The Dackel Princess

Those of you who have been with me for a while will recall that I do not have the Midas touch with thinks like, computers, coffee makers, watches, TV’s or printers. In fact my theory is, that I have some sort of electrical disturbance within me which causes things to just blow up, malfunction or quit.

Tonight Hubby was trying to print some documents and suddenly we noted that all the laptops on the network had their print drivers changed.So none of our computers were speaking to our old Hewlett Packard PS1000 printer.

After about a half an hour of trouble shooting I decided to remove the installed printers (there were like four PS1000 printers installed on each machine, so throwing caution to the wind, I did the remove and then a fresh install.

I then held my breath and printed a test page from each computer. One, two, three, and it printed off of one machine, and then the other.

Now this made me feel pretty good. However, both Hubby and I are operating on Windows XP, which of course will not be supported very soon. Call me disappointed! This Toshiba Laptop is the first laptop I have had that did not die on me.

Enjoy

I get tired. Therefore, I didn’t always make it up to 11:30 to see some of the events that actually happened hours before at the Olympics. I was really looking forward to watching Meryl and Charlie at the Exhibition at the very end of the games. I love Ice Dancing, but I fell into a deep sleep about 9:30 that night.

Today I was sent this link from The Meryl and Charlie website. I finally got to see their beautiful, romantic performance! Go ahead, take a look!

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

1 spray(s) cooking spray
2 large uncooked carrot(s), Diced
1 large uncooked onion(s), Diced
4 tsp garlic clove(s), Diced
4 cup(s) (chopped) uncooked cabbage (all varieties), or spinach or escarole
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup(s) uncooked celery, 2 stalks chopped
1/2 large sweet red pepper(s), Chopped
1 large uncooked zucchini, Diced
6 cup Swanson Beef Broth, Reduced Sodium
14 oz Hunts Tomatoes, Diced, No Salt Added
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup Birds Eye Fresh Frozen Select Vegetables Cut Green Beans
Instructions:
Spray a Dutch oven with cooking spray and heat on medium high. Add the carrots, onion , celery, red pepper, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients except the zucchini and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the beans are tender. Add the zucchini and cook until tender. The following were not in the original recipe: Celery, diced tomatoes, and red peppers.

This is such a yummy and filling soup!

Private Drive

It was a bad day on Wednesday. It seemed every time I turned around I was presented with a new frustration.

I had a women using my driveway to sneak into her own. Our driveway is private, and we share it with only one neighbor, although a few others will use it. Now I don’t usually care if she does this, but I was in a bad mood and the fact that I had to get out of my car (in the cold and on slippery ice) only to have her tell me to get out of her way, well, lets just say it made me even more upset.

Then I felt bad because I had been a bit terse with her, and I nearly stopped in at her house to apologize, but then I thought, “she and her husband use our driveway to get out to the main road, yet they do not contribute to the plowing and upkeep of the driveway.” In fact, her husband has a plow and has never offered to plow out the drive.

Still I feel bad for being so abrupt.

Then we had two young people walk down our driveway, so they could walk to the beach. As I said above, we have a private drive, and our driveway ends. It does not go to the beach. Yet, what did the lovers walking hand and hand do? They tried to walk through the waist deep snow toward the beach. (Which is down hill. A bit dangerous!)

I saw them first and asked them to turn around, but like two kids being caught with their hand in the cookie jar, they tried to sprint away down hill, which was sort of impossible because of the deep snow. Hubby heard me, and came out, and waved them back up the drive.

Then, I told myself I needed to calm down and just let it all go. So, I came in and worked on making a nice dinner. Cooking soothes me and by the time I finished making dinner, I felt much better.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What is something you’ll never forget about the age you are right now?

The search for answers as to why I have been so sick, and actually having been the sickest ever in my life.

2. What’s a household chore you’ve never done? How have you managed that???

I can’t think of anything, short of plumbing. Hubby’s Dad was a plumber, so Hubby handles everything under the sinks. Aside from this I have done everything, including taking care of Hubby’s fruit trees.

3. Does nature shape our personalities more than nurture? Explain?

I have watched puppies grow. Pups that are not nurtured by their mother’s will fade and die. If their mother nurtures them, in loving supportive ways, that pup will thrive and grow and become a wonderful dog. I have also witnessed when a pup is taken from the mother too soon, and then raised by people who think a dog is a dog and not their baby. Our Shubi (my first wire-haired dackel) was treated like a baby. She was warm and friendly and the sweetest thing. The people who had her brother lamented that he was not as nice or sweet like Shubi. I noticed that where Shubi slept with us and always sat in my lap, her brother Toni was put in a basket in the breezeway at night. He wasn’t allowed in laps, and he was treated like a dog. Yes. In Shubi’s case it was nurture over nature.

4. Friday (February 28th) is ‘Something on a Stick Day’…funny because Zoanna over at A Penchant for Pens recently sent me an idea for a question relating to this topic. What’s your favorite food eaten on a stick?

My Weight Watcher frozen cookies and cream bar dipped in dark chocolate! Oh I just love that!!!

5. Which of your five senses do you treasure most, and why?

My vision. Probably because I have nearly lost it a few times. I’ve had the retinas in both eyes detach, and you are literally left in the dark. The last time it happened I was about to become a grandmother. I was afraid I would not see my grand-baby. Now, I look at my beautiful daughter and granddaughter and feel so so blessed to have my vision.

6. What’s the best music, theater, or sporting venue you’ve been to? What made it great?

We went to the Opera in Budapest. I’d never been to the Opera and this was the most wonderful experience of my life (musically). We saw Tosca! I shall never forget it.

7. It’s the last week of the month…in five words or less bid adieu to your February.

Learn, Assert, Seek, Health, Care.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Tuesday I am cooking Pork Fried Rice and Moo Goo Gai Pan. Should these two recipes prove to be good ones, I will share. I love Chinese food, and I would love to learn how to cook this food at home.

The Ride To & From The Vets

Frost Heave
In. New England
A section of ruptured pavement caused by the expansion of freezing water immediately under the road. Also called regionally frost boil.

Pot·Hole
1. a deep hole; pit.
2.a hole formed in pavement, as by excessive use or by extremes of weather.
3.a more or less cylindrical hole formed in rock by the grinding action of the detrital material in eddying water.
4.a cave opening vertically from the ground surface.

Sink·Hole
A low area or hole in the ground that is formed especially when soil and rocks are removed by flowing water

Today was the day that I took all three dackels into the Vets for their yearly shots. Needless to say, with Lyme Disease all about us, I wanted to make sure they got their booster shots as well as their Rabies shots.Hubby was sweet and wanted to drive us and help me out with rotating one dog after another into see the Vet.

We took the main highway over and that wasn’t too bad, but when we turned off ity to drive the 8 miles into the Vet’s Office, we found some really bad Frost Heaves. Hubby handled them well, and we made it in okay, but I swear we all were a little bit shook up by the time we arrived.

The appointment went well, and soon we were on our way home. Hubby decided to take the shortest route, which is also known as “the back way”. Well, this was even worse as we not only had Frost Heaves, but Pot Holes! Now when I say “Pot Holes” I mean we came over a hill and there was a giant “Pot Hole” that verged on a “Sink Hole“.

Hubby jammed on his brakes and veered off to the left, thus saving us from the hole and scaring both me and the dackels! However he did save our lives and I am grateful.

Due to the fact that we had to drive home slowly on these terrible back roads, I did not get back in time to make Chinese food. That was moved to Tuesday, and on Monday I simply made Fondue.

I think I am still recovering from Pot Hole & Frost Heave & Sink Hole Hell!

My Weekend

Did you ever have one of those lifetimes? I kid you not. The last few days have been kind of rough from a bump and bang point of view.

The other day I bashed my index toe on my left foot and split the nail in half. OMG the pain on that was pretty bad. But, I cleaned it up and wrapped it in a dressing and have been wearing my sandals around the house. This morning I can actually say that it looks good.

Then tonight I was loading the dishwasher and when I opened the door it popped back up at me catching the nail on my right index finger and jamming it into my nail bed. The pain and the blood were not good. But since my husband is sort of sick of my disasters, I just went in and cleaned up the finger and wrapped it up. But I gotta tell you, this also hurts like heck.

I sort of wonder if these accidents are because I am so worried about the Lyme Disease. I know I am distracted, but darn, that silly dishwasher just has it in for me!

Today I take the three dackels in for their yearly shots. The girls always do well, but I worry a little bit for Arnie as he tends to have a little reaction each time he has his rabies shot. I’ll have to mention this to the Vet.

Lastly, I got all our laundry done yesterday, but when I was cleaning the lint trap I noticed a screw was missing from the holder. I searched and searched and could not find it. I was really worried. But this morning while folding up a pile of rags I found the screw twisted in the loose strings of one of the rags. Yay! I immediately took it down and put it back in the machine!!!

All About Me

I have had a rotten day. Well, actually not fully rotten, but since I had hoped to see Mandy and Savannah today and didn’t, well call me disappointed.

I haven’t been feeling well for a while. In fact it’s been a long while. I didn’t know why I was, but I just thought that I kept getting the flu. Over and over I was getting sick with severe flu-like symptoms and terrible high fevers (103.6). Most of all, joint arthralgias that have left me nearly unable to move.

I finally have reached the point where I knew if I was going to get better I needed to be assertive and fight for answers.

I’ve done research, read books and gone over my records with a fine tooth comb. Finally it all fell together and I realized what was wrong with me. I armed myself with pictures, records, and such and went in to see my regular doctor last week.

After going through everything, including a bulls-eye rash on my leg 2 years ago, my doctor and I are more than convinced that it is Lyme Disease. Since it was left untreated at the start it has become severe.

I have almost no immune system left, and I get sick almost as soon as I am off antibiotics. So when I heard that both Mandy and Savannah were ill, we postponed the visit.

Truthfully, today was a bad day health-wise. I ached and felt weak, had a fever and had to force myself to get things done.

So, Gentle Readers, I will be sent to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, for evaluations and treatment options.

I’ve been reluctant to write about this, but at this point, I needed to get it out. Perhaps so when I don’t write as I normally do, you will understand and forgive me. Writing Dackel Princess has been a true joy for me since I began in May of 2005. I fear it will be a long road to recovery, but I am willing to fight back.

Short & Sweet

Hubby and I went out today to get the grocery shopping done. It was a crappy day, but Hubby was convinced that the stores would be empty and we’ve breeze in and out.

How wrong he was. The stores were packed and this meant it took us forever to get the shopping done. Worse than that was driving back home, we got his with a fierce hail storm. Unbelievable!

We finally got in, and I raced in so I could walk the dogs and get them their dinner. Hubby was a doll and brought up all the groceries. Of course I still had to put it all away, but that’s okay.

Tomorrow my girls are coming for lunch. I can hardly wait!