Author: Dackel Princess

Cabbage Meatball Soup

Cabbage Meatball Soup

Slice into bite size pieces:

  • 2 – 3 large onions
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 red pepper
  • 4 stalks celery
  • 5 carrots
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 a head of cabbage cut into bite size pieces.

Meatballs:

  • 1 pound minced beef
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbs parsley

With your hands mix it all up and then form tiny meatballs.

Saute the vegetables (except cabbage) in olive oil, and then add:

  • One-28 ounce can of diced Italian tomatoes
  • 2 tbs Parsley
  • 1 tbs Italian seasoning
  • 1 tbs Oregano
  • 1 tsp Basil
  • 1/2 tbs salt
  • 12 cups of beef broth
  • cabbage pieces

Bring to a low simmer and add the meatballs. (Do not precook the meatballs, they will cook in the soup). Add 1 zucchini cut into quarters. Correct the seasoning to taste.

Simmer medium low for 2-3 hours or until all vegetables are done. Serve with crusty bread.

Busy-ness!

I’m trying to get things in order before the surgery. I amaze myself at what I have been able to get done. The biggest thing was to be able to sit and go through clothing and items around the house to donate to our local Charity shop. You should see how much I have to go, but oddly my closet, and house shows no sign of having been gone through! I just have too much crap!

Next week is getting my hair done, then my pre-op, and then the dackels go to the Vet’s for their shots. After that we will do a big shopping for dog food and doggy treats. Little by little we will get things taken care of.

I decided to get out our GPS last night and update it. It took forever, but hopefully all the maps are updated. I need to sit down with Hubby and show him how to recall different addresses and favorites. I am usually the co-pilot and I do the programming, map-reading, and follow along with directions. While I am in the hospital in Boston, it will all be on him.

Hubby is staying just outside of Boston, with our friends, so he can be with me each day, while I am inpatient. I’m glad about this, because last time, I was alone and had no one to advocate for me. Let’s just say, things did not go well.

We have a dog/house sitter coming and so the pooches will all be cared for. I am very happy about that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Friday Five

I’m down to three weeks until my surgery. I feel like it should be less than that, but then January is a long month. In the next three weeks I have appointments each week that I must get to, for pre-op stuff, and getting my hair done. That is very important because I need the back of my head to have slightly shorter hair so it won’t be near the incision. Anyway, here are the things I’ve been thinking about this week.

  1. I’m ready for Spring. It’s been cold and icy and gray and I have simply had enough of it. We still have snow in the yard, and ice everywhere as well. I know it is only January, but really, I’m done!
  2. My 5 year old love-seat/recliner had a problem. The handle you pull to lift the feet, started to break. I heard a weird noise and stopped using that side of the recliner. The only problem is I am right handed and when I sit on the left side there is no place for my right hand, no place for my right hand to hold a mouse. I also had no table for my cup and no place for my phone. I know, wah, wah, wah! But it just seemed like the one thing I didn’t want to think about right now.
  3. So I got up after breakfast and announced I was going to look for a new chair. I needed something before the surgery that I can sit in comfortably.
  4. Hubby got right up, flipped the chair and spent about 2 hours until he found the problem and fixed it. We ordered a new pulley, (for when the current one does break), but for now we know why it had so much pressure on it and how to keep it from happening again.
  5. And lastly, a fond farewell to Mary Tyler Moore. I loved watching all her shows and thought she was an amazing Comedienne. She also seemed to be a nice person. Rest in Peace, Mary. may you find the happiness and joy that often eluded you on this earth.

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TBT: Greta’s First Dog Show

Here she is. Greta. Way back when she was just 2 years old. (She will be 13 in March) This was at her first North American Teckel Club, dog show. (German dog club) She came in second behind the sister of the dog she eventually mated with and had both her litters with. Bernie’s sister, Britta was a beauty, but I felt Greta was far more special. Ah well, Greta got an Excellent and so she and Bernie went on to have two gorgeous litters of puppies. Which gave me Arnie and Anneliese.

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Here is Greta with her prize. After the awards, they had toys for the dogs and allowed them to select one out of the box. True to her nature, she went right for the Opossum toy! Gosh, she loved that toy, and had it for a very long time.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. “The cure for anything is salt water-tears, sweat, or the sea.” (Isak Dinesan) Would you agree? Of the three, which has ‘cured’ you most recently?

The ocean has always been my cure all. Having grown up on Cape Cod, it always seemed there wasn’t anything that the grand Atlantic Ocean couldn’t solve.

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I still feel that way, despite the fact that I live in the mountains now and don’t see the ocean as much as I once did.

2. What’s something you can’t eat without salt? Do you normally salt your food a lot, a little, or not at all?

I salt my food a little. I like the taste of salt. I love salt on fried eggs, on grits, and baked potatoes. I also love salt on German Pretzels!

3. Sands of time, bury your head in the sand, built on sand, or draw a line in the sand…which sandy phrase could best be applied to something in your life right now?

Ah, the sands of time, as I sit here waiting for my cervical spine surgery. Just a couple more weeks and I will have the corrective surgery that, I hope will end my pain!

4. A favorite book, movie, or song with an island setting or theme?

The Descendants, by  Kaui Hart Hemmings. It is both a book and movie. And I loved both. I think this was George Clooney’s best movie ever. It is set in Hawaii and the movie’s cinematography is spectacular!

5. Yesterday-did you run your day or did it run you? How so?

I made a list of everything I needed to do on Monday and get before Tuesday’s ice storm. One by one I checked off the list. Then this morning, sure enough, there roads are terrible. So glad we can stay in.

6. You’re on an island holiday. Will I most likely find you parked in a beach chair, shopping in town, on the back of a jet ski, or snorkeling off the back of a catamaran?

50/50 at the beach and shopping. After all, I need to protect my skin!

7. What do you think we humans most take for granted?

Other human beings. Especially the ones in our lives. The ones we love.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I had an amazing thing happen yesterday. I was out in the driveway, and I called for Lili who was at the top of our drive. She stopped, looked down the hill at me, and when I called again, she can running full speed, and stopped and sat right in front of me! It’s taken me two years to get her to do that! I was so proud of her!!!

And It Was Monday…

First thing on Monday I called our oil provider and asked for a delivery. We were down to a quarter of a tank, and we have an ice storm arriving tonight. Our driveway is 500+ feet downhill, with our house at the bottom. An oil truck trying to get down has no problem, but on a slippery surface, those trucks really have a tough time getting out. As soon as they knew it was for us, they made sure we got oil today, as their drivers really hate our driveway.

Later, I had a list of things I needed to do, and I asked for help with all the driving. So just after noon today we set off to the Pharmacy for cough drops, the grocery store for their great sales on Brussel Sprouts, Eggplant, Liverwurst and soups, the bank to order more checks, and the Post Office for the mail. By the time we got back, I was a little tired, but still had two things on my list. Dinner and laundry.

I had two loads of tough stained laundry, but this wonderful washing machine cleaned them right up with their soak and second rinse cycle. Sweet!!!

Dinner is Unstuffed Cabbage, which is cooking in the oven right now in my Dutch Oven. It smells amazing! After dinner, I just need to do the clean up and then collapse in bed! But I did get a lot done.

Tomorrow I plan to watch movies and enjoy the weather. Since it is supposed to be a combination of ice and snow, I plan to go no where! Quite happily so!

Things From My Weekend

  • Hey! The New England Patriots are going to the Super Bowl!!! Now I have to tell you, I am not one of those people who watches every moment of every game, but I do catch most of them, and I do enjoy a good win! The Super Bowl should be fun, and I am going to plan something for dinner that night that will be festive.
  • I spent part of the weekend cuddled with my heating pad. I have three weeks left until my surgery. I am anxious to get that behind me and to start feeling better. For now, I am in a holding pattern.
  • I had a software problem with my laptop being unable to speak to a machine that we store pictures on. I only had an error code to work with, and it gave me a general idea of what was wrong. It took me about an hour, and then I had resolved the problem. Yay me! I love it when I can figure things like this out.
  • We went and saw “Manchester By The Sea”, as everyone has been raving about it. I think the acting was good, but the story, and the direction was terrible, It was obvious that the writer /directer had no idea how people react in certain tragic situations. He was also quoted as saying that “New Englanders” are like this. Um, I’m a New England gal, who lost everything, but somehow managed to put her life together again and go on.
  • We went out to a Chinese Buffet that we both like and had lunch yesterday. It’s a family business, and we’ve been going there for years. It was a lot of fun.
  • Then we went grocery shopping. We heard that an ice/snow storm is due starting Monday night and into Tuesday. Nothing is worse than ice. I’m calling for an oil delivery at 7 AM.
  • Greta is better. Last Friday she was up every hour on the hour all night long. I suspected that she had another UTI so I started her back on the antibiotics, and after three doses she was back to normal. But she needs to be on them for another 5 days. I just hate to see my old girl (Greta is 13 years old) getting sick.
  • Later today I plan to make stuffed peppers and cranberry bread. Half of each will be frozen for use after surgery.

I hope you have a great week everyone!

The Friday Five

I have had an amazingly good week. What this means is that I have been able to get a few things done, I was able to meditate the pain to a bearable level, and I actually went out on my own. So here are the top five things for this week.

  1. I had not seen my dearest friend Carol in over two months. Carol is like a mother to me and I have known her nearly 9 years. I called her and we met for breakfast at Friendly’s and sat and talked and talked. It was wonderful!
  2. Lili has been enjoying the cold, fresh snow. She loves leaping and jumping and running in circles. Oh the energy this doggy has!
  3. I’ve been cooking and freezing, getting ready for the big day. I made Caribbean Banana Bread with spiced rum and it came out so well.
  4. Tomorrow I am making tuna casserole and will divide it up and freeze half. Anything I can do to make things easier for Hubby after my surgery, I will do.
  5. And lastly, we are saying farewell to Arnie and Anneliese’s daddy, Bernie. He was just a few weeks shy of his 13th birthday. He was a Master Earth Dog, and could track a wounded animal with the best of them. He sired several litters, but the ones I enjoyed the most were the 10 pups he sired with Greta. Rest in peace dear, furry friend. You will be remembered always by those who knew you and loved you, and by being the sire to all those amazing pups.

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Bernie on the left and Greta on the right, during their first date.

TBT: The Fall of the Berlin Wall

We’d just returned to New Hampshire in the Autumn of 1989, when a few weeks later, the Berlin Wall came down. Our friends, Buddy and Ed, who were still living in West Berlin, invited us to come back in January of 1990 to experience the celebrations in the city during the reunification and also Grüne Woche (The International Green Week is a unique international exhibition of food and agriculture, as well as horticulture.).

Epilogue

Here I am with Buddy standing in front of the Wall, with an East German Guard staring back at us. He was very pleasant at that time and we were all smiling at each other. We traveled freely between the two Berlins and it was such a happy time.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. ASAP typically stands for ‘as soon as possible’. What else could it stand for in your life right now?

ASAP still stands for As Soon As Possible, as I am awaiting my next surgery.

2. Are you the last person to speak up in a group or the first to have an idea? Why do you suppose that is? Is it a good thing or no?

I have a big mouth and most of the time it is going. I’ve been told to quiet down and let others have an opportunity to say something. I think probably I run off at the mouth because I was the youngest in my family and always trying to make everyone laugh, so I talked a lot!

3. What do you remember best about being 12?

Joining Rainbow Girls and wearing a beautiful white gown that Mom made for me. I loved Rainbow, and the lovely things it taught me and the friendships that last, to this very day.

4. January 18th is National Winnie the Pooh Day. Which character do you relate to the most, and why? If you’re stumped go here for inspiration.

Well I guess Christopher Robin as I am unlike the make believe characters in the books. I did like the books as a child, although I admit they were not a super favorite.

5. What’s an app you use that helps simplify or make life easier for you in some way?

WAZE. I love this App. It warns you of speed traps, heavy traffic, gives you alternate routes and shows you where gas and restaurants are. We used it all the way to Savannah and back.

6. San Francisco (CA), San Diego (CA), San Juan (PR) San Antonio (TX) Sanibel (FL)…you have an all expenses paid long weekend to one of these destinations. Which one do you choose and why?

Sanibel. I immediately chose that because it is so close to where i used to live, and I could easily hop on the highway and drive to Punta Gorda to see my friends!

7. Share with us a song that makes you feel nostalgic? For what?

This song “Lonely Boy” makes me think of my late brother. The dates add up, his birth, then my sisters, and although he was Mel’s best friend, life was not always kind or easy for him. He had a brain injury at birth, and although he was talented and gifted in so many ways, many people could not see past his learning disabilities. He would be 65 years old now, if he were still alive.

This makes me think of him, of his struggles and then of his death at the age of 26 from cancer.

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8. Insert your own random thought here.

I made appointments for the dackels to get their rabies shots in 10 days. They are due right after my surgery, so we are going early this year.