Category: My Life

Thursday Thirteen brought to you by the letter

Thirteen things about Maribeth that begin with the letter J.

1. J is the first initial of Hubby’s name. I never use his given name, but always call him by his nickname. This also starts with the letter J.

2. Jellybean. This was our sailboat’s name. We had her when we first got married. We spent our honeymoon sailing her up the eastern seaboard. That was such a great trip!

3. Jetty. I grew up in Falmouth, on Cape Cod. One of the things I loved to do as a child was walk out on the jetties and then sit looking across the ocean.

4. Jet. Hubby was a pilot and so I have flown in many Jets, with Hubby piloting them!

5. Jam. I love to make jam! I think my favorite jam is the plum jam I make. Oh man, that is just so delicious!

6. Java. Yep, I’m a big coffee drinker, my favorite blend being mocha java.

7. Jessica. The name of my step-daughter. I’ve always loved that name.

8. Jokes. I love a good joke, not the mean kind, but the ones that just make you laugh with glee!

9. “Junior“! Have you seen that movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Oh, it just cracks me up!

10. Joy. What I thought I had lost but eventually found again.

11. “Juno“. I love that movie, too. What a sweet, poignant film.

12. Jarlsberg Cheese, one of my favorite things to eat and now no longer allowed due to my cholesterol. Rats!

13. Janet, my favorite cousin!

And here is a plus one. My middle name is Jewel. I’ve never liked it, but what are you going to do?

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~Self~

Ah yes. The many faces of Maribeth!

I’d decided that with Anneliese in heat it was easier to keep her close so that she wouldn’t chew up her little pants. So far, this has worked very well. She is a little doll in bed, curling up by my stomach, and cuddling me.

Of course the tough part is that Arnie was alone and he really hated that. So we’ve been trying to get him to sleep with us too. Now this isn’t so easy. Arnie likes to stretch out and is bold enough that he will try to push you out of bed.

So half way through the night he would be unceremoniously dumped back in his crate. That was, until last night. The boy finally settled down and slept well.

Thus giving us a “three dog night“.

Greta sleeps comfortably by Hubby’s feet, and in the morning comes up for a cuddle with us both. Fritz sleeps by the door, forever on guard. Yes, it really is amazing how our little family huddles together now in slumber.

Of course in another few days we will have to put Arnie back in his crate until Anneliese finishes off her heat. I’ll miss the little guy then. But for now, it’s nice having him with us.

I am just thankful that my bed dogs are dachshunds and not St. Bernards!

I was going to write about the lovely Art Exhibit we went to, and I will do that tomorrow when I have time to think, scan some pictures in, and write. Tonight I am exhausted, and….dealing with a disaster.

After we finished up at the Museum, we stopped to buy a new orchard ladder and we noticed the traffic was getting bad. It’s Memorial Day Weekend here, and that means that today people in Boston were leaving work early to drive north!

As we listened to the radio they kept reporting that no one is traveling because of the high fuel prices, but all I can say is HA! It was bumper to bumper all the way from Boston to Concord, New Hampshire. I hate traffic. I get nervous in traffic, so we kept going in hopes of getting past it.

We got to Concord and Hubby was feeling hungry and so we stopped so we could eat, and as we sat there enjoying the peace of our meal my cell phone rang.

Emily: “Ah, there is a big problem. But the dogs are all okay and the house is fine.”

Me: Okay, so what’s up?”

Emily: “Anneliese is in heat, and it got all over my friends jeans and we washed them in the washer, and the door wasn’t closed all the way and it leaked all over the laundry room!!! I am sooooo sorry!!!!!”

Me: “Okay, you need to get everything off the floor and put it in the garage. And we’ll deal with it when we get home. Just mop up what you can.”

Emily: I am so sorry!!! I didn’t mean this to happen!”

Me: It’s okay. We’ll be home soon.”

I could tell that Emily was upset, and I made a game plan before we even arrived. I was pleased to see that the flood wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. The girls had handled themselves really well and done a good job cleaning up and had even gotten a fan going to help dry up the laundry room.I’m washing the clothes and towels that need it and lets face it, that old carpet well, it actually looks better now!

Anneliese looks adorable in her pants, and is being a sweetie, and tomorrow I will work on writing a more complete account of our visit to the “El Greco to Velazquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III” exhibit.

When I hopped out of bed this morning and hit the shower, I stood before my mirror and said to myself, “So, what do you think will happen at Weight Watchers today?” I looked, shrugged my shoulders and said, “Who knows”.

I went off to the meeting with a coffee in one hand and the high fiber muffins that I have been enjoying, in the other. (Anyone who wants the recipe, email me privately.) I stepped on the scale and I had lost 1.6 pounds!!! I am now just about 15 pounds from my goal weight.

I was so surprised, not because I had not adhered to the diet, but because, well, I just didn’t expect anything, so “something” was a bit of a reward!

The rest of the day was pretty fun. I got to work on the new computer and got it all set up. I am really enjoying it. The computer is fast, the keys feel wonderful under my fingers, and, here is the part that will astound you…..my old laptop’s screen quit working!!! Yep. Two days after the new machine arrived, the old laptop just fried itself up. I was fortunate to have gotten everything off of the machine before it died!

All in all, it was a good day!

The new laptop!!!

Midnight blue! Ooooooooo!

It’s Here!!!

Yes, the new laptop arrived at 4:15 yesterday afternoon! I ripped took the box from the DHL delivery man’s hands and carefully carried it into our home. My hands shook as I tore carefully opened the box! I took out all the wrapping and there it was, my midnight blue, Inspiron, loaded with Windows XP and all sorts of other goodies!!!

I quickly plugged her in (I’m still trying to think of a good name for her, but for now we are calling her Dackel) and turned her on. Oh sweet mother of God! The happiness I felt was almost more than I could take.

It was…..beautiful!!!

I spend last night getting my browser and email program installed, as well as moving over my bookmarks and address books. I left the major portion of my work (installing programs, etc) to do today. I had it all planned.

Get up, go food shopping. Stop and get potting soil and pots for my plants. Come home, make lunch eat, re-pot plants and then spend the rest of the day programming happily.

It didn’t exactly go as planned, as I have yet to figure out how to grocery shop in under an hour. Too much reading!

The plants got re-potted, the groceries got put away, and at about 3 PM I sat down (finally!) to work on personalizing my new laptop.

I’m still working on getting it all just right, give me a few more days and it will be 100% mine!!!

We knew it had to end. This spell of beautiful weather that we have had. It’s not that it is cold (or snowing!) just gray and raining. However, that’s alright because the rain will help the plants I have outside to grow.

Most of my day has consisted of running up and down the stairs doing the laundry and then folding and putting the clothes away. I think all this stair climbing must be good for me, right?

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I’m not sure if I mentioned a recent experiment I made. I have heard for a while that portabello mushroom burgers were truly yummy and at 1 point per burger, were a good source of protein with a very low point count. So when I went to the grocery store, I found them and bought a pack. (Note to self: I should have read the label!)

First, I thought they tasted pretty awful. I mean, I love portabello mushrooms, but these were just plain terrible. The real fun began a few minutes after I finished off my attempt at “veggie living”. I started feeling sick. I wasn’t sure what could be wrong. Finally I called my sister and while we were talking I was reading the packaging for the “burgers” and discovered that they are primarily soy! Now both my sister and I are sensitive to soy anything! No wonder I felt bad. No more soy burgers for this girl!

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I’ve been going through my closet trying on clothes and mostly I am pleased. I am finding that I can fit nicely into my long forgotten size 10’s. It’s frustrating though because the other things that are smaller 10’s and 8’s are still incredibly tight. At least I have something to work towards!

I will have a nice donation for the local charity shop and hopefully this will help make room in my closet and dresser for some new clothes!

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I’ve started reading again! I know you all are probably not impressed, but for me this is BIG! You see, after nine eye operations and a few years of resting my eyes, they have recovered enough that I am actually able to read for several hours each night! I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be reading stories again. As long as the print isn’t too fine, I am good to go!

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I’ve heard that the new laptop should arrive here sometime on Tuesday! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

And how was your weekend?