Asia bound

So I'm sitting in YVR airport at the crazy hour of 2am waiting for the 2:45 flight to Hong Kong to board. I'm heading ouit to spend the weekend with Beth and Marc before heading down to Singapore to work for the week.

I've been told the temperature in Honkers is a nice 23C, however the temp in Singapore is hovering around 36C. I have dug out all of those summer clothes, even found some sandals and despite 50cm of snow falling on Cypress yesterday I am headed for warmer weather.

I have left Hugo with Akis and it will be 10 days until I return. It was harder to go this time ~ watching how much Hugo has changed in the past week, I feel like I might just miss something. Guess this is what travelling parents must feel like. Hugo has been doing pretty well with the training to 'Peepee on the mat.' There are still the misses which was evident this morning, but he definitely does know where he is suppose to go.

Not sure what the weekend has in store ~ Beth is in charge of the activities. Being 20+ weeks pregnant I suspect that it will be pretty low key, which honestly isn't such a bad thing. Quite excited about the destination as I haven't been to Singapore before. That and I get to break in the new passport. I'm used to having the pages stamped and now it looks pretty naked.

Here's to the crazy flight in economy ~ yes, that was economy ~ but I am going to expense the travel pillow!

Here's Hugo

Akis has been asking for a long time if we could get a dog. And for the longest time, I have been saying 'No'. It got to the point where I felt like all I said to Akis was 'no', so after we found someone who had puppies on Craigslist, we were on our way.

Not wanting to support the crazy puppy mills that support the Pet Stores, I wanted to find someone who wasn't breeding for the sake of the dollar. Searching for a dog that would fit in with our space, fit in with our style, we saw a post for cocker spaniels. My Aunt and Uncle had a Cocker while we were growing up and Ginny was a beautiful dog. She had lots of hair, but was incredibly well mannered from what I remember. We struggled for a few days looking for a time when Akis wasn't in school, when I wasn't in a course and when the guy with the puppies wasn't working. As it turned out we decided on Friday night.

With plans to stop by the Pet Store on our way to pick up the puppy, Akis and I left things until the last minute. We sailed past the store at 8:30pm only to discover, hey, the store is not there any more! Now what? We drove around looking for where I thought I remembered seeing another pet store only to drive past it on a divided Hiway at 8:55pm. Superstore here we come. Buying the ugliest collar, an overpriced leash, some food and a toy, we were off to the Valley. We arrived at about 10:30pm and found the 6 puppies. Akis and I were struck by how tiny they were. They are 6 weeks old, but look like they should be staying there! Akis wanted a boy puppy, and selected our new family member. It just about broke our hearts to leave with him realizing that we were taking him from everything he knows and how scary that must be for him.

We got him home and had a pretty good night. I was up with him twice, but he didn't really cry.

Without a crate, Hugo lives under a laundry basket at night. The minute he wakes up he needs to pee, so being under the basket means he scratches when he is ready to get up. We have had a few accidents, but for the most part, he is really good. He enjoys playing and eats lots. The trip to the proper pet store gave him a new bed, some more toys and a sweater that I managed to leave at the store. Being so tiny, even though it is spring he is cold when we take him outside. We are off to the vet tomorrow to make sure we are in good form. We'll have to see how it goes!

Say it ain't so...

The great Kitchen Aid mixer no longer turns on. I made dough for cinnamon buns and got ready to mix up the dough for pizza. As I lowered the hook and thought 'I love this machine', the lever moved to the first notch. Nothing turned. Shocked and disappointed ~ I quickly verified that it wasn't just a fuse that went, that there was still juice to the outlet. Much to my dismay there was.

A call on Monday morning to the service desk confirmed that yes, we are out of warranty and the best I can do is take it to the shop. On the bright side, the guy at the shop called me back and said he has only ever seen 2 motor burn out in his entire time working with these, so unless I saw flames, it is likely something else. Here's to being optimistic!

In the meantime, I'm in mourning.