Texas Trip part II, chain saws and power outages

So this is a restaurant in Taylor, TX.  The top rated restaurant was closed on Sunday.  We should have driven to the next town, in my opinion, but Carl LOVES to eat at local dives. Dive here is the optimal word!  You know it will be tricky to find a good restaurant in a town when Sonic and McDonald's are rated as places to eat on tripadvisor!!

As we drove through town, we saw lots of cars but no people. Kaitlin said that she has seen too many NCIS's to not think something was strange.  I am so sorry I didn't get a picture of the outside of the building.  So use your imagination here and work with me. Picture a derelict building with maybe three cars. - My rule is usually 7 cars and windows but I threw caution to the wind for Carl. - Try to imagine a beer sign in the window and bars on said windows. BARS ON THE WINDOWS! Is the hair standing up on the back of your neck yet?  Mine was.  The inside was not much better. There was a bar and several tables. I was thankful that we had plastic silverware and paper plates.  I felt some better when a family came in to eat.  Kaitlin noticed that lots of folks got their food to go.

Carl loved his food.  Mine was so-so.  The chain saw that I kept hearing was a little distracting.  What were we really eating?  Carl assured me it was an electric knife.  hmmmm.  Our waitress was very nice.  I was not sad when it was time to leave!


We got to our motel in Austin and unpacked.  We tried to connect with Kay and Jullian- you will meet them again soon- but they were delayed by a lost suitcase.  We decided to eat at Perry's but it was closed on Sunday.  Carl and Kaitlin found several restaurants that we could walk to and we decided on Ruth's Chris Steak House.  It was good.  About half way through our dinner a Large group of REALLY TALL people all in running suits came in.  We noticed that the running suits had the word Tigers on them.  After a quick text to Andrew, we learned that Missouri was planning to play Texas the next night.  MO won by one point.

I got up early on Monday morning and proceeded to engage in one of my favorite activities.  Window watching.  Here is what I saw.  A picture here is not worth a 1000 words.  You can't see the man-hole with the four men working under the ground just beyond the truck with the cones behind it.  They were working furiously.  You also can't see the homeless folks that were waked up by the garage truck that picked up the trash cans they were huddled behind.  I was describing all this to Carl and Kaitlin when Carl had to come and take a look see.  He informed me that what I was seeing was a mobile generator and that there must have been a power outage.  I watched out the window every chance I could and the men worked all day and into the night.  They even put up a little tent over the man hole so the men could work in the rain that came in the afternoon.  That night on the news we saw that sure enough there had been an outage and we were seeing the men work to fix it.  When we woke up on Tuesday all the work men were gone.

 My window watching after that was not so exciting.

On Sunday we also went to the LBJ presidential library.  More on that tomorrow...

Texas Trip Part I- Where is RGIII?

 Carl's job requires lots of travel.  Two weeks ago today Kaitlin and I were able to go with him on a trip.  Our trip was to Texas so we could drive, which I loved because I didn't have to fly and Kaitlin loved because she could pack as much as she wanted to!

We left early on Saturday morning and we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, Cracker Barrel!!!  Well, I should qualify this and say that Kaitlin and I love Cracker Barrel and Carl loves us.  As the days will reveal, we did eat at some unusual places- some I'd recommend and some, not so much.  Carl loves eating at local, unusual places.  I am working on liking eating at those places too.  

After a wonderful breakfast by the fabulous fire, we hit the road again.  We were headed to Waco for the night.  We did stop at Bill's in Corsicana, TX for lunch.  I would recommend it to you.  It is definitely local, southern cooking and it was good. 

 We stopped to get gas and powder our noses near the restaurant.  As Kaitlin and I came back out to the van, Carl was in some strange person's Tahoe.  Well, the person wasn't strange but rather a stranger to us.  It was a women in a Tahoe extended cab with a Uhaul trailer.  She had pulled into the gas station but in doing so had gotten so close to these polls that she was stuck in between them and couldn't move in any direction.  Carl aka MacGyver was able to get in her vehicle and pull just a little this way and then again just a little that way and suddenly, Viola, she was unstuck.  She thanked us and we were on our way!   

This is a picture of RGIII with the Heisman

 I love seeing college campuses.  Since we were staying the night in Waco I wanted to see Baylor.  The folks there could not have been nicer.  We parked the car twice to get out and walk around. Folks asked almost immediately if we needed help.  I wanted to go to the bookstore and I wanted to see Robert Griffin III or at least his socks.  We found the bookstore but alas, no RGIII or his socks.  Seriously, if I was the bookstore, I'd have some wild socks.

Rabbit Trail- Robert Griffin III won the Heisman trophy in 2011.  He is known for his wild socks, ie Elmo, pokey dot, etc.  The night of the Heisman ceremony He was asked to show his socks, they were superman socks and they had capes on them.  The socks went viral and everyone bought them and I still don't have a pair!  

Ok, back to Baylor...  Their bookstore is awesome.  Kaitlin was impressed with all the Apple products they sold.   

 I knew they were the Baylor bears but I didn't know there really was a bear.  There is.  No picture because they were sleeping in the shade and with the reflection off the glass, so just trust me, I'm looking at two bears.

I recognized this building from college game day.  This was the backdrop for their set when they were there. 

There is a lot of sky in Texas!

  I was stunned to find out that the Baylor stadium in not in Waco, it is in Beverly Hills, Texas which is the next town over. I guess I picture most stadiums like AUBURN right in the middle of campus.

 We saw the Lone Star on lots of things in Texas.

 More pretty Texas sky.  I know what you are thinking, everything is bigger in Texas.

 Here we are at supper.  We looked on tripadvisor and found the top rated place.  It was too crowded so we went to the second highest rated place- Health Camp.  Now what would you think we would eat there?  If you guessed burgers, you guessed correctly!!!!

They were good too.  We all got a different side- tater tots, fries and onion rings.  I got a chocolate, peanut butter and banana shake.  Yum yum!!  We all enjoyed the shake too.   

 It looked like a 50's burger joint.

It is located right off a traffic circle.  I am glad MacGyver   Carl was driving!!

Tomorrow we meet the Texas Chain Saw restaurant in Taylor, Texas.  Carl says it was an electric knife but I am not so sure...

Frugal February + an extra day

I am a little behind on posting.  Kaitlin and I were able to go on a business trip with Carl last week to Texas.  We had a blast and I am working on those blog posts.

My theme for February is to be frugal. My niece, Barbara, does this every year and I got the idea from her.  It is a gift she gives her husband every year, his birthday is this month.

 My goal is to clean out my pantry and freezer.  I am pretending that we are on the TV show Chopped, and I must use the ingredients that I have in the house.

I also plan to give away 10 bags of stuff that we don't use or need.  I think being frugal is more than just not spending money but being responsible with what we have.

Since we have an extra day this month, we plan to do some extra things on that day or maybe do 29 extra things this month.  Not sure yet.

Simplify, Forgive and Move!  That's my 2012 motto

 

How do you hear?

This list blew me away.  I will not listen to a sermon the same way again.

How about you?

Ready, Set, Save!

Here is a guest blog from my daughter in law Taylor- she named me Bubbles! 

When Andrew and I got married and I relocated to a city where I was unable to find a job, I discovered the world of couponing. I have learned a lot about saving and earning money over the past few years, and although I am by no means an expert, the strategies below have helped us to stretch our budget , allowing us to save more, give more, and travel more.

Couponing – There are a multitude of blogs on couponing; however, I entered the world of couponing and drug store shopping through Money Saving Mom.  Currently, I visit Southern Savers the most often, as she offers the ability to easily create a shopping list by clicking on the items that you would like to add to your list. You can then print your custom list complete with coupon matchups. Although Money Saving Mom and Southern Savers are the blogs I visit most often, I also visit Common Sense with Money and Deal Seeking Mom on occasion.

Shopping – For online shopping, I shop through Ebates, Mr. Rebates, or Shop at Home to get cash back on my purchases. Mr. Rebates is the site that I use most often, as it typically has the highest rebate. These websites will also list coupon codes that may be available. Another website that is useful is dealnews, which lists some of the best online shopping deals. For information on Amazon-specific deals, Jungle Deals and Steals blogs about great Amazon deals.

Dining Out/Entertainment –  Groupon and Living Social are my favorite sites for entertainment and restaurant deals. I have found half price deals on my favorite restaurants, salons, and local entertainment (walking tours, cooking classes, etc.). There are several other websites that offer daily deals; however, Groupon and Living Social are the ones that I visit most often. For dining out, some cities have great restaurants listed at www.restaurant.com. There is always a coupon code for this website - just search for one on your search engine prior to purchasing.  I’ve gotten several great restaurant gift certificates for very little money through restaurant.com.

Travel –  Groupon and Living Social offer fantastic deals for travel – from one night stays at a Bed and Breakfast to two-week excursions. From the Groupon website, click on Getaways, and on the Living Social homepage, click on Escapes. These are updated weekly, and although the deals typically last one week, the lower priced deals frequently sell out prior to ending.

For hotel stays, I have discovered Priceline, which has helped us to save hundreds of dollars on our trips. We use two websites, Bidding for Travel and Better Bidding, to give us an idea of what hotels we might end up getting through bidding on Priceline. This also gives me an idea of what prices other people are paying, so that I do not waste any bids, as you only get one opportunity to bid in a particular zone (unless you change the star level) in a 24-hour period.

Another option for vacations is to book an apartment via www.vrbo.com or www.homeaway.com. There are several other websites for searching for vacation rentals, but these are the two that we use most often. We booked an apartment for our stay in Rome, and we loved it. Not only were we able to save money by renting an apartment, but also we are able to cook our own breakfast and do laundry at the apartment.

One last resource that I use for travel deals is Clark Howard’s website, where his team posts travel deals (focusing specifically on flight deals from Atlanta). He also has several great tips for traveling and saving money.

Earning Money – There are a few easy ways to earn money online. Now, you won’t become a millionaire, but something is better than nothing, right? One way is to earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards through SwagBucks. You can earn points by using SwagBucks as your search engine and also through completing daily polls on the SwagBucks page. 

Another easy way to earn money is through the completion of Pinecone surveys. Pinecone only sends you surveys for which you have already qualified, and you get paid $3 for each survey. Occasionally, you will also get the opportunity to test out new products that have not yet hit the market.

PaperBack Swap and SwapADvd will not necessarily make you money, but you can exchange your used books and dvds with others for only the price of postage. We have exchanged several books and dvds through these websites and recommend it highly.

Well, in a nutshell, those are the tools that we use to save money – I hope you find this helpful! Happy saving!

3 of 1000

Ann Voskamp is the author of the book 1000 Gifts. Her blog- A Holy Life is on my blog roll. She offered a free download for the month of January, that offered suggestions for making a list of your 1000 gifts. 3 per day. Today is 3 things blue!

machine gun maybe?

Do you have a favorite TV show?

I have several and one of them is Top Shot.  A new season starts on February 14 at 9 central.  It is a reality show with marksmen. The contestants start the competition on teams until enough of them have been eliminated, then they compete against each other.  They use everything from rocks to Gatling guns.

 I have no idea why I like this show so much.  I joined the facebook group for the TV show and I don't look like most of those people, in fact, I don't look like any of those people.  The facebook page for Top Shot encouraged me and all the others to upload pictures from our Top Shot parties. Wow!  They all showed off all their guns!  I don't have a gun.  I keep telling Carl that I need one and he just laughs.