A Ton!

Before I tell you about how great today was I want you to see the beautiful wedding cake that sweet Nita made for her daughter's wedding. When Cindy and I first saw Nita's wedding cake we were not surprised that Nita had made it for Katelyn, because Nita is a gourmet cook and the best baker, in the whole Texas Hill Country. And needless to say, Katelyn's & Clay's wedding cake was the most delicious cake that I have ever eaten and this weekend I plan to beg Nita for her recipe.

Yesterday, we did our once-a-month lunch club with our dear friends. During our fun lunch, at Bella Sera, I told Denise that she looked great and asked her if she had lost some weight. Denise got all excited and told us that three days ago, she had joined Weight Watchers and that she had already lost two pounds.

Anyway, Denise was so excited about doing Weight Watchers—I came home and signed up too. Because this past year I have put on some pounds and I want to get rid of them, because I am sick and tired of my Levis being so tight. 

So last night after joining Weight Watchers I spent over an hour checking out their plans, menus, recipes and the over 200 free foods that you don't even have to count in your daily total. And then I got real excited when I discovered that Weight Watchers actually have delicious-looking recipes for my Instant Pot! 

So this morning was my first day to start doing Weight Watchers and for breakfast Tony and I ate muffins, topped with avocado and fried eggs and it was totally delicious. 

Weight Watchers use a point system and because you can eat all of the eggs that you want to without counting them, I had a half muffin, covered with a 1/4 slice of avocado and one egg. Compared to Tony's muffin, 3 eggs and the rest of the avocado.

Then after I cleaned up our kitchen, I spent 44 minutes, walking 4 fast miles, with Leslie Sansone and I plan to start doing that 5-6 times a week—starting today. And tonight as I am writing this I am drinking a glass of wine to celebrate, because today I still had 10 points left over.

This afternoon Tony and I decided to go buy some pea gravel, so we could start building the "slab," a flat place needed for our cistern, to sit on. Tony was a little hesitant about hauling the pea gravel, in the truck, but I persuaded him to do it anyway. So off we went.

Forty-minutes and fourteen and a half dollars later, Roy, our 2012 Dodge Ram, was slowly taking us back to the ranch and carrying 1 1/2 tons of pea gravel, in the back end. And I took these pictures of the pea gravel and the 12'x12' form that we are using to hold all of this pea gravel for the water tank.

Okay. Not to complain, but to complain—Tony and I shoveled 1 1/2 tons of pea gravel and then using wheelbarrows we hauled it to the "slab"and then unloaded it and raked it around. 

It took us over an hour to accomplish this task and tonight both of our backs and arms are paying for it. And the bad news is tomorrow we still have to go buy another ton, of this the pea gravel and do it all over again, before we can finish leveling the "slab."

When we were done Tony was growling a little bit, so trying to think up something positive to say, I said, "Hey, it's exercise and we both need it. And I bet that we burned up a ton of calories, too." But sadly my words went into one of his ears and out the other.

Late this afternoon my 6-string guitar/banjo arrived and I am totally thrilled with it. Here's the big box that it was shipped in.

And here is my pretty, inexpensive banjo, after I had tuned it and played it for a while. And just before Carol called me, I told Tone, "This thing is really heavy. It must weigh a ton." And that made him laugh.

So tonight as I finish writing this my jeans actually feel not as tight on me as they were this morning, so I am hoping that I might have shed a pound or two today. Even though in reality I know they are just stretched out until I wash them again,

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

And My Jaw Dropped Again!

Katelyn's & Clay's wedding was so great and so was my super-fun adventure up to Dripping Springs, Austin and Buda.

Saturday, I safely arrived at Ronnie & Nita's Ronderosa Ranch, ten minutes before the crack of noon and no one was home as expected. Earlier in the morning Ronnie had already told me that he and Nita were going over to the Ruby Ranch, in Buda, so they could help get things ready for Katelyn's & Clay's wedding and they were going in their RV.

Their two dogs, Brick & Maggie, played a game with me. They would act tough and bark at me and then they would stop and let me pet them, over the fence, and then they would start barking at me when Cindy arrived, at the famous Ronderosa Ranch.

Cindy came there to pick me up and take me to her lovely home, in South Austin, so we could eat lunch, at her home and visit and catch up with each others news and then get ready for the wedding.
And that was so much fun for me.

Cindy and I arrived, at Ruby Ranch, fifteen minutes before the wedding. She was dressed up real nice and I looked okay. I wore my only "dress-up" green blouse, new Levis, pink boots and cowboy hat. And I topped off my look—wearing one of my pink bandanas tied around my neck, to help hide my turkey neck.

Fortunately for me, the wedding was casual and most of the friends and family that attended wore Wranglers or Levis, cowboy boots and cowboy hats too, so I didn't feel like I stuck out, in the crowd, even though I was the only woman there wearing a cowboy hat.

After the beautiful bride and handsome groom said their vows and kissed Clay danced with his bride and when Ronnie danced with Katelyn, Cindy and I teared up and so did just about everyone there. It was all so beautiful.

During the reception, before we sat down and ate a delicious BBQ dinner, I got to visit with old friends and while I was drinking a beer I had this fun conversation with Joel, a fabulous friend and an extremely talented musician. He plays, guitar, mandolin and banjo, too.

Joel and I talked about our good friend Chet O'Keefe, Terlingua, Northern New Mexico, our mandolins, our guitars and about Neil Young playing a 6-string guitar/banjo, etc. And because a few days earlier I had also talked to Brook about 6-string guitar/banjos, at Wolfmueller's Books, I thought it was definitely a sign. So, before I adios-ed Joel and went to go eat a delicious BBQ dinner, at Cindy's big family table, I vowed to him that I was going to buy myself a 6-string guitar/banjo. And I  meant it, too.

To sum it all up, I had a wonderful time, at the wedding and getting to visit with friends and family. And in case you are asking, "Where was Tony?" He, at the last minute, decided not to go to the wedding, because of our dogs being left alone for too long. And everyone, at the wedding, was sick that he didn't get to come to the wedding.

Sunday afternoon on my way back to our Big Foot Ranch, Tony called me with some exciting news, when I was only about five minutes away from arriving, in Kerrville. "Nance, Steve Pietzsch and Andy are over here and they are putting our rain gutters up for us....Would you please stop, at Home Depot, to buy a few extra seamers, glue and....so they can finish the job, because they are almost finished and they need those parts?"

Of course my jaw dropped when Tony told me this wonderful news about our good friends installing the rain gutters for us, for free, because both Tony and I were more than nervous about us attempting to do it ourselves. And I am still in shock that these two men came over and did this hair-raising job for us.

Anyway, when I arrived at our new ranch, Andy was standing high up, on a ladder, Steve was holding up a gutter's end, so Andy could properly attach it to our roof and Tony was busy running around fetching parts and tools that they needed. And my jaw dropped again.

A few hours later, after their hard labor our beautiful, rain gutters were installed on the roof, so we celebrated by drinking a round of beers and toasting our dear friends and thanking them for volunteering to do this—just to help us out. And I do know that neither Tony or I will ever be able to thank them enough for doing this act of kindness. "Thank you so much Andy and Steve. We love y'all so much!"

This morning when I was on the phone talking to Ronnie about Heartland, the number one favorite, eleven-years-running series, in Canada, on Netflix and about how much we loved that show.

Then Ronnie laughed and then changed the subject. He told me that he and Nita were having a ranch party, this coming Saturday, to celebrate Katelyn's birthday. "You and Tony have got to come to this. It is going to be a pot-luck with about 40 people there. And all of our friends are bringing their instruments too, so we're going to be playing a lot of music...."

So after Ronnie and I adios-ed each other I did what I had to do. I immediately went Online, to Amazon and bought a beautiful, inexpensive, 6-string guitar/banjo and it should be arriving tomorrow!

I cannot wait for it to get here, because I have a lot of practicing to do on it, before we go to the fun, ranch birthday party. And that is about it for tonight, except I do want to thank sweet Carol, for letting us come over to her ranch, this evening, to wash and dry two loads of our dirty clothes.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!