Recipe Time

So, this is now pretty funny, because yesterday I had written a draft of this post to tell you all about the yummy French Dip Sandwiches we had the other night, and then today, before I got to complete the blog, Anna called and I gave her the recipe, not thinking that in a matter of minutes it would be posted on the blog as well. Oh well...

Anyway, Jeff and I were crazy about these guys. I think we were both pretty hungry when we ate them, and we haven't had french dips around here in like 4 years, so they probably tasted better to us than they would to you! Anyway, because I had some different ingredients on hand, I tweaked the recipe a bit, and here's what we have:


French Dip Sandwiches

2 loaves of Italian/French bread, split in half
little butter
1 1/4 lb. medium sliced roast beef (from deli counter)
1 medium/large onion; sliced
1-2 cloves garlic; minced
1 packet of Beefy Onion Soup mix (or just onion soup or beef soup) ---find these on the soup aisle in little boxes-Lipton makes them
1 1/2-2 C. water
1 can beef consomme (on soup aisle)
1 package of sliced provolone cheese
horseradish sauce (if you like--it makes the sandwich in my opinion, but Jeff doesn't like it)

Turn on broiler. Lightly butter both top and bottom of bread and broil for a minute, to crisp the bread up. Meanwhile, saute onion in more butter (2-3 Tbsp) until soft, adding garlic towards the end. (watch garlic, it burns easily) Add water and soup packet and stir. Immerse roast beef in sauce for a minute or two, and then, using tongs, remove and place on bread. Put provolone cheese on top, and horseradish sauce on top part of bread. Return to oven to melt cheese. Transfer remaining soup (now au jus!) to a bowl for dipping and ENJOY!

"Just- Another- Day" Activities

This morning, I decided we were going to do something different, so I looked up the recipe for the gak stuff online. I remember we made it at school when I was little and then after we knew how to do it, we used to make it at home sometimes and I LOVED (still do) it! Here's the recipe:

2 C. corn starch
1/2 C. water
food coloring

You just mix it together (I would mix the food coloring with the water, and then add the corn starch, because it's easier to get the color evenly distributed) and VOILA!! The only bad part of this is the color it leaves on your hands from playing with it--that's tough to get off, otherwise, I let Jacob go at it, because it wipes up with water, or you can pick it up (if you're quick).

Besides that, it was just another Monday, filled with the grocery store, laundry, and some baking to start Jeff off this week. BTW, in case you were wondering what November's goodie basket-gift thing will be for Jeff's customer's, I am doing loaves of bread--either cinnamon or apple praline--in loaf boxes. I'll post a pic of those at some point too. We were perusing Garden Ridge yesterday after church, trying to get some good Christmas gift ideas since I need to work on those this month, instead of next (a few too many things to do in December, I don't want to ruin the fun of the holidays by over- committing myself!). I have 2 ideas, one of which I'm pulling for, but Jeff is not, and since it is his job, he wins! So, idea #1, which Jeff would like to do is: a mini Christmas tree, decorated in Patcraft colors (turquoise and orange) and attaching business cards as some of the ornaments. Then, because it's Christmas, we would do a small box of choc. peanut butter balls and oreo truffles to go with. I won't tell you idea #2, because if we don't use it this year, we are using it next year!!!!

ANYWAY, my issue at this point is finding the tiny Christmas balls in the right colors. I've looked online and can't seem to find anything, so if anyone has any ideas, that would be super!!

Oh Gee, Here's a Surprise...

So, I figured, golly, I don't have enough random projects going on, let's go ahead and start another one. But here's the thing, some of the ideas from my new crafty things are suitable for wearing, which is my ultimate goal--to one day be able to make things that I can wear--preferably that would be clothing one day, but for now, I am starting with hair stuff.

Since my hair is pretty long right now (compared to the normal chin-length), I have been checking out some hair thingys in stores. My guess is I'm looking in the wrong stores, but still, I have seen a lot of cute headbands in neat prints, but they are like $24 a piece. I can't swing that! So I figured, I will try to make my own, because we all know a plastic headband costs like $1, and I'm guessing no matter what I put on that headband, it wouldn't come out to $23 worth of stuff--so I'm coming out better!

So, my initial idea was to make a headband and put a flower thingy on it, and I still like that idea, but the flowers I did really look too young to pair with a headband, so instead, I put them on those gymnastic girls clips--I don't know what they're called, I just remember I wore them when I did gymnastics.

I did not come up with these flowers on my own (because they are cute, so I don't want to take full credit!!!) . A gal we met down here who went to Clemson came over one night with her husband (who also went to Clemson) and she showed me these really cute dog collars her sister or sister-in-law (I can't remember which) makes and sells online. Mandy was talking about making the same type of flowers to put on infant onesies, and I thought they would be cute for hair things.

So now that I have given you more background than anyone cared for, here are the things I made yesterday and today:

The clip is sewn onto the back of the flower. (you can't see it)

NOW HALLOWEEN!

Having a Halloween post up by 9pm on the night of Halloween was my goal this year (I set really important goals for myself) , and I think we're going to make it!

After Jacob's past 2 Halloween experiences, this year was a welcome change!! As a matter of a fact, it could not have gone any better! Evidently, Virginia Beach has some rules for trick-or-treating, which is pretty cool--but you can't start until 6pm and it only goes 'til 8pm. If you want trick-or-treaters, then you turn on your light. People are also supposed to slow down if they're on the roads between 6 and 8 anywhere in VA Beach. Most of the people in our neighborhood sit outside on their porches with their buckets of candy so they can watch the trick-or-treaters wander through the streets, so it ends up being a real social event! Well, our next door neighbor, and Jacob's everything in life, Bella, invited us to trick-or-treat with her family, so we gladly accepted! Jacob RAN the entire way around 4 blocks! He just followed Bella wherever she went and by the end, he was spotting the front porches that had their lights on, and leading the way! The three of them were really quite funny (Lily is their 3 year old, but she chose to ride in the wagon most of the way around!) running and yelling "Happy Halloween". And they made out pretty well in the candy department too!!

Every time I tried to get a picture of Bella and Jacob (Lily declined a photo-op), Bella would squat down so she was closer to Jacob's height, and then Jacob would squat down too!

Meryl and Jerry's house--our first stop

Running back down from a house-good thing there were no cars around, they kind of just ran through the road the whole time!

The mad dash that the three of them made to each house--it was really a "run for your lives!!!" kind of thing!

Taking a quick break on the side of the road to wait for some more trick-or-treaters

Please look at how sweaty the child is after sprinting around the neighborhood--his clothes were literally socking wet, I had trouble helping him pull his undies down so he could go potty because they were so sweaty!

Some of his loot- he's only 2 and he came right home and started separating the candy into lollipops, blue wrappered things, etc. just like I used to do!!

And now, a video of the sugar rush:

**I forgot to add that as we were trick-or-treating, Lisa (next door neighbor mom) told me that there was a couple who lived at the other end of our street who are giraffe trainers at the Norfolk Zoo! Too bad, they didn't have their lights turned on, they probably would have really enjoyed Jacob's costume! He did get to see another lady who worked at the zoo, and while she wasn't a giraffe specialist, she did appreciate the costume!**

Past Week...No Halloween Though

Jeff helping Jacob with his new remote control monster truck from Grandma and PopPop Williams

I just want to forewarn everyone that there are no Halloween costume pictures to post right now, please hold out for tomorrow or later tonight.

If you are still interested in reading on, we do have a slurry of other nice pictures for your viewing pleasure to keep you abreast with our happenings and going-ons.

First, our bathroom, besides little accessory things is now done, so I have before and after pictures for you. We decided to go daring with our color choice since the room is small and disconnected from the rest of the house in that we can shut it off, and it's not really a "common room" where we all like to hang out together (although, I won't lie, occasionally there are more people--ehem, Jacob--than we would prefer to have in the bathroom at once). So anyway, here we go:

BEFORE:

IN THE MIDDLE:

MOSTLY FINAL PRODUCT:

So, we ended up realllly liking the orangy-coral color on the walls, it just made the bathroom so much cooler than old, dirty looking wannabe- white! I had really wanted to do pale, like ice blue with the orange walls, but I had in my head the exact shower curtain that I wanted, and surprise, surprise, I wasn't able to find it, or atcually anything even remotely resembling it, so we went with my second choice, and Jeff and Jacob's first choice--giraffe! I really do like it, if we add another fabric to our bedroom, it will be a light giraffe print, so we figured the bathroom, in the end, was a good link-up between those two rooms!

Next is pumpkin time. Jacob got a small pumpkin from Great Grandma and Papa's house and we brought it back with us to paint. He did a fabulous job, as the pictures prove:

Jeff brought back some daisy seeds from his conference this past week for Jacob to plant. He is a great gardener-good with his shovel, not afraid to search for "creatures" (aka worms) in the dirt, careful with the watering can, the list really just goes on and on.

Planting--the picture suggests that he was strategically placing the seeds---the picture is wrong. As soon as I took this picture he threw his handful of seeds in one tiny spot on the ground.

Covering the seeds with dirt

Watering--a lot of watering

Since Dad let us borrow the push-leaf blower, Jeff has been WILD ABOUT FALL!! He actually has been looking forward, hopefully, to the days that he gets to clear the leaves from the front and backyard. Well, as opposed to the first couple times he used the blower, yesterday, there were actually a significant amount of leaves on the ground, which enable him to make a pile for Jacob to jump and play in. Jacob had a blast--he's all about throwing any object, so the fact that leaves float back down, makes it extra exciting.

A picture to prove that I do spend time with Jeff and Jacob, since more often than not, I am the one taking pictures! This picture proves why I should be the photographer instead of the model.

On our bike ride this morning--since it was a whopping 80 degrees today (in the 60s yesterday!)--we decided to go by the Bay beach. We went to a different part than we've been before and the beach was much wider than other parts we had seen. Jacob, of course, wanted to wear his Clemson jersey, and bring his football so he and Daddy could play at the beach. As usual, there was a lot of running around and a lot of football terms being incorrectly thrown around.

"Ready, set, HIKE"-Jacob-

.

Look how high that boy threw the football!!

Time at the River and What Has Come of It...

Last post, I mentioned we were off to the river for a while. Well, we're back after a very fun and successful week. We went last weekend to celebrate Papa's 75th birthday and eat a lot of food...

A cake with the themes of the weekend--crabs (we ate them) sledge hammer and nails (the guys used those thingys for something) and waders (I don't think anyone ended up braving the 30 degree weather and strapping on the waders).

I have so many pictures that I like to "claim" are my favorite pictures ever, and right now, this one takes the cake--I keep smiling and chuckling every time I see Papa in this picture. By the way, this is a shot of him coming in while we were singing happy birthday to him--I think he was pretending to be surprised.

Action shot that I hope is hanging on Grandma and Papa's refrigerator next time I'm there.

Papa's "present" from everyone was having the guys come help him work on fixing the bulkhead around the lake (a basically keeps your land from eroding and falling into the lake, and visa versa) . Well, the weather didn't really cooperate for this task--it was in the 30s and raining last Saturday (for the record, when we left the River today, it was almost 80--so last weekend was pretty crazy!!)--but they all still manned up and worked--here are some pictures of the crew:

That's our little Jeffrey down there on the dock--The ladies (Caitlin) were oohing and aahing over Jeff in his work ensemble this weekend! He's a cute one! I hope she's OK with me posting that on here...

In our free time, we did this:

Poor Jeff, when I don't pick out matching clothes for the two of us on the sly, he still ends up matching with someone--in this case, it was Caitlin. OH MY--I almost forgot one of the funniest things that Jeff ever said--when he was picking out his socks to go with the ensemble you see above, he chose black, opposed to white, since it was a darker color like the rest of his outfit. Then when he put on his socks he said, "Now I look like a bruise--I'm black and blue and purple"! BAHHHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAAH

After Jacob came back inside, he was really feelin' the gloves, so he just kept those on for about an hour!

The three of us went grocery shopping at the little store at the River. It was REAL carts for little guys like Jacob! When I was little, I can't express to you how exciting it was to go to Hall's and get to push the little cart.

So cute, and such a good and careful shopper. He only bonked 2 things!


Jacob and Papa as a pig and cow, respectively.


Jacob and Grandma at the berry farm checking out the fish family.


Playing with one of his Halloween treats from Grammy--a mini fishing game, while wearing his glow in the dark jammies, and flashing pumpkin necklace--he was festive.


Papa came up with the brilliant idea for our little cowboy to practice roping steer(a board) with his lasso ( some of the ties from the floats). This kept the two of them entertained for hours, allowing Grandma and me plenty of time to work on our projects. I should also add that we brought Jacob's cowboy boots, because, well, let's be honest, you just never know when an occasion is going to pop up that calls for the boots. BUT ANYWAY, Jacob was only interested in wearing the hiking boots that are hand-me-downs from his cousin, Garrett. He kept saying, "It's so nice that Garrett got bigger so he could give me his boots"

Jacob and I stayed the rest of the week with a sewing project in mind---making curtains, a bedskirt, and pillows for our bed to snazz the place up a bit! With so much wedding money that got spent on things that it really shouldn't have been spent on, we decided we were going to be puposeful with our anniversary money this year, which is why we put it toward the fabric for our bedroom. I mean, why not invest a little time and money into the room where our favorite activity takes place---SLEEPING!!!

ANYWAY... Grandma was a good instructor-I've made pillows and curtains before, never a bedskirt, and these pillows were a little more special with some cording, again, to add pizazz, so she helped me tackle this large project and showed me how to do several new things! The exciting thing about this week is that I think that I could do it all again on my own (if I had a few giant rooms and a sewing station, like Grandma) ! So, I know what you're thinking, "Is she ever going to show me a picture of the final product?!!" Well, calm yourselves, here they are!!

BEFORE:

Before we painted the walls and windows,etc.

After the painting

AFTER A WEEK AT THE SEWING MACHINE:

WHOOP WHOOP!! That looks a lot better, huh?

No, no, your eyes are not deceiving you, the orange and white pillows are reversible!!! One side is the orange and white, and the other side is the blue botanical(like in the picture above)--so we can change the pillows whenever we get the urge to do something daring! We live life on the edge!

YOWZERS!! Look at that fancy pleat (which I didn't steam out) in the bedskirt!

Big Clemson Tiger Boy! This is one of the outfits Kristi gave us from her little brother--and it's a 4T!!!!!!!!! Jacob is HUGEEEEE

Well, we're getting ourselves together for a lovely trip to the river this weekend to help celebrate my Papa's 75th birthday, and in typical me fashion, I am tidying up my life before we take off...this obviously includes clearing off the camera and doing a final blog update. I just don't think I could enjoy my time if I knew there were old, unblogged pictures on my camera's card...I'm sure you can all relate.

ANYWAY...

This is a little of Jacob's photography. He takes pictures of the things that are meaningful to him--aka his school bus with polar bear in the driver's seat.

This is probably what Jacob is going to look like this weekend as he works on rebuilding the bulkhead in the 40 degree weather...hey, at least he's got his hard hat for protection!

ATTENTION!!!!!!!! Here is a new autumn craft project for you kids out there! It's the spectacular monkey ball-ball (evidently some people call them "gumballs")!! I saw something like this on a table in a Southern Living, and I don't know how they made it, but what I did is this:

1.) Use a 4 inch foam ball (can get them at fabric or craft stores) and gather about 50-70 monkey balls
2.) Carefully (monkey balls can be prickly!) push one end of a toothpick into one of the tiny holes in the monkey ball, then push the other end of the toothpick into the foam ball.
3.) Repeat this until the whole ball is covered in monkey balls, using smaller balls to fill in the gaps.
4.) Top with a bow (or not, I'm not sure I'm really feelin' my bow)

Anyway, I really like the way it came out...I am thinking about doing some smaller ones too, and putting them together in a table arrangement, maybe with some fancy pillar candles mixed in there! I'll keep you updated!

I also want to get everyone pumped up for pictures next week. If all goes as planned, sometime the end of next week, we will have before and after pictures of our bedroom--complete with new curtains, pillows, bedskirt, and coverlet! WHOOOOOOOP WHOOOOOOOOOOP!!!

DRUMMM ROLLLLLLLLLLLL

Here are some pictures of our living room: I don't have a before picture of it, but trust me when I say it looks a lot better than when we started!

The blank wall above the table is waiting for a mirror from Dillon, SC--the mirror capital of the world! (J/K- Anna's gonna hook us up with a big one!)

View of the wall with love seat- to the right is the doorway to the kitchen, to the left is the doorway to the hallway and bedrooms

View from the corner by the table toward the front door.

Close up of what some college folks may recall as the buffet in our front hallway at Berkeley Place for a couple years--after some intense refinishing last year, new hardware, and the latest addition--the custom cut glass top, it is now serving as the entertainment center!! Still not a bad piece for $15!!

When you walk in the front door, this is straight ahead, beside the love seat. As with almost everything in our house, this was something we got as a hand-me-down--this one from Bryant and Judy when we first moved down to Clemson. I think we kept it in the kitchen. It has since been in the bathroom, and now the living room. I finally painted it, added some fabric to cover the door at the bottom (glass broke) and a new knob, and now it's looking good for a few more years!

Coming out the door from the kitchen into the garage.

View down toward the door in the garage. We added carpet, a bunch of shelving, and some of Jacob's toys to turn it into a playroom type thing.

Future Masters Champion

Jacob decided to play a little golf today at the park. He finally understands how to hold the club and he can crush the ball pretty regularly. The second hit in this video went about 20 yards or so which is impressive for a plastic ball and plastic Snoopy golf club.

We also wanted to add that the whole time Jacob was golfing, he was very concerned about if he was carrying his golf bag like Lyn does, or if he hit the ball off the tee like Lyn does. I asked him if Lyn was his golf role model and he said, " Yes, and Lisa too"---I am not sure how much golf Lisa actually plays, but she better get to it so as not to disappoint the young boy!

While on the subject of the Mills family, I should add that Jacob was playing doctor today with Jeff's stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, and he was pretending to be like doctor Lisa. I have a picture of one of his "doctor's appointments" I will post later.

Bike Riding Adventures

So, Jacob has been having some sporadic napping these days, thus leaving us with a very sleepy toddler later in the day. Last night, we went for a bike ride out to the "park close to the beach" so Jacob could play for a while and Jeff and I could ride a bit--here is what happened:


For a bit, I could feel Jacob's helmet on my back--that is how far forward his head had fallen. He was pretty pooped evidently--needless to say, we never made it to the park, we just kept riding.