The Traveling Coat! or What If!

Tony and I had so much fun with Chet last night. When he arrived here I asked him if he was hungry, so I warmed him up a bowl of tortilla soup and then we got to visiting.

During our visit he told us that he had bought a new, used van and then we went outside to see it and to help him unpack.

As I was admiring his van, I asked him, "Have you named it yet?"

"Nope. Not yet."

And because I like naming things, I suggested, "Why don't you name it Ivan? I-van or iVan?" He and Tony laughed, but he did not commit. So we shall see.

After we unpacked Ivan he told us that he was flying to Norway tomorrow (today) for a ten day tour of Norway. Our dear friends Marita & Hans, in Bergen, Norway, had booked his tour, several months ago and Chet was looking forward to playing his music in Norway.

When I asked him about the weather over there, Chet told me that Marita had warned him that it was cold and she had advised him to bring a heavy jacket. "And I forgot to pack one," Chet told us.

Being the problem-solver that I am, I immediately suggested that he wear my "Jack Jacket." My beloved, comfortable, warm, canvas L.L. Bean ranch coat that Jack always wears in the awesome Canadian/Netflix series—Heartland. So Chet tried it on and it fit him perfectly. Here is a picture of Roy and me wearing my "Jack jacket" this past winter.

After I had wrapped up that problem, I started telling Chet about our mutual friend, Gerry Olert, giving me the awesome book It's A Long Story: My Life by Willie Nelson with David Ritz and that it has now become one of my all-time, top 5 favorite books. 

Then I handed Chet the book and I could tell that he was interested in reading it. So I gave it to him, because I knew he would love reading it and he could read it during his long, nine hour flight.

Today has been great. This morning after I cooked breakfast for Chet and Tony, Chet O'Keefe loaded up Ivan  and he took off for Austin, so he could fly out of there @ 4:00 today. And after we had adios-ed Chet and he and Ivan were gone, Tony asked me, "Nance, you love that coat. I never thought that you would loan it to anyone."

"I'm not worried about loaning it to Chet. Besides when he gets back I can tell/brag to everyone that my "Jack jacket" has been on many stages, in Norway. And it'll become known as The Traveling Coat. Like my traveling pants."

Then Tony said, "I can't believe that you gave Chet your Willie book. You told me that you loved that book so much—that you would never loan it out."

"Never say never. And yes, I did say that," I confessed. "But it is really no big deal, because last night before going to bed, I bought another copy of it on Amazon. It will be here tomorrow."

Early this afternoon Tony and I met our dear friends for our monthly luncheon, at El Bracero de Jalisco restaurant, in Kerrville.

We got there twenty minutes early, so while Tony sat outside, sitting on a bench in front of Bracero's, I went shopping next door, at the Hometown Craft store. 

There were many items on sale that I wanted to purchase, but I controlled my temptations and I only bought a cute sign for the front porch. 

Tony and I had a blast eating lunch with Kris & Jim and Les & Denise and the food was delicious, too. And during our fun lunch I showed everyone the sign I had bought and it made them all chuckle. Which is exactly why I bought this sign in the first place. Because I love to laugh and to also make people laugh. Here's the sign.

And I hope the sign made you smile or laugh, too. Anyway, as soon as we got back home I took this picture of the "What If" sign and then I went outside and hung it up.

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

Solar Lights!

Today was great and yes, I performed my new habit "Today is going to be great" the first thing this morning. And yes, our dogs wagged their tails as they watched me and that brought me love and joy.

This morning while I was drinking my second cup of delicious coffee, which by the way was not Donut Shop coffee that we've been enjoying drinking for many years, I came across this quote. I liked the message so much that I am going to share it with y'all. And if it helps just one person feel better out there—mission accomplished.

For those who cannot read Nigel Marsh's quote, it says:

"There are thousands and thousands of people out there living lives of quiet, screaming desperation who work long, hard hours at jobs they hate, to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like."

And just so you'll know, about six months ago, we started drinking Taster's Choice coffee and we love it for four reasons.

      1. It is is absolutely delicious 

      2. It is a lot cheaper than buying K-Cups

      3. It is helping not pollute the environment

      4. We cannot believe it is instant coffee

Late this morning I was cleaning up the big room and I found an unopened Home Depot sack, behind a jacket and inside to my surprise was this box of solar, changing color/white LED light string that we purchased several months ago.

So after we decided where to string them, we strung them and I love them. Here are some pictures I took after we had put them up and set up the small solar panel, in our flower pot (bucket) next to the front yard gate.

This afternoon we went to Kerrville and ran a few errands that included buying a couple of Secret-Santa Christmas presents for our friends at Escondida, buying trash bags at Home Depot and picking up a few groceries.

When we got back home, as we were getting out of the truck, I looked up and the sun was starting to set behind The Cabin and there was this beautiful rainbow colored ring around it—something we've never seen.

So we grabbed our cameras and started taking pictures. None of my turned out good enough to show the beautiful ring and my best picture out of 20 shots is this one. And even though it does not show the rainbow ring it still is a pretty cool picture, because of all of the orbs floating around. 

I believe in orbs and I absolutely love them, because they bring positive energy and protections. So I guess you could say we're covered in that area. Here are a just four pictures that Tony caught of the rainbow ring around the sun. And they are beautiful.

After our unplanned solar photo shoot, I leashed up Roy and was going to take him for a short walk around Big Foot Ranch. Tony was raking up some leaves near by and a few piles of dog poop and when he saw us he asked us to please pose for him and this is the picture that he took of me and my faithful, loving companion. "I love you, Roy!" And please note that I am wearing my famous jacket that Jack wears in my favorite TV show—Heartland.

Well, it almost dark outside and time for me to post this, but before I finish writing I am going to step outside and take a picture of our solar lights, so you can see them in action. I'll be right back.

And here it is!

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

A Swift Kick!

My last post was on November 17th. I haven't been blogging much this year because I've been depressed almost all of 2018 and only recently have I've actually become aware of it.

Basically, all of my life I've been a happy person and have had a wonderful life full of love and friends. Sure there were ups and downs and hills/mountains to climb or fall off of, but I always bounced back or better said, "Gotten right back in the saddle."But that was then and this is now.

I hesitate to write this post tonight, because I do not want it to be a downer or depressing to anyone, because that is not my style. I love life and I know that I am one of the lucky ones to have so much to be grateful for. And trust me—I am grateful everyday and I spend each and everyday counting my many blessings and saying prayers and thanking God for everything.

Around three weeks ago is when I finally realized that I have been depressed about several things. And that made me unhappy and that was scary, because I am not usually like that. I discovered that I've been deeply depressed about having to leave behind my old trailer that I loved so very much, because it never let me down in 24 years and it was the best home that I ever lived in. But I do admit that I am very thankful to be living in The Cabin.

I've also been depressed about not being able to rescue animals anymore and it haunts me daily. I've been depressed about dear, old friendships ending and being pushed aside. Dear friends passing away and leaving a void that can never be filled. I've been depressed about our sweet Belle going to the Rainbow Bridge and knowing that she is waiting there for me.

I've been saddened about this upside/down world that we are living in and how our country's politics has torn our nation apart. Where it seems or is said more common than not— "If you don't agree with my politics—you're stupid and you can go to he**! And we are no longer friends." Etc. This is sickening to me.

A few weeks ago, after discovering that I've been depressed I tried reaching out to a few close friends and after I admitted to them that I realized that I was fighting depression they casually blew me off and then changed the subject. Telling me not to worry and then they started talking about themselves. So I gave up—sort of.

I knew that I needed a swift kick-in-the-behind and that I needed to quit feeling sorry for myself. So I came to the conclusion that if I was going to quit being depressed I would have to be the one to do the kicking.

And kicking myself was not an easy task for someone my age. In fact, I almost threw my back out several weeks ago trying to kick the habit. But the good news is—I turned it around and laughed at myself for having this major poor-me-pity-party. And realizing that I was starting to get back on track and that made me feel happy and put a smile on my face.

Anyway, during the past month I had many conversations with several friends about feeling down, depressed, etc. and I soon discovered that they too had had a rough year and they were relieved to know they were not the only ones feeling "The blahs." And we all agreed that for the most part 2018 sucked and we were all looking forward to the new year.

Also, many of these friends admitted to me that for some reason they were "disconnecting." Meaning they no longer wanted to be so involved with their electronic devices such as computers, smart phones, the Internet, social media, etc. And that made me feel a whole lot better because I realized that I had unconsciously been doing the exact same thing they were doing.

With the exception of working outside on my soon-to-be-writing cabin/guest house, with Tony or spending quality time with friends and family or writing on my third novella—I no longer had the desire to waste any more of my time being on the Internet.

I mean I did feel guilty for not blogging and every evening when I would normally sit down and write something I found myself blowing it off, because I just wasn't feeling "up," because there just wasn't a whole lot of funny things going on in my life to write about. Poor me.

Part II

It's My (Pity) Party And I'll Cry If I Want to!

or

How I Stopped My Self-Imposed Pity-Party!

1. I re-read one of my favorite books Canyon of Remembering by Lesley Poling-Kempes.

2. I watched or re-watched some of my favorite movies or uplifting documentaries or television shows:

Movies

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!

It's A Wonderful Life

Chef

Documentaries

The Kindness Diaries: One Man's Quest to Ignite Goodwill and Transform Lives Around the World

Quincy

Walt: The Man Behind the Myth

Minimalism

Evan Carmichael's Believe Documentaries: 

Maya Angelou's Top 10 Rules For Success    

Oprah Winfrey's Top 10 Rules For Success, Volume 3

Steve Harvey Top 10 Rules For Success

Tyler Perry Top 10 Rules For Success

Television Series 

Cheers

Frasier

Heartland

Part III

The New Improved Happy Me!

Yes, I backed off the Internet and began disconnecting from the depressing news, etc. and I have spent many hours, as you can well see, being happy, laughing, learning new things and getting inspired. And I highly recommend this regimen for anyone feeling the blues, because it has worked miracles for me. 

As an example, after watching the awesome Minimalism documentary, I had Tony watch it with me and we have jumped on that bandwagon. We have now de-cluttered our cramped closet and have dropped off, 4 giant garbage sacks, at Good Will. And we've made several trips to the Kerrville dump to drop off useless, unneeded stuff, etc. And we plan to keep on doing it.

My sense of humor has finally returned, so I am once again inspired and writing the funniest novella that I have ever written and I am having a blast with it, even though it seems to be turning itself into a book instead of a novella. 

My New Year's resolution for 2019 is to do everything better, laugh more and to live my life to the fullest. And that includes blogging at least 3-4 times a week. (And this lengthy post proves it.) So life is once again good and thanks for being patient with my down-time. I have so much to be grateful for.

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