Jim Passed The Bottle!

Today has been great. This morning when Mama and I got out of bed, my back was just a little sore, thank goodness.

This morning while Tony and I were outside doing the chores, our good friends/volunteers started showing up to walk our dogs. All of us were whispering behind Jim's aka The Mineral Man's back, because we had a surprise birthday party planned for him, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, after the dogs got walked.

While I was feeding Miranda Lambert and her brother, Blake Shelton, Eileen and Kris, Jim's sweet wife, walked up to the pen, so we could discuss Jim's surprise birthday party.( Jim's birthday is actually tomorrow, but we thought today would be the best day to have his birthday party, since the weather was smiling on us.) "Tony and I dropped off Jim's birthday cake yesterday, so all we need to do is stall him, Eileen, so y'all can get up there to get things ready," I said. Then they took off to walk their dogs down to the creek.

When it was time to go to the Medina Highpoint Resort, Jim was the first to get into their car. When Kris started to get into their SUV, I  half-hollered, "Kris, wait. I want to show you something, inside the barn."

As Kris closed the car door, she was grinning at me, as she purposefully, slowly walked up to the barn. "Come on inside, so we can stall Jim," I suggested. Then we stood inside giggling, as we watched the volunteers cars leave.

"What am I going to tell Jim, when he asks me what you wanted to show me?" Kris asked.

"I don't know." Then there was a pause, before I suggested, "Tell him that I wanted to show you a cute dog collar or something like that." By then everyone had driven off, so we walked out of the barn, so Kris could get in their car and take off.

Ten minutes later, when Tony and I walked inside the Medina Highpoint Resort, Jim was laughing and wearing a cardboard crown, that Suzanne had provided. Our long table, that we always sit at, was decorated with Suzanne's cute Mardi Gras cut-out dogs and gifts, gift sacks and cards covered the rest of the table. So, I took off to the food counter, to fetch Jim's birthday cake. As I carried it to Jim, I joked, "We bought a smaller birthday cake this time, because there is always too much cake left over." Then I laughed and said, "Actually, that's not really true. Tony and I are just real cheap."

Tony and I had a blast at The Mineral Man's birthday party and so did everyone else. It was full of laughter. When Jim opened up our gift sack, he unwrapped a small, clip-on book reading light, from Tony. Then when he opened up my gift everyone chuckled, because it was a bottle of Udderly SMOOTH skin lotion.

After Jim had thanked me for my gift, I told everyone about Tony and I getting a jar of it and how much we loved it. Then everyone was curious and wanted to try it. So, Jim put some on his hands, rubbed them together and then Jim passed the bottle, so everyone could try the super skin lotion.

As the bottle of lotion passed from one person to another, down and back up the table, everyone was making remarks about going to buy some, at Gibson's. Then I jokingly said, "By the time Jim's bottle gets back to him—it's going to be completely empty!"

When Jim finally got his half-empty bottle, of skin lotion back, I stuck one, big, white candle, into his birthday cake, so he could light the candle, make a wish, blow out the candle, while we all sang Happy Birthday to him, while he cut up the cake, which came from H-E-B and was totally delicious.

After Jim's birthday party was over, Tony and I went outside with Kris and Jim, so we could load up my three, H-E-B insulated, red grocery bags, that I had packed full of books for tomorrow's Patrick Heath Public Library's 1st annual Local Authors Book Expo, in Boerne. Before Tony and I adios-ed our dear friends, Jim and I decided where and what time to meet tomorrow morning, so he could drive me to Boerne and help me, at the Expo.

This evening, I plan to figure out what I am going to wear for tomorrow's, fun, four hour, Local Authors Book Expo. Then I'm going to drink a glass or two of wine and then go to bed early, because I plan to get up around 5:30, in the morning.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took at The Mineral Man's surprise birthday party today. And that's about it, except I do want to invite y'all to come see Jim and me tomorrow, in Boerne. And, once again, I do want to thank sweet Kris for loaning out her husband, so he can help me.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thank You, Kris & Jim!

Yesterday was great. It was basically a quiet day, until Heather, from Missouri City and Mary, from Kerrville, arrived. These two, very nice women had come out to see our rescue ranch, because Mary has recently started reading my blog.

After Mary took a picture of Heather and me, I gave them the grand tour. First, we walked, from pen to pen, so I could introduce them to all of our rescued dogs. Then, with Tony's help, we went into my pink writing cabin, while Tony held Kate Middleton in his lap, so she wouldn't get out of The Okay Corral. Katie is temporarily staying in The Okay Corral, because we are over capacity, until Daisy and Roscoe get picked up.

Because the women loved my cute cabin, I invited them to go into Outer Space with me. At first they weren't sure if they wanted to, until I explained, "It's our screened-in porch." After a fun, but short visit, in Outer Space, I invited them to come inside The Cabin. And to say the least, "They loved it, too. And they could not believe that our trailer is over thirty-years-old and only cost me $7,000.00, in 1995."

Before they left, we talked about our love for Roy Rogers & Dale Evans and my love for my rescued dog, Roy Rogers. Because I liked Heather and Mary a lot, I wanted to give them copies of my Cowgirl Sisterhood novellas, so I went back into my office, grabbed copies of my books  and signed them to them. Then we adios-ed each other.

Today has been great, too. This morning Mama and I overslept and we thoroughly enjoyed snuggling with each other. (For those of you new to my blog, Mama is my twelve-year-old, rescued Great Pyrenees.)

This morning when Tony and I went outside to feed the dogs and clean their pens, it felt like Spring was in the air. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the dogs all seemed to be smiling and I loved it.

Having done our chores outside, I decided to put our plants, that have been inside, into Outer Space, so they could enjoy the beautiful weather, too. I know that winter isn't officially over and it is more than likely to freeze again, but I don't care, because it is very easy for me to bring our plants back inside, in under three minutes.

Before I started cooking Tony's and my lunch, I checked my e-mail. My dear friend Jim, who lives in California and spends his time traveling around the world, sent me a very funny video to watch about how men's and women's brains work differently and I am still laughing about it and I wish that I had known the truth when I was twenty-years-old. Click here to watch it and please let me know what you think.

It is now 12:30 and I have decided to take the rest of the day off to stop to smell the roses, because I was way too busy this past week. But before I go, I do want to do a shout out to my dear friends, Kris and Jim, "The Mineral Man." Because this past Friday, when they were out here, I was telling them about me getting nervous about having to drive by myself to Boerne, on March 1st, for the Patrick Heath Public Library's 1st annual Local Author Book Expo, from 10:00 to 2:00, because Tony has to stay, at the rescue ranch between 10:00 to 3:00, for our Saturday's Open House.

Before I could finish my sentence, Kris said, "Jim can do it, because I am going to be attending a stained glass workshop all day." Then Jim chimed in, "Nancy, I would love to drive you to Boerne. Because I have nothing to do all day, except stay at home and babysit Charlie, (Their adorable, rescued Westie.) until Kris comes home..."

So I want to say a big, "THANK YOU, KRIS & JIM, for taking that stress away from Tony and me!" And, I do want to invite all of y'all to come see me (and Jim), at the Local Author Book Expo, in Boerne, next Saturday. I know it will be a lot of fun, because I alway love seeing my friends and meeting new people. And I cannot wait for my dear friends, Cheryl and Walter to meet Jim, because I know that they are going to hit it off and become good friends quickly.

Y'all have a great day and evening!