December 2008 Archives

Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment, which went well. We listened to the heartbeat, which was a strong 156 bpm. My doctor also prescribed me some allergy medication. I've been stuffed up for a few months now and I've had daily headaches for a while as well. I'll get to pick them up next week sometime and hopefully they will give me some relief. I only seem to get the headaches on days that I work which I find interesting. We also set up our appointment for our 20 week ultrasound for January 20th, 7:30am CST. They should be able to determine the sex of the baby that morning, so hopefully he/she is not shy!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We're sad we aren't in Buffalo celebrating with family, but with the weather up there recently, who knows if we would have even made it! The weather reports here say that it will be in the 70's tomorrow, which will definitely be different for us.

We are going to be figuring out a good time to come visit in the spring (AFTER all the snow melts), since we weren't able to come for the holidays, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone then.

This evening we went out to dinner. Mollie was in the mood for steak, and we had a gift card to use for Austin Land and Cattle. So we got there, it was rather crowded. We get seated and start looking over the menu.

The waiter takes our orders. Rather than letting us order, he keeps interrupting and making suggestions. For instance we each ordered fillet, which comes with multiple sides and a salad/soup. He just spurts off so you will have salad with house dressing and potatoes, before I ever said a word. If I were purchasing life insurance or landing a lunar shuttle I would probably be open to many suggestions since I don't have much knowledge on either. However consider I am probably top 20% pickiest eaters in the US, taking meal suggestions from someone I don't know would be equivalent to taking dating tips from Charles Manson.

We finish the meal and it was pretty good. We get the check and give the waiter the gift card. He is gone for a long time, much longer than one would expect to run the gift card. I'm talking Moses climbing up the mountain to get the Ten Commandments long. Eventually he comes back only to explain the gift card we had was for Austin Land and Cattle, which was all well and good, except for the fact we were at Texas Land and Cattle. This is a completely different restaurant. So we pay for the meal and scurry out in complete embarrassment.

Since we are in the mood for steak about twice a year, I can expect to try a new steak place May-June time-frame.

Today was the first day back to work after the holiday and visit from my mom and Bob. It was a busy and fun week. Tuesday and Wednesday they were in Dallas, and they drove back on Thanksgiving morning. We decided to have a New York Texas Thanksgiving: bbq ribs, mashed potatoes, corn bread stuffing, squash, and green beans. All in all it was a very good meal, except Mollie forgot the pink jello. For a treat we had pumpkin and sweet potato pie. It was a nice Austin day and we had beverages on the patio while everything was cooking. Bob helped me fix the sliding screen door. Unfortunately since I have handy man skills of a three legged dog, I broke the outside light in the process. So if shattering a light when all you needed is a door fixed, I am available for many everyday repairs.

Unfortunately some part of the meal didn't agree with Bob as he wasn't feeling well the next couple of days. It was probably the bad pizza Mollie gave me a week earlier that left me abdominally challenged.

On Friday we did some shopping/store browsing, it must have been the rib hangover since I suggested the idea. I clearly wasn't thinking straight. Friday evening we went to Esther's Follies show that was very good. I recommend anyone coming to Austin to check out their show.

Saturday was a pretty low key day, so low key I don't remember what we did, so on to Sunday. Old age has warped my mind so all the days have blended together, similar to one of those montage scenes in a cheesy '80s movie, where everything gets done so quickly and no one is tired or looks like they really did anything. Sunday consisted of visiting Enchanted Rock (a nice mountain and camping area). One would think large state park, large camping/hiking area, bring proper shoes to walk around in. Not everyone in our party thought so, and that person will remain nameless to protect the innocent. Then on to Fredericksburg more shopping, eating, drinking beer, and eating some amazing chocolate. The chocolate there was incredible, and I had the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Think of drinking a cup full of hot fudge, but better. I decided then and there when I no longer need to work we are moving to Fredericksburg and I will just walk around with an IV in my stomach and live on motor oil thick hot chocolate.

Monday Mollie went back to work and mom, Bob, and I visited the Bob Bullock museum. There you can learn all about the Texas history, but plan to spend a lot of time. We spent several dollars worth of quarters on parking meters. I also discovered my uncanny ability to parallel park. There wasn't a lot of room but I got the car in the spot on the first try, I may be the Michelangelo of parallel parking. I normally would have trouble parking in a spot if I was the only car in the lot, had cones and neon lights to guide me, and a guy with those big flashlights they use to direct airplanes to get in the space and not at some random angle. I like to pretend I am making a statement to society when I park like a jackass (not intentionally of course). We saw a movie there and the seats vibrated and made lots of noise. My mother kept screaming and I was fairly certain we were going to get escorted out of the theater by the usher. Then we had Tex-Mex, and Tuesday was just a relaxing morning and then off to the airport. It was a good week and we had a lot of fun.