Surprise! They Got Me Again!

Today has been really great. Tony and I got up real early and did our morning chores. Then I cooked up a bunch of homemade buttermilk pancakes and made delicious, more than healthy smoothies for Chet's, Tony's and my breakfast. Then thirty minutes later Chet and his cool dog, Willie, jumped into his car and adios-ed us, because they were taking off for the Blue Max, in Midland, for Chet's show tonight.

A few minutes later, our super great friends/volunteers started arriving, so they could walk our dogs for us. While Tony and the volunteers were outside, I stayed inside The Cabin and caught up on some paperwork and then returned phone calls and e-mails.

Around 11:30, which is usually about the time that we take off to go eat lunch with the volunteers, I went outside and saw Tony and our friends carrying sacks of food into The Okay Corral. So I went to go see what was going on. "Surprise, Nancy!" Lisa said. "We're cooking here and celebrating your upcoming birthday today..." And I was surprised, because they had gotten me again.

After greeting everyone, while Tony cooked hot dogs and veggie burgers, I went back to The Cabin to grab my portable Bose, so we would have music playing outside. When I returned Lisa and I did a quick sound check to make sure the music was loud enough, but not too loud. Then our friends suggested that I come over to and take a look at my birthday cake that was made by Creative Cakes By Sharon, in Kerrville.

When I heard those four words, "Creative Cakes By Sharon" I hurried over to the table, because I knew it would be an awesome cake design and totally delicious. Then with all of our eyes on the cake box, Lisa slowly lifted out the cake and sat it on the table. "Omg!" I said. "This is totally unbelievable! I love it! How in the world does she do this?"

As all of us stood around the table admiring my pink, strawberry cake, someone said, "This is the cutest thing that I have ever seen. Look at Little Debbie's picture peaking through a hole that she made in the blanket. It looks just like her and the holes and the chewed up sheets, pillowcases and blankets on the sides of the cake, that the frosting on the top appears to be holding down. Why don't you go get Little Debbie so she can be at your birthday party?" So I took off and fetched Little Debbie.

Then Tony said, "It's ready, y'all. Come and get it." As everyone started serving themselves, I took this picture of some of them.

As we sat around the tables, eating lunch, with Little Debbie going around begging for food, we laughed and talked about my too cute Little Debbie birthday cake, going to the upcoming Medina Garage Sale, our rescue dogs, Blake aka Ranger's super adoption and him already going to work each day with Fay, etc. And when I had finished eating, everyone suggested that I read my birthday cards and pass them around for all to see. So I did exactly that. I loved them so much, later today, I took this picture of them.

Then it was time for me to open up my birthday presents.

Omg! They gave me some of the coolest birthday presents! It was like they had somehow read my mind, because I love all kinds of kitchen gadgets and for months I've been wanting to buy some All-Clad pots and pans, because they are the best, with a lifetime warranty and they are Made In USA. And a certain item that I recently found and fell in love with, at the Cracker Barrel restaurant, in Kerrville. Well, today my dear friends made all of those wishes come true, plus Lisa's husband Chuck bought me a box of wine to enjoy. Here are the great kitchen gadgets and Callphalon spatulas.

I love these Kikkerland wooden guitar spoons that don't show up in the picture above!

Here are my first two All-Clad fry pans! I'm calling them my All-Clad Starter Kit. Now, once a month, I plan to buy one All-Clad pot or pan until I have all of the pots and pans I need.

Then I got this tiny little mattress!

For Little Debbie's soon to be assembled bed by Tony, that I fell in love with, at Cracker Barrel's.

After opening all of my super birthday presents it was time to cut the birthday cake, but before we did, everyone wanted to take a picture of Little Debbie and me, next to the birthday cake that June held for me. But the first round of pictures were too dark, because we were standing in the shade and a certain super volunteer, who shall remain nameless, that lives in San Antone, only shot me from the neck down, so we moved out of the shade and they shot another round of pictures. Tony took this one just as Little Debbie leaned over and tried to lick the cake as June was pulling away.

Then Lisa sliced the delicious cake for me and served it to everyone. And everyone said it was the best strawberry cake that they had ever eaten. I love all of my presents and I want to say, "Thank y'all so much, for making my day better than great!" And that is about it for today, because I am fixin' to register online, to activate the Lifetime Warranty on my brand new awesome All-Clad fry pans!

Y'all have a great evening!

Now It Is Peggy Sue & Buddy Holly!

Today has been great, but I have to keep this post short tonight, because our dear friends, Larry & Dee, will be arriving soon and we cannot wait to see them. They are coming from Austin and they are going to spend the weekend with us.

This afternoon, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, us and the volunteers gave Kris a belated, surprise birthday party! And thanks to Kris' husband Jim, for secretly picking up Kris' birthday cake yesterday afternoon for us, at Creative Cakes By Sharon—we really surprised Kris!

Kris' birthday was in January, but due to weather conditions, etc. we never got around to throwing her a birthday party. Knowing how much she loves our Peggy Sue & Buddy Holly, we gave Sharon a picture of Peggy Sue and asked Sharon to have the cake read:

Happy Birthday Kris

Love,

Peggy Sue & Buddy Holly

Below is a picture that Donna Gable Hatch, the fabulous writer, author and friend, took of Kris posing with her two favorite dogs to walk. Donna took the picture below, when she came out, before our Concert For Utopia, to interview us for the fabulous story that she wrote for The Kerrville Daily Times. And all of us love this picture of Kris, Peggy Sue, the Beagle and her best friend Buddy Holly.

Here are two pictures of Kris' adorable cake featuring Ms. Peggy Sue on the side of the cake. Please note that Buddy didn't want to be on Kris' birthday cake, because he likes to fly under the radar, so to speak.

And to say the least, "Everyone loved Kris' cake made by Creative Cakes By Sharon and it was totally delicious and yes, rumor has it that Kris ate Peggy Sue." And that's about it for tonight, because I still need to quickly clean up our, old trailer before they get here, so it doesn't look like we actually live here. Wish me luck!

Y'all have a great evening!

First, Velvet Elvis—Now Lois Lane!

Today has been great. I got up early this morning, so I could cook Mama some pancakes, because Mama loves them and it is the only thing that she will eat and it is also the only way that I can get her to take her pain pill. I crush up Mama's big pain pill using a spoon, then I mix it into the pancake batter and voila! Mama enjoys her breakfast and feeling no pain.

As soon as Mama ate her buttermilk pancakes, I cleaned up our kitchen and then Hazel came out of the closet and removed all of the latest dog fur, that was resting on our wooden floors. After Hazel returned to the closet Tony and I went outside to do our morning chores.

Around 9:45, I went outside to go greet Jim and Ruthie, but Jim was down at the creek walking Layla and Little Girl, so he missed out. When I walked up to Tony and Ruthie, over by the barn, I said, "Tone, I need for you and Kermit to take me and this old, hippie chick up to the trailer, so we can drink a cup of coffee and visit." As I slid over to the middle and Ruthie climbed into Kermit, I said, "Ruthie, I love your tie-dyed t-shirt." Then we took off.

Two cups of coffee later, Lisa walked inside The Cabin, "Hi guys! It looks like it is fixin' to rain and the dog walking is over..." Then it thundered loudly, so I raced around the big room—unplugging everything. And ten minutes later, all of our friends / volunteers were joking and laughing inside our thirty-one-year old trailer, while Roy made his rounds, letting everyone pet him. Five minutes later, Lisa suggested, "Let's go into Outer Space."

We hadn't been in Outer Space two minutes, when we heard big rain drops start to break their fall on the tin roof, of our screened-in porch. Seconds later, the rain was coming down so hard, I thought it was hail instead of rain, and the noise from the rain was so loud, it was hard for us to talk, without half-hollering. When it started lightning and thundering real close, we all decided to move back inside The Cabin.

Thirty-five minutes or one inch of rain later, it quit raining long enough for everyone to scramble to their vehicles, so we could go up to the Medina Highpoint Resort to celebrate Lisa's birthday and to eat lunch together.

Tony and I were the last to arrive at the resort, because we had to stay behind to lock our gate. When we arrived at the Medina Highpoint Resort, everyone was standing around the table, admiring Lisa's adorable birthday cake, that Eileen had custom ordered from Creative Cakes By Sharon, in Kerrville.

Eileen, knowing that Lisa's favorite dog out here is Lois Lane, a super, sweet Pit Bull, that Lisa fondly calls Lolo, had given Sharon a picture of Lois Lane, so Sharon could creatively incorporate her image in the cake's design and the results were beyond stunning. Here is a picture of Lisa with her too cute cake, that reads:

Happy Birthday

 Lisa 

Love, Lolo

  

Here's Lois Lane

And here's Lois on Lisa's incredibly cool birthday cake.

During our fun lunch with good friends we could not stop talking about how much we all loved Lisa's  birthday cake design and that by far, Creative Cakes by Sharon is the Best Bakery in the Texas Hill Country. After we had all vowed to only get our birthday cakes from Sharon's and Keith's bakery—it was time for Lisa to cut the cake. And to say the least, "The cake was totally delicious and Lisa ate Lois!" And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Creative Cakes By Sharon!

Today has been great. This morning, Tony, Rick and I went outside, when the sun came up, to feed the dogs and clean their pens. Then I cooked breakfast for us and it was not Cousin Nancy's Spinach & Sausage Frittata that everyone seems to love, because I was out of the two main ingredients—spinach and sausage.

While the four of us ate breakfast, Rick told us about getting up around 3:00 and going outside to discover a gigantic raccoon trying to get into The Golden Girls' Egg Palace. And the way Rick told the story was pretty dang funny, even though I'm sure our chickens would not have laughed about it—if chickens laugh at all.

Around 10:00, when our great dog-walking volunteers showed up, Leisa and Rick were, inside my pink writing cabin, packing up their things, because they needed to get back on the road. I hung out with them and watched closely as they loaded up Leisa's Chevy pickup, because I was afraid that they might steal something. (Not really. I'm just joking and decided to write something funny and I hope that it made you laugh.)

Anyway, it was about 11:15 when Leisa and Rick pulled up to the barn and adios-ed us and the volunteers, and then they took off, leaving a trail of dust behind them, that covered all of us, because it is so dry out here and we need rain like a fish needs water.

At 11:45, all of us went up to the Medina Highpoint Resort to eat lunch together and to surprise Suzanne with a birthday party. When Tony and I arrived Suzanne was busy getting tea, on the other side of the tall counter, while Eileen quietly lit the three candles on Suzanne's adorable, custom decorated birthday cake that Eileen had ordered from Creative Cakes By Sharon, on Earl Garrett Street, in Kerrville. And when Suzanne walked around the corner, with her iced tea, all of us starting singing the Happy Birthday song to her. To say the least, "Suzanne was totally surprised and her cute birthday cake, that everyone admired, was absolutely delicious. In fact, the cake was so tasty, several of the volunteers got seconds and made comments about Sharon being the best baker, in the Texas Hill Country."

When Suzanne's fun, surprise birthday party was over, our good friends Kris & Jim, followed Tony and me back to the rescue ranch, because I needed Jim's help to program my Undepressable Press Square Credit Card Reader, because tomorrow morning, at 10:30, I'll be doing a book signing, at the Medina Community Library, which by the way, is my favorite library and is proudly known as "The Best Little Library in Texas!"

While Jim and I sat at the kitchen table, so he could program my Square Reader for me, because he is a whole lot smarter than I am, Kris sipped a cup of coffee and visited with Tony, talking about arrowheads, dogs, etc.

After I had finally retrieved my password for my super cool credit card reader, it only took Jim about three minutes to program and set up my Square reader for me, that I hopefully will get to use tomorrow, at the book signing. Then Tony and I visited with our dear friends for a while, before we adios-ed each other.

Ten minutes after they had left the building, I checked my e-mail to discover that Jan, a good friend of Tony's that also loves animals, who lives in Mountain Home, had just purchased a copy of The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part I, so I happily signed her a copy and then I took off, in Trigger, to go mail it, at the Post Office, in Medina. And my fingers are crossed that she'll get it tomorrow.

And that is about it for today, because now I need to get everything ready for my book signing, tomorrow morning, at The Best Little Library in Texas. Wish me luck!

Y'all have a great evening!