Friday, October 28, 2005

Thoughts for the Weekend



YAY, it's the weekend! David, my Mom and I will be accompanying *Batman* to our church's Fall Festival tonight. :) Noah's been talking about this for literally 3 months and asking me every day how many more days until the 28th. I'm glad trick-or-treating is only 3 days away so he doesn't have to do another countdown. He's finally old enough to anticipate these fun days. And darn, old enough to remember how much candy he has and see whether or not Mommy ate any of it. :) We've had Noah's costume since July. We saw it in a party store and he wanted it. I really hesitated buying it since I know how often he changes his mind, but he promised he'd wear it in October. He's still excited about it! I promised myself last year that I wouldn't wait until the last minute to buy a costume this year. Makes it so much easier!

I'm loving the chocolate brown velvet curtains I hung in our bedroom. They are so pretty and make the room really cozy. The window is really large so I have the velvet curtains on the sides. For the middle section I found the curtains I wanted but of course they are only available online at Bed Bath and Beyond. (I need 95" length panels) I had a 20% off coupon and wanted to use it on my purchase. So they placed the online order for me IN the store and I was able to use my coupon! The curtains will be shipped to my home address. Very cool little tip and not something they publish on the coupon! These are the curtains I ordered for the middle section of the windows. It's hard to see the detail on this photo, but they are silky, lined, and have brown, red, and cream pencil thin stripes. Exactly what I wanted and didn't know until I saw them in the store. Can't wait to see them up! (You can do a detail *zoom* on the link above to see the colors)

Ok.....as I was driving in the car yesterday I heard a radio commercial that I hear quite often. It's for a "dog poop scooping service" called Dog Duty. (play on the word "doodie" or "doody." How exactly DO you spell that?) I've heard this commercial lots of times but I started pondering... Just how do you decide to fill out an application for employment at this business? Don't get me wrong...I think it's a great idea and probably very useful to the dog-owning customers. So I looked on their website this morning - We Scoop Poop dot com. Yes, that's correct. Down at the bottom is a form to fill out for employment. And on the application it has a space to answer these questions: What previous work experience do you have to assist in this position? and Why do you think you would be right for the job? I laughed really hard when I read these. Not to make fun of the applicants..but I would really LOVE to see some of the answers that people have written for these questions. Can you imagine? Hmmm...I guess the boy humor in my home is rubbing off on me.

I'll be scrapbooking next week (can't wait!) and am working on some scrapbook-related projects this weekend. I need to submit some layouts! Big news possibly happening at WSD. So happy for Wendi's success!

My glitter arrived in the mail yesterday! I can start working on my Martha glitter pumpkins soon. I'll post a photo when I'm done! :)

We're carving a pumpkin this weekend. I want to get my OWN and do THIS. (also pictured here) Martha is SO cool! Basically you poke holes all over the pumpkin with a drill, stuff a string of Christmas lights into the pumpkin and push the Christmas lights out thru the holes. I bet they are beautiful!

And speaking of Martha, she has the world's best recipe for homemade scalloped potatoes. I've made these several times for family get-togethers and will probably make them again during the holidays. Here's the recipe!


Martha Stewart's Scalloped Potatoes
Serves 14 to 20

3 pounds yellow potatoes, peeled, and sliced paper thin
1 clove garlic
3 cups milk
5 ounces Gruyère cheese
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup heavy cream

1. Heat oven to 325°. In a large saucepan, combine sliced potatoes and milk, and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low; cover, and simmer until potatoes just begin to get tender, about 3 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, grate cheese and set aside. Place a colander over a large bowl, and drain potatoes, reserving milk. (You should have 2 cups of thick, starchy milk. If potatoes have absorbed more than 1 cup of milk, you must add enough milk to bring the reserved milk volume to 2 cups.)

3. Rub a 3 1/2-quart oval casserole with garlic and butter. Arrange sliced potatoes in the casserole in two layers, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Dot with remaining butter and pour in the reserved cooking milk and cream. Scatter grated cheese over the top.

4. Place casserole in the lower third of the oven, and bake until the cheese has turned deep golden brown and the milk has reduced and thickened, 80 to 90 miutes. Remove from oven, and serve immediately.

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Have a beautiful weekend with your family!
And HOOK 'EM HORNS on Saturday!!
- Jennifer

"Pray temperately and simply. Prayer is a heart-to-heart talk between yourself and God and needs no brilliant ideas, no flood of words." - Anonymous

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE those curtains! The pumpkin project looks cool, too. Let us know how it turns out. :)

Anonymous said...

You need to write a book! I LOVE your entries!!! I agree with you about Halloween...I'm so glad it's right around the corner. Kaden is so antsy! He's been telling EVERYONE (strangers included) that we meet that he's going to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. He'll probably be talking about it for weeks afterword, unless we can change his focus to Santa Claus. LOL!

LOVE those curtains..the color is gorgeous. I would definitely like to see the pictures of them in your house once they are up. As for the pumpkin...SUCH A COOL IDEA!!!! I haven't carved mine yet and think that I just might do that. I think I'll run downstairs and see if I have a little spare strand of Christmas lights I could use. That is definitely VERY cool and unique. Thanks for the idea!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennifer--
I found your blog through Kelly Edgerton's and have really enjoyed it...
I have loved the recipes you've shared....can you believe it, I've even made a "Jennifer's Recpies" file and refer to it when I want to get out of the same ol stuff for dinner rut....
Thanks for sharing

Anonymous said...

Martha's not the only one to use a drill on pumpkins. When my kids were small (they are 19, 21 & 26 now) they wanted to use Dad's drill on a pumpkin. I said ok as long as they cleaned out the inside of the pumpkin instead of me. Wish I could find those pictures. It was one of the best pumpkins we ever "carved". Have a good weekend and have fun at the festival.

Teresa Wilkins

Anonymous said...

Enjoy those new curtains! They look great! I just stopped in to let you know I made your chili mac recipe last night, and it was wonderful! I used Ranch Style beans with jalapeno because that's what I had. Yum! BTW, have you seen the new Rachel Ray food magazine? It's called Everyday with Rachel Ray. I've only had a chance to peek so far, but it looks like fun!

Anonymous said...

Hey Jenn!!!!!!! I have been so bad on responding and blogging lately but wanted you to know I got your sweet email and please keep in touch!!!!!!!!!! ;) I so hated leaving the team but I know when I have reached my limit and it was about to break!

Yeah...another yummy recipe I have to try...thanks! ;)

Have a wonderful weekend!!! ;)

Anonymous said...

ROFL! I have no witty and brilliant comment to make, but the idea of applying to be a pooper-scooper has me in hilarious tears!!!

Anonymous said...

I really would rather read your blog than watch Martha, you know! And I love her! The pooper-scooper add is hysterical. And can you just imagine writing that as your last job when applying for a new one! I may have to try the lit-up pumpkin tonight! Very fun!

Have a great Halloween!

Sophia

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with everyone else and say that reading your blog is so much fun!

Also, I can't wait to see more of your Disney pages. I absolutely love your scrapping style and need to do some Disney scrapping of my own...and want to get some inspiration from you.