My Life – Page 145 – The Dackel Princess

Happy Days

I realized over the weekend that it takes very little to make me happy. Now I know Hubby is laughing as he reads this, but really, it is true. Some women need jewelry, some want expensive furniture, clothing, or the best of perfume and crystal. But truly, these are not things that make my world a happier place.

What does?

Children playing with the dogs.

Watching the kids snuggle up and find the same loving sweetness that I get from them.

A beautiful flower,

a breathtaking sunset, a sprout coming from the soil where I planted a seed the week before. These are the things that make me happy.

Of course I do have one weakness.

Computers!

You all probably remember that my laptop began falling apart around the first of the year. I sent it in for repair and they sent it back, broken and NOT REPAIRED! I sent it back again. Maribeth without her laptop computer is just a sad, sad sight.

Well, eventually the laptop arrived back and it was fixed for all of about fifteen minutes before the frame on the machine literally snapped like a dried up chicken bone and the hard drive began over heating.

I took the machine in to a local shop and discovered that the machine cannot be fixed! I began to back up my work every few days, and I just worried that the end would be coming soon. All the while trying to use a machine whose screen threatened to fall off at any moment.

Now this is where you get to hear all about my secret sin. Yes, I may not love expensive jewelry, or clothes or crystal, but I sure as heck love a good laptop!

For our anniversary Hubby asked what I would like and I demurred. There was nothing that I needed but a new laptop. He was a bit skeptical, as the machine appeared to still be running. However, by Mother’s Day this past weekend he could see that the machine was about to fall apart and he got a sale e-mail from Dell.

Yes folks, a new midnight blue, Dell laptop, is being built for yours truly and should be here in about a week!

“Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again!”

Springtime

Spring has come to the Dackel Princess homestead. Our fruit trees are budding up and right now our cherry and plum trees are bursting with flowers. It’s just so pretty to go out and walk around the yard, and see the trees filled with life. Flowers, bees and bright green leaves, after a long winter of skeletal shadows and snow drifts that went half way up the tree!

But spring is here!

The dogs love to be out amongst the trees and running through the grass. Thinking back over the winter, I fretted that I would ever see green grass again, and yet here we are!

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Mandy came up on Friday to celebrate both Hubby’s birthday and Mother’s Day with us. It was so great to have her come here and visit with us and the doggies. It never ceases to amazed me that the dogs remember her so well each time she is here. Greta especially just loves her Mandy!

Naturally we wanted to celebrate with a nice dinner at Canoe. It’s Mandy’s favorite restaurant too, so we went over for a nice leisurely meal.

When we arrived we saw that our favorite waiter, Andy, had returned to the staff and we were lucky enough to be seated in his area. We had the sweet and sour calamari, a bucket of mussels sauteed in garlic and white wine and a dip of artichokes and crab! I should have stopped there, but we all ordered meals, which we ended up bringing home with us! LOL! Once again we were not disappointed in anything that we ordered. Including the one order of molten chocolate cake for dessert. Mandy got that and Andy brought three forks so we all could try it! Wow! it was amazing!

All too quickly the night ended and Mandy had to drive home again. Hubby and I sat up for a while talking about our evening and how much we enjoyed it.

Yes, loved ones and springtime make a perfect package!

It’s My Third Blog-A-Versary!

Three years ago I sat in front of my computer and asked myself this question…”Who in the world is going to read about some crazy woman with three dogs who lives in the mountains of New Hampshire?”

I started off slowly, writing my Blog a little at a time, and I visited some other blogs that interested me.

Three years later I can tell you that I have readers from all over the world, some of whom have even become friends of mine.

My beloved
Shubi passed away in February of 2006

but Arnie and Anneliese

were born to Greta, and just never left home. Thus giving me FOUR dogs to love!

Fritz,

is a fabulous boy and

Greta

still rules the roost!

I still enjoy writing my Blog. I look forward to sharing my thoughts, ideas and plans with you all while hopefully entertaining you just a bit.

I have learned so much about this big world of ours and about the people in it, that I look forward to sharing more time with you all!

Thanks for reading, for commenting and for sharing my world!

Saturday Scavenger Photo Hunt

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

~Any Photo~

This is a picture of me, the Dackel Princess, at about age 4 or 5. My passion for dogs began at this time, as our female Beagle had just had a litter and I discovered the wonder of puppies! As an adult I was introduced to a wire-haired dackel named Shubi, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Me with three of the puppies from Greta’s last litter.

Good News

Today we did the Spring Check-up of our bodies. The bi-annual physical with our doctor.

When last we visited the doctor we discovered that my cholesterol level was significantly higher than Hubby’s, (his was perfect, mine was not!) and I was also significantly overweight. That was pre Weight Watchers. I told him of my plans to go to class and to follow the diet, but I’m sure if people actually did this when they told their doctor, the doctors would all be very happy!

At that time Hubby’s A1C level was quite high. This is the blood test that measures his blood sugar over a three month period. I was betting that if Hubby ate what I was eating for my Weight Watcher meals, his A1C levels would come down.

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Okay so that was about 6 months ago. Since then I have lost 31.2 pounds, and Hubby has lost about 12 pounds and we have really stuck to the Weight Watchers low fat, low calorie, high fiber diet. The results?

My cholesterol is now over 40 points lower and back in normal range! Hubby’s A1C level is 6.2 nearly 1 1/2 points lower! His blood pressure is good and mine is fabulous! All in all, when the doctor looked us over, he was actually smiling!!!

I still have a ways to go with my weight loss. About 22 pounds or so. Then the real challenge will begin. How to maintain this weight. I know that for Hubby and myself, we need to stay eating the good healthful foods that have become a part of our life. For me, to control the weight, and for Hubby to keep his diabetes and blood pressure under control.

So the Spring Check-up of our bodies went well, and in another 6 months, who knows where we will be. Hopefully in an even better place as we prepare for the winter and the 2008-2009 ski season!

Thursday Thirteen #76

Thursday Thirteen Brought To You By The Letter:

1. Husband. I’ve known him for 26 years. The first few years just as a casual neighbor. Our kids played together. Our love developed after our divorces and we found something that neither one of us expected. Love and friendship all rolled into one. Lucky us!

2. Home. We built our home back in 1999-2000. Over the years our home has become an oasis, a place where we can rest, relax and enjoy ourselves.

3. Homepage. I’ve been blogging since 2005 and I’ve really enjoy having my own homepage!

4. Happy. I strive to maintain a happy home for all who dwell here, and for those who visit. I sure hope I achieve this.

5. Hershey Bars. Deep dark chocolate Hershey Bars! Need I say more?

6. Hadrian’s Wall. We visited Hadrian’s Wall back in 1991 when we visited England and Scotland. It is so interesting, and I would suggest a quick stop at the above link to learn more.

7. Hymns. One thing that I love are the old hymns in church. It’s funny because it’s something that both Hubby and I share. We were in the choir for many years.

8. Hiking. New Hampshire is full of great places to hike.

9. Honey. Mmmmmm! Yum!

10. Horses. I have always loved horses. They are such smart, beautiful creatures.

11. Hounds. With four dogs, I don’t think I need to say much about my love of “the hounds”.

12. Hotdogs. Not on my diet, really, but I sure do love a good grilled hot-dog!

13. Heart. In “The Wizard of Oz”, the Wizard tells The Tin Man this: “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others. “. I sure hope that at the end of my life, I can have lived a life that exemplifies that phrase. You see I believe that when you give your love freely and give of yourself often, the love that comes back is the very best!

Spring Cleaning

After our weekend celebrations, it was back to the grind today. We woke early to sunshine and blue skies! The weekend had been full of cloudy skies and rain, so this was welcome, indeed.

After doing the usual early morning stuff, I went to the garden room to check my plants. Not sure if I mentioned but those eggplant plants that I was despairing about finally have started to sprout!

As always you can click to enlarge the pictures.

Then I set to work Spring Cleaning. Now I would not suggest this to anyone at all because once you start it just keeps growing. You see, I decided to clean the mud room so that it would be ready for when Hubby and I put the air conditioner in the window. I got that done, but then thought I would do the other two windows where we place air conditioners, and as I washed those windows I noticed dust on the curtains.

Now dust and I go way back. I hate it, but I also hate to dust, so I ~~try to~~ dust every so often. Today’s dust was really quite awful! I’m not sure when it crept in here, but I’m thinking it took up residence during our long cold winter to escape the snow. There was a ton of it and I decided to take down the curtains and wash them. It was then, with the bright and clean windows allowing even more light into the room, that I SAW IT!

Dust on my walls!!!

I got out my dust mop and sprayed it with cleaner and then wiped down the walls. I went from one room to the next wiping, until my arms began to ache. My big question in all of this is: “How the heck does dust stick to the walls?”

No, don’t tell me, I’m not even sure I want to know. What I’ve got to do now is finish wiping down my walls and wash all the curtains. This wasn’t something I planned, but as I stated above, when you start Spring Cleaning things just happen! Two air conditioners are in and one out of 5 rooms is almost done.

Once the Spring Cleaning is done inside then it’s time to scrape and paint outside. Yes, I’ll be climbing on ladders and painting the trim on our house this summer.

Does the fun ever end?

Friday Musings

I gave Fritz his spring bath on Thursday. This requires great skill, a lot of water and the ability to show no fear while in the shower with my big white boy.

Fritz hates baths with a passion that is truly unparalleled. I had to literally drag him into our bathroom, and then drag him into our walk in shower. I’d stripped down naked, because any hope of staying dry during this process was futile, and I set out about 6 towels to help dry him off after the big event.

I use Dove bar soap on him, as he tends to have slightly dry skin, and also the white of the soap helps to brighten his coat. I soaped and sudsed, and rubbed and soaped some more. Then it was time for the real fun….the final rinsing.

If you have never rinsed a German Shepherd in a shower, then you don’t know the real fun that I had. I had to pick up his front feet and hold them so I could get his belly, neck and ears all rinsed.

I’d expected Hubby to help, but the phone had rung just as I was going in, and so I was on my own. You should have seen the hair coming out of that boy! I kept freeing up the drain and it would just fill up again.

Finally he was rinsed and I kept bringing the towels into the shower and drying him off until he was finally fairly dry.

I let him out of the shower and allowed him tio sit in the kitchen in the sun and finish the drying process. Soon Hubby brought him outside for his annual stripping of the coat.

As you can see, Fritz loses quite a bit of fur in the spring, and this is just a small part of it. We used to brush him inside and then we noticed that everything would be covered with white fur, so we decided to de-fur him outside. One day we noticed birds flying in and picking up the fur to line their nests with. So if anyone in New Hampshire sees a fur lined nest, well, you’ll know where the fur came from!

The twins were here modeling their new dresses! They looked so adorable that I just had to take their picture.

That’s Sarah on the left and Kimmie on the right. We really enjoy those two!

Friday finds Hubby and I doing errands. Groceries, registering the cars and cholesterol checks. Oh joy! I’m hoping that my work on the Weight Watchers diet plan will have brought down my cholesterol level.

And speaking of Weight Watchers, I have now lost 31.4 pounds! I’m back in size 10/12 and feeling good! Yay!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Meme X 5

5 THINGS

I have been tagged by Maribeth (yes, another Maribeth!) to do a meme. Since she and I are name-twins, how could I possibly refuse?

5 Things found in my bag (purse)

In my purse right now

1… My Weight Watchers cards! They mean so much to me and I look at them often to remind myself of how many small goals I have reached.

2… My small photo album with pictures of Hubby and Amanda and the pups.

3… My wallet.

4… Dachshund date book.

5… My bifocal sunglasses. This way I can read a map in the car!

5 Favorite Things In your Room

1… Hubby

2… Fritz

3…Greta

4… Anneliese

5… Arnie

5 things you always wanted to do

1… Travel all through Europe for a year or more.

2… Take a cruise down to South America and then take a land tour to Machu Picchu.

3… Take a cruise that goes out to the Galapagos Islands, then spend time there seeing everything!

4… Go to Australia and see as much as I can before getting onto a cruise and cruising the coast of Australia as well as New Zealand.

5… Visit Asia. Starting in China and going all down the coast.

5 things you are currently into

1…Hubby and me. My marriage is at the top of all my lists.

2… My photography.

3… My garden.

4… My dogs, and raising healthy puppies.

5… Planning on what we will can from this years harvest!

5 People you want to tag:

Anyone who would like to do this. Let me know and I will link to your blog.

Michele at Smoochdog has joined the Meme. Go on over and check her Meme answers out!

Happy Meme-ing!!!

As always click on any picture to enlarge it.

I Feel Good!!!

I started Weight Watchers right after the New Year. I had been planning it for a couple of months because when we arrived home after our cruise I realized that my backside was not the size it once was!

I think I have tried every diet known to man. I think I have lost thousands of pounds over the last 49 years of my life. This time I decided that I needed something more permanent, something akin to AA, because yes, I am a food addict. I love to cook and I love to eat!

So I started. My first meeting was scary, but I went and weighed in and made it through. I came home planning each and every thing I would eat the next day and I started keeping a food journal.

And little by little, inch by inch, pound by pound, the weight started to come off. I did very well in January and February and then March and April were sort of slow, but my weight loss has picked up again and as of last Wednesday I have now lost 29.8 pounds!

I have 23 pounds to go until I reach my goal weight, and I feel pretty sure that I can and will do it. Spring is here, I’m doing more things outside, I will start my seeds for the garden tomorrow and plant them outside on the first of June, just before the puppies come. (That is, if Greta is, in fact, pregnant)

Hubby is taking a real notice of my weight loss and I think he likes the new slender me! Or perhaps I just like myself a little better. I wasn’t happy with the extra weight and I sure feel better about myself now.

So I am a happy, slimming woman, whose dog is possibly pregnant. Does life get any better than that?