My Head Was Spinning!

Last night I re-watched that great movie A Street Cat Named Bob and I enjoyed watching it as much as I had the first time I watched it.

Then I surfed around, on Netflix, to watch something funny and I found Jim Gaffigan: Cinco and he was so hilarious it caused my back to start aching, because I was laughing so much. But I kept on watching the King of Clean Comedy.

In one part of his brilliant comic routine he made an observation about people never talking when they are inside an elevator and it hit so close to home—I laughed so hard that Henry Standing Bear barked and then came running, into the big room, to see if I was okay and that made me laugh even harder.

And the reason that I found Jim Gaffigan's remark about no one ever talking on elevators to be so funny was because Kinky had just done that to me when I had called him, yesterday morning, to let him know that Fay & Ian and their daughter and boyfriend were coming to his show that night. And our conversation went something like this:

"Hi Kinky!"

"Hello Nance! Is everything okay?"

"Yes. I've called, because I have two things to tell you."

"Wait a minute, Nance. Can you please hold on for just a minute?" Kinky asked, sounding a little bit agitated. "I can't talk, because I'm in an elevator right now. Hold on."

"Okay."

After I had waited for at least a half a minute, Kinky finally says, "Okay, I can talk now. Are The Friedmans doing okay?"

"Yes."

"How are Sophie and Mr. Pee doing?...."Then I told him about Fay & Ian coming to his show, in Buffalo and that they were bringing their daughter and her boyfriend.

Today has been great. This morning while I was drinking a cup of coffee I returned a few e-mails and phone calls. Then I decided to check out the cost of spinning wheels and it literally through me for a loop, because even the cheapest ones are pretty pricey.

And during my exhausting, intense, five-minute research, on the cost of spinning wheels, this adorable potholder, popped up on Amazon and I immediately knew that it was meant as a sign for me and I took it seriously.

First, I wondered if it was warning me that I would look exactly like that old woman spinning yarn, while I spun our dog's hair together. Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning—that maybe I should consider making Carol a pretty potholder instead of a bun, for her Christmas present. It certainly would be less expensive and I already have the expensive equipment (A $10.00 loom) and a bag over 300 loopers, that is collecting dust, on a shelf in my office.

I felt confused and my head was spinning. Because since going out, to Terlingua, I've had my heart set on making Carol a little bun to wear, on the top of her head. So not wanting to give up so easily on my idea of making Carol a small bun, out of our dog's hair, I chose to dig a little deeper. 

And I am so glad that I did, because I watched this great YouTube video on how to use a spinning wheel. And after watching it and paying very close attention to all of the details to the art of spinning yarn—it was pretty clear to me that Carol ain't getting a homemade bun, from me, for Christmas. 

Feeling so relieved with my decision to save money and just get Jean to help me make another pretty potholder for Carol's Christmas present I poured myself another delicious cup of Donut Shop Coffee and then our dogs and I went, into Outer Space, to enjoy the beautiful, Spring morning. 

While I was in Outer Space enjoying the weather with my best friends a bad thought came into my head and I nearly choked on my coffee. "Omg!" I said to our dogs. What if Jon's sister tries to charge me an arm and a  leg to make Carol's stupid Christmas gift? She might hold me hostage, because she knows that I can't make a potholder by myself."

With Henry giving me that familiar puzzled look, on his face, like "Are you totally crazy or what?" 

I wiped away my spilled coffee on my shirt and then I smiled at Henry, and said, "I think I'll just give Carol one of my used Carl Hiaasen books for Christmas. She'll never know if it's a new or a used copy. Problem solved. Let's go back inside."

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

Decisions! or Spent! or Framed! or Trigger Happy!

This past week I apologize for not blogging. But I do have a good excuse—I was too tired and ran out of time, because let's just say that I was too busy running the rescue ranch, cleaning the trailer and making too many decisions, etc. Seriously, I had so much going on that I escaped the end of each day by relaxing by either doing some writing or reading.

First, I have some great news to tell you and then I will give you a peek into my world as it unfolded last week. My great news is we got a call from Matt, whose family had adopted our sweet Gus from us, on February 18th. Matt's bottom line    "We love Gus and he is working out great..."

Then last week, we ran into Matt, at the River Oaks Shopping Center, after I had mailed some letters and came out of the Post Office Sub-Station. We spent over ten minutes chatting with Matt and hearing about how much his family loves Gus and what a perfect dog he was, etc. So needless to say that made our day more than great for us.

Last week was such a whirlwind for me and the days have become somewhat of a blur for me. Besides returning phone calls, e-mails, sending in reports, making a deposit and mailing out thank you letters, etc. I know that I spent several days mowing down the tall grass and weeds, in our dog pens, that my aching back can prove I did. Even though, because of the recent rain, you would not believe I ever mowed.

I spent almost everyday walking and working out too, with hand-held weights or using a stretchy band, with Leslie Sansone, that my aching muscles can prove I did that. And I know that I drove Tony nearly crazy unloading our food, from our fridge to another refrigerator outside, in the barn and then having to reload it again and again, because I couldn't decide which healthy diet/lifestyle changes we should make.

As you can remember from all of my pictures, several weeks ago, I started our lifestyle change, because of the powerful, FORKS OVER KNiVES magazine, video, etc. and we loved it so much—but I didn't lose enough weight as fast as I wanted to, so I decided that we should try the proven Atkins Diet to quickly knock-off my unwanted pounds. And that was the first time that Tony removed all of the food, in the fridge, because I had bought so much meat, chicken and fish for that diet.

Well, that was a huge mistake for me, because I wasn't happy about mainly eating anything that has or had eyes, because I guess that I have grown soft, in my old age of 65 and from also watching too many depressing, disgusting documentaries about "harvesting" animals.

But when we found out that we could also eat Atkins delicious low carbs snacks and Lisa telling us about the tasty/healthy Kind health bars—we were doomed to fail, because we found ourselves eating too many low carb, peanut butter cups and cranberry almond bars each day, causing us not to lose any weight.

And that is when I got out the big book of juices and quickly decided that we should do juicing instead, so Tony then unloaded all of the meat from the fridge and after going grocery shopping later that day—I filled it back up with fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. and I used up all of the counter space with bags of beautiful, fresh, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, apples, oranges, bananas and pears, etc.

And while all of this was going on, inside our two refrigerators, our good friend Jim "The Mineral Man" had told me about this great book that he was enjoying reading and he suggested that I check it out, because he thought that both Kinky and I would enjoy reading it, too.

So I did, even though I was already, in the middle, of reading Carl Hiaasen's fabulous book Strip Tease—I went Online and purchased two paperback copies of Travels With Charley: In Search of America by the great author John Steinbeck. Then I immediately went, over to the Lodge and told Kinky about Jim recommending that we read Travels With Charley: In Search of America and me having already ordered us both a copy. Which delighted him, to say the least.

So basically, every evening last week, I was relaxing by either doing some writing or reading Hiaasen or Steinbeck, if I wasn't over, at Carol's ranch, admiring sweet Rosie, Carol's visiting, guest donkey, while having fun visiting with Carol.

And earlier, when I mentioned about running into Matt, at the shopping center, I also went to the craft store and bought a couple of small picture frames, while Tony was over at, the Wild Birds Unlimited store, buying more high-quality bird seed and visiting with our good friends: Linda & Kevin, Tricia, Marguerite and Jason. 

When we returned home, I framed this little note card, that I had printed, of the painting I had made for my sister Cindy's 70th birthday. But I bought the wrong sized frame for Roscoe's CD, so this week I will need to go back to the craft store to pick out the perfect, inexpensive frame for it.

Today has been great. Early this morning I made fresh fruit smoothies for our breakfast and for lunch I made delicious Bloody Mary juices, without the Mary/merry and the best chicken salad that I've ever made. Using chicken, from the fridge outside, one stalk of celery, one peeled apple, onion, sweet pickle relish, a hard-boiled egg and homemade mayonnaise.

Then I spent most of my day catching up with rescue ranch work and going back and forth to the Lodge, to check on The Friedmans, because Kinky went to visit a friend today and won't be back until late this evening.

To hopefully end tonight's post on a good note, I found this old photo that I had taken, back in April, 2005, when I had purchased a miniature mare that I had named Trigger, Jr. Sadly, I made a wrong decision buying her, because she was always angry and she wasn't very nice to Tony or me, even though I had painted her tiny, adorable barn pretty pink. 

In fact, Trigg, Jr. tried to bite us or kick us with every chance she got, so Tony forbid me to never go back into her little corral. I was heartsick about it, because I had so badly wanted her to love us. So I admit that I made another bad decision even though Tony had warned me against it. 

To try to make her happy I drove Trigger, to Hondo and ended up buying two, very young, adorable, miniature male goats, to befriend her. I named them Romeo and Julio, but Trigger, Jr. instantly hated them, too. 

So much to my dismay I finally gave up and returned little Trigger, Jr. to her original home, outside of Medina. And Romeo and Julio were the only ones thrilled about it. Here's that picture that I took of Tony with Trigger, Jr. the first day they met and I think their body language speaks volumes.

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

Chill!

Last night I started reading Carl Hiaasen's Strip Tease and in the middle of reading Chapter 2, I realized this book was made into the movie Strip Tease, starring Burt Reynolds and Demi Moore, which I loved. It was made in 1996.

Anyway, I plan to continue reading it, because books are usually so much better than movie interpretations. So, if you saw the movie and like it, too—then you'll love reading Carl Hiaasen's entertaining books, because they are great mysteries and so much fun to read.

Today has been great. This afternoon, after the board meeting, on the correct Monday, I had a lot of rescue ranch business to take care of, so I made Tony and me Avocado Toast for lunch, because it so fast and easy to make and, of course, we loved it.

After cleaning up the kitchen, before returning to work on my ranch related e-mails, phone calls, etc. I decided to make FORKS OVER KNiVES' super delicious Chia Pudding With Strawberries again, for a late afternoon dessert for us to enjoy.

But this time I added a few more ingredients to the delicious recipe. After I put the recipe's almond milk, chia seeds, organic maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla, into Jaws—I then added a banana, several big scoops of my goji berries, chocolate covered goji berries, chocolate nips and walnuts mix, before I let Jaws blend it all together. Then I let it chill for a couple of hours and then served it with raspberries and blueberries.

And omg! Tony and I loved it so much and I plan to make it this way from here on out—using strawberries, too. Here is a picture of our dessert, in a clear glass, before we dug in and ate it.

It is now starting to rain pretty heavy outside, so I am going to go ahead and unplug everything and spend the rest of my evening reading more of you-know-who.

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

Strip Tease!

Because I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Carl Hiaasen's fabulous, mystery Basket Case so much, last night I stayed up, until 1:00 to finish reading it. I loved how he ended it and I highly recommend it, not that Carl needs any help selling his fabulous books.

As y'all already know, when I get excited about something I can't help but blog about it. I am definitely excited about discovering Hiaasen's books and later on tonight I plan to start reading another one of his fun to read mystery books.

I am also excited about finding out about FORKS OVER KNiVES and their whole-foods, plant-based lifestyle. Just think, if I had not purchased their incredibly great magazine and checked out their website, Tony and I would still be eating unhealthy food.

Please note that my blog is not turning into a foodie blog or Mr. Hiaasen's Texas cheerleader for his novels, but I can't help writing about them, because I love reading his books so much and Tony's and my new healthy lifestyle change is so exciting to me.  

Today has been great. I slept in this morning, because I stayed up so late last night, to finish reading Basket Case by you know who.

Anyway, I must tell you about our delicious lunch that we ate this afternoon, because I can't help it. We had  the FORKS OVER KNiVES' delicious Red Kidney Bean and Rice with Cilantro-Cashew dressing again, because I still had leftover brown, short grained rice, but this time I also added summer squash and zucchini to the mix. 

When I started chopping and cooking, etc. I had time to thumb through the FOK's dessert section, in the their magazine. When I saw the delicious-looking Chia Pudding with Strawberries, on page 90, I decided it make it for dessert.

I was so anxious to make this dessert. But, because it needs to chill for one hour before serving, I recruited Tony to help me chop the tomatoes and kale. And he was glad to do it, because, he could not wait to eat the tasty Red Kidney Bean with Rice with Cilantro-Cashew dressing, again.

This dessert was so easy to make even though I had to use raspberries, instead of strawberries, because I didn't have any frozen strawberries. And I also decided to add blueberries to make it even more healthier. 

The ingredients to make this fabulous dessert are: almond milk, chia seeds, maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla and you mix all of that together and then chill it for an hour. And when you serve it you top it with the fruit.

Here are pictures of our main meal along with a picture of Tony's plate.

Once again, their was plenty of leftovers, so I labeled it and put it in a big baggie and then  tossed it into the freezer.

Then I served our yummy dessert.

This dessert was like eating a healthy, soft-serve ice cream with fruit and it was so delicious I plan to make it regularly for us, because Tony loved it so much. 

Unfortunately, I did not have a white bowl to put it in, so I could photograph it, so please know that the not-too-pretty, orange bowl, does not do it justice.

And because this dessert was so delicious, but didn't look that appetizing, in the orange bowl, I am using a photo, on page 90, in my FOK's magazine, just so you'll know how delicious it actually looks. And please note that you can go to FORKS OVER KNiVES website, to learn more about this healthy lifestyle and you can download their free app that has all of these healthy, delicious recipes.

It is now time for me to start walking four more fast, firming miles with Leslie Sansone, before I go over to Kinky's, so he and I can go on a fun hike with The Friedmans. 

And before I go and not to disappoint y'all, I want to let y'all know that after I watch the Grammy's tonight, I'll start reading this book. LOL!

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

Yummy!

Yesterday was great. Early in the morning, I decided to try to reduce some of our healthy, whole-food, plant-based food, that had completely taken over the kitchen counter.

First, I emptied out the big container that was full of sugar, so I could use it to consolidate the organic, bags of short grained rice. And I didn't throw out the sugar. I put it in two big baggies, so Tony could take it outside, to use to fill his many hummingbird feeders.

Then I added the sack of Himalania Dark Chocolate Goji Berries to the big container that I already have a mix of goji berries, walnuts and organic chocolate nips.

Then before Tony went outside to do his chores, I made us this ugly-looking, but totally delicious, healthy smoothie for our breakfast. It consisted of: almond milk, frozen mixed fruit, blueberries, banana, 3 big handfuls of kale, goji berries, walnuts, organic chocolate nips, cinnamon, ginger and chia seeds. Then I stayed inside to walk 4 miles with Leslie, while our super-great friends/volunteers walked our dogs for us.

Then a little while later, Tony and I went to the Apple Store, in Medina, to eat lunch and to celebrate sweet Eileen's birthday. Eileen's party was really fun. The food was delicious and Suzanne's beautiful, chocolate, 3-layer, birthday cake was absolutely delicious, even though I only ate one bite and took mine home for Tony to enjoy later.

Then last night, I relaxed and had a wonderful time reading more of Carl Hiaasen's great book Basket Case. Seriously—it is one of those books that you don't want to put down.

Today has been great, too. We had some visitors come out to see our rescue ranch. We gave all of them a tour, but unfortunately none of them were in the market to adopt a super dog from us.  

Late this afternoon for our lunch, I tried a new recipe, that I found, in the Forks Over KNiVES magazine. I made us delicious Yam Quesadillas, on page 70 and I topped them off with their Pea Guacamole, on page 71.

Both recipes were very easy for me to make and to Tony's surprise he thought they were absolutely delicious. And I must admit that I would have never dreamt that blending yams with vegetable broth, green chiles, lime juice, chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, cumin, garlic, black beans and salsa could taste so yummy. 

Here are pictures that I took of the whole process. yam mixture, before I grilled the tasty, yam quesadillas, in 100% whole wheat tortillas, using my pretty, pink George Foreman grill.

Then I made their delicious Pea Guacamole recipe.

Then we sat down at the kitchen table to eat our healthy, meatless lunch and we thoroughly enjoyed it, especially Mr. Potato Head!

After we ate lunch there was a "ton" of leftovers, so I filled two, one,  gallon-sized baggies with one small baggie of yam/black bean mixture (2 servings) and then I slipped four, 100% Whole Wheat tortillas into each big baggie, labeled it and sealed it. Then I put the bags into the freezer, so in the future, we can eat this meal, two more times. And all that I will have to do is just make the Pea Guacamole or real guacamole.

And that is about it for tonight, because I can't wait to start reading more of Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen.

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

Weird-Looking!

Last night, while I was totally enjoying and rapidly reading Carl Hiaasen's Basket Case I decided to get ahead of the game and cook the short grain brown rice, in vegetable broth, for today's lunch, because it takes about one hour to cook it.

Today has been great. This morning for our first plant-based breakfast, I made us Forks Over KNiVES' Avocado Toast recipe. It was easy to prepare and it was absolutely delicious. Their recipe's ingredients are: avocado, whole grain bread, tomatoes, cucumber, romaine lettuce or spinach, alfalfa sprouts, salt and pepper and lemon juice.

I didn't have alfalfa sprouts, because yesterday a very nice H-E-B employee told us that they no longer carry alfalfa sprouts. I also didn't buy romaine lettuce yesterday, because I prefer to eat kale instead. So, I made our Avocado Toast with Kale and no sprouts and I didn't toast the Eureka Organic Seeds The Day bread.

After breakfast I took care of rescue ranch business, by returning several phone calls, e-mails and paying the bills. Then I did my 4 Firm Miles workout with Leslie Sansone, inside The Cabin.

This afternoon I made us lunch and I used the recipes, in the FORKS OVER KNiVES magazine, which can also be found, on their free app.

I am glad that I cooked the short grain brown rice last night, because it actually didn't take me that long at all to prepare the Red Kidney Beans And Brown Rice Bowls recipe and the Cilantro-Cashew Dressing.

While I was cooking and preparing the Red Kidney Beans And Brown Rice Bowls recipe, it was very easy for me to whip up the delicious Cilantro-Cashew Dressing, because I used Jaws (Vita-Mix machine).

The ingredients to make the Red Kidney Beans And Brown Rice Bowls are: red kidney beans, frozen mixed vegetables, spinach (I substituted kale, again), brown rice, tomatoes, green onions and cilantro and bowls.

The ingredients to make the Cilantro-Cashew Dressing that you drizzle over the mixture are: cashews, cilantro leaves, lemon juice, Serrano pepper, garlic, hot sauce and sea salt. And this is what our meal looked like, before we sat down to eat our totally delicious, healthy, plant-based lunch.

Tony isn't fond of rice, because when we first met he told me that he is a potato man and that he didn't care much for rice. And, at that time, I remember, saying to him, "Hmm." Because I didn't want to scare him off. 

Anyway, back then I also quickly learned that Mr. Potato-Head was also a very picky eater when it comes to his vegetable choices. And that worried me, but not very much, because we were already living together and we were madly in love with each other.

Today, after 21 years of being together and being-in-love most of the time, he balked when he spied me drizzling the green-colored, cashew-cilantro dressing, over my veggies and rice. So he said, "I don't think so. I love cashews, Nance. But I think I'll just use my ranch dressing instead, because it is weird-looking." 

I shot him my Cousin Nancy pouty look that always works, and then I nicely said, "Please try it for me. Valentines' Day is only five days away." And that did the trick, even though he made a point to make sure that I saw him roll his eyes, before serving himself and reluctantly drizzled the "green dressing," over his bowl filled with delicious veggies and rice.

So as I finish writing this tonight, I am more than proud to announce that my dear, sweet Tony loved our, super-healthy, colorful lunch so much—that he ate two bowls of it and he covered his second helping of vegetables and rice, with "that weird-looking, green dressing." And he wants me to make it again! Life is good.

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

Forks, Knives & Hiaasen!

Yesterday and today have been great. Yesterday, while Tony and I were waiting to checkout our groceries, at the big H-E-B, an interesting-looking magazine, on the rack, caught my eye, so I picked it up and started thumbing through it. And I found it to be so interesting about their whole-food, plant-based lifestyle, I added it to our pile of groceries, that we were still waiting to pay for.

So on our way home I started reading this FORKS OVER KNiVES magazine  and by the time we got back home, I was completely SOLD on the idea and I could not wait to check out more about it on the FORKS OVER KNiVES website. 

Good grief, I spent over an hour browsing around, reading several articles and checking out their delicious-looking plant-based recipes, on FORKS OVER KNiVES, so now I was even more excited about learning more about living a healthy, whole-food, plant-based lifestyle. 

So, I immediately went to Netflix and then watched their fabulous FORKS OVER KNiVES documentary. And I was so totally convinced and overwhelmed by all of the research studies, testimonials, etc. I race-walked, down the hall and told Tony all about it. And I am proud to say, that I talked him into trying it with me.

Feeling happy and excited that Tony was on-board with me about trying this whole-food, plant-based lifestyle, I celebrated by sitting down with Little Debbie and Big Al(ice), sitting on my lap and enjoyed reading over fifty, hilarious pages on my 3rd Carl Hiaasen book Basket Case. Then I went to bed and counted cabbages instead of sheep to fall asleep.

This morning after exercising with Leslie Sansone again, Kinky called me and then he put Dylan, on the phone, because Dylan was over at the Lodge visiting Sophie, and he wanted to talk to me about a dog possibly needing some help. Anyway, after our conversation Tony and I took off, for Kerrville, so we could go buy us some healthier whole-food.

Our first stop was at Next Generation Produce, that we love, and I quickly filled up our grocery cart with healthy plant-based food that I never knew existed. Then we went over, to the big H-E-B, so we could buy more healthy food.

When we got back home, we had more whole, plant-based food than we had space to store it. So, we piled up the remaining, homeless, healthy plant-based food, on the counter. Then I took this picture of it, for my blog tonight. And I've titled this picture—Our Counter Runneth Over.

And then with-tongue-in-cheek, (not a pretty picture since I do wear dentures) I said, "Tony, the freezer is way too full, so I think that we should finish-off that big carton of Blue Bell Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream, instead of just wasting it and throwing it out, so we can put more healthy food, back inside the freezer." Tone liked my idea and that's exactly what we did and it wasn't easy, but it was really delicious, with the added topping of Reddi-wip which we had to eat, in order to free-up more room, inside the fridge. 

So, as I sit here, contemplating if I should go walk a few more miles with Leslie Sansone tonight, because we had to purge our refrigerator, to make more room for healthier food choices—I've decided not to, because I would rather sit down, with a glass of Franzia's Chillable Red boxed, fine wine and read more of Carl Hiaasen's hilarious book Basket Case.

But before I finish writing this and get to enjoy reading more Hiaasen, I want to share this super, great, short video, that my dear, old friend, Judy Ward, sent to me today. It truly is a must see and I guarantee that it will put a big smile on everyone of y'all's faces. So please do check it out, because I am going to buy one of these.

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

It's Seedless To Say Part II: Guilty!

Today has been great. Late this morning I walked over five miles with Leslie Sansone and besides doing all kinds of knee-lifts, kicks, and arm exercises I did with walking—I used my stretchy band and my pink dumb bells. And trust me it was a workout.

Late this afternoon, Tony and I went to the big H-E-B to buy groceries for us and dog food for our rescued dogs. And when I was leaving the store with our groceries, I was pushing the cart and was oblivious to the world, because I was visualizing the end of my mini-mystery. "Nancy. Hey Nancy! Over here." I heard Tony half-holler. So I paused, on the sidewalk and looked out towards the parking lot.

First, I saw our good friend, Jay Pennington, walking across the parking lot towards me, then Tony waving at me and then Jay's sweet wife, Sarah, who was standing, by their SUV, with Emma, their beautiful, three-year-old German Shepherd. And after apologizing to everyone for being in my "writing zone" we had a very fun visit with them. Then we came back home.

Last night, I was up until nearly 2:00, because I had figured out the rest of the plot for my mini-mystery and I was so excited about it, I could not fall to sleep, because I kept coming up with more lines, etc.

It's Seedless To Say: Part II Guilty!

The following morning, while I was walking, in the big room and kitchen with Leslie Sansone, the phone rang—it was Jon. "Good morning, Nancy. How are you?"

"I'm fine, but I want to let you know that I am not breathing hard because of you—I'm in the middle of walking four miles with Leslie Sansone." Jon chuckled.

"What's so funny?" I heard Sandy ask, in the background.

"I'll tell you later," Jon said. "I'm back, Nancy."

"Okay. Just a second. Let me pause my walking video. Okay, what's going on?"

"Are you and Tony coming to Kerrville today?"

"No, not today, Jon. Because Tony is fixin' to leave to go meet our good friends, Jay & Sarah, in Bandera, because they are going to one of those Renaissance festivals. Wow! I just realized that you & Sandy have the same first initials as Jay & Sarah. J & S. How cool is that?" Jon chuckled, again.

"What?" Sandy asked, in the background.

"I'll tell you in a minute, Sandy," Jon stated. "Are y'all coming to Kerrville tomorrow?"

"Yes. We have to, because we need to pick up a refill of Roy's arthritis medicine, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and then run a few other errands."

"Good. We'll come see us tomorrow, because Sandy has found four more Carl Hiaasen books for you to read."

"That's great. We'll see y'all tomorrow and please tell Sandy that I said hello."

After Tony left, I finished my sweaty workout with Leslie and then I rewarded myself by eating one of Carol's delicious, homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. Then I spent ten minutes feeling guilty about it, so I ate one more to calm my nerves.

While I was taking a shower I started feeling guilty about Jean and me getting sideways with each other, over a petty, pretty, pink pot-holder that we had made. And I worried about it hurting our life-long friendship. Then I worried about why I worry so much.

So, to stop me from doing anymore worrying, I grabbed my iPod, found the song "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin and then I cranked up the volume, on my new, awesome Harman/ Kardon Wi-Fi speaker and let it blast me into a much better mood.

After that song had finished playing, Louis Armstrong started singing one of my all-time favorite songs, What A Wonderful World—I teared up like I always do when I hear him sing that beautiful song and it inspired me so much—I pulled off my pink boots and slipped on my "almost-all-leather" pair of moccasins, that still have the dried on glue, on the bottom of the soles, that Aaron had made out of pity for me, because the directions on how to make them didn't make any sense to me.

Then let's just say, "I went outside and did some serious Earthing." To free my soul and make things right with the Universe. And that night I slept like a baby, except I didn't cry or drool and Tony will vouch for that.

When I woke up the next morning life was great, once again. I was so happy that I cooked Tony a delicious breakfast of bacon and Belgian Waffles and I could tell that it puzzled him, because I rarely do that anymore. So sadly he spent most of his morning doing his chores and worrying about why I was being so nice to him. And then that made me worry about why he was thinking that.

After we ate lunch—leftover waffles and a couple of strips of cold bacon, we decided to take off for Kerrville to do our errands. And before we walked out the front door, I quickly slipped a small package, inside my red, insulated H-E-B shopping bag.

Our first stop and most important stop, was at Hoegemeyer's, to pick up Roy's refill of pain pills. Then we went down, Sidney Baker Street aka Highway 16, to Wolfmueller's Books.

Jon greeted us from behind the checkout counter, and then said, "Perfect timing! Sandy and Jean just got back from eating a late lunch together. They're in the back office putting away their purses."

"Good," I said. "Because Jon, I'm scared that I hurt Jean's feelings the other night and made her mad at me."

"Why?" he asked.

"After we quote settled our pot-holder dispute she kept giving me this weird look with her left eye. And I feel terrible about it." Jon burst out laughing.

"No. No. No, Nancy," Jon said, in a hushed tone. "You've got it all wrong. Jean isn't mad at you. She has pinkeye and she is almost over it." Then all of us burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Sandy asked, as she and Jean walked up and joined us. I quickly glanced over at Jean and her left eye still looked pretty weird, but not as weird as it had the other night.

"Nancy's been worried that Jean is mad at her over that stupid pot-holder they made, because she said Jean kept giving her creepy looks with her left eye." Jean shook her head sideways. Then she walked up to me and gave me a great, big bear hug which I wasn't comfortable with, because I was afraid that now I would catch pinkeye from her.

"Oh Nancy," Jean said. "I felt bad about it too, so I have a small, peace-offering to give to you." Then she handed me a sealed envelope. "I am giving you a piece of paper signed by me and witnessed by Sandy & Jon—stating that you have full ownership of that pretty, pink pot-holder and you can do whatever you want to do with it. It's yours. I don't want it." So I teared up. Then Jean hugged me against my will, again. And I'm thinking, "Great, now for sure I know that I am going to get pinkeye.

When Jean finally let me out of her tight grasp, I accidentally stepped back, on Tony's big toe, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry Tony. I didn't know that you were standing there behind me." Then I turned and looked at Jean, and said, "Thank you Jean, for giving me full ownership of the pot-holder/(and really thinking pinkeye). You're too sweet (when I'm actually thinking—if I get pinkeye from you I am sending you the bill).

"Can I go use your restroom?" Tony asked. "I think Nancy broke my big toe."

"Sure Tony. Go ahead," Sandy said. As Tony limped away, Sandy said, "Well, I am so glad that y'all's ridiculous pot-holder war is finally over. And not to hurt y'all's feelings or anything, but I have to admit that I have never liked those kind of pot-holders."

"It's true," Jon added. "She really hates them. A long time ago, when our boys were kids and made those things for Sandy she secretly threw them out and then she lied and told our kids that I had accidentally burned them up when I was barbecuing."

"That's sad Jon," I teased.

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's broken," Tony stated, as he limped back to join us."It's already black and blue."

"Great!" I joked. "Let's sue Sandy & Jon!"

"It'll never "stand up" in court," Jean quipped.

After we had all quit laughing, I said, "We've got to get back home, but before we go I have a little peace-offering that I want to give to Jean. I'll be right back." Then I left the bookstore to go get my small gift for Jean.

"Oh Nancy," Jean said, as I re-entered the store, "You shouldn't have." Then I handed it to her, so she could open it.

When Jean started unwrapping my little gift, you could have heard a pin drop, inside Wolfmueller's Books store. In fact, all of their customers had gathered, up front, to see my gift to Jean.

"It's not much," I said, trying to sound humble. But little did I know, until she opened the box, that it really wasn't anything to brag about."

"Oh thank you, Nancy," Jean said, trying to sound like she meant it, as she stared into the box. "I love it."

"What is it?" Sandy asked, as the crowd of spectators and us leaned-in to get a glimpse of it.

"I'm not sure," Jean confessed. "It's pretty."

"It's Jean's half of our pink pot-holder," I explained. "Yesterday, while Tony was attending the Renaissance festival, with Sarah and Jay, I exhumed my time-capsule and cut our pot-holder in halves."

Then Jean held the box up for all to see and I about fainted when I saw it, because her half of our pink pot-holder had completely unraveled itself, because the loopers were so tight and the box was now full of pink and white, loopers that were useless, because I had cut them in half.

After the crowd of customers had glared at me and walked away, Jean said, "Well, it's the thought that counts, Nancy." Then we all started laughing about it.

When we were fixin' to adios our good friends, Jean said, "Wait a minute, y'all. I almost forgot my other peace offering for Nancy. I'll be right back." Then she took off for the office.

Seconds later Jean returned with something in a sack. "Nancy, I know how much you love all animals and when I saw this for sale, at Wild Birds Unlimited, it had your name written all over it, because I had called you squirrely. Here."

When Jean pulled it out of the brown sack I looked at it and gasped. "Oh Jean, I love it," I lied.

"Do you really?" Jean asked.

"Yes, I do," and I am pretty sure that she believed me. "Thank you, Jean. We've really got to go."

When Tony backed out of the parking space, in front of Bad Girlz of Texas, I said, "Tony what is that thing that Jean gave me?"

"It's a squirrel shaped seed-cylinder, Nance. For the birds to eat. It's great and I know where I am going to hang it."

"No Tony," I replied, flatly. "It's my squirrel seed-cylinder and it's cute, but I can't bear to watch it day after day losing a part of an eye, or a nose, it's tail or it's paws."

"So what are you going to do with it?" he asked, with disappointment in his voice.

"I'm going to put it in another time-capsule for you to bury. We need to go to Home Town Crafts right now, so I can buy a big shadow-box and then we'll stop by Gibson's so I can buy a metal mailbox."

"What are you going to do with a metal mailbox?"

"I'm going to put Peanut the Squirrel inside it and then hermetically seal it, before you get to bury it. Dang-it!"

"What?" Tony asked.

"I forgot to buy the Carl Hiaasen books!"

The End

Lucky You! or The Bird People! or Peanut The Squirrel!

Yesterday when we walked inside Wolfmueller's Books store, Jean greeted us, from behind the counter, and then she said, "Sandy's not here and Jon's down in the basement." Then I complimented her on her beautiful,  blue, knitted scarf that she was wearing and then I asked her if she had knitted it. "Yes, I knitted it...." Then she and I started discussing pot holders, like the beautiful pink one that we had made. Then we started laughing about them suddenly having a huge comeback and those kind of pot holders were showing up, in all kinds of stores, in Kerrville and Medina and were also being sold on the Internet.

"All I can say is ours is the prettiest," I said. "Well, I'm so glad that we didn't invest all of our savings into buying more Loopers, because obviously that pot holder market is totally saturated and we could have lost our shirts. It was a blessing." Then I excused myself and went looking for Carl Hiaasen books, while she and Tony talked about birds. 

About four minutes later, I walked back to them and my arms were full of Carl Hiaasen's 1st Editions and when they saw me, I joked, "I found his books!" Then we started laughing, while Jean totaled up my bill. "I bet this sale will make Sandy & Jon happy. When they get back here, please brag about my big purchase and then tell them that I asked you to please tell them that I bought them, because they weren't here." Then we had a big laugh over that.

Then Tony asked me why I was buying another copy of Nature Girl since I had just read it and loaned it out to Kris & Jim to read. "Because it is a 1st edition, too." Then I excused myself and went next door to Bad Girlz Of Texas, so I could buy a couple of hilarious birthday cards and a pair of socks.

And when I returned to Wolfmueller's Books, Jon, his sweet sister Jean and Tony were talking about how cool Terlingua is. 

A few minutes later, when we were leaving we Tony told them  our next stop was at Wild Birds Unlimited, so he could buy more birdseed. "Hey," Jon said. "They are having a big sale right now and if you purchase a certain amount they are giving away a free squirrel seed cylinder." 

"That is too cool," I remarked. "I love squirrels. Hmm, maybe I should write a funny mystery that revolves around a squirrel seed cylinder and at the end when the mystery is solved, there would only be a few seeds left of it..."

When we arrived at another one of our favorite stores, in Kerrville, Wild Birds Unlimited, Jason greeted us from behind the counter, and then he said, "You just missed seeing Marguerite by only three minutes." Then he helped Tony find the bird seed he wanted.

When Jason started to ring us up, I asked about the squirrel that Jon had told us about. "Here it is and it is free to y'all." I was so excited about getting the cute squirrel for free I ended up buying a sack of Armadillo Poop and Squirrel Poop, which is actually delicious chocolate nut toffee.

Then at the exact same time, Tony and I spotted the latest copy of the Kerr County People, a great community magazine, that was stacked neatly, by the cash register, with our Wild Birds Unlimited friends, on the cover. "Omg! This is a great picture of y'all," I said. "This is so great! Can I take a few copies to pass around?" Jason smiled as he slipped the magazines, into our paper sack. 

I read the great article, The Bird People of Kerrville, written byAnne Schneider, about Kevin & Linda Pillows' Wild Birds Unlimited, in Kerrville, while Tony drove us home. And Tony read it immediately after he had hung up his new bird seed cylinders outside. Tony had wanted to hang my squirrel seed cylinder outside too, but I told him that I had other plans for it, before letting him hang it outside.

And come to find out later on when I unwrapped my cute squirrel seed cylinder he actually has a name—Peanut the Squirrel and he is from New Braunfels, Texas.

And I am already plan to use it, in my next mystery. So, before I finish writing this tonight I want to thank Jon for telling us about Wild Birds Unlimited squirrel and thank Jason for giving Mr. Peanut the Squirrel to me. And who knows? Maybe Jon and Jason will be characters in my mystery who try to kidnap Mr. Peanut the Squirrel or the detectives who save him. Anyway, that's about it for tonight, because Henry is waiting for me to read him another hilarious Carl Hiaasen book.

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

Bad Monkey!

Today has been so much fun, because Tony and I went to Kerrville, late this afternoon, to run a few important errands.

We went to our all-time favorite stores: Wolfmueller's Books, Bad Girlz of Texas and Wild Birds Unlimited and that is why we had so much fun. And here's the proof that we went to these great stores, in Kerrville.

And because it was late when we finally got back home tonight I am going to blog about it tomorrow night, because I cannot wait to finish reading my second, hilarious, Carl Hiaasen book Bad Monkey. 

Since last week I've already read Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen and I've already loaned it out to Kris, for her and Jim to enjoy reading, because it was such a fun read. 

Little Debbie, Big Al(ice), Henry Standing Bear and Belle are now waiting for me to finish reading Bad Monkey to them, but before I go I want to wish our dear friend Kris a very Happy, Happy Birthday!

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