Saturday was a very busy day. I accomplished great things in a very short period of time.
We finally finished and got our taxes filed. All I will say is, don’t ask!
I bathed two dackels, got them dry, cleaned their ears and washed all their bedding.
I made three pretty decent meals for us, even if the quiche wasn’t quite as well formed as I would like. After all, I made it a crustless quiche. It did taste good.
Our weather was beautiful! It was up into the mid-’70s and the sun felt so good on my face and arms.
And then at the very end of the day, the sunset was spectacular. All in all, a good day!
The week is over. I’m still amazed that we are almost in the middle of April! OMG! How did this happen?
While I contemplate an answer to this question, let me write out this week’s Friday Five!
The week started out with our anniversary, doctors appointments and continuing work on our Income Taxes. Oh, how I hate April 15th, which is coming up very fast!
We had snow!
3. And Icicles, just like I place on my Christmas tree, only those are plastic and not really like these were. These were real!
4. I got my hair cut!
5. And lastly, I spent a lot of time setting up and programming the Tablet. And I love it!
It’s been nearly 34 years since my daughter, Katie passed. I wish I could explain the depth of pain you feel when you see the last picture of your child.
The last picture I knew of was taken by me of Katie and her sister on a lovely Spring day that year. They both looked so beautiful and I brought them outside and shot nearly an entire roll of film.
A few weeks after those pictures were taken, Katie passed away. I remember holding the pictures in my hands, thinking that this was it.
And so it was for 34 years.
Recently, Katie’s best friend from those long ago days passed away. Her father posted two pictures of his daughter’s birthday party. There, before my eyes, were two pictures that included Katie! Two new pictures of my sweet daughter!
I have cropped the pictures to protect the privacy of the other family, who just lost their daughter. She was a wonderful girl, who grew up to be very special. Sadly she passed just before her 40th birthday
I saw Katie’s face. Her beautiful smile. My heart filled, and so did my eyes, which overflowed and tears fell down my face.
So, as you read yesterday, it was our anniversary. It was a pleasant day with a car ride down to Manchester and back.
We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant we enjoy and had fajitas. Very nice.
But the farther north we drove toward home, the more the snow fell! At first, it was nothing, but then it started to come down pretty heavily.
Oh, come on! It was April 9th! And snow? What’s that all about? But snow it did! In fact, it snowed enough so that later in the afternoon we heard the snow plows go by below our house.
And then it snowed some more!
It finally stopped around dinner time and of course, the dogs all wanted to go out and play in it. Anneliese especially loves to play in the snow. Go figure.
Today, Jack and I celebrate 31 years of marriage. It doesn’t seem possible that it has been that long. In the grand scheme of things, 31 years is like forever in a Hollywood marriage. And at my age (60) it certainly is a large chunk of time.
In our thirty-one years of marriage, we have had 4 White German Shepherds, Rex, Max, Fritz, and Lili. Four Wire-haired Dackels, Shubi, Greta, Arnie and Anneliese, and lived in four homes. One was a farm in Lyndeborough, NH, a nice ranch home in Punta Gorda, FL, in a motor coach here in Meredith, NH for 9 long months, while we built our current home, and lastly this beautiful house, that Jack and I designed.
We had four children, between us. Three are living, and they have grown up to be really good people. We also have two of the most beautiful, and wonderful grandchildren on the face of the earth!
Marriage is never easy, even if you are married to your best friend. There are days you want to murder each other, but lucky for us, those days were few and far between.
Forgiveness is so important when you live with someone this long. People do stupid things, and if you can’t forgive them, then you are with the wrong person. I am the Queen of stupid things and I am married to the King of stupid things. So it’s a good thing we forgive and forget.
You will also find during a long term marriage (or relationship) that there will be those days when your significant other just makes you crazy. Whether it’s how they are chewing their food, or even sipping their soup, you will sit there and wonder how you never noticed this before!
But then, there are those times when a little look, the warmth of a hug, or a gentle squeeze of your hand, will make you feel loved and safe. During my illness two years ago, when I felt like I was dying, I was so scared, and Jack just kept the home fires burning, cooked my meals, did the laundry, and did not allow me to believe that I was leaving this earth.
Likewise, not even six months later when he got the infection in his foot that led to the amputation of his toe, I made sure I was at the hospital each day. I brought him goodies to eat, stayed to speak with each doctor, and informed Jack that he wasn’t leaving me yet.
No, marriage isn’t easy, but the pros far outweigh the cons, and life would be so empty, so lonely, without my Jack.
Even after all these years, Jack is still the first person I want to speak with in the morning, and the last person I want to speak to at night.
I made up a short montage of our life together using one of our favorite songs. I hope you enjoy it!
What a crazy day Friday was. If you showed up here yesterday, you probably landed on a page announcing I was down. Here is what caused me to absolutely crash.
I was up very early, as seems to be the case lately. Since I was up so early, I decided to call GoDaddy and finish the migration to their new servers.
You see two weeks ago they called and offered me a free year of hosting if I moved the blog to their new servers. Okay, I thought, they promised a smooth migration and all their help.
Well, when I called I was asked to hold on for a few minutes. Okay, I thought, once they come on, Dackel Princess will be up and running and I’ll be all set.
I wish I could say that was the case, but I waited for two and a half hours! I didn’t want to hang up because then I would have to start the waiting process all over again.
Finally, I got a nice young man, who, after 40 minutes didn’t get Dackel Princess up and running. But I was promised that he would send it to Hosting and they would finish it up.
Well, by noon, that hadn’t happened either. So I called back and again waited. The person I spoke with didn’t know what was wrong and transferred me to their Geek Department. Apparently, this young lady wasn’t Geeky enough, because she couldn’t get it to load!
So she passed me off to Evan, who knew code, and went through the config files until he found the one broken link, and once he did his magic, Dackel Princess was up and running!
That was at 4:30 this afternoon!
Meanwhile, Jack needed my Geeky Computer help with our Income Taxes, and I have been setting up and programming my new Galaxy Tablet.
I do really like the Galaxy Tab S4. It’s slightly larger than some, and I increased the memory with an SD Card and got a nice case with a keyboard. And the best part was when it was all in the case and set up it weighed just 2 pounds!
Just call me happy! Happy Dackel Princess is up, Jack’s Tax woes are under control, and the Tablet is all that I wanted!
When I woke up on Wednesday it was snowing! I groaned. Nothing was sticking, so I knew my day with Savannah would be safe.
I showered and dressed and tossed my breakfast into my WW bag. I started to write a note to Jack, but he woke up and I told him everything in person.
I left the house at 7:45 AM and headed to Weirs Beach where my WW Class is held.
Down another pound this week at Class That makes a total of nine pounds this month! I feel quite good about this. I have made adjustments in my eating plan and I think it is working for me.
After Class, I headed down to my daughter’s House. The kids had a half a day of classes there, so I drove down to spend the afternoon with Savannah.
I stopped at the local Shaws Supermarket to get a salad and found a prepackaged meal of baby back ribs for Jack and me for dinner. I decided to get that, as I knew I would be late getting back and that Jack would want a good meal for dinner. (I was right!)
I drove to Mandy’s after that, put my stuff in the fridge and then went out and sat on the wall near the driveway, to wait for Savi.
Oh my goodness! The sun was shining! The sky was blue and cloudless! As I sat I could feel the warmth of that sunshine on my head and face and I felt that Spring was finally here!
Then the School Bus turned down our street and stopped in front of where I had been sitting. I could see Savannah pop up after the bus was still, make her way forward, and wave goodbye to her friends and the driver after she reached my side. Then she threw her arms around me! (Melt)
10. We had lunch, we read books, Savannah learned how to tell time, and started the process of learning to lace shoes. We made Snapchat videos and took pictures, and then we did what all girls do. We went window shopping on Amazon.
11. We played with her two American Girl Dolls, that I’d given her the last two Christmas’s. Then we looked at Dolls, at Doll Clothes, At Dresses for her, at Toys and all sorts of things. What fun that was!
12. Then about 4:15 I allowed her to put on the TV. She was watching a little TV before her folks arrived home when it happened. She lost the remote! We searched high and low, but could not find it! I retraced her last steps. Bathroom, dining room to get a chair, and snack closet. Yep, there it was, inside the snack closet!
13. Mommy and Daddy and Quinn arrived home and I got hugs from them all, and then off I went to drive home. The ride was a little hairy due to the 45 mile an hour winds, that seemed to pick up my Toyota Highlander and toss it around. But I made it, and the pups and Jack were happy to see me.
1. Let’s talk about film scores/songs. What is the first one that you thought about when you saw today’s subject?
The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music.
Perhaps because I played Gretel in the Community Theater production as a child.
2. Do you remember the first movie you ever saw on the “big screen”? Would you tell us about it?
Goodness, I don’t really recall. I do remember seeing Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music early on in my life. I’m sure there were other’s but at the age of 60, the others seem insignificant.
3. Who is your favorite female movie star? Who is your favorite male movie star? Go ahead and list more than one if you must.
Favorite Female Movie Star: I loved Katherine Hepburn and Vivian Leigh. But I also love Meryl Streep. I swear that woman can do anything. I also enjoy, Diane Keaton and Allison Janney. For a Male Movie Star: Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson. Others I like are Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. There is a long list on both sides, really.
4. How about those old black & white movies! Which one do youalways stop and watch, even just a little, when channel surfing?
It’s A Wonderful Life.
5. Is there a movie quote that makes you laugh or one that you repeat often in life that you can share with us? Will, we know what movie it comes from without you telling us?
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! And I sing the rest of the quoted song!
6. Please share something random about your week with us.
I started looking at family pictures recently and when I saw this picture of my Grandfather Prussman’s sister, Katchen, I was blown away at the family resemblance with both my mother and me.
This is Katchen at about 4-5 years old. She had chestnut brown hair and big brown eyes. She was Papa’s baby sister and he adored her. She was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, came to Boston as a child, married and tragically died in the Influenza Epidemic of 1918.
This is my Mom. Light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a simple and sweet expression. Much like her Aunt Katchen. Mom was a shy woman, although many people would disagree with this. She volunteered for everything and she tried very hard to make people happy with her cooking and her way of welcoming people into her home.
And this is me. Lighter brown hair, and dark brown eyes. Papa often mentioned his sister Katchen to me, telling me that I had chocolate brown eyes just like his sister, and Grandma Honey remarked that I looked very much like her. I never thought about this until I held the three pictures together and I saw the familial link.
Since I never met Katchen I can only wonder about what she was like. She was best friends with my grandmother and very close until Katchen’s rather untimely death. I imagine that Katchen must have been a lot of fun since Grandma was.
I woke up this morning, listening to the whistling wind. I also felt cold as I lay in bed under my sheets, blankets, and comforter! Brrrrr!
I took a deep breath, and then I got out of bed, put on my slippers and a robe, and headed to the door. I admit I was dreading opening the door because the last two morning, Lili had been sick and I’d had to deal with poop before my first cup of coffee.
Today, I slowly opened the door to find a very happy Lili, no poop and after walking the dogs briefly in the 26 degrees, snowy weather, I had my first cup of coffee!
Now, I mention the icy cold temperatures, and snow, because this seems to be Mother Natures, April Fools Day joke on us! I mean, really, April 1st and winter weather? Ugh!
I’ve been having some computer issues, and this one is beyond me. I used to not worry, and just call a great guy and computer magician, Brad, but he has gone onto bigger and better things. So, today, I will have to call a new person and arrange a housecall. Ugh!
Otherwise, it’s just another Monday morning! Have a great day!
