Texas Archives - Page 2 of 3 - The Weekend Country Girl

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Our First Stay in a B & B

October 13, 2014October 14, 2014 Karen

Mr. Math loves me. He knew that with the start of school, our son and daughter in law going overseas for a year, and even the addition of our rowdy rescue dog, Lumi, I was exhausted and ready for a break. He surprised me with a trip to a Bed and Breakfast in Fredricksburg. Texas. We even took a day off work to extend the weekend which is something I almost never do during the school year.

Fredricksburg is a town with a strong German heritage in the Texas Hill Country about four hours from Houston. It is a picture postcard, small town that has worked hard to preserve historic buildings. (In Texas, historic means late 1800’s up to early 1900’s.)

Link to the Fredricksburg website is HERE

This was our first ever trip to a bed and breakfast after hearing about them for years from our buddy, The Social Planner. The room wasn’t cheap. It would have been comparable to the cost of a room in a downtown Doubletree in Austin, Dallas, or San Antonio during the fall. Once Mr. Math let me know we were going, I got to pick the room. We looked at room photos when choosing where we would stay. I was smitten with the room I chose. It was a mix of vintage and eclectic furnishing. Totally funky and bohemian.

We got our reservation through this site: HERE

Here is the 360 degree view of the room at theroadrunnerinn.com . HERE The photos don’t lie. It was a cool space and looked exactly like the photos. The inside was exactly the type space I would create for myself.

We arrived just after 3:00 pm at Main Street Bed and Breakfast to get our room key. The young lady at registration handed us the key, a map to the location of our building, two $6.00 breakfast vouchers for a local restaurant and told us good luck finding parking because our room did not have parking and that there was no sign for the Roadrunner which was our room. We found parking a block behind the location and walked up to the room. Here is a photo of all the information we got from the young lady.

I will be honest and say that this is not the B and B experience I thought we would have. I guess this is tip number one if you are going to a B and B. Ask about parking, ask about breakfast, ask if someone will be on site 24 hours. (By the way, breakfast was really good but we had to pay the balance on our meal Saturday. It cost over the amount of our vouchers. Sunday we each got a breakfast taco and coffee and it was within the allotted amount.)

The Little Roadrunner on the glass up to our room was the only sign. We walked by it twice.

I really like the mix of modern with mid century chairs at the top of the stairs.

I feel a little like a whiner when I say this but here goes. I had expectations that a Bed and Breakfast would be more intimate. I thought we would have human contact while we were there at a more personal level than at a hotel. Except for the young lady who gave us the key and paper we did not see another soul related to the B &B the time we stayed there except the shop owner in the shop below our room who helped us with the door when our hands were full and a man who told us to leave the key in the mailbox Sunday morning when the office wasn’t open. We were just another set of patrons at the restaurant and frankly we could have found a place to eat on our own had we stayed in a hotel. There were no notes, suggestions, or “Where to find…” information provided except this large picture over the kitchen area.

Coffee was provided in the room along with basic dishes, which was nice.

We have rented beach houses several times and this felt much more like a beach house rental than what I thought we would find at a B&B.

Tip number 2: Ask more questions and check rating sites like Yelp.

The final ask more questions occurred Saturday night when we discovered that a band was playing in the beer garden next door after the posted hours for the Beer Garden and during the bar open hours. (It rained Friday night or we would have discovered this sooner.) Nothing on the website mentioned that a beer garden was right outside our window or the physical address of the Roadrunner Inn. If we were partying folk, this would have been great. It would be a draw to know we could stay up until 2:00 am drinking then stagger back to the room once the music finished without having to drive anywhere. We are not those folk. After a day of shopping, exploring, and walking in cooler than expected and wet weather we were ready for bed about 11:00 pm. By 12:30 am we were tired and frustrated. By 12:35 there were words exchanged between Mr. Math and the manager of the Beer Garden. It was a long night with little sleep after the words were exchanged.

Tip number 3: Ask for the physical address of the B and B if it is not provided on the website, then go to Google Maps and Look at the Street View. I think it would have saved us some of the aggravation Saturday night.

FYI- This nice looking pair playing music on the porch of said Beer Garden WAS NOT the band playing late at night and the seats were full at 12:30 am.

Will we go back to Fredricksburg? Probably not. We enjoyed our visit but the town was very crowded, the shopping was nice, but things were a little overpriced, and frankly our B and B experience tainted our enjoyment. We ended up paying for a really nice weekend away and got the equivalent of Motel 6 experience in a really nice room (really it was less than Motel 6 in service- there is usually parking, 24 hour on site personnel, and ice at a Motel 6). Will we try a Bed and Breakfast again? I hope so. I have already heard from two different folks about great B and B locations to try that offer what we were hoping to find.

Have you had a great B and B experience? I would love to hear about it. Have you been to Fredricksburg? If so, what did we miss that would have made our trip more enjoyable? I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and share in our mid-life adventures.

Blessings,

Karen

Real Life, Texas, the suburban home

Back Yard Dreaming

September 18, 2014 Karen

I am dreaming of getting our back yard spruced up. I mean I go out there at least twice a day and stare at our yard just dreaming of how it will look.

One of the things I liked about our house in the burbs was our big back yard. We live on a cul de sac so the biggest part of our lot is in the back

In the city house we moved from a year ago we had a teeny tiny back yard. It was a major bone of contention between my husband and me. I want flower beds, plants, and and shade trees, and privacy. He liked our big front yard on a corner lot. He did and still does, like grass. I, on the other hand, like space in the back yard where I can be a hermit. I crave a retreat. A low maintenance retreat to be sure, but a retreat none the less.

Right now I call our back yard the pasture. It is a vast expanse of grass. Hubby even pulled up the Oleander in the corner because it was in the way of the sprinkler head watering the grass. No lie. One of my five scrawny bushes in the backyard was in the way of a sprinkler head so it had to go.

My goal for our first fall to work on the yard is simple. I want trees. I want ONE flower bed with native plants that are easy to keep alive, I want to amend the soil in our raised bed garden, and I want our fire pit set up.

What the almanac says about low maintenance gardening.

My grandmother was a big believer in the almanac and it says planting trees in the fall is the right time.

The following trees are in my plans:

Crepe Myrtle. They grow super fast, stay fairly vertical, and have pretty flowers. They are HARDY here is south east Texas.

Citrus trees

In our area and even further north there are varieties of orange, grapefruit and lime trees that are able to stand up to our winters.

The cool thing about citrus trees is that the fruit ripens in the fall and winter.

Silver leaf Sage is about the toughest plant around. It blooms after a rain with beautiful purple flowers.

Lantana, day lilies, and Blue Daze are all plants that will grow even if I forget to water them, which of course I will.

I also want to work on our raised bed garden this fall.

Cilantro and dill will get planted for us to enjoy.

I am not setting my sights high this fall. I know we cannot do everything that needs to be done at once but I am excited to get started.

Behr Paint with Primer, DIY, family, Fun with friends, Silliness, Star Hill, Texas, Uncategorized

Making a Corn Hole Set

July 2, 2014July 7, 2014 Karen

One sweet memory I have from The Southern Belle and Big Cat’s wedding last summer was an outdoor family gathering where we got to meet the families. Big Cat set up his corn hole set to play. Lots of folks got in on the action, even my sweet mom, Me Mie. Ever since then I have wanted a set to use at our lake house, at school and for neighborhood parties in the burbs. Corn hole is a little like horse shoes except it is played on a slanting 2 foot wide, four foot long plywood surface. There is even a corn hole association! Because I am working crazy hours this summer, but I wanted the set ready for our 4th of July family reunion, I charged Hubby with researching the rules, board dimensions, and DIY instructions. He is a math teacher in real life so dimensions, diameters, and angles are right up his alley.

As the 4th of July approached, I started to gently ~~remind~~ ~~nudge~~ nag him to get on it. He bought the wood. Pre-cut 2 X 4 sheet of a/b sanded wood so it would be smooth and 2 2X4’s. It hung out in the back of his truck. The nagging increased. The weekend before the 4th- with company at the lake house- arrived. He promised he could have them built in 30 minutes. So the timer started! In reality it was closer to an hour but still assembly was quick. The hole is 6″ centered 9″ from top edge. The legs are cut to length so that the top edge is 12″ from the ground. He attached the legs with a bolt so that it can be loosened and the legs stored under the board.

Once he finished I jumped on the painting. It had to be red, white and blue… because pretty much everything at our lake house is red, white, and blue. The creamy white is the paint we used for our rockers and swing. No clue what the color is, but the paint was hanging out in the Garagemahal. The blue is Behr Sailboat blue. It has been used on out coffee table the beverage station, and Sweet Amanda’s chair at our chair party. I had to buy the red. I am not going to tell you the color because I made a bad choice with the red. I hate Glidden paint. More on that later. Once it was all painted the creamy white and dried overnight, I taped off stripes. Mr. Math helped me figure out the width of the big stripe then after he left, I very unscientifically taped off a thinner stripe the width of the skinny tape. The trick to painting clean lines is fresh tape ( don’t try to use tape that has hung out in the garage a year getting all hot and cold) and paint the base coat color over the edges of the tape. The paint seals the edges and any that seeps under is the same as base so you can’t tell. The Glidden paint was so thin it still bled in two spots. Not. A. Fan.

I stitched eight bags. Four blue and four red, six inches each and filled with corn. They will have to be upgraded to a tougher fabric, but they will work for now.

We are still working on the mechanism to attach the two boards to store and carry. The handles worked well, but the latches did not work.

The boards turned out well and they will be used at events for years to come.

We are not the only ones camping with a set. I thought I would share a few others who were camping near our family reunion:

A UT set with football shaped corn bags.

This is a really easy set to fold and the little guys loved it.

You have to look carefully at this camp site to see them. They are located on either side of the smoker.

I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July. Blessings, Karen

cedar lumber, milk glass, reclaimed wood, Texas

Cedar Windfall

January 21, 2014January 21, 2014 Karen

Guess what I got this weekend? I got a load of gorgeous cedar lumber! I am so excited about doing some projects.

My dad had cedar trees on his timber property that a guy wanted to buy from him. Dad went in halves with the guy. That means that the guy did all the work on the cedar in exchange for half the wood. My sweet dad had him cut some of the wood for me to use from a few of the trees and surprised me this weekend. It is so pretty. I hate that it is outside right now, but will soon be safe inside the Garagemahal.

Project # 1 is going to be a bench for my mom and dad’s covered porch at their property. The top is going to be a 2″ thick slab with rustic legs that I am going to attempt to build all on my own. I will have my hubby acting as tutor, but I really am wanting to do more actual construction on my own. I am learning that I can do more than I think I can. Here is the inspiration piece:

source: Follow Your Heart

You think I am up for it? I sure hope so. If not, it will still make a great story for you guys to read.

Project #2 is beefing up our mantle in our suburban home. The fireplace is beautiful but the mantle is so shallow that I cannot decorate up there and it it is way too fussy a fireplace for me. I have to “line everything up in a row” if I am going to put anything on the mantel right now. I am going to add a wide cedar top board and frame out the fire-box with cedar something sort of like what you see below. I may add cedar to the hollowed out area too… not sure. I am going to use the wormy cedar on the sides. It looks so cool.

I want it to be reversible when we sell the house and I think that we should be able to remove this.

Source: The Wood Whisperer

Project # 3 is going to be my personal favorite. I have a huge natural edge slab that is going to become a bench for our suburban home and a shelf for the lake house behind the wood burning stove once we get the rusted tin up. Man I cannot wait until we get the fascia boards done and the porch painted so we can get started on the inside of the house! I am so very ready but I know we have to do some outside maintenance work first. Boo.

Source: Art Fire

Source

Project #4 is going to be using the bark part of the tree (peeled) to make some shelves for our lake house master bedroom. I want four or five of the thin shelves on the wall for my milk glass collection. I think I can beat $72.00 for two of them.

Source: Etsy

After that all bets are off but I will bet that a table will be made from the milled lumber for sure. The wood I have at the house is just a sample of the wood coming my way. woo hoo!

What would you do if you were given a load of beautiful cedar boards? I am open to suggestions.

burlap, Christmas, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Decorating, family, Lake Livingston, Tablescape, Texas, The Rockin' F, wreath

Open House at the Rockin’ F Ranchito

December 5, 2013December 11, 2013 Karen

My buddy, The Social Planner, went all out for Christmas. She has an amazingly talented niece who made all the decorations. Follow along as I take you on a tour of her beautiful home. This past weekend this was the first stop on our home tour. I am crazy about her beautiful home this holiday season, an am so proud of her for all the hard work creating her forever home.

The Front Porch-
Out on the Rockin’ F the front porch looks out on horses, a red dirt-dead end road, and the most beautiful scenery you can imagine. I love that the porch looks as good as the scenery around it. What a welcoming front porch. The photos below are of the social planner and her sweet niece in law who created the decorations. I caught Claudia putting the wreath up she brought with her Sunday. In the future I am going to interview her. She has been creating Christmas décor for 10 years and decorated 30 + homes this season. She still has a few homes to touch up for holiday parties but is really almost finished. She has a lot to teach me.

Yes, that view is for real off the social planner’s front porch. I love looking at the pond and the horses. The tree line is beautiful.

The Family Room-
Wow! An amazing tree, decorated with Texas themed items. There are stars, boots, rope, and burlap on this tree.

The mantle is beautiful.

There is a Santa collection. The cowboy Santa was added this year.

The buffet is so sweet.

I really like the dining table and decorated chandelier. The dishes have pine cones on them.

My buddy has the best kitchen on the planet.

The Back Porch
This is without a doubt my favorite place on The Rockin F. The back porch is beautiful, peaceful and is a great place to get away from the world. For Christmas, the social planner purchased a stocking for all the grown ups in the family and had them embroidered locally. They are a thick tweed plaid and have a burlap top. The outdoor fireplace looks so beautiful with the mantle decorated.

If you are ever in Coldspring stop by the social planner’s house. She loves company.

http://wp.me/p3Su5W-3dv

Blogging, Building a Home, home decorating, mid-life, moving, new home, Star Hill, Texas, the suburban home

Creating a New Blog

October 27, 2013October 27, 2013 Karen

I have been toying with the idea of creating a new blog for a little while. I love Star Hill, Coldspring, and my weekend country life but right now most of our projects and life revolve around our new lives in our new community and new suburban home.

I am going to be chronicling the rapid growth of this booming community , our progress as we turn our builder basic home into something that is more unique and us finding our way in a new place.

I hope you will consider following My Burb Home. I will continue to write about our wonderful weekend home and the projects up at the Garagemahal on The Weekend Country Girl, but the things going on in the new house will be on the new blog. We have a few projects in the wings right now up in the country.

I started blogging because I wanted an outlet to share with my family and friends. Never, in a million years did I expect others, from a variety of states and countries to read my blog. I often wonder what in the world would someone who lives so far from the Texas Piney Woods ever want to read what I write. Thank you for choosing to be a part of our lives.

I look forward to continuing to share my small, small corner of the world as we explore the third quarter of our lives!

We have a lot planned and I am excited about the possibilities. Here is a link to my first post: My New Blog

Blessings,

Karen

Country living, Fun with friends, Photography, shopping, Texas

Salado, Texas

October 5, 2013October 11, 2013 Karen

I really do love being a Texan.
The diverse landscape, the mix of old and new, Geman, Mexican, French, Czech, Greek, and English settlers made Texas home and we all get to benefit. One day I am going to introduce you to my favorite foods, from all the melting pot that is Texas, but not today.
Today we are out exploring one of my top five Texas small towns. Salado, Texas. A Scottish town that has a long history.

My Hubby grew up in Central Texas near Salado. He wanted to visit where he grew up to celebrate his birthday. I was thrilled to visit this area in the fall. (Thanks Hubby being born in the fall!) I discovered Salado on one of my first spring visits to my Hubby’s family. My mother in law and I would go to Salado when we could sneak away. The Stagecoach Inn is an institution It really was a stagecoach stop way back when it opened. The food in the restaurant is good. I love that there is no printed menu. The waitress tells you what is on the menu and takes the order verbally.

I recommend the Yellow House Bed and Breakfast. It is a weekend trip worth taking in fall or spring. It is boiling hot in the summer and unpredictable in winter. It can be beautiful in winter or there could be ice and sleet. This bed and breakfast is in downtown, but really close to the road. It may be awesome, I just don’t know.

The stream that runs through town is beautiful. An old grist mill next to the stream is now a shop to visit. There are sweet little artsy type shops everywhere and a couple of great wineries nearby.

Melons growing downtown on a stairway.

The Texas drought is really taking a toll. This stream is normally running freely.

I have waded in the water here before. The spillway usually has water running over it all the time.

1-IMG_3897

Salado is a quirky artsy little town. Who paints bikes and hangs them on a fence.

The historic bridge has a troll and goat guarding it.

We even got the chance to visit friends who live at Stillhouse Hollow Lake. What a view!

Our Baytown friends have quite the view! I love their home.

Enjoy our day and visit Salado when you can.

Country living, family, mid-life, Texas

The Homeplace

October 5, 2013October 7, 2013 Karen

My husband grew up on a farm in Troy, Texas. 46 in his graduating class. When I say farm I mean the party line phone, water well that dries up in the summer, hard work kind of place. The home hasn’t been lived in for 25 years or so, and shouldn’t have been lived in for longer than that but it is a place of happy memories for my husband and his family. Both his parents are gone but the kids still own the property they grew up on. This weekend Hubby and I went back to the old home place. Hubby hadn’t been out to the farm in a few years and I love this area in the fall.

The weeds and trees were so overgrown you can no longer drive in. This definitely limited the wood we got.

Here are some shots from the farm. We picked the perfect weekend. The first cold front of the season blew in while we were there. The temperature dropped all day. We needed jackets by the evening.

On the way to the farm.

This really is where the pavement ends.

The gravel road was in great shape.

The road into the farm was not so great.

The culvert stopped us from going further. Washed out.

Not much left of the home. This window was about all that was in tact.

Here are some of my treasures. We found:
An old ceramic sink. It will be part of my backyard kitchen soon.

An old Kerr jar.

A tractor seat. There is a project in the very near future for this.

Some barn wood

A door off the shed. I love this but need to figure out what I want to do with it.

All it took was a circular saw, a crowbar, drill and muscles to get the treasures out! The old place has a wild beauty now that really doesn’t resemble the place my husband grew up on. The windmill has been stolen, the fields are full of trees and the buildings are all down but the happy memories remain.

Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Decorating, family, home decorating, mantle, Nature, new home, Texas, wreath

Open House at the Rockin’ F Ranchito

October 2, 2013October 3, 2013 Karen

Do you remember my Social Planner, Tanis? She and her husband Larry retired to Coldspring, Texas and have spent the last year selling their two homes- a lake house and their city home, clearing land, planning a new home, and finally building and moving in to their dream home. They really did find a slice of heaven when they found the 22 acres that they are quickly turning into their family gathering spot.

This past weekend they held an open house. Friends and family were invited up to visit and enjoy their world. The Social Planner went all out.

You know it is going to be a place in the country when you have to have signs because the GPS might not work.

The house was in full fall decorating mode,

I love the front porch. I wish I could bottle the view,

The Social Planner’s niece made this awesome wreath. Love it.

The barn red front door looks perfect.

Beside the front door there is this great fountain. It is so peaceful and the etched rocks remind the person sitting on the porch why the couple chose this spot.

I love the fall mums.

There was a hay ride, the covered porch was loaded with ice chests, places to sit and eat and things for the kiddos to do.

The Social Planner has three grandkids already and another on the way. She also has a nephew with three kids and when all of them are over the place is hopping. It is great to see a place that is so full of laughter and love.

Out at the back of the property the guys hunt doves, do target practice and just hang out.

The Social Planner got lots of loot at her open house. I am so happy for both of them. They have a beautiful home and open hearts.

The frame above and the chalkboard below are in their awesome laundry room. The Social Planner found the two windows on the side of the road. They are as found, except for a couple of coats of poly. One day the house will be empty enough for me to take pictures of the room. This weekend it was full of purses, phones charging, dogs, and toys.

The Social Planner and her childhood friend working in the kitchen. This kitchen fed a ton of people.

Enjoy the photos from their beautiful home and friends who visited for the weekend. I hope the photos reflect their style, the love their friends feel for them, and family.

Coldspring, Country Style, Decorating, DIY, home decorating, Lake Livingston, master bedroom, Star Hill, Texas, The bedroom

Reclaimed Wood Wall

September 2, 2013September 9, 2013 Karen

I have wanted a rustic wall in our master bedroom for a while. This weekend that was the project. I first wrote about the wall in April but we are just getting the garage cleared enough that I didn’t feel guilty starting something new. #Hashtag inspired me to get moving on this long overdue project. I actually started two projects and finished a few other small projects too.

We found this old cedar fencing on the free part of Craig’s
List. Hubby did pay the guy $20.00 to help him load it.

It has been sitting in the wood hoard since April. Here is how the project went up:

7:30 am We set up the table saw, carried 50 pieces of wood to the porch and got busy. We have had Ole Betsy, our table saw for more than 25 years and bought her used all those years ago.

Hubby got busy “Truing up” the boards. That just means he cut the boars all exactly the same width and straight by running both sides through the table saw. He cut about a 1/2 inch off each side.

Yes, I made him use a wood pusher but in this picture he was finished with the cut and I wasn’t able to take the picture and help him catch the wood.

8:30 am Hubby got busy cleaning the sawdust and I carried all the boards down to the fence to clean them. This should have been step one but we don’t do easy at our house. I used the jet spray choice on the sprayer It took off the dirt but an added bonus was that it took a lot of the silvery aging off the boards. I made sure not to leave lines from the sprayer but I really liked the results. The wood looked a lot more like barn wood and less like fencing.

9:30 am Hubby got out the compound miter saw ( chop saw) and, even though the wood was damp, he got busy cutting off the rotted ends and the dog-eared tops of the boards. That left a lot of different lengths of wood. We wanted a random pattern in the joints so we were happy with the wood left.

10:30 am We moved all the furniture to get started, went to borrow a stud finder and level… We left ours in the burbs. We removed the

crown moulding and baseboards,

11:00 am I decided to paint the wall behind the wood. I was concerned that the light wall would show through at knot holes or cracks. In the end, it was probably paint and time wasted, because Hubby did such a good job with the wood there were few gaps and none showed through. As soon as I finished painting Hubby marked a level line and marked the studs with tape ( I will tell you why later.)

12;00 pm At this point we realized we only had a few nails for the 18 gauge air stapler but decided to go ahead and get started. We decided to put the row up below the window first to make sure we had that row where we wanted it and level.

Hubby manned the air nailer and called out measurements. I found the wood and cut it to length. He was able to move the tape as he went along to keep up with where the studs were in the wall.

4:00 pm We ran out of staples. Bummer. At this pint we were hot, tired and grumpy. We cleaned up, moved stuff so we could sleep bathed then headed over our friends’ house for supper.

8:00 am Hubby went in search of nails. I cut the boards to go on either side of the window while he was gone.

10:00 am Nails were found and we could get back to work.

Well, some of us got busy. Others conked out on the floor and made us walk over them.

The wall went up quickly and we were able to get finished quickly.

2:00 pm The wall was finished! Enjoy the finished wall. I love the color.

Did you notice the door headboard? We finished it when I painted the French Provincial furniture, but I wanted you to see it on the wall first. It even has door knob- that it did not have when we bought it thanks to my friend, Tanis.

We are going to have mason jar lights on either side of the door bed and I am planning to make roman shades for the windows. I am trying to figure out what color bedding. Any suggestions?

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What do you think friends? I love to hear from you.