Goin' to the Big D, and DO mean Dallas (this time!)

Hi everyone! You may notice a bit of a change to the blog. On the side I've got ads running now. They shouldn't pop up or anything, but please let me know if they ever do, and I can get them changed.

Also, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who leaves comments! I love getting them, even if I don't necessarily respond back. It makes me feel good to know that people are reading! :)

Noel and I have been enjoying the little bit of time he has off lately, mostly exploring the area. We found a junk shop (excuse me, an Antiques Store) that had some really interesting pieces of Texicana (is that a word? It is now!) You could buy anything there, from sombreros:

To something I never thought in a million years I'd be typing:

Leather fringe short-shorts. OH the HORROR!

We've also seen quite a bit of this:

Pretty scenery! Isn't it nice here? Not pictured - big cows. (Speaking of, some ranchers have these weird lumpy cows here called Brahman cattle. I'll try to get a picture of some of them, but for now, check out this wikipedia article. WEIRD, no?):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brahman_(Bos_indicus).jpg

Today, we got up early to head into Dallas for some education and learning and such. As we drove up, I snapped a picture of the skyline, but you can't see it very well because IT WAS SNOWING. (Not much, but a little!)

The place we went was a living history museum with various buildings from Dallas's history and culture. They had some lovely homes there:

We got to tour through almost all of the buildings, and it was really quite fascinating! Noel liked the general store, particularly for the items on the shelves from companies that are still in existence. Look carefully on the middle shelf in this picture for the old Quaker Oats container!):

I found it amusing that the general store sold just about everything, including a casket:

This museum is located right smack in the middle of Dallas. You can see the skyline behind the old schoolhouse:

The inside of the school house is cool too. When we walked in, I said "HEY! It's just like Little House on the Prairie!":

Inside the homes lived some gorgeous furniture (I took so many pictures of sofas!):

COVET COVET COVET.

The wallpaper in this Victorian home is also fabulous. They had even wallpapered the ceiling.

One funny thing is that they had light fixtures shaped like chandeliers, but they had 4 sconces facing up and 4 facing down. The reason? The 4 upper ones ran on gas, the bottom 4 ran on electricity. At the time the home was built, neither utility was really dependable, so they hedged their bets. :)

Check out this stroller! Can't fold this one into the trunk!

The living areas in the larger homes were very extravagant for their time. This is a picture of one of the more casual parlors (sorry it's so dark - I wasn't allowed to use a flash):

(See why I was in heaven? Old dresses, treadle sewing machines, antique furniture.....sigh).

Noel warned me to compose myself before peeking into this room. For good reason:

I squealed. Spinning wheels, sewing machines in almost every room, a loom, yarn, quilts.....it was great.

Check out this dressmaker form. (In particular, the waist!). How tiny were these people!?!? Of course, women would've worn corsets to get that particular shape, but still! (The sepia seemed like a nice touch, don't you think?)

We also passed by this sign / wanted poster, offering a Grand Neck-Tie Party (ie. hanging!) for troublemakers. Look out, Chalk Dust Dan! :)

In case you didn't know, Dr. Pepper was invented in Waco, TX. It's big here. This advertising mural is fun:

The snow and clouds had cleared out by the time we left, and Dallas was a bit more photogenic.

We stopped on the way back at Bubba's BBQ and Steaks. TASTY! I've never had beef bbq before, and Noel got ribs that literally fell off the bone. Incredibly good!

YUM!