What to look forward to in 2012?

I need something to look forward to in 2012.

Gym Membership?
Pro: It's healthy and fun, at least for awhile! I can get partial reimbursement.
Con: I already have a free "gym" (the treadmill sucks) in my basement (and it's in my unfinished basement) and the novelty will likely wear off the gym membership.

Vacation?
Pro: We have plans to either go to the Portland brewfest in July or to do a brew tour around Vermont with our friends.
Con: That's a long way off.

Summer landscaping/gardening?
Pro: We are moving the garden this year to be more convenient, and because I can't get rid of a tomato leaf spot that crept into the garden a few years ago. I'm looking forward to planning that out.
Con: We need to finish off one big project: the back garage stoop. It's basically adding some decking and a step, then finishing off with some rocks and low maintenance plants/bushes. It's a crappy area-shady and in need of some height. I hate Arborvite, and refuse to plant it there. My other options are limited.

New hobby?
Pro: I need to buy a sewing machine to deal with some basic hemming, etc. That could lead to some other fun decorative things. I also have a stockpile of some good cozy material that would make great pajamas. It's already about 15 years old, because I've never taken the sewing initiative.
Con: Cost and I don't know how to sew.

Happy Holidays

We are just back from a 10 day Caribbean cruise. It was extremely relaxing! You may notice my new Facebook profile pic. But of course, no vacation goes unpunished. I have two grant proposals coming due, two grant reports due, two project budgets to revise for reapproval, and of course, very little done for the holidays!

My holiday to do list:
1) Cards-this will be done sometime before Jan. 5th. :-)
2) A few more outdoor decorations
3) Grocery shopping
4) A few more gifts-did a lot of shopping last night with no car, just the bus. My arms were sore.

Chris baked cookies for me last weekend so we had time to join friends for the (diappointing) Packer game. Wasn't that nice? We did peanut blossoms, fudge and toffee.

For Christmas with my FIL, et al, we are repeating the cooking class Chris and I took in Antigua. It's called "Cooking with Rum." I'm buying the groceries, the instructor gave us the recipes, and we are all going to cook the food. There are six of us, and I have a reasonably large kitchen, so it should be fun. We'll have 1-2-3-4 rum punch to drink (parts lime juice, sugar, rum and water) and finish with espresso martinis. They were my favorite after dinner drink on the cruise. We've now had 30 of the 34 "designer" martinis on the ship's martini menu. :-)

I hope everyone has a very happy holiday season. Cheers!

Exciting week!

• Recall efforts against our Gov. started this week. Hurrah!




• I went to physical therapy for my neck at 8:30 this morning. Considering my pain comes on later in the day, this was kind of silly. It became the "how bad can we make Kim hurt in a few minutes" show.




• I fly to Boston on Friday and will be there for the weekend. I only have to give a poster presentation, which is mega easy, so it's low stress.




• I'm buying turkey breasts tonight for next week's Thanksgiving. We are just doing turkey sandwiches Saturday night with my family (with Chris's family on Thanksgiving day), so I thought breasts made the most sense, especially since most of us eat white meat. Target has them on sale for .99/lb, which is cheap for the breasts.
  
  


• I'm going to buy several non perishables this week for the food pantry. There are a lot of good sales.
  



• I treated myself to Starbuck's in the cafeteria this monrning instead of making my own coffee.
  
  

Ok, so maybe this wasn't very exciting.

Going blonde.

Last weekend I took the plunge and went blonde.

Woops, forgot to add a few words in. Let's try this again. Last weekend I took the plunge and went TO SEE THE blonde. Yes, that one. The one in San Francisco.

I hadn't seen any OTers in awhile, and my boss gave me a $200 flight voucher that needed to be used by mid-Nov., so I watched airfare some desirable locales. San Fran was the cheapest, so we made some last minute arrangements for me to go see Carey and Michelle.

And when in Rome, you do as the Romans do. So, Michelle took us to bingo where Carey and I ate a hot dog and donut for dinner. :-) I was a bingo version and really hoped to be able to yell Bingo. Well, I got to do that and more!

Did you know Bingo isn't just like a few games of straight vertical, horizontal and diagonal wins? Oh no, there were like 30 games, each with a twist. Sometimes you were looking for a "postage stamp," sometimes a "kite" shape, etc. Cripes it was tough to keep track. I think bingo will be too confusing when I get old. My favorite game was when they pulled a ticket (you got entered when you bought your bingo cards at the start) for the "Bingo Queen." The bingo queen gets to pick a number, and everytime that number comes up, she or he wins $10. Carey was the bingo queen! So everytime her number came up we got to yell, "Pay the Queen!" And later, Michelle and I each hit a bingo and we all got to yell "Bingo!" Big excitement! LOL!

Saturday was our "Lush and LUSH" tour in the city. We hit the Gold Dust and had drinks with their newly engaged friends. Then it was across the street to LUSH, where I was for about an hour, doing hair product research. I ended up with some free samples and am loving the Recon conditioner. Carey came over with Michelle's credit card for her belated birthday shopping and bought the store. :-)

After that, we went to the Rouge Ale House, as some friends told me it was great. Well, did you know Union Street isn't near Union Square? And there are A LOT of hills between where we were and Union Street. So we hopped a cable car and it began to rain. The cable car took an unexpected turn and we ended up still having to walk the same distance, but it was all downhill. :-) At Rouge, we got a VIP visitor: Tabitha (motormouth)! Despite the lousiest service ever, we still had fun chatting and decided to head back to Carey's instead of searching for another bar in the rain. Tabitha was a trooper-staying late and driving back home in the rain at midnight. Ten years ago we'd have probably been super sloshed and loud. Instead, we just had a great night having some cocktails and telling stories.

Sunday was super lazy football day. Carey made a really yummy fritatta for breakfast, despite the burning smell that took over the house at one point. :-)

I really hope to make it back in 2012. I love these girls and love San Francisco. Thanks to Carey and Michelle for the great hospitality and good luck in Vegas this weekend!

Distracted Today

I'm in one of those moods where I can't focus on the work that needs to be done. Argh. So, you get a new blog post.

I'm getting grumpy about the amount of tv our household watches. The number of mediocre hour long shows is getting on my nerves. Can't we just read sometimes? I say "we" because we have no good spot for quiet reading in our house when the tv is done. It's reason enough for me to want to finish the basement, but that's like a $10K solution to a minor problem. So, I downloaded a free app that plays rain, wind, waves, etc. and listen to that while I read in the four season room. I can't listen to music and read very well. My brain gets too distracted.

Nolay is watching the following hour longs (I know I'll forget some):
Terra Nova
Body of Proof
Hawaii 5-0
Grimm
Pan Am (I also watch this)
Sons of Anarchy (again, I watch this)
NCIS sometimes (or as I call it, Hawaii 5-0 lite)
Survivor
The Mentalist

I think he's given up on Blue Bloods and thank goodness didn't get into TAR this season. Thank goodness Charlie's Angles is over, as he was also recording that. This is in addition to about six half-hour comedies. That's a lot of tv, even with a DVR.

Did you know?

I never thought about it, but as I was making pumpkin bread this morning, I read the last part of the recipe: "Cool, wrap is plastic wrap. Let sit overnight before slicing." Heck no. I want it today. I get that it sets and slices better the next day, and even tastes yummier, but I can't wait.

In other news, I'm learning about the effing Cloud. I got a new iTouch (after losing my other on a plane) and put the "Find my iPod/Phone" app on it. It requires me to use the effing Cloud. Maybe I'll grow to like it, but right now it's just one more thing that requires me to set up an account.

Is it true that physical therapists are trained torturers?

I have had pretty severe neck pain off and on for years. The latest bout was terrible. But then they gave me a shot in the leg of a muscle relaxer and it mostly better within 30 minutes!

Anywho, the Dr. gave me a referral to physical therapy. I've never been to PT, but have heard the torture horror stories. Admittedly, I've been putting off the appointment. A nice massage sounds better.

So what are your PT experiences?

If I post, they will come

I'm sticking with the theory that I just need to post more often and you'll show up. :-)

I'm in Holland, Michigan tonight. I work for the state, I never get wined and dined. However, we are building a nursing building on campus (right now we are stuck in a small area of the hospital and share some classrooms with hospital staff and the medical school). So, peeps are interested in our business. A major office furniture manufacturer that works with our interior design firm is showing off their stuff. Thus, we were flown over on a private Gulfstream, given lunch, drinks, a wine pairing dinner and more drinks at a brewpub.

I'm feeling spoiled and frankly, loving it. It's something I don't get to experience in my normal work.

Tomorrow I'm going to see my MIL, so today, I'm enjoying the bliss.

For the "new" peeps

I won't call you old peeps. :-)

I've really missed our old blogland. I feel like we all shared a little deeper connection here. Thus, I'm pretty happy even when someone pops back in for only a bit. I fret about people when I don't hear much, or even just hear the "surface" chatter. We all have those quiet underswells in life that are often good to muse about here.

I'm riding a wave right now of good things. Nothing great, just enjoying a period of contentment. I'll start traveling more for work soon, and that concerns me, but for now, I'm enjoying the present before worrying about the future.

Of course, though, politics has me down. I'm kind of in a half-attentive mode now, as it's all the same ugliness. We have Herb Kohl's Senate seat up for election, as he's retiring. He was such a good advocate for health care and the elderly, and our state. I didn't agree with all his decisions, but he was a solid, hardworking Senator. There is no shortage of candidates coming out for his seat, so it's going to get ugly.

In random news, I'm trying to find a place to spend a $200 United voucher before the end of Nov. I want to go somewhere where I can stay with friends and spend very little over that $200. Not an easy task.

In related news, I lost my iPod Touch on a plane recently. Bummer.

Something Totally About Work

I'm resigning from my position effective Oct. 2nd.

Because I was hired into a "new" position with the appropriate title and pay, doing what I'm doing now! I hate that I had to apply, but finally! This was a long, hard road. I'm downplaying this with the family and friends, so thought a little online celebration was in order.

*dances*

Something not about work

I've been dwelling on work too much lately, so I'll avoid talking about it here for now.

We've been helping my dad build a giant pole shed for all his antique trucks. My feet get so sore on the ladder with the stupid plantar fascitis. Otherwise it's been a good workout. Unfortunately, I also enjoy donuts every day we start work there. This weekend it was apple cider donuts. Yum!

My dad is moving in with his fiance at some point (well, he already lives there part time), but his house is in such bad shape. I'd love to see it spruced up. We cleaned a few weekends ago, and that helped, but it still needs a few thousand dollars work and some elbow grease. It's a cool 1970s split level (no basement). All my friends even say now "I loved that house!" For a boring 1970s house, it had a good layout, plus had a trophy and awards business in a corner of the first level, so it added some good features.

Kitchenwise, I've been in a sourdough phase. It's not great sourdough (I just used Fleishman's yeast to make my starter), but it'll do. I've used the starter for bread, pancakes, pizza crust and cinnamon rolls. Next: soft pretzels.

Tomato season is almost over. I'll enjoy my last few BLTs for the next few weeks. I had a good fingerling potato harvest. Growing them was fun because it's like opening a present. You never know what's grown until it's time to dig them up! For all my "want to garden, don't want to do much work" crowd, thumbs up to potatoes. They don't have complex soil needs, and they are pretty carefree in my experience.

It was our 11th anniversary on 9/9. We shopped, ate gelato, watched the Badger game, watched Contagion and went out for dinner. It was a long, good day.

I've lost all my "grad school" weight. I'd put on about 8 lbs. over two years, and have lost it, thank cod. Now, to strive for another 5 lbs.

This week: Mission shoe purge and organization.

A Three-fer

First, an Ali update. She is getting better. I know it's only temporary, as there's no "fixing" her kidneys, but it's good to see her being an active part of our family again. She's been enjoying the Fancy Feast Trout Dinner, as the vet said to just get her eating at this point, then transition to the kidney diet. She will get daily sub-q fluids for another five days, then hopefully we can go to once a week.

Now, my rant.
After some grumbles this spring, I am back to loving my job and the crazy work. I don't want to leave. But cripes I feel like a doormat. I'm paid about $15,000 less than my peers for the same work, all because I moved up the chain instead of being hired in.

The state HR system makes it near impossible to get promoted and/or a raise. We just scored three grants this year which covers my salary (and then some, because we planned on a raise for me), all coming from private foundations. Yet, here I am, applying for other jobs because the state has put so many roadblocks in our way.

I'm waiting for the silver lining.

In other news, we are doing a chicken wing cookoff instead of ribs this year. I think more people will enter since chicken wings are easier. Save the date, Oct. 8th! :-)

To all the cats I've loved before

I've never had a pet for a long time. Growing up in the country, we often "inherited" some outdoor cats. Once the cat became an indoor/outdoor cat. His name was T.J. and he was a black and white kitty. We had him for about six months before he wandered off and probably died. Then my sister bought me a tabby kitten. I named him Jordan, as I thought Michael Jordan was kewel. We tried to keep him indoors, but after about four months, he escaped one day. Twenty four hours later, he was dead on the road, hit by a car.

I never became overly attached to those cats, and they were my only experience with pets. Then came Ali. I've probably told the story before of how we met. Chris and I were engaged and living in an apartment. We'd discussed getting a cat, but hadn't pulled the trigger. We'd come home to visit family over the holidays. Chris stayed one night at his mom's, where there was only a twin bed in a tiny house, while I went ahead to my dad's house. I pulled into the driveway at about 10:00 p.m. I went around to the passenger side to grab my bags. Up jumps the cutest calico kitten into my passenger seat! She just looked up at me and purred. After some scritches, I left the cat and went inside. My dad said she'd been around for a few weeks and was very friendly. He'd asked some of the neighbors and nobody was missing a cat. I called Chris the next morning and told him that I think we'd found our cat. That was 1998. She was estimated at one year old.

She was always "my" cat, following me incessantly, cuddling at every turn. If I try to sleep in, she wakes me up by sitting on my chest, nose almost touching mine, purring loudly with big bright eyes staring. She'd do this for an hour if I could stand it. We lived through her knee surgery and constantly struggled for years with her constipation. Today I took her in for what I thought was another enema. She'd been lethargic for a few days, was having trouble using the litterbox, and had no appetite. All issues that added up to constipation before. Today they said she didn't feel impacted, and seemed very dehydrated. After tests, it's confirmed she has kidney failure. We think it's in early stages, but won't know until tomorrow how she responds to treatment. It could be a few months, it could be five years.

*sniffle* It was hard to hear my best kitten friend will never be quite the same.

3 Day Week

In more than one way, it's a 3 Day week! I only work Mon-Wed. because we are headed to Chicago on Wednesday night! I fear I'll miss Frodis this year because of my crew job. We are an "advance" crew, which means we are on another part of the route while the walkers are clipping along. Next week Breezy walks Michigan!

We had a fun weekend. Went to the Jungle Bar for the first time, which is a middle of nowhere trailer house bar. There were more ATVs in the parking lot than cars...and it was busy. The bartender even walked down the bar with a grocery bag of ham sandwiches and handed them out. There was a whirlpool tub in the mens room and a shower in the ladies room. *snort* What an experience.

We are also working on finishing off our front deck. It's never had a railing in the seven years we've lived there. I hate it when simple projects turn out to be a PITA. This wasn't so bad, though. We are working on all these little projects, so if we want to sell the house in the near future, we aren't scrambling.

Chris is applying for a supervisor's job. He had to write an essay response to four questions and will turn that in this week. Then he waits to hear if he's offered an interview. Several supervisors are retiring, so that helps prospects.

I'm still working on my reclassification and raise. Outcome TBD.

Miss you!

My woe is me post was getting old. :-)

How is everyone doing? What are you doing? Facebook sort of helps with that...your lives in snipits! I was happy to see an MTW update on OT.


Job
Still lucky to have a job. Chris and I begin taking home $500 total per month less with new pension and health insurance contribution rates taking effect. Given we've had no raises in over four years, we can't seem to get ahead. But at least we can still pay our bills. Although a certain dental insurance battle is pissing me off and we may need to plop a few thousand on the credit card.

The good news is that I've applied for a new title, given we got two new grants in, and I'm the co-investigator on one. That gives me a little raise, without costing the state anything (as my salary is grant funded), and it helps make up some of that $500 our take-home is reduced by.

The big grant that had me terrified was not funded, so I'm relieved. If my new title didn't go through, I was going to walk. Now, all can remain fairly stable and I can maintain the (semi) flexibility my job affords me. It's flexible often, but very inflexible other times. Hence spending vacations working half the time. I think many of you are in similar situations.

Cats
Bartleby decided to play cat bowling last night on the dining room table, just after me and my guests had put all the food, water and wine on the table. He ran at the table (which we rarely use) at full speed and jumped, sending the glasses flying. He managed to miss stepping on plates and bowls, though! Dork.

Movies and Books
I've had some time for reading and movie watching in the last month. It's been great! I'm reading The Killing Floor (thanks, Breezy, for the recommendation!) and Stuff White People Like (my coffee table reader right now). Just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It was very good. Have been using the library on campus (books are checked out by the semester instead of a few short weeks!) and half priced book store.

We went to one movie in the theater this year so far! That's big for us. Tonight we are going to Bridesmaids. Groupon, Living Social, etc. all had a deal with Fandango, so we bought a few offers and are enjoying the flicks. We also are using Red Box a little this summer since we cut Netflix out due to reducing bills. Just watched The Town and Despicable Me. Both were great.

That's all I've got. As you know, the midwest is dry and hot. We haven't had rain in our town for over three weeks and it's consistently been in the high 80s/high 90s with a fair amount of humidity. Yuck.

So confused

It's been awhile and I'm in a "slower" time, so thought I'd take the time to sort my thoughts out by blogging.

JobI'm still busy, but it's slowed a bit. The next rush comes at the end of this month when we find out if we got a HUGE grant or not. If we didn't get it, the hunt starts for other funding and possibly modify the program for which we are seeking funding. If we do get it, I'm terrified of the next few years' workload. I'm basically keeping an eye out for other jobs, but delaying making a decision until we hear about this grant. I'm kind of hoping we don't get it, as the timing is horrid. We have two other grants starting, one of which will require travel and is a really complex collaborative grant with researchers across the country.

EconomyWe've felt the economic pinch over the last few years, but lucky for us, it's just meant our income has been stagnant for three years, or even shrunk just slightly. We are about ready to see another slight shrink. But, I also have prospects of reclassifying my job to a little higher pay rate, so it might be a wash. In terms of what it's meant to us, it's more coupon clipping, fewer "fun" activities (we basically don't go to any brewing events anymore, but used to frequent several brewfests in the summers), less eating out (was never that frequent for us, but it's now only about four times per month and always somewhere cheap-Subway, cheap bar burger, etc.). I only bought about $20 worth of veggie plants and landscaping flowers this year. Often it's at least $50. I'm not really sad about that. Ok, maybe a little.

I worry about those that are still struggling to find work. I feel guilty that we are in an ok spot and still do some fun things while others can't make ends meet. But our savings is almost completely depleted because we suck at saving money. I mean really suck. Thank goodness we have required retirement contributions or I fear we'd suck at retirement savings, too.

HouseWe've been toying with selling the house and moving into Madison in a condo downtown, or a small old house on the skirts of downtown. We are getting a few small projects done around the house, like a front deck railing and finishing drywall in the garage, so we are in a better spot to make a decision next year. I love the country for many reasons, but miss being in the city. But then I feel we'll tire of the city and miss the country. Perhaps we should just sell the house, pay our taxes, invest the rest and rent for a few years. I don't know. We are restless. It all might amount to nothing come next year.

In other news, my coffee this morning is really good.
Thanks for listening, bloggy friends. How is everyone else doing? I worry when I don't hear much from people.

Hating my Job

I needed a safe place to post and vent. This is fairly safe.

I'm in the midst of a job meltdown. I've been working every weekend at least 8 hours and at least a few extra nights per week since the first of the year, and it only gets worse from here on out. There's no end in sight. Sigh. It's not fun and interesting anymore.

I've had great opportunities, and my boss is really great (other than her inability to say no most of the time), it's just become too much. She's offered to work on a raise for me, but that's not even the point. That only makes it harder to get grants with more expensive staff attached. Sigh.

Sorry, just needed to vent.

3 Day 2011

Some begging by his former crewmates lured Chris and I into crewing in the Chicago 3 Day this year. Chris will be the route marking captain and I will be on his crew. Visions of Wiley Coyote & the Acme Corp. are dancing in his head.

If anyone is reading this, remember our friend Breezy is walking in Michigan this year and could use our support!

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2011/MichiganEvent2011?px=3131607&pg=personal&fr_id=1625

or go to her facebook or blog to get her healthy cookbook and she'll donate the proceeds to Susan G. Komen!

Spring is coming!

Ok, so we still have some lousy cold hanging on, but the sun was out yesterday and it made for a cool, but nice day out in the yard. Lots of lilies, irises and daffodils popping up. The deal Chris struck with the tree cutting guys paid off-all the important trees are down and removed with minimal damage (one nice branch off a nice tree). We still have a lot of bark/sticks/branches to clean up, though.

I'm trying to only have one "social" plan on weekends this year. The other weekends I'd like to have more flexible. First, our paychecks are taking about a $400/month hit, so we don't have room in the budget. Second, I want to spend more time in the yard this year where it doesn't feel like rushed work. We aren't doing our CSA, so I want to carefully tend what we are planting (watermelon, fingerling potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, raspberries, and am planting blueberry bushes). My garlic planted in early November last year is coming up. Yay! I plant my lettuce and spinach in pots...also toying with trying some patio strawberries. They don't do well in our regular soil.

What are you planting this year?

life update

Things are getting back to normal after a busy travel season.

WORK
Work is still horrendous (thus why not so many blog updates), but at least I'm not working all weekend, every weekend. Had to work on my furlough day this week (which is technically illegal, but I digress), but I worked at Panera Friday morning so it seemed less painful.

I'm currently writing a job description for a 25% time secretary. Let's hope we can find the moolah and right person for the job. There are lots of grants being offered up for our research team, but not enough hands to even write the proposals. Once we get the money we can hire people, but it's not that straight forward. When you need 10% of a person with these qualifications to do X duties, and 20% of another with different qualifications to do Y duties for each project, it's a mess. And they are all 1-3 year projects, so it's not like you can promise a long term job. Hoping the job market works to our advantage right now.

A crazy coworker has filed a grievance against the School. She is crazy, but has some valid points. She seems to want to chat with me about it. But now my boss is reviewing the grievance as the "internal" reviewer. As Vince Vaughn would say in Old School, "earmuffs!"

HOME
Chris has had a staph infection. I have had a lack of energy, but keep trying to push forward.

We just had our annual NCAA tournament weekend. I missed Thursday night and the daytime on Friday and Saturday. It was an odd year, as my BIL insisted everyone help him process a bazillion pounds of venison, pork and beef (there was elk, too, but it was rotten) for him and his friends/coworkers this weekend. That meant nobody was watching basketball at the same time. It wasn't fun. Not to mention someone had to be up overnight to tend the smoker every three-four hours.

My dad is getting married next year, which is good. He needs to sell the house, which is good, but it's a TON of work. Better now that when he's old and in poor health. I spent Saturday taking a first pass at the closets. Lots of stuff from my teen years. Scanning some things and sending to friends (such as the birthday book my friend made that was New Kids on the Block themed...a narration with magazine photo cut outs of them trying to get to WI for my birthday). I'm not very sentimental, though, so tossed a ton of stuff. Brought home a few things to check on ebay...only a few were worth my time. Tossed the rest (including a Cabbage Patch Kid that was in need of some TLC).

STATE
Our state is in a meltdown, as you may have noticed. The new governor is laying down the smack. I don't have a problem with all of his measures...it's more about his dicator methods and how he's in bed with the wealthy corporations. The university where I work is also looking at spinning off from the UW system with the governor's blessing. That's mostly good, but also causes some concerns.

THE NEXT FEW MONTHS
It's birthday season for my family, so lots to do in the next few weeks socially. Looking forward to yard work. Also, Cannon Running (the state bar road trip we did last year).

How is YOUR spring shaping up?

Yeehaw! Texas trip

Ya'll make me laugh! I had a little camera issue, but am back on track. Here's a summary of our Texas trip. This vacation was focused on visiting Food Network recommended spots, mostly for BBQ (nothing fancy), and brewpubs/bars.

Austin
We were very excited to visit Austin, as we've been told it's much like Madison, WI. The universities and state government are a big part of both cities. Austin is really like Madison on steriods. They have a larger population, but a much more vibrant retail and food industry.

We realized in Texas, to be classified a good beer bar, you needed to have about 20 taps or more. It was great! There were also plenty of Brewpubs, including "Uncle Billy's."




We went to the State Capitol, which was beautiful, but our camera battery was dead, so no pics. The inside of the capitol wasn't much special, but the huge sprawling grounds were beautiful.

The LBJ Presidential Library was amazing. If you ever have a chance ot visit, do it. It's right on the university campus, and is awe inspiring. LBJ was an amazing president of the people. It was a moving experience.

Lake Travis was pretty. Lots of gated communities around Austin with beautiful homes. The lakeside communities were no exception.



Food report:
The staples of Texas bbq are beef brisket, pork spareribs or baby back ribs, sausages, chicken and turkey. Sometimes there were beef ribs.

Meals generally came with coleslaw and beans. The coleslaw was generally ok, the beans were not my cup of tea. Generally boring. Give me some boston baked beans any day.

Louie Mueller had our favorite brisket and sausage by far. The place was a dive, in a dead town. But they had a James Beard award! I would go back to Louie's in a heart beat. Thanks, Guy, for the recommendation!

Ironworks sucked...lots of Austin folks recommended it, along with Rachel or Giada, but it wasn't worth it.

The Salt Lick was recommended by almost every Food Networker, from Bobby Flay to Duff, to Giada. And every Austin-ite also seemed to recommend it. The location, about 20 miles outside of Austin, was beautiful. Giant building and vineyard. But the seating was casual picnic tables, and you bring your own alcohol. The beef ribs were to die for. Brisket was good.

Green Mesquite, a Food Network recommendation, was nothing to write home about.

Another food notable: breakfasts. Magnolia Cafe (a food network recommendation from Guy and Giada), was great! The gingerbread pancakes and "Migas with Love" were the best breakfast we had the whole trip. Love the great Tex Mex breakfast and dinners we had on the trip.

Ooh, one more food notable. I wanted to eat at food carts, but we were always too full of bbq. One night we skipped dinner, and went out on the town. I had a 10 pm hankering for something and we saw a funky hot dog cart. I had a hot dog with chipotle sauce, chopped bacon, onion, and peppers. Yum!

We got to watch the Packers beat the Bears in Austin. Lots of both fans, so had a great time. We were invited back to Packers' fans house with brats and beers, but the guys got in a scuffle as they were leaving the bar, and we decided that was a bad idea.


San Antonio
Of course we had to hit the Alamo and quote Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I was surprised The Alamo was right in the heart of San Antonio and not outside the city. It was actually quite moving.


We found a great outdoor bar and happened to be one of few guests. Tried lots of new good beers while enjoying some sun.



The Riverwalk area was beautiful.


We stayed at an old grand hotel that John Wayne and Audie Murphy often stayed at. Chris thought that was cool. We hit "Howl at the Moon" piano bar two nights and had a very fun time. You can pay to have quotes put on the mirrors behind the players, and some Packers, Bears and Steelers fans were exchanging jabs. You can see that in the photos if you look closely.


We did drive out to Freidericksburg, an old German town. It didn't excite us, but we did stop at a good winery that many online recommended. I thought the wineries would have mostly sweet wines, but there were some good dry reds.

Texas Pride BBQ was out of the way, but pretty darn good. By then we were getting a little sick of BBQ, but it was a good experience.

Chris also made me visit a flight museum, where I found interesting things about underage servicemembers and flying monkeys! These are chairs they sent monkeys into space in.


Finally, we did hit the Spoetzel Brewery, home to Shiner Beer.



Galveston
Weather was cold and foggy most of our Galveston stay. Our hotel across the street from the beach did little good. Galveston was not a place I'd recommend for couples our age without families. There were a lot of closed buisinesses from Hurricane Ike years ago, and generally not much to do. We found a decent bar outside of town where we chatted and drank with some competition bbq cookers. Very nice folks, but a little rednecky. Made for entertainmentment.

We also went to an offshore oil drilling museum. I felt dirty paying admission, but it was really interesting and well done. I tried to ignore the propaganda (the "minimizing environmental impact" display sponsored by the oil companies).It wasn't busy, so we took full advantage of the children's interactive zone.

A noteable food stop was "T Bone Tom's." We had "armadillo eggs." It's pulled pork with bbq sauce , stuffed in a jalepeno, breaded and deep fried. About the size of a baseball! So delicious.

On the way home, the storms across the midwest made our travel challenging. Were supposed to fly from Houston to Minneapolis to Madison on Tuesday. Made it to Minneapolis, but no available flights to Madison until THURSDAY. Ended up renting a car and driving home, with an overnight stop in a cheap motel. Then Chris locked the keys in the rental in our driveway, while it was running. Smooth move, Chris.

Texas and Work

It's driving me nuts that I haven't posted anything since December!

Work has been hellabusy. I'm working 12 hours this weekend and 12 hours next on a project. Yuck!

Chris and I decided to take a winter vacation, and the only week that could possibly work for both of us was the last week in Jan. I kind of regret it now, as the work timing is TERRIBLE. I've never been this busy for this long. I expect the first weekend of vacation I'll be working a lot. Boo hiss. That means waking up early (6:30 a.m.) and getting work done before 11:00. Not a great way to spend vacation.

Anywhoooo, we were going to hit Arizona, but I just couldn't get excited about it. Late spring or fall seems like a better time to visit there and soak in all the sites. In the winter, there just isn't much to do unless you ski or golf, and even that is iffy in some spots. And I'm just not a huge "southwest" architecture, nature, art lover. Some of the natural beauty is gorgeous, but it seems like once you've seen one beautiful desert scene, it's all pretty similar.

Southern Texas, on the other hand, seems to have more consistent southern weather and seems a lot more "laid back" and fun. I've been to Dallas and didn't love it, but have always wanted to visit Austin and San Antonio. We are hitting Galveston for a few days to get our beachy/water fix, even though it will be too chilly to throw a suit on and lay in the sun. Lots of brewpubs, bbq, and mexican food. Not to mention food carts in Austin. Yum!

So, we are off to Texas on Jan. 21st. Yeeehaw!