Dackel Princess

Doggies & Christmas Trees

Sunday night, while watching a little TV, all four dogs disappeared into our bedroom and promptly put themselves to bed. I didn’t think much about it, and when I went to bed, myself, at 9:30 they never even moved. All four of them were simply dead to the world! So, we all hunkered down and simply enjoyed the warmth of the blankets.

The night was fine, I was up a couple of times, but fell instantly back to sleep. All I had to do was move a dackel or two out of the way.

This morning, Hubby wanted to be up and out the door to go skiing, so we got up together so I could make the coffee. He followed the dogs to the door and then one by one, let them out.

Well, we stood there watching as the dogs went out, one by one and took the longest wee-wee’s on record. It seems that their early bedtime was not very good for their little doggy bladders. Monday night we plan a good long walk in the bitter cold before we turn in for the night!

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While Hubby skied on Monday, I decided to get myself in the Christmas mood and finish our Christmas tree. I carefully put the lights on the tree, while talking to my sister on our cell phones. This took me nearly two hours! Especially when I was putting the bubble lights on, as they are fairly old, and often need a little repair of their bases with super glue. However, I got it done and then set about making lunch for a returning Hubby and myself.

Once lunch was done, I started hanging ornaments. I haven’t seen them for two years and it was so wonderful to see all my little mementos from around the world, as I hung them on the tree. You see, when I have traveled to various countries or states, I always buy Christmas ornaments. I also collect little dackels and red-haired Angels.

Then the garland went around the tree, and it came out pretty well. I was worried about tinsel, because it really is bad for dogs, but I compromised. I only put it on 3/4 of the tree, leaving the very bottom devoid of it. No one really notices, because the tree is in our kitchen and the kitchen table sort of covers that part of the tree.

I stood back admiring the tree and thinking how pretty it was, but something was bothering me. Something was off. What was it?

I’d forgotten the STAR at the very top!

So I climbed up on a ladder and worked to place the star without knocking over the tree. I finally got it on, stood back and admired our beautiful tree!

What I Did This Weekend

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

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What a busy weekend I had, as this was our fund raising weekend for my ladies club here in my little town. If you would like to view some very pretty Christmas Trees, scroll down and you can see a little bit more about “The Festival Of Trees”.

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Saturday I worked a long shift in the bitter cold and I swear I did not warm up for many hours after I got home. In fact, I called Hubby just before I left and asked him to start a fire in the hearth and he had a lovely one going when I came in.

I made us dinner, but really, I wasn’t all that hungry. I ate though, and then found a couple of dachshunds to cuddle with while we watched some of the worst TV in a while.

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So far, I am really enjoying the new Weight Watchers program. I love being able to eat all the fruit and the freedom to eat some of the low in carbohydrate vegetables in any amount also really helps. I am NOT hungry, and that is a wonderful thing!

I’m also looking at food differently. I look at it and ask myself, how will this food help my body? Will it send my blood sugar sky high, or will it help to hold it steady? So far I have not had one low blood sugar attack!

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I managed to get my Christmas tree standing UP in my kitchen windows. However, I ran out of energy before I got the lights on. That I will do on Monday.

I also need to spend an entire day doing nothing but HOUSEWORK! Blah! I really hate it, but I need to do it to prepare for any guests that may drop in over the holidays.

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The best part of the weekend for me? Probably seeing the faces of the children and the people from the Nursing Home when they came to see the Christmas Trees! That was just the best and I found, softy that I am, that I had a big lump in my throat, as I watched them!

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Happy Monday Everyone!

The Festival Of Trees

On Saturday I worked in the afternoon at the Festival of Trees here in town. My women’s club was sponsoring the event, as they have for the last 15 years. This was the first time I had worked at it, and I had a great time. I’m a newbie to the club and I still do not know many women well, but over this weekend I have spent a lot of time with one woman and gotten to know her, a little. Her late husband was also a pilot, and we have chatted a bit about that, as well as what brought us to this town. I’m happy to have made a new friend!

Meanwhile, families came to visit us and take their children to see the trees, all decorated by local companies and clubs for our event. It was magical to see their eyes light up when they saw the lights glowing against the Christmas ornaments.

We had some seniors from a local nursing home come by, and several people who came in by themselves, just to enjoy the trees.

Here is a short montage I made from the pictures I took. I hope you enjoy the little peek into the wonders of Christmas in New Hampshire!

Christmas Dreams from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

It reminded me, of some of the reasons that I love Christmas. The beauty, the love and the miracle of a child as they view a room full of wonderful trees!

This & That Saturday

It’s quite a frustration to me to cook a perfectly good meal, only to find that the meat cut, which looked lovely in the package, was tough as shoe leather after being cooked! Had I known that this Angus Cut Beef was so tough I would have made Beef Stew, where I slow cooked it all day long!

Tomorrow I will make the stew. I hope that by putting it in the slow cooking oven, with lot’s a broth, I can somehow resurrect the rest of the beef.

How many times have you gotten a piece of meat or fish, and expected a wonderful, tasty, meal, only to find that all was not as lovely as you thought?

Hubby was gracious and shrugged it off. He’s good like that. I don’t have too may really horrific meals served in this house, but every once in a while, one slips by.

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On other food related notes, I am actually liking the “New” Weight Watchers program. Since I started to eat more fruit as snacks, I find that I am not nearly as ravenous at mealtimes. Tonight it was not difficult to eat only half of the tough roast beef!

Of course the proof that the new plan is better will come on Wednesday, when I weigh in. I have my fingers and toes crossed!

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Saturday finds me working at The Festival of Trees from noon to 3 o’clock. My ladies club is sponsoring it, and the proceeds will benefit the children in our area. I plan to dress warmly and bring hot tea with me in a thermos! Thursday night I froze, as I helped take tickets at the door for the opening event.

I promise to take pictures of the beautifully decorated trees!

Friday Fill-Ins

design by the true book addict

So…here we go!

1. The best thing about a birthday celebration is Being with the ones you love.

2. Feelings can either intensify or fade over the passage of time.

3. I went shopping recently and the most interesting thing I bought was can’t say. Christmas secrets.

4. Spinning around in circles is a child’s game that if you do as a grown up, people wonder what is wrong with you.

5. The reason is LOVE.

6. I want it to snow and be cold.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to cooking a roast beef for Hubby, tomorrow my plans include working at the Festival of Trees for Altrusa and Sunday, I want to put up my Christmas tree!

Friday Fill-Ins are sponsored by my cousin Janet. Come on and join the fun!

Lettuce Wedge Salad

1/4 head of iceberg lettuce cut into a wedge
1/3 cup diced fresh tomatoes
fresh apple smoked bacon bits
1 tbs scallions sliced thin
Blue cheese broken into small pieces
Blue cheese salad dressing drizzled over the entire salad

Place lettuce on serving plate and add all ingredients in order.
Enjoy!

Thursday Thirteen

The Christmas Countdown Edition…

1. My Christmas cards are signed and the Christmas letter has been placed inside them, and they are now wending their ways around the world!

2. My shelves and mantle are now decorated for the Christmas Season. This year I put up a series of little Angels that I have collected over the years on the mantle.

3. My little mini Christmas tree is up with all the dackel ornaments that I have collected around the world!

4. My tree still is not up. Saturday? I am not sure. I hope so, though. I can hardly wait to see it again with all the lights and little ornaments from all my travels.

5. I’ve collected ornaments whenever I travel to remind me of the people and places I have been.

6. Although one of my favorite decorations is a chipmunk in a nut cracker! I love that one! Isn’t this adorable?

7. I made 6 dozen cookies for the charity event this weekend, and I have not had one of them, even though I made my favorite cookies! Snickerdoodles!

8. This is another one of my favorite decorations. Hubby gave it to me the first year we were married. He’d gone off on a trip to Guatemala and brought it back for me.

9. Hubby helped me do some post-Thanksgiving grocery shopping today. Needless to say, he did not want to eat any more turkey for a while!

10. We have no snow. This is most distressing, especially when we have large amounts of rain, like we did today. Then they cannot make snow. Shoot! We want to ski!

11. How are you all doing with your Christmas shopping? I am about 75% done. I need to get a few more things and then wrap them up.

12. I am a terrible wrapper. I wish I could wrap presents and make them look picture perfect. Alas, I am not very talented. Martha Stewert doesn’t have to worry that I will be taking her place on “How To Decorate And Wrap Your Gifts”.

13. I need to ask Hubby what he wants me to cook for Christmas. What do you all cook for the holidays?

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What is the most interesting thing you’ve done in the last year?

I think it was going to Germany again. I love Germany, and seeing my best friend there, and this year I got to meet a new blog friend and that was also fun!

2. What is your most meaningful family heirloom?

One is the German Bible from my grandfather’s family. It is so old and the fact that it was carried here from Germany by my Great-grandmother, with all her hopes for a better life, mean so much.

The other is a wooden toy Noah’s Ark, that was my Grandfather’s.

He also carried it from the old country. I remember being allowed to play with it very carefully at Grandma and Papa’s house when I was small.

3. What food festival would you most like to attend?

Each year I work at a Greek Festival to help my neighbor’s church. I love Greek food! However, I also live for my trips to Germany when I can enjoy the wonder and goodness of German food!

What can I say, it’s in my blood!

4. Snow…do you love it or is it considered a four letter word where you live?

Love it! Both Hubby and I enjoy skiing!!!

5. Can you ski? Do you ski? Are you any good?

I can ski, I do ski (got a season ticket this year) but as to if I am any good? Well, I’m an Intermediate. Hubby is excellent and he goes skiing with some of his friends who are also excellent skiers, but we still ski together, too.

6. What quality in your spouse or best friend are you most thankful for?

My husband is my rock. I can get so upset and crazed and Hubby is calm and helps me relax. I am so thankful for that. In my best friends, I value their ability to listen to me, to always be there for me and to help me with my sense of style. I simply have none and they both help me to take a step outside of the box.

7. Describe the coziest spot in your home.

My old chair. It’s a wide seated recliner and can fit me and all three dackels in it!

Every night, when I end my day, the 4 of us find ourselves here cuddling.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Since we are on a winter theme here today I will tell you about my plan for today. I need to go and pick up my Season Ticket and this year I plan to do my hair, put on make-up and get a good picture. I have had Season Tickets that made it look like a prison mugshot, and I do not want to have one of those this year. I know, it is pure vanity but honest to goodness, isn’t it bad enough that my Passport picture is the worst in history, and I have 6 years left with that?

My Mind…It’s A Terrible Thing To Lose!

I had a rough day on Monday. Not that there was anything particularly bad. It’s just that things weren’t exactly as easy as they usually are.

Ah yes, beware of anything that says it will be easy to accomplish, or anything that was super easy when you were 20 years old. Being over 50 and sometimes a bit dense, can make for a frustrating day.

First, I was working on Christmas cards. One particular card’s envelopes were proving really hard to close, as if the glue had gone bad. I was really going nuts, mumbling under my breath, when suddenly I noticed that it was a peel and stick envelope! I felt totally stupid.

Next, I put up a few more decorations for Christmas, and I was looking for my Christmas Tree Ornament box. I couldn’t find it! I climbed back up into the attic and I searched and searched. I’ve decided we have far too may boxes of useless crap up there, and it needs to be gone through and thrown out or donated, but it does not need to take up space in my attic, where I can’t stand up anyway.

Still no ornaments!

I wondered who would want to steal my ornaments? What on earth could I have done with them? You see, we never put the tree up last year, due to the fact that I had to have eye surgery 5 days before Christmas. We are going back 2 years. I’m lucky if I can remember where I took my shoes off the night before, so going back two years is a real stretch for me!

I was really going crazy about this, so I called my sister on my cell phone, while I continued the search. I told her how upset I was and I couldn’t figure out what happened to them. She listened, patiently, and then as if she took my hand and guided it to the box, there were my ornaments, right at my finger tips!

I was too tired by then to put up the tree and do the ornaments, but everything is ready now for Wednesday, when I plan to spend the afternoon putting up our tree.

Meanwhile, the Christmas cards are done and I will be mailing them all tomorrow! It’s not too late for anyone who might want a Dackel Princess Christmas letter. Make a comment and I will be in touch to get your address.

What I Did This Weekend

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

Here in the USA we are just coming off of a four day weekend! It all started on Thursday with Thanksgiving and continued with “Black Friday” when insane people ventured out into the Malls to Christmas shop. Into Saturday, and Sunday, when insane people continue to shop and brave parking lot nightmares, and I stayed home. Here is what I did, lest anyone think I was sitting in my chair, with my feet up, eating bon-bons!

I cooked a full Turkey Dinner on Thursday, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, pearl onions, gravy, and butternut squash. We even made a fresh apple pie that morning! It was great!
I used my 1/4 cup measure, so I did not overeat at all! There were challenges in not eating more than 1/4 of a cup of stuffing (I make the best chestnut stuffing), but I was true to myself!
I watched my first Christmas movie on Friday morning. “The Santa Claus”. It got me so into the season that I decided to put the electric candles in my windows. Unfortunately, the windows were dirty and I ended up cleaning them before the candles went in. BIG JOB! But it is done.
Next I made a pot of turkey soup, which wasn’t too good the first night, but was wonderful on Sunday.
Sunday I decided to decorate some more around the house for the holidays. I went into the attic and the only way to get to the decorations was to move the artificial Christmas tree. I decided to slide it down the steps and then the worst thing happened…the dachshunds started to stand around the bottom of the steps and I couldn’t slide the box for fear it would squash the dackels! I hollered for Hubby, while I lay on the attic floor, holding the ropes that go around the box, to keep it from dropping onto my precious babies!
Several minutes later, when I started to feel like my shoulders might be pulled out of their sockets, Hubby arrived to take the box!
We got that box and several other boxes too, and then I sat down and took it easy for a bit.
However, the Christmas Letter was now finished, so I started to print those up.
I also put out some of the table top decorations, and my all time favorite decorations, the Christmas tree my sister made for me, and the Christmas skating village that Mandy gave me!
I stuffed envelopes, made dinner and now as I write, I am happily contented with all that I have gotten done!

So you can see, I was a busy gal over the weekend, but I got a lot done too. What did you do? Anything interesting?