Sabbatical!

The last few days have been great, besides working on our front porch and getting it semi-finished. I use the term "semi-finished" lightly, because I plan to keep adding things or more signs to the porch wall, when I find them in our many unpacked boxes.

Speaking of unpacked boxes I am literally driving myself crazy, because I can't find the box or crate that has my books that I wrote. Tony and I have searched "The Mother Ship" (my little RV) twice in hopes of finding them and we've gone through our closet twice, with still no luck.

The reason that I am so desperate to find my books is because I want to give signed copies to Andy & Lisa, because Andy was so kind and instrumental in helping us with our water collection. And I also want to give signed copies to our new found friends, Cathy & Chip, that Carol & Bill introduced us to last week. So I am asking y'all to please say a little prayer to Saint Anthony to help me find my books.

This past Saturday afternoon Tony & I went to Andy & Lisa's pot luck dinner, at their beautiful home, a few miles from here. Our good friends Bethany and our famous artist friend, Steve Pietzsch, who has also been very helpful helping Andy with our water-collection project came to the party, too.

Lisa assigned everyone what to bring to their pot-luck dinner—thank goodness. She & Andy cooked the delicious lasagna. Bethany made the salad, Steve brought 3 different kinds of ice cream for our dessert. And we furnished the chips and dips. And to say the least, "The conversations were delightful and were laugh out loud hilarious and the food was more than delicious."

Speaking of delicious I want to tell you about one of the ice creams that Steve brought, because it is now my most favorite ice cream, in the world and Tony and I had never heard of it or tasted it before.

It is an H-E-B Limited Edition Creamy Creations brand, called Mexican Hot Chocolate. And it is to die for.

Okay, hold your horses. I am sure by now you must be asking yourself, "But I thought Nancy was doing Weight Watchers?" And my answer is, "Yes, I am doing Weight Watchers and totally loving it, but because of this ice cream—I am temporarily on an extended dieting sabbatical."

Now back to my story. We had a wonderful time at Lisa & Andy's party, but we had to leave early, at 6:00, because Tony had a pool tournament to go to, at the Medina Highpoint Resort. Bottom   Line: He won one game and lost two.

Sunday morning our good friends Lisa & Andy came over, so we could show Lisa The Cabin and I was thrilled that she loved it, even though the second coat of paint was still drying, on our front door.

After our fun visit with our neighbors, our dear friend Eileen and her sweet sister Dean came to see us. Eileen and her sister loved everything that we've done to The Cabin and I was sweating bullets the whole time they were there, because I was worried that they might get red paint on them, because our front door was still not totally dry. 

We had a fun visit with Dean and Eileen and after they left Tony and I jumped into Roy (our 2012, white Dodge Ram truck) and we took off for the big H-E-B, in Kerrville, to buy that mouth-watering Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream, before they ran out of it. 

Bottom   Line: We bought six quarts. When we got home Tony put four of these coveted ice cream quarts, in the Airstream's freezer and two inside The Cabin's freezer. And before we did anything else—we split a quart of Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream.

Monday morning, Tony called Carol to invite her, Cathy & Chip to come over, because we could not wait to show them our new front porch, especially since the red paint had finally dried. But sadly, Carol told Tony that Chip & Cathy had already taken off, a few hours earlier, to go back to their home, in Wisconsin.

Carol had thought they were staying until Wednesday and it was just one of those mix-ups. But the good news is Carol came over and we had a great time visiting with her. 

Today has been great and I am still on sabbatical, because early this afternoon we went back to the big H-E-B, in Kerrville and we bought two more quarts of this heavenly, limited edition ice cream. And after I cooked us lunch, Julia Child's Chicken With Mushroom Sauce today, we sat down and ate more of this delicious ice cream. And I still do not feel guilty about it one bit, because once I've had enough and am no longer on sabbatical—I will resume doing Weight Watchers, again.

Before I finish writing this tonight, I want you to know that it is raining outside with thunderstorms, high winds and possibly hail predicted for tonight and the wee hours of the morning. I am fixin' to go put Big Al(ice)'s thunder jacket on her and give her a tiny pill when it starts thundering, so she won't freak out. And when the bad weather comes our way please know that we will be unplugged and eating more ice cream.

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

I'll Be Packin'!

Today has been great and I am feeling great. No more sneezing, coughing or hacking, because of allergies. Now I am keeping my fingers crossed that the pollen counts stay low, so I can go to Katelyn's birthday party, at Ron & Nita's Ronderosa Ranch, this Saturday.

I am still laughing at myself, when last week I got the dates confused, for Katelyn's birthday party. Seriously, it would have been hilarious if Carol and I had packed and driven up there, last Saturday, to Ron & Nita's ranch and no one being there.

And the sad part about it is I know that everyone in my family, sweet Carol and my other close friends that know me well, would not have been shocked if I had done that, because all of my life I've been known to do that sort of thing. It is just another one of my quirks like me getting lost all of the time.

And another sad part about it is Carol can't go with me this weekend, so I'll be going solo which of course will give me the opportunity to get lost and never making it to Katelyn's birthday party. But because I'll be packin' (my new guitar/banjo, mandolin and favorite guitar) on this trip, I'll hopefully stay more focused, so I don't get lost. But I'll still say a little prayer before I go just in case.

And now that makes me wonder why Carol, last week, was so eager to say, "We'll go in my truck. I'll drive!...." After she had told me she could go to the party. Hmmm...

I am loving doing the new Weight Watchers so much. Seriously, Weight Watchers has made it so much fun. I am now looking forward to every evening when I can add up all of the food (that I've eaten) points and still have points leftover to rollover (So I can use them at Ronnie & Nita's covered dish BBQ dinner.)

This afternoon while I was on Weight Watcher's website I checked out several of their delicious-looking, healthy meals and then I decided to watch their Oprah videos. Omg, Oprah's words powered me up in so many ways that I did not want to shut down and go, to Kerrville, with Tone. But before I closed the lid of my lap top and adios-ed Oprah without her knowing it, I printed out Weight Watcher's Creamy Spaghetti Squash with Ricotta and Spinach recipe, so I could buy the ingredients and later on today, cook it for our dinner.

When we got back from Kerrville, Tony helped me fix our dinner, because he was nervous about me trying to cut the huge spaghetti squash in halves. So while he was sawing away on this gigantic gourd I diced onions, grape tomatoes, shredded fresh spinach, etc.

And about 40 minutes later, I served us Weight Watcher's Creamy Spaghetti Squash with Ricotta and Spinach and it was more than delicious. 

In fact, Tony ate two big servings and we had enough leftover for several more mouth-watering meals. So I filled several Baggies with individual servings and then froze them to eat at a later date. And the best news is this meal only counts 4 points.

Tomorrow our main meal is going to be zucchini frittatas and I am looking forward to eating it again, because a few days ago when I cooked it for us—there were so many free points (eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, onion that you don't have to count) that the total points for that meal was only 4 points!

Before I finish writing this tonight, I want you to know that I am fixin' to drink a glass of my fine, boxed, Chillable Red wine and read a little, because I still have 8 points leftover for today. And that is about it for tonight. Cheers!

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

Praying For Rain!

The last couple of days have been great. Aaron came out, on Friday, to help us build another level "slab" for our second water tank for it to sit on.

Yesterday morning, as you can see in the above picture, Aaron and Andy came over and helped us connect our gutter system to the first tank. And to say the least we are more than excited about collecting rain water and that is why we are now praying for rain.

Saturday afternoon, Tony and I had a fun surprise or better said—twin surprises. Yes, our dear friends/twins Jean and Joan came out for a fun short visit and to see our ranch and they were bearing gifts for both of us.

They brought Tony a six-pack of Stone IPA beer, except we noticed that it was missing one beer and we were not about to say anything about it.  Then Jean or Joan says, (Remember they are identical twins and that is why I can't remember who said what.) "We bought six, but Jon drank one of them." And we all had a good laugh about that.

Then Jean tells me, "I made this for you, Nancy." Then Jean hands me this pretty sack and inside it was this beautiful, pink, crocheted shawl with a ribbon tied around it. And yes, my jaw dropped and I was speechless, because I loved it so much and I thought it was so sweet of Jean to have spent her time crocheting me this lovely shawl.

When I finally recovered and got my voice back, I thanked Jean for her beautiful gift and then I pointed to the wall where "our" framed, pretty, pink potholder takes up space. And both she and Joan laughed. And that made Tony and me start laughing, because their laughter is exactly the same.

The only bad thing about Jean and Joan's visit was they did not stay long enough. After we had given "The Girls" a grand tour of The Cabin and Big Foot Ranch they bid us farewell. And after they left I came inside, The Cabin and laid out the shawl, on the breakfast island and then I took this picture of Jean's pretty, one-of-a-kind, pink shawl. Which I cannot wait to wear.

Today has been great and it has been a pretty, quite day. So late this afternoon, while I was cooking a soup/stew, in my Instant Pot, Tony and I went outside and spread some more pea-gravel on our circular driveway.

Sadly, even though that gigantic pile of pea gravel is slowly disappearing—I'm nervous that it may take us a few months to completely use up all of our pea gravel.

Now before I finish writing this for tonight, I want you to know that my soup/stew recipe turned out to be absolutely healthy as well as delicious. And it only took me 45 minutes to pressure cook the whole thing. Which included dried pinto beans, zucchinis, carrots, onion, bell peppers, corn and tomatoes and a slew of spices. 

In fact, Tone loved it so much he took a second helping, before I froze the rest. And I am doing great on Weight Watchers and my soup/stew used up only a tiny amount of my daily points.

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

More Tons!

Today has been great. First off, I love doing Weight Watchers and so does Tony. It is easy, fascinating to me to add up my food points and still have leftover points that roll over. That I can save the points up when I really want to splurge on a dessert of something like that.

Also I cannot believe that I have no aching muscles of joints today, after Tony and I hauled and then spread out 1 1/2 tons of pea gravel yesterday.

Which is really great, because early this afternoon Tony and I decided instead of us going to pick up another load of pea gravel, we decided to get it delivered to us instead. So we now have more tons of pea gravel, outside near the barn, waiting for us to haul it to the "slabs" tomorrow. And I'm not talking a mere 1.5 tons like before—I'm talking 6.5 tons.

So tomorrow morning we will be outside using our his and hers wheelbarrows and we will be hauling this pile of pea gravel, down to where we have our wheelbarrows parked. FYI: My wheelbarrow is the small blue wheelbarrow and I've already decided that once we finish moving this huge pile of pea gravel—I plan to paint my wheelbarrow pink.

Late this afternoon, I called Carol and then I went over to her beautiful ranch, so we could have another fun visit and also for me to invite her to come with us this Saturday—to Katelyn's birthday party, at Ron & Nita's Ronderosa Ranch.

As always Carol and I had a fun visit and we laughed so much my back began to ache. Anyway, when I invited Carol to come with us, this Saturday, to Katelyn's birthday party she was more than thrilled about going to it. And I am not sure if she was more excited than me about going to the ranch party.

Anyway, as soon as I got back, to our ranch, the first thing I did was call Ronnie & Nita, to tell them that Carol was coming with us to the birthday party. And after I told him this exciting news about Carol coming with us, our conversation went something like this:

"Well Nance, that sounds great," Ronnie said, sounding a little bit confused. Then I heard sweet Nita laughing, in the background, because they were on the Speakerphone like I was. "We would love for y'all to bring Carol."

"I knew y'all wouldn't mind," I said. Then Ronnie chuckled and Nita started laughing, again.

"But you do know that Katelyn's birthday party isn't this Saturday. It's on the 17th?" Then we all started laughing.

"Omg, I thought it was this Saturday. Of course it is on the 17th. I feel so stupid." And as we continued to laugh, I added, "That would have been great for us driving up there, on Saturday and y'all not being there....." 

After we had finally quit laughing about me getting the dates wrong, we adios-ed each other and then I immediately called Carol. "Hi Nancy," Carol said. Then I told her about me getting the dates mixed up and like the rest of us she burst out laughing with my news, and then she said, "That would have been horrible for us to show up and...."And that is about it for tonight.

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

A Ton!

Before I tell you about how great today was I want you to see the beautiful wedding cake that sweet Nita made for her daughter's wedding. When Cindy and I first saw Nita's wedding cake we were not surprised that Nita had made it for Katelyn, because Nita is a gourmet cook and the best baker, in the whole Texas Hill Country. And needless to say, Katelyn's & Clay's wedding cake was the most delicious cake that I have ever eaten and this weekend I plan to beg Nita for her recipe.

Yesterday, we did our once-a-month lunch club with our dear friends. During our fun lunch, at Bella Sera, I told Denise that she looked great and asked her if she had lost some weight. Denise got all excited and told us that three days ago, she had joined Weight Watchers and that she had already lost two pounds.

Anyway, Denise was so excited about doing Weight Watchers—I came home and signed up too. Because this past year I have put on some pounds and I want to get rid of them, because I am sick and tired of my Levis being so tight. 

So last night after joining Weight Watchers I spent over an hour checking out their plans, menus, recipes and the over 200 free foods that you don't even have to count in your daily total. And then I got real excited when I discovered that Weight Watchers actually have delicious-looking recipes for my Instant Pot! 

So this morning was my first day to start doing Weight Watchers and for breakfast Tony and I ate muffins, topped with avocado and fried eggs and it was totally delicious. 

Weight Watchers use a point system and because you can eat all of the eggs that you want to without counting them, I had a half muffin, covered with a 1/4 slice of avocado and one egg. Compared to Tony's muffin, 3 eggs and the rest of the avocado.

Then after I cleaned up our kitchen, I spent 44 minutes, walking 4 fast miles, with Leslie Sansone and I plan to start doing that 5-6 times a week—starting today. And tonight as I am writing this I am drinking a glass of wine to celebrate, because today I still had 10 points left over.

This afternoon Tony and I decided to go buy some pea gravel, so we could start building the "slab," a flat place needed for our cistern, to sit on. Tony was a little hesitant about hauling the pea gravel, in the truck, but I persuaded him to do it anyway. So off we went.

Forty-minutes and fourteen and a half dollars later, Roy, our 2012 Dodge Ram, was slowly taking us back to the ranch and carrying 1 1/2 tons of pea gravel, in the back end. And I took these pictures of the pea gravel and the 12'x12' form that we are using to hold all of this pea gravel for the water tank.

Okay. Not to complain, but to complain—Tony and I shoveled 1 1/2 tons of pea gravel and then using wheelbarrows we hauled it to the "slab"and then unloaded it and raked it around. 

It took us over an hour to accomplish this task and tonight both of our backs and arms are paying for it. And the bad news is tomorrow we still have to go buy another ton, of this the pea gravel and do it all over again, before we can finish leveling the "slab."

When we were done Tony was growling a little bit, so trying to think up something positive to say, I said, "Hey, it's exercise and we both need it. And I bet that we burned up a ton of calories, too." But sadly my words went into one of his ears and out the other.

Late this afternoon my 6-string guitar/banjo arrived and I am totally thrilled with it. Here's the big box that it was shipped in.

And here is my pretty, inexpensive banjo, after I had tuned it and played it for a while. And just before Carol called me, I told Tone, "This thing is really heavy. It must weigh a ton." And that made him laugh.

So tonight as I finish writing this my jeans actually feel not as tight on me as they were this morning, so I am hoping that I might have shed a pound or two today. Even though in reality I know they are just stretched out until I wash them again,

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