Author: Dackel Princess

I’m Here In CT

I drove through four states, in four hours and fifteen minutes. The first two hours found me driving through a winter wonderland, as a fresh few inches of snow had fallen, and the trees were all coated, giving them a lacy appearance. It was gorgeous!

The second half of my drive was just bleak midwinter, with bare ground and cloudy skies.

I arrives and spent part of the day playing with my grand niece, April. She is two and a half, and a fun baby girl, who was happy to spend time with her old Auntie!

We had lunch out, before April took her nap and my sister and I got to sit and chat. This is just the best!

The Friday Five

I am off for the first trip to my sister’s house in two years. We’ve gotten together other places, but not at her house. It is the weekend where we’re having the Memorial Service for my brother in-law’s Mom, and I really wanted to be there for that. But here are five more things I am thinking about.

  1. Jack took my car to the car wash and also checked all the fluid levels. I vacuumed and sprayed the car down with Fabreeze. It has the dusty, mid-winter smell.
  2. I have everything in the car accept my toiletry kit. Once I brush my teeth and do my hair, then that bag and my cellphone charger bag will get tossed in as well.
  3. The dogs are all depressed. They saw the suitcases come out, and they know I am leaving them. Jack will be here, but to them, there is nothing like Mommy.
  4. I put my “funeral” dress on today and the zipper broke. Not because it was under any stress, but just because it’s a crappy zipper. I shall wear pants and a pretty top to the service.
  5. I’m loving the new phone. I have it all set up for the trip. Yay!

Have a great weekend everyone!

A New Smart Phone

After three years, I went in today to buy a new Cell Phone. I’d been thinking about getting an Iphone, but as I talked to the sales person, and tried the different phones I ended up getting, the Samsung Galaxy S8. It has a 14 megapixel camera on both sides, and is fairly easy to use, because my last cell phone was a Galaxy S5.

I came home, charged the cell phone up and then worked setting it up for use. I figure by the weekend, I will be all set, although right now, I am still a little scrambled as I set things up.

I immediately ordered a cute Otter Box for it, and it will be here on Thursday. And then I will be settled with the new phone.

It is certainly thinner and lighter. I will feel so much better when the Otter Box arrives and I know she is protected.

When was the last time you got a new cell phone? And what are you using an Android or an Iphone? Pro’s? Cons?.

Computer Woes

After a little struggle, my computer is once again up and running. It seems that there was a virus in the Firefox program causing all sorts of weird things to happen. I’m not the fastest typist around, but when I typed and stopped and went back to read what I had written, it was depressing to find that the computer was only a quarter of the way through the sentence I had typed.

What my computer guru did was completely uninstall Firefox and all of it’s sub folders, and then we did a fresh install of the program. So far it seems to have worked and I am hopeful that we got all of the virus out. I really do not want to have to have the hard drive wiped.

So, most of my day has been spent setting up Firefox, installing my bookmarks and then making sure that all the passwords were up to date. And about passwords, all I can say is EEEEEK! I have so many, that I can no longer keep up. I have a locked file in a different place where I keep them all. But my goodness, it can be confusing. Especially now where many sites want you to change your password frequently and then not use any password that you might ever have used with them! Oh my!

But the machine is now almost completely programmed, at least with the important stuff, so I can sit back once again, and crochet!

My Weekend

On Sunday I woke up to discover that 8 inches of snow had fallen overnight. Now we were supposed to only have 2-3 inches, so 8 inches was a real surprise! I felt bad for Jack, who would have to go out with the snow-blower to clear our drive. I decided to spoil Jack with three nice meals during the day. I admit breakfast, and lunch were nice, but ordinary.

As Jack finished his breakfast he went to get dressed and said, “Maribeth, someone plowed our driveway!” We both were surprised, as I had been out around 8 o’clock and the driveway was un-plowed. An hour later, it was done. I guess by the snow-plowing fairy! Whoever it was, I thank them, with all my heart!

During the day I had felt tired once again, and I lay down on the sofa. The next thing I knew, Jack said, “Are you awake?” I groaned a little as I began to wake. “It’s five o’clock” he said.

What? How could this be? I just lay down at 3:15 for a little nap. Now it was 5:00 and time for the dogs to eat!

I realized that yesterday I slept for an hour in the afternoon and today over an hour and a half, and I am filled up in my sinuses again. Ugh! At least I still have my medication for that, which I started on Sunday night.

Later  in the afternoon I made  a dinner that was really good! I made Brussel sprouts sauteed with onions, garlic and bacon, pork chops sauteed with fresh rosemary and thyme, and in a country gravy, and mashed herbed potatoes, served with our own apple sauce.

Jack was delighted and I admit, it was easily enjoyed. I just love it when a meal comes together like this.

So that wraps up my somewhat sleep filled weekend. I hope you all had a nice weekend and enjoyed yourselves.

Come Saturday Morning

I woke on Saturday morning feeling drowsy and as though all I really wanted was to climb back into bed and sleep. But, I have four wonderful dogs, all of whom were wide awake, so I threw on my robe and brought them out to go outside, and then I turned the coffee maker on, let them in, and then raced to the shower, which was wonderfully hot!

After showering, I watched playbacks of the Olympics, and drank that all important first cup of coffee! Ahhhh, a great way to start the day!

I pulled out my crocheting and started working on that again, and actually got quite a bit done before Jack got up, and I made our breakfast.

I had a chance to Face-Time with Savannah, and she showed me her cast. Now a regular plaster cast is pretty heavy. But Savi was swinging that thing around like it was made of paper.

I could really relate because in 5th grade I fell down a sand dune on Cape Cod and broke a couple of metatarsal bones in my right foot. I was in a plaster cast like Savannah’s, only mine was a boring shade of white.

I really love being able to Face-Time with Amanda, Quinn and Savannah (oh yes, and Savi and Quinn’s cousin, Hannah was there too!). Seeing there faces and listening to them talk is so special.

After a light lunch, I told Jack I was going to bed for a nap. Greta and Arnie came with me, but only Greta stayed for the entire nap. She is always very happy when someone goes to bed for a nap!

Now, I just have to make something good for dinner (I have no clue what!) and then I can settle in and crochet and watch the Olympics tonight.

The Friday Five

This has been a crazy busy week for me, and on top of the crazy business, my laptop once again, needs to be cleaned and updated. I start to type and the computer takes a moment or two before it shows me the letters. It’s been driving me mad, so I backed everything up, called my computer friend, Brad, and he is picking the laptop up on Thursday to clean her up. So, I am writing this on Wednesday night, so it will automatically post on Friday. Anyway, here goes…

  1. I finished up Mandy’s afghan and went about finding a new pattern so that I could work on my next one. I found a pattern I liked, and bought all the yarn for that.
  2. Now I had to decide what colors to use and what order to place them. There is a lot of thought that goes into making an afghan. Especially when it is for someone that you love.
  3. We went out for Valentine’s Day to one of our favorite places. They were offering Mussels in garlic, white wine and a cream sauce. Oh my goodness, they were wonderful! In fact the entire meal was, and I was so full, that I couldn’t eat dinner that night.
  4. On Wednesday we bought Lili a toy. Now you probably don’t think this is a big deal, but Lili is sort of the low man on the totem pole in our house, as far as dogs go. The dackels aren’t always kind, and they never share their toys. So, we bought her a new tug of war toy, and gave it to her. Well, you would think we had given her a million dollars. Not only does she love the toy, but I could see how happy it made her. It was so sweet!
  5. This weekend I plan to do laundry and crochet. And watch more of the Olympics. What’s happening in your world?

TBT: Baby Greta

These pictures are from the first year of Greta’s life in the USA. In many ways I was like a little kid and I dressed her up in funny costumes. Here she is in her raincoat! (She didn’t like it!)

Oct 16 001

Her sun visor for those sunny days! This one she actually did like and allowed me not only to put it on, but she actually wore it a while!

Aug 2 002

And the last picture is of her at about 10 months old. She had a beautiful full beard and wonderful eye brows. It was very funny, we were at a camp ground and I was walking her and a little girl came riding up on her bike, and she stopped to pat Greta. Then she smiled and looked up at me and said, “I like your dogs bangs!” Even all these years later, that makes me smile and laugh.

Greta oct 13