Posts (page 2)
As forecast, it was raining this morning as we got out of bed. Not a great day to install carpet, considering the red mud surrounding the house, but , it arrived, all the way from Dallas, at 8:45 AM, so it was going to happen today. The guys did a good job of keeping the mud out of the house and I think they were proud of the job they did. We were very pleased with how everything came out.
When you buy a house that's already been built, you know exactly what you're getting. When you buy a house that you've only seen as a drawing, it gets a lot more "theoretical."
I've had butterflies in my stomach more than once about how one feature or another would look and feel. We took a house plan that the builder had built many times and proceeded to make several changes to it. The builder didn't really know how to handle some of our requests, so we have had to work some things out as it was being built.
The "Western Room" turned out great. That's the room with all the windows, looking out toward the back of our property (and the sunset). Everyone who sees it loves it.
The fireplace had me worried. Was it out of proportion? Was the brick as pretty in person as the samples? Today, after the carpet was in, I knew it was alright. It really looks good.
We have electricity and usable bathrooms now. We got to try out the heating today since the temperature was in the 40's. Wow! In less than 5 minutes, the house got cozy.
Next week, we will get a driveway and a yard put in. The yard will just be dirt until I figure out whether to seed it or sod it. I'm thinking maybe hydroseeding.
As you can see from the photo's below the cut, it's very muddy when it rains. All the foundation work and contractors trucks have left the yard a complete mess, exposing the red clay to anything that touches it. If you try to walk through it, it just keeps building up on your footwear so that after a few steps, you're lifting pounds of mud with each step.
Although this is a "turnkey" deal, there have been several situations that I've had to throw money at it to make things the way we want them. My cash flow is not the best right now. Crossing my fingers, hoping that not too many things pop up that I'll have to tap the bank accounts again.
You may notice blue tape marking little defects that the touch up crew will clean up.
The English have an old custom of taking a snack break at around 11:00AM. They call it Elevenses. When we lived there, we seemed to notice there was a strong tendency for the workers to take a less formal break at 10:00AM. Thus, C and I made up the word "Tenses". That seems a more reasonable time to bridge the gap between Breakfast and Lunch.
We still enjoy our Tenses at the little donut shop in Van. The Donut Palace is technically a chain, but no two are alike. It's run by a Korean couple that have perfected these little heart stoppers. I'd put their plain glazed donuts up against anything Krispy Kreme can produce.
We went to an Italian Restaurant tonight for Valentines. My son came down from Dallas, and we got our act together in time to make the thirty minute drive to this new place that only opened a month ago.
What makes it special is that it's hard to come by really good restaurants here. Not that the food is not good, it usually is. It just runs toward "Down Home Cookin" or TexMex. The food at this place is as good as any Italian place I've been to here in the States, and better than some places I've been to in Italy. Of coarse, it can't top Orsini's or Gorgotz's, but those places are off the charts. Nice atmosphere, nice decor, and nicely appointed tables.
It's BYOB, but that's not their fault. This is the Bible Belt. It's the buckle of the Bible Belt. We're lucky we don't get arrested for transporting alcohol to a restaurant!
When we got there, the parking lot was full, so we parked at the doctors office next door. There was a line waiting for tables. We were pleasantly surprised to see my brother and his wife already waiting in the line, so they changed their request to a table for five. We still waited for about twenty minutes.
The food was excellent. My brother had the Lemon Sea Bass, son had the Zuppa di Pesh, C had Nick's Chicken, Sis in Law had Shrimp Scampi, and I had the Pasta Sampler. Everyone loved it.
And I'm happy that we now have a special "Date Night" place to go. Hard to believe, but, up until now, the best dinner restaurant we had nearby used rolls of paper towels for your napkins.
The sunset just went on and on. When I thought it was over, I looked up and saw this. Had to run for my camera, again.
I just opened a bottle of wine from the Valdepeñas region of Spain. We lived in a suburb of Madrid for three years while I was stationed at Torrejon Air Base. We had made a conscious decision to live "on the economy," meaning off-base housing. And we loved it!
We had Spanish, French and American neighbors. It was close quarters. These were townhouses that were so close, we shared clothes lines.
Spaniards drink red wine like Texans drink iced tea, and just about that casually. There's no ceremony to it. You just pour a tumbler full of wine and drink, if that formal. Sometimes they drink it from a bota, a bag traditionally made from goat skin. "If you can't afford to spill it, you can't afford to drink it!" Likely as not, they're drinking a Valdepeñas. It's the standard house wine at most family restaurants and tascas. For most household use, a trip to the "bodega" to refill a gallon jug, was customary.
Before we got to Spain, our knowledge of wine was mostly limited to Lancer's Rose, a big splurge for a couple still in college. In Spain, we learned to drink red wine like the natives (except from those nasty goat skin bags). For three years, red wine, "tinto," was Valdepeñas!
Today, our tastes in wine go through phases. A year ago, we were in a Pinot Grigio phase. Lately, we've acquired a taste for Syrah.
When I opened this bottle, the color, the smell and the taste of it triggered a strong wave of nostalgia for our days in Spain.
We ate out tonight. Hadn't intended to, but spent more time at Mother and Dad's than we planned.
During dinner, C said, "Today is Mother's birthday."
I said, "Would you like to go by the cemetery?"
"Yes, I think I would."
So, just before sunset, we stopped by the town cemetery. Checked the condition of the flowers, and looked around at a few of the other graves to see who we recognized. We've done thus before. It's kind of a ritual.
Just a few minutes out of the day, then we drove home.
Funny lady, my wife, a grandmother of a fifteen year old, is very popular when she logs on to her character.
An alliance Death Knight, the "enemy," 40 levels above her, just started flirting with her. At least as much as you can without being able to talk to each other. She was laughing at the antics of this Death Knight when she got my attention. She said, "He's just playing with me! One whack and I'm dead, but he's just running rings around me."
I said, "Face it Honey, you're a hottie!""That's it! I'm an Undead Hottie!"
(Pic from I, Splotchy)
Really, they live for this! This is from an East Texas cattle auction.
