Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Pumpkin carving ....

We were kind of stuck in the house on Monday the 29th
waiting out Hurricane Sandy

the wind was blowing like crazy and some rain but not really alot
they were telling us the night hours would bring the worst conditions
and I'm typing this up Monday evening so nothing has happened yet....haha!!

Nicole and Maddox decided to carve up the pumpkin
so we spread out a big beach towel and placed the
pumpkin on a trash bag
I think the dogs thought we were going to have a picnic! haha....




At first Maddox wanted nothing to do with it
he pulled his hands back and wasn't about to touch the pumpkin guts




 

after Nicole removed most of it, he gave it a try and before
long had his hands in there





 

I think they did a great job......looks great

now just hope all of the wild and crazy weather moves out before Halloween

later....





Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Fat chops ...

My family loves fat chops
they are big fat pork chops....probably about 2 1/2 or 3 inches thick

if you are a member of Costco, then you know the ones I'm talking about



here's all you need to make these yummy fat chops!



I coat them in Bisquick and brown them in a little butter on the stove top


then mix up Lipton Onion Soup mix
I use all four envelopes with this many chops
mix one cup of water with each envelope




then pour all over the chops


I always cook these in a low oven, about 275 degrees
covered tightly with foil
usually about 4 or 5 hours
and they are fall apart yummy

But this past Sunday, I did them in the crock pot.
and they were fine but not as good as cooking in the oven
and I don't really understand the difference but it just was!

and we were all so hungry that I didn't even think
to take a picture of them all finished

but trust me......fat chops are awesome!!

later......

Monday, October 29, 2012

Coffee bar ...

I'm sure you have been seeing all of the coffee bar
pictures all over Pinterest

I loved the idea of having one in my kitchen but just
didn't have room for the big ones shown
dang....I def should have thought of that when designing
the new kitchen

but I did have a empty space that needed something
 it wasn't a big space and I wouldn't be able to get
anything that would stick out too far

So have been searching around and I found this
at of all places Target!!
I went and checked it out to get the measurements
and it would fit perfect in that space but then I just got so busy and
didn't think of it again.
a couple of weeks later I saw it in the Target sale paper
on sale for $30 less!!

here it is......




it holds both coffee pots
and the shelves below hold all of the coffee mugs, filters,
coffee, spoons, etc
I used my old Mason jars for my
sugar and creamer. But now, I think I need something else
I'll keep my eyes open while out shopping

the other morning I came downstairs and there were 2 one dollar bills
laying on the coffee bar
I told Johnny.....look, someone left me a tip!!
haha......but no, someone had just left their money there for a minute

it's a one stop coffee spot!!
and freed up space on the counter tops!

later......

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Ice Box Slaw ...

this is an old recipe in our family
and one of our favorites!
and if you are lucky enough to have cabbage in the fall
from the mountains of Virginia, then you're pretty lucky!

here's the cast of characters...



1 med cabbage
2 to 3 onions
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp dry mustard
1 cup white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp salt

Chop cabbage and onions as for any slaw. I really thin slice the onions
Mix with 3/4 cup sugar and set aside



Heat celery seed, mustard, vinegar and salt. Bring to a boiling point and then add the vegetable oil...bring to a boil and remove from heat.



Pour over cabbage mixture and mix well. Put in the refrigerator a few hours or overnight.



This slaw just gets better with each day!!

Enjoy
and I'm going to apologize for the lousy pics...camera needs major work!

later...

Monday, October 8, 2012

Fishing ....

We did a lot of fishing
well, let me take that back
they did a lot of fishing
I watched and took pictures

here's Denise fishing and she was also the only one
who would clean the fish!

and here comes Johnny ready to fish


here's Dee under the dock.....crabbing
we never got enough crabs to cook


the first big one was caught by Johnny


they caught a lot of small ones....had to throw those back


my Johnny and me!!

later....

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Beach house ....

this house we are staying in is fabulous
like I said in the other post, it's 5700 sq ft!

here's the living room with that awesome view

 below is the area between the living room and kitchen/dining room
it's the perfect spot for the puzzle we are working on




there are so many different seating areas ... perfect places to curl
up with a book!



the area below is where we played a lot of poker and 99


and below is mine and Johnny's bedroom....
very comfortable



later.....

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Beach ...

Johnny and I are at the beach this first full week of October
we don't usually come down this late in the year
but his sister from Atlanta rented a house
and invited all of us
and you know I will not ever turn down a trip to the beach
especially the outer banks!

and we're staying on the sound this trip
which is really cool as we have a 360 view of water!!
and a beautiful house to stay in......this house is 5700 sq ft!!!


that above is the back of the house
I took this from the dock
the gate goes to the pool

below are a couple of our views of the sound
and please excuse the dust spots on the sensor in my camera
I don't have photoshop with me to get rid of it :)
but can you even believe these views!!!







I would just love to wake up to this every day!!

later....

Friday, October 5, 2012

Just some pictures ....

I took this picture the other night
and the only light was the neighbors porch light
it's a bit blurry...but I just think it's neat looking


and the girls really missed Jake while he was gone on his cruise
here's Pippa Lou insisting on taking her nap ON Jake!!



and of course lots of kisses....

later....

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Dogs ....

I love, love, love my dogs.....

they make me smile when I wake up
 smile when I come home from work
and snuggle with Johnny and I when we go to sleep
I'm at the beach right now missing these little girls

they love to eat carrots for snacks
that's little Pippa Lou




 our beautiful Bella Boo


and my old Chrissy girl....she will be 13 on Nov 1st


later.....