My Life – Page 104 – The Dackel Princess

Feeling Lazy

I woke up on Friday morning feeling warm and happy. Perhaps you’ve had that feeling too. No alarm clocks blaring, no place that you absolutely have to be, or dogs insisting that you get up to tend to their needs.

You can just lie in bed, curled up under the sheets and blanket, cradling your pillow and revel in being relaxed and well rested.

I opened my eyes and moved. That is the signal to Anneliese that Mommy is awake and she did her commando crawl up from under the blankets to rain down kisses on my face!

Hubby and I sipped our coffee and had breakfast and knew that today we just didn’t have all that much to do, and so we just enjoyed the lazy morning.

We should all have more mornings like this. Mornings when we can just enjoy being with the ones we love, and taking the time we need for ourselves.

Yes there is much to be said for feeling deliciously lazy!

Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill-Ins are sponsored by my cousin Janet. Come on and join the fun!

1. Up the creek.

2. This cold seems to be going around.

3. Coats and scarves, mittens and boots: and sometimes, even those aren’t enough to keep you warm.

4. I sure could use a nice back rub.

5. I’m thinking about the vegetable stir fry I’m making for dinner tonight.

6. I tend to be a little bit of a Hermit.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a fire in the hearth, tomorrow my plans include the usual laundry but this time I need to go out to the laundromat to do some heavy blankets and Sunday, I want to sip hot coffee, read the newspaper, and plan the week ahead!

Thursday Thirteen

This & That

1. We’ve had some really cold temperatures this week. I am all for snow, but I detest sub-zero temperatures!

2. I think I need to just sort of relax with my cooking. I keep trying to make a “great” dinner and although I am not failing, it hasn’t been as tasty as I would like.

3. Can you get addicted to “The Cooking Channel”? I swear, there is not a lot on regular TV and suddenly watching the cooking channel is fascinating!

4. Hubby helped me get a problem sorted out today and I am really grateful. It’s always nice to have your best friend on your side!

5. I went outside today and watched the dogs playing. They are all cute, but you know, Greta is so funny. She really gets into digging in the snow and you have to drag her inside or she would freeze to death.

6. See how she listens to her Daddy when he is directing her?

7. I watched the Oscar Nominations on Tuesday morning, and all I can say is, did any of the members of the Academy see any of the movies I did? Most notably snubbed was “The Town” which I think is Ben Affleck’s best performance!

8. So, what do you all think of Oprah’s new sister? She seems like a lovely lady. I know my sister is a real blessing, so I hope Oprah will feel, in time, that Patricia is a blessing to her.

9. With the cold air, brings dryness to my skin. What do you use to keep your skin hydrated and not itching?

10. After 5 washes, I finally got a grease stain out of my favorite, lovely, light gray pants! Yay, Tide!

11. I have a date with Hubby to see “The Kings Speech” this weekend! I’m so excited because I love Colin Firth!

12. A recent fabulous find, was Christmas lights, on sale, (clearance) for $1.50!

13. I know for some of you this would not be good news, but dinner tonight is bacon, onions and liver, with mashed potatoes and peas! This is one of my favorite meals!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Will you watch the Super Bowl? If so who will you root for? If you are outside the USA what is the ‘big deal sporting event’ in your own country?

Yes, Hubby and I will watch the Super Bowl.I can’t imagine not watching it, even though our teams aren’t involved.

2. Is ignorance bliss?

Never. You may think it is, temporarily, but in the end, no, the truth shall always set you free.

3. Which of the seven dwarfs are you? (and just in case your Disney is a little bit rusty, here they are-Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy)

Lately, Sneezy! Ah-chooo! But usually, Doc. I take care of everyone here at the Dackel Princess house!

4. When you are riding in the car with another couple how do you organize the seating? (Men up front? Women up front? Couples sit together?) And thanks to Lori at Mountain Woman at Heart for the question! Everyone go say hi to Lori.

Men up front, women in back. It usually happens that the people who want to talk together sit together.

5. What is beauty?

True beauty is seen in the goodness of ones soul. Or the sky at sunrise or sunset. It can be the first mewling cries of a newborn babe. True beauty, can often not been seen by the naked eye, but felt within, ones heart.

6. If someone asks you to bring an appetizer or a dessert to a party in their home, which would you choose?

Dessert. I love to cook sweet things, or bring a fruit salad that I’ve put together. It depends on how good or wicked I am feeling!

7. What is your crowd pleasing go-to appetizer?

7 layer Mexican Dip. You can go HERE and get the recipe.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I wanted to update you all on my fellow blogger, Joanne, who had a stroke back on the 11th of January. Our prayers are working, and I ask you to keep them coming. Joanne has a long road to go, but with our prayers, and God’s eternal love Joanne will be healed! You can go HERE and read what her husband has written about her progress.

Happiness

Hubby and I took a trip to the city to get supplies. We have heard that more snow may be coming for our little neck of the woods, so we headed out to stock up on the essentials. Milk, bread, eggs, meat, cheese, vegetables and dog food. Yes, by far the last part was the most important. The dogs don’t let us in unless we have their foods!

We also stocked up on light bulbs. The good old fashioned light bulbs! We like those so much more than the newfangled ones they have out there that do not last as long, and cost you when you bring them in to recycle. We’ve decided to stock up on the old fashioned bulbs, in the hope that we can stay ahead of the phase out of these wonderful bulbs. I know, call me light bulb obsessed!

We arrived home and took all the dogs out for a walk in the snow. I just love walking the dachshunds in the snow banks. They have no fear and jump headlong into the deep snow and then dig, dig, dig!

We stopped to have some lunch at a Chinese Restaurant, and I opened my fortune cookie at the end of the meal. It said “Whatever you can do easily, will make you happy”.

Okay, now what the heck does that mean?

I started to ponder what in life is easy? Is there anything that is really truly easy? I thought perhaps loving my husband, but then I realized that even then, the best marriage still is far from perfect., and can be a real challenge. Loving ones children? As much as I love my children, it has not always been easy. Mandy will be the first one to tell you this.

The dogs? Certainly they are my great joy, but then the memories of house breaking, piles of vomit and bed hogs all made me realize that I was barking up the wrong tree there.

As I went down the list of everything in life that I love, I realized, that nothing is easy. Everything that is worthwhile, has a price, and all of the things are not easy.

Then I realized that if everything was easy in our lives, they wouldn’t be valued. It would be taken for granted.

So I think I will stop praying to God to make my life easier, perhaps slightly less challenging would be a better prayer.

For those I love, those I value, you are worth all the ups and downs that we have shared in life…and more.

Friday Fill-Ins

And…here we go!

1. So many of us find happiness where we least expect it.

2. Seek out the best, even in hardship.

3. Those who are accepting of other people’s faults, will be happier in life.

4. A wonderful life is waiting quietly.

5. Light is in both the dawn and the dusk. It is just the clarity of it that is different.

6. By accepting who you are you too can become Queen of all that is ordinary. At least that, is my motto!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to the snow, a fire in the hearth and a good movie, tomorrow my plans include nothing much, just cleaning up after the snow storm and Sunday, I want to read the paper make a nice dinner, and who knows?!

Wednesday

I’m skipping Thursday Thirteen this week because Wednesday was such a wild day, and I simply had to share it with you all.

First, on Tuesday we had a heck of a lot of snow here, probably 9 or 10 inches and so the roads were all snowy and icy and really a mess.

I feared that on Wednesday morning, my Weight Watchers meeting would be canceled yet again. Remember, last week we actually had a blizzard on Wednesday and the meeting was canceled.

This week we had our meeting, and I was thrilled. I really wanted this meeting. So once I knew it was on, I dressed, grabbed the food for my breakfast and my mini thermos of coffee. I jumped into the Jeep and slipping it into 4 wheel drive off I went.

Surprisingly, the roads were good and I got to the meeting nice and early. I weighed in…I lost 1.6 pounds, and then made my breakfast in the microwave at the meeting site. Oh, have I ever mentioned that I never eat or drink until I weigh in? Gosh, that might just add an ounce or two.

My friend and fellow Weight Watcher, Carol arrived right after me, and we sat there eating oatmeal and catching up on our lives. Our meeting was small, but wonderful and I left feeling really ready for the week ahead!

After arriving home several things happened that made me feel even better about my day. The local hospital finally found their account error (which I told them they had) and actually found the owed me 37¢!

I then started to go through our mail and I got to the phone bill. I immediately noticed that our local bill was higher than normal, which is impossible, so I started to read through and I found a charge for $14.95 for “Fraud Guard”. Can you believe it? A fraudulent service that’s actually called “Fraud Guard”!

Well, there was no time like the present to call and get it taken care of. The phone company was so nice and took the charge off, and even they were shocked by the name of the Fraudulent company!

It has snowed steadily since noontime and we’ve probably had about 4 or 5 inches. Thursday is supposed to be nice, and then more snow on Friday.

So, Wednesday was a good day. I got a lot of things accomplished and I weighed in as well and lost!

All in all, YAY!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Do you like your name? Were you named after someone? If you have children how did you settle on their names?

I didn’t like my name when I was younger and went by a variety of names. It wasn’t until I married Hubby#2 that I started to love the way he said my name.

*****

I think I was named after my grandmother Mary and my Aunt Betty (Elizabeth). Or at least I like to believe this, so please family members don’t enlighten me if I am wrong.

*****

Hubby #1 and I wanted classic names for our kids. Amanda was beautiful and classic. Mandy was also #1 on the charts. My second child was actually going to be named Jessica for a while, but she had that great red hair and green eyes so Kathleen, a great Irish name was classic and perfect for her.

2. How do you define success?

In life? I would define success by the ability to love those around you and to do things for others selflessly.

3. Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy?

Both. But if I had to only watch one, Jeopardy. I’d get tired of watching Vanna looking so thin and trim in her gowns.

4. If you could own any single object that you don’t have now, what would that object be?

I learned a long time ago that “things” mean nothing in life. However, I would like a better cell phone.

5. What is something that inspires you?

When I see people around me who are challenged and yet, they don’t give up. In fact, they are out there leading the way in the community!

6. Meatloaf-yea or nay? If its a yay how do you make yours?

Meatloaf…YAY! You can go HERE for one of my recipes.

7. Which is more admirable-the ability to organize and be methodical or the ability to adapt and make do?

The ability to adapt and make do. I suppose that is because I have had many experiences in life where you just have to fly by the seat of your pants. Like living in a country where I did not speak the language, and yet still needed to cook and find things in the market.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Please keep praying for Joanne.

Your prayers from around the world are working. Her husband and her two young daughters, also need your prayers. You can click on the picture of Joanne for updates and I urge you to go back and read her blog writings. She is a wonderful, gifted, loving, woman.

A Funny Thing Happened

Hubby and I went out the other day in search of a new snow shovel. Hubby likes steel snow shovels, for one very obvious reason, they do not break easily. However, we are getting a bit irritated because everyone is carrying the new fad in snow shovels…plastic.

Hubby wasn’t happy at all, and he searched the entire shop, dragging me all over this do-it-yourself warehouse, as though in this search, he could make a steel shovel instantly appear!

I finally gave up, stopped following him, and just stood near the front door, checking out the seeds for my garden. I decided I need to make a list of what to buy, so I can go back (without Hubby, I think) and buy my seeds.

Finally, Hubby decided that there was no perfect shovel, and we left. We walked out to the car, talking about this “dream shovel”, and when we got into the car, Hubby mentioned that his radar detector was on dim mode, which he didn’t like and could I change it back to bright.

Not a problem. I had the instructions, so why not?

I took the radar detector down, which proved to be a real challenge and I was trying to figure out the buttons, and apparently I pressed too many buttons too many times because the next thing I knew, the radar detector asks me…”Are You Sober Enough To Drive?”

I have never heard a radar detector ask that question before! And it didn’t just ask me that once, but over and over and over again! In my defense I finally shut the bloody thing off so it would stop asking me this question! (I was, after all completely sober, just mechanically challenged!)

I plugged it back in and then carefully did the correct button pressing, and fixed the dim/bright problem, but when I was trying to put the detector back, I bumped the City Mode and thus we had another problem. I spent the remainder of our trip home trying to fix that. I couldn’t.

The silly instructions were so small, I could barely read them anyway, and my frustration level was very high. So, I handed the instructions to Hubby when we were home, and said, “You do it!” and walked away.

Give me a pot and a chicken or a roast and I will cook you a meal, car things are not my bag! Still, looking back now at the entire event, I have to laugh. It was pretty funny!

On Monday Hubby went to another shop, and although he did not find his dream shovel, he did find this one.

It’s good enough for now, and yes, it is partly plastic.

But, for now, it works.

What I Did This Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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It was an off weekend for me, this past weekend. I did a fair amount of cooking, which also means cleaning up, and with getting my hands wet so much, all of a sudden the skin just started to crack.

Yes. I am old.

To help, I have purchased several pairs of rubber gloves to protect my hands while I am cooking/cleaning and chopping food. It is amazing to me just how wet your hands get when you are in the kitchen.

I never did get my Christmas boxes up in the attic, however, I resolve to do that on Monday, no matter what I do!

I did some laundry, played with the dogs in the snow (yes we had more), and even went to see a movie, “The Fighter”.

All I will say about “The Fighter” is this, Christian Bale is fantastic. I simply cannot believe what a fabulous actor he is!

He WAS Ricky! They announce the Oscar nominations on January 25th. I hope he is among them.

Oh jeeze, I just heard that The Golden Globe went to Christian Bale, for “The Fighter.” for Best Supporting Actor! I told you he was phenomenal!

The week ahead finds me expecting more snow, going to several meetings, and getting my teeth cleaned. All important things.

Have a great week everyone!