Dackel Princess

The Friday Five

Here we are, the last weekend of October! How in the world did that happen? I remember Jack and I sitting here on New Year’s Eve as we toasted the New Year, 2018, and thinking about the year ahead. Now here we are, and the year is nearly over.

Before I get carried away, here is this week’s Friday Five.

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Oh, one thing, until my Web Designer gets my Comment Button installed (I hope this weekend!) in order to leave a Comment, just click on the Title of the days Post and it will take you to the Comment Page. One day it will all be fixed and I will be sooooo happy!

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The glasses came back and they are perfect! It was such a weird thing to have the coating they put on (Anti-glare, anti-scratch), cause a problem.

They say it literally never happens! Ha! If something weird and strange is going to happen, it will and has happened to me!
I will be driving to the coast of New Hampshire today for a doctor’s appointment. I sure hope the wind calms down, Right now the wind is howling and I do not look forward to driving in all that.
My daughter sent me a picture of the kids as they slept while she got ready for work. I never realized how much Savannah and Quinn look like each other!

These two really adore each other. I think it is wonderful when siblings are as close as these two.
They are forecasting Cold, Rain and or Snow, and high winds again this weekend. I think I will stay in, do laundry and make Sauerbraten! Doesn’t that sound delish?
Have any of you been following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) and their trip to Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Figi? As Meghan is in her first or possibly second trimester, she has been smiling and excited to show off her baby bump.

The happy couple is beaming and Meghan is wearing a plethora of bright and colorful dresses. She looks lovely and it is nice to see after the dark colors she wore the first few months of her marriage. She needs to relax. She really is an amazing woman.

So that’s it for the last week of October. So much is happening in the month of November. I’m really looking forward to it all!

Wednesday Happenings

My day started off gray, rainy and very cold. The wind was blowing and as I walked the three dogs in my slippers, nightgown, and jacket, I could feel the wind blowing on my knees and chilling me to the bone. Thankfully, a hot shower was the next thing on my list to do, and boy did that shower feel good!

I’d slept a bit later Wednesday morning, so I was really going quickly through my morning routine getting ready for WW.

I took the wonderful shower, dressed quickly and then did my hair. All I can say is that I really need a dip in the fountain of youth, as hiding my gray roots is getting harder and harder. Thank goodness for curly hair!

I raced out to the kitchen to prepare an Egg McMuffin to take to class with me, and I put the egg in the container, poked the yolk several times and put it in the microwave.

30 seconds. Good. Check the egg and all was well. 20 seconds. BOOM! It flipped the egg poaching container wide open!

I didn’t have time to redo it, so I took the somewhat exploded egg, put it on the toasted light English Muffin and wrapped it in tinfoil.

Off I went to class.

Honestly, I’ve been struggling, but I refuse to give up. The class was good, and afterward, when our Leader was giving new people a rundown on the program, many of us stayed after to listen again. I’ve just got to do this.

I had to return some wine glasses to TJ Maxx. They were too tall for my dishwasher. But as I was getting ready to leave I saw the cutest Vera Bradley purse in sort of a bright and wild color. Havana Rose. It was so cute and for the bargain price of $29.99 I could not say no.

I did find replacement wine glasses at Homegoods, and two smaller Christmas Dackel Glasses that I sort of splurged on. Yay!

So Wednesday was a good day. I have gotten a lot done and stayed eating the good things I should and not straying from my diet.

Life is good!

I woke to dark skies and cold temperatures. Brrrrr! I turned on the coffee and walked the dogs.. 36 degrees with a bit of a wind! As I returned to the kitchen, poured that first, wonderful, hot, cup of coffee, I smiled! Sometimes life (and a cup of coffee) is just so good!

So, what did I do with my day? Seriously, not too much. I drank a lot of tea, wrote a few letters and went out to get the mail before the rain began. And rain it did!

Quite honestly, I’ve been fighting something off the last few days. My only real symptom is a headache that will not go away! I’ve tried everything, but the blasted thing persists. This means early bedtimes and dim lights in the family room in the evenings.

I do have WW Class tomorrow. I have not been doing very well on the plan, but since I never give up on anything, I will go and listen and maybe even stay after class to go over the plan again with our leader. It’s frustrating, but I really want to do this.

Toothaches

Monday was dentist day. I knew that this was going to be a partially bad one, only because I have been having two teeth that ache.

Sure enough, I have two teeth that need their fillings redone because they are causing me a lot of discomforts. Anbesol is my new best friend. Wherever I go I keep a tube of that with me. It really does work!

I will be going in October 31st to get those taken care of. I can hardly wait!

All that was the good news really. Yes, it hurts now, but it can be taken care of and taken care of soon! The bad part is that I have a cracked tooth. It’s slightly cracked now, not bothering me, but eventually, I will need to crown that tooth. That’s the scary, bad part! I am hoping it can be put off until the Springtime. That’s the one part of my exam I wasn’t too thrilled about. But…oh well.

Aside from those three problems, mostly caused by age, my teeth were in surprisingly good condition! No new cavities!

How were your experiences with your dentist as a child? Mine was so bad, that to this day I feel almost ill every time I have to go in for a cleaning. Other Classmates from my High School days have confirmed that I wasn’t the only one that dentist tortured back in the day.

My granddaughter loves her dentist. She goes to a special kids dentist and it has made all the difference. I wish they had them back when I was six years old.

Calendars

There are times when I will look at a picture of my grandchildren and I think I must be the luckiest woman alive!

Take this new one of Quinn. He was on a Field Trip with his Class at School. They went to a Farm with Pumpkins and Apples and Farm Animals. It was a chilly day and there he was. All dolled up in his Loggers Vest and Hat. Looking absolutely adorable!

My heart just melted and is continuing to as I look at that sweet face and that wonderful hat!

There is also my sweet Savannah Rose. She is quite toothless right now, but still as beautiful as ever!

The most wonderful part about these two sweeties is that they are not just beautiful to look at, but they are both really nice kids. I like being around them, I love doing things with them, and I love listening to them tell me all their thoughts and ideas.

What got me thinking about them is that I have started to work on my 2019 Calendar. Every year I use Walgreens to make a large calendar for our family room. I use my favorite pictures, put the important birthdays in it, anniversaries as well, and just have fun doing it. But how does one pare down hundreds of pictures to fit into a 12-month calendar?

One year I think it was 1992, I was in Costco in November. I was in the book section when I saw the 1993 Calendar. On the cover of the calendar was a picture of our farm! It was a New Hampshire Calendar and there was our Farm! I quickly bought a dozen copies to give as Christmas presents!

I also learned that unless they name your Farm, they do not have to pay you for the right to use it! That’s okay. Not only did I give it as gifts, but I also framed one and have it to this day! Our much loved Farm!

I think the nicest thing about that Calendar was that it gave us a formal memory. We sold the farm shortly after this and so I can look back as much as I want at that beautiful picture.

Another Day

Despite the fact that I did not feel like cooking tonight, I bit the bullet and after I fed the dogs I began the prep work for our meal. This meant chopping onions, peppers, and mushrooms, starting to saute this and then add cut up zucchini and summer squash along with basil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

It’s a dish I make pretty frequently, so I know the recipe by heart. Once that was started I got out the Rice Pilaf and the seasoned bread crumbs for the turkey tenders.

I got everything all on the stove and in the oven and now I have a few minutes before I serve it all up.

Some days I feel like cooking, and some days I don’t. However, this meal should be good and we should have some leftovers too!

We got three air conditioners pulled out of the windows and put to bed for the winter. There are just two left to do and we will probably get that done tomorrow, but Jack and I ran out of steam.

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I had a weird, but wonderful thing happen to me the day before yesterday. I was grocery shopping when I saw a Paramedic shopping for food. I went over and I thanked him for his service to the community. (This is something I have been doing for years.) He asked me why I was thanking him, and I explained that 33 years ago two Paramedics not only saved my life but had a profound impact on it.

We started talking more and he asked if I recalled their names. Of course. I told him both names. One had been his instructor and one was his Boss! I told him that I would be very grateful if he could pass along a message to these two men.

“Please tell them I am happy and that I now have two beautiful grandchildren.”

He promised to and wrote everything down. In many ways, things came full circle in, of all places, the grocery store!

I’ll still keep thanking our First Responders and Paramedics and Military Men and Women. So much of the time, no one notices the real service they provide, and the risks they take to save a life.

But I will never forget.

This & That

I was wearing my winter coat for the first time on Thursday and I found $13.00 in the pocket! This made me very happy because I almost never find money!
About a week ago I was able to touch and pat Mr. Toad. It was exciting for me.
Since then, our weather has been growing colder and Mr. Toad has gone into hibernation. I sure will miss him. See you in the Spring.
I returned to Lenscrafters today because my new glasses were not right. I felt seasick wearing them. I thought I simply needed to get used to them, but the more I wore them the worse I felt! The doctor examined me, and then the manager of the store came out and she examined the glasses. It turns out an error in their construction was causing the problem. She said that this almost never happens. However, I think if it would happen to anyone in the world it would happen to me.
For the third time this week we ate lunch at a Chinese Buffet. As much as I love Chinese food, I am over Chinese for a little while.
Three weeks until my biopsy. My Dermatologist says he is not worried. I have a small pea size lump on my left eyebrow.
More than likely it is just scar tissue from my previous surgeries. But come November 6th we will finally know. Just a tad nervous.
Jack was finally able to get a Flip-Phone for the handicapped.
I don’t recall if I mentioned but he has no feeling in his fingers anymore. (Agent Orange related) He tried my old Samsung Galaxy S5, but it was big and bulky and hard to use. The new Flip-Phone answers when it opens and the call ends when you shut it.
Has anyone else been watching “This Is Us”? I think this is the best season ever. Perhaps because we know all the characters so well.

The Friday Five

It’s Friday! Another week in 2018 has gone by. With the wind, cold and rain, not to mention sleet and snow, I feel like Autumn is rapidly on it’s way out, and winter is on its way in!

So as the week ends here are this week Friday Five!

The temperatures have dropped and when I walked the doggies this morning it was 33 degrees! The wind was blowing and I felt like I had stepped into midwinter! In fact, I plan to get out my winter jacket and hat and gloves. It’s time to make those changes in the closet.
It’s also time to get the air conditioners out of the windows. I need to call our neighbor and arrange for him to come on over to give us a hand. Those window units are really heavy and Jack and I have a hard time with them.
After several weeks of frustration, I think I have finally figured out the new thermostats. It was not easy.
* I read the manual and that was no help at all.
* I went on YouTube, and other people with this system, detest these units.
* I knew, however, if I just kept trying I could figure it out.
* Why does the heat stay on and not shut off? What was I missing?
Well, I was missing setting the shut off temperature on the until. It’s called “COOL“. The reason I missed that was that we do not have any air condition system set to these thermostats.
I needed to set the cool temperature to the same temperature as the heat setting. Then when the heat turned on and raised the temperature to say, 72 degrees, once it got there, the cool setting kicks in and shuts off the system. Sound complicated? It is, but once I figured that out it seems to work just fine!
This kept me contemplating the problem for the last month! However, the problem is now solved!
One of my dearest friends had a Big Birthday yesterday. Jack and I called and sang Happy Birthday to her, in harmony no less! I do wish we lived closer to her! Happy Birthday again, Candy!
We’re still working on Dackel Princess. Fine tuning her. We will be putting in a comment button and I hope to get the header taken care of too. The biggest problem, corrupted code, has been solved by my friend and super-girl, Megan! She also has come up with the new design! Thank you so much, Megan!

So have a great weekend everyone, enjoy the Autumn or Spring if you are in the Southern Hemisphere!

It’s Just That Time Of The Year

I drove out early this morning to go back to Weight Watchers, which is now known as WW. Curiously, it is very odd to suddenly feel like you are not a part of a large weight loss plan but somehow involved in a new reality. Wellness. It left me feeling a little bit cold, but perhaps it will grow on me in time. It did feel good to be back with my friends, and if nothing else, that Wednesday time, with them is worth so much to me.

On my drive in I saw some cute Turkey Ladies grazing along the roadway. They’re all looking pleasingly plump right now, which could explain why the Pilgrims and Native Americans cooked turkeys on Thanksgiving!

Honestly, I am counting down the days until Thanksgiving! It’s my favorite National Holiday! Mostly because I LOVE all the food!

My Mom used to tease me. She told me I was actually due at the end of November, but I arrived in the middle of the month, as I wanted my first Turkey Meal! I may not have eaten that first Thanksgiving, but I haven’t missed one of them since. A grand turkey dinner is at the top of my list!

Toward the end of the afternoon, the sky got very dark and the wind picked up. I felt uncomfortable. Like something was about to happen. Sure enough, it did!

The sky opened up and the hail beat down, and the wind blew and eventually, the rain began to pour! It didn’t last long, but it sure was memorable! In the picture above, all that white stuff is the hail that fell. The noise that the hail made on the window air conditioners sure freaked out Lili!

The day ended pleasantly, with a good meal, and now a little TV. It’s nice to be home and to relax with Jack and the three puppers!

Home Again

On Tuesday morning I drove back to Meredith after getting Savannah off to school and waiting for the plumbing and heating guys to work on Mandy and Matt’s furnace.

Savi waiting for her bus! As I watched her waiting, and then getting onto the school bus, I recalled her mother and standing and waiting with her. Wasn’t that just the other day? It’s crazy really. As I keep saying, the time has flown by, and so much has changed, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

My beautiful and sweet grandson, Quinn, using the Ipad. I am amazed at his brain to hand dexterity. I watched him as he learned numbers and letters and used his fingers to put things in circles and boxes.

As I drove the one hour back to my home, I noted that most of the pretty foliage was gone. I wondered about this until I learned that the night before a cold front moved through with high winds. The news reported that there were trees down and power outages. Thus the end of our leaf season was upon us.

I was greeted by my husband and dogs as if I had been gone for several years instead of just a couple of days. Jack said the dogs all showed signs of depression during my absence. I still believe that they are a completely different pack of dogs without their fearless leader, Greta!

So I am home, feeling happily tired and with a big smile on my face. Time spent with my grandchildren is always a good thing. I can hardly wait to see them again