Busy, Busy, Busy!

Things were super busy for me this week. I found myself trying to meet schedules and wondering how most people actually do it. I think I am one of those grown ups with a learning disability.

Seriously.

When I try to schedule all the little things into place I get to feel a bit overwhelmed.

But…

Somehow, I was able to get it all done and still find a few moments for myself.

Today I planted our peas. And after this weekend I will plant the green beans. On Labor Day Weekend I’ll plant the garden. My seedlings are certainly ready for that! All the plants are tall and healthy!

I also need to make a Scarecrow for the garden to keep out the birds, squirrels and chipmunks!

Anneliese is still having a bit of a false pregnancy, but I think she is close to being over it. She certainly is enjoying her chew bones!

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Greta, had her rabies shot today, and Arnie is just enjoying life.

Fritz is doing well, although he has had a little bit of a limp for a few days. We’re hoping it is nothing but a twisted ankle. I’m trying to keep him quiet.

The weekend will also be a bit crazy with the Town Yard Sale, but I am hopeful that on Sunday I can spend the entire day just catching my breath!

Have a Happy Weekend, Everyone!

Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill Ins

And…here we go!

1. I see the sun shining at the end of the day.

2. I like to make all meals from scratch.

3. They begin a life together when each says, I love you.

4. I ran and skied with no knee pain so many years earlier.

5. This I know: The people you love in your life are the most important things in the world.

6. Hot wings and celery with blue cheese are for dinner.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to setting up for the town wide yard sale, tomorrow my plans include working at a town-wide yard sale and Sunday, I want to do nothing!

Thursday Thirteen

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This weeks Thursday Thirteen, will be thirteen things that I love to eat, in pictures! Needless to say, there are many more things I could add to this list, which is why I am a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers!

1. A fresh cucumber

kitties and food

2. My own home grown eggplant!

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3 .A lettuce wedge salad with bacon and blue cheese.

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4. A fresh peach from our orchard.

The farm

5. Blueberries from my friends home.

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6. The recipe for Julia’s Roasted Chicken!

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7. My French Onion Soup!

The One About Food

8. Hubby’s apples. He grows the best!

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9. Roasted Chestnuts. Plain or in my Turkey Stuffing.

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10. A Thanksgiving meal. It’s just my favorite!

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11. Cherries from our Orchard.

June 28 jam cherries

12. Oh yeah, LOBSTERS!

(Photo courtesy of my cousin Janet ).

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13. Real Greek Gyros and an ice cold German Beer!

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Wednesday Hodgepodge

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1. What reveals more about a woman-her refrigerator or her purse?

Purse. It’s where I keep my pictures, medication for an emergency headache, keys, cell phone, date book, Tide Pen, regular ink pen, pad of paper, etc. Yes, my life is in that purse!

2. When was the last time you went to the zoo? Where? What’s your favorite zoo animal?

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My favorite animals are the elephants. Below is a picture of a baby elephant in the herd. All the other Mommies watched after the baby while it played in the water. I am not sure who took this shot. It probably was my friend, Bernie.

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Last summer I went to the Zoo in Berlin with my friend, Bernie. It was a really hot day in Germany, which explains the two beers I imbibed while viewing the animals.

3. What social issue fires you up?

Currently, the way Washington and the President are spending money. I fear that my daughter or any grandchildren I may have, will not know the America I grew up in. As it is, everyone’s taxes have gone sky high, while our dollar is in the basement!

4. Are you a coupon clipper? If so, are you extreme?

I used to coupon clip like crazy. Now, not so much. Since joining Weight Watchers three years ago, I have been eating mostly fresh foods, and there are very few coupons for that.

5. What is one of your favorite souvenirs brought back from your travels?

Let’s see. Part of the Berlin wall that Hubby and I chizzled right after they wall fell. Also a poster of Germany, that we had placed on poster-board and is hanging in our hallway. But the best Souvenir? Shubi!


Shubi and mom

The photo above was the first time I held her in my arms. Shubi was born in Landshut on a farm, and when I saw her for the first time she was in the kitchen of Frau Lanzinger. It was love at first sight for us both.

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Soon it was time to take her back to the USA. Here we are in the old Munich Airport waiting to go. Shubi loved to travel and went back to Germany three times to visit her brother, who lived with our friends. Just this past year, her brother Toni passed away. Sadly, Shubi left us back in 2006.

I hadn’t planned on getting my very first Dackel during that trip. We’d gone over to see our friends in Bavaria, and drove to Landshut and there she was!

6. Lemon meringue or key lime?

Key Lime for sure!

7. What is the most beautiful word you know in any language?

LOVE!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Joanne is home!!! Now the real work, the real challenges begin. Joanne will need all of our love, our prayers and our support, as she fights back to regain her life. Please stop on over at her blog and leave her a message of encouragement and love. Joanne and her family are such wonderful people and continue to need our support!

And lastly, today is my step-daughter’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Jessica! Love you!

Supper On A Cold Day

It was a cold and rainy start to the week, so I decided to cook a nice warm and easy meal. A Slow Cooker Pork Roast.

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You can go HERE for the recipe. It does not require much, and you will have your family ooooo-ing and ahhhh-ing with delight!

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So far, everyone who has made this have raved about it. Hubby especially loves it, and when I make it with mashed potatoes he is even happier. Tonight I’m roasting some beets for an added thrill!

I like to serve a nice warm dish on a day like Monday has been. Barely 45 degrees (f) and bone chillingly cold, even little Anneliese wanted her sweater on today.

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How did we know this, you ask? Well, Anneliese has the cutest way of telling us. She will come sit in our laps and pointing her snout at our face she will shake just a wee bit.

Once we head to the closet where her fine garment is kept, she gets all happy, and will wiggle into it. She has been wearing it since 8 o’clock this morning and has been quite happy.

As the sun sets, dinner was presented and currently Hubby is happily full and asleep in his chair. Dinner was, YUM, and I too, end my day happily satisfied!

What I Did This Past Weekend

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Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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It was a strange weekend. One that brought me back to thinking about High School and how I had once had to write certain things. Back then, I really had no idea what I was doing, but through this blog, and all of you, I have learned to write.

I spent time organizing my thoughts, and then I put it down on paper. Then I went back and  organized it all. By the end, I looked back and actually felt proud at what I had done. It may have taken the better part of the weekend, but it was so worth it!

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A few weeks ago I noticed that my darling Greta had a small growth in her ear. I reacted, as I always do, I panicked! I called to Hubby, tears in my eyes, already picturing Greta minus her ear!

Hubby calmed me and told me that we would simply watch it for a while. Sure. That’s like telling me to watch the bacon cook. Poor Greta. I’m afraid I was flipping her ear over several times a day to check on that little white “growth”.

Well, time did pass, and fortunately for Greta, I have been busy. I forgot about her ear until Sunday morning. I flipped it over and guess what? It’s completely gone!

My question here is…can dogs have acne?

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I have a new cleaner that I discovered. It’s “Fantastic”! I tried it out in the kitchen on my stove, my cabinets, the screen over the stove and guess what? It cut all the grease! I could not believe it! Best cleaner I have found in years!

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It’s been raining most of the weekend, so outside things just aren’t happening. Thank goodness we got the garden fenced before the rain came. As it is now, they are forecasting 5 days straight of rain! (**groan**) I hope the rain is gone by Saturday as we have a Town wide Yard Sale next weekend!

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Well, that is about it for my weekend wrap up!

Have a great week everyone!!!

About A Girl

It’s been a long time since I felt this strange pressure about writing a report. It isn’t necessarily a bad pressure, just that I need to get it done, and I need it to be good. So, I have been working three days on it, taking a few hours off, here and there, and then back to the computer I go.

You know, it’ll be 35 years this summer since I graduated from High School. In High School my favorite classes were Chorus and Band, so you can guess that I was not a natural student.

My mother, for some reason I have never been able to fathom, used to tell people that I was both incredibly smart and a natural student. I used to look around for this child of hers, because it sure wasn’t me!

I’ve gone back in my mind to think, what would I have done, if my life had taken a different turn. What could I have been? I loved children, so perhaps an Elementary School Teacher, or a Child Psychologist. Something where I could have helped little kids.

However, I was not necessarily a natural student and I really did find it difficult to learn. Honest to goodness, I never got Algebra! I have somehow gone through life and now, here I am at 52 and I am a Secretary, taking notes and writing reports.

Oh, how I wish I had paid more attention in stenography and typing class!

Oh Yeah, Spring!!!

Friday was such a lovely spring day. We got the garden fenced, and watched as the fruit trees began to come alive!

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The dogs ran and the black flies burst forth, driving me crazy. Hubby claims that there are no bugs, but they just do not like him. Me, they love!

When we were putting the fence up for the garden, we had just Fritz and Greta outside. Greta has graduated to being a stay with you, kinda gal.

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It was really hilarious to watch her, because we have this chipmunk that lives in our stone wall, and today he was really screeching at Greta as she sat there. She jumped up on the wall and tried to find the little rodent! Next time I simply must take my camera out, because she was truly acting like the Mighty Hunter!

She was very good and came to me when I called to her and at one point I asked Hubby, “Where is Greta”, and she came and lay down in front of me and rolled up on her back for a belly rub!

So the garden is fenced in (although nothing is planted yet due to the fact that we could still have a frost), and Hubby turned the soil and fertilized. I am so excited about this years garden. Just look at all of these wonderful plants!

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The bees were working on the fruit trees. Here is a bumbler, working on our Mount Royal Plum tree. The thing about the Mount Royal Plums…they are the best eating plums I have ever had! Oh, total yumminess!!

The small blossoms do not show from a long way off. I’ve taken many macro shots so that you can enjoy the wonder of spring in my back yard!

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I hope that you have a beautiful springtime, wherever you are. It’s my second favorite time of the year!

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Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill Ins

1.  I know that love is the most important thing in life.

2.  I need to find a new cocktail dress for Hubby’s College Reunion if at all possible.
3.  This weather has been great for germinating and planting my seedlings int he green house!
4.  High gasoline prices are a problem
5.  I’m really happy I have the ability to enjoy living in the present and loving my Husband, and my family!
6.  I’m making fajitas tonight for dinner, or something to that effect.

7.  And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to working on my report, tomorrow my plans include watching “From Lark Rise to Candleford” and Sunday, I want to finish my report and prepare for my week ahead

Thursday Thirteen

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Things I Did Yesterday & Today!

  1. I went to Weight Watchers and lost half a pound! I was very pleased because it was a hard week to stay on plan, due to 4 meals at restaurants.
  2. I realized once I weighed in, that I am a bit of a control freak, and that I do like eating at home where I can control all things that I put into my mouth.
  3. Bought the cutest little flat of Parsley Plants! I would like to get a few more herb plants and then find some place in the yard to have an Herb garden.
  4. Picked up two days worth of mail. Which amounted to 4 catalogs. I joked with the Post Master, and asked if there was any good mail I could steal away! lol!
  5. Came home to start laundry and do some house work.
  6. That’s when I got this great idea for a dinner meal for tonight.
  7. I made a wonderful lemon chicken, with a very light sauce. It was very easy and very lean, because you poach the chicken!
  8. Next I made Hubby Bratkartoffeln, which is German fried potatoes with onions and bacon! He is a happy man!
  9. For our vegetable we had mashed Butternut Squash! Oh, it was total yumminess!
  10. More laundry was done and of course, all the dishes from dinner.
  11. Today I am going to get my hair done. I seriously need a shaping of my hair. I find it very difficult to do anything with it!
  12. I have a big report to write later on today. I’ve got good notes, but I expect it will be at least 4 or 5 pages long.
  13. By the end of Thursday I will be tired, no doubt, but happy to have accomplished so much!