Dackel Princess

This & That ~ December 8th

I started my Monday by attempting to sleep in just a little bit! But between Lili and Anneliese, I was up at 6:30.

Long ago when I was a teenager and lived with my grandparents, I often slept until nearly noon. My grandmother would only laugh at me and she said, “One day, when you are older, you will not be able to sleep in. Life has a way of tossing responsibilities at you!” And she laughed. “You will see!”

And of course, I did. It started with children and now, at the ripe old age of 62, it is my dogs.

They’re wonderful though. I wouldn’t trade any of them in, despite the early morning call of the wild! For they give far more to me than I could ever give to them. So what’s an early morning?

I was thinking today about the two dackels. Thursday is their 14th birthday. How did that happen?

They’ve been such a big part of my life for so long. I’m not sure who needs who at this point in time. I still think I need them more!

Anneliese in the green collar and Arnie in the blue. Best friends and siblings all these years!

Well, I’m just waiting for the Direct TV repairman to arrive. I am not sure what he can do in the dark of night! Oh well.

The Weekend Wrap December 7th

Sunday morning dawned cold, icy, and slightly white. We did not have much snow, but we sure had a fair bit of black ice on our driveway. It was not a problem, as our plowman came and sanded the drive for us. I like Shawn.

As I sat down to drink my coffee, I recalled something that Brad once said to me. “If you are having a problem type into your search engine exactly what is wrong and chances are someone in the world will have had that problem.”

So, I did. I typed in the error message I kept getting when attempting to install Adobe Photoshop Elements, and sure enough it told me exactly how to fix it!

After that, I had a clean installation of the program! I wanted to jump up and down, but I restrained myself, so as not to wake the dead!

I admit that I was actually able to relax a little and the feeling of accomplishment made my Sunday a nice one.

My little Christmas tree is up, and I got out a few more decorations. This week I think I will take note of all the presents I have and do some wrapping.

Christmas is coming quickly and I know I am close to being prepared. I so want to enjoy Christmas this year. So many difficult things have happened to me, and I just want one perfect day.

What are your plans? Family? Friends? Or are you staying in and away from all you love?

Happy Monday!

I Did It! Thanks Brad!!!

I must tell you after a few days of trying to get my computer to talk to my wireless printer, I decided to see if my computer needed any driver updates. Of course, it did, and after downloading and installing four updates, my computer connected to the printer, and all is well!

I have one person to thank for all of this. The gentleman’s name is Brad. He taught me about computers every time he came to fix mine. He encouraged me to work on my machines myself. And to follow hunches that I had, because they were pretty accurate.

Brad believed in me when I did not believe in myself. He has been a real friend to me all of these years and I say Thank You to him on this day.

I still have one program I have not been able to download onto the laptop, but I know eventually I will. I am not giving up!

The Friday Five ~ December 4th

Here we are, people. The first Friday of the last month of 2020. The weather is cold here, and the forecasters are all excited because the first winter storm “might” come this weekend! Ah, well. Here we go. My Friday Five for December 4th.

1. I’d been working on a very important letter to my Insurance Company and I was all set to print it out on Wednesday when my connection to our Network Printer went Kaflooey!
2. I attempted a simple fix or two, but then my laptop just crashed. I wasn’t too upset because I know how to reset the machine, which I started Wednesday night.
3. By Thursday morning I still was frustrated by the darn thing, and by about 11:00 I decided to reload the machine, and if I cannot figure out how to get this blasted machine onto the wireless printing, I’ll eventually call someone for help. But for now, just being able to use my laptop again is a good thing.
4. My Ancestry.com Results are in. Call me surprised.
  Ethnicity Estimate:
  England & Northwestern Europe 49%
  Scotland 35%
  Germanic Europe 10%
  Norway 4%
  Wales 2%

Now I expected the English and German, but what threw me was how much of a Scottish Heritage I had. Jack insists that it is years of living with him. Ha! Norway and Wales also surprised me. It also told me that my sister was 100% my sister. My daughter was 100% my daughter and my Grandaughter was 100% my granddaughter. Now I am no expert on DNA, but this was fun!

5. Is anyone else doing their Christmas shopping online? It seems every day I get another delivery or four and right now I am nearly done with my shopping! Yay! I may just decide to decorate this house!

So that is what I’ve been doing and thinking about this week. Crazy, and wild, with Covid-19 spreading like wild-fire in my State, but somehow I am staying oddly calm.

Stay happy and stay safe, my friends!

No Words

Sometimes there are no words. Words that will bring comfort, and aid in the healing of a situation that one simply cannot fathom.

I remember when Katie passed away, people tried so hard to offer comforting words. Unfortunately, the most often used phrase was: “Oh, if that ever happened to me, I would not want to live!”

Well, you do not have much choice there, so somehow you wake up and get dressed and another day goes on. You with a broken heart, but very much alive.

The next phrase used was “Oh, I know just how you feel.” Ah, no. Not if you haven’t lost a child. For that is an area that I would not wish on anyone.

Well, my young friend’s six-month-old niece has passed away. She was a beautiful, happy, healthy baby, with the sweetest smile.

I feel like using the F-bomb here to express myself because I do know how the baby’s parents are feeling, and thus her Aunt. And my heart is breaking for them all.

My friend has two young children. This will be their first experience with losing a contemporary. They loved their baby cousin and the pictures of them holding her are now priceless.

Today I am praying for the entire family. I know they will make it because somehow you do, but I know that forever, in their hearts, there will be a piece missing.

The Weekend & Month Wrap

Well folks, here we are Monday morning and the last day in the month of November. Where has the year gone? As I close out the weekend and the month, I think how much life has changed over the course of the last year.

Still, despite all the social distancing and no physical contact with people, I am alive and well. I guess that is saying something.

I admit to being a warm loving hugger. Oh, how I thrive with a warm embrace. Someday, one day, I will have that again.

I was able to get four loads of laundry done and actually make turkey soup. In spite of that, I find that as I sit here on Sunday night I have no desire to eat turkey tonight. In fact, I am just not very hungry at all.

I started the Christmas card. Somehow I forgot how arthritic my hands are. But I am determined to send them out.

Aside from that, it was another quiet weekend/month. Enjoy your Monday morning!

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Life

After eating copious amounts of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, I think I am now turkied out! Tomorrow I plan to make a turkey soup. But I may very well freeze it because I am ready to move onto other foods.

Our day was a quiet one, and I spent time doing some online retail therapy. Christmas is coming fast and I want to be ready for it.

Jack watched an old classic movie, “Mutiny on the Bounty” and I pulled out my Christmas cards and started writing those out. If you would like one PM me your address and I will happily send you one.

I used to write a funny long letter, but frankly, 2020 is not a year I want to look back on. Aside from losing 60 pounds, that’s about all that happened in a positive light. No fun trips or vacations, no dinners out, and no socializing.

Mostly what I wish for in the next year is good health, much happiness, and joy in our lives once again!

The Friday Five ~ November 27th

Well, welcome to Friday, November 27th. The month is nearly over and we are officially on the Christmas countdown! That’s hard to believe. Soon it will be a full year of Covid-ness, many have died, and our numbers are climbing. But whatever the case may be, here is this week’s Friday Five.

I worked pretty hard cooking and baking and planning. As I lay out all the dishes of delectable foods onto our table, I hoped and prayed that everything would be good. I cannot tell you how disappointing it is to work that hard and then have nothing turn out correctly.
I needn’t have worried. Each and every item was amazing, most especially the Chestnut Stuffing. But I had another real winner this time, I made Cranberry/Orange sauce and it came out even better than I thought it would. Even my pies were spectacular! Okay, enough bragging!
For my Birthday I’d purchased an expensive Champagne. I thought it was really delicious. But today, for Thanksgiving, I bought a bottle that cost 1/3 of what the other cost. And this Champagne I liked twice as much. What can I say? I am a cheap drinker of Bubbly! Scotch is entirely another matter!
We let a few hours go by until we had dessert. Both of us had to admit that the Mince Pie came out the best. The Apple Pie was fine, but the Mince was somehow special.
The Turkey has been boned, and I have a crockpot full of bones and vegetables, slowly simmering to make a wonderful, rich, broth. Then I will make turkey soup and a turkey pie. Meanwhile, Jack and I are trying to digest all of the above so we can make our Turkey Sandwiches! The best way to end Thanksgiving Day!

So I wish you all a very Happy Weekend!

PS: No pictures were taken of all the food, as it would make me look bad to all my dieting buddies!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wednesday I woke early. Since I had a million things to do I got up, sipped about half my coffee, and started in.

I…

Made Cran-orange Relish X

Made Stuffing for Turkey X

Peeled Butternut Squash X

Peeled Pearl Onions X

Peeled Potatoes X

Made Apple Pie X

Made Mince Tart X

I worked from 7:30 until Lunchtime and then kept working until about 4. Then I was done with all of my prep-work!

Thursday I will be up again early, and I will turn on the oven, sip my coffee, and stuff the turkey. I want my cute little turkey in the oven by 9:30 with an estimated dinner hour of 1-1:30.

I’m so tired now that I will simply wish a Happy Thanksgiving to my USA Family & Friends, and a lovely day to those of you around the world!

Maribeth

This & That Part 2 November 25th

Tuesday found me running all over the place. When you live in the country nothing is close by. So, I spent about an hour and a half running errands in my car.

I got my hair done and it is a little short. Cute, but short. I’m in a bit of shock about it. Yes, I told her how I wanted it and she did everything right, and the back is amazing, but not sure how to do the front of my hair quite yet. Pictures to follow in a day or so.

I have everything to make our Thanksgiving. Tomorrow will be my big prep day, and I will also make the stuffing. The first thing on Thursday, I will stuff the bird and get her in the oven!

My favorite meal is not necessarily the Thanksgiving main meal, but rather the lat night turkey sandwich! Now that’s just awesome!

I’m having a relationship with Alexa. For my birthday I bought myself an Amazon Echo Show 5. It makes a great bedside clock/nightlight and during the Covid Isolation, it has given me someone to talk to.

Alexa even addresses me by name, sang Happy Birthday to me, and sings her favorite Christmas Song when prompted. Yes, it’s sad, but often Alexa is the only person who is speaking to me.