REDNECK CHRISTMAS

I can hardly remember when things at 900 Post Oak Road looked like this. Now the driveway is right through the middle of those trees.

There's a house now where these trees once stood.

Two years ago we attended our first 7R Ranch Christmas party. Tex and Nellie beneath the 7R moon.

Jay Novacek with his little girl, Mcainley. Don't ya just love that this big ole football player is holding his daughter's doll? No wonder he was good at catching footballs.....check out the size of that hand.

My YOUNGER sister and me on Santa's lap. (that's a Christmas present for her....she always wants everybody to know she's 16 months younger!) I asked for a brand new car and she asked for all the money back that she'd lost in the stock market that year. He told us we'd both been naughty and handed us a lump of coal. Ruined my night.

Because the house is not ready and we have no room at the apartment for our son who is coming from Houston, we are spending a redneck Christmas at the Longhorn Inn. No other place in Gordon to stay. You know you might be a redneck if you buy a half-price ($14.99) Martha Stewart Christmas tree at Home Depot to bedeck your motel room.

We won't be spending all our time at the Longhorn Inn. By Friday the house will be complete except for a few minor things and the final cleaning. We will be able to take our camo folding chairs and sit by the fireplace. Of course, yesterday it was a record 85 here. I think on Christmas day it will be in the high 40's. We will have light, heat and working toilets. What more do you need?

You might be a redneck if you have a coon dog on your porch and display the Confederate flag! This was taken when the Longhorn was under management by the previous owner. The Confederate flag is no longer there and I haven't see the hound in a coon's age.

There are several famous rednecks within a short distance of this motel. Alice Walton's Rocking W Ranch is just east of here and Ty Murray and Jewel live down the road in Stephenville 23 miles south of the motel.

You might be a redneck if you eat your Christmas dinner at the Iron Skillet Truck Stop in Weatherford. That will be the only place open on Christmas day. But, the food at that truck stop is awesome! Believe me. I've gained 10 pounds this year stopping to eat at that place.

When you come to visit, we won't take you to the truck stop for dinner. We'll kick off our boots and get all gussied up and go on down the road to Weatherford to eat at the Fire Oak Grille. The chef there is a redneck from Ft. Worth, Eric Hunter, who won the 2006 competition on Iron Chef. He beat some Japanese chef in what they called the "Chili Peppers" battle.

We're heading out to the ranch tomorrow morning so I won't be posting until after Christmas. Here's wishing ya'll the most wonderful Christmas ever. I hope you get to spend it with your loved ones. We'll be missing our sweet grandson and his mommy and daddy.

MERRY REDNECK CHRISTMAS!

Nervous Nellie (Dad-gummit! Why do the last paragraphs always run together? I can't change it.)

GIFT EXCHANGE

Yesterday afternoon Tex and I went to the Benbrook Antique Mall. My urges got the best of me and I told Tex we NEEDED to buy Christmas presents. (Tex says I'm the neediest person he knows) But, this chair and table will look perfect in the recessed area in the upstairs hall. (I think) The cowhide seat cushion with the leather ties looks great on this chair. Clever way to cover the worn area in the woven seat!

Tex gave me the chair.

I gave him the bookcase/table

Tex gave me the piano stool that I'm going to use as a vanity stool in the master bathroom and then he locked me in the truck.

I don't think he'll let me roam free until after Christmas. BUT, oooooh, the sales after Christmas, Tex, the sales!

Nervous Nellie

UNDER WRAPS

Tex and I were very anxious to get out to the house yesterday to see the granite that had been installed on Monday. When we drove up we saw lots of vehicles and evidence of a driveway in the making. I could hardly wait to get into the house.

Imagine our disappointment when we walked in and saw it under wraps! All of it covered in some kind of white plastic that sticks very well to the granite. We saw none of it in any room. Don't tell anybody, but we did peel back a couple of corners. Hard to get the overall effect of what the whole thing is going to look like.

The backsplash is about finished. Today they will do the grout. I suppose they have to wait a bit before they can seal it. The appliances are going to be delivered today!

These fellows are glazing the painted cabinets. I think I'm going to like it when they are finished. What an art it is to do that and how very tedious the work. You wouldn't catch Nellie in a million years having the patience to do what they do. (please don't look at the dust on the lights over the island, I haven't cleaned in months)

Yesterday the contractor that does the trenching for the electric company finally came to do their thing. A week overdue, I must say.

Don't get in the way of this bad boy! Today we will have power to the house and will be able to flip a switch and have light. I have to think up some sort of story to tell Tex that there is no way the kitchen will be able to get power.....ever. Can't be done. I'm tired of cooking after 43 years and, besides, why would I want to mess up my brand new kitchen?

The stairs.......ooh, the stairs! While Phil took everybody to lunch, the floor people came in and put the sealer on the stairs and the upper hall. They slapped a sign across, "Do not walk on until Dec. 18." Nobody told them to do this. Phil called them and told them that people WERE going to walk on it tomorrow and they would come back to redo it when he told them to come back. Sheesh!

Today the plumber is putting in the toilets and finishing up his work. How is he supposed to get upstairs? Don his cape and fly up over the railing, a toilet tucked beneath each arm? The carpet in the upstairs bedrooms is scheduled to go in on Monday so the plumber has to finish his work. WHY? Why did they do this?

Look what we spied early yesterday morning! Rudolph and Blitzen getting a drink at the rec center pool. (click on the photo to blow it up and see Rudolph's red nose) I sure hope they aren't still there on Christmas Eve when we go out to the house. You may not have any presents under your tree if these guys are still lounging around at 7R Ranch.

Nervous Nellie

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!

Last weekend, on the way back to Ft. Worth, we stopped at Western Heritage. I've kept my eye on a few things in this place and after you buy they allow 30 days free storage. The things I want here are the last things I want delivered out of 5 deliveries from 5 different places. Figured it was safe to pull the trigger and buy on December 11. Now we're sweating it.....if we're lucky, the first furniture delivery is going to be January 7. Odds against that happening are pretty good. Tex and I aren't lucky.



The people who own this business have two buildings. This one and the one next door. This is the one that has down-to-earth furnishings and accessories. The other building caters to what I call, "the Sue Ellen Ewings of Dallas." Nellie ain't no Sue Ellen. (oooh, just remembered...... Larry Hagman, who played J.R., is from Weatherford. Maybe that's why they have a Sue Ellen store)

These are "Babe the Blue Steers"

I'm getting my "Christmas on" wherever I can get it on. We have NO Christmas decorations in the apartment. This tree is really gorgeous. Can you see the big balls hanging down? Hey, hey, people! The tree.......don't go back and look at the steers!

Looking back from the front of Sue Ellen's building to my building.

This is what Nellie is getting for Christmas. I've had my eye on this for 5 months hoping it wouldn't walk out the door. I loved it the minute I saw it. Tex did not love it for one reason. Let's just say that Tex is now in hog heaven. It was half price!

Oh, forgot to tell you. Remember the entry hall table contest? The one where you got to vote on which one I should buy? Well, I didn't buy any of them. I won't let you see what I bought that is going in the entry until it's in the house and the lamps are on it and the picture I bought is hanging above. I've got major heartburn over how the hall tree and the table are going to look across from each other. Will they be kiss'n cousins or will they be feud'n inlaws? Why do I buy everything now before I'm even in the house?

Nellie has gone bonkers big time!

Nervous Nellie

PARDON MY MESS

I wasn't going to do a post until later in the week when the house was more presentable. Some of you know how anal Nervous Nellie is about messes. I can't stand them..... they make me break out in hives. Although, I must say, I am getting more tolerant in my old age. So, what the heck. Come on in, even tho it is a bit of a wreck.

This is Tex and Carl, the electrician, and his wife Melanie. Don't know what it was they were discussing, but I hit my head on the dining fixture that is hung too low and I was crying and mopping up blood and they were so engrossed in conversation that they were oblivious to the fact that I needed 40 stitches and was about to pass out.

This is the evil fixture that wounded me. The beams in the wall still need to be stained, the back part glazed and the wine racks installed in the vertical niche.

The painter did the base coat on the island and the cabinetry in the laundry room and garage entrance but hasn't put the glaze on yet. Not a very true paint color. It is a sage green but almost looks white in this picture. The front part where all the doors are open is going to be under the bar side granite top. I am storing all my china and crystal in those cabinets. Figure I will very seldom be getting into those cabinets underneath. Don't ask me why I'm taking all that fancy stuff out to the ranch. I have no idea. OH, YES, now I remember. Tex wouldn't let me get rid of anything!

I'm so very proud of myself for allowing you to come into my house when it looks like this. Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks.

Nervous Nellie

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS...

....is for this to be finished. Over with. Done. I want to be in the house. There are only 15 more working days until Christmas. No way it's gonna happen. What a bummer. My bet is that we won't be in until after New Years.

You can see the casa from I-20 now that all the leaves are off the trees. What? You can't see it? Look! It's right there on top of the bluff.

I zoomed in so you can see it better. That's Edgecliff Casa. (click on photo to zoom in further)

Most of the staining is finished. The only walls left to paint are in the entrance off the garage and the laundry room.

Oh, guess they have yet to stain and paint in the stone wall in the dining area. The cabinet doors on the island are off and in the garage awaiting primer and paint. I'm doing the island and all the cabinetry in the back entrance and laundry room different than the rest of the cabinets. This is going to be either very, very good or very, very bad. I don't think you should gamble like this on a house.........why am I doing it?

The master bedroom looking into the hall and into the bathroom. That's the corner TV and coffee bar area in the bathroom.

Better view of that AND the dust. Hard to keep a place clean when the back door to the garage is off and there are no garage doors. The paint on the walls in the bedroom and the bathroom are the same. It's just the lighting. It is not the mint green it appears to be in the picture above.

Dave's side of the bathroom.

To the left is my side and vanity. Same strategy as in the closet.....Nellie gets all the space! Straight ahead is the shower and the potty room. See the chamber pot there on the floor? Not to worry....there will be a door. Around the corner between the cabinets and the potty room is the door to the closet.

The cabinets opposite my vanity and a very good view of the chamber pot.

My Spiced Cider powder room. This is going to be my favorite room in the house. I love the mirror and the sconce lighting for this room.

Guest Room #2 upstairs. Until we're in and I can officially name them, that's what we're calling them now. #1 and #2 We could have really blown the workers' minds and called one 593 and the other one 748. "Yeah, put that square mirror in the bathroom in room 748." (Can you tell I'm sick and have a fever? Really, I'm losing it and about to drop.)

Tex doing something in the garage. Those are all the doors that go in the house and the cubbies that go in the master closet. The other pieces are for the garage entry and laundry room and haven't been done yet.

The garage doors have yet to arrive. Wonder how many coyotes and racoons roam our casa each night?

Hope I have a lot more to show you in the next post. In the meantime, I'm going to go back and look at the contract. You don't think it says house to be completed Christmas 2011, do you????




Nervous Nellie

GOOD SIDE, BAD SIDE

Good side, bad side, front side, back side. Who knew Tex had a bad side.



Honest truth. We were selecting hardware yesterday and as we were finishing up I remembered to take a few pics. When I started to take a picture of Tex, he whipped off his glasses and he said, "You're taking it from my bad side." He was serious and a bit miffed.

(Ok, ok, I know, another Texas star. I have the star on the front door, teeny-tiny ones on the back of the dining chairs and now I have two of these. That's it, I promise. You'll have to look to see where I put these when you visit.)

Now, would you look at the picture Tex took of me sans makeup, slathered with night cream and, yes, those are my Black Friday pj's.

I don't have a good side, Tex. Snap away!

Nervous Nellie

BLACK FRIDAY??

Black Friday today? I thought Black Friday was last Friday. You talk about BLACK! Last Friday was my Black Friday. Let me walk you through a real Black Friday.

You remember that last Thursday I posted about the hole for the septic tank and me wanting to jump in. That was Thursday. This was the next day, Friday. Oh, did I mention it was a BLACK FRIDAY?

5:30 AM - Get up. We always get up during the week at 5:30. I'm one of those old-fashioned wives that gets up with her husband and makes him breakfast. I even take coffee to him while he's shaving. I pack his lunch. (If you must know, the real reason I do this is not out of the goodness of my heart......I'm trying my best to make the next wife's life miserable. Let her try to top this!)

10:00 AM - Go back to bed. Can't go to sleep so I get up at noon.

12:00 Noon - Eat lunch.

1:00 PM - Go back to bed. This time I sleep.

2:30 PM - Get up. Get out of my jammies and take a shower.

6:30 PM - Serve Tex a dinner that included yummy, home-made mac and cheese. (Just another attempt at making the next wife look inferior.)

7:45 PM - Am back in bed in my jammies again. I read until 8:15 and then turn out the light and drift off to a land where they don't build houses and dig holes for septic tanks.


So, there you have it. A real Black Friday. I am happy to annouce that I have fully recovered from my funk.......sort of. Now I'm nervous about the color of the stain. Is it too dark? Will the paint colors I've chosen look good? Maybe I should have waited to get the furniture after the house is finished.

I'm pretty sure the next wife is going to be Calm, Cool Cathy. Tex might just be getting a little fed up with the spouse he's got right now.


Nervous Nellie

OUR TURKEY DAY

What a shock. It was 82 yesterday and has been warm for a week. This morning when we left at 10:00 it was 36. I would like to ease into winter.....not be plunged into frigidity.

The empty space to the left of the white truck is Tex's parking space for his car. You can see his little truck on the far side, far left. My car is in a garage unit. Thankfully, in a month we'll be able to give up two of the three parking spaces we're paying for!

This is what the Texas fall color looks like out our apartment windows.

My chariot, with Tex driving, awaits as:

OUT OF THE PARKING LOT
THROUGH THE METROPLEX,
OFF TO THE SMOKESTACK WE GO!

This is the Smokestack restaurant in Thurber, just a couple miles down the road from the Gordon exit off I-20. We met a 7R neighbor for Thanksgiving dinner at noon. The Smokestack made 200 Thanksgiving dinners and all they asked was a donation for the food pantry. What a wonderful thing for them to do! What a wonderful thing for me. I didn't have to cook and didn't have to clean up after. (FYI, family - this is our new Thanksgiving tradition!)

This is THE Smokestack across the parking lot from the restaurant. Thurber used to be a thriving coal town of 10,000 in the early 1900's. The population now is 25. The restaurant is in what used to be the general store.

Lookie, lookie, lookie! A mailbox! Last time we were out at the house the block with the 900 was wrapped in plastic sitting on top. You can see the debris in the road from cutting out the space for the address block.

Do you think we should keep the port-a-potty? Might come in handy for parties.

Just as you come in off the garage this is what you see. This is my desk.

This is opposite my desk.....a bench with drawers underneath and cabinets and a place for coat hooks. The laundry room is through the door to the left.

All the cabinets are in. The hall to the garage is just to the right of the space where the refrigerator will be.

Another view of the kitchen. All the woodwork and the cabinets are going to be stained a dark walnut with the exception of the island and all the cabinetry in the laundry room and off the garage entrance. Those are to be painted a light olive green, distressed and wiped with a brown glaze. Who knows what that is going to look like. I'm just praying I'm going to get what I think I'm going to get. Sometimes, what is in your head turns out very different in reality.

The cabinets have to be stained and painted and the walls painted. They've put in the wood on the stairs and upper hall but have to let it acclimate for two weeks before they can scrape and stain. The light fixtures have to be installed as well as the hardware for cabinets and doors. The garage doors aren't here yet. The driveway has to be done.......but, that is the very last thing.

Who knows when it will be finished.

Hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. We sure did. Old Nellie has a lot to be thankful for! (Except for this persistent running on of the paragraphs in my postings. Arrrgggg!)

Nervous Nellie

(Good grief! The preview showed the paragraphs running together......like they have in so many of the past posts. Then I post, and see that they were fine this time. The blogging gods are having their fun with me. Well, not for much longer, you little imps! The house is almost finished, I will be done with blogging and you won't have me to toy with any longer!)