Miniskirts! or 501 Levi's!

Today has been great and a lot of fun. This morning our dear friend Gerry Olert, came to visit us.

Gerry Olert, from San Antonio, is the famous videographer who did all of awesome rescue ranch videos for us, but when I think of Gerry the first thing that always comes to mind is how much fun I had working with Gerry when he edited the Longmire-Texas Style video-spoof starring Little Debbie. Laugh out loud, I had written, starred in and produced this video—just to help make Little Debbie more famous.

Of course the making of Longmire—Texas Style would not have been so much fun without all of the help from our dear friends/dog-walking volunteers, Chet O'Keefe and Jim & Liz Cravotta. Below is one of my favorite pictures that Tony took of Gerry (far left) posing with the entire cast, at Big Jim's & Lady Liz's Grey Goose Saloon, on April 2, 2016, after the wrap party.

And this is one of my other favorite pictures that Tony took that day, of Liz & Jim, Little Debbie and me during the wrap party. And I still cannot believe that it has been almost three years ago, when we made the video.

Anyway, this morning during our fun visit with Gerry he was telling us that his & Karen's sweet, old (18+ years) cat had passed away since he had last visited us. Then he told us that he and Karen recently went to a rescue shelter and adopted the coolest kitten that already knows how to fetch and retrieve a ball. Then he pulled out his iPhone and showed us adorable pictures of Luna, the kitten that has stolen their hearts. Here is one of his beautiful pictures of Luna cat-napping on Gerry's lap.

Early this afternoon, Gerry treated us to a fun lunch, at the Cracker Barrel, in Kerrville. It is funny, but Tony and I did not order the same thing as usual, but Gerry and I did. He and I ordered a breakfast that came with a side of two pancakes, that also came with these small bottles of maple syrup. One for each of us.

I don't know why, but I fell in love with these cute, little glass bottles of syrup and I told Tony and Gerry that I loved these bottles. So when the sweet waitress returned to check on us, Gerry asked her to bring us two more bottles of maple syrup.

As we finished eating our meal, Tony and Gerry encouraged me take the four, empty, little bottles home since I loved them so much. And after we had quit laughing about it, I said, "I can't. It might be illegal and I don't want to be in prison, because of maple syrup...." 

Bottom   Line: I finally asked the friendly waitress to bring me a doggie bag. (So, I could sneak the empty bottles out of the restaurant.) While we waited for the doggie bag Gerry and Tony teased me about going to prison, etc. and I was getting more nervous about taking the emptied bottles.

So, when we decided to leave Gerry and Tony took off first and as I was walking past the table, next to our table, this friendly-looking, old man wearing a Vietnam Veteran cap, probably about my age, had this long white beard that looked like he was a member of ZZ-Top~~waved for me to stop. So I did, and he looked up and said, "If the Feds were in here they would arrest you—"

Omg, I thought "I'm busted!" And I thought that I was going to faint, but I didn't, because Tony was gone and wouldn't be able to catch me from falling. Then this friendly man smiled, and said, "For laughing too much." Then he and I started laughing.

As soon as all of us were outside and I felt safe, I told Gerry and Tony about the man stopping me and telling me that I should be arrested and they burst out laughing. Then Gerry joked, "We left you behind, because we didn't want to be accessories to the crime."

And after we had quit laughing, I said, "At first what he said to me really did scare me. And I was immediately thinking, they are going to call the police and tell them, "We've got a sticky situation over here. This old woman..." 

After our fun lunch, Gerry followed us over to the East End Market, because he wanted to see Jim & Liz's fabulous booth (#42). And as the three of us were walking into this super-cool store—Jim Cravotta came walking out and after howdies, handshakes and hugs, Jim said, "Liz is inside and I'll be right back. I''ve got to get a wrench. Go say howdy to Liz." So we did. And then we had a great time visiting with Liz & Jim and checking out all of their fabulous stuff they have for sale.

Here are just a few pictures that I took of their treasures and antiques that I wanted to buy.

This is a working spinning wheel that I wanted, but because Mama (my perfect Great Pyrenees) is dead I passed, because Henry's, Roy's, Beau's, Little Debbie's and Big Al(ice)'s hair is too short. 

This is a Mary Quant romper, in beautiful condition, that Liz bought and wore—back in the 60's. For those younger than me who may not know who Mary Quant was, here is a link to Mary Quant to find out more about her. (Taken from Wikipedia: "The miniskirt, described as one of the defining fashions of the 1960s,^[19] is one of the garments most widely associated with Quant. While she is often cited as the inventor of the style...")

Unfortunately, I never owned an original Mary Quant miniskirt or romper, but back then I wore miniskirts all of the time. In fact, I even got sent home from high school one day, because the Principal told me that my miniskirt was too short. And before Mom came to pick me up, I tried to explain to him, "It's not too short. I'm short. It's just an illusion..." But neither him or mom bought it, so I had to go home and change miniskirts, before returning to my French class that I was flunking, because of my Texas accent.

And here is an assorted collection of 1920 magazines that totally fascinated me.

Before adios-ing Liz & Jim, I told them that I was going to donate my mannequin legs, for Jim's project. "I want you to have it, but I want you to know that Tony and I put a pair of my 501 Levi's on it, so it will be dressed. But we never could put a pair of my old, pink, Justin Gypsy cowgirl boots on it. And before we left our friends we decided that Tony and I would meet Liz & Jim, at Wolfmueller's Books, to give them the mannequin legs. And Jim joked, "That's the perfect drop-off place. And I'm sure that Sandy & Jon will love that!" And we were still laughing when we walked out of the store and adios-ed Gerry.

Before coming home, we swung by So Fast Printing, my favorite and Kerrville's favorite print shop, so I could pick up a few pictures, that I had e-mailed to Rose and had asked her to print for me on card stock. Because I am planning on framing and hanging them in my writing cabin. Then we came home. Here are the four pictures that I plan to frame and hang tonight.

Then I took this picture of the doggie bag and the four empty bottles. Then I put them into the sink to soak, so I can hopefully remove the labels. And now I am wondering why I even took those stupid, tiny bottles, because I am not even sure what I will use them for.

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

Little Joe And Margarita!

The last few days have been great and today has been no exception. This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands.

Our first stop was at So Fast Printing, so I could pick up my order. You see yesterday morning, while I was on my computer I found a few pictures that wanted printed on her heaviest card stock. So I had e-mailed them to Rose, at So Fast Printing, so they could print them out for me.

I love working with Rose, because she is true professional when it comes to printing things right. Over many years our rescue ranch, Tony and myself have used her printing shop for quality printing. And Rose had made it so easy to work with her, because all I would have to do is e-mail her what we wanted printed, with instructions and then go pick up the order.

Yesterday when I had sent her the photos at the end of my instructions I had told her that Tony and I would be coming to Kerrville later in the day and it would be perfect if I could pick them up. But I finished my note by saying, "But if you do not have the time today—no worries."

Anyway, yesterday afternoon got away from us and we did not make it to Kerrville as we had planned. So I felt bad about coming in today to pick up my order, because she had told me yesterday that they would be ready when we came to town.

So when I walked inside So Fast Printing today, my guilt immediately flew right out the window, when Rose, who was wearing a big smile, greeted me and then handed me my order. The photos looked fabulous printed on the heavy card stock, as I had requested and Rose charged me next to nothing for printing them for me.

Our next errand to run was, at the big H-E-B, to get groceries and we were out of there within twenty minutes. And our last planned stop was at Wolfmueller's Books, so we could see our good friends Sandy & Jon.

When we arrived Sandy greeted us from the back of the bookstore and waved for us to come back there. "Hi y'all. Please sit down," Sandy said. "Jon went to run an errand and he will be right back..."

We had a fun, short visit with Sandy before Jon returned and then we had a fun, hilarious visit with the two of them.

During our entertaining talk-a-thon/laugh-a-thon Sandy handed me this folded pamphlet to look at.

Then she and Jon enthusiastically took turns telling us about how delicious their food was, at this new Mexican Restaurant, where Conchita's used to be located. "...Y'all are going to love Little Joe's." Jon said. "Their food is excellent and it is Tex-Mex at its very best. They've only been open a week or so and oh my gosh their homemade lemonade is to die for....it's now our favorite Mexican food restaurant."

They had convinced us to give it a try right then, even though we had groceries, melting inside Roy, and had planned to eat sandwiches when we got back home. "Go over there with them Jon, and introduce them to Joe and his sweet daughter Margarita. It is just the two of them. Joe does all of the cooking and Margarita is the waitress/cashier. And they are the nicest people. I love their #1 and #4 and y'all should order that. And Jon, please bring me back some more lemonade," Sandy said.

So Jon, Tony and I adios-ed Sandy, went out their backdoor and shuffled across Main Street and then went inside Little Joe Restaurant. And Margarita, was wearing as big a smile as Rose had, at So Fast Printing, greeted us before we even sat down at our table. 

Within a minute we were all sipping the delicious lemonades that Sandy had raved about. Well, their menu was huge and it was filled with so many delicious choices. But in the end Tony and I did not order the exact same thing as we usually do. (You can enlarge this menu and on the backside of this flyer is their breakfast menu, but I did not have enough space available to put it in this blog post.)

Well, I ordered their #1 Enchiladas, as Sandy had suggested. And Tony order their #5 Guisada Plate and Jon ordered a lemonade to go, which made Margarita chuckle, because she knew how much Sandy loves their lemonade.

A few minutes later Jon adios-ed us and he took off with his and Sandy's lemonades and that's when Tony and I got to visiting with Margarita while we waited on our food. She told us that she and her dad have owned several Mexican food restaurants over the past years and that she and Joe were excited about opening this one. "We are open all week from 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and we serve breakfast all day." Then Margarita took off to go get our orders.

Well, let me tell you what Tony said to me once he took a bite of his guisada, "This is the best guisada in town. Seriously, it is the best that I've ever eaten."

I smiled, and whispered, "Tony, don't talk with your mouth full." Then I took my first bite of the cheese enchiladas.

"Omg!" I said. "These enchiladas are to die for."

Tony chuckled, and with more guisada, in his mouth, said, "Don't talk with your mouth full." And his words nearly made me choke, because I started laughing.

When Margarita returned to our table and served us Joe's homemade flour tortillas, definitely not coming out of a machine like other Mexican food restaurants use—Tony's and my eyes grew really big, because they looked so delicious and because we could not wait to try them. 

After we had enjoyed eating our delicious lunch and the mouth-watering, homemade flour tortillas, I told Margarita that I was going to blog about their new, family-owned restaurant and I asked if I could please take a picture of her with her dad, Little Joe. And two minutes later—I shot them using my iPhone. It was painless.

Bottom    Line: Little Joe Restaurant is now the best Mexican food restaurant, in Kerrville, Kerr County and the Hill Country. And we told that to Sandy & Jon, as soon as we returned to their awesome bookstore.

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

Moccasin-Challenged!

The past few days have almost been great. As y'all already know this is my most busiest time of the year and the last thing that I need to happen during this holiday season is to add one more thing for me to do each day.

First, let me make it perfectly clear that I do love the holiday season even though I know that it is and always will be stressful. Anyway this last Sunday, when Tony and I went to, Kerrville, to run a few errands he discovered that we had accidentally dressed alike, again.

No, we were not wearing our favorite blue, plaid, flannel shirts—we were wearing our matching red, blue and green plaid, flannel shirts that we had bought at Walmart. I thought it was pretty funny and it made me laugh out loud, but Tony didn't see it my way.

In fact, he was so embarrassed about us dressing alike, he suggested that we keep a safe distance between us, in case we ran into any of our friends. "Let's turn our iPhones on and use them to find each other when we're done shopping," he suggested. "And from now on until Spring arrives I think it would be a good idea for us to check with each other, first thing in the mornings, to make sure that we're not dressed alike. And, I hope that we don't run into Jim (The Mineral Man"), at H-E-B."

I knew that Tony was serious about this, so I turned my head and pretended to be looking out the window, so he couldn't see me silently laughing. Anyway, because I could not resist it, I said (joked) in my most serious voice, "Okay, Tone. But it would be much easier if we just start dressing alike all of the time. Then we could become famous, in Kerrville." Then I heard the uncomfortable sound of silence for several seconds.

"Yeah," he sort of growled. "We could become the town's joke. Just like that crazy, old woman that runs around H-E-B wearing that big red hat, black leotards and a red sweater that shows her butt every time that she bends over."

"It would be fun," I egged him on."Or that woman that rides that bicycle, all over town, singing at the top of her lungs, Bring In The Clowns. Tony, people love her and they stop and take pictures of her. I think the Kerrverts would love it if we always dressed alike. They would think that we are that cute, old, odd couple that always wear matching outfits. And, I am sure that they would stop and take selfies with us."

Tony said nothing. So I added, "Tony, I am just teasing you. I'm fine," I lied. "About us, during the Fall and Winter months, color-coordinating our wardrobes to make fashion statements, in Kerrville."

And the bottom line to this story is: Thanks to Tony, I now have one more thing for me to do every morning. Anyway, since then, Tony is now leaving me a note, on the breakfast bar, before going to the Old Timer, in Medina, just to let me know which flannel shirt he is wearing, so I won't be dressing like him.

And to change the subject, last Friday afternoon, I had So Fast Printing, make me two posters of that painting that I did for my sister Cindy's 70th birthday. And they did a fabulous job and so did River Oaks Framing. And later that afternoon, Tony hung it up for me, above our entertainment center, in the big room. And please note that River Oaks Framing were temporarily out of that red metal frame and the matte color, I chose for Cindy and this is my Plan B.

And to change the subject one more time, before I finish writing this and post it tonight, our friend  Aaron came out to help Tony this morning and he only worked a few hours. Anyway after working, we invited him to stay and eat lunch with us. 

After lunch, I was joking with him about the downsides of being my age, because I am about twenty-four-years-older than him. And to make a point, I told him about me recently discovering that I am Moccasin-Challenged and the difficult time that I've had trying to understand the directions. 

Then I showed Aaron my moccasin kit and the chewed up, piece of leather, compliments of Little Debbie and Big Al(ice). And the next thing you know, Aaron had volunteered to make my moccasins for me. And it only took him about forty-five minutes to finish them.  

The whole time that Aaron was working on my moccasins we laughed and joked about Tony and me spending over an hour trying to remove the glued on comfort cushion, it had recommended for kids 3+ in age and the choking warning. And them being one-of-a-kind moccasins, because of Little Debbie and Big Al(ice)'s contributions. 

And please notice that the one flawed moccasin below, in the background, has about two inches of the upper leather strap missing, because it should have gone all of the way to the top of the tongue piece. 

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