The Dackel Princess

The Weekend Wrap

This was a busy weekend for me. I went down to visit, play with, and enjoy my grandchildren and their parents. Before Mandy and Matt went out for dinner and a movie, I sat talking with them. I love that. It is always interesting to hear their views on things and they always leave me with things to consider.

They departed and I went up to the Lego room, where the three of us played Legos for well over an hour. Mandy also has Alexa and I admit it was very fun to ask “Alexa, play Magic by David Paton and Pilot”! And she replied “Playing Magic by David Paton and Pilot” and the song played. I asked Savannah if she had ever heard this song, and she said, she had on a commercial. Smart kid!

Dinner was fun, Mac & Cheese for Savi and Quinn wanted chicken noodle soup. Chicken noodle soup? I didn’t even know he knew what that was! But he did and he loves it!

I ate something new. Italian chicken meatballs. They were 3 points for 4 meatballs. So, I cooked 8 thinking 6 points wasn’t too bad for the protein portion of my dinner. Then, while eating with the kids, Quinn asked if he could have one of my meatballs. He loved it and had two!

I always love being with the kids because I learn more and more about them and I feel that special bonding.

This time was so wonderful. In the evening, Quinn covered my legs with a blanket and then climbed up and sat right in my lap, snuggling.

Quinn and me. Well, that’s my sweater behind his head!

I have never been one of those grandmothers that demand affection from their grandchildren. When they want it, I am here. Well, this time Quinn wanted me and I was there. On Sunday morning as I was getting ready to leave he told me how much fun it was to hang out with me! Friends, that was the frosting on my grandmother’s cake!

I stopped to get some groceries and arrived home to dogs who were happy to see me. In fact, Arnie hadn’t eaten much while I was gone. After a bit, they were all back to normal.

We got some interesting news from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Punxsutawney, Pa. – The results are in: On Groundhog Day 2020, in Gobbler’s Knob, Punxsutawney Phil could not find his shadow. And as the legend goes, this means we’re in for an Early Spring.

Courtesy MSN

The Pennsylvania Groundhog isn’t the only weather-predicting rodent in this quirky American tradition, but he is the most famous.

And according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, his opinion is the only one that matters.

This is only the 20th time out of 124 in his recorded history (there are 10 years where no record remains) that Phil hasn’t been able to find his shadow.

Even so, Phil is usually wrong, and meteorologists aren’t too sure Phil’s suspicions are right either.

But it is fun to watch all the same. There is a funny movie with Bill Murray called “Groundhog Day” that will make you laugh.

So, that was my weekend. A good one all around.

I’m Off

Taking a break today so I can go down and see my grandchildren. I’ll be back Sunday and hopefully, I will get something up.

Meanwhile, everyone, have a great day!

The Friday Five

It’s funny, but after doing a Thursday Thirteen, doing a Friday Five is a tad tricky! Since this is the last Friday in January, here we go!

I have found a group of ladies who do Vlogs on Youtube. Mostly they are focusing on the Harry and Meghan situation, but they also cover various other things happening in England and Canada. Call me intrigued. I listen to their entries nearly every day.
A friend mailed us a Christmas gift from Hamburg Germany in the middle of December for Christmas. The package, with a beautiful teacup and teapot, arrived today! And people say our Postal Service is bad. In any case, the tea set is beautiful!
I made another batch of Vegetable and Chicken Soup. This is so easy and so good. And only 1 point a serving!
I watched a little TV, but then noticed that in less than one week the dust I worked so hard to rid my house of, was back! Out came the dust cloth and my house is once again dust free. Well, for another few days!
My new prescription came back in my much-loved glasses frames. It’s amazing how much better I can see! Call me one very happy lady!

So that is all for this week. I am off to see Savannah and Quinn over the weekend and I can hardly wait. It’s been far too long!

My beloved, Mr. Arnie!

Thursday Thirteen

As predicted my Wednesday was a long, busy day. So, this week I thought I would do a Thursday Thirteen. Here we go!

I woke up far too early on Wednesday. 5 AM! I wanted to go back to sleep, but my nerves got me, and I got up.
Although I do not eat or drink anything until after my weigh-in, I made the coffee and sat down to catch up on my email and Facebook.
I wanted to watch “This Is Us” on-demand, but I didn’t quite have enough time, so I put it off until Wednesday night.
Eventually, I showered and dressed, made my breakfast, put it in the thermos and by 7:45 I was out the door.
I arrived at WW Class. I am almost always the first one with the exception of the woman who weighs us in, Tami.
As you can see I have done very well for the month of January.

I am so proud of all my hard work. Losing weight is not easy, but if you really work on it, it can be done!
After class, I felt like I was walking on air, and I did a little grocery shopping and then came home. I didn’t have a lot of time to kill, but just enough so I could make take-along lunches for Jack and me.
We drove down to Manchester, NH and after a series of about six turns, we arrived at Dr. H.’s Office.
I was put through a series of preliminary tests, a complete medical history was taken, and then I was led into another exam room where I met with Dr. H.
She is an amazing doctor, and she did a complete exam before ordering a “Field of Vision” and a picture of my “Optic Nerve“.
After those tests, I was shown into her other office, and she completed the exam and then went over the results.
I have Intra-Ocular Hypertension. It is the beginning of Glaucoma. So far the tests indicate that my “Optic Nerve” looks okay, and the “Field of Vision” was close to normal. I am starting drops and hopefully, this will bring my pressures down (currently they are 26 in each eye) and I can avoid any other problems.
I go back in one month for a recheck, and it is hoped that the daily drops will do the trick. All in all, the day was busy, but with only really positive results!

Another Day

Today will be a busy day. I have a WW class in the morning, with a new weigh-in, and then in the afternoon, I will be going to see the Glaucoma Specialist, Dr. H.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about the eye doctor’s appointment. My stomach was in knots all of Tuesday. I’ve tried to remain calm, but it just isn’t working. Oh well, it will be what it is and I will simply have to do what I can to control it if I can.

The microwave is not too bad. I typed out a cheat sheet for the powers and the directions and so far so good. Because it is a higher-powered machine we will really need to be careful.

So, I am off to accomplish great things on this Wednesday. I am hopeful I will have great things to report tomorrow!

My New Microwave

For several days Jack and I have been grousing back and forth about the need for a new microwave. Our old one is 20+ years old and has all sorts of little quirks that make me nervous to live in a house with it.

One of the quirks was that the blasted thing would turn on an hour or two after being used. I kid you not. Yesterday we were sitting here watching the TV and all of a sudden the microwave turned on.

Well, that just sort of did it for me. I went on a measured rant about how this thing was going to cause a fire and we would all die!

I know, a little over the top. But honestly, this twenty-year-old machine that we bought for about $75.00 owed us nothing!

In the late afternoon, Jack was going to Lowes for some hardware to fix another household project, and I said, listen if you see a microwave that’ll work, why don’t you just buy it!

We took measurements and off Jack went. He called a while later and gave me a model number to lookup. The machine looked good. I said to go for it. However, he never said yes or no.

A while later the garage opened and I heard noises that indicated he was trying to carry something up the stairs. I opened the door and assisted him with the huge box!

Our new machine is installed and working great, with the exception of a rather curious coded way to run it. Apparently, in the modern world, we now live in using the words START and STOP are things of the past. They now use:

This is what you use for Stop

This is what you use for Go.

Now, I’d like to think I am fairly bright, and usually I pick these things up pretty easily, (I was able to set the clock easily!) but the operation of this microwave is pretty convoluted. Tomorrow I will type up a cheat sheet for the things that Jack and I use a microwave for. Like full power. You’d think that would be Power 100 right? As in 100% power. Wrong. It’s Power 10.

However, it weighs less than the other machine by about half, does not turn itself on without programming and It really is much stronger power-wise than the old one. (That was a 1000 watt microwave and this is 1200 watt.)

Our next thing to learn is actually how to set this to reheat. I’m sure the setting is there, but who knows what series of keys I will have to strike for that?

The machine is nice and pretty and actually fits the space better than the last one did. So, all in all, I am happy about it and in six months I will have it all figured out.

The Weekend Wrap

Our weekend was a fairly quiet one. On Saturday we watched another season of “Homeland” as we near the return and last season of this great show. I sure will miss Claire Danes, as Carrie Mathison. She really made me like this rather wild and crazy CIA Agent.

Also watching Homeland again, makes you realize how relevant the story still is today.

I was so shocked and saddened to hear about Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash, which caused his and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gianna’s death.

God Bless them both and may they rest in peace.

I’m not sure that there are words to convey how truly tragic this is. So very sad for everyone involved.

He was a nice guy and did many good things for charity, as well as have an amazing career. So very sad.

We had warmer temperatures over the weekend which was good as we finally got our driveway free of ice and snow.

And lastly, on Wednesday I will see the Glaucoma Specialist. I’m a little nervous about this, but it is what it is, and I need to do what she says to get the pressures down.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Seven Things I Love

1. French Onion Soup. Made with Gruyere Cheese and baked until the cheese browns. Totally worth the time to make and so very yummy!

2. Wiener Schnitzel with potato pancakes and asparagus. A favorite German meal, but one I do not cook too often.

3. Lobster. As I have said, Lobster is my all-time favorite! I would eat it more often if it weren’t so expensive.

4. Chocolate dipped strawberries. Does it get any better than this?

5. Peppermint Bark. I remember the first time I tried it. Soooo good! And it is now a lifelong addiction!

6. Pizza. Almost any kind. My actual favorite is Eggplant Pizza. My least favorite is Pepperoni.

7. Ribs! I love barbecue ribs. I have a recipe for the best barbecue ribs and I used to make it often. Now I am on WW I think I won’t be eating these much at all.

Well, here is this week’s list. I decided to make it a list of some of my favorite foods. What about you?

Dust

As the weekend neared, our temperatures began to moderate some. we actually had some melting in the drive and on our back patio. Jack decided to clean up the yard a bit and make the doggy run area a bit wider.

My work was washing the master bedroom and family room. Since I’ve been laid up for a while the dust was deep. So out came the Clorox Wipes and everything got wiped down. Tomorrow will be vacuuming day. Both the family room and the bedroom, and probably the kitchen too.

I expect that we will watch another marathon viewing of Homeland. We’ve really enjoyed watching the older episodes as we wait for the new ones.

The birds have been busy at the feeders, and I really enjoy watching them. I find such peace with that.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

The Friday Five

Well, here we are, the fourth Friday in January. This is one long month as we will have a fifth Friday next week! It’s been a busy week for me. I had to do a lot of driving, and the saving grace to it all was that we had a beautiful sunny day. So here we go. This week’s Friday Five!

Have I mentioned that I have a Raven that lives in my yard? He arrived last Spring and has stayed. He has been a calming influence in the yard. When I get to the point of changing the suet feeders I toss the smaller pieces on the ground for him.
New Hampshire has quite a bit of snow right now and I doubt it will be going anywhere. We’ve had exceptionally cold days and nights. In fact, we will need our oil tank filled again pretty soon.
Anneliese had her Ophthalmologist appointment on Wednesday. He told me what I pretty much knew. She doesn’t see much in the way of objects anymore. She sees light and dark. Large objects have only a rough shape and no real definition. The only good news is that what is wrong with her is not something that would be passed to her children. Arnie has great eyesight and so far I have not heard from the puppy owners of any problems. Anneliese’s were caused by injury and then infection. In any case, Anneliese is a happy girl and she runs around like a puppy. I just work to keep my eyes on her, to keep her from bumping into something.
About a year ago a friend of mine gave me a Tervis Tumbler mug. I started using it in the evening when I wanted a smaller cup of tea. Then I noticed that they had a 20-ounce mug with the Dunkin’ Donuts logo on it. So I bought that because, why keep using styrofoam cups when I can reuse the Tervis Tumbler mug? The coffee stays hot for a long time and I’m doing my part for conservation.

I like it so much that I bought a second one to use solely for tea during the day. Another 20-ounce mug. It is my go-to drink container now.
I decided to catch up with my laundry on Thursday. I was doing so well, and then when I was eating lunch, I spilled tomato sauce all down the front of my nice clean shirt! I raced to the laundry room and hit the front of my shirt with Dawn dishwashing liquid and tossed it in to wash. Did you know that using a good dishwashing liquid will take out almost any spill/stain from your clothes? Seems that it helps break down the protein and other elements. I swear, it works well. At least my tomato sauce stain is gone!

So that’s it as far as what’s been up with me. I am planning a nice quiet weekend and a few nice meals. All WW approved!