Yes, the government shutdown has disrupted travel and a lot of subsidy programs. I, personally, think this shut downs should be illegal. The only ones who suffer are the citizens.

Thank you!

I've been extremely impressed. I'm flying out of Austin in a few hours and although Delta has cancelled some flights out of AUS mine isn't one of them. There have been quiet a few empty seats on most of

There are a fair amount of homeless in the downtown area but I never felt unsafe while walking around alone during the day. It was far safer here than in the Twin Cities.

How lucky you are to be blessed with such great friends! The food and the beach look amazing!

There are taco restaurants and food trucks everywhere! I'm bummed I didn't get to try some good BBQ but that'll be a reason to come back. You'd love it here. I got a picture of the building they film Austin

That photo of you holding the candles looks like a fifteenth century oil painting! Great job on the costume!

There's almost a 40 degree temperature difference between Austin and back home! It's been a little bit like traveling back to July. This place is steeped in Mexican culture. The meeting was absolutely

Thank you @honeydue!

Those came out great! I really like all of the natural grain in the wood.

Thank you @tonyes! I hope you're having a great week as well!

No, we opted out of all those extras. We did get a couple power hubs to charge our phones though.

What a cool brother! I once owned several milk-crates full of vinyl (the LPs fit perfectly in those old plastic milk crates) but sold all those records when I moved to Minnesota in 1995. They were so heavy

That is hilarious (and incredibly creative)! I can't believe how much they look like aliens. I'll be looking for alien brethren in our floors now. Lol.

Thank you!

Thanks! I'm glad we decided against luxury vinyl. This floor will outlive both of us and will develop more character along the way. I'm glad we made this choice. The maple was sustainably harvested just

Thank you Nancy! It was such a crazy week! I'm so looking forward to some normalcy returning to our lives soon. I feel like things have been in disarray for months. Next is the kitchen remodel. I'll be

So true! Assembling something gives you a whole different level of appreciation for it. IKEA, ingeniously, discovered this early on.

Thank you!

I appreciate it! We're very happy with them now. We just have to get our baseboards fixed and we'll be all set. I'll definitely be blogging from Austin. I still don't have my ticket but from what I've