While awaiting our tax return to wrap up our bathtub/shower installation in the mudroom and to start other projects on the house list, we’ve been blessed with a rather mild winter this month. So we were able to redirect our efforts into some sweat equity outside! A lot of demo was done in a room in the barn and attached shed that would become the chickens’ new coop and run. For  2 weeks, I would basically rip rotten or unnecessary wood out during the week and Nathan would burn my massive pile on the weekend. I finally got it all cleared out and the remodeling began.

The rectanglar shed attached to the back corner of the barn where the small coop room is located was covered in corrugated tin. Nathan cut it down to quarter walls of tin on the north and south side walls and we popped the larger pieces off. The bottom portion will serve as extra protection since it is buried.

A lot of shelving was removed from the shed, but some framework has been left behind to give the chickens some activity on non free ranging days. 😉

Next, a continuous wrap of chicken wire will cover the exposed studs and we will need to create some kind of door. That’s still on the drawing board.

It worked out wonderfully that the room closest to the shed is ideal for a coop! Much of the items needed for roosts and nesting boxes were already in place with ample room to add more in the future! I even have a tentative plan for building in a brooder instead of a tub brooder in the house.

All that is left in here is finishing the chicken wire “wallpapering” for extra protection on the non solid walls. 👍🏻 I’m anxious to get some more birds! And with the way things are going, I may be placing my order next week for 15 variety female chicks to go in a brooder in the mudroom. 😍

While things have been coming together with the chicken accommodations, I was able to get a composting area constructed! We needed something that we could keep Skye out of or she would be dumpster diving on the daily. Conveniently, there was a crude structure at the end of the chicken run that I was able to take down to posts and attach some of the corrugated panels from the shed around! Repurposing for the win!

The pallet operates as a door at the moment, but it enables me to get in there for turning purposes and wheelbarrowing ability.

Now that we were composting…wouldn’t it make sense to have a garden as well?! I mean it’s not like we have a lot to do without tending to a garden daily already. 😜 But when you commit to farmlife, you FULLY commit! Haha So off to a rental service I go last Friday and come home with a “tiller”.  I use quotations because it was basically a weed eater motor with some blades attached. BUT I was able to pick it up by myself and it fit in the back of my Expedition. Friday was definitely my learning curve day. Lesson #1: I initially wanted waaayy too big of a garden! Once I got half way through what we actually ended up with, the tilling and raking was whooping me! I thought to myself, “how am I going to maintain this DAILY?!” So we settled on about 2/3 of what we initially planned for this first year out the chute. Lesson #2: rake the got dang mother effing leaves out first! I thought, “oh these will just till right in and be compost!” Ergh, wrong! They only bogged down the tiller, blocking it from even hitting the dirt. 🙄 The remainder of Friday was then spent raking dang leaves out of the garden area. Exhausting.

Saturday I woke up sore already, but Nathan was ready and willing to assist, so back at it we went. Aside from the tiller not being ideal for the job, the work went smoothly and we finished our 45’x15′ garden with 7 neat rows. After the construction, we then figured out what we were putting in it. I think we covered all the bases!

Now comes lesson #3. Chickens HATE nice things. Especially piles! We spent the rest of Saturday chasing the jerks out of the garden. This obviously wasn’t going to work out once we planted, so we built a “wall.” We call it our own Trump wall. 😆  So far the chickens haven’t figured out that they just have to flap and hop right over. Let’s hope they stay stupid. Haha I would like to be able to let them in the area once plants are big for pest control. We shall see.

Right now it feels like the project list grows faster than we remove things; but when you get down to it, it’s all in the name enjoyment really. So we’ll get to it all when we get to it and I’ll be sure to keep y’all in the loop. 😉

-Lindsay

So I may have taken the “I have a dream” part of MLK day a little too far when I decided to rip out 2/3 of my lower cabinets and counter tops this past Monday. After watching Dr King’s infamous speech on YouTube and doing a project with the kids for school that morning; I realized that I, too, have a dream! That I don’t wake up to 2 or 3 mouse droppings on my kitchen floor! That I don’t feel the north wind on my feet as I cook dinner! That I don’t have to wonder just what kind of nasty lies below where I store the things we eat on! It’s not like we don’t have enough projects started, but I had hit the limit on this issue. Anything else we tried wasn’t resolving things, so time to get destructive. At the very least, the endeavor would get some aggression out on that kitchen! And just a week later, I have no regrets! Nathan came in and made a perfect temporary kitchen that I KNOW is clean and operates better than the previous set up. Here’s a photo progression of an impulse desicion gone wonderfully right.

Mom came over and assisted/supervised my controlled chaos as I removed the cabinet and countertop that was furthest away from the plumbing. Those pipes are sensitive in this house.

It took a small amount of prying and banging and a few “sumbitches”, but it came out piece by piece. The adjacent countertop was going to need to be jigsawed alongside the sink, because we were hoping to do this without pulling the sink as well. What we revealed under just this section was enough to convince me we were doing the right thing!

That would be a freaking nest where all the stuff is piled up on the left side. Apparently mice and (ugh) rats like to “decorate” with treasures from around the house. Some of that stuff belonged to us! Grrroooooossssssss. With lots of gagging, I got it swept up and that old linoleum lifted right off the floor. Nathan came home and got the cut done on the counter top and we were able to remove the second section of cabinet right at the edge of the sink.

I’m kicking myself for not getting a picture of the huge crack that we revealed between the floor and the exterior wall, but there was an obvious “highway” back there.  It was getting late, so Nathan quickly cut some 2×4 to place over it. He was able to slide another board behind the sink cabinet as well, so that doesn’t have to come out right away.

Look how clean and mouse poop free we are now! I just don’t have any countertop or storage and I only prepare 3 meals a day in this kitchen…. 😳 I was prepared to work off of card tables for quite a while, but Nathan was able to construct some incredibly sturdy workbenches and this girl just got her “butcher block” wood countertops she’s been wanting! 😆 A trip to Target fixed the storage dilemma and within 5 days I had a kitchen again!

We’ve been mouse poop free since! Call me crazy, but I LOVE this little set up! Nathan says it’s because it’s reminiscent of camp/cabin kitchen and I feel like I’m at a vacation spot. Haha! I’m super excited to experiment with the wood countertops before the real thing goes in. Honestly, this little sidetrack from all the other projects has kind of encouraged us to look into DIYing our kitchen renovation! After the mudroom, of course. Yea. Go ahead and call us crazy.

-Lindsay

Don’t expect 2 State Parks in a week to be the norm, but we just had to seize the opportunity to visit another nearby park on the first clear day after 5 straight days of rain.  From what I read on the place prior to going, a winter time visit was more ideal. And for two reasons; the constantly warm lake water due to the nearby power plant discharge and BALD EAGLES(cue the patriotic music)! We got all star-spangled eyed and loaded up for the hour long drive.

The park ranger at the entrance was super helpful and guided us on the map where we could find the best viewing place for the one pair of eagles they currently had living at the lake and also where their few hiking trails were located. It was close enough to lunch time that we headed to the eagle location first and set up our viewing picnic. We were warned that they are only most active in the early morning and evening, but we were hopeful. We were hopeful for a whole hour. We did spot their nest across the lake fairly easy. Excuse the poor quality of iPhone zooming, but the blob in the middle of the leafless tree is it. The foggy day wasn’t helping, but how cool would it have been to see one come swooping across that lake from the mist?!

After deciding we would just have to be satisfied with the viewing of their nest, we drove on to check out the beach and fishing pier. We were all curious about just how warm that water was. And holy moly! It felt darn HOT compared to the 50 degree air temperature! I put it at 70 degrees. When I asked the ranger later what the actual temp was he said it was in the upper 60s. But in the summer is can push into the 80s when the plant is at peak production! The kids were just pissed I didn’t bring swim suits for them. Ashlyn collected a sample to make a slide later for our new microscope. I’ll have an update on that soon.

We then drove to the other side of the lake where the campsites and 2 small hiking trails were located. There is a trail that follows the entire perimeter of the park, but mostly recommended for horseback or biking. First, we walked he birding trail and found a cool natural blind that let you sneak out on a peninsula into the lake.

The kids still managed to flush a flock of mallards up out of the water. Which, of course, they loved. After some time at the playground, we walked a 1/4 mile loop that was part of a 2 mile nature trail through post oak trees.

On our way out, we drove through the campsites and I determined this really isn’t a place I would be interested in camping at. The sights are super close together. It looked like a parking lot with trees. In just one section of sites, there were 63 and only 2 bath houses. Not my cup of tea. I wouldn’t mind coming again for the day and trying the fishing, though!

-Lindsay

Well you just have to love Winter in Texas, don’t you?! Last weekend was down in the teens and I only darted outside long enough to tend to the chickens. This weekend was in the 60’s and I was ready to go hiking! So we took advantage of the closest state park that we haven’t been to yet.  Which worked out to be just on the other side of Athens in Eustace, 30ish minutes away!

It was overcast and raining off and on, but we packed a picnic lunch and the kids’ new camelbaks hopeful for agreeable weather. And luck was on our side! We were able to hike a near 2 mile trail that took us by primitive campsites and the lake.

A drizzle started as we came back to the trail head and we easily found covered picnic tables and enjoyed our lunch.

This park is fantastic! Full hook up sites, primitive sites and water only tent sites are all available and all located on or nearby the large lake. The fishing on the bank looks legit considering the catfish we saw on a guy’s stringer, but the park also allows motor boats and has a nice boat ramp. Large mouth bass are catch and release, but the rest can be dinner.

After experiencing the ease of use and the wide variety of function this park offers, we decided it will make for perfect “shake down” trips. We can guinea pig the kids on some primitive camping before hitting the big trails and try out new gear (the camelbaks were winners).

And most importantly, snagging a quick staycation would be a cinch. We’re definitely taking the pop up on her maiden trip here.

I’m happy to be back on the State Park trail. We renewed our pass for the year while at Purtis Creek, so stay tuned for more new parks! 

-Lindsay

Howdy everyone! How was your Christmas and New Years? We enjoyed lots of time with family, good food, and got spoiled all in shorts and tshirts!  Which is crazy to think back on considering the constant state of cold I’ve been in all day. Our temps haven’t gotten over 27 today! 😳 And we don’t even have any snow to show for it.

But when the temps have kept us indoors, we’ve found ways to keep busy. And thanks to a big haul of oranges and lemons from PawPaw’s trees, it’s been easy! We’ve had such success with our experiments, I thought I might as well share. This falls under the homesteading category, after all.

Most years, it seems only one type of citrus produces at a time in abundance. This year, each tree went bananas! We got as many oranges as we did lemons and, frankly, it was overwhelming at first. Usually I get just enough oranges to make juice for a week or two. Or squeeze lemon juice into ice cube trays to use in my water or in cooking. With this haul, I wanted to get more creative. This is what I STILL have left of a FULL box after all the fun. We started with lemonade and I finally found a recipe that works perfectly. The kids aren’t exactly thrilled the “chunks” (tiny bits of pulp) in their drink, but mama don’t have a strainer small enough yet. They’ll survive.

The Recipe for Our Perfect Lemonade:

• 1.5 cups lemon juice
• 2 cups water
• 1 to 1.5 cups sugar (I usually scale back the sugar in almost every recipe I find, so 1 cup keeps it sweet but definitely more tart)

Method: bring water and sugar to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a heat safe pitcher with the lemon juice. Fill pitcher rest of the way with more water.

We made two batches and stored both in the fridge; one in a washed out orange juice container and the other remained in the pitcher. I still have left over lemons to make freezer cubes as well!

The oranges had me take to Pinterest to find a way to preserve them. I’ve never liked marmalade and that was the only thing that came to mind until I found you can make just plain ol jam with orange juice! No chunks for my weird texture thing to get grossed out by! 👍🏻 I’ve been finding mason jars everywhere in this house and in the barn, so with a purchase of lids and pectin I was ready! It took a lot of oranges to make 5 cups of juice, but that was kind of the point, right? The process was super easy. I’m storing mine in the fridge because I don’t own a processor…yet. But due to the heat and the jars themselves, they all self sealed while cooling on the counter. But to ease my nerves, they will remain in the fridge. This is the recipe we followed. On batch one, I scaled the sugar back by a cup. After tasting batch one, the second batch got scaled back by 2 cups. I like tang more than sugar 😉.

Both batches turned out so good! The consistency was great after cooling, which surprised me considering how liquid it was going in! I am definitely hooked on this canning gig. I can’t wait for these fruit trees on our property to produce! Hopefully I can go canning crazy on peaches, plums and pears!

I should add that while typing this post, a cute flurry of snow showed up and we hurriedly enjoyed as much as we could before the cold was too much. I can still see an occasional fleck float by while I sit here and thaw. 😄

-Lindsay

 

 

The Gregorys are ready to entertain! If you’ve got the time and ability to drive up here, we’d love to have you on the farm. I can’t say we are 100% where I want our guest room to be, but I can confidently say a comfortable stay can be achieved. My Inlaws tested it out just last weekend!  Afterall, they are the generous donors of the gorgeous antique bedroom set. In time, we’re going to remove some pieces of furniture that are stored in there and an added-on closet that is unnecessary.  Once we make space, we will be adding an equally gorgeous sofa that I’m envisioning will dual purpose the room into a quiet sitting space as well.  This momma REALLY likes that idea!

In addition to getting the guest room organized, I’ve been spending almost every good weather day in the barn doing massive clean out. While a few of what I would call treasures have been found; (no gold or silver…yet)

most of it has been scrap metal (coffee cans full of nails/screws), disintegrated empty cardboard boxes, rat poop/nests and lots of layers of dirt and cobwebs.  While gross, it is coming along nicely! Fingers crossed that continued activity out there keeps the rats from moving back in!  Additional barn cats are on the list.

Annnnndddd speaking of cats…..Christmas came early for Ashlyn when we adopted a sweet little 3 month old male kitten from the Henderson County Humane Society last week.  She has actually been asking for 2 years for an indoor cat to make her own and the timing was finally right when she asked again a few weeks ago. And it made Christmas easy for me. As soon as we walked into the cat room, she had an instant connection with what is becoming a perfect fit for our family. She had already made up her mind beforehand that it’s name would be Fluffy, making a welcome sign and all. And, of course, the gender did not impact that decision. We have since given him nicknames like Mr. Fluff, Fluffernutter and Kitty. It’s only been 4 days, but aside from regularly removing him from the Christmas tree, neither party has had difficulty adjusting. He’s really laid back! He lets everyone pick him up and isn’t biased about which lap he will curl up in. Although, he does sleep with Ashlyn every night. Skye (our dog that was raised around cats) has been great. Fluffy is coming around little by little. He doesn’t “play” with her yet like she would like for him to, but he will be in a room with her now and not get all hissy. Baby steps!

Ashlyn is an amazing care giver! She caught on quickly to scooping the litter box that is in her room. Her cat, right? I’m actually quite impressed with the pinterest inspired system we put together to make the cohabitation bearable.  This way, minimal litter is tracked out, sight and smell is contained, access is limited and the feeding area is provided on the top! Pretty slick, eh? We also crafted a tower/window perch out of an extra barstool we had. I think we will be adding carpet to the top for additional scratching.  All in all the timing was just perfect for this addition and I’ve caught myself many times already in awe of not only my little girl’s maturity, but all 3 kids’ ability to be so mature and caring with this little guy.  Makes a momma proud.

-Lindsay

Now that we have officially polished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s time to relive all of the deliciousness in photographic form! Yes. I took pictures of every dish and more than one of the turkey. It all turned out damn delicious and I partly want to show it off and partly want a keepsake of the occasion in case I can’t ever duplicate it. 😆 This year was the biggest I’ve prepared so far and that’s with Mom still bringing the made-from-scratch dressing and rolls. I really got into the holiday this year. Something about an old farmhouse in the country just screamed, “cook lots of food all Betty Homemaker style!” It was a 2 days of preparation, Wednesday being mostly spent on this insane pie and Thursday spent cooking the bird and other sides. Here’s the rundown:

Turkey: I didn’t brine it and even after sitting in the fridge for a full 5 days, the 20lb monster still wasn’t completely thawed on the bottom. Nathan got right to doing the dirty work for me. Slimy, raw bird is just gross. I slathered it up in butter and herbs after he had his way with it and in it went! It finished 2 hrs earlier than my online source said it would with minimal whitemeat dryness. 👍🏻

Sides: Mashed potatoes(not pictured) roasted brussel sprouts with butternut squash.

Sweet potatoe casserole WITH a pecan streusel. Oh boy! Let me tell you how amazing a pecan streusel makes a sweet potatoe casserole! I ate that bad boy for breakfast more than one morning

Mom wouldn’t show up empty handed, so she took 2 days of her own and made an all from scratch dressing unlike any I’ve had before! Organic at that!! You’ll have to ask my kids about her rolls. They ate them all!!! 

Dessert was the INSANE pie. You know when you see the news on Wednesday and they feature the lines outside of the popular pie shops backed up for blocks and scoff at those idiots that would wait that long for a pie? Well that may only take a couple hours. After spending 3/4 of an entire day fussing over one damn pie and its finicky flaky crust…. It all makes sense! I stumbled across the INSANE pie also known as a Chumpcan Pie on Pinterest and was immediately obsessed with the idea of a “three pies in one” pie. Get it? (CH)eesecake, p(UMP)kin, pe(CAN). Hahaha! Honestly, it turned out really good and I’m not as scared of diy flaky crust anymore, but that freezer section looks mighty appealing next year 😜

I hope all y’all had a great Thanksgiving Day!

Two days prior to our feast, Archer turned 3! My youngest is by definition, a preschooler! Of course, he fancies himself a threenager now and like any philosopher that age enjoys daily debates about wearing pants, sitting on his butt at the table and whether he truly HAS to come to the store with us. To be 3 and have it all figured out, right? We managed a great day for him that began with breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, playtime at Brookshires park, a trip to the zoo that Mom joined us and dinner at Chuck E Cheese with Daddy. I only managed 2 decent pictures of him the entire day because he decided memories weren’t important. 😆

Ashlyn, Weston and I managed a picture in front of a really pretty fall tree at the zoo though! 

-Lindsay

It was brought to my attention by more than one individual that I haven’t posted an update in a while! My husband being one of them! 😆 He should know how crazy busy it’s been lately. But the longer I go without posting, the more piles up to report! Ack! So I’m parked in a chair on the back porch while the boys chase chickens and dig holes in the yard and I’m going to do my best to recall everything since October 28th. 😳

Halloween- We did pumpkin patches, fall festivals and a trunk or treat put on the City of Brownsboro. Local businesses, churches, individuals and even the police chief set up tables at the city park and the kids made the rounds. It was small but cute. Next year, I want to set up a table at it since door to door isn’t really a thing here. The kids were Cleopatra, Iron Man and Chris Kratt from the PBS show Wild Kratts.

Home Improvements- Nathan and I made a weekend run to Houston leaving the kids with my mom on the 4th. We filled his truck and the trailer on Saturday morning with more of our crap, attended a wedding Saturday night, and came right back home on Sunday morning. It was exhausting, but obviously worth it from a productive and entertaining POV. A few days before that trip, we got the rest of the mudroom gutted, the new flooring in and installed a new toilet! Man it felt good to walk down the hall to go pee! 😆 The week after, we then attempted to hang the new Sheetrock ourselves. Yea. Not much fun. One hundred years can do a number on the “squareness” of a room! So after some choice words, we conceded that this was best left for professionals…artists really… And we called a drywall company. They gave us a great quote (considering the load they were taking off of us) and would get to work mid next week. We spent the weekend before installing a new window 😍. Nathan may tell a different tale, but I think it went great! I can’t wait to see these suckers all over the house! 😜 The drywall company took 2 days to complete the room and I. LOVE. IT. There’s not even a ceiling in there yet, but it feels like such a room now! We’ve been staring at studs for too long, y’all. 

Homeschool Happenings- Weston has really taken off with his handwriting skills and we have begun working on the sounds each letter makes. I am so enjoying letting him set the pace. Ashlyn began the “Little House Series” by Laura Ingalls Wilder and is currently half way through Little House in the Big Woods. She is really enjoying finding parallels to Laura’s life then and what we’re doing now. I’ve found a wealth of ideas online for making the books an entire unit study and we were able to incorporate science by making our own butter! Unfortunately we don’t have a churn, so we did the jar method. Playdoughtoplato gave us great instructions and I’m going to search this site for more kids friendly science! We totally made butter! And it totally tasted amazing! Don’t be surprised if y’all all get a tub of butter for Christmas now! 😉

I found some AMAZING YouTube videos about the history of Thanksgiving and I’ve enjoyed them as much as the kids! It’s really got us excited to make our own first feast in our farmhouse as well. And on a Thanksgiving related note, just today the Brownsboro Chief of Police came by the house and delivered complete Thanksgiving meal! Turkey included! 😮 He said every year they pick a few families and since we were new, the city wanted to welcome us. Wow. I’ve already purchased a behemoth turkey and have a meal planned, so tomorrow I’m working on finding a family or group to pay it forward too. I am just in awe of where we have landed finally.

Next time I’ll be writing about Archer’s THIRD birthday and our sure to be amazing Thanksgiving.

-Lindsay

What a great week we’ve had! After taking last week off from formal education time, I really feel it helped refresh us all to get back to it this week. And things are looking good for continued productivity next week! A big part of our success, was moving into our classroom Tuesday. Yay!!!! It is at about 50% completion, but already it has been so functional! We’ll be retrieving a classroom desk for Weston from Houston next weekend and I need to add 2-3 bookshelves. Ashlyn loves having her big desk to work on and she requested to have it next to mine. 😉

The new space to get creative in motivated us to put together some fun projects this past week. We started out with some simple science of trying to change the color of a white flower through colored water absorption. Our previous trip to the rose Garden inspired that as well. We let them sit for a week didn’t see the dramatic results we were hoping for. The kids were blown away to see the carnation soak up so much color so fast but were disappointed in the performance of the daisies. I actually didn’t know it would depend on the type of flower!

While eating breakfast Tuesday morning, we finally saw a bird eat from our feeder we have set up outside our dining area window! And we had no idea what it was! A quick Google search revealed it was a Carolina Chickadee/Black Capped Chickadee and we were so excited to see a different bird from what we are used to. Aren’t they cute?! (Not my photo) We have since printed off a list of bird species typical to East Texas and have been recording each time we see one. I really hope we’ll see more of the unusual ones. I figure in a month or so, I can have the kids make a graph using our observation numbers.

We finished the week with a “Field Trip Friday” to Rusk. Mom met us and we walked the kids over a footbridge that is supposedly the longest in the nation. In Rusk, Texas! At 576 ft long, it was used by townspeople as a way to travel between downtown and their residences when the creek was out of banks. The entire area was gorgeous surrounded by homes that represented almost 200 yrs of evolved architecture. And the falling leaves raining down really set the scene nicely. The kids were just happy to run their behinds off. 😆

This weekend we’re going to take some playtime in Athens for Nathan’s birthday and then spend the rest of the time busting some butt on the mudroom. Hope I have lots of progress to report next week!

-Lindsay

There seems to be a common response occurring each time I share with someone local that we have moved to Brownsboro, TX from Houston, TX. “Really? Well it’s a whole nother world up here.” I usually respond with, “oh, I know and it’s a change we are so ready for.” I had my ideas before the move about small town living and country living and east Texas living. All of those stereotypes. We KNEW we were finding affordability in living expenses here, but I was not prepared for all these bonuses! I mean, this is East Texas, right?

For starters, humanity is alive here! I figured people would be nicer “in the country”, but I had no idea that it was going to be 90% of them! I have conversations at the drive thru window. The teenage sacker boys at Brookshires walk your cart all of the way to the car AND help load your groceries. Every time. They even talk to you and ask about your day while doing so and then refuse a tip! People are trusting here, which is taking some getting used to for me. One example in particular just happened Friday when the kids and I stopped in a local business in Chandler (the next town over) that had a variety of fruit trees outside. I was hoping to find an apple tree. After finding out that they sell the trees and in fact had apple trees, yet another nice gentleman loaded 2 huge ones (1 red delicious and 1 yellow delicious for pollinating purposes) into my car and I went inside to pay. Because I still haven’t learned my lesson to carry cash over card here, I was in yet another situation where I didn’t have cash at a “check or cash only” establishment. I started to tell the woman no worries I can take the trees out and come back now that I know what I want, she stopped me, asked me to sign the receipt and said I could just mail a check. 😳 What? Take your product without payment and then hope for it on good faith?? Needless to say I was back in that store at 8:30 this morning with $43.20 cash in hand! Yea. $43 for 2 huge apple trees that are twice as tall as I am.

Now let’s talk about the cost of things in general. I had no idea how much more affordable just about everything would be! There’s still some price gauging out there on the Facebook groups, but they’re usually pretty easy to avoid. I won’t go into a big, detailed list of everything I feel I’m getting a deal on here. Instead, I’ll just highlight my super cute new coffee bar! 😉 solid wood, countertop height and already refinished… $98! Found at an antique consignment shop. When we get the kitchen redone and do a built in line of lower cabinets to the left of the fridge, this cute thing gets to become a buffet in the dining area 👍🏻

Lastly, I don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s Fall or if there is ALWAYS this much to do around here, but I’ve had moments of being overwhelmed at all of the events there are to choose from! I’ve had to remind myself that we live here now and we can get to it next year. Last week alone we went to an Art Festival in Edom, a park play date in Tyler with a homeschool group, a pumpkin patch in Chandler and The Tyler Rose Garden. And I was pissed when I found out we missed the scarecrow trail in Jacksonville! 😆 The Rose Gardens are amazing! It commemorates Tyler’s history in rose production, which is extensive. Three fun facts! Before roses, Tyler was predominately in peach production. When an epidemic took most of their trees, they switched to rose bushes because they were worth more than cotton.  Tyler is home to the largest rose garden in the nation and October is prime season. It truly is stunning.

It’s only been a few months and already East Texas has exceeded my expectations. Who knew!? I didn’t and I’m so glad we get to call all of this home.

-Lindsay