The Weekend Country Girl

It is taking me a long time to write this post, my apologies.

One of the most anticipated parts of our weekend for me was a trip to Magnolia Market. It was a special day called Christmas at the Silos. We were not the only ones who were there. It was packed. This was our second trip. You can see our first trip with lots of inside the shop photos and the outdoor space here.

We started our visit at the obligatory #MILESTOMAGNOLIA sign. Two sweet girls took our photo for us.

Inside the actual store there was a lot going on. It was just after opening but the lines to check out were already long. Here is a hint for busy days: look for an employee with an iPad if you have small items that don’t break and are paying with a debit card. They can check you out and there is virtually no line.

Right inside the front door of the store there is a seasonal display. Last time we went it was open books flying away. This time beautiful ornaments made of paper hanging.

They were beautiful.

Because of the Christmas at the Silos celebrations there were lots of kid friendly activities that were all free and perfect for the little ones. Sweet Lucy loved the train ride, twice. There was face painting, The Polar Express on the stage screen, Christmas books being read aloud, ornaments to decorate, and pictures with Santa.

Here is the best picture we got with Lucy and Santa. She needed Mom and Dad in order to endure the process.

There were lots of photo opportunities set up. I convinced Lucy to take her picture with me, sort of.

The gardens were great. It was fun seeing what is growing right now in central Texas.

While the kids were waiting for Santa, I stood in this line for the Silos Bakery.

A sweet girl gave me the order form when I was way back in line.

Little did I know that after being in line 25 minutes a cute young girl came and put this sign up. I thought I was almost in…

Inside the bakery it was just like I hoped. White subway tile, wood floor, rustic beams, the cupcakes…

I tried several and think my favorite was campfire, or maybe winter wonderland, or possibly strawberry. I did mention that I tried several.

It was a great trip even with the crowd. Everyone was so nice and there was plenty to keep everyone busy.

Thanks for following along on our visit.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with family and friends.

Blessings,

Karen

Friends, before I start this post you need to know that I do not believe that you are blessed because something bad doesn’t happen to you.  If I believed that then it would mean that you are NOT blessed if something bad happens.  I just don’t buy it.  Here is why:

It has been rough around these parts lately.  Unless you live under a rock you might have noticed that my neck of the woods got hammered by a dude named Harvey.  FYI, hurricanes are no fun in case anyone is wondering.

We, at Providence Acres got 51 inches of rain over three days but nothing significant flooded.

We got plenty of water, but our house and shop stayed dry.

My parents who are 80 and 82 got water in their home.

Their home- the house I grew up in- got about six inches of water in it.  That six inches was compounded by the fact that there was no electricity for over a week.  Oh, and all the roads leading to their home were blocked.  You literally couldn’t get there without a boat.  Thankfully they had evacuated to our house and ended up with us for 11 days before they could even see the house.

Fast forward a week.

My son and three friends got the nasty wet carpet and laminate out.  What a way to spend Labor Day.

These young men were my heroes.  I will forever be grateful.

The house sat after that.  No electricity, limited accessibility, and all of those who could help had jobs. My parents kept going to the house.  My buddy the Social Planner loaned them a travel trailer to stay in on their property but the house kept getting more and more toxic.

Mold growing, moisture level high, no way to get things better, me worrying, school starting back.  It was a rough week.

Sunday I got a call from friends of my parents letting me know my Dad was on his way to Urgent Care.  We had begged, pleaded, cried, and negotiated to keep them out of the house to no avail.  Dad had a sinus infection and bronchitis. We rushed back to their home for the third time in a week to find my mom sick, my dad sick and nothing had changed with the house.

I was mad.  Mad at them for going into the house after promising that they wouldn’t, mad at where they live for not getting it together enough to get power on and services coordinated, and… mad at God.  Where was He in this mess?  Had he forgotten these two? I cried.  Buckets of tears folks and it wasn’t pretty.   When I arrived at their home I realized that help had arrived.  A team from near Tyler was busy getting the house emptied of stuff and was dealing with two very grumpy seniors who were not feeling well.

They had packed up everything in their home and moved it out under cover while they were at the doctor.  I didn’t get a single picture of them because I was so distraught but the photo above is what they did for us.  I don’t even know where they are from, but it is near Tyler, Texas and the word Rose is in their churches name. Oh how grateful we are to them.

It took some work and my promising to stay at the trailer overnight to get my parents to leave and go get a good nights sleep.

With a weak plan my brother an I decided to attack the house and get started on the muck out.  Before 7:00 my brother showed up with his son and  got started taking out baseboards.  That is when God decided to show off.  We were tired, scared, and more than a little overwhelmed when a van pulling a red trailer pulled up.  People started getting out of the van in rubber boots, they were carrying hammers, crowbars and wearing masks.  Today, on the only day my brother has had off in 13 days, with my son, my husband, nephew and me there- they arrived to help.

It took their crew 5 hours to do this:

They really were the hands and feet of Jesus.  They were kind, they worked hard, they honored my parents’ wishes, and they never stopped smiling.

They will never know what their one day of service did for all of us.  We will be forever grateful to First Baptist Church Malakoff, Texas.

A big shout out to my brother who had worked 13 straight 12 hour days before showing up to clear the house and my nephew who jumped right in with both feet to get things done.

It was a great day.  We left the house locked up with bleach soaking the studs.

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for Texas and now Florida.

Blessings,

Karen

If you check in with me on Facebook, then you know we have been working on an outdoor kitchen in preparation for our full-time indoor kitchen to be out of commission.  Mr. Math has worked hard on the kitchen but with teaching summer school and my new and much more demanding job, it was a slow start.  Just about the time we were making progress, sub tropical Cindy rolled through and the tropical moisture has hung around.  We are getting rain daily.  Our yard is beautiful, especially for end of June, but painting and carpentry outside has been a challenge.  I am happy to report we now have running water, a sink that drains properly, a galvanized metal counter and a storage cabinet that has sealed rusty metal as inserts n our outdoor kitchen.

A glorious sink outside.  This will be a place for the dudes to clean up when they are working on machines, cleaning fish, and smoking meat.  Yay for me!  No more nasty stuff coming inside.

The counter top will look weathered with time and when I am happy with the finish it will be sealed.  The backsplash is the same material.  I am not sure it is finished.  I think it may need more screws to smooth it down.

We are grandparents now and it is funny the things that worry us that we might not have worried about before.  Like sharp corners.  They are all covered with corner piece.

The cabinets are painted with Behr Circus which is a soft, rusty, red.  It blends well with the redwood stained picnic table.

I love those corrugated tin inserts.  The tin is from Mr. Math’s family farm.  It is at least 60 years old, but my guess is it is older.  It all got coated with polyurethane before being installed to seal it.

Here is what is finished.  We couldn’t finish the shelf underneath because we ran out of 1X6 boards but it will be quick work.  I am going to stain and seal the boards.  I am thinking that the drain needs to painted either silver or black.

The porch will be great once we are through but right now it is a mess.

The slate top is not done and the trim work needs to be finished around it but it is going to look great.  Stone sealer will keep out the yuck.

This is going to be a great spot to hang out, entertain friends, and cook.  I am looking forward to getting this one finished.

Thanks for following along on our journey.

Blessings,

Karen

It was another busy weekend here at Providence Acres.  We had family over, we made a trip to see my sweet daddy for Father’s Day, we picked a pile of peas, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and kale.  I now have a freezer full of produce for later.  

We also made progress on the outdoor kitchen.  This is a low budget, heavy use project so, we were way more concerned with functionality than aesthetics.  It will be stained barn red and will look better, but honestly not having the dudes run in the house to use my sink to clean fish, wash nasty hands, or drip meat juices makes my heart sing.   The timing of this project is crucial because my inside kitchen is about to be under renovation and I will never wash dishes in the bathtub again.  Two homes we lived in required me to do dishes on my knees at some point and I am over that.  Forever.

Mr. Math built the sink base out of treated 3/4 inch plywood and 4X4 posts.  The stainless double sink was a side of the road find.  We bought the cheapest faucet they had at Home Depot that had a spray attachment.

It took us over an hour in HD to puzzle out the plumbing but the sink now drains 55 feet away so the fish water won’t be gross smelling when we are sitting on the deck.

The counters are this sheet metal.  It took two sheets to clad the counter.

So far, we have the metal roof extension, counter clad in metal, deck power washed, drain in, and plumbing for water worked out.  We didn’t get the right water connection but it should go quickly. 

Next will be to add cabinets up on the deck that will back up to the sink and will be backed and topped in metal.  We are also going to be adding a very small hot water heater.  

I am so excited that my farmhouse sink and faucet arrived from Overstock safe and sound.  

The quartz has been selected.  Zodiaq concrete.  

The backsplash will be this awesome herringbone marble.

Mr. Math is going to redo the cabinets so that they look like white shaker style.  

Next week I will be so super busy that I will be out of commission but soon I hope to have pictures of a finished outdoor kitchen all staged and looking nice.

Have a wonderful week,

Blessings,

Karen

I promise I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  Really, I am still alive and kicking.  Right after I wrote to you that I missed you and was back, there was another turn in my road.  I was offered the opportunity to be Director of Elementary Instruction for the fast growing district I have worked for the past four years.  Crazy.  It has taken all my extra minutes just to catch up.  You see, for the past 10 years my focus has been secondary and or advanced students.  I have had terms to learn, programs to get up to speed on, research to read, and plans to make.

I am excited for this opportunity and expect this to be my last stop in public education before  retiring, but I would have said that about my last position too, so what do I know.

In the next week, I will have a few posts that include our outdoor kitchen (which had to be finished first), the kitchen renovation that is imminent, and what is up at our little cabin in the woods.

I spent a few moments this evening looking longingly at my shop.  I must make time to get back to what feeds my creative side.

I hope all is well in your lives,

Blessings,

Karen