Category: Life

Hubby and I were up at 6:30 this morning, dressed and with coffee in hand made our way down town to the polling station to vote. When we arrived there was already a line of people standing outside waiting to get in.

Promptly at 7 AM they opened the doors and things went very quickly after that. I voted and so did Hubby and then we placed our ballots in the ballot box and came back home for breakfast.

I raced out at 8:45 for Bible Study and then was back home by 10:30 with the mail in hand.

Hubby was still working on screening the porch windows, painting and also re-screening the door to the green house. This occupied almost his entire day. He did manage to get my garden soil turned for next year with fresh fertilizer.

Meanwhile I decided to wash down all my counter tops with bleach. This took me from just after lunch until dinner. I have a lot of counter tops in this house and they all needed to be cleared and washed and reorganized!

Kimmy and Sarah came over after school and I shared a cup of tea with them until it started getting late and then sent them on their way.

I made dinner, fed the dogs and now at nearly 7 PM I am ready to just put on my pajamas and slippers and read.

I’m tired of all the political speculation and all the “spin talk”. I just want it to be over, so I sure am looking forward to tomorrow morning.

I also have Weight Watchers to go to and I’m hoping that I once again have done well. I sure have been working hard on that.

Thursday was one of those days where we took care of all the essentials. You know, we shopped for groceries, picked up some hardware at a Home Depot, and after making lunch Hubby and I settled in to do our various chores.

He’s working on the screens for our porch, sanding, priming, painting, and re-screening.

Meanwhile, I paid bills, walked the dogs, put the groceries away, made some doctor’s appointments for me and for Anneliese and then later in the day prepared our dinner.

Now I had thought that dinner would be something usual like chicken, until we got to our grocery store and found an in store special for Lobster. Beautiful yummy Maine Lobster for $3.99 a pound!

Now after the last Lobster meal, I wasn’t all that sure I wanted to chance it, but how often have I had a bad Lobster in my life? Once. So I sidled up to the fish counter and ordered two – one and a half pound Lobsters.

I am happy to report that the Lobsters were excellent!

I also worked on sorting through my closet deciding what to take on our cruise. After all its just 23 days and counting….

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!

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!

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!

My hair stylist informed me today that my hair is getting grayer. Of course,  this is why I go in to visit her every 4 weeks for a “dip in her fountain of youth”! But apparently, the little bit of gray that I once had is spreading.

Like a bad case of the flu.

I’m not complaining, mind you, at least I have hair to actually turn gray. Still it saddens me to think that even though I feel young, and look (fairly) young, the old hair is turning against me.

When I got home I looked in the mirror. Hair aside, I’m actually not looking to bad for an old girl of 50. I mean, I’ve seen people my age who look….. well…. much older. There are also the botox beauties not and the plastic dolls that seem to be all over the place these days, at least on the TV and in Hollywood.

I’ve chosen to age gracefully. Well, except for my hair. I do not want all that gray showing. The lines, the wrinkles, and the sags, I will accept with the same good humor that I show the orthotic inserts for my shoes.

It’s just the way it goes.

How do you feel about the aging process? Will you go naturally, or kicking and screaming?

I was just sort of lazing around today, if you can call canning 20 pints of brandied peaches lazing, and enjoying the warm sunshine that seems to have settled into our area. It’s a little late for my poor garden, but I may still get a few tomatoes and eggplants out of my pots on the patio.

The dogs played, yes even Anneliese was up and running about today playing with her brother. It seems the Dackel Princess household is getting back on it’s feet after the most recent bout with raging dackel hormones!

Anneliese has taken over the little doggy bed, but trust me, that’s okay after her desire to hide from every one and every thing! It’s nice to have her back out with us again!

At this point I think I can safely say that we have canned enough peaches and peach jam for the next 12 months. We will be having Stanley Plums come in soon and I always enjoy making jam from them as well.

I will tell all my close family and friends now. For Christmas this year, expect food!

Monday morning Fritzi goes in for his yearly shots. I will take him even though he is truly a terror in the car. I think I will just roll down the window and let him get some air. He loves that!

Aside from that, this week is a work around the house week for me. I have a lot to do here at home, but no pressing engagements! Yay! I need a few days to regroup, do laundry and pay a few bills!

Happy Monday to you all, and have a great week ahead!

Tuesday was jam making day. I had two batches of Heavenly Peach Jam all set and ready to cook and in the late morning I made the first one. It was a new recipe and I wasn’t happy with the way it was tasting. It was a bit on the tart side. It also wasn’t jelling the way I wanted it to. I eventually got it bottled and then I put the jars back in a hot water bath and cooked it for another 10 minutes. That seemed to do the trick.

After lunch I was making the second batch up and I decided that I needed more sugar. I also cooked the mashed peach mixture longer before adding the pectin. I was not only happier with the taste, but I was happy with the jelling.

Once all 17 jars were sealed and set to cool, I sat down with my tea and checked in with Miss Anneliese. She has been quiet most of the day and has stayed in her little bed under the table between Hubby’s chair and my own, with Mr. Bunny. Oh I will be so glad when this is over.

I went to Weight Watchers on Wednesday and although I felt lighter, the scale didn’t show even an ounce worth of loss! I stayed exactly the same. Ugh! I was moderately upset. I sat down and started to talk to “my girls” and then the meeting started.

I know I have mentioned this before, but I get so much out of the meetings. They just fill me up with positive feelings and get me ready to start another week and handle the trials and tribulations of life.

By the time the meeting ended I was ready for anything….well almost!

As we walked out to our cars we were greeted with a torrential downpour! I had my rain jacket on, but my legs got slightly wet. I just hate that!

I had, however, heard about an end of the season sale on swim suits. Since I love to shop, and need a new suit, I wasn’t going to let a little waterfall of rain stop me.

Now I know that almost all women can relate to this. When was the last time you actually went out and bought a swim suit without pain?

I tried on 6 different suits and have to tell you, if I hadn’t already lost all this weight, I would be convinced I was terribly obese! These ill fitting suits showed me why they were still on the racks, and marked down to almost nothing.

Needless to say, I left empty handed.

I drove back home, stopping to get our mail and that’s when the heaviest shower hit and I got literally soaked! Once I got in, I changed into long jeans and a chamois shirt just to warm up.

The afternoon was spent making blueberry jam and inventorying our canning supplies. Soon the peaches and plums will be ripe and ready for canning and jam making.

Now if the rain would just go away, I would be a very happy girl.