A Good Start To A New Year

It’s simply amazing. Each day when I awaken I go in and check on the puppies.

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Most of the time they are asleep. Today, however, they were wide awake and actually standing up on their feet, looking like proper dogs! Not that they move around normally yet. They are exceptional crawlers, they also appear to be professional “moon-walkers”. You remember that dance move, right? You make actions like you are moving forward, all the while sliding your feet backwards. Well, the puppies do this very well. A few of them can go forward, and two of them now bark these adorable little barks!

My sister took this picture of me holding the babies when Greta was outside. Needless to say, she would never have allowed the shot, if she had been in the house!

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This is truly a wonderful way to start the New Year. With good health, sweet puppies and a little bit of snow, which fell on Saturday.

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Yes, 2007 may be a very good year.

New Year 2007

Ah my dear readers A Happy New Year to you all! I hope you spent your nights celebrating with good food, good drink, and good friends!

Now that we have hit 2007, I must confess that I have several New Years resolutions. I am counting on you all to keep me in line. So, in no particular order, here are my resolutions.

1. To lose the weight I have gained back. I won’t shock you by divulging the actual numbers, let’s just say it’s more than 5 pounds and much less than 100. LOL!

2. To get myself into shape. I can’t even come close to claiming I am in shape at all. You see, back in the day when I was 22 (you know yesterday), I could not exercise for weeks on end and then go out and do a long hike and not feel it at all. I will tell you that at the age of (gasp) 48 it is not possible to do this any more! I will be going to the health club with Hubby starting on January 2nd when they open.

3. To continue to grow out my hair. I have not had any real length to my hair since 1984. I decided that I wanted to grow it out one more time before I am too old.

4. To over come my fear of crowds and show the puppy I keep in AKC sanctioned shows, and not be upset when or if she doesn’t do well.

5. To successfully house train this puppy that I keep in record time! LOL

Lest I overwhelm myself with too much, I will stop here.

The Cute Factor

All is quiet in the blogosphere.

I actually had some time on Thursday to check out the Thursday Thirteen’s, and to go and visit some long neglected bloggers that I enjoy reading, but I was surprised to find that many people have taken the week off from work and from logging.

I guess you can call me either conscientious or compulsive, because here I am again. I think I would almost feel guilty if I missed a day. I’m sure you all would survive, but the real question here is, would I?

After finishing up my own Thursday Thirteen, and posting a short video of the little female pup, Anita, I started in on observing life, the universe and everything. By everything I mean the pups.

They are all growing by leaps and bounds. Angelika is well over 2 pounds and is as strong as a horse. All the other pups are either at 2 pounds or an ounce below. They are all as cute as can be and I am not looking forward to the day when I have to decide which of the girls will be staying with us. Just when I think I have one all picked out, one of the other girls does something really adorable and I am lost.

Emily was no help at all. She suggested I just keep them all! Now there, that would fix that problem!

For those who didn’t catch the video yesterday, scroll down and check it out. Anita put on quite a show and she is a nice looking little girl.

Meanwhile here are today’s ahhhhhhhhhhh pictures.

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Angelika

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Anneliese

Thursday 13 #34

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1. Friday, I kicked off my Christmas celebrations watching “A Christmas Story” with Hubby and Emily. Since Emily hadn’t seen it, it was really fun to watch it with her.
2. I then proceeded to watch “The Santa Claus” (first one), “Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer”, and “Miracle on 34th Street” while I wrapped, cooked and wrote letters.
3. Saturday, my cousin Janet came up and we watched “Scrooged” with Bill Murray (first time I’d seen it and I really liked it. then I put together a sort of appetizer’s delight of meatballs, artichoke dip (see recipe below), stuffed grape leaves and my own potato salad. I’d give you a recipe for that if I could, but it’s mostly a little bit of this and a little bit of that and then it’s done.
4. Janet and I made her Mom’s recipe for Sand Tart cookies. What was sort of funny about this was that when she sprinkled the colored sugar on them I kept almost seeing writing. Janet said, “Some people use Ouija boards, our family uses Christmas cookies.” But I never could read what was written on the cookies, still I know that they were speaking to me! Then we watched “Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest”. I love Orlando Bloom and Janet loves Johnny Depp so we can watch these sorts of movies without feelings of competition! LOL
5. Sunday we had a big breakfast, exchanged Christmas gifts, I got an awesome Beatles CD and a Lennox Christmas tree ornament, and Hubby got a bottle of Glenfiddich Scotch!
6. Then we took puppy pictures.

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7. Sunday afternoon, I prepared for evening guests. We were going to serve Fondue, so I got everything out for that, plus I made a pumpkin pie for Christmas day.
8. Emily and her family came over for dinner Christmas Eve. We ate like crazy, talked and, of course, played with the puppies!
9. Christmas Day I made an Herb Crusted Rib Roast (see recipe below). That was so good. I also watched “Little Women” “The Horse Whisperer” , “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “The Bishop’s Wife” with Cary Grant.
10. The next day my daughter Mandy came up and we had our Christmas. We ate a ton of food, exchanged gifts and played with the puppies! What fun.
11. We also took a bunch of pictures of the puppies too!
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12. I set up the two Christmas statuary that Mandy gave me. Snowmen that sing “Let it Snow”, and my church scene with two skaters that play a montage of Christmas tunes. (I adore this!)
13. I end the list of Christmas Happenings with the purchase of my Christmas cards for next year. I did this today when they were 60% off. I love to send cards, and unfortunately in this day and age it’s becoming pretty expensive. So, by buying them now I can continue to send them to all the people that I love.

Merry Christmas!



The Day After Christmas

The day dawn with a fresh dusting of heavy slushy snow. Poor Hubby was dispatched to clear the drive, while I prepared the house for my daughter’s visit. I was so excited about it and I could hardly wait to show her the puppies. Today their little eyes opened wide for the very first time. Little Anya, picked her head up and looked me square in the eye, and I had to laugh, as she looks so much like Greta when she does this.

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I finished getting packages wrapped and lunch ready, when Mandy arrived. We all sat down for Fondue and then we opened presents. I got so many wonderful things from a dachshunds calendar, to a couple of new turtlenecks, to a singing snowman set, to an electric lighted church with skaters out in front. It plays a series of Christmas carols in a beautiful music box fashion.

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I love this and I can see it becoming the centerpiece of my Christmas decorations for many years to come! Mandy also made me the most awesome gift basket with Christmas tree ornaments, stocking holders, The singing Snowmen and potpourri.

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After we finished opening gifts, we played with the puppies! Mandy really fell for them and if I turned around and I couldn’t find her, all I had to do was look and she was in with the pups!

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The puppies really love to be held, and now that their eyes are open they are so interested in who has them. Of course they are still small so their awake time isn’t too long and then they are back asleep.

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Our dinner meal was fresh Maine Lobster, corn on the cob and boiled potatoes, with a Yule Log for dessert. Yum!

The day ended all too soon, and Mandy packed up her car, and hit the road. What a great day. I really enjoyed having her here and look forward to her coming back.

Another Christmas is Past…..

I hope everyone had a great, happy and healthy Christmas. I hope your food was good, the presents great and the company you celebrated with even better!

It was just Hubby and me with our pups today and this was nice. Quiet and calm. I made a recipe for herb crusted prime rib of beef, with twice baked potatoes, butternut squash and boiled onions. I am waiting for that to digest before I attempt to eat dessert.

Meanwhile, I must tell you all about my favorite gift. My dearest friend Uschi, sent me a book from Germany. It is by my favorite artist Martin Blank. He draws pictures and write books about wire-haired dachshunds. His drawings make me think of my Greta and of course my old girl, Shubi.

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If you have a chance, go on over and take a look at his web page. It is in German, but click around and you will see some of the best drawings and I know they will tickle your heart!

The day is dying now, as the sun sets and the temperatures drop. I think it’s time for Hubby to lay a fire in the hearth and get ready for that New England Pumpkin Pie.

Herb-Crusted Standing Rib Roast

1 (4 1/2-pound) standing rib roast, trimmed
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns, cracked
2 teaspoons salt, divided
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup sliced shallots (about 2 medium)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon butter

Preheat oven to 450°.

Place roast on a rack coated with cooking spray; place rack in a roasting pan. Sprinkle roast evenly with pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; rub with mustard. Combine shallots and garlic in a mini food processor; pulse to coarsely chop. Add rosemary and thyme; process until finely chopped. Rub shallot mixture evenly over roast. Bake at 450° for 25 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350° (do not remove roast from oven). Bake roast at 350° for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 145° (medium-rare) or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Combine beef broth and red wine in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 2/3 cup (about 15 minutes). Take about 1/4 cup of this mixture and pour into roasting pan, swirl around and pour all the juices into the saucepan. Remove from heat; stir in butter and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Serve with the roast.