Dackel Princess

TBT: Mandy Age 7 Months

Looking back at Mandy’s baby pictures is always fun for me. She was such a cutie and I just loved being her Mommy! I still do!

I had a lovely daughter, named Kathleen “Katie” Alynne. She was my youngest daughter and quite amazing. She was six and a half when an impaired (stoned) driver, hit my car and killed her. She actually lived until June 19th, but she never regained consciousness after they pulled her from the car. So in my mind and my heart, the 13th is the day that she left us.

You never get over losing a child. But you learn to go on, and to make a new life for yourself. But on days like today, I like to remind everyone that once long ago, lived a beautiful little girl named Katie!

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This is so beautiful. I was crying by the second line, Written by Henry Scott Holland (27 January 1847 – 17 March 1918) was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford.

I miss you each day, Katie.

In Memory of Katie from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Katie Alynne November 8, 1978 – June 13, 1985 from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

A Saturday To Remember

This past Saturday was a busy and wonderful one! It started on Saturday morning, when I left early to drive to Savannah’s dance recital. I stopped at the Outlet Mall in the rare possibility that I might find a pair of jeans. You know right up there next to the horror of trying on a bathing suit, is trying on jeans!

I went to Talbot’s and tried on a pair of jeans and a shirt and both fit like they’d been made for me! Jeans! I could not believe it! And they were a smaller size too! One thing is for sure, these darn antibiotics have robbed me of an appetite and the weight has fallen off.

Once I was happily back in my car, I again headed South. As I drove along, I passed several speed traps (I never worry about them because I am a Granny driver!), and eventually I pulled off to get a bouquet of flowers and some thing to drink for me. I found some lovely purple carnations, white roses and baby’s breath for Savannah. After all, every Prima Ballerina must have her bouquet after the Recital.

I almost never drive into a city unless I know it well, but on Saturday I had to drive into Lowell, Massachusetts. It’s currently full of construction zones and this made it pretty easy to take a wrong turn. And I did.

I should have stayed going forward, but I turned left. Ugh! Well I drove a little further and then “banged a U-ee” In other words, I made a U-turn and corrected my error. Of course, I got beeped at, but not too bad, really.

Then I arrived at the Recital. I met up with my daughter, Mandy, and Matt and his parents and my former husband, Bob. We all waited for the doors to open and then we gratefully took our seats inside, out of the heat!

The show began, and a few numbers passed, and then…there she was, our Savannah. This year, Savi wasn’t nervous at all. She knew what she should be doing and she did it with sass, pizzazz and so much happiness! I sat watching with happy tears streaming down my face. She was marvelous!!!

After Savi was done with her first number the children were led to the balcony, where they could watch the show. I happened to catch a glimpse of her watching the show and my heart swelled. My beautiful, sweet, talented, loving, granddaughter. Oh, how I adore her!

In a bit, Savannah’s class was up on stage again and they performed one more routine. Again, I felt such love and joy.

The Recital ended with a big balloon drop and the kids were thrilled. Mandy went to get Savi and I waited outside with Matt and Bob. Then there she was, running toward me, talking a mile a minute and waving two of her balloons in the air. Mandy took one of them so I could give Savi her flowers. We stood talking for a bit before I kissed my girls and said good-bye.

On my way out of Lowell, Massachusetts, I was cut off by a small car, and the girl inside flipped me off. Okay, a trip into the city of Lowell with one false turn, one honking of the horn, and one finger flip off, is actually not bad really! After all, it is a larger city than I am used to!

Once back on the Highway, I drove along with the heavy traffic until I reached the grocery store, and loaded up on food, and gassed up the car before hitting the road again and heading home.

I got here to find Jack searching for Lili. I asked when he had last seen her? He answered about an hour ago. I clicked the remote for the garage and…Lili came waltzing out! Poor baby had been locked up in there for a while. Needless to say, she was very happy to see me!

After having a small bite of dinner, I headed to bed, where I fell instantly asleep! The end of a truly great day!

The Pioneer Woman

During the 17 days I spent in the hospital this Spring, feeling sick as a dog, and I admit, scared to death, I watched a lot of TV. Since emotionally I was not up to anything heavy, I watched a lot of shows on The Cooking Channel, HGTV and Animal Planet. These were all entertaining and some were even sweet. I discovered Dr. Jeff, Rocky Mountain Vet on The Animal Planet Station, and best of all, I discovered “The Pioneer Woman”.

Now Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) is sort of the mother I wish I had been lucky enough to have. Not that my mother wasn’t a good Mom, it’s just that she and I didn’t have a lot in common.

I digress. While trapped in a hospital bed, I started watching The Pioneer Woman. It turns out that one weekend they had a marathon showing of her show and I was able to fall in love with her, and her family.

As she says, she lives on a cattle ranch, in the middle of nowhere, and she loves to cook, take pictures and blog! All things that I love to do. Each show is filled with recipes, scenes of her ranch, kids and meals with her family and friends.

When I got home from the hospital I found her show on TV Monday through Friday from 1 o’clock to 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Hubby and I started watching it and we both enjoy it.

In fact, Ree Drummond has a new magazine coming out and I told Hubby I’d like to subscribe. Ree just has a way about her. Easy, laid back, homey. I love listening to her, planning a meal, or a party, or picnic. Many of her ideas I have had myself, but not on such a complete scale.

I admit to trying some of her recipes. They are good and Hubby is starting to ask if our meals are Pioneer Food! Ha!

I am enjoying all of this Pioneer living. It’s sort of what I dreamed about when I was a teenager. My Mom had a home garden, where we grew vegetables and I thought that was great. As an adult I had my own gardens and year after year, I grew to love cooking. This one hour of TV, five days a week, makes me feel good.

So if this sounds like fun to you, give her program a watch!

I think you will be glad you did!

I’m Cooking Again!

In the last few days I have felt better than I have in a while. The effects of the antibiotics have not been so bad, and not only have I been able to eat, but I have felt like cooking too. And baking.

A friend of mine is also sick right now, so I bake double batches of things like Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then both households can enjoy a little something special.

However, my cooking desire has also extended to things like meatloaf, roast beef, a roasted leg of lamb. All of these things provided meals for several days and I enjoyed making each and every one of them.

Fresh corn on the cob is now available in our stores. Usually the corn starts coming from Florida in April, then Georgia, and South Carolina in May and now, I think it is coming out of North Carolina. All I know is, that from now until September, we will be eating a lot of corn.

We also have had a lot of strawberries coming in from California. Oh, how we both love those! Last night we put on an old movie, “Uncle Buck” and sat watching and laughing, while eating Strawberry Shortcake!

Today is a no cooking day. What does this mean? It means I have enough leftover food, so that I don’t need to cook any new food!

All of this makes me happy. Happy to be feeling better, and also happy that I can cook again.

The Medical Report

The last few days have been kind of crazy. Last Thursday Anneliese needed surgery on her chest. Well her Lymph gland actually. She had a growth that was causing her to limp. It was also causing her some pain and she did not want to be held.

I chose surgery for her, to get it removed. So last Thursday I drove her out, first thing in the morning, and dropped her off at the Veterinarian’s Office. The Vet noted that her teeth needed some cleaning, so I also sprung for a dental and nail trimming.

After I left her I drove back home and when I got back, Hubby came out and asked me to “doctor” his toe. He took off his bloody sock, and there was the most awful looking, infected toe that I have ever seen.

Hubby is a diabetic. The diabetes is so bad that he no longer has feeling in his feet. To him, he could see an infection, but he did not think it was bad because it didn’t feel bad.

Okay, now we could go round and round about this. But in the end, his toe was badly infected, and I knew he had to see a doctor quickly.

So, he called the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, and they told him what I had. He must come into Urgent Care to be evaluated.

He went off in one direction while I waited to hear about Anneliese.

Well, we all know that the VA doesn’t move very fast. In fact Urgent Care is definitely a misnomer. Nothing moves quickly there. So, Hubby spent most of the day waiting for care that he never got!

I picked up poor little Anneliese with her 2 inch incision (and many stitches) and met Hubby at home well after 6:00 PM.

The next day, on Friday, I went with Hubby, back to the VA to see Hubby’s Podiatrist. I like Hubby’s Podiatrist. He is very good and cares very much about his patients.

He looked at the toe and cleaned it and cleared off the dead skin. Then he pointed out the ulcer on Hubby’s toe and showed me how to clean it and dress it.

So between the big toe on Hubby, and Anneliese’s belly, I have been kept quite busy as both Human and Veterinary Nurse. Both of my patients are doing well, although, truth be told, Anneliese is doing better than Hubby.

Hubby goes back this Friday to see the doctor again, and Anneliese goes back on June 15th to get her stitches out.

One thing is for certain, life is never dull!

The Pillow Queen

Those of you who know me well, know that one of the things I am really picky about is my pillow. For years I have been searching for just the right pillow. One that supported my head and neck, without being too soft or too hard.

I have spent a fortune over the years and tried every pillow known to man. However, after my cervical spine surgery, it became imperative to find one that supported my neck. I tried for months to find a pillow, a position in bed, anything that would give me some relief.

Finally, I did a search on Amazon.com for Cervical Pillows, and after seeing several that were highly recommended, I began to search for more information on the Internet.

I found the D-Core Cervical Pillow, Standard, Firm. Now this sounds a bit crazy, right, and the pillow actually looks a little bizarre, but my goodness, since I’ve gotten it, I sleep so much better and wake with little or no neck pain at all.

Each morning I am thankful for this weirdly shaped pillow that supports my neck and face, and puts my head smack dab in the middle.

Could it be that the Pillow Queen has finally found the magic one? I sure hope so. I also hope that the pillow lasts for a while.

That would be perfection!

Savannah Rose Turns 5 Years Old!

Yes, today is our dear Savannah Rose’s 5th birthday. Due to the fact that her birthday was in the middle of the week, she has gotten several birthday celebrations along the way to mark this special occasion.

My dearest granddaughter is one of God’s greatest gifts in my life. Savi brings me such happiness and joy, and I feel blessed every day of my life, to have this sweet girl in it.

Savi is everything a grandmother could ask for and more. So, on this very special day I wish her good health, much happiness, and a year full of special joyful days!

I love you Savi!

Savannah's 4th Birthday from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Memorial Day Thoughts

My husband is a Vietnam Veteran. You know, the unpopular war. Wait, most wars are unpopular, but the Vietnam War found many young Americans treating the returning military abominably. So it was with Hubby.

He served his Country proudly. he made many sacrifices. He was out of the country for over a year. His plane was shot at. He had friends that died. It was a tough time, but he did it because he believes in our Country. As did the men and women, so many of them that did not come home.

I was not married to him then. I was just a wee bairn. I am grateful I did not know him then. I am not sure I could have taken him being there at that time. During the Vietnam War, there was no Skype, just Ham Radio Operators who occasionally put a call through Stateside.

He did come home, to a country of hostile people. But thank you to God, for bringing him back.

Now he is having health problems directly related to his service in Vietnam. The VA is helping with his healthcare, but the toll that the war, so long ago, took on his health, is very sad to see.

My point today is to always appreciate the military that serve our country. They are your fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, mothers, sisters, daughters and aunts.

May this Memorial Day be a day of reflection, when one considers the sacrifices made by these men and women in service to our country.

To those who came home, and to those who did not.

God bless them all.

Cheers

The other Day, Hubby and I were watching tennis on the TV, when there was a beer commercial on. The beer commercial was using the theme from “Cheers” in their ad, which got Hubby to ask, “Who wrote that? Who performed that?”

Since I am the one who Googles everything for answers, I began my search. After all, “CHEERS” was one of my favorite TV shows back in the day, and the theme song is one I have always loved.

The song “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”, was written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo. Of course, like many things in life, their first few attempts were good, but not exactly what NBC and Paramount had in mind. The first lyrics they came up with struck me as just fine, but then, I am a New England girl and I love the Red Sox! Here they are:

“Singing the blues when the Red Sox lose
It’s a crisis in your life
On the run ’cause all your girlfriends
Want to be your wife
And the laundry ticket’s in the wash

Sometimes you want to go
where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You wanna go where everybody knows your name

All those nights when you’ve got no lights
The check is in the mail
And your little angel
Hung the cat up by its tail
And your third fiance didn’t show

Now NBC liked the refrain, but not the sad lament about the Red Sox. So the two young song writers sat down a few more times before they came up with the classic song, that we all know and love.

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.”

Now here is something I did not know. The powers that be had heard Gary Portnoy on the Demo tape and wanted him to sing the song. He was contacted and agreed. He also agreed to sing all the back up for the song. But first things first. Off he went to California to record his solo for the song at the studio.

The recording session took place on a huge sound stage on the Paramount lot where “Cheers” was being filmed. At first Gary performed with a small group of musicians, and then they all packed up and left and Gary was set up to record his solo.

From Gary’s Home-page I would like to share what is written there.

“As he stood there with the lights dimmed in front of a microphone- a solitary shadow in this cavernous room- he was blissfully unaware that the vocal he was about to record would transcend that studio, and Hollywood, and NBC, and the United States and would literally travel around the world- first weekly then on a daily basis,every day…for the next thirty years and counting. (Gary has said that had he known all of that, he might not have been able to open his mouth!)”

Now you know the rest of the story!

Author: Dackel Princess