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Me, with my dear Greta on the day she received her perfect score at the dog show. Greta was given the opportunity to collect a prize for her hard work. She selected this PLUSH dog toy. Which she loves.
As today is my birthday, I was trying to gather my thoughts and put into words why it’s great to be 48, when I found myself sort of stumped. Sure, I could start with a joke like:
It’s great to be 48 because you never have to worry about getting carded when buying liquor and having to dig around in the bottom of your purse and not being able to find your ID. (Trust me, no one asks to see it anymore!)
But I don’t drink so the joke was somewhat contrived and hollow. Then I thought of one that was a little bit funnier:
It’s great to be 48 because menopause hits and you no longer have to spend thousands of dollars on vacations to heat up your body in the Caribbean. A hot flash at 2 AM does the same thing for free!
But that didn’t do it for me either.
I think the best way to describe why it is great to be 48 is that I am all grown up. I know who I am, what I want in my life and I love the people and the pets I am sharing my life with. My life is good, I am happy and in return, I am well loved.
I remember in my youth thinking that 48 was VERY OLD, one foot in the grave, but now I feel young and vital and full of life. 48 is just the beginning!
Yes, it is Great To Be 48!!!
My birthday is tomorrow, so today is my birthday 13. I called my mother and interviewed her. Here are some of her comments and mine.
1. I was Born November 17, 1958
2. At 12:01 PM I was born ready for lunch!
3. I was born in Wareham, Massachusetts. At that time it was the closest hospital to Cape Cod where we lived.
4. I weighed in at 9 pounds and 1 ounce! I know, this is big!
5. I was 21 inches long. I think this is average.
6. My mother was in labor for about 5 hours, but says it wasn’t bad. Of course back then they knocked you out so her memories are more of the nice sleep she had than of actually delivering me.
7. I was born a few days early. This is due to my intense love of turkey and the fact that I was hoping for my first turkey dinner. I didn’t get it for an entire year!
8. I had white blond fuzz on my head and very dark eyes that quickly turned brown.
9. If I’d been a boy my name would have been David Arthur. Needless to say, I am happy to be a girl.
10. My grandmother was already down taking care of my brother and sister, but my Aunt Betty and Uncle George drove down with Janet to see the new baby.
11. My mother stayed in the hospital until just before Thanksgiving. Back then they gave you almost a week to “recover” from giving birth.
12. My sister was thrilled with my arrival. She wanted a little sister. She was 5 and 1/4 years old, and I was her living doll.
13. My middle name is Jewel, which I have always thought was pretty strange. Then again, I have never met anyone with this name, except a dog.
I’ve got a new theory. I was looking at my fingernails today and I noticed that they have grown lovely and long. I try pretty hard to grow them out, but try as I might, they are always breaking. However, right now, the second week into November, my fingernails have never looked better.
Thinking back, it was a year ago that I made the same observation. I remember taking pictures then too, because I just knew that in no time the nails would be snapping like dried twigs.
So why is it, that each November I find my nails looking so good?
Well, I finally figured it out. It’s Halloween! Every year around the middle of October I buy Halloween candy. Of course, you all know my weakness for chocolate, so I tend to dip into the candy basket a little too much. Then I have to buy more candy for the kids, who never do come to my door!
So here is the answer to my question. The reason my nails grow long and lovely in November is….. because of all the chocolate I eat in October!
I know, you are all laughing, right? This morning as Hubby and I drove to the supermarket I presented my theory to him.
“Honestly, Hon, I think this chocolate thing is the reason my nails are so strong and haven’t been snapping off”.
I expected a *snort*, perhaps a guffaw, but he looked down at his nails for a moment and exclaimed that he hadn’t had a broken nail either, and he had been dipping into the chocolate too!
So there you have it Fellow Bloggers. Do not go and ingest endless amounts of tasteless gelatin or waste your money on all those bottles of nail strengthener when you can have beautiful nails the natural way.
Eat Chocolate!!!
With less than a month to go, I have noticed how Greta’s belly has just popped out. So, I had to share these with you.
(Please ignore the crazy lady in the leopard print pajamas!)
I am not what you would call a lucky person. I have always hoped I was, but well, things just seem to conspire to thwart me. Still when attending a charitable fund raiser, or going to a group conference, I always buy raffle tickets. Not because I expect to win, but because I always want to support the organization.
Recently, we went to the North American Teckel Club show so that Greta could be rated by the German judge. I bought some merchandise with the NATC logo on it, and I bought raffle tickets. I left the show after Greta’s papers were signed for the long drive back to New Hampshire, but before the raffle was held. And this time, I WON!
What did I win? A bright fluorescent orange hunting vest! Now I know that there are some of you who wouldn’t see the use for this, but for me, living in a heavily wooded area of New Hampshire, the vest is perfect during hunting season, so I am not mistaken for a Moose! I love it. I plan to take my old fluorescent vest and make smaller ones for Fritz and Greta.
I did believe that this was some sort of anomaly and that I would probably go for the rest of my life without winning another thing. This was okay with me, because I felt happy to have won, just once in my life.
Last Saturday was a Christmas Fair at the Greek Church that my next door neighbor attends. I went to support her church, and as always, bought raffle tickets. And again, I got a call. I WON! This time I won a cute Santa Elf decoration for the shelf. He’s really rather large, and adorable and I am pretty happy about this.
More than anything, I can’t believe I am winning anything at all! Hubby had me check the two lottery tickets he had purchased for the Saturday night drawings. Not one number. I told him that I think it must be that I need to be the one buying the ticket for the magic to work.
In the meantime, I’m looking for another church Christmas Fair to attend and a raffle to enter. I wonder if this is what it’s like when you win in Vegas?
We all have things in our lives that we like certain ways. You know, steak cooked medium rare, ketchup with our salted french fries, dark chocolate as opposed to milk chocolate. However, there is one area of my life, so Hubby tells me, where my specifications border on being an obsessive compulsive………….That is MY PILLOW.
A few years ago I started waking up with a crick in my neck. After a few weeks of this, I bought a new pillow. After all, my old pillow was very flat and it was well used. The new pillow failed after about three weeks, maybe a month. So I went out and got another one, but that one also failed after a few weeks.
It became an obsession for me to find a comfortable pillow. I started reading ads in catalogues and I searched online for information. My family started giving me advice on a pillow comfort solution.
I bought a latex foam pillow, but found it gave no support for my head (which is large and heavy, sort of like a bobble doll). I tried a memory foam core pillow wrapped in polyester fiberfill, but it lost its memory after a week. I tried feather pillows, but they flattened out in 30 seconds.
What I needed, I determined, was an overstuffed, hypoallergenic, fiberfilled pillow. My quest began.
I tried the Internet, read ads and looked in bed and bath shops, but I found nothing. Then yesterday I was in Wal-Mart, and I saw a pillow that had it all. Overstuffed, extra firm, king sized, and hypoallergenic. Best of all, after all the money I have spent on the other pillows, this one was only $15.00!
I was filled with anticipation as I tossed this pillow into my cart. When I got it home, I carefully put on a pillow cover and pillow case, and placed it with great reverance on my bed. I stared at it for a moment, and I could feel myself begin to tear up.
After that I could hardly wait for bed. At 10 o’clock last night Greta and I hit the sheets and when my head fell onto my new pillow I could feel the joy well up in my heart.
So much for one night. Ask me again in a month.
I was up early on Saturday with Greta. Morning sickness is so hard to deal with when you are a two year old dachshund! Once I settled her down with a warm blanket, I turned on our favorite weekend show, the Eukanuba Dog Show.
I watch these dog shows differently now. I used to observe the dogs only for cuteness and personality, but since I showed Greta at the German Dachshund Club show I have starting watching the AKC sanctioned events with a critical eye.
The German Judge took his time and checked all areas of the dogs for weight, height, and chest size. He counted the teeth, and he watched the movement of the dogs under a variety of circumstances. His eye was keen and critical, but I felt when he was finished with a dog, his judgments were fair. I learned a great deal that day, even if my heart was in my throat the whole time!
So there I was this morning, with Greta and her blankie, watching. We were shocked to see the AKC Judge giving the dogs a quick once over. Greta and I scoffed at the treatment! The judge did not seem overly impressed with dogs that I felt had great merit, and of course Animal Planet only shows you the dogs that they like. They cover the others during a commercial.
Greta and I were anticipating seeing the wirehaired dachshund that was entered, and although she was “cute”, I fear a German Judge would have given her only marginal marks.
Greta laughed at me (I swear!), and reminded me that all doggies are beautiful in their owners eyes, and she is right. However, don’t you think that if a dog is in a sanctioned dog show it should be judged more closely? Ah, perhaps not.
I switched the channel and found a rerun of the Miss Universe Pagent. I looked at all those fabulously gorgeous, young, nubile women, and I knew I was glad that Hubby wasn’t judging me by their standards. I’m his sweetie and, yes, he still loves me despite the fact that I don’t meet the breed standard anymore!
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This is my daughter Amanda when she was a year old and today at 29 1/2. She was a beautiful baby and has grown into a glorious, lovely and talented young woman. I am so proud to be her Mum!
The news is, “Greta is Pregnant“!!! Our Vet examined her and felt at least three little bundles of puppy love inside! There could be more, but it is too soon to tell. Another thing we learned was that Miss Greta has to cut back a little on the vittles! She has already gained 3 pounds!!!
I’m so excited about this and I am ready to call everyone on my cell phone list and then in my personal phone book.