Pink Squirrel Farmstead

Mid September I, had to call 911 for Chad. When he came home from work he had an upset stomach and I did too. I thought mine was just a headache and chad thought it was the fast food we had for lunch. We went to bed early hoping to feel better in the morning. In the wee hours of the morning I, was awaken by what I know now is that Chad was having a seizure, (He has never had one before) he became unresponsive and I had never seen a seizure like this before, it was not the normal “shaking limb type”. I was so scared we were going to lose him that night. I yelled out the bedroom door for Carla to call 911 and I checked Chad’s pulse, and his eyes but he was breathing really weird. It was Chad’s weekend to work so I picked up his work phone and called his boss (around 1:30-2:30am) to make sure someone else would be there because there was no way Chads was going to make it. (His Boss is awesome by the way. Later on He was yep you can tell you are a Warden’s wife 🤣🤣)

Finally, after what seemed like forever the sheriffs department got there and had me check his blood sugar (due to Chad being diabetic) while waiting for the ambulance to arrive, it was within normal range. I was still freaking out on the inside and fumbled around with checking it. When the ambulance got there, Chad finally opened his eyes. However, it was like “the lights were on, but nobody was home.” He wouldn’t talk or anything he would just look around. They loaded him up and off to the hospital he went. (Which was not an easy task by the way with him being 6’6” and 350lbs it took several men)

The doctors ran several tests on him and everything was coming back completely normal. They were baffled by what happened and why. They checked for Heart Attack, stroke, and everything under the sun.

He was finally talking again so I felt a little better but then a little after 4am he had another seizure, I ran out and yelled at the nurses, that it was happening again. I am glad they were able to give him some medicine to stop this seizure and then gave him some medicine to keep him from having another. The first one at our house lasted 20-25 minutes long. The doctor said they would be transferring him to a hospital in Lubbock for higher level of care, as soon as the ambulance could get there.

A little before 8am he was loaded back into the ambulance and was headed out. I went home to grab some essentials then headed to Lubbock (which is about an hour away).

I chatted with my parents on the way and gave them what little bit of update that I had. When I got to the hospital he was still out of it from the medication he was given, so I laid down on the couch in his room and tried to get some sleep.

Every little sound made me sit straight up because I was afraid he was going to have another seizure. By the way you should not read about medical issues on the internet it will definitely freak you out even more. (With all of my medical issues and Chad’s medical issues last few years I should receive a honorary Doctorate in Google MD 😇)

Later in the day, Carla brought us some food and a blanket (I was freezing) and Chad finally woke up enough to talk with us. They came in and did a 20 minute EEG and Chad talked to the nurse the whole time. He doesn’t remember anything about that whole day or most of this event for that matter. He would be in mid- sentence and go back to sleep. At this point he was having a hard time talking and slurring his speech. They ran more tests and still didn’t know why this had happened.

We saw a few different specialist, and stayed there a couple more days. The nurses were amazing and kept checking on him.

On top of everything somehow Chad hurt his back and it was really bruised during the seizures or being loaded onto the stretcher, we’re not sure if it was from the actual seizure or from what. Not sure if he has a herniated disc or torn muscle but nothing seems to help with it. The Dr X-ray his back and luckily nothing was broken or visibly out of place.

He finally got discharged from the hospital and now he has doctor’s appointments lined up with a neurologist and cardiologist and his PCP. From now up thru December. Additionally, he has been getting different tests and medication changes while they try to figure it all out. Please keep us in your prayers as we navigate this unknown. I am thankful he is alive and doing better.

At every Dr appointment first thing Chad keeps asking is, when he can go back to work and the doctors keep telling him NO! Not until they figure out what is medical wrong with him. He is so stubborn, luckily he has an amazing boss,that tells him to worry about getting his health back to normal and not work. His Assistant Warden is also amazing and tells him the same thing. Boy he is hard headed 😇

When it rains it pours. In the midst of everything at the hospital our dog CoCo, bit my parents dog Maggie and she had to go to the vet to get sewn back up. Coco is an American Bully and weighs over 100lbs. Maggie is a chihuahua and weighs less than 20 lbs. CoCo doesn’t realize her size and strength and Maggie thinks she is 10 feet tall and bulletproof.

Then my parents called and told me my uncle wasn’t doing good and was in the hospital.

Then Payton’s dog “Bug” tried jumping over the wooden gate, broke the wood and caught a nail. Back to the vets office my parents went. Thankfully they are healing up. Bugs took longer to heal because she wouldn’t leave it alone, got her cone off and pulled out her stitches and finally had to keep a muzzle on her to keep her from messing with it.

About a week later, we received the horrible news that my Uncle passed away. We went to say our goodbyes to my Uncle Bill, he is definitely missed.

Just remember to tell your loved ones, that you love them, because tomorrow is never promised.❤️

Before we left the farm in July we got notice that Chad had been promoted and we were moving to Plainview. Since we got back to Texas we have been non-stop busy. Payton and Roman are here with us as well, until they can finalize their custody agreement next month. It has been fun having our grandson around and seeing him grow and learn each new thing. He loves his Oma and Opa !!

When we left, Cheyenne and Coco stayed behind in Kentucky, while we got moved and situated in Plainview. My Dad has been working on projects here and there when the weather would cooperate and he wasn’t blacksmithing out in the barn.

In addition, he made tall skinny cabinets on either side of the range that will be great for cutting boards, cookie sheets or whatever. I love being able to use every nook and cranny instead of having waisted spaces. I may or may not have a lot of kitchen stuff.

While we were there the pond was getting pretty full but then they didn’t get any rain for over a month and it dried up. It just started filling back up again. Hopefully it will hold water and stay filled up so we can get some fish put in it next spring.

Hopefully this is normal pond behavior and it will hold water long term. I have never had a pond built so this is all new to me/us.

Since we bought the farm we have been battling with the basement leaking water everywhere. We have tried several products and still kept having the same issue. I have spent countless hours researching how to fix the issue without hiring someone else to fix it. Not sure if you know but I am a penny pincher and try to save a buck or two where I can.

Dad tried fixing it as well and went through all of the plumbing connections piece by piece, to verify there was no plumbing leaks. This has been a very frustrating project to say the least. Finally, after some advice from a friend, we bought some dye for the septic tank and dad put it in (I wasn’t there for that so not sure how he did it) and 2 weeks or so later found that there was a leak somewhere around the septic. Luckily it was an easy fix and it has been cleaned and dried since. Papa was definitely glad Cheyenne was there to help ! Just in case, Mom and Dad painted some blue rubber paint stuff that I found during my many hours of research. Meanwhile, Cheyenne did some much needed cleaning down there. Yay!!!!! Now we can start working on the basement apartment for Carla. But she doesn’t like the name basement so it’s now the first floor apartment.

In August, Chad got settled into work here at his new prison complex in Plainview TX and Roman started crawling. We explored the town like tourists and Payton found a job at one of the local Veterinary offices.

For some reason we can’t find the lid to put hot cocoa jar, we feel like we have looked everywhere! We finally decided to buy a new one because it will be cold before we know it and hot chocolate is a necessity.

Dad updated us that after the drought in KY they finally got some rain and the basement stayed dry! Hallelujah!!!! We just love our little farm.

I will have to assume, if you are following my blog then you realize there are a few things that are important to me and a few things I absolutely love.

By now you realize my health has not been greatest and has really slowed me down from doing all the things I love and/or for the people I love.

We had the opportunity to go to the farm for almost 3 weeks in a row !!!! You just can not imagine how excited this made me and Chad ☺️. He never takes that much time off work at once unless he is in the hospital or something.

This trip we were able to get a ton of stuff accomplished!

The only thing at the farm Chad has been disappointed with, is it didn’t have a fishing pond. Well he now has absolutely nothing to complain about!😀

It took a few days to have the pond excavated. The man who did the work said he had been do this kinda work for almost 40 years and of course our land had a few challenges. The spot where I wanted to have the pond dug was apparently jinxed. ( rude! I put a lot of thought into the perfect spot for the pond) The man said he hit Atleast 7 layers of hard limestone rock. Now that may not sound like much but let me tell ya some of the rocks were the size of cars ☹️. Maybe I should start selling limestone 😜.

When he hit that 7th layer it was just a solid sheet of rock and he was not able to get it any deeper. So long story short, the pond was not as deep and large as Chad was wanting but never the less it had been completed. It has rained several times since it was completed and it’s already about 1/3 filled up !!

The pond is about a 1/4 acre or so give or take. Hopefully 🙏 next year we can start putting fish in it.

While they were excavating the pond Chad and I finished up the master bedroom. Back in April, I took a short trip to Kentucky and my Dad and I started the construction of the closet. Now that Chad was at the farm to help decide the finishing touches to our room we could finally complete the closet. We had to paint the closet, add clothes rods, door hardware and a few minor modifications to the room, and carpet the floors. Painting is definitely harder now than it was in my 20’s. I decided from the beginning that I wanted carpet in my bedroom because it would feel nice and cozy on my feet.pEspecially in the winter 🥶. Luckily,way back in the day Chad use to lay carpet and tile for a living. Unfortunately for him he told me this lol🤣 and he is now my carpet and tile guy (lucky him). It was also great that I did not have to watch 500 different YouTube videos to try and figure that stuff out.

While Chad was laying the carpet in our bedroom, I went upstairs and wallpapered the ceiling in my sewing room!

I decided that I wanted to go with wallpaper for the ceiling but I misjudged the amount of wallpaper rolls I would need while in Texas. Needless to say I ended up having to order 3 additional wallpaper rolls to finish the ceiling and thankfully they came in 2 days later. I guess that is just part of the challenge of making decisions from 1/2 way across the country 🙃.

When Chad finished our master bedroom, I ordered him (just kidding 🤣, I nicely asked him) to go upstairs and lay carpet in the office/Roman’s bedroom that I bought on sale in October of last year.

Next on my to do list was to get another shot at working on my dream kitchen. I have decided and changed my mind 1000’s of times on exactly what I wanted and needed to have in my kitchen. My Dad and Chad have tried telling me No on a few things but ultimately Chad knows that if momma ain’t happy, nobody is happy 😜. This has truly been one of the hardest decisions and dreams I’ve ever had to make. I want this kitchen to be the kitchen of my dreams and hopefully make a few of you reading this and slightly envious.

I have been tossing around several different ideas for what to do for the kitchen and dining room ceiling. From the beginning I wanted old metal ceiling tiles until I prices them out. Then, I thought about shiplapping the ceilings like everywhere else in the house. But wasn’t sure if I should paint it or stain it this was a wayyyyy cheaper option! However, I decided against shiplap because I wanted this area to be unique and I knew that it was just not what I wanted. Then I considered using tin, but couldn’t decide if I wanted new sheets or old barn patina sheets. Then there was the thought about using wall paper or normal drywall ceiling and just use a bright color paint, and about any other kind of a ceiling that you can imagine but I kept going back to ceiling tiles.

After seeing the outcome of the ceiling tiles we put up in the library, I was really persuaded to consider that option. This opened up a whole new can of worms for me to consider. Now what color, style, material, size, etc. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 but the price still was not where I wanted it to be. After a long tenuous search 👀 I found the perfect ceiling tiles and they were in my budget. 🙌

Generally speaking, ceiling tiles are pretty to look at and fairly straightforward to install. You start at one spot and keep going and try to get the finished product as lined up as possible. Unfortunately, this time was a little trickier. With these tiles going up in the kitchen and dining room ceiling first, I had to convince Chad to get busy and run electric lines to a few additional lights that needed to get installed. Him and my Dad have avoided this project since we bought the house. They acted like it was going to be a long tedious project or something.

I mean it was only like 30 more lights that were “needed”. Some were light fixtures to go above the island, the stove, and the sink, but most were LED recessed lighting. I just really wanted good lighting in my kitchen.

I’m not sure how much you know about running electrical lines, but when you have to run them in the ceiling you have one section that goes in between joist. Those are pretty easy cut a hole use a fish tape wire puller (it helps guide the wire where you want it). The other direction when you have to go thru joist is a lot more complicated. After an entire day of just running the electrical he was finished up and ready to start putting tiles up. He may, or may not have asked me several times if I really needed this many lights and he made me decide exactly where I wanted each light…. I just wanted to give him the supplies, take a nap and come back and it be done…. Haha just kidding!

Luckily for him, I allowed him to put all the lights on to one switch(with the option to change my mind later on down the road…. Maybe) that we already had installed few years ago, instead of multiple on off switches at multiple locations like my 1st envision.

So now here comes the fun part (umm since you can’t hear the sarcasm, I will elaborate). Normally when we take Chads battery operated Dewalt Caulking gun thingy and use a bunch of tubes of liquid nail and they go up just fine. Well, these tiles didn’t like this plan and after we had about 10 or 12 tiles up they started falling down. Apparently, the liquid nail stuff wasn’t drying fast enough to hold the tiles up. Chad 1/2 joked about it and said “we outta just hot glue them up there”. 🤣 I was looking at him like he was crazy but we definitely had to figure this out…. The tiles were going up one way or another!!

After trying to use a tack nailer and few other things, it appeared that hot glue might actually work and that his idea wasn’t that crazy (shhh don’t tell him). We figured that would at-least hold the tiles up long enough to allow the liquid nail to dry good. Off to the store we went for glue sticks. While at the store Chad mistakenly thought his battery hot glue gun took regular size glue sticks. So we bought about 10 bags of 30 count sticks. (I bet the cashier thought we were some major artsy fartsy people 😇 haha). But of course nothing ever goes smoothly, and once we got home I heard Chad mumble some unmentionable words under his breath I immediately knew he needed mini glue sticks 😳. Luckily, my mom was there to save the day and had a plug in hot glue gun that we were able to use.

I guess after that fiasco Chad was no longer interested in the ceiling tile shenanigans and he asked Hunter to be my tile caulker specialist while I was up on scaffolding strategically applying each tile in pure perfection. After about an hour or so Hunter (like Chad) was no longer interested in that particular job and said welp time for me to get ready for my real job. Bye bye. I then suckered Payton in to be the vice chairman of the tile application company. After another hour or so, I guess Roman had other plans for her and gave Payton a reason to exit stage left. Luckily, Cheyenne loves to help me out and it was her turn of being the ceiling tile caulker specialist. After a little bit of practice and a little bit of patience she got the hang of it and she actually did a fantastic job and is a great help!

After completing the ceiling tiles and installing all the lights, it was time add few more electrical plugs to the kitchen and then onto shiplap all the bare walls. Like most things it didn’t run smoothly and I ran out of tiles with 6 left to be done! I ordered them and they came in a couple days after we came home and my Dad finished the ceiling.

I decided, I just wanted a flat white paint on the shiplap. Main reason was I really wanted my kitchen to be bright. Secondly, I wanted the natural wood of the cabinets to be the main focal color.

It was probably around this point of the trip when Chad got a phone call from his higher up bosses, with a surprise. They called to tell him he was being promoted to a Warden Position at a complex of two prison units. After being the Warden in Childress at the Roach Unit for 3 1/2 years, we are moving to our next duty station in Plainview, Texas about 1:45 minutes away from Childress where he will be over the Formby/Wheeler complex.

A bunch of people ask if it bugs me when we have to move for his job. My answer is not at all, I think it is fun and exciting to go somewhere new. I grew up a Navy brat, Chad and Carla grew up an Army brat so we are all accustomed to this lifestyle. 😇 But I must admit I will be extremely grateful when we make the final move to the Farm. We are all working hard together to make our dreams come true at the Farm.

After getting the ceiling and walls done it was time to get busy with my splurge item that was definitely a want not a need. I wanted to have a beautiful backsplash that was breath taking. I think my dream might be accomplished. I found the most gorgeous backsplash tiles. They are marble, cut into a daisy 🌼 pattern.

This backsplash is just amazing. It was going up great. Chad said the tiles cut good and placement was not bad just like a jigsaw puzzle. I was glad this project was going smoothly……. Oops I may have spoke (well typed) too soon. Hmmm 🤔 I knew something was wrong when I heard Chad using words I don’t think an Opa should be using around my sweet little innocent Roman (luckily he wasn’t in the same room).

As Chad applied the grout and then attempted to wipe it off the tiles it started to pull it out in between the tiles. He tried numerous ways and still it wasn’t working. He even watched a few YouTube videos and tried a few of the tips he saw on it. However it still wasn’t working properly. He then let the grout dry completely first on a small section to see if he could remove it at that point. Finally success, but it required a lot of time and patience because you have to remove it off each marble tile one at a time.

Secondly, have to remove the grout from each and every tile one at a time 😳

Ooppss, busted laying down on the job 😜

After a ton of hours of working non stop I decided us women folk needed a much deserved “Girls day”. July is my Mom’s Birth month so this year for her Birthday we went out for a proper tea party at Lexington Tea and Brie. I wanted to get her something different this year and making memories is the perfect gift.

We each got to choose a tea of our choice, 3 savory sandwiches, and pre selected desserts. We all chose different teas, and sandwiches and had wonderful conversations. Roman came with us and enjoyed smiling at everyone. It was fun to dress up and have a little tea party. We even tried clotted cream on our scones. I highly recommend going there but you have to make reservations prior. Happy Birthday Mom!

We still are not all the way finished with the kitchen, however it has definitely surpassed my dreams. We have come so far and made such a transformation of our Lil Amish Farm into Pink Squirrel Farmstead over the past 4 years. It has been such a thrill to come up with ideas and see them transformed right before my eyes. My dreams are coming into my reality ❤️

Thanks for reading. Can’t wait for the chance to go back to the Farm and be able to share my next progress report.

As I previously mentioned I love snow and was hoping that it would snow while we were at the Farm.

Well it did …. Sorta, not really. Like ONE hour before we had to head back to Texas on Friday 1-3-25.

Well on Sunday – Monday it snowed 😒 Rude, I know!!! lol

Hunter had to trek through the blizzard 🥶 to go feed his barn cats!

So Mom and Dad had to find some activities to do inside

I was also busy today Baking here in Texas. Made two different kinds of homemade Bagels and Two loafs of Homemade Bread. I also decided since it was cold here in the teens 🥶 to make homemade green chili chicken enchilada soup. It was so delicious I forgot to take a picture of it ☺️

We have decided that we are going to try and make from scratch as much food as possible.

#1 it is cheaper

#2 it is healthier

#3 If you didn’t already realize it, I love to cook !!

The weather report is saying we have a chance here in the Texas Panhandle to get some snow on Thursday. Guess I will have to wait and see. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

We have had the farm for about 3 1/2 years now.

There have been lots of changes along the way. If any of you, reading this knows anything about me, then you will now my absolute favorite holiday is Christmas 🎅. And it took us 1,250 longgggg days to finally have Our First Christmas 🎄 at the Farm !!

Chad was able to get 2 weeks off from work 🎉

So we had the opportunity to go to the farm to work on a few projects and enjoy Christmas and New Year’s at the farm.

It was nice to see my parents and Hunter for Christmas this year, it’s been several years since we actually had Christmas together on Christmas Day🎄

We had fun opening up our gifts and having lots of laughs.

My favorite part of being at the farm for the holidays, was cooking a nice holiday meal in my ginormous kitchen.

Dad has made a lot of progress with building all the cabinets from scratch.

While making Christmas Dinner, I was able to fine tune the exact design and details I wanted for my kitchen island 🥰. The Island, is going to take a lot of work to complete. The top will be a solid hardwood butcher block. It is going to be almost 6 foot wide and 7 foot long once it’s completed

I can already envision myself, rolling out pie crust and cookie dough and playing board games around the island with the family.

It makes my heart warm just the thought of what memories are going to be made in this kitchen of my dreams !

We also had the chance to finally finish the upstairs bathroom!!

While we were in Kentucky we went to one of our favorite places in Morehead the Piddlers Mall. It’s a combination of crafts booths and antique booths. We had the chance to find a ton of antiques.

Most likely you have never heard of an international food market named Jungle Jims in Cincinnati Ohio. Unless you read my previous blog post about it. Last time I was at the farm I went to the first location. Chad has not been to either one, so this time I, decided to take him to the one I hadn’t been to, so it would be a new experience for us all! It is incredibly large and has different sections from countries around the world. We enjoyed going there for the day and getting out and about. If you never heard of it before, there is a ton of YouTube videos and TicTok videos about it (hence how we learned about it) this is where Hunter found several exotic items for us to try. Jungle Jims only has these 2 locations on different sides of Cincinnati. Both of these locations are very different from each other so it is a unique experience to see them both !

Not only does it sell food and other grocery stores products but it also has a ton of animatronic displays and other things to look at. All in all it is a fun little get away where you can spend all day long browsing. (actual it is bigger than 200,000 sq ft)

We decided while in Cincinnati, to try some grub that we don’t have in the huge metropolis of Childress TX. We found a neat little Mediterranean Cafe to try out. Chad and Hunter both had a lamb gyro. Cheyenne had tomato basil feta soup. I indulged myself with a wonderful salmon and Basmati rice dish. This cafe was delicious 🤤

We also had the chance to finish up most of the office space that connects the library to my sewing room

Still need to finish frame outs on the door ways & put permanent carpet down, but it is mostly finished. I choose to divide my sewing room into two separate rooms because I wanted to have different use for both sides of the room. I don’t sew all of the time so I didn’t want to have a huge room tied up just for that purpose. I have decided I want to find a pretty floral wall paper to put on the ceiling of my sewing 🧵 room. (Darn you Instagram and Pinterest)

Also we plan on making a huge crafting area in the basement for all of us to be able to utilize.

The entire time we were at the farm I was hoping that it would ⛄️ snow. Most days the weather was raining and warmer than normal. And just with my luck 🍀 it finally snowed for a few minutes about an hour before we had to leave to head back to Texas. ❄️

We made it home to Texas about 1 am and just so you know as soon as we hit Oklahoma Chad points out EVERY SINGLE BRAUMS!!! We don’t ever stop there on our trip but he just points them out just to be a pain in the butt….. I know you are surprised 😂. We can’t wait to go back again soon, so time to start planning out and saving for our next trip.

I have heard this treat called many things over the years, so call it what you want. I love making different holiday treats and this one is easy. This one can be made for many holidays and it is quick and easy to make. I love all things peanut butter so this is a favorite of mine. So let’s get to it!

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 bag of butterscotch morsels

2- 5oz containers chow mien noodles

Small candies of your choice (optional)

In a bowl combine peanut butter and butterscotch morsels and put in microwave for 30 seconds intervals and stir in between until melted smooth and creamy ( usually only takes 2 intervals. Add in both containers of chow mien noodles and stir until all noodles are completely coated. Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon and scoop into small piles onto parchment paper. Press 3 pieces of candy into middle of pile to resemble a bird nest. Let sit to harden for approximately 30 minutes. Enjoy!

You can change the candy up to match each holiday or just use the candy of your liking. I used what I had on hand this time and I have made them and even left the candy off. I hope you enjoy these as much as our family enjoys them! Merry Christmas!🎄

I remember when I was a kid going to visit my Aunt Anna and she made us Chocolate Gravy and biscuits and I thought she was the coolest aunt ever!!! Then years later after my dad retired from the Navy we moved to a small town in Oklahoma called Clayton and they served chocolate gravy in the School cafeteria!

Since the kids are all grown now, I haven’t made it in several years. I was making a recipe book for someone recently and my sister in law, reminded me that I told her about chocolate gravy, many, many, many, years ago and never made it for her and I “should” make it for dinner for her 😇.

So guess what we had for dinner tonight? Another easy weeknight meal!!!

What are some childhood meals you remember and cherish? Chocolate gravy always seems to be one that reminds me of my Aunt and the holidays and my years in Clayton. I can’t believe it’s been so long since we had it.