Dackel Princess

The Belly Girl

I’m sure you all think I am a little bit crazy for being so focused on Anneliese’s belly right now. I swear that she grows by the moment and I can hardly wait until Friday when I take her in and find out how many little babies she has in there!

These were taken this morning and you can see how big she has gotten!

Did I mention how crazy I am about this little girl?

Doesn’t she just look adorable?

She is pretty quiet now and sleeping a lot. She looked at the puppy room and checked it out, but isn’t at all certain that she likes it in there. In fact, she seems to prefer Hubby’s side of the bed! I have told her, however, that I will sleep in the puppy room with her for the first few weeks and help her out, the same way I helped her mother out when she had her first litter of babies.

The Puppy Room

I took big old Fritz in to have his yearly shots today at our Veterinarian’s office. He was an angel and even though he is strong, he did obey me when I told him to sit, to wait and to get into the car. In fact the command to get in the car was hardly out of my mouth when he leapt into it!

Dr. Chris asked if I had the puppy room set up yet, and he also asked how Miss Anneliese was doing. I mentioned that she was doing well, but pretty much stays in the kitchen now stretched out on the throw rug in there.

So Dr. Chris mentioned I might want to set up the puppy room so that Anneliese has a chance to get used to it.

I came back home with Fritz and once I settled him down, I looked at our mud room to determine how to go about this transformation.

I have a table in there that we use under our mirror to hold our hats and gloves in the winter. Okay, that would go into our dining room. Check!

Then we have a bench that holds all the yard toys for the dogs, and extra gloves and hats. Okay, that goes into the dining room too. Check!

We have pegs on the wall that we hang up our jackets on, so all those jackets needed to be moved into the front hall closet. Check!

I got out the vacuum and cleaned everything with that, and then got out the disinfectant and washed everything down. Floors, walls, etc. Check!

I sat down long enough to watch “All My Children” (yes, I know, no snickering please!) then got out the kiddie pool and washed it down with disinfectant too, dried it and put it in the puppy room. Check!

I brought out the towels, all my birthing supplies and placed them in a tote bag which I hung on a peg. Check!

So in just 12 or so days we will be welcoming little bundles into our home and they will settle in the puppy room, with their Mommy, Anneliese and their Granny, Maribeth.

I can hardly wait!

Easter

I was amazed at the brightness of the day, and although it was very cold and windy, somehow the sunshine made me feel like spring had really come to New Hampshire.

I was up early, and turned on the coffee. Then I put on my coat and went out to walk the dogs.

I am beginning to think that perhaps some evil household appliance ghost is haunting me, because when I got back, instead of finding a nicely brewed pot of coffee, I found the coffee had jammed the drip area and spilled all over the counter top! A little had made it into the pot, so I took a cup and filter, and poured some into the cup, so that while I cleaned up the coffee mess, I did, at least have a cup of coffee to drink.

Once the coffee mess was cleaned up, I made breakfast. A WW modified version of French Toast/Bananas Foster! It was really good!

Just as I finished cleaning up the kitchen, Anneliese stretched out before me. All of her! Oh my goodness she gets bigger by the second!

She really enjoys sunning herself.

Do you see this belly? Amazingly big!!!

Well, we will find out on Friday how many little babies she has inside, and then really it is just two weeks from now until the puppies are due.

Our Easter dinner will be roasted lamb, roasted potatoes, and asparagus! All my favorites.

I hope you all had a blessed Easter or Passover!

Okay, So We’re Getting Old!

Hubby asked me to find some papers that he’d left lying around since before my Dad’s funeral. Hubby is like that. He has trouble with paper control and usually he believes that I have thrown away his paper.

And usually he is right.

So, I started to look in all my usual places. Like the trash. Oh, Gag! I do not handle stinky old trash very well, but since I had to find these papers I had to look everywhere!

I searched high, I searched low (can’t get any lower than the garbage!). Nothing. I went through my file box, which you all might recall is very full, all the time, because I hate to file. Nothing!

I went back down to the garage to the old garbage and began to search again. Gag!

Then, a mere 1 hour after I started to search for these important papers, it hit me! I suddenly knew where they were.

I went to the stairs and started up, my knees shaking with excitement and nearly buckling under me. I ran down the hall to the office and pulled open the file drawer and there, filed nicely and neatly in a new folder, just as HUBBY HAD INSTRUCTED ME, were the two documents that he needed.

I can’t totally blame Hubby for this fiasco. After all, I was the one who made out the file and placed the papers in it.

Then I started to laugh. I’ve admitted to a short term memory problem and now Hubby must as well.

I wonder if they have service animals for this. Maybe we could train Arnie. All I would have to do is say, “Arnie, where did Mummy put those papers?” and he would run to the file box and point with his nose!

Oh I am just laughing like crazy!

Happy Easter everyone!

Anneliese Update

My little Princess is getting very big! I swear she grows by the hour! She seems a lot more tired now, and likes to sleep quite a bit.

She also is unable to eat big meals any more. So I leave a dish of crunch food out for her all the time and twice a day I give her some wet food.

I am beginning to think that next week I need to get the puppy room all set up, complete with a ready whelping box.

I can hardly wait until next Friday, April 17th when we have the x-ray done. I wonder just how many babies she has in that belly of hers.

What do you think?

Frost Bite!

I did something really stupid. Actually two somethings. Ah well, what can I say, I’m getting old.

Yesterday Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary. We went shopping late in the day and I bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Oh, how nice, right?

Well I wanted to chill it quickly so I put it in the freezer and before I knew it we were out the door to go to dinner, and I completely forgot the champagne.

Now I should have just left it out for a few hours, but I wanted to pour two glasses, so I carefully opened the bottle and the bottle went off like a rocket. I jammed my index finger into the bottle, as my friend told me once that this would stop any champagne from overflowing.

WRONG!

You see, it froze, and while the champagne was spurting out, my index finger was freezing! Eventually the volcanic champagne bottle stopped exploding and I pulled out my finger only to find it shockingly white and frozen!

I put warm water on the finger and it hurt so much, so I stopped that. I tried cool water and that was better. At least I got some color back into the finger. But now, well, the champagne is frozen and we have it sitting on the shelf…..melting.

Our anniversary was wonderful. We had a great meal, spent some quiet time talking and reminiscing, and now we are sitting watching…..GOLF.

Yeah, it doesn’t get any more romantic than that!

Oh, and while I am thinking of it, I wanted to mention. I felt one of Anneliese’s pups move today! Now that was exciting!

Happy Anniversary To Us!

Today, April 9th, is the 21st Wedding Anniversary for Hubby and me. I didn’t think it was possible back then to be even more in love with Hubby, but surprisingly, I have found, after 21 years, this is very true. Love really does keep growing.

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Tuesday

It was a cold and rainy day here in New Hampshire on Tuesday. It sort of looked like I felt. I did manage to do a few important things, like cook meals and get dressed, but I was feeling a little bit like I was underachieving, when Hubby asked me if I would help him with a project and then go and visit a friend of ours.

Miracle worker that I am with a VCR, I managed to get our VCR hooked up at the Community Center for tomorrow night’s movie extravaganza. Yay for me!

Then we went to visit our friend. She has colon cancer and is not doing too well. She is one of the really great people I know, and it is breaking my heart to see her so ill.

Anyway, we brought her spring flowers and spent over and hour visiting before we left and came home to our doggies. I hope to get back to visit with her again soon.

The day ended with “hot wings” and celery with blue cheese for dinner. When we got home I really wasn’t into making a big meal. It’s back to cooking healthfully tomorrow. I really owe that to myself and to Hubby.

Tonight is an easy dinner. I am just too tired and too stressed to think about making a big meal. I will do that tomorrow.

What was it that Scarlett O’Hara said in “Gone WIth The Wind”?

“Tomorrow is another day!”

Chubby Anneliese

I came home today, a mere four days since going down to my sister’s house and I couldn’t believe the change in Anneliese!

The first picture was taken April 1st and the second one was taken April 6th.

Yes, she has really expanded. On our scales she has gained close to a pound.

Here is Anneliese on March 25th!

Here she is today!

April 6anneliese

Yes, she is a beautiful, chubby thing and I am thrilled to see how healthy she is.

What a joy my dogs are to me. I am truly blessed to have these wonderful creatures in my life!

Family

The services for my Dad went well, on Sunday. The day was warm, sunny and bright and the church filled with many people who came to pay their respects.

As I stepped up to give the Eulogy, I looked out into the congregation I saw my family, my daughter, Mandy, with M. and a woman I have known all of my life. She was born a week before me, and we went to Nursery School, Children’s Church Choir and regular school together. I also saw my cousins, and a dear friend from New York, who drove down to share the day.

I delivered my speech and tried to add some happiness to it. Most of all, I tried to deliver the speech with dignity and calm as my father would be so proud.

In fact. last night I dreamt that I was a little girl swimming in the lake with him. I kept feeling like I would sink and he held me and kept saying, “You can do it, You can do it!” And when I woke today I knew I could.

Monday morning I will drive back home to my little family in the mountains. How grateful I am to have this wonderful little family, that I call my own, to go home to.