Back-Up Bag!

Today has been great. This morning after I did my new habit and jumped off the bed the exact same time our dogs jumped off with me—The Cabin was cold. In fact, it was 59 degrees inside. BRRRR!

FYI: At night during the winter months we always turn off the electric heaters before going to bed, because that is what my parents always used to do when I was growing up. And it is obvious that I am a creature of habit(s) and that is why we do it.

Anyway, Tony had the electric heater on in the big room, but the wood burning stove was not burning any wood. So while my coffee brewed, I tossed in a few small logs, but nothing happened quick enough for me.

So, I went to get a little fire-starter brick to help me get a blazing fire going and that is when I realized that we were almost out of fire-starters and I didn't want to waste one, on the hot coals.

Then one of my wilderness survival skills hit me like a brick—use Fritos! Yes, all survivalists know to carry a sack of Fritos with them when they embark on the unknown.

Us survivalist don't use Fritos to just snack on. And we don't drop Fritos behind us to leave trail-markers, like Hansel & Gretel did, by leaving bread crumbs behind them so they could follow them to get back home.

Which I think is sort of stupid on Hansel & Gretel's part, because everybody knows that wild animals will find the food and eat it and that will lead them to you—so they can eat you, too—for dessert.

No, us real survivalists use Fritos as fire starters and Fritos, unlike bean dip, have saved many lives out in the wilderness. And they worked like magic for me, this morning. And all I can say is, "Thank goodness Tony didn't eat all of the Fritos last night."

And to prove my point, here is a picture of our half-full bag of Fritos.

So while Tony was taking a shower, I grabbed the bag and tossed a handful of Fritos into the wood burning stove and this happened instantly as the Frito-lifesavers caught on fire.

And two minutes later I took this picture as the big room began to quickly warm up, because of the Frito-magic. And all I could think of was, "We're not going to freeze to death today." And needless to say our dogs were thrilled about it too, and I know if they could have they would have voted me—Most Likely To Survive! And that Frito-Lay would want to become one of my sponsors." 

Early this afternoon Tony and I went to Medina to empty out two storage units, because we knew that it would save us money. And since I've recently become a firm believer in minimalism—it felt good to lighten our load.

But before we went to the storage units to work, we stopped at the famous Old Timer for two reasons:

     1. To put some gas in Trigger (Our 2006 Ford F-150)

     2. So I could buy an emergency, back-up bag of Fritos. (Just in case Tony decided to eat the rest of the bag.)  

An hour or so later, before leaving Medina with a ton of stuff in the back of our trucks, I stopped at the Post Office to sign for and pick up a package—from Germany.

When we got back home we emptied the pickups and crammed all of our "valuable" stuff, inside the barn. Then I came inside and took this picture of our Fritos back-up bag. 

And this is a picture of Sweet Gaby's (She lives in Germany.) package that she sent to us.

And this is what Gaby sent to us!

And the good news is—because Gaby sent us these super-delicious treats to enjoy, Tony totally forgot about snacking on those leftover/save-your-life Fritos—thank goodness. And I shall always be grateful to dear Gaby for caring so much about us. "Thank you, Gaby! We miss you and we LOVE you more!"

As I finish writing this post tonight, I want to show you this great quote that is discreetly printed, near the bottom of the box of treats that Gaby sent to us.

"Eating is a need, enjoyment is an art." So I guess you could say—that makes me an artist.

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

Light Show! or Loaf!

Last night we had some thunderstorms and some were mixed with pea-sized hail and Big Al(ice) was not a happy camper, even though forty minutes before the light show, thundering and pounding started I had already put her thunder-jacket on her and given her a tiny doggie-downer. But the good news is she was much calmer.

While the storms tried unsuccessfully to do harm outside, I was already ahead of the game with my damage control plan. I had everything unplugged, of course, and I had my music cranked up really
 loud to block out the thunder strikes.

About thirty minutes into the noisy storm, my legs went to sleep, because I had Henry Standing Bear sitting on my lap—licking my fact non-stop while I was holding Little Debbie in one arm and Big Al(ice) in my other arm.

During a lull of lightning and thunder I forcibly removed Henry from my newly flattened legs and lap and then I put The Girls back on my chair seat and covered them up with a doggie blanket. Then I pulled out a drawer, in the kitchen, to search for some emergency batteries for my battery-operated candles, just in case we lost power.

And to my delight—I found the batteries and I also found another one of those super-cool, motion-activated toilet bowl lights, as seen on TV! I guess I had purchased it for back-up.

Anyway, while Henry stayed glued to my leg, I put new batteries in my candles and carefully re-read the instructions on how to operate the bowl light.

I knew that Tony would be thrilled at my bowl light discovery, because our last one wore out or broke over a year ago, during our monster move. Bottom   Line: Tony was pleasantly surprised when I asked him to pause the TV show he was watching and to please go into the bathroom without turning on any lights.

Today has been great. This morning Tony and I worked for a few hours next door, at Escondida and then we did a few chores and then we went to Kerrville.

We were busy in Kerrville. We went to the Kerrville dump and dropped off a load, then we went to the laundromat to wash one load of clothes. And while the clothes were becoming cleaner by the minute we went to the big H-E-B and bought gas and groceries.

Our last stop, while our cleaned clothes dried was at Wolfmueller's Books, so we could visit with Sandy and Jon. Unfortunately, Sandy was gone, but we still had a fun visit with Jon, when he wasn't busy helping customers find books.

When we got back home, after hanging up the clothes and putting them away and putting up the groceries—I made a loaf of bread and for the first time in my life—it was absolutely delicious and it looked like a loaf of bread—instead of a brick. And here's a picture of it, before we started consuming it.

Tony loved my loaf of bread and he was shocked that I had actually baked it and so was I. And it was hilarious when he cautiously took his first bite of bread, because my past history of bread making has always been disastrous.

And as I finish writing this tonight, because I am not a liar—I have to confess that I did bake that loaf of bread for twenty minutes, but other than that I had absolutely nothing to do with it and that's why it turned out so good. 

So there. I admit I did not make this delicious loaf of bread. It is Central Market's Country Loaf, that I bought today at H-E-B. 

But I am not going to tell Tony about it, because he wants me to start making it often. And the way I see it—what he doesn't know he doesn't need to know. If that makes any sense to you.

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

Nailed It!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and it was filled with peace, love and joy.

This Christmas for Tony and me was filled with all of the above, thank goodness, and we spent the day not doing a lot.

For starters, I slept in, because I had stayed up late writing and for me getting to sleep in was a great Christmas gift from Tony. Tony on the other hand got up around 6:00, fed our dogs, built a fire in the wood burning stove, drank some coffee and then went and helped a neighbor out.

When I woke up in bed, all of our dogs were snuggling up close with me and when I did my new habit (Sit  up, and say, "Today is going to be a great day!" Loudly clap my hands together and then jump out of bed.) all of the dogs immediately jumped off of the bed, except for Little Debbie, because she prefers to be lifted off of the bed and placed gently down on the floor.

After drinking two, delicious cups of Taster's Choice instant coffee I decided to make Apple Fritters for breakfast with Tony's help, because I wanted Tony to start watching the movie Same Kind Of Different As me.

So while he peeled and diced up three Granny Smith apples for me and I prepared the rest of the recipe, I started this great, true inspiring movie, so he would get hooked-on it and then watch it with me. And my plan worked and Tony loved watching this movie, too.

Knowing that I wasn't going to have to spend the day cooking a traditional Christmas dinner for us like I always do, I then spent a few more hours writing and doing some re-writes on my third novella. Which now appears to be turning itself into a full-blown book and it will probably have a new title instead of the one I chose for it originally—The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Riders In the Sand, Part III. 

Anyway, a few hours later, using my PediPaws I gave Little Debbie a magnificent manicure or better said—dogicure and she slept through the whole thing. Then I tried to give Big Al(ice) a dogicure and she fought me tooth and nail and she won that contest. Or better said—she nailed it and she still has the long nails to prove it.

After Henry Standing Bear had witnessed Big Al(ice)'s and my wrestling match ordeal—he went and jumped up on our bed, curled up into a tight ball, tucking his paws underneath him to show me that he too did not want to play beauty shop with me. So after giving up in de-feet, I used the Pedipaws and gave myself a quick pedicure, before the batteries lost all of their power.

Tony and I ate a vegetarian Christmas dinner that I prepared later in the day, which was okay, but not memorable and we were both fine with that, because we were still full of apple fritters.

Later on, we burned up all of the apple fritter calories by talking on the phone to friends and loved ones. So by late afternoon neither one of us felt guilty at all about eating all of those apple fritters.

I spent last night—thanks to Tony pressuring me into watching Hart of Dixie on Netflix—I got hooked on that great series and I stayed up late until 1:00 this morning watching several episodes. And this morning I slept in, again.

And as I finish writing this for tonight, to honor Little Debbie for playing beauty shop with me and for letting me give her a dogicure, on Christmas day, while she slept in my lap, I want to re-post this adorable selfie she (Tony) took of herself.

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

Merry Christmas!

Oh Mummy!

Last night I watched a great movie on Netflix and it was a true story. The awesome cast includes: Renee Zellweger, Greg Kinnear, Djimon Hounsou, Olivia Holt and Jon Voight. And the name of this beautiful, inspiring movie is Same Kind of Different As Me. And I hope that y'all will check it out.

Today has been great and yes, Tony and I are both doing this new habit now. The other day when I told Tone about my new habit, he surprised me the next morning and walked into the kitchen, and said, "Today is going to be a great day!" Then he told me that he is going to do this every morning before he gets out of bed. And to say the least I am thrilled about it.

Early this afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to wash one load of clothes at the laundromat and while the washing machine was getting our clothes clean—we shopped at the big H-E-B. And we bought all of the ingredients needed for me to make Vegan "Mummy" Veggie Dogs, so when we got back home I cook make this healthy recipe for our late lunch.

This was an easy recipe to make and the only thing that I changed was not wrapping up the vegetables: potatoes, cauliflower, onion, garlic, peas and carrots and spices, etc. to look like a mummy, because mummies sort of scare me.

Seriously, when I first saw the 1932 movie, The Mummy, Boris Karloff and the story line scared me.

So while I was cooking all of the veggies I decided to tuck the healthy veggie mixture inside the pizza dough slices. instead of creating mummies. Here are a few pictures:

This recipe was totally delicious and when Tony was getting second helpings I asked him and if he liked the veggie-dogs, and he laughed, and said, "Oh Mummy! This recipe is to die for! You should make these more often for us.

I laughed, and responded, "Not a problem. I've got over half of the mixture left over...."

This evening as I finish writing this I have the brown rice, that I cook every night for our dog's morning breakfast, cooking in the Instant Pot. And please know that I add spices and a can of mixed veggies in their dog food mixture. 

Our dogs love me cooking for them and I enjoy it too. And since I started cooking their meals for them, many months ago, their coats are softer, shinier and they radiate good health. And who knows? Maybe tonight I will add some of our leftover vegan veggie-dogs to the mixture, even though Little Debbie does not like peas. 

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

Mummy! or A. Leon!

Today has been great. This morning my dear friend Drew sent me this fabulous Raise Vegan recipe—Vegan "Mummy" Veggie Dogs.

The other day when he and Ellie came to visit us, I cooked Mr. Food's delicious (pigs-in-a-blanket) recipe—Dressed Up Weenie Wellingtons and they loved them even though they are vegetarians. Anyway, I am thrilled to get this recipe, because I've decided it is time for me to quit eating meat and be a vegetarian, after watching this show where the guest speaker basically said, "To be healthy eat live food and you will live. Eat dead food and you will die."

His statement hit me in the head like a brick, even though I have yet to be hit in the head by a brick—thank goodness. So the next time we go to Kerrville I am buying the ingredients to make mummy dogs.

This afternoon we received an awesome Christmas gift box from our dear friend Nancy D. and her sweet cat Theodora, who live up there, in Chicago.

Nancy and Theodora made some delicious homemade candy, a canister of Harry & David Chocolate-Peppermint Wafer Rolls and a box of Made In Italy Noccioghiotti Assorted Pralines that Tony and I are already fighting over.

Theodora and Nancy also sent Tony this really cool toothpick holder and they sent me a set of four, fabulous Egyptian cotton towels, like our mother's used to use in the kitchen. 

Tony loves his cleverly concealed toothpick holder and I am thrilled to get the kitchen towels, because in my opinion those are the best kitchen towels ever made.

But the coolest gift Nancy and Theodora gave to me is the TEXAS U.F.O. LICENSE! Seriously, I love it and you can see why.

On the front of my A. Leon's Texas U.F.O. License I especially love that AREA-51 is highlighted in large, red letters and I am still laughing about the hilarious pertinent information provided. Such as:

      

      BIRTHDATE: 10/23/1492

      EXP. DATE: 10/23/3085

      SEX: Yes

      HEIGHT: 3'3"

     WEIGHT: Weightless

     HAIR: None

     EYES: Black

Our dear friends also included two Hanuka presents for us to give to Kinky. So after Tony and I had stuffed our faces with their homemade candy, wafer rolls and assorted pralines I picked up the phone and punched in Kinky's cell phone number to let him know that we were going to be dropping off Nancy's and Theodora's presents. 

I punched in Kinky's number twice and each time I got this recording "Hello, this is Gladys Goo...Please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible."

After apologizing to Ms. Gladys Whats-Her-Name twice, I then punched in Wolfmueller's Books phone number. "Hi Nancy," Sandy said.

"Hi Sandy....I just tried to call Kinky's cell phone twice and I got some frumpy-sounding woman named Gladys. Did Kinky change his cell phone number?"

"I don't think so," Sandy replied. "Hang up and I will call him and then call you right back." Click.

About a minute passed by and then our phone rang. "Nancy, I just called Kinky on his cell phone and talked to him. And you do have his correct number. I told him about you trying to call him. So he is waiting for you to call...."

After adios-ing Sandy, I punched in Kinky's cell phone number for the third time, but this time I heard, "Hey Nance! How are you?"

"Hi Kink...."

"Nance, I should be back at the ranch in a few hours...." After our funny conversation and then me telling him about needing to drop off Nancy's and Theodora's holiday gifts—Tony and I drove over to his ranch and we left his presents on the passenger's front seat in his truck, because The Friedmans were trying to get out his kitchen door, so they could come greet us and we did not want them to get out.

My (A. Leon's) Texas U.F.O. License is now safely tucked away in my purse and tomorrow I plan to buy the ingredients and make those vegan mummy veggie dogs and that is about it for tonight.

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

Springsteen On Broadway!

Today has been great and so was last night, because I this incredibly great Netflix Special—Springsteen On Broadway.

Omg, it was so good I went to bed last night thinking about it and it still has me thinking about it, so I plan to re-watch it again tonight. Seriously, I cannot say enough about how much I love Springsteen On Broadway and if you decide to give it a try I promise that you'll be hooked within the first couple of minutes and you will not want to miss one second of his performance.

Early this morning after doing my new habit, "Today is going to be a great day!" I had a little surprise waiting for me in the kitchen, that would test if my new habit actually works.

Okay, let me set the stage for you. I was in the kitchen finishing off my first cup of coffee and I decided that I should wrap Tony's and my Secret Santa gifts that we were giving to Tessa and Sarah, because the Escondida Christmas party that we were going to started at 10:30 this morning.

(Note: Last week Tony and I shopped and we purchased our dear friend's gifts along with a roll of wrapping paper, because I had no wrapping paper to speak of. It was my idea to get their gifts early, so we would not have to do any last minute shopping. )

To set the Christmas mood this morning, for my gift wrapping task, I chose this fabulous Christmas channel on Pandora, that Carol had told me about, because it plays classic Christmas songs sung by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Burl Ives, Nat King Cole etc.

As Dean Martin was singing Winter Wonderland and Henry was barking at something outside, I had the Christmas spirit and I was ready to wrap the presents, on the kitchen island.

When I opened the roll of wrapping paper (that was on sale, which should have been a clue) my heart sank, because the wrapping paper was clear and you could see right through it.

So I am thinking, well never mind I'm not going to tell you what I was really thinking, because there were cuss words involved. And let's just say that I was well aware that I was not having a great day as I had expected. But I was determined to turn it around. You know, like when you get lemons you make lemonade.

So I grabbed a roll of plain white Bounty paper towels and decided to first wrap the gifts (boxed wine) using paper towels and then wrapping the paper towels with the cheap gift wrapping paper. 

And ten minutes later—our friend's boxes of fine wine gifts were wrapped or better said—camouflaged and they were ready to be delivered.

The Secret Santa Christmas party was so much fun, because Tony and I truly love everyone that works at Bob & Kelli Phillips' famous Escondida resort. I took this picture of everyone before the party started in one of the beautiful sitting rooms, so you can see why we love these great people so much.

Our friends were all in the Christmas spirit and everyone seemed to love their gifts. And since it was a morning Christmas party Sarah served us some delicious Martinelli apple cider and grape juice and an assortment of tasty pastries. 

And Sarah and Tessa thought that my creative (emergency) wrapped paper towels covered by gift wrapping paper was hilarious, even though they instantly knew that they were getting boxed wines from us. And to say the least, it was one of the best Christmas parties that we've ever attended and that made my great, again. So, I want to say, "Thank you Bob & Kelli, Sarah, Darlene, Duane, Ray, Lisa, Rick and Tessa! Merry Christmas!"

When the super fun festivities ended Tony and I were walking to the truck when Tony stopped, and said, "Wait a minute. I need to get a picture of you since you took all of the pictures..." So Tony grabbed my camera and he took this picture of me dressed in my cowgirl outfit. 

And the only reason that I am showing my picture to you is because Tony kept his promise and he shot me from the chest up, so you couldn't see my muffin(s) top(s). 🙆

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! And today has been great!