Author: Dackel Princess

Retail Therapy

I went to North Conway yesterday and was able to visit my favorite store, The LL Bean Outlet. I’m not usually lucky with Outlet stores. My size is usually gone and I end up buying things for Hubby. There is always a ton of tall man’s stuff there and he tends to make out like a bandit!
Yesterday, I made out like a bandit! I got:
A coral sand colored mock turtleneck.

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A new cream fleece bathrobe for the winter.

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A new pair of winter boots.

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And a new pair of lined ski pants!

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Yes, I felt heady with the purchases weighing down my arms. What a joy. We even went over to Liz Claiborne where I tried on a few things, coming away with a short sleep blue shirt and a new pair of brown trousers!

Ah yes, retail therapy. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Funny Little Greta

Greta is really hysterically funny. She loves to be outside with Hubby and me, and especially loves to “help” us work.

The other day, Hubby was picking apples. He’d gotten out his picking bucket and was about to start when I suggest this pose.

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Now you see how she posed for this picture? What a ham, right? She does this all the time. It keeps a smile on my face, that’s for sure.

I’m really hoping she can work her magic on the German Judge. She is adorable, and she does know how to flirt, this could be a very good thing.

Thursday Thirteen # 20 (I think)

Scav Sat

What I Did On Tuesday

Thursday 13

1. Changed the sheets on my bed and showered.
2. Made a breakfast of sausage, toast and eggs. I needed the toast to check out how our latest batch of Plum Jam had come out. (It came out great!)
3. Cleared shelves, tables and the floor of magazines and newspapers.
4. Washed down the kitchen shelves.
5. Cleaned out the fridge and made a grocery list.
6. Met Hubby at the Health Club.
7. Got a replacement piece for our cable system. I broke the piece on Sunday, but we won’t talk about that!
8. Went for lunch at our favorite Chinese/Japanese Buffet.
9. Enjoyed the drive from there to the grocery store, (about 8 miles) noting that the leaves are starting to turn.
10. Went to Wal-Mart to get dog food, and I also got my fall bulbs to plant, and a new leash for Greta to use in the dog show.
11. Went to the Grocery store for the first time since my surgery. I saw a woman who works there that I sort of know and spent some time telling her all about my eye.
12. Went back to get the other car, and drove home, surviving the ride!
13. Made dinner, watched “House” and cuddled up with Greta to go to sleep!

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Arrive Alive

I was coming home from grocery shopping, driving along, singing to a slow and soft tune, enjoying life. The day was beautiful, the sky, blue, without a cloud, and life, this precious thing, was very good.

In front of me there was a large SUV. The man was driving slowly, but I didn’t care. The music was good and the day so pleasant.

Then I looked behind me. I saw a very young woman in a small sports car. She was pushing her hair off of her forehead and I think she was swearing due to the 40 miles an hour we were all driving. The next thing I knew, she pulls out and starts to pass me and the SUV in front of me, just as she pulls even with the SUV, I see a car coming in the other direction and the SUV puts his blinker on to turn to the left!

In my minds eye everything slowed waaaay down. I could see an accident about to occur. The woman hit her brakes and veered into my path. I stepped on my brakes, allowing her the room, but ready to go off into a man’s front yard if I needed to. But luck was with me and somehow it all worked out. However, I do not think the young woman has perfectly round tires anymore.

After the SUV turned and the car coming in the other direction passed us, “Sports Car Woman” does the exact same thing. Only this time she gets by another car and speeds off. My prediction is, she will crash her car in the very near future.

Once she was gone and I was alone on the road I sat there thinking how so many people miss the big picture. New Hampshire’s back, country roads are not a very good place to drive like that. It’s actually better and preferable to arrive at your destination in one piece.

Then it dawned on me. These are the thoughts of a middle aged woman. One who knows that life is precious and should never be taken for granted. One who knows that no matter who you are, you are not invincible.

I arrived home, hugged Hubby and our dogs and thanked God that a real tragedy had been averted.

Greta, Beauty & Sex & The Single Dachshund

Next Saturday, September 23rd Greta goes before a German judge to receive her rating in beauty and form. I’m not too nervous about her beauty or form, as she is really exceptional, (in my humble opinion). What I’m nervous about is me. I’m the one showing her in front of all the other exhibitors and the judge.

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You won’t believe me when I say this, but, I am shy. Most people don’t understand this. You see there are different kinds of shy. There are people who flush deeply when spoken to and find it impossible to speak. There are other’s who are reclusive and don’t go out in public. And then there are people like me.

I can be out in the world and speak to total strangers and I’m okay. It’s when I am in a crowd or I feel people are looking at me, (for whatever reason) that I become an emotional basket case. I worry that they will think I am fat or silly or clumsy, (I know I am and that makes it worse!). I feel sort of sick to my stomach and I often stammer. I’m much better talking to a sales person in the grocery store than I am getting up in front of a crowd.

So I have to do this. I’ve purchased a new pair of pants, a new bra, (a push me up and in type), a new shirt and I’ve been working on teaching Greta what a bribe is, in the hopes she will do just what I say. You know, “Will Work For Food”! Just another week and a half and it will be all over.

Greta will go into heat about that time and then we schedule her “night of passion” with Bernie.

When your dog’s sex life gets you this excited, something is very wrong. I lead such a little life.

That Fateful Day

I think we all can tell you where we were, and what we were doing on that fateful day, five years ago.

September 11, 2001

It was a beautiful day here in New Hampshire. Sunny, bright, clear with blue skies. I was taking a shower getting ready for a dental appointment, while Hubby was working on shingling the house. It was a day like any other here.
Hubby had the TV in our bedroom pointed out the window so he could listen to the morning news.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm and Hubby told me I had to get out of the shower now, something was happening. I was a little dazed and confused. I shut the water in the shower off and grabbed my towel.

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Hubby and I sat in our family room watching Fox News, ABC, and CNN. A plane had hit one of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in downtown New York City.

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While we watched, suddenly another plane came in and hit the other Tower!
We were both in shock. We listened to reports. No one was saying terrorism, not at first. But both Hubby and I knew.

We watched the Tower’s come down one and then the other. We knew people had died. We just didn’t know how many.

At 12:30 I drove to my dental appointment. There was not another car on the road. Not one. I got to my dental appointment and found that I was the only patient that hadn’t cancelled that day.
When I got home we watched the TV all day. I called my family and my close friends. Just to hear their voices.

It doesn’t matter your political affiliations, or how you feel about the war.
What matters is on September 11, 2001 innocent people died in New York City, In Washington, DC and in Shanksville, PA.

People like you and like me. Just because they were Americans.
That was the day I learned that we are no longer safe here at home.

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I also learned that when our country is attacked in such a manner, we pull together and unify.

God Bless all who lost their lives that day, and all who serve this country each and every day to protect and defend us.

Continue reading “That Fateful Day”

Not Fair

Today the joke was on me. And all I can say to Mother Nature is, “Not Funny.”

I was a little late starting dinner. This means that at 5:30 I was looking at a few cookbooks wondering what culinary masterpiece I could pull off in the span of a half an hour.

I decided that I could probably muster up a baked French Onion Soup and a Salad Nicoise. I started to slice up the onions, when, all of a sudden, WHAM!

The mother of all hotflashes hit me. Now usually if I drink some ice water and rip off all the clothes on my body I start to cool off. Today that didn’t work. It was odd. I started to feel shakey and the sweating was worse and I realized I hadn’t had very much in the way of protien at either breakfast or lunch.

I was having a hotflash AND a low blood sugar attack!

I quickly drank a large glass of orange juice, while shoving some of the gruere cheese into my mouth, (a lovely combination, to be sure!) after about 15 minutes I was back to normal, but stood there soaking wet.

Now, I have to say, menopause is definately not all it is cracked up to be. First of all, the hotflashes, have nothing to reccomend them, to be sure. You think maybe you can stand it, but I have to tell you, no matter what people say about finally feeling warm in their old age, well this is like the devil on crack! Just too darn hot!

Then there is the emotion thing. Hmmm, that’s like PMS all the time. One minute you feel okay and the next you are crying like a baby!

And my metabolism? Yep, it’s a real drag. I went from having a fairly good one to having the metabolic rate of a turtle. A 95 year old turtle that is half dead! Not fair. At this time in a woman’s life you should at least be able to indulge in chocolate and not gain weight! Chocolate would help, I just know it would!

So I’m not happy, do you hear? I am not happy at all.

Time to hit the shower, oh yeah, and put some clothes back on.

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FOOD

Food

A few years ago, as I was leaving to visit Uschi in Germany, Hubby’s parting words to me were, “Don’t eat too much!” (he said this because he knows of my love for German food).

Well, the food was great and it became a joke, whenever we sat down for a meal, we took a picture and emailed it back to Hubby at home. This is a small collage of that trip and the food, glorious food, that I ate!

**Note to all** This is a true story. Not even the names have been changed to protect the guilty!