Stampin' Up Sweepstakes!!!

Good Morning! Okay people, I have asked nicely quite a few times, and now I'm sick of playing nice. I'm getting down and dirty; that is dirty with Stampin' Up stuff, I mean. You see, I put a counter on my blog a few weeks ago, and I am getting a minimum of 40 hits per day on this blog. The problem is I only have ten followers signed up. The more followers a blog gets, the higher it goes in the search engines. For a person who is trying to really get my name out there and known, this is a game I must play.

First things first, I will never share your information with anyone! I may use it for special offers for Royal Ranch products, but you would want that anyway as Spring time will see lots of changes here at The Royal Ranch. I will be expanding my manure collection, I am getting ready to take Naked Johnny (our logo for Naked~Nure) retail, and we will also be selling one of a kind, hand picked, and very hardy wildflower seeds. Not to mention that my book is almost done and I am getting ready to market it hard. Marcel and I will be going to schools, nursing homes, and anywhere else we are allowed to read our book and get our story out there!

My followers and dedicated readers are always the first to know when we have something new and different going on here, and rightfully so. I plan on doing special discounts for my followers, and hopefully this is just one of many giveaways that will be available on this blog. While I would really like to not play the games of "the big man", it seems in my own beneift to do so in this case. I can't see a better way of getting my writing out there in the world wide web.

So, I asked my blogging mentors how they got so many followers. Every single one of them came back with one word "Giveaways!" Everyone likes to win something, and I have some great sweepstakes and contest ideas...just you wait, this is only the beginning of my bribery-ha! My Mom (who has been a Stampin' Up! representative for many years now) was so very generous to donate today's prizes; as a matter of fact she gave me so much nice stuff that I am splitting the prize into two; this makes it more fun for me, as I will get to notify two happy winners instead of just one. So, here are the details on the prizes:

Prize #1:
1 pkg. Purely Pomegranate card stock (24 sheets total)

1 Purely Pomegranate stamp pad

1 Blue Bayou stamp pad

1 River Rock stamp pad

1 set Alpha Shadows stamps

1 set So Many Scallops stamps

Prize #2:
1 pkg. Groovy Guava card stock (24 sheets total)

1 Groovy Guava stamp pad

1 River Rock stamp pad

1 Around & About stamp set

1 Around the Block stamp set

1 Big Blossom stamp (large approx 4" diameter)

To Enter:

1. Become a "Follower" of this blog. To do so, just click on the Follow link at the bottom of the left hand column, it will take you through a few quick steps to sign up for great daily humor and stories about our life on the ranch!  To receive this blog in your in box, you can also sign up for it to come to you via e-mail about a day after I post.

For extra entries:

1. Blog about this sweepstakes and my blog (don't forget to leave me a link in the comment section).
2. Leave a comment about what you like about my blog.

 It is very easy to get two entries, if not three, and the chances of winning are even higher with two prizes available; so tell your friends. I will randomly draw two winners at noon on Thursday December 10, 2009.  I was trying to get pics of the prizes, but my camera is on the blink; all the more reason to check out Mom's website!

If you are not familiar with Stampin' Up!, there is a few things I would like to share with you about these products. First and foremost, the company has been a great one for my Mom to work with; she has been able to earn a cruise each year, for many years, with them. Also, the quality of product is higher than with any other stamp stuff I have worked with; I have stamp pads that are probably getting close to seven years old and they still work great. The very best part is that all of these high quality products are made right here in the good old USA! So, spread the word and become a follower of a blog that I hope you really enjoy and possibly win some great prizes in the process!

An addition as of 12-9-09:  I have found a great random number generator which I will use to determine the winners.  I'm not sure if pulling the names out of a hat is still acceptable, but I don't have a hat that big-ha!

Make a miracle today!

Metaphysical Monday

Good Morning! I hope you are all recovering from your long weekend of over indulgence! I cooked another turkey dinner yesterday so that we would not miss out on leftovers, so we did double over indulgence! Still don't like the way my pie crust is turning out, but I guess it just takes practice...

Speaking of practice, I would like to talk a little bit about the religion that I practice. I think that many people think that those of us that don't go to church regularly, and believe in things like Spirit Guides and afterlife are not Christian based. I have found the opposite to be true. I am what I like to call a Naturalist Christian; I believe that God is all around us all the time, and that we have his guidance no matter where we choose to celebrate Him; and for me, it makes the most sense to honor him in the spectacular natural surroundings that he has given us.

I think my issues with organized religion started when I was very young. I'll never forget the first time I showed up in a church by myself as a teenager. It was a Methodist church that my family belonged to in Evergreen, but did not go to often. I was trying to just go in and enjoy a church service because I was going through a difficult time in my life (who isn't as a teenager?) and was hoping for some guidance, or at the very least comfort. I got neither. I got looks of scorn and many curious stares. I could feel the room closing in around me with the unasked questions. "What did she do wrong? Does she need to repent?" I had even overheard someone say that they thought I was pregnant! I was just barely sixteen and this left me with a rather bad taste in my mouth; I left that church bawling my head off.

Now, I know in my heart that there is absolutely no way that God would want anyone to feel that way, or to think a person must sacrifice anything for his love. Not money, not time, not pride, and certainly not the part of you who makes you the strong individual that he created. It feels so wrong to me that churches have become such a huge business, and that there is so much money and conflict involved with them. Just because it is a church group parents are forgetting to make sure their kids are safe. People are giving a good portion of their income to their church even when they can't really afford it, or even just feeling guilty about not doing what the church asks of them; it just doesn't sit well with what I believe God wants for us.

I feel that He would want us to be happy, and to celebrate the love and life he has given us. I feel that He would want us to spend our time taking care of our families and Mother Earth. I feel that God is with me everyday of the week, and in no particular building (especially one that was built with other peoples money)!

I have to laugh about how I picture the Spirit world and how it works. I see it almost like a multi level marketing idea. With God at the very top of the triangle and then various levels of Spirit Guides working their way up the tiers. Now this may sound very simplistic and silly, but it makes a lot of sense to me. I have worked with my Spirit Guides, but I would never claim to have spoken to God. I can only hope that He is watching over me and my guides, but I know that my Spirit Guides would not sway my beliefs or want me to suffer for anyone or anything. In my opinion, God and Spirits only want happiness and prosperity for us.

So...make your very own miracle today and everyday!!!!

Royal Ranch Royalty

Good Morning! We are back in our picturesque little town, but enjoyed ourselves tremendously in another little picture perfect town two states away! We got to spend some qualityt ime with our relatives who have been a part of my whole life, but rarely get to see. My day with my Great Aunt Jaris is one that is burned into my memory. To be able to sit around and chat with my Grandma's favorite sister was time I would not trade for anything. The men all had a great time playing farmer too. They all got to ride in the combine, and Nathan even got to take the load of corn to town in the semi with my cousin. Isabella had a wonderful time with her cousins, especially one that she has become pen pals wih this last year. It was great because they are only one year apart, which is exactly what her Mom and I are, and boy the memories we laughed about from when we were kids! I was a bawling mess yesterday on the way home because my kids kept telling us thank you, and how much fun they had and how they love that part of our family! It is just such a reminder of how important family is, and how important it is to pass that love of family on to the next generations.

So, I bet you are wondering what all of this has to do with Royal Ranch Royalty. I'm wondering if I might be the only person on earth to travel 650 miles to rescue a puppy. It all started out innocently enough. We were on our way to Thanksgiving dinner at my cousins, crisscrossing farm roads when I thought I saw a possum. We had just been talking the night before about them, and I was really hoping to see one while we were there. We got a little closer and saw that it was a puppy with a collar on, we slowed down a little bit and she started running after our truck. Of course the kids and I start yelling at Tom to stop the truck, this little tiny puppy chasing us was more than any of us, including my big bad biker husband could stand. I opened the door and stepped out and that dog was in my arms in about a millisecond! We assumed that since she had a collar she was just a little lost. With our cousins knowing everyone in town, we took her to dinner, sure that the family would be able to tell us where she lived.

That's when we learned that the dog had been around for quite a few days. One of the neighbors had called at least a couple of days before that wondering if the pup belonged to my family. So, apparently when she couldn't find the owner, she dumped the dog again. See, when you live on the outskirts of town, you learn that it is not uncommon for people to take unwanted animals out into rural areas to dump them. Now, this little tiny baby had been dumped twice. We kept her in the truck for the few days that we were there, except when all of the kids were oohing and aahing over her, and she was a perfect angel. As we expected, no one claimed her, so she came hme with us.

Did I mention that she's just a baby? I might have forgotten to mention that she is a Great Dane baby, so she won't be tiny for long. It's really ironic (or just meant to be) that she looks almost identical to our Great Dane Sophie, who we lost many years ago to old age and cancer. The only way we had been able to afford Sophie way back when was because she was a breeder throw back. When I say that, I mean that she was a Harlequinn (white with black spots) that turned out to be black with just a few white markings. I am pretty sure that our baby got dumped for the same reason and the fact that she has a broken tail; thankfully it is not at all painful to her, but very crooked.

As I mentioned, she has been an absolute doll, never chewing or going potty in my truck. We had given her the sleeping bag that I carry in case of emergencies, and she would crawl up inside of it and sleep for hours. She is skin and bones, but that will not take long to fix; she'll be on a bi-hourly feeding schedule for quite some time. I'm thinking she's a couple of months old because she still has her umbilical hernia, and tiny little sharp teeth to go along with it!

I needed another dog like I need a hole in the head, but there is no turning back. Tom and I have been talking about how odd that she had run from everyone else in my family, and had chased us down. Then for her to be just like Sophie really blew our minds; this girl was meant to be a Jeute, whether we were prepared for her or not. We have to laugh, becuase she has very quickly learned to love her blankies, a week in cold corn fields will do that, I figure. Last night when we got home and finally had a chance to relax, she jumped right up on the couch as soon as I sat down with my favorite blanket! She snuggles her little head in and groans with pleasure, it is the cutest thing you've ever seen. Today I will be enforceing the "no dogs on the couch rule", I hope....

So, today's royalty is very well deserved. We are extraordinarily proud to introduce Iowa Jeute, fitting don't you think? A little tiny heart on the mend, and a wonderful surprise gift for us. Even more to be thankful for!

Make a miracle today!

Happy Thanksgiving

Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving! I am on vacation, it's true, but I wanted to share my list of things I am thankful for today:

My husband and kids

My parents and sisters

My nieces and nephews

My husband's sisters and brother

My friends

The health of the aforementioned people

The regular readers who have been so supportive of this blog.

My Health

My Ranch

My Llamas and chickens and sheep

My house pets

The health of the aforementioned animals

I know that this sounds a little simplistic, but it is more than I have ever hoped for. Make a quick list today of your favorite things, it really puts things in perspective. Have a wonderful holiday and make a miracle today!!!

On the Road Again...

Good Morning from Ogallala, Nebraska! We are on our way to see relatives in Iowa for Thanksgiving, and I can't wait! When I was a little girl, we used to go to Iowa every Thanksgiving to see my Mom's Grandma. Although Grandma K. passed many years ago, the pull from a place I've never called home is irresistable. My family there would all be considered "distant relatives", but the distance feels small and we really enjoy our time with our "Iowa Folks".


The beautiful rolling hills that are in between the two small towns that my families live in, always bring a smile to my face. Not at all like the rough terrain we live in, but feeling like home all the while. I don't know if it's the fact that we all live a similar lifestyle, or just their welcoming attitude, but they are family through and through.

We left late yesterday, not until about 6:00, and had to stop on the way to repair my son, Thomas' phone so that he could text while we are away from his teenage friends for so very long, you know, four days. The Verizon store of course took forever, but we had a nice dinner while we waited and off we went.

Nathan had come up with a great way to spend our $100 gift card from the HGTV people, and that was to spend the night in a hotel on our way to Iowa. You know how kids are, a swimming pool is a vacation to them, so we talked Tom into leaving a night early. We rolled into Ogallala at about midnigtht and headed straight to bed at the good old Best Western. We, of course, will swim this morning at eight and head out after that.


I wanted to thank you all for your encouraging comments about our visit from HGTV, I will let you know when I hear anything about an air date. But, for now, have a safe holiday weekend and if you're travelling, do so with the utmost of care! Make a miracle today!

A Visit from HGTV, WOW!!!

Good Morning! Did you get my hint? Did you guess HGTV? Not many of you know this, but I am a huge HGTV junkie. So when I got an e-mail just over a week ago from one of their production coordinators who said they wanted to do some filming here at The Royal Ranch (on my birthday, no less), I thought it was a hoax. I did a quick check on the HGTV website, saw there was no show with the name she had given me, and wrote it off.







In the night I just kept hearing a little voice that told me to check into it a little farther. As you know, I am a strong believer in everything happening for a reason, but I am also very suspicious at heart, I am finding out. But, I figured that between it being my favorite channel, and my birthday, this was some sort of sign. Well, lo and behold I went onto the website for High Noon TV and surprise, surprise! The show was real, just not set to air until Spring!






The show is My First Sale, a spinoff of My First Place if you are familiar with their programming. A local family was chosen because they are selling their first home and they want to buy a ranch. Our little piece of paradise was chosen to do lifestyle shots and to teach the family a little bit about life on a ranch. It is a family of six, with four little kids all under the age of about seven, none of whom have been around animals much. The crew from HGTV was three, a producer, a camera man and a sound guy.






After a very busy week of getting our releases in, and getting the house and ranch ready, we were as proud as punch when they pulled in! Although it was a little chaotic (I don't know if my poor chickens will ever recover from being chased so much-ha!), I think the filming went really well. I don't think that we will be on the show very much, but our great critters behaved very well and will definitely not be on the editing room floor. We were filmed quite a bit as we did our regular llama education talk and introduction, all the while trying to teach the kids a little bit of safety when it comes to large, and even small animals.

It was a whirlwind couple of hours. Trying to herd the animals into a certain light, running to get another haltered llama (because one of the little girls bit her sister over holding the lead rope; I don't think that one will make the cut-ha!), and trying to catch the chickens after they were already freaked out for their big debut on TV, is not everyday occurrences here at the ranch. I am now very empathetic towards anyone working with animals on TV, animals are not always ready for film, like our sheep for instance (they spent their time madly trying to get away from everything, scared to death!). But, we did it and they got some great footage; they even paid us $100 for our trouble!






Whether Tom and I make it to the big screen (Yes, I know it's not big screen, but throw me a bone here...) or not, it was fantastic exposure for our businesses. We, of course, were wearing Royal Ranch hats and denim shirts and the producer even reminded Tom to "plug us" once with one of his answers for the home owners questions, so we'll see. They had heard of us through word of mouth and Google, so it was a huge "Atta girl!" that all this hard work we're doing is really paying off. I will post again when I hear it is going to air!

I have to tell you something funny. I didn't blog about HGTV coming until after they were here because I was being superstitious. I had already told you all about The Price is Right and my calendar contest, both of which were a bust and both of which I had shared on this blog. Although it is hard to deal with disappointments anytime; it's a little embarrassing to do it publicly. But, I kept my head held high, and came out on top; this was better than anything I could have tried out for. For HGTV to contact me to want to do a shoot was a dream come true.

Make a miracle today!

Metaphysical Monday

Good Morning! I hope you all had a great weekend and are excited about the short week with a holiday thrown in! I had the most unbelievable weekend; Saturday was my birthday, and we had very special visitors at our ranch yesterday. But, since today is my regular Metaphysical Monday, and I was excited about today's post as well as telling you about our great visitors, you will have to check back in tomorrow to see who our guests were. I'll give you a hint....it starts with HG and ends with TV, no, no, I'm not giving you any more info-ha! Now I know you have to come back!


So, back to my birthday. A few months ago when I first started really studying the Metaphysical world, I went into my local book store and was surprised to find out that it is almost entirely metaphysical. That in itself was a pleasant surprise, but on the counter was a flyer for a psychic that was doing readings. I got that feeling in my stomach, you know the one that I talk about quite often in these posts? The feeling that something inexplicable is going on around you, and that you're somewhat of a pawn in a much bigger game? Yes, that's the feeling I got, and before I could even read further, I knew that the readings were scheduled for my birthday.

Now, I have never been to a psychic, and have often thought that many of them are simply pulling on the heart strings of people who are really reaching for something, maybe even anything. But, with all of the upheaval that I was experiencing in my spiritual quest, I felt it was time to at least see how it is done. I did as much research on the guy as I possibly could and talked the old man into coming with me.

You see, Tom is on the fence about this whole metaphysical thing. His very logical brain has a hard time with a lot of it, but living with me, he can't deny that some very strange things happen around here. He is afraid of it, I think, he talks a lot about what if something negative comes from my guides (or a psychic), will I believe it and how will it affect our lives? What if the death card (metaphorically speaking) is played or something?

I have tried quite a few times to explain that the communication with Spirit Guides is never negative. They are there to do just what their title says, guide. Not scare us, or make us feel afraid to live, or afraid to die. They are simply here to help get us through the maze of life. So, I knew that if the psychic had anything at all negative, than he wasn't for real or at the very least, not talking with my guides. I guess I should not say "anything at all negative", because of course we would all want to know if our guides felt that there was avoidable danger; but again, to me that seems like positive news.

To be honest, the whole reason I wanted to go was to test myself. A person who has the ability to connect with their Spirit Guides always feels as if they are making it up, I know for sure I do. I have read this in many of the books as well. Often times the stuff that comes through is not at all clear, sounds like a familiar voice, but mostly information just gets into our brains, we don't know where it comes from, it is just there. So it leaves me with plenty of questions. Am I crazy, or does this really happen to other people? Am I just making it all up and remembering things I didn't know I knew? So, like I said, I figured this was as good as time as any to check it all out. I was also very curious if he would say anything about me having "powers"

Well, the deck was stacked against the guy. He had no hope against my naughty Spirit Guides. I could almost hear them laughing as this poor man struggled through probably one of the worst readings he's ever had. I'm pretty sure he was getting something, and that was a big brick wall. In my mind I kept hearing over and over again that I did not need this guy in the middle, and my communication with my guides was going along just fine.

I almost had to bust out laughing, the psychic just kept saying "I'm having a hard time getting anything"; I, on the other hand was getting plenty of input. They did allow him a few bits of information, but it was all stuff we had already done. We pretty much just ended up talking about publishing books, something we both had in common. The fact that he told us he couldn't get much makes me believe that he is probably legit, just blocked. From the laughing and voices I heard in my mind, I found out that my guides really have a sense of humor. I even looked at Tom multiple times, afraid that he could hear the jokes as well, that's how clearly this was all coming through.

But most importantly, I learned from this session. I learned that I am definitely not crazy, or making things up. I feel strongly that my guides pointed me down that path to teach me a lesson about listening to myself. I am the only one that can take this journey, and that I will learn everything I need to know in due time. I also learned that at least one of my guides is a rebel like me. Now that made me really proud!



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