Well, Excuse Me!

This morning, I woke up at 5:30. After feeding the dogs and the cat, I decided that I would bake ‘Cousin Nancy’s Miracle Bread’—a recipe that I stole from an old friend of mine, that I have since tweaked and re-tweaked, over the many years, since the recipe robbery.

Tony named it ‘Cousin Nancy’s Miracle Bread,’ because it is the only bread, that I have ever made—that hasn’t wound up being used as a doorstop or an anchor! My Miracle Bread actually tastes great and is very healthy. It is almost completely organic. I use organic: raisins, honey, oats, flax seeds, ground whole wheat flour, cinnamon, yeast, pecans, butter, sea salt and water.

After loading all of the secret ingredients into my bread machine, I plugged it into the wall, and it went to work. Before checking my e-mail, I turned on my Bose iPod deck, put it on shuffle, and then cranked it up. As the Buffalo Springfield began singing, ‘For What It’s Worth,’ I poured a cup of Paul Newman’s Organic Coffee into my new mug, which I love. Now, I was ready to sit down at my laptop to check my mail.

As they harmoniously sang, ‘Something’s happening here,’ the bread machine churned and chugged—in perfect rhythm. It was exactly what I needed, and it kneaded. My first e made me smile. It was from my good friend Carol V., the dog walker, who volunteers out here and who has been in Outer Space with Tony and me. Carol wrote:

‘I bought some Miles of Chocolate in Denver, Colorado yesterday. Ben is a nationwide company! And, I love his chocolate! I hope all is well at home. It's mid 70's here in the day and 50's at night. Perfect! I'm ready to come home though. I miss my doggies and your doggies too!’

Since it was already 84 degrees in Outer Space, I wrote her back a note, recommending that she stay up there, and that I would be glad to bring her dogs up there. I am still waiting to hear from her—I’m packed!

My next note was from one of my favorite authors, N. M. Kelby. It made me smile, too. She wrote:

‘We've been having thousands of visitors to my site, so I linked to you w/ a blog. If you have a jpeg business card for the ranch, I can put that on my "information page" under "cool stuff".

Here's the blog link:

http://web.mac.com/nmkelby/www.nmkelby.com/Blog/Entries/2008/6/15_Cousin_Nancy.html

Hope all is well!

xo
n’

Wow, now I know what it is like to be blogged about! I checked out her blog immediately, and it too made me smile, as I listened to Phoebe Snow singing, ‘Poetry Man.’ I wrote Nicole a short note, thanking her for her sweet blog, along with our logo attachment, and I also told her—how much I had enjoyed reading, ‘Murder at The Bad Girls Bar & Grill.’

My third e was from another author friend of mine—Cindy Lou Ruffino. And, it too, made me smile. Cindy Lou wrote:

Nancy,
WOOO WHOOO!
I feel like I'm on a magic carpet ride. ‘Out of the Texas Mist’ is available on-line at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and at my publishers website http://publishamerica.com! When I came in from work today I had an e-mail that read your press releases have been sent to your media contacts. I was floored. I have been waiting to see my first book in print for quite awhile. I am amazed at how great it feels to have one of your dreams come true. The press release follows this little short note.

‘I want to thank you for your encouragement and friendship and thank you for helping me get the word out. I'll have to decorate a cake for you at work and bring it by on one of my days off. Would that be white, marble or chocolate? Butter-cream or non dairy whipped? lol

Who could believe that a scary dream that had me gasping for air and holding onto the headboard could end up as a mystery novel and be published. I remember waking from that dream my heart pounding in my chest gasping for air and saying "What in the heck was that?"

I remember sitting at work at the little tables by the deli and writing on my breaks and before work. I remember people asking me what I was doing and shyly saying writing a murder mystery. I remember having to hide it because of some of my co-workers sneaking my little purple notebook and reading as I wrote. The funny part was trying to explain who Kinky was and why I was dreaming about him to the younger girls I worked with—then getting teased about it. Now when everyone ask me when is your book coming out, I can say just go on line and order it. Okay here are the particulars:
Out of the Texas Mist
by Cindy Lou Ruffino
ISBN 1-60563-916-8

PublishAmerica Presents Out of the Texas Mist by Cindy Lou Ruffino

Frederick, MD June 16, 2008 -- PublishAmerica is proud to present Out of the Texas Mist by Cindy Lou Ruffino of Granite Shoals, Texas.

“After waking up in a strange vehicle, Cindy realizes that she is in danger. Using her head, she escapes then runs for her life through the dark woods. Waking the next morning in a mist-covered field, she ends up on the doorstep of a familiar-looking man with no idea who she is or where she is at.

With the help of this nice cowboy she finds out who she is, then finds out that she landed at the doorstep of her favorite author, Kinky Friedman. Together they try to find her kidnapper to clear her name once her cell phone is found in the hand of a badly mutilated woman. Once they discover the mutilated woman is just one of several, they begin to discover body after body as they get closer to finding the killer.

Cindy Lou Ruffino grew up in Houston, Texas. ‘Out of the Texas Mist,’ which started from a dream, was written on a spiral notebook before work and during breaks at her neighborhood Kroger, where she worked in the deli. Cindy lives with her Boston Terrier in the Texas Hill Country.”

Thanks so much for everything. Love ya, Cindy Lou’

As Willie Nelson sang, ‘Far Away Places,’ I wrote Cindy Lou a note from Outer Space, telling her how happy I was for her, and that I could not wait to read her book.

At 7:45 this morning—while Steve Martin was singing, ‘King Tut,’ two exciting things happened at the exact same time! Right when the bread machine buzzer announced that my miracle loaf was ready—Tony walked inside the trailer, wearing a big smile on his face, and carrying, in his hand, three Heirloom-Organic Serrano Peppers—which he had grown! Our first peppers!

While Steve sang, ‘He ate a crocodile. He gave his life—for tourism. Tut—Tut. Tut—Tut. Golden idle. Tut—Tut. Tut—Tut. Tut—Tut. He’s an Egyptian...’ I grabbed my camera! I quickly dumped out my miracle bread onto the cutting board and then placed Tony’s three peppers beside it. Snap!


‘King Tut. He could have won a Grammy. King Tut. Buried in his jammies...’


The phone rang. It was Kinky! And, we had a short conversation. As Stephen Stills began singing, ‘You Can’t Catch Me,’ the phone rang, again. It was Woody! He was calling to tell me that he and Rose would be coming out tomorrow for a visit, and he asked me to please tell Tony, “To start practicing, because ‘California Dreamin’’ was fixin’ to come out, and show him how real pool is played!’

Tony laughed when I gave him Woody’s message and he just shook his head. We can’t wait to meet Rose, and catch up with Woody, tomorrow! The Medina Bulldog Rules—at least for now!