Our Texas "Ponderosa"

You can almost hear the theme song from "Bonanza" playing in the background. I would move to the country in the mountains tomorrow, but since I can't, I brought the country to my yard! I wanted to grow veggies and needed a maintenance free way of doing it, so I picked stone. Wood raised beds scared me, I'm the one maintaining these, so with not a lot of help from my husband....stone raised bed it is.

So, we had the raised beds made for a song. The best part... the stone was FREE from my Mother-in-laws leftover stone pile in her backyard. I was more than thrilled! {I am always trying to find a way to be frugal & stretch my dollar}. Then, I knew I wanted the split rail fence & arbor I had envisioned there for the last 8 years, since my kids little playhouse was there. Well, they outgrew the playhouse, now it's a little garden. I asked the guy that built the privacy pergola, and he said it was less than $100 in materials! So, we bargained on the labor & voila!

I started researching Fall planting a for Texas, went to our local nursery and they had lots of advice too. Now I have tomato, cucumber ( not looking so hot ...sigh....),lettuce, spinach, leeks, broccoli, Georgia collards, basil & rosemary. I have pumpkin pie pumpkins, and tomatoes blooming. I'm so excited! I also built with some pallets a mini deck, for my future bistro set. I may end up getting rid of it, if I find a great set that's too big. But I had to have a place for me to relax in the shade. This is my first go around with growing...wish me luck!


These are Before & After of the back corner, now affectionately called "The Back 40 of the Ponderosa"...can you here the Bonanza theme song now?....I Love it! Be sure and notice my vine fence in the raised bed, it's my old iron fire-screen, I hope my cucumbers make it...if not there is always Spring.

I had to add stepping stones...my rose bush even looks happier! I also added some lavender. We shall see if I can keep it alive. Regardless of the photo, the lavender will get full sun, and only pea gravel as "mulch" according to a website. So, I'm crossing my fingers.

 

The back of the fireplace was always an eye sore to me. I wanted vines, nothing did well with our soil. So the raised bed and bringing in soil to either side of the raised bed allowed me to plant perennials or in this case pumpkins.

 

In the midst of this project, I wanted the rain barrel my husband bought me, & it sat in the garage or 4 years, hooked up. Yay! He helped me get it installed, 2 days later with a big Texas storm it was near full! It's on the side of the house, so not too conspicuous.

Finally, I moved my little bench from the back to between the pampas grasses. It makes the right side of the backyard more meaningful. I added these great little planters, my husband surprised me with. I planted pansies in them.

I love my new gardens & my new privacy. I feel like I really do have a touch of the country in the suburbs. My kids & the neighbor kids love it too! Funny how all of these little changes attracted so much activity to the backyard. My neighbors have come over more now too. I love how growing things really can make your life grow in friends & memories.

So, one thing I learned...it's never too late! I waited 8-9 years for this. I've never been so excited to get my hands dirty!

I hope you all like the changes & get inspired to make some changes to your homes & yards!

Happy Decorating or "Farming"!

 

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Operation: "Privacy"

pri·va·cy

/ˈprīvəsē/

Noun

The state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people.

The state of being free from public attention.



What to do with a neighbor that insists on violating your personal privacy or even "sense" of privacy. You know what I mean? When your in your backyard (if you live close to your neighbors, have 6ft. fences & different topography so at times, you see their face), and you can see your neighbors in the yard. But...you don't make eye contact, you may wave, but you return your eyes to your yard and let them feel like they have privacy. Well, not my over the fence neighbor, that I will call "Gladys Kravits" & her husband. If you are young enough & don't know who Gladys Kravitz is? Look it up...that's her... but worse & more mean!

Unfortunately, my next door neighbor & I share our back fence line with "Gladys". Gladys decided to remove the fence between us without telling us & asked us, (me & and my next door neighbor), to pay half. The kicker was, neither of us knew about her deciding to take down the fence and my next door neighbor was out of the country when they did it. "Gladys", even thought we were gone too...nice! We had to leave 2 days after it came down and the fence was still not back up. We came back to a shorter fence than either of us,(me & my next door neighbor), wanted, which was 8 feet. We had already given them , ("Mr. & Mrs. Kravits) our quotes from another fence company & then never heard back from them. Well, thank goodness we weren't obligated to pay half! I would have gladly paid half for what 2 of us out of 3 had asked for...8ft. privacy fence. But I was left once again with no privacy!!

Now what? She can still see us, she & her husband make a point to hang out in their garage and stare into my home. The last straw was them building an illegal brick flower bed along the fence line at the same time, that blocks the drainage easement, redirected the water flow to my property & installed a french drain under their flower bed that drains to my property. this I discovered at the bottom of our fence. Ugh! So, complaining to the city revealed they had no permission & no permit.

They decided I was evil. The husband was flipping me off in their driveway & pointing at me all while I was INSIDE my home! I had no escape from them. They even turned their chairs on their patio to stare at us in our home. They even climbed the fences to my yard & my next door neighbors to hang over and look at our yards. They even did this to my next door neighbor during a pool party...the nerve!!! We were fed up!

So, my husband and I had a tall screen built. A huge privacy screen!! I love it!! I have my yard, patio & inside of my home back! We built in benches too. I was sooo inspired, I even built a pallet sofa & pallet coffee table. I went nuts! I put in stepping stones, a split rail fence & arbor to my very own herb & veggie garden. I have had a blast. Freedom is an exciting & inspiring thing. I couldn't sell my house & move to the country to escape them, so I brought the country to our home.

 

 

The one layer of lattice was not enough, they still made a point to stare and gawk! So an extra layer it is...

In the next post I will show you before and after of my vegetable raised garden beds. I added a split rail fence and arbor to my back garden and behind the fireplace, I had another raised bed made and planting room on each side, which is now growing pumpkins...they said I should have them before the first frost here in Texas...sure would be fun!

 

I am also lucky enough to have a friend trading my interior design service for her sewing service. As you probably coud see, my cushions on the main sofa are covered by a sheet. Mrs. Squirrel has for two years decided my sofa was a place for her to get nesting supplies. So they are in desperate need of recovering. She is also sewing covers for my new cushions for the new benches & my pallet sofa. YAY!! I will post pictures of the final cushions later. Hopefully now that homeschooling is in a routine, I can post more regular updates! Thanks for the patience. But the evolution of our home never stops. I sure am glad, I love decorating and making our home cozy.

Happy Fall & Happy Decorating!

 

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Our One Room Schoolhouse ~

Sometimes things happen in life, (and at school), that none of us plan for, nor do we ever wish for. So after 3 years of too many incidents, that weren't minor, but odd and extreme, we jumped the public school ship. I know we are probably jinxed, and it's not the norm, but for us...it was too much! I found myself relaying the joke about the kid that said to his Dr., " it hurts when I do this", the Dr. replies, "then don't do that!" So, I stopped doing it...

So now we have a One Room Schoolhouse in our home. The boys love it! And as the Teacher, I can say...The students are smart, willing and adorable ;-) So I'm one Happy Teacher!

Here are some pictures of our classroom. It was already a Western themed Game Room, so we moved a few pieces of furniture around, added a table, bench and also some maps and "school room" wall art. I actually like the western feel of the room. It makes me excited about getting back to basics and helping my boys learn to love learning again.

The inspiration for this room, I pinned in Pinterest. I loved the feel of the table and benches. Still on the hunt for the benches, but for now what we have works well and it is comfortable. I'm still wishing for wood floors...someday!

I turned the coffee table/ottoman into another area to rest and read, by our world map & Texas flag.

Note the photo above the fireplace: Albert Einstein. I don't know why, but it makes me giggle. This is their reading nook inside the "Mercantile". The other side of the "Mercantile" has shelves with more books and games. I painted that fireplace 10 years ago and our little Westie Bridgette, 6 years ago. We are hopefully getting another little Westie this Winter and it will again be relative.

The pictures are of my Grandfather , who has since passed, in his one room schoolhouse in the front row and to the right of him, the little girl with the bob, was his sister. This one room schoolhouse in Owatanna, Minnesota , much like Laura Ingalls in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. I had to make them a part of our room.

"The Teacher's Desk" ~ I love this spot for lesson planning and monthly activities.

Sorry it's blurry~ this holds all the teaching materials & supplies. The cork-board and chalkboard help keep me organized.

E=MC2 & Pi = 3.14..... Framed on the pub height table too.

Our Art Center~

A

I was a huge fan of Little House on the Prarie...{hellllooo, I had the lunch box, LOL! } I felt it was fitting to hang up my prize possession of Laura Ingalls Wilder's picture and handwriting on an envelope, in the room too.

 

The picture above is the first day of school. Thanks for stopping by. I hope to eventually take pictures with a real camera & not my phone, heehee! So to a Happier School year, Cooler weather...Soon, and more decorating deals & finds!




So as Always...Happy Decorating & Happy Back to School!

 

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Summer Update & Boys Room Makeover

Pheeew!!!! This was a big Summer with lots of changes to our family.

As I have told you in the LONG AGO past, { it feels like forever since I've blogged...Sorry!}, I have been battling a systemic infection...not fun. Good news is my hair is growing back and eyelashes too. Who knew how much I would miss those things and really appreciate them when they came back! The vacation we took to Santa Fe, helped the healing if nothing else less stress. It was a great cultural lesson and I LOVE art and lucky for me, so do my guys!

Then, my Miss Bridgette, our Westie dog suddenly passed away. Wow, was that tough. She was such a light in our family, she is dearly missed.

Then, after a 4th battle with our school district over the summer, and having a very regrettable encounter with a teacher that obviously believes in negative thinking, I made the VERY tough decision to jump the public school ship & homeschool both my boys.

I told you it was a Big Summer with lots of changes.....

So, now I have finished our first school day and can't believe how smoothly it went and how receptive they were to me teaching them. We shall see how long the honeymoon lasts. I just keep saying, "I'm cautiously optimistic!". I will post pictures of our "school room" soon. It was our game room, but with a few adjustments it's now a place of learning.

So, in between the drama and loss of our pet, I decided the boys needed a fresh start in their rooms for the new year. Ironically, this was before I decided to Homeschool.

Landen, my 10 year old, had a Colorado: camping, fishing theme. He is my collector of all things interesting. Nothing in particular, just "things". So I wanted to showcase his love of antiques & collectibles.

I had two dress Naval officer uniforms of my Grandfathers and hung one on an old lamp base with a hanger of which I removed the hook and replaced with a curtain rod finial to give it a finished look for display. I found old prints of bugs and used a chalkboard I made from a cabinet door to draw the Union Jack on for a European touch. The bed I got for $100 and Army blanket was from Aunt Heather. The wall color I luckily remembered after 10 years and a few coats later, the mural was gone and "Turtle Dove" was the perfect color for a collectors backdrop.

{A blurry photo, but I wanted to show the civil war gun my Grandpa gave me because he knew my love forhistory & the Civil War. It found a great home in this room.}

Excuse the burrrrrr.....

I found this old coke bottle carrier and picked it up for $5.00 and it turned out to be the perfect collection display case. He can change out or rotate the collection as he collects or changes his mind.

Preston, my 11 almost 12 year old (going on 50), had the "Cowboy Room", I have pictures of it in other posts. I luckily had the paint and painted over the train I painted almost 10 years ago, and the stage coach. I left the rest of the mural beacause it reminded me of a sepia toned map. The picture below is before I moved the uniform. But, I love the bell, globe and rolled up maps. The game of risk was a perfect prop too!

I added the history of the Navy posters I had of my Grandfather's and the military Westie General and a few other Naval touches including photos of his Grandfather in his Navy uniform and his Great Grandfather in his Navy uniform too. It turned out to be a perfect reflection of Preston's love of history and the Navy. I hung the other Navy colored, Naval uniform of his Great Grandfather's in here too and my husbands Daisy gun from when he was a kid.

 

 

I hope you like the pictures, even though it is extremely obvious I need to use an actual camera besides my phone! Ugh!

But, my boys loved the change and so did my budget. Preston's was only the cost of two frames, 50% off at Hobby Lobby and Landen's the bed and the bug science looking poster off of Etsy for around $30 and one gallon of paint.

Here's to a Happier School Year, Better Pictures, More Blogging & Cooler Weather in the Fall!! And as Always... Happy Decorating!

 

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