x Handy Gurugu hand cream.
I am a complete hand cream addict, so am well pleased this was in there !

1x Olive Branch shower gel
I tried this last night and am not too keen on the 'musky' aroma. It reminds me of The Body Shop's "White Musk", which was popular when I was in secondary school. My fave shower gel from Lush is Sonic Death Monkey.

Also it was all very cutely packaged, and rather than polystyrene briquettes, they'd used popcorn to stop the contents from getting damaged ! Pepe was very curious about this, but I didn't let her have any incase it had any soap or fragrances which might have made her sick :P

Saturday night Snuggle

2009-04-19T20:10:00.003+01:00

Last night we stayed in and snuggled up, watching "Burn After Reading".

I thought it was just okay, my favourite part was Doritos and salsa ! :)

My favourite Coen Brothers film is "Raising Arizona" which is LOL funny.

Stuff on Saturday

2009-04-18T19:59:00.005+01:00

What a nice quick week, after the Bank Holiday on Monday.

On Wednesday brother- Ryan and sister-in-law Sandra came to Manchester, bringing baby George with them. I'd sent them the blanket for George in the post as an Easter gift... and here George is modelling it:

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T20:33:00.015+01:00

Yesterday we went for a big walk, looking for Easter Bunnies... here is what I found:

A crow

A wood pigeon ?

A duck

A magpie

A spider

A drake

Pepe was very brave and went and looked in the long grass!

But sadly no bunnies... until we came home !

Wooly Wednesday

2009-04-08T20:23:00.009+01:00

Well I finally finished the Garter Stitch blanket from "Baby Knits for Beginners" Yup all done, stitched together and finally sent off to little George in an Easter gift package. I hope it's big enough for him ! (It's folded over in the above pic !)

And now I have started to make him some "Fluffy Clouds" socks from "Cute Knits for Baby Feet" . This is the first time I have made something which has a colour pattern , which I have struggled a little with ! First I just copied it out bigger and thought I could just cross off the rows as I did them, but I kept forgetting that you have to change the way you read the pattern on each row. So I have just been writing out each row longhand... hopefully it will be worth it !

I do have to be careful about leaving my knitting around though. Jesse James had done his trick of trapping himself in the bedroom. When I went to check on him this is what I found ^^ Fortunately he hadn't unraveled any of my carefully made stitches !

Tuesday Ten- Annoying habits

2009-04-07T20:38:00.005+01:00

Inspired by an entry over on Purs n'snorts here is my Top 10 annoying habits- not all mine !!

Wasting too much time on the Internet, LOL
This is probably worse when I'm in work, I'll be doing a straightforward case, then get distracted and go on the Internet and all of a sudden it's 10 mins later and I have no memory of where I was up to in my work...
I think one of the criticisms of my star sign, Taurus, is laziness. I'm not sure how true this is, but I am 'good' at procrastinating... I've had an application for a Graduate Trainee position- a job I would LOVE to get for some time now, but as the closing date is the end of May I keep on putting off doing any work on it :( Maybe I'll get around to it this Easter holiday weekend
Pepe barks. We put her in the kitchen overnight and when we want some 'quiet time'... and she isn't quiet about when she wants some company again. Her barking isn't loud or aggressive, but she seems to be able to go on forever... when all you want is for her to settle down again so you can have a weekend lie-in
Pepe sheds. Well okay all the animals shed. Generally in the evening we need to vacuum both sofas before humans can sit down on them, unless they want a tush full o'fur.
I am very acquisitive when it comes to books. I joined the Bookmooch website where since July 07 I have given away 93 books, but received 146 ...!
Jesse James does not understand the concept of doors fully. Most often when he wants to leave a room he will reach up to push the door; so either the door will swing wide open meaning we have to get up to close it again, or he closes the door and traps himself inside
I have to admit that at times I am very easily irritated. When we settle down for the night in bed, Jerry & I might stay up to do a bit of a read. Everything is so quiet that I can hear Jerry biting his nails and it does drive me a little crazy
Pepe eating things in the back yard. Our back yard is paved, but there is some plant sprouting up and a few dandelions here and there. Some days when I take her out there to do her business I just want her to 'go', but she delights in snuffling and sampling anything she can get her chops around
Staying up too late at night
Some nights I know that I'm tired and should just give in and go to bed, but on the other hand I can't be bothered to go to the routine of getting everyone ready for bed. Unfortunately this always needs doing so I end up rushing around in a bad mood trying to get it over and done with
Shyness
I guess I'm still pretty shy. E.g. I started going to Pilates class. When I come home Jerry asks "did you talk to anyone", but to me -going by myself- it just seems that people turn up, do the class and then leave. You're all concentrating on yourself getting the moves right, and the Instructor that there's not that much interaction with other members

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-01T22:32:00.006+01:00

Man-kitten Monday- cat burglar in training ?

2009-03-30T20:59:00.004+01:00

Sunday silly

2009-03-29T15:45:00.007+01:00

And here is the final Face in the Hole picture (the cats don't want to degrade themselves):

Jerry has transformed himself into 'Jerry Wayne'-he likes Westerns- hence Jesse James being so-called - see The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. Jerry even has a poster of the film, but I won't allow him to put it up:

... I don't want Brad Pitt's eyes following me around the room !

Puggin' around... does Pilates

2009-03-26T21:43:00.002Z

I guess the longer days have made me want to be a bit more active, and as such I went to a Pilates class for the first time this evening.
I have 'played' Yoga on the Wii Fit before, and enjoyed it, but at the same time not been entirely confident that I was doing the poses 100% correctly, so it was nice to go to a class where there was a real Instructor.

The hour went quickly. There was one exercise which I was particularly terrible at; holding a ball between your feet and then stretching your legs ;

Nintendo DSi, please

2009-03-25T23:09:00.001Z

Nintendo DSi by bvalium

Nintendo DSi ... I've preordered one for playing on 3rd April ! I'll be trading in my old white DS Lite, and maybe a couple of games I never play anymore.

Face in the hole pt.2

2009-03-25T07:05:00.002Z

(This morning Pepe woke me up at 6.15am. Normally I'd take her outside to do her business, and then try to go back to bed for a while. This morning I must have been on Auto-pilot and also started to get myself ready for work, so I actually have some spare time now!)

It seems that Jerry was also powerless to resist messing about on the Face in the Hole website, hence:

Sexy mermaid Brill ! LOL

Face in hole

2009-03-23T21:23:00.004Z

Hehee, over on Too cute pugs they have found a fun site- Face in hole.

I used it to make this Pic of Pepe:

I used to love my Furby ! x

Easy like a sunny Sunday morning

2009-03-22T22:32:00.003Z

Wordy Wednesday

2009-03-18T22:38:00.002Z

Here is a picture of me in Paris last year. Now Paris is famous for its cemeteries- or the famous people buried on them. However the one I was most interested to visit was the Animal Cemetery. I first read about it in a children's book my sister bought me called "This is Paris" :)

The Animal Cemetery is on the outskirts of the city - because of an old law (for hygiene) that said that dead animals couldn't be buried in the city. So it wasn't included on the maps in my guidebook . We enquired at reception at the apartments we were staying in, and the lady there had never heard of it either- we got quite a funny look, but she was ever so helpful :) Anyway we found it in the end...

The pic is of me in front of the monument to Barry, "the world's most famous St Bernard", who rescued 40 people, but died trying to save the 41st!

Pug a Paris ?

2009-03-14T22:51:00.006Z

Well it is about the time of year when we start to think about holidays... I'll find out how much my bonus is sometime these coming weeks which will give me an idea of how much we have to 'play' with...

But I think we would love to go to Paris. It would make it our third time in three years going! First time we went in April- for my birthday, last year we went in May- for our honeymoon-- the pic of Jerry on the sidebar was taken on the top of the Grande arch at La Defense !

It would be pawesome to take Pepe, but I think she still might be a little young and immature... She'd have to get a Pet Passport too! She has been microchipped and vaccinated, but I'm not sure if this includes against rabies, as we don't have rabies in the UK...?

We have stayed both times at Residhotel Imperial Rennequin, apartments in the 17th arrondisement. It's very exciting to think of going back there again, as we have gotten to know the neighbourhood so we would be able to really relax, but it's gotten kindof expensive there with the exchange rate

Crufts 2009

2009-03-09T20:41:00.005Z

This weekend it was Crufts, but it wasn't show on TV. Last year there was a programme on about pedigree dogs saying that they are inbred and have congenital defects. More recently there was a programme on about puppy farms/ pet shops which showed "that in many cases, the paperwork is inadequate to prove a puppy's pedigree, or that it has been properly vaccinated." These places were selling sick puppies, and ones with docked tails which is illegal here in the UK.

> So isn't it better to get a pedigree dog from an accredited breeder? We put a lot of thought into getting Pepe (heck, she was expensive!), we didn't get her from the most convenient closest breeder, who over the course of our phone calls I ended up getting a bad feeling about, like she didn't care if I bought a puppy from her because there would be plenty of other people who would...

Anyway sadly a Pug didn't win this year, the prize went to a Sealyham Terrier, which looks like this:

Long weekend

2009-03-08T22:24:00.004Z

*BTW the hard drive on Jerry's laptop went kaput last week, but has been replaced since. I've still not got around to reuploading my iTunes and all that other boring techy stuff

I was off on Friday, and Pepe got taken to the vets to have her stitches taken out! Done and done!

My sis also arrived for the weekend- it is her birthday tomorrow - (9th March.)

On Saturday our parent's came over and we went to GBK- Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I had the Blue cheese burger, which was okay but the blue cheese dressing wasn't strong enough for my liking!

Today I made Kate the birthday cake of her choice, which was Nigella Lawson's Chocolate pistachio cake. It was pretty easy to make, although I made a couple of mistakes along the way... but it turned out fine and tastes good :) She will have to take some home with her for her housemates as I really don't want to think about the number of calories there would be in the whole cake !

Pepe's big spay (day)

2009-02-24T21:07:00.005Z

Today Pepe got spayed.
I ordered a taxi for 8am to get us over to the Dog's Home for 8.45am, as requested. The taxi both took too long, and was more expensive than the dispatcher advised last night when I ordered it...
It felt dead weird to be getting a taxi, I was dead nervous and worried about forgetting something, a bit like the sensation before you go on holiday ...

Here is a pic of Pepe looking sad before we set off -
yes I know that she had no idea what was going to happen to her ...
One of my worries was that the taxi driver would pull up, but then be like "no dogs in the car"- I took her in the cat's travel box.
I was also worried that she might not stop barking, or go to the toilet while we were en route. None of this happened. She settled down after a while and the taxi driver asked a couple of questions about her and why I was taking her across the city.

And here is Pepe looking sad when she got home.
I got the bus (or rather the two buses home), and there wasn't a peep out of her. I think she is still quite dopey; but we took the Buster collar off her to let her get comfortable when we were able to make sure she didn't worry her stitches and she seemed to get a bit livelier. Her appetite is fine too, she scoffed the grilled chicken & boiled rice I made for her tea :)
"Does my bum look big in this ? "

Man-kitten Monday

2009-02-23T21:38:00.004Z

Here I'd like to share with you a picture of the cute way Jesse James likes to snuggle up to his 'dad', a bit like Fatty over at Purrs n'snorts.
Tough guys need cuddles too sometimes ! xxx

Saturday Status

2009-02-21T21:53:00.005Z

Well I took the plunge and have booked Pepe in to get spayed... on Tuesday ! (24th). Last month I was making enquiries into it and my local vet quoted £180 ! - which seems to be the going rate :(
So she's going to have it done at the dog's home which will be more like £50. The Dogs home is in north Manchester and would be 2 bus journeys there so I'll have to get a taxi (we don't drive), so it will also be the first time Pepe goes in a car (well apart from getting picked up from the breeders). So there's a lot to be nervous about :P
It was quite cute when I was making the appointment, the guy was taking my details, then Pepe's and when I said she was a Pug he was like "oh, can't you come on Thursday instead?" so that he could get to see her, hehee.
I hope she doesn't mind wearing the special collar afterwards too much :

Word-y Wednesday

2009-02-18T21:49:00.002Z

This was the nice picture I thought Jerry might like for the wallpaper on his phone.
Naturally he wasn't able to resist adding a clip-art moustache *hmpf
Silly Jerry !

Tattle-tale Tuesday

2009-02-17T23:01:00.004Z

Today a man came around the house to do some painting... (refer to posts from like last November )

Although Jesse James likes to think he's all grown, I am going to present evidence to the contrary:

Exhibit one
A cat climbing into the inside of the sofa bed

Exhibit two

A kitten inside the sofa bed - what a scaredy cat ! LOL

However he has gone on to make a full recovery:

Sim-Cat Sunday

2009-02-15T18:32:00.004Z

Hi everybody, Simba here.
Well about time too, but the humans have finally gotten that stupid Pug-dog locked up. They have some kind of theory that having a baby gate on the kitchen door will help them to train the bark out of Pepe. During the week in the mornings the routine is fine, but at the weekends the humans, and hey, us cats too, would like to have a bit of a lie-in. Poor Pepe doesn't get it and tends to bark, even tho during the week when Brill is at work she is lovely and quiet for Jerry...

Monday Meme- Kreative award

2009-02-09T22:38:00.003Z

Thanks to the guys over at Too Cute Pugs for the Kreative blogger award
What you have to do is then list 6 things that make you happy, so for me that includes:

1. a big long bath, with nice products from Lush in
2. Books. Man I love books and reading. I've set up a blog for my TBR challenge, which is not going so well at the minute, but I have until the end of the year to complete it ...
3. having something nice for my lunch in work. By which I mean leftovers from our tea the night before. Today I had (tofu) mushroom & broccoli quiche, beetroot & avocado salad and sweet potato 'fries'. Delicioso !
4. just coming home in the evenings after work. Jerry says when I come in all the pets- who have been so well behaved all day long- go bananas. Already it's starting to be lighter for longer and I can't wait for the days when we'll be able to take Pepe over to the park after work
5. Jerry, who made me pancakes on Sunday, and for everything else :)
6. Blogging ! otherwise why do it ?

I'm going to pass this on specifically to Liss at Purs n'snorts, and anyone else who would like to do the meme !

Wordless Wednesday-

2009-02-04T21:35:00.001Z

Tuesday review- Baby Knits for Beginners

2009-02-03T21:56:00.003Z

This book does exactly what it says on the tin!
Sister in law Sandra had a baby boy in December so I wanted to make something for him. I have been working on the garter stitch blanket, and am now finally at the stage of sewing all the squares together !
The diagrams are clear, and I hope to go on to try one of the garments soon ! I think the next pattern is for a boat neck sweater.

I found it a lot more accessible than "Simple Knits for Cherished Babies".

Sim-cat Sunday

2009-02-01T21:12:00.003Z

Hello ladies, gal-cat Simba here. What do you think about the sexy leg? too much ?

Anyway Brill was reading the paper yesterday, and in the Weekend magazine they have a new columnist- a make-up writer. She's going to be teaching us how to do make-ups ! This week was 'Smokey eyes'.

The relevant part is that the new writer is actually Youtube star- Panacea81, where she does video tutorials on how to get the looks. BUT, most importantly she has Pugs ! and some of her videos have them in too. Personally I think Pepe is beyond the help of mere make-up...

Thursday thoughts- book review

2009-01-29T19:58:00.002Z

I finished reading "Congratulations! It's a Dog", D. Caroline Coile (2005).

It was an easy read, pretty short at 181 pages, and arranged into 12 neat chapters. I got the book as I was looking for training advise for my 6-month old Pug, wanting to start teaching her a few more tricks beyond Sit, Stay, Leave etc.
I guess the title and cover of the book should have given a clue that it was more for brand-new puppies, and as such I found the first six chapters (up until "Just Rewards") a bit irrelevant to me nowadays.
However when it hits the section on rewards & learning, "what makes your dog tick" I found I don't really care about the pros & cons of different Pay Schedules...
In the chapter where it does give information on 'tricks' for your dog it covers
- Attention! (eg. look at me!)
- Sit!
- Stay!
- Down! and Come!
but then goes onto talk about all the different types of collar available... ? !
The last three chapters: Parenting challenges, Fears & Phobias, and Dealing with aggression made me glad that Pepe doesn't have any of these issues to deal with, but again they were all covered so briefly that if you required help for any of these, well you'd be better getting a book specifically aimed at these areas.

Overall I would advise this for someone either just thinking about getting a dog, or someone in preparation to welcome a new addition to their home & family. At the back there is a list of Resources for further reading so maybe one of these titles will be more helpful !

Man-kitten Monday

2009-01-26T21:01:00.002Z

(JJ: Yes, two Man-kitten posts in a row!)
Here is Jesse James in a typical daredevil stunt. Thank goodness cats have nine lives :)

Easy like Sunday morning

2009-01-25T21:08:00.002Z

Here is Jesse James with some of his favourite books:

- Wild Swans
- The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and
- A Wild Sheep Chase, arf!

Sartorial Saturday

2009-01-24T22:48:00.004Z

Been a while huh?

Anyway, last Saturday we went to a party, and unfortunately a guy there was wearing one of these t-shirts:
which of course I went bananas over, because as far as I'm concerned it's a picture of a Pug! I think I spent all night there showing anyone who'd look pics of Pepe on my 'phone :D

It's merchandise for a band called Polytechnic, and sad to say, the description of the t-shirt on their site is 'sloth'.

Wordy Wednesday -book review

2009-01-07T22:02:00.001Z

I got a couple of dog training books out of the library, and am currently reading
"Congratulations It's a dog", by D.Caroline Coile

It's okay, so far a bit more for people who are considering getting a dog, rather than existing owners. And it keeps on going on about how dogs are one step removed from wolves... I admit I find it hard to think of my Pug as an ex-wolf :P
To me I think she's more like a little demon- like baby Hellboy, or maybe I mean 'daemon' like in the His Dark Materials books: a manifestation of a (my) soul ?
She also reminds me a bit of Ryuk from the Deathnote manga - the eyes, LOL

Xmas ornament

2008-12-27T11:28:00.004Z

So this is our first special ornament, a goose. The story behind this is that a couple of years ago I got a winter hat & scarf set from Asda supermarket. A couple of times I saw other human people wearing the same items which was a bit of a fashion faux pas, but not quite as bad as this:

That's right, a GOOSE wearing my scarf. Could you ever live that down ?
The story was that the farm put hats and scarves on their livestock so that it would be warmer & happier and therefore taste better, sigh

Merry Christmas everyone!

2008-12-26T21:26:00.003Z

Happy Boxing Day everyone!
We had a merry Christmas here, our first together as a married couple :)
We never got any lights or tinsel for the tree, but we did make a start on getting some personal ornaments, more about that some other time.

I got some lovely presents: a couple of books (I love to read), a couple of nice notebooks to write about books in LOL, some beautiful perfume, but my favourite was a photo album of our exploits in 2008. I wonder what one for 2009 will include ?

Wordless Wednesday- tree

2008-12-17T21:52:00.003Z

Soup-er Sunday

2008-12-14T19:16:00.003Z

Today Jerry made Tom Yum soup.

It was delicious! We also added tofu chunks to it. I could eat it all day :)

I also started making some mincemeat - it has to sit overnight for the flavours to develop, so I'll be cooking it tomorrow. Yum ! Home made mince pies all round.

We also put up our Christmas tree yesterday:

So to answer the question on the meme, we have a black owl on the top :)

We still need tinsel and lights. And presents underneath it- LOL. Jesse James is no longer allowed in the front room unsupervised, as he thinks the baubles have been put on it specifically for his entertainment.

Tough guy Tuesday

2008-12-09T22:20:00.003Z

Yesterday we took Jesse James to the vets... to be neutered. The nurse there also talked us into doing his vaccines and having him microchipped. He stayed overnight and it was so strange to walk out without him. Jerry picked him up today, and he (Jesse James) has been very quiet and snoozy. Still, it's been for his own good. Guess we'll be taking Pepe to be 'done' soon as well ! Merry Christmas Jesse !

Christmas pugging- recipe

2008-12-06T17:06:00.007Z

Here is my recipe for Christmas Pudding, 2008 style. It is a loose adaptation of Nigella Lawson's in "How to be a domestic Goddess":

100g currants
100g fresh cranberrries
50g each raisins & sultanas
50g glace cherries, chopped
50g prunes, chopped
50g flaked almonds
I wanted whole almonds which I'd have then chopped into slivers, but flaked was the closest they had in the supermarket
150ml rum/ Cointreau mix - I ran out of rum so maybe 100ml rum topped up with 50ml Cointreau- I thought an orangey flavour would be nice :)
1 Euro coin/s, cleaned
90g self-raising flour
125g white breadcrumbs
150g suet
1medium cooking apple
150g dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
*** 3 large eggs. I have made my pudding vegan (so suitable for Jerry) so I have replaced the eggs with 3tbsp soy flour mixed with 3tbsp water, mixed to a paste. I have not tried to vegan-ise the recipe in this way before, so fingers crossed !
zest of 1 orange
1.5 litre pudding basin

Nigella's recipe also includes dried blueberries, marron glace pieces and candied peel, but I don't like or just didn't get these from the supermarket. One of the great things about the recipe is that you can adjust it to your own tastes and what's available.

Soak the fruit in the rum overnight
***I didn't do this - I put the alcohol with the raisins, currants and sultanas in a pan and gently warmed so the fruit absorbed the alcohol
Soak the 1 Euro coin overnight in Coca Cola- to clean it ! Please feel free to use whatever coin you like- maybe bigger ones are better as they are easier to spot - less of a potential choking hazard :) I like using a Euro in the pudding as it's a gift of Good Luck for the coming year, rather than money which can be spent...
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and then add the soaked fruit. Add the cleaned coin/s. I also wrapped mine in a piece of greaseproof paper.
Grease the pudding basin and put the mixture in.
Now I'm not sure in previous years if I have halved the above quantities, because this year I seem to have enough for 2x 30 oz basins- I guess the in-laws will be getting one!
Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper in which you have folded a pleat, then boil or steam for 3 and 1/2 hours.
I think mine got done for closer to 2 hrs as we were going to bed.
Rewrap the pudding and store somewhere cool until Christmas, then reheat in the same way- boil/ steam for another 3 and 1/2 hrs.

Wordy Wednesday ~ meme !

2008-12-03T20:50:00.003Z

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Just bought some wrapping paper this evening- the cheapest one in the supermarket because it only goes in the bin in the end anyway right ?

2. Real tree or Artificial? I'd love to get a real one, just a small one. This will be Jerry & I's first Christmas together married xxx

3. When do you put up the tree? If we're getting a real one it might be purchased on or after December payday - Friday 19th.

4. Wreath on your door? No, but we've not got any decorations up yet so it might be nice to get one...

5. Do you like eggnog? I like Starbucks Eggnog lattes but they're not doing them this year :(

6. Favorite Christmas gift received as a child? Gosh, I dunno...

7. Easiest person to buy for? Jerry as he's pretty good at dropping hints :)

8. Least easy? Probably mum, but I think I might get her Professor Layton's Curious Village this year

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. Again, it's our first married Christmas so it'd be nice to send out cards to our new in-laws.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I received a chocolate fondue set from a Secret Santa in work that I returned

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I like "Jack Frost"

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I've got a couple of gifts already, might get some more after I get paid again

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I took the fondue set back for something I actually wanted ... I've heard that Professor Layton has sold out in a lot of shops so my mum might just be getting my copy

15. Open presents on Christmas eve or morning? Christmas morning, always!

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, but not flashing ones.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Let it snow, Frank Sinatra ?

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Does this mean go on holiday, or travel as visit relatives ? I think we might be staying home for Christmas Day and maybe inviting people to us...

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? ...maybe; Dasher, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Vixen, Rudolph ... how many are there ?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Don't mind...

21. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Party mix !

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Worrying about presents a bit, also just how busy the shops get !

23. Favorite Tree ornament, theme or color? Dunno, we don't have a tradition for tree decoration yet. I know you can get Pug ornaments !

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? All the veggie trimmings, home made Christmas Pudding/ mince pies

25. Brussels Sprouts - love or hate them? Like them ~ Sensational sprouts

26. Favorite accompaniment to the Christmas Pud? Custard !

27. Favorite Christmas Carol? Silent night ? I think we learned to sing this in German in Primary school, LOL

28. Your very Favorite Christmas Thing? Having a couple of days off work in the middle of winter to be able to spend time cosied up with your loved ones x

29. A Christmas wish! Wish my sis was able to come home :(

30. Tag a Seasonal Six! If you haven't done this, consider yourself tagged! :)

Monday munchies

2008-12-01T21:16:00.005Z

Yesterday was Stir Up Sunday, the last Sunday in November when it has become traditional for me to make my Christmas Pudding. My recipe included fresh cranberries, flaked almonds, golden rum & Cointreau, currants, raisins, sultanas, orange zest, brown sugar, veggie suet... Jerry was a hero and nipped over to the shop for an apple for me xxx

Everyone has to give it a stir - for good luck.

All very tiring ...

Sunday story

2008-11-30T18:41:00.007Z

Today we went for a big long walk in Fletcher Moss park. It is cold here at the moment, zero degrees Celcius! Yesterday there was this eerie freezing fog that didn't disappear all day. The bright sunshine today was pleasant however.

~This evening I'm going to make my Christmas Pudding !
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/traditional-christmas-pudding,1234,RC.html

Sunday show

2008-11-23T16:14:00.002Z

On Thursday there was a programme on called "Special Needs Pets".
follows a number of owners striving to come to terms with their beloved pets' disabilities.

It was so sad !
I know Pepe is only a little Puglet but I hope she lives to a healthy ripe-old age x

Tuesday together

2008-11-18T21:29:00.003Z

This is my sis, Katie with Pepe. She paid us a visit last Wednesday til Sunday. It's always good to see her x

Kate visited last before Pepe had had her second vaccination so things were a bit more restricted then. It was good this time to be able to go for walkies!

Kate has a floofy Maine Coon cat, Louie. He was adopted from Battersea Pet's Home. He enjoys sitting in sinks

MANKITTEN.MONDAY

2008-11-17T21:07:00.003Z

Jesse's new perch...
Well at least one of us is enjoying having the equipment in here. We're becoming doubtful as to whether it will all be resolved/ gone in time for Xmas...

Sunday surgery

2008-11-16T20:37:00.004Z

Recently I have noticed that Pepe has a bit of a bald spot ...
In the pic there is her white crest, and the baldness is above. We've not been taking her collar off, but I don't think it's from that irritating her as she's never been excessively scratching ? Anyway now we keep the collar off when she is inside.

Do puppies ever lose fur before their grown-up coat comes thru ?

Fashion on a Friday

2008-11-14T21:55:00.005Z

Earlier in the week Pepe got her coat ! It arrived when I was at work so Jerry took it upon himself to dress her and send me the above picture. It made me laugh and I simply had to show it to my team !
The coat is from Pugsnuggly and I love it. Pepe looks just like a hotdog all wrapped up snug in a bun wearing it. She looks so skinny when you take it off !

And... I also got a hat from Etsy. I think we both look quite fetching when out on Walkies now!

Remembrance day

2008-11-11T21:44:00.005Z

Today is a very important day where we remember those who have died for us. Maybe it's because I'm getting older and perhaps more able to get my head around the scale of what occured that it upsets me more and more. Recently I read "Birdsong", by Sebastian Faulks. While I found the story only so-so, the descriptions of life in the trenches, going over the top and the loss of lives were absolutely mind-boggling.

Last year we went to The Animals' War exhibition at the War Museum. It was really good. The pic I have uploaded is of one of the exhibits from it, I think this cat must have been a champion mouser on one of the Navy's crafts. Not only were they there to keep the rodents under control, but I imagine they would have also been a great comfort to our servicemen- a friendly furry face.

Monday moan

2008-11-10T21:11:00.003Z

We have had an ongoing problem in our flat, which we finally seem to have got to the bottom of. In the bathroom the taps for the shower/ bath combo have been badly fitted resulting in a leak. We have a double-what-it-should-be water bill to support this. So at the moment there are dehumidifiers in the bathroom to dry the floor, walls etc out. The place looks a mess and my sister is coming to visit later this week.

Here is the other side of the bathroom. Before they figured out it was the tap leaking they 'explored' by taking off the skirting boards - there was mould on the damp wall. As you can see the pipes and therefore insulation have been exposed. Pepe loves to nibble this off like so much candy floss- naughty Pug !

Easy like Sunday morning

2008-11-09T20:57:00.002Z

Ever since Jesse has been able to get up onto the kitchen counter, he has a new spot to hang out - the kitchen windowsill. There is even a spider plant on there for him to nibble on if us humans have not been stupid enough to leave anything edible out on the side. His favourites include knife used to butter bread.

Saturday snapshot

2008-11-08T23:41:00.003Z

Today was very exciting as we took Pepe to a new park- Fog Lane. This park is further away from our home, but, it has a duck pond! I hope they enjoyed the Burgen Soy & Linseed bread we took.

Thursday thoughts

2008-11-06T22:30:00.003Z

I had the day off today- I had an interview! It was for a Library Assistant position at the University library ... where Jerry studies ! I think it went okay... their final question was along the lines of "tell us about something you are proud of"... so I said Pepe! and told them about her good behaviour when my parents met her for the first time last weekend :) It turns out that one of the interviewers was a dog-lover so I hope my answer went down well. Fingers crossed x

Monday meme

2008-11-03T20:58:00.003Z

Your mood right now... achy from doing Wii fit for the first time in a couple of months
Your favourite spot in your house... hot bath tub
Your favourite colour... don't mind
. The one thing you can't live without... books
Who do you love... Jerry, pets, family
What would you do if you won the lottery... be able to study to be a Librarian, or maybe open a tea/coffeeshop that also had second hand books
Name something that makes you sad... money or lack of > yup, me too- or maybe not sad as such, more Stressed !
Your favorite treat is .... super bath !
Your favorite TV Show is.... was The Restaurant but it finished last week
Your favorite music is... Panda! Panda! playlist
What do you want to be for Halloween.... Batgirl >yeah, I like Batman too
Are you naughty or nice.... I hope people think I'm nice :)
What's your favorite memory... Venice/ Honeymoon
If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go.... I'm terrible at these questions- China to see a panda
If you could meet any celebrity who would it be..... Wouldn't want to meet anyone famous > yeah, I don't really idolise anyone either

Easy like Sunday morning

2008-11-02T14:50:00.003Z

I love the way Simba is all curled up, while Jesse is at full stretch x

Man-kitten Monday

2008-10-27T20:47:00.002Z

Well it was Jerry's birthday on Friday, but who cares about that ?
To make up for it the humans went to the Pet Supermarket on Sunday and bought ME lots of presents !
1. A new collar. My 'kitten' collar was decidedly tatty, so I've got a grownup one now. Man-CAT Monday! The bell on it is very jingly and last night the humans had to take it off at (their) bedtime in order to get some peace.

2. A new catnip toy. It looks like a sack, but has feathers sticking out. Unfortunatley that stupid Pug has already chewed one of the feathers off so I best had make sure to keep it out of her way.

3. Fancy kibble
This time the BOGOF offer was not running, so instead they got me swanky Hills brand kitten food. On the package was a code to donate £2 to the Blue Cross, which Brill sorted out last night for me. What can I say, I do a lot of work for charity.

4. Toothpaste and finger brush
Well I'm not to sure about the brush, but I'll let Brill rub as much of the toothpaste into my chops as she likes- Yum!

5. Ear cleaner
I think this is actually for the Pug, as my hearing is super sharp ! I can hear the rustle of a kibble bag at 100 paces !

Sunday snapshot

2008-10-26T17:52:00.004Z

Yesterday brother-in-law Ryan (and his wife Sandra) came for a visit. As you can see, he and Pepe hit it off straight away. They have two Golden Retrievers, Momo and Jaijai. We humans went to Gourmet Burger Kitchen, and then took Pepe for a walk in the park. Maybe next time they will bring their dogs too!

Tuesday review- polka dot door mat

2008-10-21T22:28:00.003+01:00

Hello, Simba here. Gosh I'm a bit nervous about doing my first review, but here goes...

My review is of the polka-dot door mat. As you can see I enjoyed sitting on it. Unfortunately the stupid humans put in front of their front door (I mean who'd even want to go outside?) , which also meant in front of their letterflap... you can guess the consequences... Brill always seems to be getting books thru the post.

But then one day there was an accident (wee), and the coir fibre proved impossible to clean/ odour remove. Therefore the polka-dot mat is no more, and even worse, the home furnishing store they bought it from has closed! (Butlers)

Sweet dreams, love Simba x

Thursday 13- Pepe's names

2008-10-16T22:06:00.002+01:00

1. Pepe, most commonly used and what we generally tell people she is called.

2. Pierrepoint. This is our proper name for Pepe, as mentioned in an earlier post she is named after the film Jerry & I watched on our first date, aww x

3. Falecea Skye's the limit. This is her pedigree name, oh lala !

4. Pepper - like black pepper !

5. Peps

6. Pepsi

7. Pepe Le Pug - sometimes she can be a bit smelly

8. Pepperoni

9. Peeps- she has such big pretty peepers (eyes)

10. to be confirmed
11. "
12. "
13. "

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-15T20:40:00.002+01:00

*comes with Free Pug !

Tuesday review- rawhide chew

2008-10-14T23:20:00.003+01:00

The rawhide chew was amongst the things the breeder gave us when we collected Pepe. It has lain dormant until this day... I was amazed and repulsed in equal measure when I saw the results of a Pug's patient chewing of this material. Pepe had managed to work one of the knots off, and the result I can only describe as being chewing gum for dogs. Does anyone else give their Pugs these ? I believe their use needs to be supervised incase Puggy chokes on an unchewed section :S