Roman in Round Rock

Day 2 in Korea had us feeling not quite right.  The time change was the culprit even though we slept ok the first night.  Sleep has never been a problem for this family.


The S family knew we would be tired from our travels so they planned an easy day for us.  Thank you, S family!


They took us to eat a traditional Korean lunch.  T's friend shared this little hole in the wall place with her and it is one of their favorites.  She calls the place "The Mackerel Lady".  Why??  Because out front there is this cute little lady grilling mackeral for lunch.  You walk inside and find a table.  They have 2 areas to sit.  One with table and chairs, the other is a table with pillows on the floor.  Of course, you must take off your shoes to eat at the floor table.  The floor was heated and felt wonderful.  You grab a bottle of water on your way to the table and then they start bringing food.  No menus.  They just bring it on.  Whatever they have made that day.  Several soups, kimchi, the mackerel, and stuff I have no idea what it was.  If you eat all of something, they bring you more.


For those of you who know me, you know that I do no eat fish.  Never have.  I have tried it and it just does not appeal to me.  It has something to do with the texture.  I tried the mackerel.  It was not bad, but that texture thing still....  I loved one of the dishes that T tells me is fish bread.  Looks sort of like a triangle pasta.  I guess at one time the US sent over a bunch of flour and they didn't know what to do with it and they added fish to it and made a paste....  Anyway, it was delicious.  I ate most of it.


The other cool thing about this restaurant is that it only cost 5,000 won per person which is the equivalent to about $3-$4 depending on the currency conversion.

Boy with 1 of our dogs, Brutus, before we left DFW.

We left DFW on Korean Air for a 14 hour non-stop plane ride.  If you have never flown Korean Air, it is awesome.  We were in the economy seats and it reminded me of flying first class back in the 80s.  Real food with real silverware.  Warm washcloths to wash your face and hands.  They even give everyone a little pouch that has an eyemask, socks, toothbrush, and toothpase.  Each seat has a Video On Demand system where you can watch movies (probably more than 40 to choose from), play video games, shop, etc.  Each seat also has a power plug so you can plug in your laptop.  I brought mine loaded with stuff to keep us busy and never even pulled it out.


Boy did not sleep very much on the plane.  Hubby sat next to him so he did not sleep well.  He says that he gets to sit next to Girl on the way home as payback.


We get picked up at the airport around 3:30pm local time.  By 8pm I was asleep on the floor in the living room, then had to drag myself to bed.  But... we made it!

Our first views of Seoul.

Today is Christmas Eve in Korea.  The whole being ahead of the US by a day is a bit strange.  We are here visiting our best friends, the S family.  They moved here 8 months ago and we really miss them.  For the past 4 years we have spent Christmas together so this year we were in for one long plane ride.


We have been here for a week and a half now.  T keeps bugging me to update this blog, so why not.  I don't know if anyone actually reads this stuff except for her so if you are reading... please post a comment so I know it is worth my time.  THANKS

When we bought our little Hilltop Hideaway I knew we would be doing some updating.  We are in the thick of it now.  At least the weather is nice and cool.  When we bought it, it was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house with this really strange enclosed porch on the back.  The door to the porch was outside.  Really bad shape.  We figured that the roof must have leaked (big time).  I don't really need to say more.

Hubby decided that the back porch could be converted into a master bedroom with bath.  It is coming along nicely.

House with the porch on the back (right side of photo)

This is how you got into the old porch

Inside of the old porch.  Looks better than it smelled.

Before picture... then we added an opening to the new expanded area.

Opening to the new expanded area.... off the kitchen/dining area.

This "little" room is a transition area to the master bedroom now.  Going to be used for storage and an office/desk area.

The new master bedroom.  It is long and not very wide.  Hopefully we will be able to walk around the bed....

New master toward the new bathroom/closet/laundry area.  The laundry hookup are right next to the closet... handy!

This section was added on....

Last but not least (this was actually done first).  We (ok, not really me, but you know...) moved the hot tub from inside that building behind it and moved it outside.  Now you will be able to sit in the hot tub and watch the sun set over the lake.  Much better view.  The building behind is 90% done.  New floors, walls, etc.  It will eventually be mine, all mine.  For scrapbooking, writing that novel, etc.

There are times in your life when you know you did something good.  I am filled with pride right now and it is over-flowing.  Boy celebrated his 9th birthday this week.  We had birthday dinner of his choice - stir fry - and opened gifts from us and big sister.  Had grandparents, some aunts, uncles, and cousins over on Friday for dinner.  Then, Sunday was a birthday celebration at Mels Bowling with his classmates.  When we invited his classmates, we asked that in lieu of birthday gifts, that they make a donation of items for the Annunciation Maternity Home.  While it was my idea, he was totally on board and enthusiastic about the idea.  After school today we drove to Annunciation Maternity Home to deliver our items.  The staff there were very kind and let Boy know what a great idea he had.  Girl is now looking forward to her birthday because she wants to do the same.  Probably hoping that she can even out-do her little brother.

We talked about St Therese today on the way home and how you can do small things with great love to serve God.  I hope this is something that touched their hearts and will serve as a catalyst for more great things.

We moved to Texas so that we could be near Hubby's family again.  We have enjoyed it quite a bit....but we developed such good friendships in Kansas that we miss it frequently!

We will be heading North for a visit soon!  We are excited to see some of our friends and just hang out.

A friend sent THIS LINK to me about Wichita and it is sooo funny.  Check it out, then try to guess what section of town we lived in.  Leave a comment with your vote.

One reason these posts have been slacking is because of my many volunteer duties.  This one is now complete.  Our school helps out with the parish Fall Festival in many ways.  One way is that each class is assigned a theme to create a gift basket for a raffle.  The 3rd grade theme was Family Games.  It turned out GREAT!!

Me with 2 of my new friends... T and V.  They are my library buddies, room moms, and now workout partners!!

My domain...  I painted my office a few weeks ago.... got a bit too orange.  I actually like it in my office... just not for the whole house.  Here is my workspace...

Even if you are not a cat person... this is cute...

A little equal time for Miss Leah.

Girl wants to rename the cats Yin and Yang.  Not a bad idea.

This is what I have been working on all day.  The kitchen.  We have been in our house for a year now and I need some COLOR.  I thought I brought some paint from our house in Kansas but I cannot find it.  So.... I went looking for the RIGHT shade of yellow.  Painted my office.... too orange.  Painted the kid's bathroom... too bright.  3rd time is a charm.  Took a sample off a splatter on our ladder and matched it!!  The picture above is just to show what a difference color can make.  Ugh the boring beige walls.

Just another picture of the kitchen....

ok... I needed to hit SAVE.  I just typed a very long blog and the site crashed and I didn't hit save first.  I should know better.  Here is what is coming:

1 - Animal escapades.... cats, dogs, squirrels, and skunks
2 - Finally found the RIGHT yellow to paint the house
3 - renovations at the Hilltop Hideaway
4 - saw a great movie
5 - really love my husband
6 - finally saw a decrease on the scale.... finally
7 - McDonald observatory
8 - Fall Festival at St Helen
9 - I turned 40!!
.... and more