Friendship Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

Coldspring, Fun with friends, recycled furniture, Repurposed Furniture, ship lap

An Unexpected Visit

September 8, 2022September 9, 2022 Karen

A funny thing happened on the way to the antique store this week.

The Social Planner, her sweet husband, Mr. Math, and I took a quick trip to a town I am falling in love with, Crockett, Texas. The town has some of the most beautiful old homes, a walkable downtown, and great food. It also has some really nice shops, resale, and antique stores.

The Social Planner hanging out with me in Crockett.

This was The Social Planner and my second visit in less than a week. I found something that I just had to go back for on our first trip and luckily it was still there when we wrangled the guys into going back and they were troopers. We found several more shops on Goliad Street that we hadn’t visited before and met the nicest people.

The unexpected visit on the trip started when we, four grandparents who looked like exactly what we are, walked out of an antique store to the roar of a chopper pulling out of the garage next door. It was beautiful. It looked like something off television and the rider could have been an actor from easy rider. As we stared at the chopper pulling away a sweet young lady walked out of the garage to tell us hello. She was so welcoming and pleasant we stayed to visit.

Robin and Ronnie own Filthy Gringos. They make custom parts, build custom bikes, laser cut designs in metal, and ship a lot of it to other places. They moved from Houston to this small town because they wanted a simpler life and lower cost of doing business and it didn’t really matter where they are located. I learned they bought the building two years ago that was literally falling down, rebuilt it, and got permission from the city to convert part of the building into living space. We visited long enough that we got to meet their son Oden and see the awesome home they are in the process of creating/finishing. As soon as I saw the space I knew they were my people. Reuse, redesign, reimagine. The building was originally a cotton gin and has 16 inch thick walls, at one time had a huge skylight, and still has the vault for keeping records and money when cotton was bought and sold. They retained as much of the original items as they could.

Welcome to their space: I am so sad I didn’t take more pictures. The entrance to the home is a wide barn door that was original to the building but I was so shocked she invited us in I didn’t get a picture. It takes a lot of courage to let a stranger come into your home with no warning and allow them to take pictures of the home.

There is so much cool and unique stuff there,

The kitchen area. That vintage sink is cool.

You can see some of the reused materials here.

There are no walls in the interior space. Rooms are divided with these repurposed bookcases from the high school which was torn down.

The bathroom was my very favorite. They literally turned the vault into the bathroom.

Ronnie did come back on the chopper while we were inside the home part of the shop and had a good visit with the guys.

Never pass up the opportunity to meet new folks. We got to see a super cool space and learn new things. if you get the chance, visit Crockett, Texas.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, Coldspring, DIY Painting and Glazing Furniture, new home, Painted Furniture, painting, The bedroom, The Garagemahal, vintage style

The Beast Gets Delivered

July 12, 2013July 14, 2013 Karen

I have named the entertainment center that my buddy, The Social Planner, bought, the beast. It is a mammoth Thomasville set from the early 90’s. It is 80 inches tall and all added together is over 100 inches wide. It took two truckloads to get it into the garage.

This is the center section.

It was longer than the bed of the truck.

The end, display pieces were not light…as you can see from the guys expressions.

If you follow my blog you have seen progress on an entertainment center piece that was going into my friend. The Social Planner’s new home.

Once Hubby and Larry got it all disassembled and ready to paint it along with my china cabinet covered the garage floor.

The first painting did not go well. Just like the china cabinet, it all had to be sanded down and repainted. Hubby helped a ton with the repainting on this monster thankfully. I decided to glaze it all on the same day. Big mistake. It literally wore me out. I started at 6:30 in the morning and finished about 4:00 pm. I was hot, tired, and filthy. I was in bed by 7:00 pm after taking two Advil. I will never take on such a large project again. I used Bona Floor Finish Polyurethane to seal the finish because I wanted it to be hardy enough to stand up to wear and tear. I spread the poly out over three days in order to get everything dry before I moved on to another part. I like the shine that that the floor finish adds. The brass hardware was sprayed with Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze to match the hardware in their new home.

Picking the piece up from Garagemahal and delivering it to The Social Planner’s forever home turned out to be just as much of a challenge. This time Larry came with reinforcements. He brought his brother in law, Ted. The guys loaded the two trucks, tied it down, and headed out. Unloading was accomplished without incident, but getting it into the house proved tricky. Remember that The Beast is 80 inches tall? So are the doorways in The Social Planner’s home. No way to get it upright through the door and no way to lay it down and turn the corner. Back out through the back door sliders, across the porch, and after a little modification, through their bedroom slider.

Here it is all installed and ready to be loaded. The bedroom looks amazing. I love the dreamy, romantic feel of the room. The French provincial marble topped tables turned out so well. I love the lamps that The Social Planner picked. They are perfect for the space. The art is not unpacked yet, but it is going to be amazing. The main piece will be a large watercolor painted by their daughter in law’s grandmother. A well-known local artist.

Here is the beast in the room! I couldn’t resist showing you all a peek at the rest of her room. It is not quite done but looks awesome! I painted and glazed the side tables to match the entertainment center. They are marble topped beauties that she got at a resale shop for $25.00.

I love the outcome. There are not many people I would have done this for, but I am so happy that my work is a part of their home. I love it! As the room gets finished I will update the photos.

family

Girlfriends

April 22, 2013May 2, 2013 Karen

A cheerful friend is like a sunny day spreading brightness all around.” – John Lubcock ( English Astronomer )

I have been thinking about friendship a lot lately. I think I must be lonely right now in this transition period of my life. I love my new job, but I miss the close friendships that I developed in my last position. Everyone is so nice here, but I am not at the point that I have people who know my kids, my husband, or even really me. The last time we moved cities I still had kids living at home. The parents of my kids’ friends became our friends. We went to church with them, played ball together etc. It is different when you are an empty nester making new friends in a new community.
My buddy, Tanis is also going through a transition. She is making friends on the country road where the Ranchito is and still keeping up with her city friends. She is amazing!

Recently I have had an opportunity to view both my daughter and daughter-in-law’s friends and friendships up close and personal. What I observed with both of my babies has made this mom feel blessed to know that my children have adopted the philosophy that friends are just family you get to choose.
Sweet Amanda had her closest buddies at Star Hill last weekend. When these girls get a chance to gather they act like they just saw each other the day before. They don’t miss a beat. These girls are really there for each other. One of the young ladies,Yliana brought her wedding invitations with her. She is getting married this June and needed help assembling the invitations and addressing them in calligraphy.

The girls had worked all day on their chairs, it was hot and they were tired but every one of them enthusiastically joined in on getting the invitations done. I think they went back to the tree house and worked all night getting them finished up after they were done at Star Hill.

That is just the type friends that Baby Boy and Sweet Amanda have. They will drop everything to help each other out. They are blessed.
Sweet Amanda is making a ton of new friends at U of H.

”

The Southern Belle (TSB) has moved to five different cities in five different states since she moved out of our home and off to college. She has a close group of friends that have been her buddies since the first year of college.

Many of them live close to her now and they do get to see each other from time to time. This year one of her best buds, Ashley went with her to Boston. It was on my daughter’s “Before I turn 30 Bucket List” to run in the Boston Marathon. Big Cat, TSB’s fiancee, could not go with our girl because he is a tax accountant and April 15 seems to be a pretty big deal with tax accounts. Ashley went along with her for moral support and I think just to spend some time with TSB. They shared quite an adventure during that very frightening weekend and I was so glad that TSB was not alone. Ashley was there at the start of the race, cheered her on, then met her at the finish. We will always be grateful that she was not alone during this stressful event and we look forward to seeing all the buddies at the big event.

Ashley took this picture of The Southern Belle at mile 16.

Both the kiddos have worked at making friends where they live. One of TSB’s new friends is singing at her wedding!

Once again I have a lot to learn from these amazing people who call me mom. I really am going to work hard on rebuilding my life long friendships and also making new friends in my new job.