The Dackel Princess

What I Did This Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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Ah the weekend, when I plan to get all kinds of work done and enjoy the springtime! Saturday did prove to be a good working day for me. I got the curtains washed and rehung, the vacuuming done and the dusting done too. Do you know that the stones on the outside of my fireplace were dusty? I felt pretty good with what I’d accomplished.

Hubby was watching the March Madness Basketball (yuck) and I sat down to write my entry for Dackel Princess. Once I finished I was cruising through my computer and saw “Solitaire”. Hmmmm. I turned on the game and got started.

Has anyone ever told you that this game is addicting?

Now, I have never been a gamer, but I definitely enjoyed playing Solitaire!

On Sunday everything was going well until about 9:30 in the morning when I went to check my email. Nothing! Then I got error messages and then more nothing! This was a really serious, not good!!!

Panic! And a rather sick feeling in my stomach.

It took me most of the day to go in through the back door (main files on my hard drive) and download the documents to back them up. I was able to get a hold of my address books, and then, since I was already backing things up, I decided to keep my inbox cleaner and more organized.

First I removed my email program from the hard drive. Then I went back and used an older version of the program. You see, about 3 months ago I had gotten a notice to upgrade to the new and improved program! Ha! So that new program is now off my computer, and the old reliable one is back on!

I am so glad I saved the downloaded program!

It did take me most of the afternoon to get everything set up again, but it is up and running now and I am relieved. I think for this evening I might just sit down and relax and play a few more rounds of Solitaire!

Being Grateful

As you know, I have been spring cleaning my home. I have also been “spring cleaning” my computer. You know, backing up pictures, documents and such. During this process, I came across a file with a post I had written last year when we were on our way back from our cruise.

It was December 20th, and we flew from San Juan Puerto Rico to Atlanta, Georgia, where we proceeded to get stuck, as there was a blizzard in Boston, our final destination.

As most of you will remember, ( HERE & HERE ) this is the trip where my retina detached at the airport in Atlanta and Hubby had to drive me back north, dropping me with my sister in Connecticut who brought me the rest of the way to the hospital.

Anyway, I digress.

Before the retina detached, while we sat waiting for a plane to take off out of Atlanta for Boston, I was sitting in the terminal with my trusty laptop writing my next entry of Dackel Princess, and it was this entry that I forgot all about until I was “spring cleaning my computer. Gosh, this is a long winded explanation!

Here is that entry:

We are on our way home from Paradise! Our trip was so relaxing and both Hubby and I had a good time. I am still worried about his foot, but I was able to call the doctor from St. Thomas and arrange an appointment for the 24th at 10 AM. The consensus on the ship is that it may be a bone spur, but we shall see. (It wasn’t he had a small piece of metel in his foot!)
We were so lucky to have excellent table-mates for dinner. They were a couple from California. He is an ex-Marine and she is the former editor and chief of McCalls, who is currently freelance writing for food magazines. We got along so well.
I was quite careful when I was out in the sun and only just got a wee bit. Enough so I look healthy, but no sunburn at all.
We had a bit of a go round with the customer service when we were trying to arrange to get off the ship early so we could make our flight. Everyone said it could not be done, but….my young German Purser told us where to go this morning to await the early disembarking. We were there, and sure enough we were able to go ashore before anyone else, and get to the airport for the early flight to Atlanta. Currently, both New York and Boston airports are closed, but I am hopeful that they will open later and we can get home. If not then we will spend the night in Atlanta and try to get up to Boston tomorrow.
Okay, now down to my favorite things about this trip. First I loved the linen shops. I bought several new embroidered table clothes, with matching napkins. They are quite lovely and were very inexpensive!
Tortola was a truly impoverished country and that made it a bit tough to see. If you have money then your house is nice and you have hired help. If you have little or no money then you live in a lean-to shack. Tortola is quite mountainous with more hairpin turns than I have seen in a while.
Antigua was interesting and we learned quite a bit about it. We had a wonderful tour guide who told us all about the history of the island as well as showed us around. For those of you who follow rock music, we got to see Eric Clapton’s home, as well as the rehab facility that he built to help his music and acting friends. Our guide Christine told us all about Christmas on Antigua and that was quite interesting, too. The Antiguans are very family oriented and their celebrations are centered around that.
Antigua was also a major area for ship repair for the British. The interesting thing for us was that the trees cut down in the New England area would be brought to Antigua and made into masts for the British ships.
St. Lucia, although not my favorite island, offered us a chance to go to see an inactive volcano. It is still steaming and bubbling, but has not erupted in hundreds of years. We also observed two spherical cone mountains. The Botanical gardens were beautiful and I took the time to snap a lot of pictures of the flowers there.
But my favorite island continues to be Barbados. In Barbados, the Bajans work hard and their island is clean and tidy. Buildings are freshly painted and there is no begging. They are a friendly and polite people and I truly love it there. We did not take a formal tour there because we have visited the island before and driven all around it. This time we simply walked the downtown area of Bridgetown and observed Bajan life. I was not disappointed.
Our day at sea afforded us time to kick back and relax, pack our bags and even go for a swim. Then we went to bed early and got up in time to eat breakfast before leaving the ship.
Of course, currently the airports up north are closed due to the snow, but sometime in the next 24 hours we will get home.
Meanwhile I will read magazines, type some stories and generally try to kill time until I can send off a few emails.

Now, after I wrote that, we ate lunch, and then as we walked through the terminal, my retina detached and our plans changed. Looking back, I am so very lucky, that the doctor could repair my retina and that I have vision.

I guess if it had to have happened, after the cruise was better than at the start!

Groceries

Friday found Hubby helping me do the shopping. I had so much to get and really needed his help. You see, this wasn’t fun shopping, it was necessary shopping.

We bought dog food and laundry soap and Kleenex and drinks. Bread, milk, eggs and cheese, and the biggest purchase of vegetables and fruit.

We both noted how prices had gone up and tried our best to make good choices in order to keep to our budget, but it wasn’t easy!

I started to think that perhaps I need to plant a bigger vegetable garden this year. I’ll be planting, zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, tomatoes, two kinds of cucumbers, eggplant, and beans. I also would like to have a little patch of herbs. Specifically Basil, which is my favorite!

We drove home and unpacked our haul, and then sat quietly, and talked before dinner. I was happy that on Friday all I had to do for dinner was warm up a bunch of leftovers.

As I looked outside after dinner I noticed the most beautiful moon that we have seen in a long while.

Now I am tired and so I will say, “Good Night Moon!”

Friday Fill-Ins

And…here we go!

1. I love to go to Germany because it feels like home.

2. I breed dogs carefully. It’s the quality and health of the dog that is most important to me!

3. The last thing I had to eat was a Weight Watchers Dark Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Bar.

4. Things are is no longer essential. What is truly important to me are my family and friends and their well being!

5. Please take a moment to Remember all in Japan who have died, and who are suffering.

6. My faith in God is what has have brought me you this far.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to A quiet evening with Hubby, after a long and crazy week, tomorrow my plans include taking down the curtains in the family room and washing them. Big job! and Sunday, I want to take one day to organize a few things. I guess I need a day just to think!

Have a great Weekend, Everyone!

Friday Fill-Ins are sponsored by my cousin Janet. Come on and join the fun!

Thursday Thirteen

Once again, on Wednesday we had more snow! So this week’s Thursday Thirteen is all about the snow! Again!

When I got up to go to Weight Watchers on Wednesday morning, it was very lightly snowing. I wondered if they would cancel class, but they didn’t
So I tossed my gear in the Jeep and off I went to class.
At first I thought that the class would be a small one, but almost everyone showed up.
I did not do well this week, which bummed me out!
However, it made me feel determined to persevere and do better next week!
I got out of class and started to drive home in the heavy snow. The roads were covered and it was not a good thing.
I did have the Jeep in 4-wheel drive, a seat belt on, and I drove slowly.
I felt the Jeep skid a few times, but I remained calm. (Well, sort of!)
I stopped to get the mail and newspaper.
Then drove carefully back to our home.
Where the snow continued to fall.
Hubby called and told me that the roads were bad where he was (on a major highway).
We canceled all plans and will stay in for the rest of the night.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What would you do if you found a pot of gold? Let’s pretend this pot of gold is worth exactly $1500 (which would actually be more like a cup of gold at current values). Anyway, let’s also pretend you have to spend it as opposed to making a donation someplace. Now tell me what you would do with that cup pot of gold?

I would go on a cruise. I would just hop on the next cruise ship and go. I would lie in the sun and relax!

2. Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in any way, shape, or form?

I cook traditional corned beef and cabbage, with carrots and potatoes! This year I found the best corned beef called “gray corned beef”. It’s not as salty and it is not made with preservatives!

3. Have you been bitten by the Spring Cleaning bug? What spring cleaning job most needs doing at your house? What spring cleaning job are you most dreading?

Oh I have and it’s a terrible thing! I’ve been doing curtains and windows and mopping floors and dusting like crazy! Most of the rooms are not bad, but the office is still horrible! So I am dreading that.

4. lime-shamrock-sage-forest…your favorite shade of green?

Mint green. I wanted to use it for the font, but it would simply not be seen. I love mint green, it it so pretty. In general I think I do like pastels the best.

5. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” So…do you believe in luck or do you believe we make our own luck?

I guess I believe more in destiny. I used to believe in luck, but then I keep seeing bad things happen for no reason at all. After a while I started to believe that sometimes things just happen.

6. Monday (3/14) was Pi Day. Get it? Pi =3.14. Those math types are so clever aren’t they? Since I’m not one of them tell me what’s your favorite piE (the edible kind).

Oh my all time favorite pie is banana cream pie. The one I was thinking about was made by a little old Swedish lady, Mrs Anderson, in the town near where Hubby and I lived when we first were married. Oh she made the best banana cream pie ever! The other kind of pie that I LOVE is pumpkin pie. That I can actually make myself and it comes out really well. Oh yeah, I am a pie girl!

7. That same date (3/14) happens to be the birth-date of the late physicist Albert Einstein. I bet he knew the value of Pi. So…what do you think is more important and or valuable in life… intelligence or common sense?

Common sense. I have seen and known many people who are incredibly intelligent, and yet they have no idea how to treat people. How very sad it is for them and those that love them.

I’m a common sense girl, and I can relate to people fairly well. (Although I admit here and now that there have been a few that I have totally not been able to “get”.) Being able to love, comfort, support and empathize with people is so important.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Joanne will being having surgery to replace her skull flap (this was removed after her stroke to relieve pressure) on March 24. She will also be moving to the Rehab Facility she will stay at until she can go home. Things are progressing well for her, and this week her sister even posted a wonderful picture where we got to see Joanne’s beautiful face!

I ask for you all to continue to keep Joanne in your prayers and remember her especially on March 24th.

Is It Spring?

My house is starting to look good. Again today I took time to work on some Spring cleaning. Today it meant that I picked things up and put things away. Did you ever notice how when you are busy or preoccupied that you will lay something down and forget it.

For instance, our newspaper has the habit of ending up on the floor between Hubby and I on Sunday. It will sit there, waiting for one of us (read that as me) picks it up and puts it in the newspaper bundle.

Today, needless to say I picked up the newspaper, sorted through the magazines and even changed the sheets on the bed, and did three loads of laundry! Why I was feeling totally productive and amazing! (I am patting myself on my back here!)

Hubby came home for lunch and I even got that done without a glitch.

Do you think I am so active due to the longer days and increase in the light? All I know is that the clocks went forward and my mood brightened and I have been moving right along with all of my work!

Our snow is melting and I need to move the stones I laid down last fall to keep Fritz from digging up the bulbs, so that the flowers can bloom!

Ah, Spring! I love Spring! And all of the wonderful things that come with it!

What I Did This Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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What happens to the weekends? This one seemed to fly by! I woke on Friday thinking it was already Saturday, which was fine. I told myself, I would have two days after that to enjoy!

However on Saturday we were up early so that we could eat and stop at the Post Office before going to attend our yearly School Budget Meeting. We got to the meeting early enough to get good parking, checking in, saw many of our friends, and then sat and listened to a lot of angry voices before the three and a half hour meeting ended and we all left to go home.

After the meeting Hubby and I came back to our happy doggies and I made chicken enchiladas, which actually came out quite well. It was another “fund raising” weekend on PBS, so no episode of “From Lark Rise to Candleford”, but there were several good episodes of NCIS rerunning on TV, so we watched those.

I went around the house turning the clocks forward on Saturday night, and then went to bed.

Since I decided to get into the Spring Mood, after breakfast on Sunday morning, I got to work taking down the drapes in our bedroom, and then while they washed, I cleaned all the windows and dusted and vacuumed the room. The project was a big one, and it took me all day, but at the end of the day, I looked at the room, smiled with satisfaction, and knew that one room was done, and only six more to go!

As I sat down after dinner I realized that the weekend was over! Tomorrow I will wake up and it will be the start of a new week.

I ask again…where does the time go? Especially weekends?

Looking Forward

I was sitting listening to all the bickering at the Town Meeting today and soon I found myself zoning out. By this I mean, I just stopped listening to the bitter words, and started dreaming about some of the things that I am looking forward to this year.

Next week I go down to visit my girl friend and her new wire-haired dackel puppies! I can hardly wait to see those precious babies! Their Daddy is the same Daddy that Greta’s babies had. (In other words, he is Arnie and Anneliese’s Daddy) I will take pictures of their adorable cute-ness!

April, we will go to an event where local restaurants come together for charity to present “The Taste of the Lakes”. It’s a fun event and the food is always delicious! Many of our friends also will be there, and I am really looking forward to that!

April, is also our 23 wedding anniversary. I am really happy that after all these years, we are still happy, still friends, and still in love with each other. Lucky us!

Easter, will bring my cousin Janet and her boy-friend, Dave here for Easter. They’re bringing with them Dave’s daughter and grandsons!

May, brings Hubby’s birthday. He doesn’t celebrate it any more, but I sure do. We will definitely have some sort of celebration!

June will be Hubby’s 50th college reunion. We’ll go back to his college and celebrate with old friends. It’s a lovely college in the mountains.

August is my 35th reunion from High School. We’ll be going to that on Cape Cod, and I am hoping for good weather which will give me one or two beach days.

September is another Army gathering in upstate New York, and we will be driving to that as well.

October, Anneliese should be going into heat and I will drive her to Upstate New York and she will breed with an adorable boy named Joeri.

November, I have yet another birthday! Fifty three. Now how did that happen?

December will bring a new batch of babies! Making it a great way to end the year!

And then the Moderator banged the gavel, and I was back in the High School Gym and it was time to vote again. Three and a half hours later, Hubby and I came home!

Then I went back to daydreaming!

Gray Day

What can I say, Friday was one of those very cool, gray days. It rained, we had fog and I had no desire to go outside for any reason. I did force myself to walk the dogs, but hurried back in to dry off.

In order to increase my culinary skills, I tried to butterfly a pork loin for the very first time. It came out okay, but really I will need to practice more. I made a fruit stuffing and once I rolled it all up and baked it, it came out pretty well.

Greta wasn’t feeling too well on Friday and I spent a lot of time just sitting holding her. Now she seems back to normal, so I’m thinking I was had! Oh well, I’d do anything for my doggies.

Today is our School Board Meeting. It’s the yearly one, where the three towns that are in our co-operative get together and vote the budget. Last year our town was mugged by the smaller town in the co-op, and our taxes soared. I hope this year there are enough people who are angered over this, and will come to vote down the proposed increases.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my teachers and I respect what they do, but right now, no one is getting a raise, the economy stinks, prices everywhere are going up and I think we all have to work together to keep costs down.

Especially in a co-operative school system where the numbers of enrolled students is going down.

I sure hope that today’s meeting is not the blood bath that last years was.

I’m bringing my knitting and a snack as the meeting is at 10 AM.

Can you tell I am less than thrilled?