Category: My Life

1. These are a few moments in time I will always cherish!.

2. I’m cooking a hopefully delicious holiday dinner.

3. What’s that I hear the sound of church bells ringing.

4. The peace of the season makes me feel grounded in the quiet, quiet.

5. Some of my favorite holiday memories include time spent with my Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Janet in particular. We always were together. Like Frick and Frack. Lucky me.

6. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to sipping champagne, tomorrow my plans include enjoying the peace of the day with Hubby, Mandy and M. and Sunday, I want to enjoy some time with Janet and Dave!

On Thursday Hubby and I got up early and headed to the County Ski Area. I’d never been to this one before, but I had decided that this year I would buy my season pass there, as we are County Residents, and get a break with the cost. I’ve also heard that this area has some nice, easy, skiing and beautiful views. Today I discovered this Mountain, so very close to my home.

It was cold and snowing when we arrived, but it didn’t last too long. About half an hour after we started  to ski, the sun broke out and we were able to get these pictures.

Hubby took this on the lift up to the mid way point. The top of the mountain is still not open due to the fact that this is all man made snow!

In the back ground is Lake Winnipesaukee. It’s New Hampshire’s grand lake. It is starting to freeze over now. In February, they will have the Annual Fishing Derby out there!

I did pretty well with my return to skiing. I was doing so well on my last run down when I caught an edge on my ski and went down, face first, into the snow! All my dignity was lost!

I am feeling a tad sore tonight (Thursday), but not too bad. It’s really just a matter of slowly getting myself back into the skiing habit and back into shape!

Friday I raced around, trying to get a lot of things done, and by 4 o’clock in the afternoon when I sat down to catch my breath I realized two things.

I have to slow down and engage my brain.

Hubby came in from his eighth day of skiing, at noon and we sat and ate lunch together. Hubby is very good at calming me down.

I’ve been under this imaginary deadline to get reports written and filed, rooms cleaned and laundry done, when the fact of the matter is…none of it has to be done this very second.

So I stopped. I fixed myself a cup of tea. Grandma always said that there wasn’t anything that a cup of tea couldn’t fix, and perhaps she was right. After all, while sitting there sipping my tea, I was finally able to relax for the first time in a couple of days.

During my tea time, we talked a little about the holidays and he helped me realize that I was being far too hard on myself. Gotta love that man!

So I finished up the paperwork slowly, made dinner, slowly, and then walked the dogs one by one, slowly! Hubby made me a wonderful fire in the hearth, and I’m sitting here enjoying the dogs, and Hubby and the fact that I’m just about done for the night.

“Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas”!

Thursday morning, Hubby suggested that we go out for lunch, and then do our grocery shopping. This was good planning, as over a period of the last 10 days I had made a good and detailed list. I made sure that I carefully folded the list into my purse, along with a pen, then off we went.

At lunch I pulled out the list and added three things that I had thought of. Then we finished our lunch and headed off to the grocery store.

As we pulled into the parking area, I hopped out, while Hubby went on to fill up the car with gas, and then park.

Once I got into the shop, I opened my purse to get my list, the only thing was, I HAD NO LIST!!!!!

I used my cell phone to call Hubby, in the car, to see if I had dropped it. I hadn’t. It was sbeven miles back at the restaurant, on the table, or by then, in the trash! Great!

Well, this required me to use my superior brain to recall all the things that we needed. And I did try. I think I may simply have forgotten a flashlight and a fresh can of light whipped cream.

Oh well, over the weekend I plan to get my recipes out for the holiday meals so I can make sure I have all the ingredients that I need, and make a final list out.

This last list I will then glue to my forehead!

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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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As you all know, when last you left me on Friday, I had begun the enormous task of cleaning out my office and doing the filing!

Currently I have three large trash bags of old correspondence, and once I clean out the file cabinet I expect another trash bag as well. I’ve decided that I have turned over a new leaf and from this day forward I will maintain a neat office!

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Also, on Saturday night I woke to the sounds of a dog on the verge of throwing up. I jumped out of bed, grabbed the dog (Anneliese) and we leapt to the bathroom where she got sick in the toilet! She had eaten some dirt and grass on Saturday and that turned her tummy inside out. She is fine now and back to her usual self.

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Besides the office, I did watch a couple of movies on the TV and the Patriots football game. After all a girl needs some down time, right?

Today I plan to finish up the office and begin cleaning the formal dining room, which currently has all my Christmas card items, lists, return address stickers and stamps, and get that room in ship shape as well.

This neatness thing is almost more than my relaxed housewife self can stand!

Happy Monday!

It’s quite a frustration to me to cook a perfectly good meal, only to find that the meat cut, which looked lovely in the package, was tough as shoe leather after being cooked! Had I known that this Angus Cut Beef was so tough I would have made Beef Stew, where I slow cooked it all day long!

Tomorrow I will make the stew. I hope that by putting it in the slow cooking oven, with lot’s a broth, I can somehow resurrect the rest of the beef.

How many times have you gotten a piece of meat or fish, and expected a wonderful, tasty, meal, only to find that all was not as lovely as you thought?

Hubby was gracious and shrugged it off. He’s good like that. I don’t have too may really horrific meals served in this house, but every once in a while, one slips by.

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On other food related notes, I am actually liking the “New” Weight Watchers program. Since I started to eat more fruit as snacks, I find that I am not nearly as ravenous at mealtimes. Tonight it was not difficult to eat only half of the tough roast beef!

Of course the proof that the new plan is better will come on Wednesday, when I weigh in. I have my fingers and toes crossed!

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Saturday finds me working at The Festival of Trees from noon to 3 o’clock. My ladies club is sponsoring it, and the proceeds will benefit the children in our area. I plan to dress warmly and bring hot tea with me in a thermos! Thursday night I froze, as I helped take tickets at the door for the opening event.

I promise to take pictures of the beautifully decorated trees!

design by the true book addict

So…here we go!

1. The best thing about a birthday celebration is Being with the ones you love.

2. Feelings can either intensify or fade over the passage of time.

3. I went shopping recently and the most interesting thing I bought was can’t say. Christmas secrets.

4. Spinning around in circles is a child’s game that if you do as a grown up, people wonder what is wrong with you.

5. The reason is LOVE.

6. I want it to snow and be cold.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to cooking a roast beef for Hubby, tomorrow my plans include working at the Festival of Trees for Altrusa and Sunday, I want to put up my Christmas tree!

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

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

Here in the USA we are just coming off of a four day weekend! It all started on Thursday with Thanksgiving and continued with “Black Friday” when insane people ventured out into the Malls to Christmas shop. Into Saturday, and Sunday, when insane people continue to shop and brave parking lot nightmares, and I stayed home. Here is what I did, lest anyone think I was sitting in my chair, with my feet up, eating bon-bons!

• I cooked a full Turkey Dinner on Thursday, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, pearl onions, gravy, and butternut squash. We even made a fresh apple pie that morning! It was great!
• I used my 1/4 cup measure, so I did not overeat at all! There were challenges in not eating more than 1/4 of a cup of stuffing (I make the best chestnut stuffing), but I was true to myself!
• I watched my first Christmas movie on Friday morning. “The Santa Claus”. It got me so into the season that I decided to put the electric candles in my windows. Unfortunately, the windows were dirty and I ended up cleaning them before the candles went in. BIG JOB! But it is done.
• Next I made a pot of turkey soup, which wasn’t too good the first night, but was wonderful on Sunday.
• Sunday I decided to decorate some more around the house for the holidays. I went into the attic and the only way to get to the decorations was to move the artificial Christmas tree. I decided to slide it down the steps and then the worst thing happened…the dachshunds started to stand around the bottom of the steps and I couldn’t slide the box for fear it would squash the dackels! I hollered for Hubby, while I lay on the attic floor, holding the ropes that go around the box, to keep it from dropping onto my precious babies!
• Several minutes later, when I started to feel like my shoulders might be pulled out of their sockets, Hubby arrived to take the box!
• We got that box and several other boxes too, and then I sat down and took it easy for a bit.
• However, the Christmas Letter was now finished, so I started to print those up.
• I also put out some of the table top decorations, and my all time favorite decorations, the Christmas tree my sister made for me, and the Christmas skating village that Mandy gave me!
• I stuffed envelopes, made dinner and now as I write, I am happily contented with all that I have gotten done!

So you can see, I was a busy gal over the weekend, but I got a lot done too. What did you do? Anything interesting?