Happy New Year-(And a Four Paw Product Review for Pug Snuggly Coats)

Brrr....Its cold out.  So we took two walks, a quick one for Norbert, Tubby, and Ping who don't like the cold and ice much (Norbert doesn't mind it but he was slipping) and a longer one for Weasley and Bob who like the snow.

Weasley wore his super cute new coat from Pug Snuggly, that just happens to match a hat momma bought at target years ago. Pug Snuggly coats fit pugs better then any other coats out there and they keep your fur baby super warm, if you don't have a Pug Snuggly get one!

Bob also wore his Pug Snuggly coat, they make custom orders for big dogs.  Bob got his coat about 3 years ago and its still as good as new!

 

 Bob loves to roll in the snow and even though there is only a dusting that didn't stop him.   His coat stayed on through all of his rolling!

 

Then we headed on home to start our New Years Eve tradition, cuddling up on the coach for a Fred Astaire film marathon.  This snowy routine from Swing Time, 1936 seems appropriate for the weather.

Our resolution is to appreciate each and every day.  Something blogging has truly helped us to do.    Inspired by our friends at My Brown Newfies here are our five favorite posts from this year (in no particular order)!

1) Black and White Sunday Baby Cat and Scooter-I am no photographer, and particularly no cat photographer, but thanks to a lovely model these pictures came out pretty good.   The kitties don't always get much love on the blog, but we love them very much, which is why I love this post.

2) Big Weekend-It was such fun meeting other pug bloggers and participating in the 1000 Pugs photo shoot.  Now if only I had gotten better pictures.

3) Monday Mischief-Sweater Time-Pug Notes Sweaters are the best, and Weasley's custom Gryffyndor vest is my favorite ever. We love Auntie Melissa and Archie!

4) Tasty Tuesday-Chicken Cordon Bleusickles-This was my favorite dog treat that we made this year: easy, fun and the hounds loved it.

5) The Sleepy Foodie-Or Weasley's First Trip to Manhattan- I think this was Weasley's cutest moment.

6) Welcome Weasley-Bringing Weasley home definitely the highlight of the year!

7)  Pug History-William The Silent and Pompey-I am always surprised that so many pug lovers don't know the amazing story of heroic little Pompey, a puggie war hero.

8) Famous Women and Their Dogs-Billie Holliday and Mister-I love Billie Holliday and I love the story of her and Mister.  This post got a lot of visits for us this year.

9) Goodebye to Dr. Zira-Losing Dr. Zira was very difficult for us but the support of other bloggers made it so much easier.  It was nice to know that so many people out there understood, and it really made me appreciate blogging.

 10) Ping's Grand NYC Adventure-Biking with dogs is such fun and I loved taking Ping to see the Balto statue in central park.  

To all of our blogger friends have a wonderful New Year and we cant wait to see all of your adventures in 2013. 

Black and White Sunday-Mommy and Me

Retro Rover-Chalkware Dogs

In 2008 Bark magazine had a great article about Carnival Chalkware (link). 
Apparently cute little chalk ware figurines, rather then stuffed animals, used to be the standard prize at Carnivals.  Now they are a popular collectable.   Here are some of the ones available on etsy.


The every popular Rin Tin Tin available for $30.00 (link)

A basset hound in very good condition for $15.00 (link)



An absolutely adorable bulldog with a pipe (this one tempts me sorely)

link 

 

A super cute pug link 

 

Wouldn't it have been neat to go to a carnival in the thirties and win this little guy!  If only

 

Retro Rover-The First Ever Dog Film

Proof that as long as people have been working, a dog has been waiting eagerly for them to come home.   This film, made in 1895, by the Lumiere brothers, early french pioneers of cinematography.   It shows workers leaving the Lyon factory in France, and wandering though the crowd, a dog clearly anxious for the exit of his master!

Wordless Wednesday-Baby's First Christmas

A Very Merry Dogmas (and Catty New Year)

Santa Paws came and we had so much fun opening our presents with Dad's help (prepare for blurry photo over load)

Bob with his stocking

Weasley got a new coat from Pug Snuggly

Bob got a Bumble Ball

He also got a Penguin

Weasley got a hyper pet bag, the perfect toy for a Hyper Pug

Norbert got a tugging toy Moose

Ping and Tubby got a new bed

Of course we all got plenty of treats

Ping got a red beret from For the Love of Pug

It goes perfectly with her new navy and white bobble sweater from Auntie Melissa at Pug Notes

Tres Chic

Weasley was very eager to get into his stocking

He got a knotted rope deer toy from Olive Green Dog

Thank goodness Santa didn't forget the Antler Chews

and he brought a new red Jive Ball for Norbert

and a cute retro Reindeer Toy

Our favorite stinky tripe chews

Here is our new bed piled with all of our stuff!  What a haul

We had fun playing with the Hyper Pet Bag, it barks and shakes and hops!

The cats got treats and knitted cat nip toys

The bumble ball was fun too, it hops and shakes

Knitted cat nip toys, how cute is it that they have Patrick from Sponge Bob!

We had a nice yummy breakfast too (these are the tastiest scones ever)

Blueberry Cream Scones 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (King Arthur is always best)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt, as always Kosher Salt is best
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut in small bits
3/4 cup frozen wild bluberries
1 cup heavy cream, plus a bit extra for brushing scones
1 egg 
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 425.   In a food processor combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.   Add the butter and process at short bursts, don't over process, there should still be a few small bits of butter, smaller then a pea, in the flour mixture.  Dump the flour mixture in a large bowl and mix in the blueberries, don't bother thaw them, mix them in frozen.   Stir together the cream, egg, and vanilla in a large measuring cup and pour into the flour mixture.   Stir with a fork until the dough comes together (you may need to add a few more tablespoons of cream).    Flour a board or a silicone baking mat and dump the dough out and pat in an 8 inch round

(

(One of my presents, a Martha Stewart baking mat with pre-measured circles drawn on it made this step a breeze).  Dip a sharp knife in flour and score the dough into 8 sections.  Separate the triangles of dough and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet leaving one inch spaces between.  Brush with a little extra cream and sprinkle on some sugar.   Bake for 20 minutes, turning one half way through.  Cool and serve with clotted cream and strawberry jam (for the true experience you really must have clotted cream, if you live in the states you can get some at Whole Foods like we do, or on amazon.)

We also had broiled grape fruit (or at the least the peeps did, grapefruit is not for us, though we did enjoy a crumb of the scones)

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!