Category: My Life

A week from today we leave for our vacation trip to The Panama Canal. I hosted a dinner for all my dog sitters tonight, making manicotti, salad, garlic bread and apple crisp. All low sugar and low salt. And it tasted good! Yippee!!

So now we start the tough part. The thinking and pulling out and folding of the clothes we will pack for this trip. Shoes, bathing suits and rain gear as well. I’ve been trying to get Hubby to commit to making a good list with me, but he is a “last minute packer” and I just know I will need to get after him in order to get his clothes out.

I know pretty much what I want to bring, it’s just a matter of getting it out and getting it folded up. It’s quite a production when you are going to be gone for this long.

I plan to tan as much as I can during the week and on Friday I have scheduled a day of beauty. Hair and nails and hopefully when I get done, I won’t look half bad!

Emily was trying to reassure me today that she will take good care of the dogs and that she will make sure they aren’t too lonely while we are gone. I know she will, but I will miss them a lot, I just know.

The clock is ticking now and I really need to kick my game plan for the trip into gear.

The view of Big Squam Lake (Golden Pond) from the top of Rattlesnake Mountain.

Why I Love Living In My Town

1. I can walk down the street and people smile and say, hello!
2. People care about each other.
3. Our town cares about how the Main Street area looks and keeps the gardens beautiful.
4. The local officials know you and smile when you pay your taxes, or register your car or register your dogs.
5. People know I breed dogs and are always happy to see me with a puppy or with Greta, and they always ask about how they are.
6. The area we live in is beautiful with many lakes and mountains. In fact we live very close to where “On Golden Pond” was filmed.
7. Our parks allow both kids and dogs to roam and run free.
8. We still have Halloween Parades, Thanksgiving meals and Christmas Parties for our kids.
9. We still have good old fashioned neighborhoods.
10. Many of us mentor the youngsters in our neighborhoods.
11. I love the way the town decorates for Christmas and the 4th of July and even Halloween!
12. I love the seasons here. All of them. Even the winter when it snows!
13. I love where I live because it’s where Hubby, Fritz, Greta, Arnie and Anneliese all live!

Allie asked what the outfit that Hubby selected for me looks like?

Yesterday I mentioned to Hubby that the request had been made, and that I’d have to get a picture of me in it, “some time”. He looked me over, fresh from the shower, hair dried nicely and I had put on some make-up for a change, and said, “Well, put it on now. You’ll look great!”.

So I took off the clothes I had so recently put on, and dressed in my new outfit.

After we got done with my photo shoot, I changed again, and then headed off to do my errands. I needed to get my laptop power plug fixed, so I started there. I dropped the machine off with them and then headed to the Post Office. I grabbed the mail, and then as I was driving by a salon a thought struck me, and so I pulled in.

“Do you have a tanning bed?” I asked.

“Yes” the nice woman replied.

Perfect. Everyone who knows me, knows that I have very pale, fair skin. Can’t you just see me going to the sub-tropics with no base tan? So I started yesterday, and then went back on Saturday afternoon for a little more. They’re closed on Sunday, so my next appointment is on Monday.

I do not go out in the sun, ever without long sleeves and such, but I decided that this once I would do it! I’m using special tanning creme and moisturizing after, so I should be okay.

Saturday I decided that I need to teach the puppies how to take a nap. It’s a very important part of their development! LOL! So I took them into our bed, and after being kissed and snuggled for about 20 minutes they finally settled down! It was a good 1/2 hour nap and then the train went by and all heck broke loose!

I’m making Hubby’s favorite comfort food tonight. It’s called “Scrambled Meat”. You can find the recipe here. I’ll serve it with mashed potatoes. He just loves it, and it is so easy to make. One of those great meals for someone who is a meat and potato lover!

Have a great Sunday!!!

Thirteen Reasons I Am Tired Tonight!

1. Got up and made breakfast for Hubby and me.
2. Chopped vegetables for a home made natural “no salt” chicken soup.
3. Sauteed the veggies until they were ready to go into the home made broth, then added them.
4. Went off to the Post Office, Bank and to find sneakers for the trip.
5. Found the sneakers and a new pair of Tiva sandals. (They were on sale!)

6. Came home and worked on macro settings.
7. This was great until I realized that I could actually see dust on the things I was taking pictures of.

8. Took an hour and dusted the house.
9. Took the puppies outside for a walk.
10. Came in and watched the end of “The Lake House” and cried again. (I always do.)
11. Made a batch of corn bread to go with dinner. (Naturally, without salt!)
12. Made noodles for the soup, and served it up.

13. Cleaned up the kitchen and sat down, finally!

It was a busy day today. I was up and off early to do some shoe and sneaker shopping. I did find a nice pair of black dress shoes, but no sneakers. I did try on some sneakers that had these gel inserts in the heel, that went all the way through to the soul of the shoe. My big question to the sales lady was, “What if I step on a nail? Will these things pop?”. Since she had no answer, I decided to opt out of those. I’ll go to another shop tomorrow and get the same style I am currently wearing and be done with it.

And now for todays photographs. The first is of my sweet Greta in our back yard on the patio. I love this shot because you can really see her eyes.

Here is a Greta action shot.

This is Arnie. I think he is getting tired of me snapping his picture.

Anneliese loves to chew. On a warm Autumn day she is happy to lay on the patio with her bone and chew.

Tomorrow I plan to work on macros and perhaps get Hubby to take a picture or two. He hasn’t done anything with the camera yet, and it’s time for him to learn. He loves photography as much as I do and I just know he will enjoy using this new camera.

On an aside, Greta isn’t feeling her best. She turned up her nose at a cookie treat tonight, which is totally unlike her. Maybe all she needs is a good night sleep.

In between doing various household chores, I was running outside to try out the new camera. After trying two tripods that we have, I told Hubby that I’d rather take the larger one because it’s a lot steadier and easier to use.

The camera is a joy. I love the feel of it, I just need to learn how to use it. I’ve got the basic point and shoot pretty much down, but now need to learn how to use that mega zoom, the macro modes and using the camera at night.

So, here are todays attempts to learn just a little about this new toy of ours!!!

This is the other side of our lake, which is three miles long. The picture below was taken from the same spot with the lens set at full wide angle.

This is the actual view from my front yard.

Anneliese after her bath today!

Well, now it is back to reading the manual. There is so much in here, I can’t believe it!

It was one of those perfect Autumn days today. Not too cold, not too hot, blue skies and bright colored leaves painting the area all around my house. It’s like God took his paint brush and an Autumn palette of colors, and then dabbled golds here, reds there and oranges everywhere. I looked out over the lake and thought there was nothing prettier, but then I had to run to the grocery store for a loaf of bread and coming home I saw the mountains in the distance and they were painted in an even more spectacular way!

Our home.

We took today to begin the slow process of preparing the house for winter. Hubby put away three of our window air conditioners, and worked a little more in the yard cutting away dead vines and clearing the path between our house and Emily’s for her.

I washed cabinets in the kitchen and then I made the fatal mistake of going down to my laundry room and once I saw how much it needed cleaning, I spent another hour down there vacuuming and washing things down.

In between, I was taking dogs outside to do their business and I then attempted to get the next thing on my list done. The funny thing was, when I tried to take a break, I would make a cup of tea and go to sit down with it, and that’s when another dog would need to go out, or want to come in!

Yes, that’s my real job in life…door opener for the dogs!

It feels that way some days.

I also experimented and made Hubby baked stuffed manicotti (low salt version) and it really came out well. The only thing I will do before I make it again is get a pastry bag with a long nozzle for filling the manicotti! I didn’t have one and so I did it with a spoon. It was not easy to do, certainly very messy, but in the end it tasted fine.

The day is nearly done now, the dogs are all asleep on the floor and I’m putting up my feet and plan to watch a little TV.

So I went to bed at the usual time on Sunday. All seemed well when I went in, although I admit to still feeling very tired.

At 1:30 I woke to feel all stuffed up in the nose, and sort of raspy in my throat. I got up with Fritz who walked me to the kitchen and encouraged me to drink some juice. I drank down two glasses of apple juice and then went back to bed.

In the morning I was still stuffy, and so I decided to take the day slowly once again, but Hubby reminded me that today the man was coming to remove two of our old junk cars and so we needed to eat breakfast and dress early.

I have been trying for a few years to get rid of those two cars. They are huge dinosaurs that take high test fuel and get terrible mileage. We had replaced them with cars that took regular gas and got much better mileage. Meanwhile they sat in our yard.

Today a nice young man came and hauled them off. He is in the Navy Reserves, and we invited him to come in while we did the paper work, and we had a really nice time talking to him. What an interesting guy.

So, the cars are gone, Hubby is feeling sad (he loved those cars) but in the end it worked out really well because the man had a pick-up truck bed liner for our truck and we really needed that.

I tried a new recipe tonight for both dinner and for dessert. All I can say is that it tasted okay, but looked dreadful. The recipes will not be repeated.

Tonight we will watch a little TV, drink juice and try to rinse out the cold that seemed to come in the night.

Have you ever had one of those days where you just plain feel lazy? I mean, lazier than usual? Today was that day for me.

It all started when I opened my eyes in bed. My first instinct was to close them and pretend I wasn’t awake and go back to sleep. However, Greta had seen my eyes open and her tail began to thump with joy (and probably the need to go out and wee-wee after a long night in bed). Fritz seeing movement was dancing around like a disco dancer from the’80’s.

So I got up and put on my rain clogs and bathrobe and headed toward the kitchen, still wishing that I could crawl back into that nice warm bed with Hubby, who was blissfully asleep.

I turned on the coffee maker and got the puppies from their crates and out we went into the morning mist. All the dogs ran around and happily relieved themselves before coming back into the house for their early morning treat.

I sat down and put my head back on the chair and closed my eyes. I could feel myself slipping into that wonderful sleepy state when, BOOM! Arnie jumped onto my lap followed by his sister, Anneliese.

Greta, who was sitting with me in the chair also trying to go back to sleep, looked at me as if to say, “I told you to get rid of them, along with the others”.

Time passed and finally the coffee was done and I got myself a cup, with the hopes that I would wake up.

It just never happened.

I decided early on to toss some vegetables in the crock pot and make a beef stew for dinner because it was easy, cooked itself and would require me to do very little.

I postponed the laundry, and almost all of my other chores. It can all just wait. As Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day” and my work will still be there.

Meanwhile I have watched the Patriots football game ( Pats won 34-17 ) and the Red Sox baseball game (Sox won 9-1), with plans to watch “Desperate Housewives” later tonight.

Yes, I never did officially wake up today, but that’s okay. Perhaps once in a while you just have to have a really laid back day.

Time for my pajamas!