Live! From the Moaning Room!

The other day when I posted my first pictures of my morning room, I made a typo in the title in which it read ‘Moning’ room. I left out the ‘r’. Anyway, I didn’t realize it until Kat at Just a BeachKat brought it to my attention. She laughed because she first read ‘moning’ as in ‘moaning’ room; we both agreed that having a ‘moaning room’ might not be a bad idea….

In fact, if you were to ask Jack, he would probably say that my morning room is indeed my moaning room. The truth is I have never been a good morning person. I’m grumpy when I first get up and have to wake up slowly. The good thing is that my morning room allows me a place to sit and sip on coffee as I grump about my day. So yeah – I’m honest, I like to grump. And moan. I think we all deserve to moan every now and then…..

Yes, I love my life, I’m grateful for what I have, I’m healthy, my marriage is strong, yadda, yadda, yadda…. BUT – I still enjoy moaning. It’s just life. AND I generally only moan in the morning so that's okay. AND I’m generally over it by my second cup of coffee, so that's okay, too. The key word there is “generally.”

For your reading pleasure, I thought I would list a few things I moaned about this week while sitting in my Morning Moaning Room:

1. I moaned about a conversation I had earlier in the week that really bugged me. It was a conversation with a doctor who happened to take a certain medication in which he developed a side effect – hot flashes. This said drug is known to cause this side effect. When he had his first hot flash he literally freaked out and thought he needed to get himself to the emergency room because he was certain he was having a possible cardiac event. I’m serious y’all. This guy (doctor) is telling me this and going into great detail how his hot flash started from the inside, way down in his gut and he could feel it rise up into his chest and into his head. He’s giving me a complete description of a hot flash and how scared he was because you know – I’m a woman and couldn’t possibly understand the horrors of a hot flash…. (It just so happens that not too long ago I was having a couple of those suckers an hour for several months! Now I’m down to only 2 or 3 good hot flashes a day…) Anyway, he soon figured out that the new medication had caused this famous (or infamous) hot flash that no one else in the free-world has ever had to endure. He hesitantly stayed on the medication thinking that perhaps this side effect was isolated and would subside (because I’m sure he has told every patient he has put on this medication the same thing). He then had a second hot flash and immediately took himself off the medication because it was just "too frightening, not to mention inconvenient.” It took every bit of my energy and tongue-biting not to kick him in the knee. And then the other knee. I won’t go into the same diatribe I made Jack endure about women, not so long ago, being sent off to institutions by doctors and labeled with “hysteria" due to menopause, but just so you know…. I could have moaned about this for hours!

2. It’s hot. It’s just too darn hot and I think we’re going on something like 63 triple digit days so far this year. So I had to moan about how triple digits and hot flashes don’t go together. I’m ready for fall! I also had to moan about commuting into town almost every day of the week and how tired I am of schlepping around in this heat! I generally dread the end of summer, but this year I want it OVER!

3. Okay – I can’t end my moaning on a negative note. AND the truth is my morning moaning today ended quite quickly when I flipped on the TV to QVC. Within 45 seconds of tuning in, I was on the phone placing my first order. I’ve gone back to wearing my 1980’s Knots Landing hair. Why? I don’t know. Because the 80’s look is supposedly back in vogue (far be it from me to not be in vogue) and because when I wear Knots Landing hair that means I don’t do anything to it. I just let it dry naturally and plaster a bunch of product in it. QVC has once again saved the day for me by having the newest miracle hair product on the market. So not only did I place an order, but I got on the auto shipment plan because they are so confident that I will love my new miracle hair product, they want to save me money by automatically shipping it to me every 60 days. Bless their hearts.

DISCLAIMER: I am not man bashing nor am I doctor bashing; I'm simply moaning Live! From the Moaning Room.....

The Farmer's Wife

Thanks so much for all the comments about my Morning Room (aka Moaning Room) and your ideas on jazzing it up a bit. You all gave me some things to think about AND I ran with it!


This is what it looked like before. I love the clock, but it just never felt right to me where I had it. So - I changed to this:



But - the exciting thing I want to talk about is the pictures. I LOVE THEM! I bought them probably five years ago at a flea market. I've had them sitting in a drawer all this time just waiting for the perfect spot for them. After getting your comments and thinking about what I had that would go in that space I remembered these 80-year-old magazine covers that I've been wanting to do something with. I bought frames today at Michael's (50% off, woohoo!!) and smiled real pretty at Jack so that he would hang them for me. Since I knew I wanted them to be hung close together, I needed a guy's expertise with their tape measure, level, etc... When I hang stuff I just stick a nail in the wall and see how it looks. If it needs to be moved an inch or two, I just take it off the wall, pull out the nail, and try again. And again. And again. Eventually it looks right.

They're fantastic y'all! I want you to take a closer look. They are magazine covers from 'The Farmer's Wife'. Look at the date, October 1932.

This one is dated June 1932. I can't help but think what this picture is supposed to represent. This was during The Great Depression. Was this supposed to be this woman's son/husband - going off to make a living playing his saxophone? As a result his room was being rented? Who knows....

This one is from June 1935. What a pretty painting of this Farmer's Wife. If you look at the top corner of these 3 magazine covers you will see a delivery stamp on them. I can actually read who these magazines were sent to all those years ago.

One of them is addressed to:

Mrs. Wm E Meyer

Rutersville, Texas

Two of them are addressed to:

Katie Huelsebusch

Rt. 1

La Grange, Texas

My mind can't help but wonder about these two ladies. What kind of women were they? What did they farm? What kind of homes did they keep? I can't help but feel that they must have been from farms of affluence, being that they could afford a magazine subscription during the depths of The Great Depression. Both my family and Jack's family were living on farms during the depression. However - from the stories I've been told, having a magazine subscription would have been quite an extravagance.

What's also interesting to me is that Katie Huelsebusch didn't have a title before her name. That was very unusual for the time. So - was she still single and reading 'The Farmer's Wife' in preparation of becoming the perfect farmer's wife? And then of course my mind REALLY wandered about Ms. Katie from La Grange and I thought, hey! Maybe she was Katie without a title before her name because she lived at the Chicken Ranch..... Don't tell me y'all haven't heard of the Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas!!?? Dolly Pardon and Burt Reynolds know all about it.....

Mrs. Meyer was obviously married to Mr. Meyer. It's not surprising that they didn't even have a street address, just the name of the town. I'm sure everyone in Rutersville new exactly where to find the Meyer Farm. How I would love to know their story..... Were they happy? What kind of struggles did they have during this trying time in our country? Do they still have family living on that farm?

The forth picture I framed is a bit newer - 1948. By this time farming had become, well - more progressive. So - here you have the cover of 'Progressive Farmer'. This magazine is still in existence today.

As I was framing one of the 'Farmer's Wife' magazine covers, this ad from Bon Ami was on the back. Had it not been on the back of the cover, I would have framed it, too! I loved reading the advertisement. In the text it said: "....a splendid thing with which to scour off dirt and grease." I might steal that line for advertising my No. 152 Lavender Body Wash: "A splendid thing with which to scour off dirt and grease." What do you think?

I couldn't help but fall in love with Mrs. Bon Ami's yellow farm sink! Love it! Check out those red checked curtains. They're fantastic! Oh - and that aloe vera plant in the window. Y'all know how I love my aloe! And look at those fabulous casement windows. I love this kitchen.... This 1930's kitchen is what I want today!

Okay - so I'm going to go to bed now to ponder more on the lives of Katie Huelsbusch and Mrs. Wm E Meyer. I hope their lives were full and their crops bountiful.

And lastly, just in case you're wondering what I did with the clock that was where the magazine covers now hang, I moved it to here:

Night, night!!

The Morning Room At Night

Five years of construction and we finally have one room finished..... Yeah I know - the progress has been slow. But hey, it's progress still the same. When Jack and I took on the task of building a house with neither of us having any experience in this area, we didn't quite realize the job we had taken on. The good news is we're still married.

So this is the morning room (with curtains open), adjacent to my little galley kitchen. And that's Abe sleeping in the chair. I didn't have the heart to disturb him simply to take a picture. Seeing him here also explains to you the reason why I had the slips made for the chairs to begin with. I have dogs. Hairy dogs and dirty dogs. Slip covers are a must for humans like us that live with dogs. At our house, the dogs don't live with us, we live with the dogs.....

I have washed the slips several times now. When I bought the fabric I washed it all first to ensure I wouldn't have shrinkage after having them made. Wouldn't be too good of a deal if you had slip covers made, washed them, and couldn't fit them back onto your chairs.

The main reason for this post is two-fold. First because I'm really grateful to Ann over at Hill Country House that got me on the straight and narrow on who was best in the area in making slip covers and curtains. Both were made by Debbie Phillips at Simply Slips in Fredericksburg. The fabric came from Threads, also in Fredericksburg.

Lord how I wish I could sew! Of course if I could sew, I guess the only time I could it do would be between midnight and 4:00 a.m., being that this is my only free time right now....

The second reason for this post is because I'm just so darn happy to have a room without construction going on in it AND because I need some help. I still have lots of stuff boxed up in storage so I know the decorating will continue to evolve. But - I know I need some pizzazz. Some ooomph. Some pixie dust.

Take this picture for example. See the area above and around the TV? I need something there, just don't know what. It looks kind of plain and boring to me. And yes, that is a picnic basket next to the chair. I actually use it to store magazines, just forgot to close it up for the picture. And in case you're wondering, the floor is brick from an old 1890's Chicago fire house.

That wine cooler was supposed to go in the bar, which is still being built. (Has been for two years now....) Anyway, we realized this sub-zero cooler wasn't going to fit in the space we had intended. So, we had to reconfigure. We've done a lot of reconfiguring in the last 5 years. We simply slapped some paint on it and moved it into the morning room. I needed a little coffee/beverage station and the two refrigerator draws underneath the wine cooler are kind of nice to have for juice, etc. So - the "make-do" actually ended up working out just fine.

Here' s a close-up. I still need to rearrange the shelves a bit and you know - add some pizzazz. The cabinetry in the morning room matches that in the kitchen. Since my kitchen is galley and small, I wanted the morning room to serve as an extention of the kitchen with the same flow.

This is a breakfast bar we had built. It needs some pizzazz on the wall above, too. My pizzazz gene is not working well right now. Having this bar in the morning room is also nice because guests sit around here while I'm in the kitchen cooking and we can still have converstation. Kind of keeps the crowd out of my small cooking area. I guess I should post some pics of the kitchen next time.....

I do like that I had open shelves put in below the bar. Nice place to store all the squash out of the garden. I obviously need to cook some squash.....

Thanks for visiting my new morning room. It's actually my favorite room right now and I do love sipping on my coffee and watching the news early in the morning. But, please.... If you have any suggestions on jazzing up the place, please let me know!

It feels like home...

As a child, teenager, college student, and young adult, I went on too many road trips to count to Lajitas (pronounced LA-he-tus) in far West Texas; although for the last few years I've rarely been and have missed it tremendously. This is where I grew up and what I still consider home. To me, home is that place that gives you that feeling you get of calmness and peace. I guess I’m really fortunate because I get that feeling when I’m home at Hummingbird Farms, but also when I’m home in West Texas. Come to think of it, I also get it when I’m near the sea and breathing that salty air….

Lavender Chick’s definition of home: On familiar ground in which you feel in harmony with your surroundings; a feeling or a place of peace, comfort, and security.

Perhaps I’m ambidextrous in the home department being that I can get that home feeling in more than one place... One thing’s for sure – home would never be a place to me that I couldn’t have my animals. It just wouldn’t be right. Some of you may still be looking for home, but most of you, I hope, have found it and are living it. My mother has moved to a new house and I was asking her last week while visiting if it felt like home. For some reason, it's so important for me to know that you always feel "at home."

Sami (one of my special friends that I grew up with that can finish my sentences for me) and her 14-year-old daughter and I decided we needed some soul cleansing, and of course the only place we know we can always achieve this without fail is to drive way out west.

Oh – on a completely other note, I have also discovered that taking a road trip with a 14-year-old is kind of nice because we can borrow each others zit medicine. It’s that much less to pack…

Okay, so the three of us headed west and had a wonderful, wonderful time. Now that I have shown you some pictures of this trip, I have to show you a couple of pictures of my last trip to Lajitas with Jack, which was actually almost 9 years ago.

This is Jack at DOM, holding a box of DOM. Those of you that have seen the movie ‘Fandango’ will know what I’m talking about. I won’t go into detail here because this is the subject of a whole other post. But – anyone that has graduated from the University of Texas has most likely seen this movie, being that it is quite the UT cult movie and kind of a rule that you must see it in order to be a true UT alum.

This is a picture of me just before we approached DOM. I have to say that this is THE MOST favorite picture I have of myself because it makes me feel like home. Why? Well, let me see how I can put this into words (or type). First of all, this place in which I’m standing is a spiritual place for me because it makes me feel small. Does that make sense? I guess to me, it is such a beautiful place and it makes me feel that, in the grand scheme of things, I’m just little ole me in a great big gigantic world that was created by something much bigger and grander.

But, another reason I like this picture and why it makes me feel like home is because it is the last picture I have of myself that actually portrays what my old boobs used to look like. As some of you know that have been reading my blog, I lost those two boobs to cancer a few years ago. Ironically, I have a lot of pictures of myself, but none that really provide any detail of my old boobs. I find it quite appropriate that the last and only picture I can find of my old boobs is at this place that I love so much and that means so much to me.

I miss those boobs. They felt like home.

A BuhLOG Giveaway from Texas' Provence!

When I was a freshman in high school, Kay Z. decided she would be my friend. I was so thrilled because she was just a real cool chick. The kind of chick that also had all the guys wagging their tongues as she walked by.... I was honored to be her friend - although I'm not real sure how honored her mother was to have to put up with us. She used to say that individually we were little angels but together we were devils. She was a wise one, that Mrs. Z.

Well today I got the same great feeling of recognition by association of someone really cool - Joni at Cote de Texas. There are some people (I would be 'some people') that have a blog; then there are other people that have a BuhLOG. Cote de Texas is a BuhLOG! I have long coveted Joni's buhlog and have literally spent hours perusing her fabulous photos of beautiful homes and decor. My mother even told me this morning, "I spent 3 hours on that blog the other day.... I couldn't stop looking at all the gorgeous pictures."

So today I am just so excited to say that Joni, the coolest chick in blogland, has mentioned ME and my lotions and potions! As ya'll know, I am completely obsessed with creating my glamour green line of aromatherapy body care. I can't tell you how great it feels when someone you respect actually notices the work that has gone into developing something you are truly passionate about. I'm obsessed with my product line and creating what will appeal to everyone; it's what I think about all day and dream about all night.

So go check out Cote de Texas and her giveaway that she is hosting for the Lavender Market in Fredericksburg. I can't say anything more until I also say thanks to Darlene and Stacey at the Lavender Market. Darlene's Villa Texas Lavender Farm is one of Texas' finest, and her store, the Lavender Market is a perfect portrayal of her passion. The Lavender Market is the only place on Main Street in Fredericksburg that you will find Hummingbird Farms' Aromatherapy Body Care. Thank you Darlene and Stacey for being so good to us and for promoting our products with such love and enthusiasm! You're the best!