Texas

Last week was spent in the land of everything big.  I had a trade show in Dallas that began on Saturday and then met up with Lisa, Todd and Jill in San Antonio on Thursday for a little extended weekend trip to celebrate both Lisa and my 15th wedding anniversary as well as her big birthday coming up in June. 

I had been to San Antonio a few years ago but Lisa had not.  I really like the downtown area.  We stayed in a hotel right on the Riverwalk which is were most of the downtown activity occurs.  Riverwalk is basically a man-made waterway that connects to an actually river.  The river is lined with bars, restaurants and shops as well as a trunk that ends at the convention center an another that ends at a mall.  New since I was there a few years ago is a new area of the Riverwalk that hasn't really been developed much as of yet and it ends at an old Pearl brewery they are converting to shops.   The walk from our hotel to the brewery is approximately 3 miles and yes we did walk it both ways one afternoon in 90 heat! 

Other than the Riverwalk, there's a Mexican marketplace that included restaurants and shops loaded with Mexican art, trinkets and souvenirs.  The best part of the marketplace is they had a food court in which every vendor sold margaritas and beer.  Now that's what I call a shopping experience....a mall with beer.  Todd and Jill have been to Mexico and said the marketplace really was typical of the markets in Mexico.  We ended up eating at one of the restaurants. La Margarita at the market and it was pretty good!

My best find was Rita's on the River.  Rita's is pretty much a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant and bar on the Riverwalk but have one hell of a happy hour from 3pm to 6pm during the week.  They have appetizer specials like $3 poppers or Queso and $3 16 ounce Margaritas.  Yes you read that correctly, $3 house Margaritas!  Lisa had never had a Margarita before but by the end of happy hour she was as big fan.  Needless to say, we ended up there every day.  Our bartender's name was Oscar and he treated us right.  I would go back just to hang out with Oscar at Rita's during happy hour.

We pretty much did all the touristy things like visiting the Alamo (yes, you could easily forget the Alamo--probably why the saying says "Remember the Alamo"), stopped by Pat Obrien's, hit the souvenir stores and went on the Riverwalk boat tour.  One night we went on a dinner cruise that was hosted by a restaurant called Boudros and the food was outstanding.  The meal included homemade guacamole and salsa, nice Caesar salad, and a 5 oz beef tenderloin and a seafood enchilada.  The beef and the tamale were probably the best I've ever had or at least the best I've had in a while.  We also went on a carriage ride (a first for all of us) and ate at two other places that were just average:  Lone Star Cafe, Wax O'Connor's Irish Pub (avoid at all costs) and another Mexican joint that I think got me a bit sick.  All in all, it was a nice long weekend away!

Update on the "project"

Well, the tile work is completely finished, the toilet and sink are in the bathroom as well as the bathroom door is hung and the surround sound speakers are mounted.  Next week on Tuesday the carpet is being installed and on Thursday the bar cabinet will be delivered.  My goal for this weekend will be to spread mulch in the yard, cut the grass and other various yard activities like weeding and planting as well as hanging shelving in the bathroom closet, hanging the closet door and installing the trim in the bathroom.  I also need to paint part of the stairway before the carpet arrives.  Looks like a busy work weekend for me!  I will post progress pictures either later this weekend or next week.  Since I have to be at the house during the carpet install, my 3 day weekend turned into a 4 day weekend! 

Weekly update

Lisa has been bugging me to go to the African Wildlife Safari in Port Clinton for a few years now and finally figured out a way to get me there. She asked to go for Mother's day; who am I do deny the mother of my children a mother's day wish? So on Mother's day, we packed up the kids, picked up Lisa's parent and headed toward Port Clinton. To tell you the truth, the safari was pretty cool.  It freaked me out a bit as herds of wild animals swarmed your car sticking their heads in the window looking for food...unbelievable!  I was screaming like a baby..it was a blast feeding the buffalo looking animals carrot after carrot.  Here are some pictures of our adventure:

After the safari, I got a little Mother's gift of my own...a visit to Cheese Haven!  Cheese Haven is the biggest tourist trap but man do I love cheese!  I bought horseradish cheese, garlic Cheddar, a hunk of Beer Cheese, beef jerky, hot sauce, bottle of wine and a tee shirt.  By the way, Beer Cheese is a member of the Limburger family.  It will stink up the entire house...do not open the package in the house....I repeat, do not open the package at home.  Actually, don't even buy beer cheese, it is difficult to get it past you nose!

After Cheese Haven, we drove around looking for a place to eat forever and finally ended up a mere 1500 feet from the Haven at a bar that had just okay food.

Shawn is running for fourth grade student council.  He has to give a one minute speech on Monday and the election is immediately following the speeches.  I remember like it was yesterday a hundred years ago campaigning for 4th grade student council running on the platform of more pizza at lunch and and end to homework!  I did run successfully in grades 4-6 and it was so much fun getting to leave for "meetings" in the middle of class; I can't remember what we even did at those meetings.  I also ran in High School and was elected 3 of 4 years which to this day still surprises my.  I was even elected my senior year but chose to participate in a different advisory board.  Again, I have no idea what we actually did at those meetings either!  What a farce.  I do hope Shawn wins but I think practically everyone in the third grade is running.  I wonder what happens when everyone votes for themselves.  Oh, well...it does bring back memories!

 Shawn with his campaign poster (last name removed in order not to influence the vote)

On the basement front, we have slowed down a bit.  Pretty much due to my work schedule for the next week or so and because we are at the mercy of others right now with deliveries.  We have all the tile laid but without grout at this point, tonight I am ordering the carpet and the toilet.  I really wish I could find a scarlet or Grey toilet but I think I'm gonna have to settle for a black one.  The cabinets should be in by the end of the month, the carpet in a week or so and then it will be crunch time.  Once I get the floors done and the cabinet in, I will schedule the granite template to be made.  It takes about 2 weeks for the granite to be installed which will give me time to hang doors, finish the bathroom with toilet and sink and do the trim work.  I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel but there's so much to be done.  Here are a few pictures of the tile flooring before grout:

May be as strange as Glee!

Per Lisa's request, I am posting this but I think it's a bit on the twinkle-toes side of the rainbow if you know what I mean!

Color!

It took all weekend but we now have color in the basement.  Lisa and Jill searched for paint Friday evening while Todd and I finished painting the ceiling.  The wall color was a pain in the rear-end.  We probably bought 6 samples of different shades of brown.  Some were too yellow, others were too orange and some of them looked a lot like dog do.  Finally, Lisa and Jill mixed a couple of the different samples together to come up with a shade of brown we can live with.

Saturday morning, Todd and Jill stopped by again for a few hours and helped paint the walls.  When they left, we still had about 70% of the Trim left to do but I couldn't do much more without really screwing it up plus we were having Ted's birthday dinner on Saturday.  I made my soon to be famous Beef Wellington.  We rounded out the meal with mashed potatoes, broccoli rice casserole and a nice tossed salad.

This morning, I finished the trim up while Lisa worked on the bathroom walls.  Of course the walls in the bathroom are now a nice O.S.U. grey which will make an excellent backdrop for a Brutus Fathead or a scarlet block O and all the other scarlet colored signs Lisa has accumulated over the years.  I am now in search of a waterproof Michigan "M" for the bottom of the Toilet but my initial search is leaving me coming up empty.

Tomorrow the cabinet salesman is coming over after work to verify measurements and I will either cut the grass if the weather cooperates or I will put another coat on the ceiling....it needs it I fear.  Here are some pictures of our freshly painted basement.