Happy Thanksgiving! Look Who Came to Dinner!

Hey Yall! Happy Thanksgiving! As you can see, Weezie came dressed for lunch! It was kind of quiet up here this year. Jamie and Lesley stayed in Kentucky and had lunch with her family. Chris went to Linley's parents home and was eating with them. So that left Julianne and Dick and me. And Weezie of course! It is amazing how fast the meal gets over with compared to how long it takes to prepare it! Julianne has just warmed her up a plate full for dinner. Dick has been putting up the exterior illumination. Not quite as much as Clark Griswold, but close. We were going to get the boxes of Christmas decorations up from the basement and down from the attic, but decided to wait till tomorrow. Whew!

And speaking of Clark Griswold......we will have the first viewing of many to come of Christmas Vacation. I looooooooooooove this movie! Looooooooooooove it!

I hope you all had a great day! Talk to you later! Tootles!

A Beautiful Bride

Hey Yall! We returned home yesterday after spending a wonderful weekend attending Mary Ann and Justin's wedding. Everything was just perfect and Mary Ann was a beautiful bride. Don't you agree?

I have many more pictures and plan to share some with you. But Frannycakes is just plain pooped. So bear with me and I will be back, hopefully tomorrow, to give you the whole lowdown.

Talk to you later!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Hey Yall! Is this not the most precious picture ever? I love this picture! It is my daddy and niece at Jamie and Lesley's wedding. Love it, love it, love it! And love them!

I can feel that panic feeling coming on. You know what feeling I am talking about? The one that comes before holidays? I am feeling overwhelmed and I haven't even started to list everything I need to do. I will need to be committed when I do that.

I have about a million and a half things I want, need and have to do around the house today, but (!) I have a hair appointment at 1:00 I will be going to. My roots are showing big time. Mary Ann and Justin's wedding is in 2 weeks so they need to be taken care of.

If I am going to Augusta for my hair appointment, then I will need to check out the Good Will really quick. Plus, I need to run into Target and the Christmas Tree shop so I will be getting home after dark. We are dark up here by 5. Thankfully, Dick has dinner out tonight.

I will download our trip pictures tonight. Until then....Tootles!

Hey Yall! I hope you all had a great weekend. Me and the birthday boy went on a quick getaway. Friday around 5 we left for Jackson (naturally), New Hampshire. It was raining when we left Maine and continued to rain until we left on Sunday to return. Oh well, you can't win them all.

The weather has been kind of funny. Friday, it was in the lower 60's which is rather warm for these parts this time of year. When we arrived at our destination, The Eagle Mountain House, it was raining and still warm. When we got to our room, the temperature there was 75 degrees. 75 degrees!!!!! This mountain house actually was a house at one time and there was no air conditioning. Now, if you are a faithful reader of this blog, you know that Frannycakes does not like to be hot. So we opened the windows. And that let in the humidity along with the warm temperature. It did cool it down a little bit, but not enough. I called the front desk and asked if they had any fans. They sent us 2 box fans, which managed to keep us a little more comfortable.

Saturday morning we woke up to more rain. Our rooms came with a full hot breakfast buffet, so we dressed and went and took advantage of it. Afterwards we went to North Conway to check things out. There is an outlet shopping center there. We had been before when we first moved here. The best shop there was the Bombay Outlet. Oh man did they have some good prices on their furniture. In case you didn't know, they have gone out of business. Hate that. So we didn't do much shopping. And you all should feel better knowing that the news of the nations financial doom and gloom hasn't made it to North Conway yet. Cause there were about a million shoppers at the outlets on Saturday and all of them had bags full of stuff.

Since we didn't want to shop much, we decided to take a ride and see the mountains. Everything was so pretty. Well, everything we could see. It was still raining. But it was a nice ride anyway. We went back to the hotel and Dick had some work he had to do, so he went downstairs and I took a glorious nap. It was still raining and was dark and overcast.

This morning when I woke up, I looked out the window and realized that there was a mountain right outside our window! It had been completely covered by the clouds before. We packed and had breakfast, then checked out. Everything was beautiful. Jackson is such a cute town. We took lots of pictures and I will post them tomorrow.

I hope you all had a good weekend. I will talk to you later....

Friday Pictures

Hey yall! Not much happening today in Maine. We got a lot of rain last night and the clouds have not left yet. It is so dreary looking outside and it makey me want to take a nappy!

We've got lots of rest and relaxation planned for this weekend. Not much else. How about you? I went through my magazines that I have saved over the past few years and took out all my Christmas decorating magazines. I plan to read back through all these and get some ideas. And call me crazy, but I also have several years worth of Ballards and Pottery Barn Christmas catalogs that I am looking at also. The decorations are so pretty. And since I seem unable to do anything without some inspiration, I need to keep these for just this reason.

Dick does not seem to understand this need for magazines that I have. The last time we moved, he made me throw away years and years of Southern Living. I am not gonna lie to you. I had tears in my eyes and pain in my heart. That will take a while to get over. And I ain't over it yet......

I guess that is all for now. As Arnold says, "I'll be back......"

Happy Birthday Dick!

Hey Yall! Today is Dick's birthday. Happy Birthday Dick!!! I won't tell you his age, but I can tell you it involves the number one and the number 5 and it ain't 15....but I can't tell you if you can't figure it out.....

Who is Dick? Besides being Frannycakes man? Well....Dick loves his Family. A lot. He adores his mother....loves her so much and is always wishing he lived closer to her. He loves his sisters who obviously return the sentiment! And his children, Jamie, Chris and Julianne, well, they are always in his heart and on his mind. Always wondering how they are and if everything is okay. Everyday, he asks me if I have talked to each of them. And most of the time, he has already talked to them! And even though Weezie didn't make the picture gallery, he loves his little furry daughter. And me? He is a wonderful husband who has put up with me for over 35 years and believe me, that has not been easy! I love you Dick!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Hey Yall! I took a few more fall pictures last week so I decided to go ahead and post them. Don't you love the apple tree? That tree is just down the road from where we live. For some reason, the family has left that tree and another one that is by the road unpicked. They have an orchard of trees that are picked already. Do you think they left them for me to take a picture? Yeah, that's probably it.

Weezie is doing better and better each day. I think yesterday was a turning point for her. This afternoon she wanted to play. So Dick played with her and she growled and barked and tried to bite his toes! Dick gave her a Dingo and that was just the medicine she needed.

I am so glad that I have already voted. It was extremely painless.....absentee ballot. Wednesday will not get here too fast for me.

Today I worked in the yard. We had tons of pine cones fall after a wind storm last week. Plus, we had leaves galore. So I got the blower out and proceeded to blow the leaves and pine cones. Yes, you can blow pine cones. I probably used the blower for an hour before I ever cranked up the mower! The yard looks great. I dare the wind to blow!

Did yall have a lot of trick or treaters? This year we didn't have very many compared to last year when we ran out of candy. We have lots and lots of leftover candy and Julianne and I have been doing our best to finish it off today. It is the least we can do. Of course, Dick hasn't had any. Of course.

I guess that is all for today. I will talk to you tomorrow! Tootles!

What Warms You? This will!

Hey Yall! Today, Stacey of Poofing the Pillows (isn't that just the cutest name for a blog?) is hosting a "What Warms You" Recipe Exchange. I am sharing my favorite soup, Vermont Ski Lodge Soup. No I didn't get it from Vermont. No I didn't get it while I was at the ski lodge. I received a recipe book from my friend Elaine and it was there that I found this fabulous soup! What I love about it is that after browning the sausage, you just throw everything in and put the lid on for 2 hours. The recipe make a lot of soup. I freeze what is left into single serving size zip lock freezer bags. Sometimes I make a grilled cheese to go with it and sometimes we have corn bread or biscuits. This is a hit at my house and I know you will love it at yours!

Vermont Ski Lodge Soup

2 lbs. bulk sausage, browned and drained well
4 (16 ounce) cans tomatoes, chopped (I buy the cheapest store brand diced)
3 medium onions, chopped
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 large bell pepper, chopped fine
4 cans red kidney beans with juice (I buy the cheapest, again)
4 cans water (tomato can)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 cup barley or rice (I use rice 'cause I never have barley, but want to try it sometime!)

Combine all ingredients in large soup kettle. (Be sure and use LARGE!) Simmer, covered, 2 hours or longer. Makes 16 to 20 servings.


Be sure and click on the link above to go back to Poofing the Pillows and go visit all the different blogs that are participating in this exchange! You might find something you want to cook this weekend.










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Boo Yall!

Hey Yall! I hope you enjoyed those pictures as much as I did! Weezie is thankful that she had surgery and doesn't have to wear a costume this year! Hey! Don't think you are going to do this every year little girl!

I took Weezie on a little outing this afternoon. We went to pick up dry cleaning and to the grocery store. I turned on the seat heater so her side was nice and warm. She also had a little blanket over her. I only had a couple of things to pick up, so she didn't get cold while I was in the store. I think she enjoyed herself. I hope so cause I was ready to get out of the house!

Have any of your watched the new show called "Life on Mars"? I like it. There is not much on tv anymore that I like to watch. Mostly I like to watch reruns of Reba, Will & Grace, and Fraser. Sad huh?

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!

A Lazy Day Remembered...

Hey Yall! Weezie had a good day yesterday. She was sent home with some pain killers and has been getting them every 12 hours. She is moving around much better than I would be. She prefers to go back up the steps by herself. I cringe each step she takes. I can tell she is being a little more careful about it, but does it anyway. On Tuesday afternoon when we went to pick her up, I was wondering how in the world I was going to be able to manage to get those pills down her throat. Cause she doesn't like taking them at all! Sitting there waiting for them to call us back, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a package of Greenies brand pill pockets. It is a soft little "treat" that has a little pocket in it that you can place the pill into and your dog will gobble it on down cause it tastes so good! They are kind of big. So I cut it in half and use one part for her pain pill and one part for her antibiotic. She swallows it so fast that she never even knows there is anything in it!

Yesterday was a yucky day here. It was cold and overcast. I eventually broke down and took a shower and dressed. Weezie was a little ticked off cause she wanted me to stay in my pj's all day. But for some reason I didn't think Dick would go for that, so I showered and dressed. I had some things I needed to paint, so I got the craft paint out and started....

This was a planter that I had found at GW for 99 cents. Someone had sponged on some green paint. I spray painted it black a couple of days ago. You know what they say...."Some spray paint each day keeps the doctor away" or something like that.....and then decided to do a little painting on it. It actually turned out very cute. I have something in mind to put in it. I will post that when I get it done.

Can you figure out what these are? You will have to wait till I finish them to find out, but I wanted to show you how cute the paint turned out.

I made a pot of red chicken stew yesterday also. It will feel good to put some in the freezer for future meals. I love the feeling of being able to go to the freezer and take out our dinner. Especially when it is red chicken stew! Yum!

Yesterday was spent pretty much all downstairs. But today I need to do some work upstairs, so I will take the Weez and her bed upstairs. She pretty much prefers to be on our bed. Probably because she remembers how great it felt to sleep there. Unfortunately, she snores too loud to sleep with us any longer.

I guess that is all for now....you never can tell what might pop in my head later....

The Devil Made Me Do It

Weezie's One Wish

Hey Yall. I slept on the couch last night so I could keep an eye on Weezie and take her out every two hours. Don't want the bladder to stretch any more than necessary! Ugh...the thought is even painful! This morning, when I took her out at 4, it was snowing! And as much as I love snow, I was not able to enjoy it at 4 in the morning.....with the wind blowing.....and the temperature around freezing....in my thin sexy pj's.

Weezie told me last night as she was laying in her bed in a drug induced state that the only thing she wanted in the world was for us to be lazy and stay in our pj's today and nap and doze and watch tv. And she specifically said US, meaning ME and her. Not just her. And who am I to take this one thing that will make her happy away? I just can't do that to her.

You know where to find me......

Hey Yall! Just a quick update to let you know that Weezie did great through her surgery. The Vet called and said she removed 4 stones from Weezie's bladder. She said that Weezie was laying there on her back with your paws up and her tail wagging.

We will pick her up around 6:30. They want me to take her out regularly tonight, so I guess me and the Weez will be watching some late night TV and reading some blogs...

Weezie and Her Stones

Hey Yall! Tomorrow is Weezie's surgery. I take her at 7 am and probably will not be able to get her until Wednesday. I took up her food earlier. I dread letting her out before I go to bed because she always gets a treat when she comes back inside. Always. And boy is she going to be ticked.