Fredericksburg Weekend

We went to Fredericksburg with Cathy and George for the weekend. Supah-fun!

On the way, we stopped in Luckenbach. We probably could have missed it, to be honest. If there was a concert or something, I think it could be cool. We landed there with a bus load of tourists who were just sitting around staring at each other at the tables outside. It's tiny, which is the point, but it's just more commercial/touristy than the typical historical places we like to go. Still, a concert would probably be great!

We ate at a local Italian place in Fredericksburg Friday night. It was good, but the most significant thing was finding out that there is a modern Fredericksburg just outside the historical/touristy Main Street! Who. Knew.

Saturday we did the Main Street thang, hitting all the stores. Ate lunch at Jennie's Smoked Burgers and Tornado Fries. VERY good. The smoky burger is really different and delicious. The tornado fries are spiraled potato on a stick, fried in a fryer and seasoned. Yum.

We went out to the gorgeous Altstadt Brewery and tasted several of their beers. What a beautiful place to have a wedding or other event. We especially liked their Alt, and also a subvariant of their Kolsch, which was available on the tasting menu. Their restaurant menu looks divine, but we headed back to town that night for dinner at The Auslander. Everything was good at The Auslander, including their Opa's sausage, schweineschnitzel and the apple streudel.

They are building a Texas Rangers Museum outside of town, which will be a lot bigger than the one in Waco. It's right next to Fort Martin Scott on Main.

We stayed at the Fredericksburg Inn and Suites, which I recommend whole-heartedly. The inn is on Baron's Creek, just a block off Main, near the Nimitz Museum. The rooms are modern, clean and comfortable. Free fountain drinks are available in the historic Sunday House, 24/7. They have the typical hotel free breakfast. There are tons of cool little seating areas around the grounds, for groups large and small. Really nice place.

Cathy's stories are always entertaining, sometimes because they have a random surprise element towards the end. She was telling us about her mom's new boyfriend, and that Mom is moving out of Cathy's place to live with a female roommate.

Me: Why isn't she moving in with the new boyfriend?
Cathy: Probably because he's married.

Ha! Ahh!

Later, she was talking about her cousin who quit her job and went with her husband to Las Vegas to gamble on a big future with their gambling winnings. Then they ran out of money and started calling family members to send them more money.

Me: What does her husband do?
Cathy: I don't know. I do know he's a cross-dresser.

You really have to stop drinking when she's telling a story, or risk spitting your drink across the table.

Good times!

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Friday Amusement

Yesterday, the colonoscopy anesthesiologist chatted with me about the anesthesia, and then did the normal round of medical history questions- that list of 100 things from seasonal allergies to stroke, where you say, "no...no...no...yes...no...no..." Always fun.

When she was finally on her way out of the room, she smiled and said, "Well, I'm glad you made it through the..."

I thought she was going to say, "...colonoscopy prep meds!"

She said, "...Hodgkin's and breast cancer!"

Ha! Yes, that, too! But those laxatives. Seriously y'all.

Another thing that's been making me laugh lately is a hilarious moment on the show "The Kids Are Alright." A kid is on the phone with someone, making an excuse that he can't do something, because his grandfather is dying. He whispers to his brother to make a noise in the background like he's dying, and the brother shrieks...

"AAAAAAAAAAH!! I'VE BEEN SHOT!!"

Yep!

Still hilarious!

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Colonoscopy!

On an unrelated note- I explained Fudgsicles to Scott and Julie the other day. It reminded me of that time I took toddler Lauren to "Mixed Age" Mothers Club playgroup, and a mom with an older child brought lollipops, and Lauren was like, What the heck is this? 

It isn't easy to describe a Fudgsicle.

Just saying.

So... I had my first screening colonoscopy this morning! Whee! The colonoscopy itself was nothing. Easy peasy. Had propofol and was in and out of the place within an hour of the start of the procedure.

The prep diet wasn't bad- two days of low-fiber diet followed by a day of liquids only. The low-fiber diet is fine. Any diet with pasta, chocolate and cheese on it is good by me. The liquids-only day is okay. You'll be good and hangry by the time you start taking the prep meds.

The prep medications did suck, as reported by millions before me. I used the Plenvue prescription prep. The doc's office and pharmacist say today's preps are far better than 10 years ago, in volume (reduced from gallons to pints), taste (fruit punch or mango... and SALT - ACK), and ease of gastrointestinal expulsion (no cramping, nausea, etc. just expulsion). Only... the TASTE though. Egads. I made it through the first round of mango/salt solution. The second dose (fruit punch, much better than the mango I think) I got down about 3/4 of the glass and then upchucked it all. I finished the last 4 or so ounces (yes!!). It was still fine.

The chaser drink, after completing the med, should be something tart, like lemonade or limeade (pulp-free of course, just use a powder mix). I tried ginger ale and it was more of the uber-sweet taste of the prep, which was just too too much sweet. *shudder*

I am thrilled to report that I got a score of 9 (the maximum, no 10, why?!) on the clearing out of my GI tract, so when Jeff has his colonoscopy next week, it's totally a competition.

Bonus- They gave me photos of my colon, which I can't wait to show my daughter! If only I were still a scrapbooker!

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That's All, Brother

When you moved in middle school, it's very strange to watch your high school friends reminisce over elementary school photos. People you know very well...  talking about years of stuff you weren't a part of. So weird. (Although, it is superfun to see them when they were little kids. Awwwww!)

We watched the super-duper wolfie moon over at Scott-n-Julie's Sunday night. Scott has a telescope, so that was very cool. We even stayed up past our bedtimes!

A Star is Born got some great Oscar noms. I guess we'll get to see Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper sing "Shallow" live. YAAAAAAY! I haven't seen The Wife or Vice yet, so I need to do that.

We went to the Commemorative Air Force Central Texas Wing hangar in San Marcos a few weeks ago, on one of our day trips. That is a cool place. You can even ride in some of the old airplanes for a fee. The museum (the door is along the back wall) has a lot of interesting items to peruse as well, so don't miss it.

One of the volunteers let us go inside That's All, Brother, the lead plane carrying paratroopers into France on D-Day. Amazing. The aircraft was discovered in Wisconsin in 2015, and brought here to restore. It's got just a few small details remaining, and will take part in 75th D-Day anniversary activities in Europe this summer.

Inside That's All, Brother

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Happy 2019!

Went to Frisco for Christmas. It was nice. No political arguments with the Trumpers, even! Peace on Earth and all that! Lolo babysat in the infant room at the grandparents' church for the Christmas Eve service, which she's been looking forward to for weeks.  It was also the first Christmas with my new sis-in-law and her kiddos and parents. They're fun, which is really great!

Jeff and I went to Don's river house for NYE. Very cool. (Very cold, actually, but we had a big fire.) Many people were in and out all through the evening, and several of us stayed overnight. The young kids shot off fireworks with some adult help, announcing each one with, "IT'S HAPPENING!" Too funny.

College football has been interesting (and good- GIG EM!). Looking forward to the championship next week! Go get 'em, 'Bama!

Oh, and by the way, I have found the one person on this earth who hadn't seen, then finally watched, and actually hated Love Actually---- Laura! I even told her she didn't need to feel guilty for wanting Juliet to dump Peter and run away with the hopelessly romantic Mark (we don't ever really get to know Peter, so... Sorry Peter!). I mean, what the heck. Everyone loves Love Actually! Just discussing it with her made me want to watch again.

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Roomie No More

Now that the cat is out of the proverbial bag, I can say, Crystal got MARRIED to her roomie last week! Whee!

Me: So why did you guys finally decide to make it official?!
C: Well, it's a very romantic story involving health insurance.

Bwahaha. Hey, whatever it takes. I like to see people formalize their love with a piece of paper.

She and I went to Blue Genie market on Monday. It's at a new location this year, and the parking sucks, but it's always fun to see all the art and other handmade stuff there. Just plan to park on the street!

Friday Five

1. How do you feel about candy sprinkles (on ice cream, doughnuts, cupcakes, or whatever)?
Ew. No thank you.

2. Where’s a good place to look at Christmas lights?
Pedernales Electric Coop in Johnson City. The coolest! (Open through Jan 6!)

3. What’s a good idea for a drive-through service or product that doesn’t yet exist?
Drive-through new tires or tire rotation. They lift your car up a little and do it superfast, like at the race track, and you're on your way. No sitting in a crowded, dumpy waiting area for an hour.

4. How confident a parallel parker are you?
Not at all. Had to parallel park at Blue Genie. Yoiks.

5. How much plaid do you own?
I have two plaid shirts.

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Best Gift Card Packaging Ever

So I created an awesome "wrap" for a basic gift card. For Christmas, take one bottle of Shiner Holiday Cheer, their peach-n-pecan-ish (delicious) Christmas brew:

Festive, no?

Then get an Amazon gift card in a gift tag. (Search Amazon for "Amazon.com Gift Card in a Gift Tag".)

(There's a cute snowman one, too! And "Thank you" and "Happy Birthday," etc.)

Tie the tag around the bottle neck and TA DAAAAH! Beats the heck out of a little envelope.

If you're crafty, you could make a little gift tag yourself for any other gift card.

You're welcome. :)

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Wednesday

Got a message from Grant the other day, out of the blue. Just two photos of him, posing with a duck on his shoulder. Grant and I are the kind of old friends who send birthday cards to each other and text or email maybe once a year, so to start a text conversation with random photos, instead of "Hey! Check out my new pet!" was a clue that these photos were probably sent to me inadvertently.

Grant and I chatted a bit, and then I told Jeff about it. Jeff said, "Well at least it wasn't an unsolicited d* pic."

No. It was an unsolicited DUCK PIC.

Bwahahaa.

Jeff and I had margs at Curra's with Doug and his mom last weekend. She is still a firecracker, like she always was! It was fun to see them together again.

In other news, we saw A Star is Born, like a million years ago now, and Lady Gaga is SO talented. Holy moly. I mean, we knew it already, but she is amazing in this film. Bradley Cooper, also fabulous. I hope "Shallow" gets an Oscar nom!

We also saw Green Book, which I loved. Such a relevant movie for these times. It is very raw and real. The honesty is refreshing. And you'll be smiling at the end, which is nice.

Finally did our weekend in Waco with Scott-n-Julie. It was fun fun! We made it to the Waco Mammoth National Monument. It was VERY cool. Learned a lot. They may start digging there again soon.

We went to a museum with a John James Audubon exhibit. We've had great luck getting museum curators and directors telling us stories during our trips, and this one was no different. The lady told us how she accidentally ended up with a very rare print. Ask questions at museums! The real stories are behind the scenes.

Sorry to say, I wasn't very impressed with Magnolia Market. It's just a store, and it is packed to the gills with people, making it impossible to see everything. I would have bought a giant clock, but there is no way I could have fit it into the car was going to stand in that line.

We went to the Spice Village, which I liked a lot. There are a lot of neat things for sale there. Many stores in town have "Magnolia-like" merch that you can buy for less money and hassle than at Magnolia. At one of those stores, I wanted to get a retired red wine barrel for my in-laws' back patio (they're wine people), but wasn't sure how to get it home or to Frisco. Cool item though!

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A Horrifying, Sad and Somewhat Amusing Story of a Lizard

So there was a dead lizard just outside our garage last Monday. It was weird, because I don't think I've ever seen a lizard just dead on the ground, like, ever. If something in nature kills a lizard, it usually eats it (I guess?). I pondered that all week long, while I left the lizard on the ground by the garage door. I never had anything handy to push it into the grass, and I was always on my way somewhere when I opened the garage door, so I just kept leaving it there.

Lauren and I went to a doc appointment on Friday. I told her about the lizard when we got into the car. When we got home, we took a look at it.

It was mostly black, having lost all its green by that point. It was dried out, because the sun had come out for the first time in about 16 years three weeks, and it was sort of flat and leathery. We leaned way over, and I said, "I don't know why I've left it here. It's been dead for five days..." Literally, at that exact moment, it...

SLOWLY. RAISED. ITS. HEAD.

And opened its mouth.

I'm not kidding.

Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

Most bizarre thing ever. After I finished freaking out, I was so disappointed that we couldn't do anything for it. Lauren poured some water on the ground and it lay its head down on the water, although I don't know if it actually drank anything. Then it raised its head and arm again. We were probably scaring the crap out of the poor thing.

Jeff had come out by then, and noticed its leg was all messed up. I said I was willing to make it one of those rolling thingers for its back legs, so it could run around with its front legs. Jeff asked if I was going to catch mosquitos and feed him, too.

Well, maybe!

Wah. :(

So, we couldn't have done anything to save it on Monday either, but at least we could have put it out of its misery sooner. Sad day. Poor little guy!


Sunday Stealing

1. What is on your mind right now?
deciding whether or not to plant some plants in the front yard, or to wait until spring

2. Do you know anyone who has attended Harvard University?
Julie has a master's degree from Harvard

3. How many books are in the room you’re in?
in the living room- 9 decorative books on the shelf above the TV

4. Do you save at least 15 percent of your income?
yes

5. When was the last time you had a rainy day spent at home?
last Thursday

6. When was the last time you stayed home from school/work?
I work from home, but I haven't been sick in years. *knock on wood!*

7. Do you write “yes” or “no” answers to surveys or do you explain more?
I try to explain more, usually briefly for a yes/no, unless an explanation would be pointless.

8. Is there any type of medicine you can’t take? For what reason?
Bactrim- I developed a sudden, extremely severe allergy, after taking it with no issues for forever.

9. Do you have a favorite pair of pajamas? What do they look like?
I hate pajamas. Too much fabric to deal with under the sheets. I almost always wear a short nightgown. I do own one pair of pajamas. They are super-soft navy blue capris with a matching top with a cute, tiny metal anchor in the front of the collar.

10. Would you rather have potato or chicken noodle soup if you had to?
potato- carbs are my weakness

11. Do you believe that when a person appears in your dreams, that person wants to see you?
Um, no, But that would make my dreams more interesting.

12. When’s the last time you saw your mom?
At the nursing center, about 10-15 minutes before she passed away in December 2006.

13. What is one food you could eat for a month, straight, and not get sick of?
hamburgers

14. Have you ever spray painted something about your love somewhere?
hmm, no

15. Do you live in a town where basically everyone knows everyone else?
Nope. Austin metro is over 2 million people now.

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Kavanaugh Vote

The court is going to swing conservative, because the Republicans are appointing a conservative judge, whether it is Kavanaugh or someone else. That is fair, as the court swings back and forth through the decades. It shouldn't always be liberal or conservative. One would ideally hope it was moderate all the time, but it's always going to be leaning one way or the other, at least a bit.

The problem is this particular conservative candidate. Even if you don't believe a word of Dr. Ford's story (or either of the other Kavanaugh accusers)... (for the record, I think you're crazy if you don't, but that's just me), Brett Kavanaugh should never be a Supreme Court justice, based on his behavior in the hearing alone. He was combative, sarcastic and highly partisan.  Trump saying that anyone he put up would have these allegations and issues is ridiculous. There are plenty of candidates who don't have any allegations at all, and who also have a temperament suitable for a Supreme Court justice.

By his own admission, Kavanaugh wouldn't even be allowed to teach anymore, after what has happened in the confirmation hearings. But now, it looks like he'll be a Supreme Court justice. 

smh

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