Pink Squirrel Farmstead

We have not been to the farm in quite some time, but we have been here for the last few weeks and it has been spectacular being here.

I did have a meltdown soon after we got here, because I am stuck with my foot in a cast and can’t help with much and well I am a girl. Chad was very loving and understanding and then I felt better. Being in a cast is for the birds! I broke the 5th metatarsal. Which of course knowing me I broke it at very difficult place for it to heal.

This trip so far has been a lot of plumbing, electrical and other slow going projects.With me being in a cast and not supposed to be on my foot, also had several bad days with severe migraines and wasn’t able to get out of bed. Chad still recovering from his knee surgery, and my Dad still recovering from his shoulder surgery, things took longer than expected.

However I am happy to report the master bathroom and toilet closet are finally 💯 finished !!!

In the master bathroom we added a stand up shower with dual shower heads, a storage cabinet on each side, and a niche beside the bathtub. It was amazing to see it all come together each day and watch my Dad and Chad work together to make my dreams come true.

We painted and painted and painted some more. Then we hung wallpaper on one wall in the master bathroom (of course there are squirrels in the wallpaper). I just want you to know hanging wallpaper behind an installed bathtub is more difficult than you could ever imagine, I can guarantee; I was trying to think skinny thoughts, and I felt stuck only a couple times haha.

So, I really wanted a tiled niche in wall next to my beautiful cast iron tub. I love to take a long hot bath and want a place for soap shampoo and somewhere to set a drink. I figured no biggie with Dad and Chad it’ll be easy peasy.

But, when I told them what I wanted, they both just kinda looked at me and blinked, with a lost look on their face. But as you all know, I’m their princess and they magically made it happen haha!

Unfortunately, they had to cut several studs in the wall and reframe it. There also ended up being an electrical outlet in the way, from the other side of the wall. Chad said “only you would find a spot in an Amish, built farmhouse that would require an electrical outlet that we put in there only a few months ago, to be moved” 🤣🤣 oops 😬

Chad was able to shiplap the ceiling after Cheyenne stained all the boards and he hung the new lights up. It looks absolutely amazing! Cheyenne said she is now a construction worker! ❤️

Chad worked hard on putting up his first glass shower door. He asked me several times if I was sure I didn’t just want a shower curtain, instead. He told me several times he was about to throw it over the porch haha. Anger management needed much?! Just kidding and he ended up doing a great job!

We have the toilet closet, separated from our master bathroom. It is the only bathroom on the main floor, that way guest can use the restroom without us having to keep the bathroom picture perfect all the time.

Luckily both Chad and I have similar tastes. We adore the rustic vintage farmhouse look. We also love the old Victorian time period. However, Chad also likes high tech gizmos and gadgets so, in the toilet closet of course he wanted a high tech Bidet toilet seat. I love the fact the seat is heated, to keep my tushy toasty 😉.

In the master bath’s shower he added a high tech shower apparatus. It has a digital display to see the temperature. Additionally, it has different settings and multiple shower massage jets! Which is great after a long day working on the farm. He also installed a “fancy schmancy” waterproof LED light that has a bunch of different colors and brightness. This is great for days I have a migraine. The light also has a Bluetooth speaker built in so we can listen to music 🎶. We were so impressed with the light we ordered two more for the other showers ( one in the basement and one upstairs).

We were also able to finish the Library. I have always dreamed of having my own personal library 📚. I am just thrilled to death how it turned out!!

We were able purchase some rustic looking doors that were actually brand new and pre-hung. My Dad said they were the best and easiest design he ever saw. Him and Chad were able to completely install five of them in just a few short hours. Now mind you, each old door and jam had to be taken out and the area made to fit each of the new doors.

We had originally planned to just add some molding to our current boring doors, until Chad found the doors on facebook marketplace for $30. Yes, you read that correctly only $30 per door !!!! We couldn’t have updated the old doors that cheap.

We were able to finish the library walls and ceiling. I found some Tiffany stained glass lights, which have a hidden built-in fan to put in the library. One for the stairwell and the other was supposed to go in the middle of the library. Well unfortunately, the ceiling is only 8 feet so the one for the room won’t work. If the fan was on it would decapitate any one who walked by it 😒, including me and I am super short. So, after pouting I had to get a different light.

We got the ceiling tiles up and everything finished without any other issues.

So when my Dad and I were going back and forth on how to build the book case, we had different visions. I didn’t want boring plain just straight across shelves. My Dad was wanting to make it all sorta geometric patterns like octagon, and triangles and who all knows what else. Chad said “basement and barn are my areas to design I’m staying out of this 🫣” lol. So Dad and I compromised and he made me an absolutely beautiful book case. When it was all built Chad took one look at it and said “it’s vintage, like 1970’s vintage” 🫠

In between other projects we also worked some on the Master Bedroom. It’s not completely finished yet, but it’s coming along nicely.

Got the wallpaper up and the bead board installed and painted. Chad was able to shiplap the ceiling and get the ceiling fan installed. We didn’t like the small closet which was built in when we bought the farm so we tore it out. We have a few ideas for the closet space to install in the future. A built in wardrobe.

Chad finished the living room. All that was left from previous trips few years ago was shiplapping the ceiling. His poor neck hurt so bad on this trip, after looking up so much doing ceilings.

As y’all probably know the basement will become Chad’s man cave eventually. He gets to design and decorate it as he pleases, while I get to decorate the rest of the house, seems fair right?

He wanted a bathroom down there and apparently that’s easier said than done. Underground bathrooms requires a few special plumbing gizmos. We discovered it needs a macerating toilet. (Basically it’s like a garage disposal for a toilet, I think 🤷‍♀️).

Eventually we are going to have a “canning kitchen” in the basement. This will be used for canning obviously, also where we can process our animals we plan to raise, and to have a place in basement for snacks and stuff. So, Dad and Chad discussed the layout and got started on the bathroom. It is not finished yet. But, luckily they got all the plumbing finished right before we left to come home. Chad didn’t want an everyday man cave bathroom (surprise, surprise).

He decided to have a steampunk theme. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical of his idea at first, but it is his man cave. After seeing all what him and my Dad have completed so far I’m actually impressed.

Pretty neat light switch

The basement loo, still has a ways to go but, luckily it’s functional. When Chad got all the electrical installed few things did not work and he was rather bummed because he didn’t have time to troubleshoot what went wrong. He literally worked up to the minute we had to leave to head back to Texas. Luckily, Dad was able to scratch his head for a few hours and was able to get it fixed.

In addition, Dad and Chad were able to install a utility sink in the mud room. My Dad did let us know of his displeasure of plumbing the entire time we were there.

We have a few ideas for Cheyenne’s room. This trip, we only had time to shiplap her ceiling and install the ceiling fan she picked out. She was super excited about that.

We also purchased a few more fruit trees for our orchard. We have apple, peach, cherry, apricot, plum, pear, blueberries, and wild blackberries planted. I can’t wait to be able to harvest them and be able to can and make pies and jelly off of our own farm !!

It was nice to be able to spend a month at the Farm. While we were there, we had the chance to celebrate Hunter’s 21st birthday 🥳. Since he turned 21 and we have a farm in Kentucky, what better way to celebrate than to take the family on a tour of a bourbon distillery.

If you were unaware Kentucky is well known as the bourbon capital of the world. We had the chance to visit Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, Ky.

It’s a few hours from the farm. So we also got to enjoy some amazing scenery 🙂. We are not much on drinking alcohol and Hunter had never had hard liquor before. So at the end of the tour there is a sampling of a few different types of their bourbons 🥃. It was quite comical to see everyone’s facial expressions. 🤣🤣

All in all it was a fun little break and after the tour we went to a German Restaurant in Lexington.

The food was delicious.

While at the Farm we also had the opportunity to celebrate Easter. We had a great meal and relaxed.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay any longer, but it was a fun time on the farm. We didn’t get everything done we had planned but being there for a month we did get a lot accomplished. Also, thank you for Mom feeding us each day which is a tall task for all the picky eaters lol!

We have already started planning for what updates we want to make next trip. We actually started planning this before we even left and headed back to Texas 🤣🤣🤣. Until next time we hope you are enjoying following our journey.

Today was the day !! Finally after waiting for what feels like an eternity I had my knee surgery!!

Back on April 11, 2023, I initially injured my left knee at work. After several months of physical therapy, I was finally released back to work with a full release instead of just sitting at my desk on light duty.

Well just my luck that, very week, I once again injured the same knee on Aug 20th, 2023 (different parts).

I gotta admit I realized , I was a fat a$$ that day 🤣🤣 !! I literally tore my meniscus just standing up from the couch. Casey had cut her finger in the kitchen and requested a band-aid so when I attempted to get her one kaboom 💥 heard a loud pop and it felt like I had been shanked in the back of my knee (so it’s her fault 😉)

So this time obviously Physical Therapy was not going to be enough and it was going to require surgery.

(In my humble opinion, I should have, had surgery in April. However I am not a Surgeon only a Texas Department of Criminal Justice Senior Warden, 😂)

Just like an infomercial “But Wait there is more!!!!”

So towards the end of September Casey had an odd skin rash. Which is not to unusual, at first (She has extremely sensitive skin) however, it quickly spread over various parts of her body. I ended up getting the skin infection also. So we both were on several different medications.

None of them helped. Casey had a biopsy done and the Doctor was finally able to determine what the infection was and we began a different medication.

To make a short story long, lol, for those who did not know, way back in April of 2022. I had a strep infection in my leg that ended up turning Septic and I was in hospital for over a week.

That was an experience I’d rather not repeat. The doctor said my sepsis was so severe, I was only few hours from Death. At one point, they were even considering a full right leg amputation at the hip.

This infection destroyed the lymph node in my right leg and I will have lymphedema for the rest of my life and have several scars from it. Most of the time now, it is not a big problem. However, if I walk or stand up for extended periods of time my leg will swell up a bunch. I am supposed to wear a special compression leg brace daily and have a special one to wear at nite time.

Also I have a compression machine that I should use for an hour, 3-4 times a week.

Also I am supposed to use a CPAP machine. I also have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and have to wear a wrist brace at night time and occasionally wear it during the day. (Needless to say, if a burglar ever breaks in my house and sees all this fancy attire he will probably go “damn, my bad … here take my wallet” 🤣🤣🤣🤣).

So on with the long story short, apparently the surgeon considered me a High Risk

I’m mean I’m 48 years old, size of a hippo 🦛, Diabetic, High Blood Pressure, Sleep Apnea, no big deal right?

Oh and to add insult to injury due to being 6’6” and 370lbs. I am way too large to fit in a normal MRI machine and have to drive 2 hours away to Lubbock or Amarillo to be able to use the fatty fat fat man MRI machine 🤣🤣🤣🤣. “🐿️ moment”

So the Surgeon decided not to do my surgery way back in the 1st week of October. He wanted me to take the new medication for a month and be off of the medication for two weeks before he would do the surgery.

On Tuesday November 28th, I had my pre-op consultation. That day they did all kinda lab tests and checked me out. The nurse seen I still have a few infection spots. She was like 🤔 hmm let me tattle tale on you and tell the Surgeon. My first thought was “you have got to be F@&$ing kidding me”.

However, the surgeon decided since I had been on medication already for a month, there was less of a risk of the infection going into my surgical areas. So he prescribed me the medication again, to take for the next two months. And gave me the Green Light for surgery !!!

The meniscus tear I had is called a bucket handle tear.

Of course since this is me and my injury, of course it would be the worst possible meniscus injury. The surgeon was hoping to be able to repair it, however my meniscus was shredded and unable to repaired. He salvaged what he was able to and removed what was not repairable.

In addition, He was able to repair my ACL, which was torn totally in half. There was some other cartilage damage that he was able to shave off and clean up to hopefully 🤞 fix the knee for better results.

The surgeon stated eventually I will most likely develop arthritis in this knee and will someday have to get a total knee replacement. Seeing how I already have arthritis in other areas I would assume it will happen. Yay!🙄

Of course now that I am Diabetic and overweight the recovery will take longer. Initially, the Surgeon told me I would not be able to stand or walk or even apply any pressure to that leg for 8 weeks 😩. Due to the damage that wasn’t able to be repaired I hope 🤞 this will not be the case, but will not know for sure until my follow up appointment in two weeks.

Unfortunately, he said he would not be able to give me a full release to work for 6 months 🤬. I am hoping that once I start physical therapy and recover he will allow me to return to work sooner. Not sure if y’all realize it, but I hate just sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I have already been off work for months and absolutely hate that.

I have been lucky, my staff are awesome and they have definitely been taking care of business with me not there. However, it is honestly a terrible feeling sitting at home not being there. Most people can’t wait to get out of Prison and here I am praying 🙏 to go back behind bars as quickly as possible 🤣😂🤣😂.

I am also extremely blessed to have Casey. She has definitely been my angel 😇 thru all of this. I say it all the time and truly mean it “I would not trade her for a Billion dollars 💸” (even though I jokingly tell her, it’s her fault I needed surgery to start with and giving me her cooties and delaying the surgery 🥰)

The only good thing at all out of all this time out from work, is I have been able to grow out my beard and practice for my retirement “look” for Kentucky. And yes Casey absolutely hates the beard.

First and foremost, I need to introduce the newest member of our herd. I adopted an orphaned Kitty on Sept 11,2023. Her name is Margret

(or Margaritaville as Chad calls her)

I haven’t posted much about the Farm in a few months. Those of you who don’t know, I have started my Dream career while attending college. I am currently going to college to become a Registered Veterinary Technician!!! I am working at the local Vet Clinic at the same time. Needless to say, going to work full time, going to school full time , being a Mother full time, being a Wife full time, along with my medical issues I have had lately, I have been on the go non stop. It seems there is not enough hours in the day.

Also Chad has re-injured his knee and now has a completely torn ACL, MCL sprain, a non displaced fracture of the posterior articular surface of the lateral tibial plateau and a “bucket handle” tear in his Meniscus. Which all in all that means he has a boo boo that will require surgery and he will be off work for over 6 months to recoup. 🥴

Payton has also stated to work at the Vets office a few hours a week!

My Dad (Papa) has been working on a few projects on the farm, as much as he has been able to since he had his shoulder surgery this summer.

We brought my Mom (Nanny) a puppy “Maggie” when we went to the farm in August and she has definitely been keeping them on their toes 🤣

Papa built her a pen outside the back door in order for her to have a secure place to go. With her being so tiny it easy for her to get through cattle panel and barb wire. She did learn not to touch the electric fence wire though 😵

He has also built individual feeding chute for the goats. 🐐 This is an attempt to 1. Not get trampled at feeding time and 2. Ensure that there is a fair shot at eating from all the goats.

We also had Papa install a “sophisticated” water system. It has two hot water heaters, a water filtration system, and a water softener system. Each has a cut off valve if needed to isolate a section. Eventually we have a pump system to install to increase the house water pressure. We still are going to install a full bathroom upstairs and in the basement. (FYI for those who do not know, my Dad hates , loathes, despises, and detests plumbing 🫠)Dad said he is retired from the Navy and retired from plumbing 🤣😂🤣😂

Papa has also been busy with the piggies. Every time I talk to him he tells me Kevin (Bacon) is just about ready for freezer camp. He can hardly fit thru the pig door 🚪

We (meaning my Dad, I just bought and mailed to the farm or had him buy them there 😬) have planted 12 trees in the orchard. A variety of Apple, Peach, Plum, and Pear trees. So far 11 have survived. This year we had one of the Apple trees produce a few apples!!

Now on to the stuff I am excited about! Dad has made a few of the kitchen cabinets. One has our antique cast iron double drying board sink. And one has the dishwasher (Nanny is real excited about this one!!!) and he used some of the scrap to make a storage cabinet. Still have to make a whole other side of cabinets, all the upper cabinets, and the island, but it’s getting there. 🥰

A few days ago it was Halloween 🎃. I think some of my Peeps enjoyed it more than others 🤣😂😉

Well I guess I have procrastinated long enough time to get back to Algebra (= I hate Graphs) because apparently this will ensure that I am ready to help animals 🤔🥴🙄

Well, I don’t even know where to begin…..

The Girls and the Dogs spent most of the summer at the farm. My Dad had rotator cuff surgery. So, the girls spent the summer on the farm helping out doing the chores of farm life LOL.

Chad and I were finally able to go to the farm, for a few days to work on a few projects, visit my folks, see Hunter a lil’ here and there between him working full time and see all the farm animals !!! We now are up to 10 goats, 3 KuneKune mix pigs, several barn cats and kittens and a bunch of chickens.

Unfortunately, with all my recent medical issues going on, I was not able to do as much as I would have liked. I had to take it easy, and rest more than I wanted to. Chad is still recovering from his knee injury and sure wasn’t going as fast or as hard as he normally does at the farm. I think he forgot he is almost 50 years old, not in his twenties anymore (hahaha).

We were able to mostly complete a few projects. We split the utility room into two separate rooms. Now we have a dedicated laundry room and a mud room. Eventually I want a built-in sitting area and cabinets in the mud room, however I am really happy how it turned out. The laundry room is really ready for a magazine cover haha. I also eventually want a built-in storage cabinet in there as well. For now, I like the old antique cabinet in there for storage. We now have electrical outlets and lights, and switches in those rooms!! As a bonus even got the antique outdoor lights installed.

The hallway finally got painted and the ceiling and trim put in. So, on a side note Chad wants a walk-in shower in the master bathroom. He found a one piece “tiled looking” stall. It was exactly one inch too wide to fit thru the back door and the bathroom door. This turned into a rather exciting fun project of taking both doors along with the door jams all the way out of the walls. What could have been a 10-minute project of moving the shower stall in, turned into several hours of demolition and rebuilding.

When we first put in electric in the hallway ceiling we opted to put in those super cheap “boob” lights, until we decided exactly what we wanted to do for the ceiling in the hallway. I was ecstatic, on how well the ceiling looked stained in the laundry room and the mud room, I decided to carry the stained shiplap look thru into the hallway. With that decision being made, I was able to find more suitable light fixtures for the hallway. I like the “farmhouse” inspired designs, but do not want every room in the house the exact same style, color or have the same components.

The next project we began but, ran out of time prior to completion was the library. My vision for the library is a nice quiet area to be able to sit and read and relax. I want an old “Victorian” vintage look. I was able to find an old vintage looking wallpaper and after hours of Pinterest browsing came up with a wide board and batten look for the bottom. Chad took the chance and picked up a wooden rope border for the top and a Colonial baseboard with end caps for the bottom. we chose a brownish grey paint to coincide with the wallpapers colors and I think it really pops and gives it the vintage look. Only got one section finished, this will be a long process also to complete. One wall will be a solid set of built-in bookcases.

We also want an upstairs bathroom. The layout for this has been a bit of a challenge for me. Chad was finally able to convince me to keep the bedrooms laid out how they are (4 of them, one in each corner and has a horseshoe shape area around them which will be the library). The challenge is the guest bedroom will only be assessable going thru the bathroom. To me this was less than desirable but I gave in. Chad took advantage of me finally agreeing to this after 2 years and has already framed the bathroom in and ran electricity and installed a light. I guess he wanted to make sure it goes his way before I changed my mind (again) haha.

We also got almost all of the electricity installed everywhere I want it, in the whole house. Guest bedroom and Hunters bedroom needs few more plugs added. The Guest Bedroom still needs a ceiling light and switch installed. The kitchen will need several electric plugs and switches. The barn and basement need more electricity still, but that is not too bad seeing how two years ago there was zero electricity anywhere on the farm.

Plumbing has also come along ways. Dad has started getting the “advanced” plumbing components installed. It will have a 40- and 50-gallon hot water tank running in series, into an electrical booster pump, into a pressurized tank that will go thru a water softener and filterization system. Chad and Dad have been discussing all of that stuff. Chad wanted it tweaked and “dumbed” down as easy as possible with several cutoff points so in the future when components wear out or malfunction parts can be swapped out fairly easily. He hates plumbing and wants it as user friendly as possible lol.

The kids have really been a huge help on these past few projects. We have had them all three painting and staining boards. With Dad’s, shoulder and Chad’s knee they have been doing most of the heavy lifting and grunt work. Mom has been doing almost all of the cooking which has been very helpful. She even provided comic relief. We had Lowes deliver the wood and placed it close to the back door for ease of accessibility, Mom decided to live up to her name in the ole nursery rhyme Jack and Jill. She slipped going around the boards and rolled down the hill. Once we realized she wasn’t severely hurt we all were able to get a great laugh out of this event for several days. She was literally the “butt” of many jokes hahahaha.

Well we did get to spend Mom’s birthday with her. Even brought her a gift. Y’all smile at her new friend Maggie.

The worse part of this blog post and why I had to wait until the end, or I don’t think I could have gone through with the rest of it without tears running down my face and ugly crying is about Zeppelin. I am sure most of you reading this knows of our old buddy Zep. He has been our family dog, since July 2012. In the last few months his health has declined, and this week he was in bad shape could not stand or walk. with a heavy heart Chad made the tough decision to put him down and end his suffering, both him and Hunter took him up on the hill and gave him a nice forever spot on the farm. The only thing that was good about it was now Zep will always be at our farm. The farm was where he loved to be and would run around and explore the acres of hills with the young dogs like he was still a puppy then curl up on the porch and take a well-earned nap. We will all miss him dearly; we have made so many memories with him and will be able to visit his grave on the farm.

There has not been, a tremendous amount of updates lately on the farmstead.

There is several reasons for this. One: back in January my Mom had a full knee replacement. Which in turn means my Dad had to pick up some of the chores around the farm she was doing. Two: my Dad injured his right rotator cuff and will be having surgery towards the end of June. Three: it has been spring/summer so there is more outside daily chores that get in the way of the fun renovation projects lol.

Well since Dad is fixing to have surgery we all decided it will be helpful if the Girls went to the farm for the summer to help out. Since Chad is currently out of work on FMLA due to his knee injury (he tore his ACL and Meniscus) he was able to bring the girls to the farm and stay a few days. Currently he is going to physical therapy several times a week in lieu of surgery on his knee. He is glad to finally be up walking around without a wheelchair or walker after being stuck sitting all day everyday for over a month. I am still having whatever medical mystery going on, so I knew the trip to the farm would be way to hard and exhausting for me so I chose not to go this time.

While Chad was at the farm, Dad and him were able to complete a few projects. Dad can’t pick up heavy stuff or reach over his shoulder very well right now. Good thing the kids are all young and strong, lol. So a year or so ago we had bought some old vintage farmhouse doors, these were the projects they were able to complete in the few days Chad was on the farm.

Swapping out doors don’t sound like it would take much, but none of the doors were the same size as holes for the door they were switched out with, which in turn means having to be retrofitted into the opening. Which is a methodical process. The basement door was switched out. That wall was finally finished and trimmed out. The bathroom door was swapped out and the door was adjusted to open the opposite way !! The Mud room door was switched out with an antique door that my dad turned into a “Dutch Door” with a pie shelf. All the doors also needed some TLC lots of chipped paint was cleaned off, new hinges, new door handle assemblies, few window panes were also replaced. Some of that TLC will have to wait for me to get there.

The doors taken out were then moved upstairs to be used on the two bedrooms that have never been finished out and never had any doors, that is until I find antique doors for them. Also, electricity was put into the girls bed room, my craft room/office and a few spots in what will be the Library. Also, two more window AC were installed!

With the kids help, Chad was able to get the Library a little more completed. Some of the Antique Furniture was brought and put in there respected places. except the antique couch that would not fit up the stairway no matter how hard they tried, they even sent pictures to prove it.

After Chad had left Dad was able to install the antique glass door into my craft room/office. (Currently that room is being utilized for storage) Got the kids working on tape/mudding some of the drywall seams, so eventually they can be painted.

The water to the barn had a big leak last year so Dad had shut the water off to the barn. So, Payton got to go on a treasure hunt to look for buried treasure (water lines instead of gold LOL). Got the water fixed Way to Go Y’all !!! Payton may or may not have been thrilled about that treasure hunt.

Dad decided it was a great time to get some “bacon bits” on the farm, so the PSF Herd has added three Kune Kune piggies 🙂 The Big Boy is Kevin (as in Kevin Bacon lol) and the girls are Lily and Rose. Dad says he intends on eventually butchering them out, but it’ll be cute to watch them in the mean time.

We now have a PSF Deer cellular cam and a PSF Goat/Piggy Cellular cam up and going. I love to sneak peaks through out the day to watch them all play. Chad thinks it is pretty neat seen several bucks back in the back of the property(Run Bambi). This makes Chad happy he can not wait until he gets the opportunity to go back there and hunt. That was his number one make it or break it stipulation on buying our farm. He insisted it have a spot to hunt. This was more important to him than the fact the Amish Farm didn’t have electricity, water, indoor plumbing, or even a bathroom for that fact. He was “well as long as there is enough Acres, I can Hunt, we can get all that modern stuff added later to it”. HaHaHa. It is fun to be able to get on the App and watch the goats and piggies play.

Unfortunately, with Dad fixing to have surgery there will not be much renovations going to happen for awhile. I guess all of us should have bought an extended warranty, cause obviously all of our warranties have ran out. Guess we will all have to relax while we can.

It has been several months since, I have updated any activity on the Farm. There are several reasons for this. 1. we have not been on the farm. 2. my Mom had her knee replaced which requires a lot of Physical Therapy. (Which my Dad goes with her, so it delays his time to tinker) 3. my Dad injured his shoulder, so it has slowed him down and he also has been going to Physical Therapy. 4. I personally have had some medical issues. I have been having severe headaches all day every day. The headaches are very similar to a horrible Migraine. I have been to numerous Doctors and appointments trying to find relief. At this time I do not know what medical condition I have or the solution. Once I do, I will most likely do a blog post about it. Once I have those details I will be able to divulge further details. 5. And finally Chad has injured himself. He was at a Kennel Training for work and forgot he was not as young as he used to be. He jumped out of a truck bed and injured his knee. (Still waiting to see if it will require surgery)

So now that I have updated y’all on the boring stuff time to move on to the reasons you are here reading my post. As most of you reading this post know, I have a tiny hobby (obsession/addiction) with anything related to cooking. So when we purchased the Amish farm, it was extremely minimalistic in all areas. Well I have a ton of kitchen gadgets, utensils, pots, pans, cook books, spices, cups, bowls…ok ok you get it. So I will have to have several things in my dream kitchen. Number 1 priority is pretty storage. Number 2 is useful counter space.

I have given my Dad my vision of what I NEED…. (not want) in my kitchen. So he has begun to custom make the kitchen cabinets. Now mind you, this is all being done with him having an injured arm having to take my Mom and him to PT, Hunter to work, along with everyday Farm chores. So it will not be an over night project. When it comes to the cabinets we could have just went and bought cabinets at Lowes, Home Depot or some where, but where is the true vintage “farm house look” and design for that? If y’all recall in earlier post about a year ago Chad bought a Pallet of rough cut hardwood boards from the Amish lumber yard down the road.

The wood is a large mix of hardwoods Oak, Elm, Beech and not 100% sure what all. When we bought it was not seasoned yet. So now that the boards have had the time to season they can be used. Here is where my next dilemma has come. I have watched, researched and obsessed on every Pinterest, TV Show, Magazines and you name it images of Farm House styled kitchens. I have debated on what style of cabinets I wanted. I have tossed around what color of paint I want to color them in, I have dreamt of what color, type, style, and material of countertop I wanted for yeeeeeeaaarrrrsss. I am finally in the last stages of achieving what I want and I am still not 100% sure of exactly to the T of what I want. 🫣

I have asked Chad what we should do. He is not very helpful. He keeps saying, “Babe, the kitchen is your dream, I don’t care what it looks like. I am more concerned with getting the benefit of your delicious food and baked goods”!! Asking him questions about the kitchen choices and designs is about the same as asking him what he wants to eat for supper or what restaurant he wants to go out to eat at.

With all that being said my Dad, has completed the first set of upper and lower cabinets outta the Amish hardwoods. I will let the pictures speak for themselves !! In the pictures the lighter wood is raw & natural. In the last pictures the wood appears darker. This is because we decided to use Butcher Block Oil on them. You can really see the beauty in the wood with that oil!

As you can see by the photos, this is why I am so conflicted. There is zero chance, I want to paint over that gorgeous wood. Can you see that beautiful wood grain!! So now I want to keep the cabinets natural. The problem with that is my original intention was to have a “butcher block” counter top. If we did that it would be way to much “wood” color and I feel it would drown out the beauty of the hand made cabinets. So I had to decide what to do about the counter tops.

Chad and I have gone over just about every material you can imagine for the countertops. Granite, Quartz, Marble, Concrete, Stainless Steel, Quartzite, and many more. Now the number one problem with choosing counter tops is $$$. Not sure if you have checked into prices of building materials lately but OMG. I can’t justify spending the same price of a brand new car for the same price as kitchen cabinet counter tops.

So Chad came up with a solution. Marble looking laminate. His selling point was, we can afford this out of pocket now and if I do not like it, we will save up the money to afford the countertops of a different material later down the road. He also said Laminate material has come along ways so we went and looked at different ones at Home Depot and Lowes and I was surprised how the quality looked at that price point. So I agreed. So the little bit here and there will eventually be all brand new 100% hand made cabinets by my Dad that will be passed down generation after generation. (We are paying outta pocket and saving up money 💵 for our projects. We want to remain debt free)

Another project my Dad, was able to work on was, installing hardware on my pantry door. I choose new hardware that is replicas of the old time hardware. We utilized one of the doors we had found on Facebook market place. He also has taken one of the vintage doors and made me a Dutch door with a pie shelf. Currently it is finished however due to Dad’s injured shoulder he can not install it by himself. This door will be installed eventually in between the kitchen and mud room !

So I am sure, y’all will be excited to know our critters have expanded the herd. On April 2, 2023 Ginger gave birth to the 2 most adorable little kids you could imagine. We got a new boy we named One Eye Jack (due to a black patch over one of his eyes) and girl we named Diane. So dad knew that she was fixn’ give birth, so he made her a nice comfy place in the barn with hay and such. But, Ginger decided to go on an adventure up the to the rocky patch on the hill to give birth. 🤣 We now have a grand total of 10 goats 🙂

Spring has officially arrived at the farm. Things are getting really green and trees are blooming. Last year we planted several fruit trees in the Pink Squirrel Farmstead Fruit Orchard!! Most of the trees have grown over 6 foot tall already. Unfortunately a few have bloomed to early and I’m afraid they may have died from a late frost. We have planted:

Gala apple

Fuji apple

Braeburn apple

Honey crisp apple

Winesap apple

D’Anjon pear

Bartlett pear

Red Haven Peach

Red haven peach

Au Rosa plum

Santa Rosa plum – has died.

I am really excited to be able to some day walk out my door and pick fresh fruit to eat, bake breads, make yummy desserts, make jams, and be able to can a lot !!

As you can see there has not been a tremendous amount of projects completed, but its no big deal, little bit here and there and some day my dream farm will be completed.

We started our New Year’s Eve on the road to our farm. On the way there Chad and I got to discuss plans and dreams about the farm. We usually set a goal of what we want to accomplish while we are there and this time was no exception. Let’s just say there is no relaxation on our vacations to the farm. But we would rather be working at the farm then sitting on the couch watching tv.

My goal was to put in electrical into the butlers pantry, and master bedroom and put in the closet in the master bedroom. But since my mom was having surgery to get her knee replaced while we were there, we had to rethink it.

So we decided that we should finish the Butler’s pantry. Now when we make plans it usually gets expanded on because we try to get as much as we can while we are there since we only get to go a couple times a year.

When we finally got there we unloaded the vehicle, chit chatted, celebrated Christmas and off to bed we all went!

We began by removing everything from the Butler’s pantry. The room was pretty packed with food, dishes, and kitchen gadgets and it all got piled up in the mud room/laundry room. We took the cabinets down off the wall and took the shelves apart. Sounds like a quick job right? No, the Amish use nails for everything! So prying nails out is quite the chore. But we did find an amazing surprise that we weren’t anticipating.

The shelves you see us taking apart had some old funky shelf liner on them but come to find out they are beautiful 16” wide boards !! that we ended up being able to use for countertops in the pantry! I was so excited about this find, not only for the financial savings, but also because I love how beautiful the wood was. The kids were not as excited to carry the long boards to the basement but they survived. I did slack at taking pictures on this trip, sorry I will try to be better next time.

Once the room was completely cleared we cut a section out of the drywall all around the room then in the hall way we cut up a section in the floor so we could run electrical wire to the room. Afterwards we drilled a hole down towards the basement because this section of the house is on a concrete slab. Fun was not really a word to describe this process but I am glad we got it done. Afterwards Chad got to use his new toy DEWALT 20V MAX* Stapler Kit for Cables (DCN701D1).

Weekend https://a.co/d/1f5dmmz

This tool made it so much easier when running the cables along the ceiling in the basement and the fact that Chad is extremely tall makes it even quicker!

Then we got started on running the wires in the Butler’s panty. Maneuvering the wire around the corners is a nightmare and I am pretty sure I am the slowest electrician and no one would hire me but I am still proud that I could do it. Thankfully Chad and my dad were there to help!

But shortly after they deemed me a professional and sent me to work on the electrical in the hall, the master bedroom, and then the bathroom. Rude right? I will say that the ceiling lights kicked my butt and my arms felt like jello during and afterwards. I finally had to ask Chad for help because I couldn’t get the screws through the insulation on the light and into the holes to hold up the light, (if that even makes sense at all).

Chad fixed all the drywall in the pantry, put up some thin plywood on the bottom of the walls and then him and Hunter started ship lapping the ceiling and walls in there.

While they did that, I went to cut the walls out in the master bedroom. In the master bedroom not only was there drywall but also particle board behind that to cut through. Then I cut some hideous trails for the wire to go around and above the window because there is cinderblocks under the windows. When we put the walk in closet in the master bedroom we will add more electrical plugs and ceiling light into that room.

It was getting late and my parents were ready for bed so we cleaned up their room and I went to join Chad and Hunter with the shiplap. Hunter trailed off to bed soon after and Chad and I finished the shiplap.

A lot of the time spent this trip was on the boring labor intensive parts (ie: electrical work) but we did get to make some of my dreams come true.

Chad found an ad on Facebook for vintage antique farmhouse doors !!!!

Now mind you, I had no clue how much doors 🚪 cost until Chad showed me a few at Lowe’s. I could not believe they were all over $500 😳. Also the new ones aren’t really what I envisioned for my farm. They don’t have the farmhouse character and charm of doors hand built over 100 years ago.

So I am thrilled that we found 5 vintage doors. While we were at the guys house he also showed us (2) vintage cupboard cabinets that I fell in love with !!

At this point I have no clue or real vision of where these two cabinets will go, but for $75 there was absolutely no way they were not going home with me 😜

Ooops I squirreled there and got side tracked. Hahaha. Back to the Butler’s pantry. As most of y’all probably know I have a teeny tiny itsy bitsy hobby. I enjoy cooking and baking and along with this hobby comes an addiction/ obsession with kitchen gadgets!! So I wanted a big counter space area with a ton of plugs in the pantry to be able to plug in and store those gizmos. I talked Dad and Chad into devoting 2 separate breakers just for the pantry so I won’t have to worry about popping fuses. I ended up with 9 or 10 electrical outlets!! (Don’t judge)

In Lubbock we had found a vintage stained glass light fixture that goes great in the pantry so we wired it in !

So in order to make the farm look the way I want is sorta tough at times. I literally have spent days, months, years even watching DIY shows, Pinterest, tiktok, Facebook and any other sources that I can find to come up with ideas 💡 for my Dream Home. Once I get those ideas then I have to translate those ideas to Chad and my Dad and myself to make them work in reality.

One of our favorite things about the farm is doing the work ourselves. It amazes me how much we have done in our home. I remember the 1st time I came across the farm on realtor.com I thought there was absolutely no way Chad would have any interest in an Amish Farm in the middle of Kentucky that would need a ton of blood, sweat and tears to modernize and yet keep the vintage vibe to it. When Chad showed me the ad I was OMG 😱 I can’t believe this, I had already fallen in love with the farm before I ever stepped foot on the property.

One thing that is a challenge is “flow and individuality” when it comes to the design aspects. We want to be able to go room to room and they all flow and seem cohesive and yet be individually designed.

So for instance we both love shiplap, but if every inch of the house was in shiplap painted plain ole white, it would be boring. So we (mostly me, lol) have had to step out of my comfort zone and be able to do colors and designs that I never have before!!

I would never imagined I would have a black wall painted in my house

Also several other colors like grey stairwell. But I have stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to venture out into different colors. So for the Butler’s pantry I chose blue.

I am loving all the different colors, but at the same time the “flow” of shiplap. Chad also did a great job on the flooring!

The door we bought turned out amazing!!

We also had the opportunity to do some work in the bathroom. Chad talked me into not shiplap the bathroom and go with Board and Batten instead. We finally we able to finish the vanity sink. My Dad did an amazing job of custom building the bottom and getting all the plumbing hooked up!

So in the picture you can see a chandelier, well we only have 8 foot ceilings and since Chad is almost that tall lol, it makes lighting a challenge. My Dad and Chad were able to take the chandelier apart and take out some sorta doohickey and make it short enough so he don’t wack his head on it.

While at Walmart we found the light fixture above the mirror that matches on clearance.

So we now have a light in the pantry. Two lights in the hallway. And two light fixtures in the bathroom. My dad also added a light outside the basement door but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Boy we sure did do a ton of work on that short amount of time. But as Chad likes to say. “ he would rather swing a hammer on the farm, then a pen at his desk”

I cannot believe August is almost at an end! Dad and Mom have been working on the stairway lately. Mom has been doing quite a bit of painting and so has Mr. I don’t paint.

Dad avoided the banister as long as he could, can’t say that I blame him though. It was a lot of angles to figure out and cut. I sure am glad he did it and not me. Mom said she is done painting her shoulder is now hurting after painting. Hopefully it’s just a sore muscle but she has a doctors visit to get it checked out. Please keep her in your prayers.

In addition to the banister being done, Hunter finished laying the flooring in his room. His room is nearly complete. It just needs the floor and ceiling trim, a ceiling light and a few more electrical plugs. He was not happy with the world, after laying the flooring, it was very frustrating to him. The edge pieces are definitely a pain. Then this mean ole Mama told him to clean his room to take pictures for me. Haha

We got a new addition on the farm today. The neighbors asked my dad if he wanted their goat. The goat is one of Buford’s babies that was born at the end of March or beginning of April and is a wether. For those that do not know, a wether is a male castrated goat. Since he was from the neighbors I wanted him to be named Mr. Wilson like off of the show Tool Time. So please meet Mr. Bo Wilson a Alpine/Pigmy mix.

It will take a little while for him to be fully accepted into the herd. Sunshine is living up to her name and has been playing with him already. The momma goats have not been as friendly but I am sure they will warm up to him soon.

Back here in Texas, I took Payton to the eye doctor and she is getting new glasses. She also started seminary this week so we are adjusting to getting up an hour earlier. Payton also taught a dog training class to the Young women at church. She worked so hard preparing for it and did a great job! She even taught her dog bug to play dead.

With the growing season coming to an end we picked one of our watermelons on the vine. It weighed 25.6 lbs! It was amazing to watch it grow from a seed. Isn’t she a beauty?

We have been back in Texas for a little over a week now and sad we are not still on the farm. Working on the farm is fun and exciting to see our dreams come to life. Unfortunately, we didn’t get everything accomplished we wanted to while we were there but my parents and Hunter have been working on some of those things that we left unfinished.

Hunter started working on laying flooring down in his room but he ran out and they had to go back to get more but I think he is doing a great job, obviously he is slacking on making his bed 🤦🏻‍♀️😜. He also installed his mini blinds, not sure how much help he had on them but they look good.

My dad has been avoiding the staircase like it’s gonna give him cooties (honestly I don’t blame him) so, he worked on the door way going into the living room from the dining room. Chad really wanted it to have an old rustic beam there. Dad was able to work out a deal with the neighbor for a few rough cut boards. The boards had been out in the elements for a while and made it hard to work with because they were a bit warped. Dad worked his magic and made it look amazing! Just got a little more trim pieces and some mini blinds and the living room is complete!!! So exciting!! Dad also put in a light fixture in the stairway down to the basement. It was a very dark stairway and definitely needed illuminated.

Dad began working on the stairs, he has been scratching his head on figuring it all out but he is making some progress. He has to take a trip to Lowes tomorrow in Morehead to get some more supplies. We got some stain to use for the hand rails today but learned a very valuable lesson. Different types of wood take stain differently. If you look at the picture below on the right you can see the inside handrail soaked a lot of the stain in and is super dark, and the outside hand rail is Oak and it looks completely different. We do love how the oak turned out with the stain, it is absolutely beautiful! The other one dad is going to sand on it and see if it will lighten up, if not we will paint it with a white oil base paint.

Dad worked on the angle of the handrails and then figured out how to do the spindles(🤷🏻‍♀️not sure if that is the right word) they will be white as well. Thank you mom for volunteering to paint them!

I cannot wait to see it finished. When we first started looking for a house Chad did not want a 2 story house because of the stairs, so I found a 3 story house (loop hole, just kidding) but I did want a second story so I could decorate the banister for holidays. So glad we were able to open up the staircase just for me to decorate, and I guess it will look amazing the rest of the year too! 😜

If you are reading this, most likely you are well aware we have an Amish Farm we have purchased in Kentucky. If not let me give a little overview.

When we originally purchased the farm a little over a year ago, Chad had not seen it in person. My Dad and I made the mad dash (which from Lamesa Tx -to Livingston Tx-to Kentucky is 23 hours and 54 minutes one way) the day after we seen it on realtor.com

When Dad and I first got to the farm, we were a few hours early for our appointment with the realtor. So we drove by to see it from the road, and drive around and explore the area.

I knew the minute, I saw it with my own eyes;, my “Hallmark Christmas Movie” farmhouse of my dreams had been found !!!!!

At the time I did not want to get my hopes up to much, because I’d be devastated if the Amish Farm fell through. It was an adventure exploring the house and barn and land. As I walked around it brought me back in time, when life was more simple, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, just a lot of possibilities!!!!

When I called Chad and showed him the farm thru FaceTime and photos, he was not real interested in the house itself. His first question was, “can I hunt safely?“, second question was, “show me the barn and workshop area”. His last question was “can I turn the basement into a Man-cave/Game room?

After I said yes. He stated “ok sign the paperwork and pay the lady”. I was, do you want to know about the house?? He said “Babe, you know all I need is the four S’s (somewhere to sleep, shower, sit and $h¡% 🙄) in a house, the rest of it ;that’s all up to you if you like it”.

Now mind you, buying an Amish farm is interesting to say the least. Their was a long list, of figuring out how to go about modernizing the farm.

1. How to get electricity installed to the house and barn?

2. How to go about installing plumbing ?

3. Since it was Amish Built house, it was a very simplistic design and finishing. Example no indoor bathroom, except an outhouse and only plumbing was water to kitchen sink and a small hand wash sink.

4. Lots of unfinished aspects: •Upstairs 3 out of 4 bed rooms had drywall up but not taped and mudded or painted. •One bedroom had exposed studs the drywall was not installed yet. •The upstairs floor was only underlayment. •None of the doors or windows had been trimmed out. •Most rooms did not have doors at all on them. The list goes on and on.

Side note. Found out the Amish considered it to be boasting and prideful to have these finished out.

Now most people I have talked to about the farm ask (2) two questions. Why, in the world would you want an unfinished home and why do you want it in Kentucky??

The Answer is actually an easy one. “ Why not”? I mean, I get to choose where to put Everything. I get to choose where to put electricity plugs, light switches? Trim? Flooring? Painting? Bathrooms? Entire kitchen design? and so forth. (Except when Dad, says “No, Casey you can not have that there” 🤣😂🤣😂)

Second answer is just as easy. I grew up with my Dad in the Navy, Chad grew up an Army brat. Both of us have moved a lot as adults. With Chad being a Warden, with TDCJ we also get moved around Texas, at the drop of a hat. So we are not tied down to any particular town or area.

Kentucky is absolutely beautiful. The weather is nice, the people are very nice. Most of the people we have encountered act like we been family or neighbors, All of our lives. The prices are so much more reasonable there as well.

July 21,2021 the Amish Farm became the “Pink Squirrel Farmstead” and was officially ours !!!

Luckily my Parents and Hunter were willing to move to the farm and work on projects. Hopefully by the time Chad can retire in a few years it’ll be mostly the way I want it to be.

So we have had, my Hallmark Movie farm of my dreams just a tad over a year now. I do not even know where to start at on the transformation that has occurred in the last year. I’m sure if I went to try and list something I would miss a ton 🤣.

We now have one bathroom with toilet and sink and old fashioned cast iron tub. In laundry room we have 2 washers and 2 dryers. Electric in the mud room, kitchen, living room, 2 out of the 5 bed rooms and multiple other places.

So now we are on to some of the more exciting and fun. We have made several trips back and forth from Texas to Kentucky. The last 4 1/2 days we spent on beautification projects. The living room we put up shiplap accent wall. I painted it chimney smoke grey. All around Kentucky you see black tobacco barns. So I think it is quit fitting to the area. Painted the rest of the living room and trimmed out the walls, door and windows. Chad installed a windmill ceiling fan (more parts than an IKEA project). I just love the ceiling fan, Chad was probably using some inappropriate language most of the install process. Normally the fan at Home Depot is over $800. We found it at a store in Wichita Falls for less than $50 🤯. Shiplapped the stairwell. Installed shiplap on several of the walls in various locations. And installed flooring in the upstairs library and one of the bedrooms.

This may not sound like much; but trust me. It was wayyyyyy more of an accomplishment in 4 days than you would ever want to conquer. We are definitely Glad we had help from Dad and the kiddos !!

Not sure if you have ever used a wood planner or not, but Chad found a “cheaper” shiplap alternative. You buy fence boards and run them thru the planner 2-3 times. What a price saving, but lots of work 🤣🤣.

We also had the opportunity to walk around and dwindle down some of the designs I want to tackle in the future.

This workcation definitely , whooped all of our butts, however the difference was worth the long hours.

Oh and it was awesome to play with the baby Goats !!!!!!!!!