Dackel Princess

Apple Crisp

Since I am still a bit under the weather with my cold I thought I would share this great recipe. Have a wonderful Monday!

Apple Crisp

8 large baking apples (MacIntosh or Cortland or both)

½ cup butter chopped into tiny pieces

½ cup Oats

½ cup flour

½ cup sugar (I used Splenda)

1/3 cup brown sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar)

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. Nutmeg

¼ tsp. Ground Cloves

Peel and cut apples into slices. Place in a greased (butter or Pam sprayed) deep 9 X 11 casserole dish.

TIP: I cut up the cold butter into chunks and placed the hard butter into my food processor. I pulsed it a few times, then added the flour and pulsed a few times until it was crumbly. This was the easiest way to make this butter and flour into a crumb mixture.

In a separate bowl place the butter and flour crumb mixture to the oats.

Add sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix well.

Spread evenly over the top of the apples allowing some of the mixture to settle into the apples. I sort of gently push it into the apples.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes or until you see bubbles coming up from the apples. The butter will melt and the crumb mixture should be nice and brown on the top.

Cool slightly, serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream….

Ten below zero (Fahrenheit) again today. I can recall a time like this, where the temperatures didn’t go above freezing (32 F) for a very long time. But this whole below Zero thing, is a new dimension, and lets face it, harder to take.

Each morning I jump out of bed and immediately dress in my long underwear. Also known as my base layer of clothing. Then comes the heavy winter jeans and a heavy LL Bean turtleneck. Then I add heavy winter socks and a wonderful winter jacket my sister gave me for Christmas.

It’s funny about this jacket because when I opened the box I thought that it would be too heavy for me to wear in all my hot-flash wonder. This is not the case. It is simply the best cold weather companion jacket.

Now, I have faux fur lined Merrell shoes and a blanket and a couple of dackels by my side. And I try to stay warm, and not let the cold get me down

Stay warm, folks & have a great day!

What I’m Up To!

We had close to a foot of snow yesterday, when all was said and done. The wind, which has been close to hurricane force, took much of this snow and rearranged it in our yard. Some places are nearly bare and others have close to two feet. It simply amazes me how the wind can rearrange things.

The wind is still blowing up a storm, but at least, it’s not snowing any more. For that I am grateful!

I stayed in today. And I may stay in again tomorrow. I think I need to let the antibiotics work and I actually have several things I need to get done. I think that this will be de-Christmas day. The window candles will get put away, as will my little Christmas tree and shelf ornaments. All dearly loved, put away for another year.

I have a new crocheting project starting next week. My first project is to make an afghan for my daughter. The pattern is a good one and I think I will be able to move right along with it, because…my next project is an afghan for one of my oldest friends.

Gail and I turn sixty this year and I want to do something special. An afghan if perfect.

Now here is the best part. While I was making Savannah’s afghan, I noticed my hands began to feel better, more limber. I have a little arthritis in the fingers, but the crocheting action really helped.

Progress reports to come!

The Friday Five & 1

I woke up this morning to more snow. Now ordinarily I could care less, but I had an important doctors appointment and this rapidly falling snow was only going to make it more difficult. Here is how my day went.

I kept waiting, hoping they would call and reschedule my appointment. But they never did. In fact once I got there, the secretary told me that almost everyone had cancelled today I could have come in sooner. Grrr!
Jack and I had a quick small lunch and then we headed to the doctor’s office. The roads were terrible! This was at 1:15 PM and at that time we had probably 6-8 inches of snow.
Jack drove (thank goodness as I really flip out driving in those situations and Jack does not). Everyone was driving about 15 to 25 miles per hour, as things were brutally bad. Jack is such a great driver and I knew we would be fine.
However, there was one guy in a little sports car that was driving so fast and fishtailed his car’s rear end all over the place. I seriously thought he was going to go into a tree.
Jack just came in from digging a little path for the dachshunds. He says there is at least 10 inches now and they have forecast more snow until 4 AM on Friday. So when all is said and done we will probably have over a foot.
Oh yes, I did make it in to see my doctor. Well, actually he wasn’t there and I saw this wonderful Nurse Practitioner. Truth be told, I liked her more than I did him, and I felt that she listened to me better, as well as gave me a more thorough physical exam. Diagnosis, Bacterial Sinus Infection, which explains the high fevers, painful sinuses, and a rather gruesome multitude of other symptoms! Treatment: nasal sprays and antibiotics. Then all should be well.

Putting things Away

One of the things I love best about Christmas, is hearing from my family and friends around the world. I take the cards, and I tape them to the cabinets in my family room, so that all through the season I see their beauty. Some shimmer and shine, others have sparkles and most importantly, they all show scenes of happiness and joy.

It will not be the same after the cabinets are striped of the Christmas Finery!

I was sitting here checking a few things out on the Internet when I saw a Greeting Card Sale at Current Cards. They had the nicest, cutest cards, both classic, old fashioned and modern, and so I ordered my cards for next year! Anyone who wants to be on my snail mail list private email me and you will go on the list for next year (email to the right in the sidebar).

I love sharing the joy of the season. Do you send cards? Do you enjoy getting them?

So a very Happy Thursday to you all!

This & That

Here we are, day three of the New Year. I was feeling a little tired and went back to bed this morning, and then I remembered I hadn’t written a post for today. Some of you might recall that one of my resolutions this year is to daily blog. So after my nap up I got and after getting a cup of chamomile tea, I sat down to write.

I’m still a bit under the weather with this sinus infection. I will be seeing the doctor tomorrow and hopefully we can figure out a good and permanent way to treat this. I am not a fan of sinus infections and pain. And this problem seems to have been lingering for a while.

This weekend I will be de-Christmas-ing my house. I simply love this time of year. The Christmas Village my daughter gave me, my little artificial tree that I got from my mother, and the lights, both colored and white! It makes it all so festive.

One kind of neat thing is, I remembered that I had a table that Jack made when we moved to this house back in 1999. He made a tall table for our cat Tigger to have her food on. I brought it down to the kitchen and that’s where we had our little tree. The table is perfect and I think I will now place this in the mud room and throw out the old toy chest. You see Lili, in all her puppy-ness, just chewed the heck out of the toy chest. Looks like the toy chest will become firewood and I will use the tall table in there to have a basket for hats and gloves and underneath store the containers of dog food.

I have two projects to start pretty soon. Both are crocheting, and both are for people that I love dearly. Best of all, I can hardly wait!

How is your New Year starting out? Any plans for projects or just your general Resolutions? My biggest resolution is to write every day here on Dackel Princess. Day 3. So far so good!

Gene Rayburn

New Years morning found me staying in bed most of the day. I slept some, and then I watched some old game shows. One was Match Game, with Gene Rayburn. There is a story I have about Gene Rayburn and here it is.

In the first few months, I was seeing Jack, he took me to New York City. We stopped at the Twin Towers, but there was something inside me that made me shy away from them. I told Jack that if we could go to the Empire State Building I would go up there.

So, we went over to The Empire State Building, in all its glory, and took the elevator to the top. We were walking around on the observation deck when I saw Gene Rayburn! I told Jack, who immediately said that he wasn’t Gene Rayburn at all. So I made Jack a bet! If it was Gene Rayburn, then we would go and get one of those hokey pictures at the top of the Empire State Building in the photo booth. He accepted the challenge. Game on!

I went over and very quietly asked him if he was, in fact, Gene Rayburn. He smiled and looked down at several children that were with him.

“Yes I am,” he said. But he asked if I could not make a big deal, because he was there with his grandchildren. I smiled and said of course, and told him I’d just won my bet and would be getting a picture in the photo booth.

Score one for me!

Happy New Year!

Last night I looked at Jack, and then smiled and wished him Happy New Year and good night! This was at 8:30 PM! It was a very quiet and uneventful New Years Eve for us. But that’s okay.

Jack has had a cold since just after Christmas and yesterday it hit me like a ton of bricks! Fever, congestion and cough. Still this does not dampen my spirits and finds me happy that 2018 is here and I look forward to a happy year ahead!

So what have I been up to while I drink orange juice, sip soup, tea and try to get over this cold? Watching Dr. Pol on National Geographic Channel. Have you seen him?

The show follows Dutch-American veterinarian Jan Pol, and his family and employees, at his practice in rural Weidman, Michigan.

I love it because they don’t just deal with dogs and cats, but cows, goats, donkeys horses, and today even one of Santa’s Reindeer!

In a little while the Rose Bowl Parade will be on and then it will be nap time for me once again!

New Years Eve & The Year Ahead

Well, here we are, New Years Eve! Another year is in the memory book and tomorrow a new one will begin. This year I am full of hope, full of happiness, that 2018 will be a very good year!

In March, little Quinn will turn two years old! Quinn is so grown up that most of the time I think of him as already being two, or older. Then he falls asleep in Mandy’s lap, like he did on Christmas Day and it reminds me that he is still a little guy. Have I mentioned recently that I am totally in love with my grandson?

April finds Jack and I celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary! It’s hard to believe that we have been together that long, and yet, it seems like we have been together forever. Oh, he drives me insane sometimes, but I can honestly say, that over the last 30 years he has been my husband, best friend, and my rock. I’ve got to figure out some way to celebrate with him that will be fun and meaningful!

In May Jack will have his 80th birthday! I have used the word celebrate in connection with his birthday, but he growls back at me “what’s to celebrate about turning 80?”. Well, it beats the alternative! His health is better than it was last year and I am doing my best to make sure that he remains that way!

Savannah is another May baby, and she will turn 6 years old in 2018! This means that in September she will begin first grade. Now this year, (2017) she has been in all day kindergarten. Savannah loves school, and it is wonderful to see her starting her academic life. She is such a special little girl!

The summer finds us celebrating the birthdays of my cousin, sister and brother in-law and anniversaries as well. I’m hoping to get down to my childhood hometown of Falmouth with Mandy and the kids for a little beach time!

This fall I want to go with Jack to Newport News, VA for his Army Aviators Reunion. It is a one day drive from here, and I think it will be a really fun time. We have so many friends that we see once a year at this Reunion and we always look forward to it!

November is a special month for me in 2018! I will be turning 60 in 2018! Oh my goodness! Somehow that does not seem possible! I remember my mother turning 60 and I thought back then, that she was “SO OLD!”. Now that I am fast approaching this milestone, I don’t think it is old at all. At least, for the most part, I do not feel old at all! At least not in my mind.

I am not sure what I will do for my sixtieth birthday, part of me would love to take a cruise. Go somewhere nice and warm for a week. I guess we will have to see how the Caribbean has recovered by then.

And then there will be Christmas 2018 with a six and a half year old and a two and a half year old! It doesn’t get any better than that!

For now, as the New Year begins, I’ll be attempting to write on Dackel Princess each and every day, as I share this wonderful year with you all.

Happy New Year 2018!

The Friday Five

Here we are the last week in 2017. The last Friday. Not only has this week gone by quickly, but the entire year seems to have flown by. But as the year ends here are some things on my mind.

There really isn’t anything more important than Love. Love for your family, your friends, but probably most importantly, love for yourself. If you do not love yourself first and take care of yourself, you will be unable to truly love anyone else.
After love, I think physical health is most important. Thus, my New Years Resolution (of which there are a few this year) is to go back to Weight Watchers and not only lose a little weight, but to get healthy! This will mean eating well, and getting out and moving again. 2017, where I was so ill, has found me in the worst shape of my life. I need to be healthy, body, mind and spirit!
Care. This year I plan to dedicate myself to caring more for my home. Being unwell, I let a lot of things go. This year (Resolution) I want to get each room cleaned and spend time painting and resealing each window. The painting and sealing is so important.
I want to work on my blog more. (Resolution) I let it go so much. Thanks so my friend, Megan, I have a new look and now I am ready to daily blog once again! I have so much to say, so much to share. So 2018, look out, here I come with some new posts!
Back to crocheting. I love working with my hands, and while making Savannah’s afghan I found that the motions of crocheting, helped the arthritis in my hands! So I have two projects I would like to do this year. Both are big projects. Both will be incredibly fun!

So I think 2018 will be a wonderful year, full of hope, dreams and excitement! Spent with the ones that I love, and of course, watching my grandchildren grow! Life is good and if there are days it deals me lemons, I shall make lemonade!