Author: Dackel Princess

Hubby

Hubby had a scary incident yesterday. Apparently he got up in the night and fell between his bed and the closet door. Since we’ve both had terrible colds, and I snore, he’s been in our guest room, so I heard none of this.

He said when he woke up, in a pool of blood, he had no recollection of having gotten out of bed or of falling. Which is really weird because he has two large gashes on the top of his head. And the door and rug looked like there had been a murder in that room!

He didn’t come and get me, which I was really pretty angry about, and simply got back into bed. In the morning he told me about it, and I went about cleaning his wounds and dressing them with antibiotic ointment.

I admonished him for not coming for me, and I wanted him to go to the doctor, but he refused. So I told him he had to have a quiet day.

Then I went into the room and began cleaning the door, wall and rug. The wall and door was easy, but the rug was a three part process. (Thank goodness I have a carpet cleaning machine!) In the end, I got out all the blood and there is no stain.

Still I am worried about Hubby. He is 78 years old and has several health concerns. I’ll be watching him like a hawk and when he goes to the doctor again later this month, I plan to go with him.

Meanwhile, I am cooking good healthy meals for him, including blueberry muffins for his breakfast, and trying to make things easier for him.

Maribeth’s Beef Stew

Large fireproof Dutch Oven, 3 inches deep (large size)

1 -2 tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil
2 pounds lean stewing beef cut into 2-inch cubes
4 carrots chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1/2 cup green pepper,
1/2 cup red pepper chopped
1 – 2 large onion chopped
1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 cups of a full-bodied young red wine, or a Chianti (I used a Burgundy)
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic chopped
1/2 – 1 teaspoon thyme (to taste. I tend to go a little heavy on spices)
1 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered, sauteed in butter
3 medium potatoes peeled and quartered.
1 package frozen peas with pearl onions

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Place olive oil in Dutch Oven and toss beef in flour and then saute the beef. Remove to dish.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. (You may need to add a little more olive oil.) Cook mushrooms in saute pan with butter.

Return the beef to the Dutch Oven and toss with the salt and pepper. Add mushrooms.

Stir in the wine and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is  covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.

Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 3 – 4 hours. Add potatoes after 1 hour. Then add the frozen peas and pearl onions. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

For immediate serving: Serve in its casserole.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to a simmer, cover and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

Serves 8

Friday Five

Another week went by us, and it was pretty low key for me. I still have my cold, and I have been housebound most of the time. But as the week has gone on, here are the things I have been thinking about.

  1. I had hoped to be well enough to babysit my grandchildren, but alas, I am not. I really hate that. I live for those babysitting times!
  2. Savannah has grown up so much, and in many ways she almost looks like she is ready for elementary school!

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  3. Quinn, is a man on the move! He is so strong, and is crawling like crazy, and pulling himself up. I know that very soon, he will be walking.

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  4. Hubby also has this cold. Poor guy. I feel so bad when I hear him hacking, sneezing and looking miserable!
  5. Hurricane Matthew. It’s about all that is on the TV right now. I’ve been pretty lucky to have missed major hurricanes in my life. I managed to escape Miami just before Hurricane Andrew hit. Had we not gotten out the afternoon before it hit, we would have been stuck there for a while. Hurricane Charlie hit Punta Gorda, FL just a few years after we left. There was a “No-Name” storm that hit Punta Gorda when I lived there, but it was a strong Tropical Storm, and mostly it flooded everywhere. I will admit to being quite scared, when the wind was howling and the rain was coming down in sheets and sideways. I hope all in Florida will be well.
  • So that’s the five for this week. I hope everyone has a good, safe, and dry weekend. I’m praying for all my friends and family in Florida!

    • Things That Go Cough In The Night

    It was just about a week ago that I woke up with a sore throat. Now that term usually means that you have a tickle in your throat that prompts a cough, but this was really sore. When I drank anything it actually stung. I had Hubby look at my throat and he declared it ‘bright red’ and sore looking.

    By bedtime I was having chills, and all I wanted was my bed, a couple of warm dackels around me and to sleep. Sleep was not to come though, as the fever rose to 102.6 and the chills got even worse.

    By the following morning I was bed ridden. By this this I mean, I chose to stay in bed and try not to infect Hubby. So my juice, ginger ale and crackers came into my room, and Hubby brought me chicken noodle soup a couple times a day to keep my strength up.

    Hubby was worried that it might be something besides a cold, but aside from the usual stuffy head and now a persistent cough and fever, I didn’t think it was more than that. We monitored the temperature, and if it had gone to 103, I would have called the doctor.

    The fever lasted through the weekend, and then on Sunday night it seemed to break. But the cough and stuffiness are still with me.

    However, on Sunday Hubby woke and told me that he had a sore throat! Not only that but he was stuffy, and coughing. So far no high fever, but he tends not to get them like I do.

    So now it is my turn to take care of him, and I hope that his cold will not develop into something worse. I heard him coughing all night, and he is sneezing like crazy and scaring the dogs! I’ve told him he must stay in bed today and do a lot of sleeping. I hope this helps.

    I simply hate colds. They tend to drag on and on, and there is not much you can do, but wait them out!

    Happy Birthday, Uschi!

    Today is the Birthday of my best friend, Uschi! We have been friends for a very long time, and our friendship has deepened, and now I think of her as a sister as well.

    Uschi dear, I hope that your birthday is a good one and the year ahead, filled with sunshine and happiness! I send all of my love and many, many hugs!!!


    Happy Birthday Uschi from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

    The Friday Five

    It is not just the end of another week, but for me it’s the end of a fortnight. Two weeks ago I was recalled after my yearly mammogram, and this is what’s been going on.

    1. I went back for a second mammogram, and they also did a CAT Scan of the right breast. I met with the Radiologist, and he wanted me to see a breast expert.
    2. Since I use Dartmouth Hitchcock, I asked for a referral there, and left thinking it would only be a matter of a few days.
    3. In fact, it took almost two weeks before I got in. I have literally gone crazy with worry during this time. Talk about freaking out. My mother had breast cancer, my brother died from Lymphoma, and of course I have had cancer myself, so I am afraid there was no stopping me from worrying.
    4. I started to feel sick on Monday, but when they called on Tuesday and was asked if I could be there for an exam at 3 PM, I raced to change my clothes and get in the car and drive for an hour to take care of this!
    5. I did make the appointment, and after an hour and 20 minutes of scans and exams it was diagnosed as a deep breast bruise! Who knew you could even get such a thing? Apparently Arnie must have jumped on me and cause the deep bruise. The doctor told me that had the mammogram been done a month later, there wouldn’t have been anything to see!

    So after 2 weeks of really suffering with worry, I can now go forward and feel confident that all is well. I still got the silly cold that I was trying so hard to fight off, but I seem to be recovering quickly from that!

    Have a great weekend!

    Wednesday Hodgepodge

    1. Have you ever been to and/or lived near the desert? What did you think? Travel and Leisure lists the ‘coolest’ American desert towns as-

    Palm Springs CA, Virgina City NE, Bend OR, Winslow AZ, Marfa TX, Grand Junction CO, Silver City NM, Moab UT, Taos NM, Yakima WA, Borrego Springs CA, Terlingua TX, and St. George UT, and Tubac AZ

    Have you been to any of these? Would you like to visit a desert town? Which on the list would you most like to see?

    I’ve not been specifically to these towns, but our White Shepherd, Max was from Tucson, and we spent time there, in Tombstone and Phoenix. Although I enjoyed my trip, I am more of a greener pastures gal. The desert was beautiful, and the colors of stone and dirt vivid, but what can I say? I’m a New England type of girl

    2. What’s a plan or project you’ve deserted in the past year?

    I’m actually doing pretty well with projects. I guess cleaning my attic, but there is still time as the weather cools down and I can get up there and start throwing crap away!

    3. Desert-dessert? Share two or three words you find yourself having to think twice about when it comes to spelling.

    Ha-ha! I’m actually a pretty good speller. Desert and dessert happens to be one that catches me. But the spelling of my name gets almost every person I meet. So I, in fact, spell a lot so people will spell my name correctly. It does not work. Almost always, even after I have spelled it out, people still blow the spelling of my name!

    4. High and dry, like watching paint dry, dry run, dry as dust, not a dry eye in the house…which phrase can you relate to currently? Explain.

    Dry as dust. I’ve had a small cold and my throat has felt dry as dust. I keep drinking, and trying to stay hydrated, but it is a challenge.

    5. How often do you frequent the dry cleaners? Starch or no starch?

    Almost never! If it has to be dry cleaned, I do not buy it!

    6. What’s a food or beverage you enjoy that’s named for a place?

    THE ANDECHS MONASTERY BREWERY

    The monastery’s largest business enterprise is the Andechs monastery brewery. It is the exclusive property of the Benedictine monks of St Boniface in Munich and Andechs. Brewed and bottled exclusively in Andechs.

    945798-Having_a_little_beer-Andechs

    The Andechs Beer is so good and it was so much fun to go and visit the monastery and have lunch and a liter of beer!

    7. Do you need solitude?

    Yes, yes, and yes! Always. I do not get it too often, with one husband and 4 dogs, but I do need it. I think this is why getting my new Ipod was so important. I can put on the headphones and lose myself in song and block out the world around me!

    8. Insert your own random thought here.

    I have a small cold. I find this extremely annoying, because there is so much I would rather be doing, then sitting here, blowing my nose, sneezing and coughing. Ugh! Cold, cold, go away!

    Bite of an Apple?

    I have always been a purist. What does that mean? Well, I always thought I would stick with Microsoft and PC products, as I never wanted to get into a situation where all my programs became useless.

    So when replacing laptops or desktops’s, I always opt for a Windows based system. Which has been fine, up until the last item on my “items I use daily” list broke with no hope of getting better.

    It was my MP3 Player. A 12 year old Sony, that I could work without looking, and had all the features I needed 12 years ago. My best friend, Gail gave it to me, and that was one of her best gifts, aside of her friendship, of course!

    Anyway, after 12 years, they do not make my model of MP3 Player. I ordered a really cheap one from Amazon, and it was so terrible, after 1 day I sent it back!

    I went on You Tube and typed in Review of Best MP3 Players. A whole bunch came up. Mostly they were telling people what not to buy, but over and over, the new Ipod Nano, got raving reviews!

    So, yesterday I went down to my daughter’s and we drove over to the Rockingham Mall, to The Apple Store. It was the first time I have stepped into one of Apple’s Stores. And I was very impressed!

    A nice girl took my name, and guided us to a small table of Ipads where children were sitting playing games on the machines. Savannah sat right down and started playing. I went over to a wall of Apple products and found the Nano I wanted.

    A man with Apple came over and said, “Are you just waiting now to check out?” I told him I was and he hailed another agent to help me.

    Brad came over and quickly checked me out and answered a few questions. When he learned I use a PC at home he said I should be sure to Update my Itunes, before I even plug the Nano in.

    We finished and after getting my car at Mandy’s and driving home, I updated the Itunes program and then downloaded my music to the Nano.

    Then, when all was said and done, I turned on the Nano and listened to one of my favorite songs, (easy to find), and the sound was amazing!

    I can officially say, I have gone to the “Dark Side” and now, for the very first time, own a superior Apple product!

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