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....



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......

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......

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...

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....

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.....

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....

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....

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.....