Author: Dackel Princess

Health, Hair & Happiness

I went to the doctor with Hubby today to get the results of tests we both had recently. I expected to breeze through my exam and have Hubby be the patient with the problems. After all he is a diabetic, and he does have marginally high blood pressure, and he is twenty years older than me, so I thought that the tests might show a problem with one of his ailments.

Was I wrong. Apparently turning 50 causes ones body to melt down and turn to mush.

My cholesterol level is too high and I’ve been given 6 months to get it in line or he wants me to be on medication. My blood sugar is also incredibly low and he is concerned about that. And although my blood pressure is extremely low (I should probably be unconscious) I come to find out that the combination of low blood sugar and low blood pressure isn’t actually a good thing.

The highlight of the exam was finding out that he feels I am close to a good goal weight for a woman my age!

A woman my age!!!

Well, I knew it had to happen. I am close to becoming (in just about a month) a woman “my age”!

I never thought that 50 was old. Wait I did. I remember thinking that being 50 meant being close to having one foot in the grave, but then, I was 9 years old at the time. Now at 49 years and 11 months both my body and my brain are failing me.

As I looked in the mirror today I wasn’t too thrilled at the face that was peering back. So I started to check things.

Eyes? Not bad, although the lids are looking a little tired. Nose? Thankfully the plastic surgeon did a good job. Mouth? Still good, not many lines around the edges.

So what was wrong?

My hair.

It’s long, almost all one length now and I am totally unable to do it on a regular basis. I either leave it curly like Little Orphan Annie, or pull it into a pony-tail.

So while you are reading this, I will be at my favorite salon getting the hair cut into a style that says “WOW”! And is easy to keep under control.

I shall report tomorrow on the makeover!

Apple Sauce

Hubby and I sliced, and cleaned apples today so we could make apple sauce. Once it was done, we put the sauce in plastic freezer bags and we put it in the deep freeze. We put together 2 big batches, with the help of the twins, and got it all put up.

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This year instead of using sugar we used Splenda. As Hubby is diabetic and I am a Weight Watcher, we decided that this was at least, worth trying. WOW! It came out great. The nice thing is, with the Splenda, I can have some all measured out and it is point friendly!

On another bright and nice note I received a Halloween Treat from Hootin’ Annie.

halloweengiftHA2

I am honored by this and will now include it in my sidebar for the month of October!

A Bad Lobster?

lobster

I didn’t think it was possible. You go to the store, you find just the right lobsters and immediately your mind kicks in and you begin dreaming of the sweet lobster, dripping in butter (or in my case fat free, cholesterol free margarine) as it just melts away in your mouth.

Heaven!!!

Yes, when I saw Hubby coming toward me today with a bag containing two twitching lobsters, my heart skipped a beat.

Aside from dark chocolate, my favorite food is lobster. Since lobster is point friendly, I can enjoy that where I can’t enjoy dark chocolate. You see eating dark chocolate brings about more guilt to me, than a Catholic school girl getting caught smoking by the nuns at lunchtime, could possibly feel!

And I’m not even Catholic!!!

Anyway, I cooked the two lobsters up and we sat down. Hubby started to eat his and we found that his was a hard shell lobster that had somehow forgotten to shed it’s shell last summer, so all the meat was jammed in there and had gotten dry, tough and woody! Hubby tried to eat it, but it was just plain distasteful!

Bad lobster!

Since I love Hubby more than anything, I shared my perfect lobster with him. He enjoyed a claw and leg, and half of the tail, but basically, the dinner was a bust!

So what did we do with the woody tail that Hubby simply couldn’t eat?

Well we discovered that Fritz loves lobster.

Who’d a thought!

Autumn In New Hampshire

The day dawned bright, and far too early, as both Hubby and I went in for our bi-yearly blood work. We will find out on Monday the results, but I am not expecting anything too dramatic or exciting.

After this, we came home where we could finally enjoy some coffee and breakfast. Have you ever noticed how thirsty and hungry you can get when you know that you can’t eat? I swear it is the power of suggestion, but today my mouth felt like cotton, it was so dry.

I went around the yard later on in the day, as it was just a picture perfect Autumn day.

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I looked across the lake and saw this breathtaking scene.

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I’ve also been intrigued by the leaves on the lawn. In the afternoon the light hits them and they seem to dance!

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Late in the day I noticed my head began to feel all stuffed up and I was coughing and sneezing. I think I have a small cold. I refuse to give into this, but I will try to get a little more rest.

I also made reservations today to go on the foliage train when my sister comes up here next weekend. I think by then we will will be at the peak of our Autumn colors up here and the ride will be a lovely one.

This & That Thursday

I dutifully went to Weight Watchers today, but I knew before I even went, that it was not going to be a good week, and it wasn’t. I didn’t gain weight. I just didn’t lose anything. So close to my goal…..and yet…..so far!

Totally unfair!!!

After class I trekked over to my General Practitioner’s Office to get the lab slips for my blood work tomorrow. I arrived and found that they’d moved. No one told me. I read the directions on the door and off I went. It didn’t take me long and before long I’d found the new office.

Truly amazing since my sense of direction is not always the best!

As I drove home along the back roads of New Hampshire I appreciated the colorful trees and clear air. The humidity is down and the visibility is wonderful. I could see the mountains so well with all their painted brightness.

It was really splendid!

Since I was full of Autumn wonder, I arrived home in a fairly good mood, despite the fact that I was a bit depressed about Weight Watchers, and decided to wash floors. With 4 dogs and a summer of nothing but terrible wet weather, I would wash the floor and it would immediately get dirty. I am thinking that I may actually keep that wonderful lemon scent on the floors for a few days, as we have no rain forecast!

I love clean floors!

My sister and her husband are coming up in a week for a visit and to celebrate my birthday with me just a little early. That will be so nice. We’re not sure yet if we will do a ride on the Hobo Railroad or the Mount Washington Cruise ship, but I’m thinking a train ride would be fun!

It’ll be so nice to spend time with Mel & Ron!

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About The Eye

I have had several people write and ask me about my recently posted eye pictures. I wrote about it a long time ago, but many of you have joined me since then. So let me post this link which will tell you the story of what happened to me, and my poor little eye back in 2002.

little shot

I’m quite lucky now. I have most of my vision, and my distance vision is perfect. About the only deficit I have is with my peripheral vision, and there isn’t much we can do about that. After what I went through I am very happy to have as much of my vision as I do have.

Yes, it was a very scary thing to go through. I can safely say that one of the greatest of all of my senses is my vision. To not be able to see the beauty around me would break me. So I thank God each and every day for doctors gifted and dedicated enough to have been able to operate and restore what was so cruelly taken from me.

The eyes are both doing well now and I simply have yearly visits to make sure that the eyes are remaining healthy.

Trust me, I will never again take my vision for granted!

Dackels & Errands

It was Dackel Day today.

Hubby took his White German Shepherd to the park to work, as it was a parks clean up day, and since I had errands to run, I tossed all three dachshunds into the car and off we went. We drove to the next town and I sent off a package via UPS to a friend of mine. I wanted it packed extra special in the safety department and trackable from here to her door.

Oh the dackels loved this. Anneliese sat next to the arm rest between the seats, Arnie sat in the middle of the seat and Greta sat next to the door standing up on the armrest so she could look out. It was the cutest thing!

We stopped at the bank and I cashed a check and the nice clerk passed along dog cookies for the three beasts! How good is this?

Then we stopped at a Craftsman’s shop in town. These lovely ladies all adore my dogs and enjoy when we stop in for a visit. I took one in at a time and each dog was fawned over!

I was running late by then and just ran into the Post Office, grabbed the mail and rushed out.

I must note here that the only place to park near the Post Office was in front, BUT I had to parallel park. Now I would rather go without food than parallel park, but today I simply was running late and I HAD to do it.

And you know what? I did a picture perfect job. I mean I was so good I could have passed a driving test! I am still walking on air. I was telling Hubby and he reminded me that this was a one out of a hundred attempts and I was not to get cocky! LOL!

I made a big pot of chicken soup and took care of one more problem before I could sit down for a cup of tea.

In the mail we got the second request for documentation that Hubby and I are, in fact, married. About a month ago the company Hubby used to work for, and from whom we still get our medical insurance, wrote asking for the front page of last years Income Tax as proof we were married. I photo copied the page (and blacked out all the income) and sent it in. Flash forward to today. They want a copy of our marriage license. So I dragged that out (after 20 years!) and faxed that to them too.

I can only wonder what will be next!

Laundry Boredom

I decided today to catch up on some over due laundry chores. I needed to wash the sofa cover, and I needed to wash and dry and hang up all my winter turtlenecks. I live in turtleneck tops in the winter. Those and wool sweaters. Yesterday I handled all the wool, today all the turtlenecks.

I happily was ironing in my laundry room, listening to music while the washer droned on cleaning my clothes.

I thought to myself, how boring is this?

Then my phone rang and it was my girlfriend, Suzan whom I haven’t seen in a very long time. She was just down the street and wanted to stop in. I was thrilled!!!

She was up with her Mom, and they came and we talked for a while. Not long enough though, and we really need to get together again soon! I’m not sure she realized how it brightened my day to see her, but I am still smiling.

Suzan and I raised our kids together way back when. Our children are all grown now and Suzan even has a few grand-kids, but we, of course, are still the same girls we always were and chatting together felt so comfortable. She is one of those people that I always feel completely relaxed and at home with.

All too soon it was time for them to go, and we packed them off with apples from the orchard and kisses from the pups.

Now it’s back to laundry.

I still have not figured out if we are the cleanest people around or the dirtiest. You see we have a ton of laundry and a ton of ironing, and it’s just the two of us.

I go for the cleanest!

October Days

It’s a lovely day here in New Hampshire. The leaves are turning, with colors of orange, yellow, and red. There’s a bite in the air with a clarity that we haven’t felt since last winter. I just love it when the humidity drops and I can breath once again.

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Friday saw Hubby and I Flu shot shopping. Many years ago, when we were first married, I had the worst case of the flu. I remember being in bed for well over a week. I can even recall the book I read in between shaking chills and delirium. It was “The Prince Of Tides” by Pat Conroy.

After that I was determined to never get that sick again. I have dutifully gotten myself into a flu shot clinic every year, and I have not had the flu since. It’s not that I haven’t been sick, but not like that!

Yesterday and today I have just been captivated by the colors. You see Autumn is my favorite time of year. The colors, the changes all around, yes, Autumn is wonderful.

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I even got out my wool sweaters. I pack them up each year in a cedar chest to keep the moths from them. This year I had some dry cleaning freshener sheets and I tossed the woollies into the dryer on low with these sheets and everything came out smelling so fresh and clean! Now I am totally sold on Dryell.

Sadly, a few items no longer fit, and although I love them, I will have to say good-bye to the extra large sweaters and shirts. Ah well, onto smaller and cuter clothes, right?

Meanwhile, my dear Emily and her family have moved away. I’m sad that I won’t be seeing her every day, but I sure do hope that we will be able to get together from time to time.