Lavender Chick’s 25 Things She Didn’t Realize Until Her Mid-40’s

Since I've been having a bit of a blogger's brain freeze, I'm making it easy on myself and stealing something from BooMama. Kinda. She did a post on 25 things that make her very happy - AND, I'm proud to say that Hummingbird Farms Lavender Lotion was mentioned on that list!!!! Anytime I can make someone happy, it makes me happy!

In terms of my blogging plagiarism of BooMama, I'm stealing her idea of 25 things, but not on what makes me happy. I have instead chosen to create a list of 25 things that have taken me 40+ years to figure out. I went on a girls road trip last weekend with Lisa and Sami because it was Lisa's birthday. It was really a spur of the moment trip which always makes the best ones. Hey - I didn't put that on my list, so make number 26 be that sometimes spur of the moment turns out better than anything well planned out. That's been my experience anyway.

Okay - so since my girlfriends and I have been in our 40's for several years now, and since this year we will be entering the hump year of being 40, we've had a number of conversations on things we know now that we should have known then....

So here it goes, my list of 25 things that took me almost 45 years to figure out:

1. Trying to be like everyone else is exhausting and boring.
2. Wealth is defined by personal fulfillment, not by how much money I have.
3. Most people aren’t all that smarter than me. That's scary.
4. My family is my family....
5. Being with friends at home is more fun than going somewhere out with friends.
6. Home cooked food is better than restaurant food.
7. Homemade birthday cakes are better and more special than store bought cakes.
8. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day were all created to make me feel guilty and for economic stimulus.
9. Cloth napkins are much better than paper napkins.
10. Too much Botox looks really ridiculous.
11. I just really don't like steak.
12. A house just isn’t a home without a big fat cat.
13. Nothing should be saved for that special day.
14. Buying some great lip gloss or a really good candle can be more thrilling than buying something really expensive.
15. It’s no big deal if I don’t make my bed every day.
16. Having time alone is a WONDERFUL thing.
17. For the most part, celebrities are weirdoes.
18. Only insecure people keep up with the Joneses.
19. Over-accessorizing is kind of trashy.
20. Everyone is not looking at me!
21. I'm not that easily impressed anymore.
22. Wine doesn’t have to be expensive to be good.
23. Fresh flowers are a good thing.
24. Having one really nice thing is better than five mediocre things.
25. When traveling with friends or visiting friends/family out of town, I can get my own hotel room if I want my own space. I don’t have to be crammed in with someone else if I don’t want. After all, I'm over 40....

Twitter Dee Twitter Dum

I have received some messages from folks asking if I am Lavender Deb on Twitter. The short answer is No. I’m not a Twitter-er. Or a tweeter-er. See – I don’t even know the proper terminology. Is it, I don’t tweet? Or perhaps, I don’t twit? Do you twit on twitter or tweet on twitter? And just what is that you do if you are a Twitter-er?

It’s an entire world I know nothing about.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is that there is apparently a Twitter chick that goes by the name Lavender Deb. So this is the deal - Ms. Lavender Deb Twitter chick has caused confusion because, as most of you know, my name is Deb. To add to the confusion, Lavender Deb Twitter chick is also into aromatherapy and natural cleaners just like me, Lavender Chick, or Lavender Deb, which I’ve also been called, and which is also my email address.

Are you confused yet?

Bottom line, please don’t confuse Lavender Deb the Twitter chick and Lavender Chick the blogging Deb.

Okay. I’ve just worn myself out with this. I have to go to bed…

But thanks alot for stopping by!!!

Lavender Blue Monday

Well how about that! We were the feature today of Blue Monday on Dixie's blog... Dixie from French Lique, Texas. Let's just say that Dixie is the voice of French Lique!

Thanks, Dixie! We appreciate the shout out and also VERY happy to hear that you enjoy our No. 145 Lavender Body Lotion. If you haven't ever stopped by Dixie's to visit, you can do it right now by going HERE.

Jingle, Belle, & Holly

Christmas week cousin Travis came running into the house and told me to get into the gator because he needed me out in the pasture. I hustled my buns out of the house because I had a pretty good idea what was going on. The week before Jingle had been born, our first Christmas baby longhorn, and I knew we had some more babies on the way.

So this is what it looked like when we got out to the field. They're all staring at us as if they're telling us to HUUURRRRY! And of course Gayle is front center waiting on us. No surprise, being that she was also the one that ran up to the house to get me the first time her sister and best friend, Kathy, gave birth 2 years earlier.

So do you see Jack over in the right hand corner? Look real close....

This is what was going on over in the corner. Kathy has just had her baby, Belle! I'm a grandmother!!

A little bit of a nudge to see if she is going to be able to stand up.

No.... not quite ready to stand up yet. Had to lay back down for a little rest. Right at about this time, Jingle decided to come sit right next to her new cousin for a little moral support.



Jingle is telling Belle, "Okay, put your head forward like this and really concentrate; you can do it, you can! I was in your same hooves last week!"

Now she's all cleaned up and doing what she does best.



Then, not even 2 hours later, Holly was born! I unfortunately missed the whole show on this one, but needless to say, Jingle, Belle, and Holly are all getting along just fine.

Jingle wants everyone to know that although she doesn't have spots like Belle and Holly, she has VERY long eyelashes....

Jingle and Belle have become the best of friends and spend most of their day playing and frolicking about Hummingbird Farms. They love playing with Holly, too.

This is Belle asking Holly to come over and play.....

Here's little Holly. Isn't she precious?

Ooooops! Gonna have to change the name to Hollis.... Looks like Holly is a bull calf!

I’m sitting here watching this show about Elvis. It is actual live clips of him in preparation for his live opening act in Las Vegas in 1970. I am so enamored by this man. I’m laughing right now because they’re showing a bunch of male back up singers and they each have a bit of Elvis flair. Funny how they are all trying to mimic his look; sideburns, sunglasses, the whole enchilada.

I love his sweet little shaking leg, that big, wide smile. Heck, I even love those jumpsuits and pinky rings! Oh - and that gimpy lip!

My great grandfather had a gimpy lip and my dad said he could spit watermelon seeds out of that gimpy part and keep on chewing. Love that!

So back to Elvis… He would be 75 if he were still alive today. I have no doubt I would still think he’s sexy. Skinny, fat, I don’t care. He was cool.

Now let’s talk about Priscilla. Bless her heart.

So yeah, Elvis was her senior, a little robbing the cradle action going on, but still, even though a young little whippersnapper compared to Elvis, she’s still almost 65 years old today.

Imagine how beautiful she would be if she would simply let herself be her age?

What’s up with that manufactured hair color? And all that Botox and that teenager hairdo? Scary! She’s Priscilla Presley for goodness sake! How can she be so insecure to the point that she thinks she needs all those injections, dyes, and plastic? She was beautiful before that first nip and long before that last tuck….

Lord please help me embrace my twilight years and not defy it. I’m getting to where I see so much beauty in older women that are just that – older and beautiful without all the yaya. Please let me keep it that way!

And Lord, please don't let this post be the cause of me never getting to meet Priscilla, becoming her BFF and getting all the great inside scoop on Elvis. I'm just sayin'.....

A sidenote to my sappy previous post...

As midnight approached on New Year’s Eve, Lisa shared with us a great tradition of writing on a piece of paper what you want to leave behind and what you hope for in the New Year, and then throwing it into the fire. We all cheered and thought it was just the perfect tradition, one that we should begin doing every year. And of course we also thought it was a great thing to do since we had a roaring fire in the fireplace that Lisa had built. You know – I’ve known her for 35+ years and never knew she was such a great fire builder. How did I miss that? And she even dropped out of Girl Scouts…

Anyway, I scrambled around the house for some paper and pens so everyone could write down their bad memories and invent their good memories for 2010.

But I got a little stuck on the task. I actually said, “But I don’t want to leave anything behind…” And then I realized that was just silly. So, I wrote down that I wanted to let go of dogfights for 2009 (having 6 dogs it happens from time to time), and I wanted to bring in new landscaping for 2010.

Then I realized all the other girls were writing down really deep, well thought out and profound statements. Even things in which they used words like “whilst.”

And then I pondered.

And I pondered some more while trying to think of fancy words and deep thoughts….

Then I thought, Yeah, dog fights and landscaping. Sounds good to me. And threw it in the fire.

Then I put on the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack and danced the ‘bump’ with Bonnie.


Is something wrong with me?

New Year's Eve At Hummingbird Bar

If the type of year you're going to have is reflective of how you ring in the new year, I should have a REALLY good 2010! In fact, I had such a great week leading up to New Year's Eve that it might even mean I'm going to have a great decade!

I still can't believe that we're in a new decade! It seems like just yesterday that we were all hunkered down for Y2K...

Pictured above is Twane, Kimberly, and Bonnie

Jack spent New Year's Eve with my dad out in west Texas, and I spent New Year's Eve having a slumber party! In fact, there was something fun going on out here the whole week leading up to New Year's Eve.

Those black-eyed-peas, they tasted alright to me.....

Bonnie actually confirmed the "power of the peas" after being stopped on New Year's Day driving back to Nashville and only getting a warning. But the good part about that is that she also got stopped the day before and only got a warning.... And she had 3 different violations! So what would the odds have been if she had not eaten those peas???

(Just in case you're not from our neck of the woods, eating black-eyed-peas on New Year's Day is a tradition, it brings you good luck for the rest of the year. I've always eaten them because it's just what you're supposed to do...)

And of course it wouldn't have been a holiday around here without planning a party for the dogs, too. Even animals deserve to celebrate the holidays!

Can you count how many animals are in this picture??? This picture was actually taken on New Year's Eve, eve, eve. Like I said, it was a week of great fun! And I haven't even shown you pictures of the new baby longhorns yet!

See - another dog... They're everywhere!

Tracy, Bonnie, Lisa, Twane, Me (and dog, Tahoe, on far right)

The 2009 Holiday Season was a great one that will be talked about for a long time. We had lots of good laughs, a few good dogfights, and one BIG memorable season!

By the way, if you want to hear some of Bonnie's great music, go here. There was also a great write up today in the Houston Chronicle about her latest album, you can check it out here.

Here's to 2010!!!