A New Chapter

Hello folks, how y'all doing??

Once again, I've been MIA, but I'm sure y'all are used to it by now. Honestly, half the time I tell myself I should can this whole blogging thing. But alas, I love it too much and therefore have started ANOTHER blog. Yes, you read correctly. Miss Once-Every-Two-Months-Blogger has started a second blog.

Don't be alarmed, The Hohman Homestead is not getting canned and hopefully will one day (soon!) be running at full-tilt again. But, I had this little (ok, maybe not so little) squishable, kissable, loveable baby about 5 months ago and well, people are demanding photo updates. So I'm here today to announce:

Russell-Mania

The posting style there will be much different than here at the Homestead, hence why I started a whole new she-bang. Each post will consist of a date, Baby H's age at that time, and a slew of photos. But NO WORDS. Making it much easier for me to get some posting done. :)

And now, on to the real new chapter. Cowboy H and I (and well, the whole entire herd) are packing up and moving out. Yup, after all the sweat and dirt (literally) and tears (not really) and hours of improvement we've poured into this home, we're moving on.

While things are going to be a little complicated at first (think 2 adults, 3 cats, 2 dogs, 2 horses and 1 baby moving into my parents' house) eventually we will be moving onto a 2 acre piece of property, complete with horse pens, a chicken coop, a pump house, a brick patio and a GIANT avocado tree just to name a few amenities. (Wow, that was a really long sentence.) The home is a 150+ year old farm house that my family has owned for many, many years. It was originally bought by my grandmother's parents (yep, my great-grandparents). My parents actually lived here when they first got married and so did I until I was about 5 years old.

The first phase of the move has already been completed; Crow and Maria have already been relocated to the back pasture of my parents house, where I'm sure they're getting even fatter. And just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of the Homestead will be snuggled closely (and tightly) into my parents' house as well.

Wish us (lots and lots and lots) of luck!

The Nursery

For the past several months, Cowboy H and I have been undertaking a major home improvement project. Okay, who am I kidding, Cowboy H has been doing all the work, since a) I am more trouble than help when I paint, and b) I was pretty pregnant for most of the time. For the most part, we are simply replacing all the flooring and painting all the walls in the entire house. However, there was one extra special room.

WE GOT TO MAKE A NURSERY!!!

Hee hee. Although I haven't taken many pictures of the entire project, I will eventually show you the new and improved Homestead. But for now, my new favorite room in the house…

The idea for the nursery was inspired by this shelf:

which was given to us by the ever generous Desert Rose, as well as a certain red vintage cowboy fabric crib set owned by the same lady. (Hint, hint.)

The combination of the two led me to the idea of a vintage desert cowboy "theme". I wanted muted, calming colors that reminded me of the desert.

We purchased the crib and dresser/changing table set used from one of the veterinarians I work with. The quality of the furniture is amazing; its already been through three kids and hardly has a scratch on it. The rocking chair was used by my mom when my brother and I were babies; my dad and brother refinished/painted it for me. The border was hand painted by me, using stencils that I made after wasting too many hours searching online for just the right stencils to match the image in my head. The wall artwork are Will James (of Smokey the Cow Horse fame) pencil sketch reproductions. The crib set was made for me by an extremely talented aunt after I was unable to sequester the above mentioned set. This crazy (in a good way) aunt of mine made everything: sheets, crib skirt, bumper pad, quilt changing pad covers, towels, washcloths, pillows, window valence using fabric I purchased online.

Bumper pad


Crib pillow


Window valence

And yes, those were baby chinks you saw:

Don't worry, he already has the Wranglers to go with them.

Tap Tap… Is This Thing On?

The most recent photo I have of Cowboy H and I, taken in September of last year.

Hello? Anybody out there?

Anybody?

As I begin to write my first post in, oh, seven months, I wonder if I will even show up on anybody's feed anymore. Heh heh, that's okay, we'll all gotta start (over) somewhere.

This is seriously the first time I have even logged into my blogger account in about 6 months. It took me approximately 7 tries to get my user name and password combination correct. Then I couldn't remember how to navigate my account once logged in. Lastly, I can't remember how to write html format anymore!!!

I'm surprised my account is still active…

I never, ever intended to stop blogging, but once I had been MIA for so long, I felt weird coming back. I didn't know where to start, what to say.

Then, I lost all motivation. My schedule calmed down and I actually had some time to blog, but I just couldn't talk myself into logging in. I didn't feel like a blogger anymore.

Not sure if I even can call myself a blogger anymore…

Moving on. I miss y'all!! (Seriously, is anyone still there?)

I'm not sure if I'm back for good, but I really really really want to be back. So much has happened that I haven't documented (you know, its been almost a year) that I'm starting to forget it all. And really, while establishing wonderful connections with all my readers/commenters has been a big plus, the main reason I started this blog was to record and remember the story and adventures of The Homestead.

Speaking of The Homestead…

Its still standing. It didn't get washed away or flooded out during the Southern California Christmas-time Downpours.

But that's about all that's stayed the same.

Well, the number of family members has stayed the same.

But, that too will be changing soon.

Oh yes, we are doing it again.

Only this time, the newest member won't be here till May.

And he'll have 2 legs instead of 4.

And (hopefully) he won't be covered in fur.

Again.

At approximately 8:03 this morning, this is what my driveway looked like:

I promise I'll connect the dots soon!

One Week To Go...

I have so much blogging material floating around in my head, I can't keep it all straight. Things have been busy, busy, busy around The Homestead.

First, and foremost, and most importantly, I am quitting my job. Or rather, I already have, but my last day is next Friday. That's right, folks, one week to go.

It's very difficult for me to write about this, because, well, I really do love my job. In theory. But in reality, in execution, I hate it. My boss has worn my thin and I am about to my breaking point. And I don't want a job to break me, so I'm moving on.

I was offered a full-time position at the animal hospital I work (as a vet tech) and have decided to pursue that route. I've have been "teching" for 5 years, on and off, and the more time I spend away from it, or the less time I spend actually doing it, the more I miss it. The more I realize how much I LOVE it. That's it, I love teching.

I also recently learned that I can apply to take my Registered Veterinary Technicians licensing test, without having to go back to school. Since I have a bachelor's degree in Animal Science, Pre-Vet (my original plan was to go to Vet School) and I have loads of hours experience actually teching, all I have to do is turn in my application, get approved, and pass the test. IF all that pans out, and I do pass, I will be a RVT, basically a registered nurse for animals. I never, ever considered going the tech route because they don't make a whole lot for how hard they work, but if you love it, that's all that matters. This I have figured out.

So, starting April 5, I will have a different full-time job, and will be taking a significant pay cut. Which sucks, but its not the end of the world. We may not be able to put as much money into savings each month, and we may not be able to work on the house anymore, but the bills will still get paid. The upside is, if I do get licensed, I will get a significant pay increase, which will put me almost back to where I am now, and I will actually be enjoying my job!

The impending pay cut brings me to our in-progress yard project. Before our extra money runs out, Cowboy H wants to overhaul the yard. So, last weekend we started. We haven't finished yet, but hey, its a work in progress. I have taken lots of photos, I have fallen on my butt, and I have killed my lawn. You will be updated as soon as possible.

Another thing buzzing around in my head is my Photography Class. Our assignment for this week (given out last week) was to take Self-Portraits. But not any old self-portraits; these were self-portraits of WHAT WE ARE NOT. My fabulous friend Choleesa who has her own crazy world, upon hearing the assignment, turned to me and said, "Well, if there's one thing I'm NOT, its a cowgirl". So, last weekend we made her a cowgirl. And My Maria modeled along with her.

Since we are still in the film half of this class, I don't have immediate images of our little "photo shoot" but we did develop our film last night and ohmygoshtheyrockoutofthisworld!!!! Since they are Choleesa's photos (I just directed the shoot and took them) you will have to go to her world to check them out, once we get them developed, but DON'T MISS THEM. The butt shots are exceptional. And Maria looks pretty good, too. My self-portraits were not as exciting, but fun anyways. I was a "professional career woman", you know, pant suit, black pumps and briefcase. When we get them printed, I'll give you a peek.

Okay, I think that's enough words and not enough photos, but I haven't had time. I've taken them, just not processed and uploaded them yet. I promise they will be coming. Please don't stop loving me over this one long-winded post.

Oh, and lastly, the dogs dug their way out of their run last night. These two, I swear. The funny thing is once they got out, they couldn't get back in, so they were without food and water for who knows how long. Serves the little suckers right. All I can say is at least we're tearing out the backyard right now anyway! I guess they were just doing their fair share of the manual labor.

Yeah, that's it. They're such good little doggies they were just trying to help!

See ya on the other side (if you're still around)!

Oh My.

This is what my front yard looked like at approximately 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon:

And this is what my backyard looked like at approximately 3:30 pm on Sunday afternoon:

All I can say is, no tornadoes were involved in the making of this post.

Welcome To My Life, Ed. 2, Vol III

At 2 am this morning, the smoke alarm went off.

BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP!

Then, silence.

Cowboy H: What the?!?!

Mama H: (mumbling) It's the smoke alarm.

Cowboy H: But why did it go off? Has it done that before?

Mama H: (mumbles something)

Cowboy H gets out of bed to investigate. Mama H's eyes roll back in her head and all she can think is Do NOT make me get out of bed.

Cowboy H returns from investigating and gets back in bed.

Mama H: (mumbling) What was it?

Cowboy H: I don't know. That's weird that it just went off for no reason. Maybe its a ghost.

Mama H: (a little more coherently) Maybe the fire got so hot it set it off. Maybe it has a temperature sensor.

Cowboy H: No, that wouldn't be it.

Both roll back over and start to fall back asleep.

Cowboy H: (mumbling now) You set it off. You're so smoking hot you set off the smoke alarm.

Mama H: (smiles and snuggles in)

Good golly, I love my man.

We Put Something On The Walls!

Oddly enough, the Sunday before this appeared on A Cowgirl's Grace, I took the following pictures of some things I had finally gotten up on our walls. As you know, we've lived in the house for over a year now, and the only thing that had made its way onto a wall was a calender. Sad, sad.

New Year's Day my parents were visiting The Homestead, and while my mom and I shopped, Cowboy H and my dad hung these items on the walls.

So, let's take a peek inside the door!

When you open the front door and walk directly in, straight in front of you is the living room and fireplace. This painting now hangs directly above the fireplace.

Please ignore the white balance in all of these photos; The Homestead is extremely difficult to take pictures inside of.

I know its a little small for the space, but don't worry, I will have more on that at a later date.

One of my aunts and uncles gave us this as a wedding gift. It is just perfect for us. I love it.

If you walk into the living room and turn to your right, you will see our big picture window. If you continue turning to your right, you will see this hanging on the wall behind the couch.

My friend Cassie (you have met her in the wedding posts) painted this in college. It was one of her class projects. She is majorly talented.

It's an abstract, but can you tell what it is?

From here, if you look to the right of the front doors, you will see this (pencil/watercolor?) artwork.

No, the matting is not two different colors; there was a shadow from the wall behind me.

My grandma gave us this over Christmas-time. It was the very first piece of artwork she got as a married lady. My great-grandfather (her father-in-law) knew the artist.

Unfortunately, my grandma couldn't remember the artist's name, and there is paper covering the signature on the back, so we will never know...

From here, if you turn back to your left, so the front doors are on your right, you'll see this beauty.

Ahhh, camera distortion!!

Every cowboy's house should have one of these.

Don't ever sell your saddle.
Honest to goodness, there is not a sum in this world that would get Cowboy H to part with his saddle.

This was another Cowboy Christmas purchase. The writing is burned into hair-on cowhide. I love the big copper studs in the corners.

'Round the bend from here, in the kitchen/dining area is another painting from Cassie.

Cassie painted this when she was twelve.

Yes, twelve. It is an oil-painting. Crazy kid.

Behind your back from this standing point, is our kitchen. We have this chalkboard hanging there.

This was purchased in Idyllwild, one of our favorite little places to visit. We have important phone numbers for house sitters listed on the bottom half, so no peeking!

Thanks for joining me on an arts touring through The Homestead!

The First Day

The first day in our home was surreal. Most likely due to lack of sleep, but also joy and excitement and the fact that it was Christmas Eve. This didn't hurt much either:

This was the view from our driveway, looking above the house directly across the street. I love that our For Sale sign is still there, since I never thought to take a picture with it until it was gone.

Another surprise: Our first mail!

Unfortunately, it was from the insurance company.

Overnight, the cats had fully inspected the entire house, and left all the cupboards open for us.

Cowboy H took all the doors of their hinges and began painting them (to cover graffiti)

And also put our bed together, so we could sleep in our actual bedroom!

And I started cooking our "Christmas Dinner".

Since we were both working the next day, Christmas, we stuffed our faces a day early.

And that was the end to the most perfect first day in our new home ever. One that will be remembered a long long time.

One Year Ago Today

We packed up all these boxes,

Watched as they were loaded into the moving van,

Arrived at our new address,

Checked out all the rooms,

Living Room


Kitchen


Hallway to Bedrooms


Master Bedroom

Waited for the moving van to arrive,

And started putting things in their new, proper places.

Check out the too small curtains!


Oh, there they are. The old couches.





Walk in closet!

Eventually, the cats came out of hiding from the litter boxes,

The unpacking began,

One down, about 11 hundred more to go.


Look at all my cupboards! I think I died and went to Heaven!


Where, oh where, do I want everything to go?

And empty boxes slowly stacked up,

Um, yes, this was before we had the dogs.

All while Cowboy H painted away.

Finally, at about 3 am, we called it a night,

IN OUR HOME, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.