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

A Time Capsule!

Today has been so great. This morning our good friend, Linda called me. She and her husband Kevin are good friends of ours and they own the Wild Birds Unlimited store, in Kerrville, where Marguerite and Tricia work.

Anyway, I was outside when she called, at 10:23, and she left a message for me. About five minutes later, when I came back inside, The Cabin and listened to her exciting message, so I immediately called her back, at the store, to thank her for inviting us to participate in their Doggie Adoption Day, on Saturday, December 3rd, at their Wild Birds Unlimited store.

Marguerite answered the phone and within seconds I was talking ,on the phone, to Linda. "Linda, we would love to participate and...." After we had discussed this upcoming event, I thanked her for inviting us and before we adios-ed each other, she told me that she was also going to contact, another great animal shelter, in Kerrville and as soon as she got an answer back from them—the wheels would be set in motion. And I am not sure who was more excited about their upcoming Wild Birds Unlimited dog adoption day event, but it doesn't really matter, because I can't wait to do it and I know that our dogs will have so much fun. Anyway, as soon as I know more about this super-cool event I will post it hear and also spread the word,  by talking about it on Big G's and Harley Belew's radio shows.

This afternoon after lunch, Tony and I took off, for Kerrville, to run a few errands. First, we went to get our eyes examined, but that didn't happen, because we needed to make an appointment first. After we made our appointments, we left the eye doctor and then we went to Gibson's to buy Tony some new Wrangler jeans.

While Tony was hunting blue jeans, I wandered around the store and I about fainted, because on the front of an isle, Gibson's had a leaning stack of about ten, multi-colored woven potholders for sale, just like the pretty pink one that Jean and I made yesterday. And the price tags on them were $4.99 each. And to say the least, that got me all excited about making potholders, again.

Since I was inspired by seeing that people actually bought those kind of potholders, at Gibson's and after I told Tony about Gibson's selling the potholders for $4.99, we went down the Junction Highway, for a few blocks, so Tony could drop me off, at the Home Town Craft store, while he drove over to the Wild Birds Unlimited store, in the same shopping center.

As you can guess, my hopes were high about buying a bag of pink loopers and a bag of white loopers, but unfortunately all of the loopers they had in stock were those gigantic filled bags of multi-colored loopers, just like the one I bought the other day. And that's when my smile turned upside down.

But fortunately it went back up real quick, when I heard a familiar woman's voice, say, "Nancy!" Omg, it was our good friend Daneshu, so I took off to go visit with her. While we were catching up with each others news, she told me that she was having one of her paintings framed, at River Oaks Framing Co., to give as a gift and that was why she was hanging around the craft, because they told her it would only take a few minutes for them to frame it for her.

"Daneshu, I didn't know you were an artist, too!...." And a few minutes later, she opened up her large art folder and showed me one of her most recent landscape paintings and I about fainted when I saw it, because it was absolutely beautiful.

When our dear artist friend changed the subject she asked me what I was shopping for and I was too embarrassed to tell her pink and white potholder loopers, because I was hooked on weaving potholders. So, I told her the other thing that I was shopping for. "I'm looking for a small, inexpensive shadow box frame to put something I made inside it."

"Oh, what did you make, Nancy?" she inquired. And right then and there I knew that I was busted, so I took a deep breath, and nonchalantly said, "A potholder." Daneshu, tried to hide the puzzled look on her face, because she is a sweet woman. So, I added, "I wove it and it's pink and white, but I had to have our friend Jean tie it off for me. So, actually Jean and I made it and it's real pretty."

"Daneshu, your picture is ready to be picked up, at River Oaks Framing. Please come back to the counter."

"Well, I need to go pick up my painting. It was great seeing you, Nancy, and please tell Tony that I said hello." Then she rushed off, like she was fleeing from an insane person.

And a few minutes later, I found the perfect shadow box and a pink-glittered backing and bought them. Then I walked across the parking lot to go to, Wild Birds Unlimited, to get Tony.

When I walked inside Wild Birds Unlimited, Linda, Tricia and Marguerite greeted me, from the counter. Then I had a fun visit with them and I even showed them my shadow box and pink backing for it, because they follow my blog and know all about the pretty pink potholder that Jean and I made.

"Well, I want to see your painting," Marguerite said. "When can I see it?"

"Soon," I said. "It's a gift and I can't put it up on my blog, yet...." Then we started talking about the upcoming doggie adoption day. Bottom line: We're all excited about the fun event and Marguerite even told me that she would be glad to volunteer to help transport our dogs or do anything else to help make it easier on us. And before we adios-ed each other and left this super-cool store, I purchased one of their greeting cards that has a real Fender guitar pick, on the front of it and the message inside the card is: "YOU ROCK!" And I know exactly who I am going to give it to.

Early this evening, I "hermetically" sealed the pink and white potholder, inside the shadow box and now I have to decide where to put it on display. I want it to be in the kitchen, but I am also thinking about possibly burying it outside, in a secret location, sort of like a time capsule that they put on the moon. But, the only thing bad about that idea, I would have to unseal it and leave a note about it saying something like, "Two old women made this potholder, in two days—not a 5 year old kid." Anyway, I'm hoping to make my final decision by tomorrow, after I talk to Jean about it and get her professional opinion on it.

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