The rugrats are coming..! The rugrats are coming..!

The Web Guy and the rugrats.

After a lovely spring break vacation (the university allots a three day weekend for staff - no I am not complaining...).  I am now in the midst of preparing for the impending invasion of teenagers.  One fifteen year old Prince and a twelve year old Princess shall grace the halls of the manor.  This also means that there shall be new rules/realities within the manor.

1. The day shall not begin before 10 am AT THE EARLIEST!
2. The carefully laid out plans of the Lord (Me) have a great chance of being tossed aside by said teenagers.
3. The Lord of the manor (Me) shall lose all control of the viewing habits within the manor.
4. The Lord of the manor (Me) shall have to deal with an overly pampered and hyped up Cat of the manor once the Prince and Princess return to the corn of Indiana (He gets this wide-eyed, manic look on his face that screams "Play with Me!' for about a week after they leave).

Now...having understood what is about to happen, I am thrilled beyond belief and the impending outbreak of pandemonium.  Thank goodness that I live in this area because there is no shortage of things to do.

The Bayou City Art Fair is this upcoming weekend.  If you have not been to one of these, I cannot recommend it enough.  I am finally going to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center.  Then there is the mandatory visits to the Houston Zoo and the Museum of Natural Science.

My son has already decreed that he MUST schedule a visit with his Houston friends which I have no idea what that may entail.  Maybe a visit to the Galleria Mall (... that IS what these teenage types do isn't it?).

So, I have cleaned the apartment and made the beds.  I have stocked up with snacks.  Life is going to be grand!

Ho! Ho! What the..?

Shopping season is in full bloom and I am behind as usual.  I also made a vital discovery this past weekend.  Evidently, the ENTIRE city of Houston and all of the surrounding communities merged onto Westheimer Road where I live.  Starting at 8am on Saturday, the street was backed up and stalled until around 8pm on Sunday.  I can honestly say that I had not seen that kind of traffic in a very long time.

But..(and this is important) I still met some of the nicest shop clerks.  Folks that knew what they had to do and did it with a smile and good disposition.  I hit a number of different retailers and they all made the traffic stress just go away.  Thanks folks.  By the way, there are some absolutely outstanding antique shops and curio shops here.  I had a ball perusing them.  I even walked out with a picture frame the was made from an old cold house (gardening reference).

So have a great holiday folks.  I will be making the 14 hour drive to the plains of Illinois this year and spend Christmas with my two rugrats.  I get to make pralines, snickerdoodles, and flavored chocolates this year.  It is going to be a ball.

There just comes a time...

Here we come a' marchin' towards the holidays.  There are beautiful lights up at the Houston Zoo (I am going again... and again), there are magical elves putting up decorations in the office building, the students are sweating out finals...

Life is just good this time of year.

I am going to make the 14 hour drive up to see my folks and kids in Springfield, IL for the Christmas break.  I plan on making some chocolates for everyone to try and gather a handful of hot sauces for everyone to taste.  I know that I have been writing about all of the wonderful places to go and visit here in the Bayou City, but for me it always comes back to the food.  Always has...

You see, I am definitely NOT a hot sauce person.  Anyone who knows me can attest to that, but my son likes the stuff.  Anyway, in the Galleria shopping mall there is a place called the Pepper Palace that we always have to stop in and try.  So, I bought a pack of samplers for him to try and share with his cousins.  For his sister, I am making some different flavored chocolates. Everything from strawberry, to pomegranate to cayenne pepper.  Once again...food stuffs.

Now... let's just hope it doesn't blizzard during the drive.