End of January already! Lots of kitchen time! Jan 24 - Feb 1st

Sunday, I met up with Kristi and Amelia at 1:30 pm, at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre. I bought tickets to Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella Musical.  This will be Amelia's first "show". Hopefully she can sit for the 2.5 hours. (She managed, just barely lol)

The rest of the week was quiet. Wednesday with the sun finally out, we took a trip to Nanaimo for some shopping. We went to Hartmann and Co. Furniture to pick out a new couch and chairs. Our LazyBoy couch is falling apart on the corners. It's 8 years old but the edges are all cracking. Who knew when you bought a leather couch, half of it is vinyl??? Same on our recliners. Also, LazyBoy internal frame is all 2 x 4's and other strips of wood, then stuffed with "fluff" before stapling the leather/vinyl. Ray wanted to get something this time that would stand the test of time and be 100% leather all over. 

After 2 hours we ordered our new furniture and it will arrive in 4 months! These pictures are not the colour we selected. We chose Graphite for both the chairs and couch. Brown with a hint of grey. They are all motorized for back and footrest separately. Lithium batteries you have to charge with a cord every now and again.

Very modern with a Norwegian style and moulded, no wood. They should take up less room too. The couch is a wall hugger so should not interfere with Ray's Christmas Village next year.

The couch will be 3 sections, not as shown. We also ordered head protectors made of washable fabric. This is just an example shown, our material is the same colour as the chairs and couch so hardly noticeable. That is the area where the leather will break down first.

Next up, a stop at McLaren's lighting where Ray finally managed to find new wall sconces. He's been looking for 6 years as the ones we have do not point straight up at the beams, which is what he wants. They will be installed in the next few weeks by our electrician. No ladders for Ray!

Our main reason for a trip to Nanaimo was that Jason had a scheduling conflict, taking Amelia to swimming lessons while Kristi needed to be picked up from the hospital after a test done under GA.

Back home for 4pm. A successful day.

Thursday another rainy day. The LazyBoy guy finally came with the part to fix Ray's recliner. As you can see, all wood inside.

Today was also a kitchen day! I made a batch of chili and fresh buns, so invited Mike and Debra over for dinner. We've been invited to their SuperBowl party, Feb 8th,  and I wanted to make sure the chili is acceptable to make. It is. :)

With everyone busy with travel and family, it'd been some time before we actually managed a visit to catch up. Other 3 sets of neighbours are all enjoying the sunshine in Cabo!

Friday, another wet miserable day. Today I made Ray a brunch hash and then Lamb Shanks for dinner. He did not complain :)

Saturday, still raining, so we drove to Duncan to do some shopping and get out of the house. My fridge is empty lol, so needed to stock up on veggies. We stopped for lunch at a new to us restaurant, for chinese food....Guangzhou Garden Restaurant, it was'nt great. Strike that one off. Back home by 1:30 and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Sunday, finally no rain. We moved the temporary recliner back downstairs (it was the one we bought for the Motorhome a couple of years ago) and brought another chair we have back upstairs.  I decided to make a seating area for Ray behind the TV so we could look outside on dark days. It's brighter sitting there. The previous owner of this house had a sitting area in the alcove.

I've ordered new plastic panels for the Gazebo on the deck, so we can sit out there in the winter. They should be here next week. In advance of that, I ordered a new couch for the deck. The other one is so low you felt like you were going to hit the floor when you sat down. Although I don't usually sit on that couch, our company does and most of us have trouble with knees and getting up is a bit difficult. (Dianne and Pat) I may use the old one in our sitting area patio in the front of the house as we have occasional visitors sitting out there with us. :)

Ray spent an hour today, Sunday, putting it together for me. 

More time in my kitchen today. I'd bought a box of fresh oranges on sale, on so decided to juice a bunch for breakfast today. I also used some to make buttermilk orange pancakes. Yum.

Next up prepping for dinner. Sweet and Sour pork riblets with peppers and onions. The Sweet and Sour we ate at that Chinese Restaurant was dreadful! 

Mine looked something like this. Definitely enough for 2 dinners. 

Just like that, another week went by! and it's still raining! Lake level rising back up again.