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I have never been one to tell stories about myself that I find incredibly mortifying, but since things around here have been very serious and a tad depressing lately, I thought, what the heck, I’ll confess to everyone what happened to me today. So, sit back, grab a cup of coffee and prepare to laugh hard.

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I needed to go out today to get supplies from the grocery store. I had a list. I was fairly organized. I wanted to go out, do my errands and get back as quickly as I could.
Hubby decided to go. He is working out with his crutches now each day to gain strength in his upper arms and going to the stores with me was a great way to practice and get some things done.
So off we went. We got to Wal-Mart and Hubby stopped at the service desk to get a money order for an Ebay purchase. I wandered into the household goods section for a few items and then headed over to the dog food, where I met up with Hubby. I selected a dozen cans of food which Hubby questioned me on.
“I thought they liked the chunky food?” Hubby asked.
“No, Fritz is picky, he likes the ground food.”
“Didn’t he used to eat the chunky food?”
“Yes, but then he decided to he didn’t like it.” I answered. “Besides I think he gets more out of the ground food cans than the chunky ones.”
I then started walking and talking. This is a dangerous thing for me to do.
“I can’t believe how picky Fritz is, but at least after the first year I have finally gotten him settled on his food and there are no surprises.” I looked around a little thinking about Valentines Day. “I wonder if they have the pads for your crutches here. You poor thing. I hate to think of you on those crutches.”
And then I did it. I turned puckered up to give Hubby a nice sympathetic kiss and ran smack into a strange man! Hubby was about 10 paces behind me struggling with the crutches and there was this man, right in my puckered up face!
I could feel my face burn! I tried as quickly as I could to unpucker and just weakly smile, but I think for a moment I must have looked like a giant Trout!
The man smiled, and his eyes twinkled and I wished I could have just crawled into the display case and hidden! I stood waiting for Hubby, and the strange man moved past me.
Hubby caught up to me, none the wiser and all I could think of was getting out of the store.
We finished up our shopping, checked out and once I was in the car I confessed all to Hubby who laughed heartily.
I can still feel my face get hot when I recall what happened. I don’t often accost strange men in Wal-Mart. Well, maybe only at Christmas!

I’ve been enjoying the IT commercials for Ebay during the Olympics. Why, you might ask? Well, because they have Davy Jones singing, “Daydream Believer”
First, I have always liked that song and second, it makes me think back to New Years 1990 when I was in Athens, Greece sitting in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel waiting for Hubby to fly in (He was working a flight). I was sitting there waiting when I see a group of people walk into the lobby. Yep, you guessed it, it was Davy Jones and his family!
He looked great, and I thought how he had hardly aged at all since his days with the Monkee’s. I hated to bother him, but I couldn’t let the moment pass.
I went over and introduced myself, telling him that I have always enjoyed his music (gush, gush!!), and that I was really thrilled to meet him.
He was just the nicest person, as were his wife and kids I stood speaking with him for a while before their room was ready and they departed.
Yes, I got an autograph!
So when Hubby came in a while later and expected me to greet him with excitement, all I could talk about was Davy Jones! LOL!!
So listening to the IT commercials for Ebay brings that time quite happily back to me.

So what did I do all day yesterday? Yep, you guessed it…I spent all day programming my new laptop. Things were going pretty well, when McCaffee Anti-Virus and I had a little trouble understanding what the other one wanted.
This resulted in my having to go back in time on the machine (isn’t time travel wonderful?), and then start the programming all over again.
I was a bit frustrated for a while, but after this one glitch, the rest of the entries went well. The machine is now programmed and meeting my needs. Just a few more minor things to tweak and it’ll be completely done.
One thing that is different is the scroll bar on the laptop. It’s quite a bit different from my other computer. I think I like the other one better, but in time I will get the hang of this one.
I love the ultra bright screen! You really can see things much better with this. And the color is so rich.
I think Hubby is probably a bit sick of me spending all this time on the machine, but he is relieved that he doesn’t have to schlep out to Wal-mart and get me a card and a box of candy for Valentines Day next week!

My new laptop arrived right on schedule this morning! I have been spending every moment since, setting it up and getting it all laid out with my preferances!

I have to say, this one is not only faster than my last laptop, but also is smarter! The program automatically set up into our network, and it has really been easy to set everything else up. Best of all, the built in Network card works like a charm and I am getting high mbps sitting all the way at the other end of the house from the router! Something that wasn’t possible with the old laptop.
I told Hubby that he is off the hook for having to buy me a Valentines present this year!

I woke up yesterday and my throat was feeling sore. All I could think was, No Way! I simply can’t be sick. I took my temperature, 100. (F) and so I planned to take some aspirin and just lay low. It was not to be. Just as I settled down to watch Regis and Kelly, Hubby starts looking for some paperwork, convinced I have somehow misplaced it.
Now in all fairness, I have previously been guilty of such crimes, but in this case, I knew quite certainly, that I hadn’t touched the papers in question. Of course, this did not get me off the hook. As Hubby is laid up with his knee, I was the chief searcher for his mission of “find the papers”. I looked in all the usual places that one stashes papers, but they weren’t there. After over half an hour of searching, I asked if he could have put them away? Of course not!
Still, I figured it was time to go into the closet and see if they were in the document binders. He was so sure they were not there. Imagine his shock when the papers were located there?
I was hoping this would end my duties, but no. Hubby was not going to let me rest. It was then that the issue of my poor filing system came into play.
Now I admit, I hate to file. I put off this task until the file box is so full that the papers are falling on the floor and I need to do some penance for some other sin. But I really didn’t feel like doing it yesterday.
After much arguing discussion, I started filing at 1 o’clock and didn’t finish until nearly three. All I wanted was a hot cup of tea and to sit.
I checked e-mail, answered a phone call and then wham, time to cook dinner.
By the time dinner ended I was having chills. I wrapped up in an afghan, which didn’t work. I broke out the heavy comforter and wrapped up in that, two pairs of socks, my pajamas, a sweatshirt and bathrobe, and sat doing nothing while I watched tv.
This morning my temperature is down to 99.6 (F) but I still feel crummy. I can’t lie around today either as I need to go to the grocery store and resupply.
One piece of really good news is, that I got a message from FedEx that my laptop is en-route. I got a tracking number and I have been following it from Shanghai, China, to Anchorage Alaska, to Indianapolis, IN. I expect it to be here in another two days.
Hubby is gifting me with a new machine since my current laptop is slowly dying of incurable memory failure! So despite the fact that he made me file yesterday when I was feverish, I still think he is wonderful! lol!

This was how Greta slept during the Super Bowl!

I love watching the Super Bowl. No, I’m not really a big football fan, but I just love the commercials! While the game is on, I tend to do things like wash the dishes, walk the dogs, or even type on my blog. But once the action stops and the commercials come on, I stop and pay strict attention!
You had to love Harrison Ford reading Dr. Suess type prose about winning and football. One must wonder if he’s been practicing on Calista Flockharts little boy, Liam.
The funny commercials so far have been The Fed-Ex ad with the two cavemen, and I also liked the Disney commercial with all the football players practicing their MVP answer to what they are going to do now that they have won the Super Bowl? “I’m going to Disney World!”
The Fabio add was hysterical.
Hugh Heffner’s ad for Desperate Housewives was also a hoot. One must wonder what Heff offers those gorgeous gals so that they hang all over him at his age? I know. The ability to print their naked pictures in his magazine. Gotta tell you, that wouldn’t do it for me!
I’m not too thrilled with the Pepsi ads or the godaddy.com adds either. They are just kind of creepy.
I keep waiting for the commercial to end all commercials, but so far they just haven’t done it for me. I mean, the Jessica Simpson ad for Pizza Hut with the young teen boy fainting in ecstasy at her mere closeness, was cute, but not one I would nominate for the Commercial Hall of Fame.

The Rolling Stones performed one of my least favorite songs, “Start Me Up” at halftime. Come on, these are the most uninspired lyrics of my generation! The only good thing was that it looks like Mick has finally found a good hair colorist. The gray is gone and it doesn’t look too fake. But Keith Richards? My Lord! The man looks positively like a walking corpse! They all look like they could use a good meal.
Sorry if you are an avid Stones Fan. They just don’t do it for me either.

My hearty congratulations to The Pittsburg Steeler’s and their fans! They played one heck of a game!

Yesterday I was sitting watching the weather while I drank a nice cup of coffee.
The forecast was for rain last night and rain for today.
I looked out on the drive and saw all the ice that was still buggering things up. Since our driveway is 500 feet and points down to our house, I knew I had my work cut out for me.
I got Greta and Fritzi and their toy balls, and I got out my scraping shovel, and out we went.
I did the upper part of the drive first, scraping the ice completely off to the sides. I worked all the way down to the larger turn around area near the house, then took a break to have lunch and catch my breath. Once I’d done that, it was back out with the doggies and their toys to finish the job.
I worked for a total of about 2 hours and got the entire drive cleared, which is a very good thing. The rain started last night after dinner, and it has just poured and poured ever since. What a mess it would have been with all that ice. Sort of like what the Titanic saw before it sank with all those icebergs!
Many of you may be lamenting the fact that we are having rain instead of snow. Not me. Even though you all know I am an avid snow skier, my heart just isn’t in it now. I would be very happy with an early spring.
I guess that I just miss Hubby when I ski and if I can’t share it with him, well I’d rather be smelling the spring flowers. So let’s all get together and plead my case to Mother Nature!
My desire for an early spring could also be because I am now stuck shoveling the snow here. And my shoulders and back just can’t take much more.
Come on Springtime!!!

You are my 5000th hit!

Continue reading “Megan’s Friday Questions”

Germanophile
Dictionary
Ger·man·o·phile (jər-măn’ə-fīl’)
noun
One who admires Germany, its people, and its culture.

This is me. I am a Germanophile. Originally I thought maybe the word for this was Germophile, but upon looking it up in the dictionary I learned that I am not afraid of germs. I love Germany, the people, the culture and especially the food and beer!
My Grandfather was German. He was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr, and came to this country when he was about 8 years old. Consequently, I was raised with all the German traditions, and best of all, the food!
Although my Grandmother wasn’t German, she learned to cook all Papa’s favorites from his sisters. It was always a good day when Grandma was cooking Sauer Braten! My favorite, and the favorite of most of the family.
When I married Hubby, he made a dream of mine come true and I was able to travel to Germany. From the moment my feet touched German soil, I knew I’d come home.
We traveled all over the country and I grew to love Bavaria for it’s lush countryside and beautiful mountains and Berlin for all the history that is held there. I feel as though everything there is familiar.
Now this is quite odd because I don’t speak much German. I know a few words, a few sayings, but I am really not a linguist. I am just barely fluent in English! Ha Ha!! I think it’s the atmosphere. I just feel a part of it.
Of course this is also where my best friend, Uschi lives, and where my two dachshunds are from. So when I leave Germany I leave a part of my heart with my friend, Uschi and here at home, I have part of Germany with me, in my girls, Shubi, from Bavaria and Greta, from Rheden, which is more in the northwest.
I’ve learned to cook many of my favorite German meals, and lucky for me I am married to a man who loves German food and Germany almost as much as I do.
Hubby is much better with languages and he can speak German pretty well. When we are there, and I listen to him speak with people in German, I am so proud of him.
A week ago Hubby ordered his favorite bread from a bakery in Canada that specializes in German bread. The “Bauernbrot” arrived yesterday at the same time that my box of German delicacies arrived from an importer in New York!

As we rifled through our boxes of goodies I had to laugh. How alike Hubby and I are in our love for Germany, and it’s wonderful foods.
Two Germanophiles happily married and living in New Hampshire!