PW part III

Phew! Okay, it was getting hot in there, there are about 50 of us jammed in to a little seating area and another 200 standing around waiting. The Barnes&Nobles chick has announced the rules for the 6th time. Then finally, she announced "with out further ado, Ree Drummond........" Squeals, and giggles, gasps, cameras flashing where is she? Oh there she is coming in from the back, but first Marlboro man and the two cutie patootie boys.

There was alot of hub-ub about Marlboro Man. This is what I have to say about that. He was handsome, rugged, but he IS her husband. And no I did not get him to sign his butt in my cookbook. (Only my friends cookbooks......ha made ya look) The boys did sign my book though. So funny, the littlest guy had sharpie marker all over his forehead.

PW answered questions for about 15min. "Tell us about your perfect marriage"..."no marriage is perfect" she answered "but we are perfect for each other". "Do you make your kids eat things they don't like?" "No, not really I am lazy that way." Love the honesty! "Are you going to open the lodge up as a B&B someday?" "Nope cause then I would have to change the sheets often, and that would be buzz kill." LOve this woman! Finally some one asked her about her Ethel Merman impression, and would she please do it. Well, after a bit of prodding, but not too much, she broke out into a perfect imitation of Ethel's song "Theres no business like show business...". It was awesome, so fun. I wished she could have left with Dee and I right then and gone had a bottle of vino!

Q&A over it was time to get into line. First twenty five on the first floor from 26 to 250 something line up upstairs wrapping around the store. If I didn't say it already we were 67 and 68. One hour and fifteen minutes later we were up next. YIKERS! Talk about ring-o-fire. My pitts were pumpin out sweat. I felt a little light headed. OOOOh, what was I gonna say when I gave these stupid cupcakes I'd schlepped all over Chicago. How embarrassing, I wanted to kick them to the side and act like I had not just held them for the last 1 1/2 hours. So Dee went first. Thankfully she didn't push me and say "you go first". They chatted like ol pals, Dee is so thoughtful and smart she had her put Hebrew 13:1 (look it up) in each of her books. So they chatted about that verse. Then me with my 10 cookbooks and box-o-cupcakes. I told her that I was member of her sisterhood of the ring-o-fire. She took a look at my sweaty pit and giggled, then told me about her silk shirt incident in Denver. Then we talked about cinnamon rolls. Then I presented her with the cupcakes I had baked her. Hoping she would love them and then HAVE to have the recipe and read my blog to get it. CRAZY I know I am a dreamer, but a girl does have to try doesn't she? She asked if I had a cupcake shop, I told her no baking is just a passion. (I didn't admit to my dream of having some sort of baking business) Then she sniffed the box. Some how or another I blabbed that I had a blog. She asked me to write it down, DONE its already on the attached card. Did we hug? No, maybe, oh probably not, my memory and my day dreaming get things all mixed up. She was sweet.

Pour Dee. While I'm chattin' up PW is stuck with Marlboro man. That made her nervous, what do ya say, "Hi I love your wife"??? We did get to see what was in the bags though T-shirts, Pioneer Woman T-SHIRTS. Nice ones! Like designer cute sleeved t-shirts with out a tag! Yowza! And we each got one!

Ok, so are you wondering who else we saw? What other famous person? Author and fellow foodie, Shauna Niequist! She wrote the book Cold Tangerines. Check it out its really goooood....I tried to find her after we had our books signed, but she was either hiding from me, (cause I also once had her sign a stalker-level number of books for me) or she got sick of waiting and left. You should check out her blog its at www.shaunaniequist.com or even better read her book!

Oh my gosh if you have stayed with me this whole time till now, you truly love me. And I truly love you even if you didn't!