The Art of the Ice Cream Cone

I took Natalie with me yesterday when I went to the doctor to have some stictches removed from a spot on my back (benign, thank you, Lord!). We left Michaela Byrd home with Mimi because the afternoon is not pleasant if she misses naptime.

Natalie did so well at the doctor's office, that I told her I'd take her to Carl's.

Carl's is a local ice cream institution, and was even featured on a PBS documentary. Pairing the ice cream with the fun art deco/moderne style signage makes for a memorable afternoon. My family moved to the 'Burg in the early 80s, and I have fond summer memories thanks to Carl's.

As you can see, it's a walk-up place. On nice summer nights, the line wraps around the building, but it moves quickly. It's always worth the wait, and I always see at least one person I know. Today was no exception!

Don't you love the cone sign?

Lit up at night like a beacon of deliciousness!

(night photo from Flickr)

The menu is basic: chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry ice cream...but they offer shakes, floats, and sundaes. Prices are much different now than when I was a kid...isn't that the way of it.

Even Natalie didn't complain about standing in line. She knew what was coming!

The service, coming from local teens, is somewhat Soup Nazish. For those of you who are fellow Seinfeld fans, you'll remember this:

Like I said, the line moves quickly, mostly due to the ice cream Nazis inside and their lightning quick skills.

The machinery inside is real, 1940s Electro-Freeze! It was hard to get a good picture, but check out all that silver!

Know what you want when you get to the window! You'll see lots of eye rolling from the other patrons if you hem and haw.

I got a shake (chocolate, duh!) and Natalie begged for a vanilla cone. I tried to convince her that she wanted vanilla in a cup, but she insisted.

This is a small sugar cone!

We ran into my friend K and her two little boys. K committed the sacrilidge and picked up a pina colada (virgin!) smoothie from the coffee spot next door. Although she's been under so much stress with the sale of her house, I wouldn't have blamed her if she'd asked for a little shot of rum...

Her boys hopped around so much and so quickly that I couldn't get a good shot of them. Their quick movements helped their cones not to melt too quickly.

Natalie couldn't say the same thing.

The girl likes to savor her dessert...I've seen her take 15 minutes to eat one scoop of chocolate ice cream, and she scrapes every. last. spoonful.

The cone got the best of her.

I finally grabbed the cone and took care of the melty parts for her.

It's okay...I can sacrifice and take one for the team.

Any time.

Tasty Tuesday: Butternut Squash (!) Fries

It's Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Go visit Jen today for some more fabulous recipes!

My three year old, Natalie, loves French fries almost as much as she loves chocolate. When we pass a Chick-fil-a, she yells, "Look! It's the french fry store!"



My eighteen month old likes fries too. When the Chick-fil-a Cow (ie. poor, sweaty teenager who is paid a measly hourly wage to drive around in a cow costume) showed up at the park two weeks ago, he was ambushed by little kids. Michaela Byrd saw him and started shouting "Fry! Fry!" as she toddled over to hug him. (She's the little one in the striped shirt, bottom right, holding onto L's oldest daughter)

I was wondering about healthier alternatives for the kids when my wonderful sister, Alison, emailed me an awesome recipe for Butternut Squash Fries.

Natalie was skeptical when she saw what we were making, but then again, she has no idea that french fries come from potatoes. For all she knows, the Chick-fil-a cow whips them up himself. I enlisted her to be my chef's assistant.



Butternut Squash Fries



Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.



Cut ends of butternut squash off and cut the squash in half.



Peel skins off. Cut squash into french fry slices.

Arrange on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Quickly spray tops of squash with cooking spray.

Enlist your sou chef to sprinkle slices with salt.


Bake in oven for 40 minutes, flipping after 20 minutes. (*This is where I think I messed up. I should have done thinner slices or cooked them longer, but I had two whiny kids and a whiny-yes, whiny-husband who wanted to eat right away*)

Finally, give your sou chef the night off. She's exhausted...working in the kitchen is tough!

These fries would be a great addition to a meal of grilling out burgers. They are very flavorful...just wish I'd cooked them longer!

{Bon Appetit, Y'all!}

If I Were a Betting Woman...

I'd bet on me to win "hide and seek" every time.

Natalie loves hide and seek. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. She's terrible at it. I mean, really really awful.

Our Pomeranian does a better job of hiding.

When it's Natalie's turn to hide, Michaela Byrd and I count to ten loudly while Natalie scampers off. Michaela Byrd's version of counting goes like this "One, twoooo, figh, sagan, TEN!"

We always hear loud stomping footsteps as Natalie runs to the other room to hide. This is followed by obnoxiously loud giggles and scuffling noises as she fidgets in excitement.

Michaela Byrd always finds her sister in a matter of seconds. She really should give her big sister a chance.

So I'd totally bet on me to win. I like those odds.

Thrifty Treasures: Score at the Opp Shop!

Miss Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is hosting another fun "Thrifty Treasures" party. Head over there today, and you'll be sure to find some inspiration!

Today, I thought I'd share my finds from our trip out to the Opp Shop in KG.

As I mentioned before, this place was packed. I don't think KG has many (or any!) thrift shops or even a Salvation Army. I guess they all drive in to The 'Burg. I had to navigate a smallish thrifty shop that was packed to the gills with wild eyed thrifters, all mad for a bargain. I had the 18 month old, Michaela Byrd, on my hip and I prayed to God that Natalie (my three year old) would just follow without being distracted by shiny things (poor thing takes after her mama).

For a grand total of $2.20, we found all of the following:

5 beautiful wood embroidery hoops. These will be painted and fitted with fabric to become wall art. I think I'll save them for my bedroom. (Yes, I know I can find these at JoAnn's or Michaels. They run anywhere from $0.80 to $8.00, so this was a bargain!)

Blank gold frame with lovely details. Will be painted. Can't decide whether I should just leave it empty (take the "glass" out) or add our family portrait from last Christmas. Hmmm...

Highly, um...well--ugly slate. It's pretty big, larger than the normal slates I've seen people hang outside. This will get a coat of black paint or chalkboard paint. Haven't decided yet, but you know you'll see the results here!

Found this beautiful little bottle (originally from Pier 1) at a yard sale this weekend.

Don't you just love the pretty little details? It's the palest aqua blue.

They also had a beautiful bearded collie who was not for sale, much to the dismay of my girls.

That sale had the. most. lovely. cream colored, upholstered armchair with matching ottoman. They were small, well-made, and sturdy. For $15. Did I buy it?

No. (sniffling) In my wisdom, I asked another shopper to sniff it for me (I have no sense of smell, and no shame). She said it smelled of cigarette smoke, and I wasn't willing to spend $15 and not be able to get that smell out of the pieces or my house!

This is the face of a child who wanted to bring the sweetest bearded collie home. She has, like her older sister, mastered the art of sticking her lip out to pout!

Oh, well...maybe next week!

{Happy Thrifting!}

Hooked On: Easy, DIY, Custom Memo Boards

Editing this post to link to Melissa at 320* Sycamore for her fun Gift Ideas party. Head over today for more fun projects!

This post is linking up to the wonderful Julia at Hooked on Houses for her "Hooked On..." party today!

As I've been making a valiant effort to cross items off of my summer to-do list, I've been focusing on organizing my new craft "hallway." Memo boards like this:

($79.00)
and this:

($149.00!! from PB Teen)
look like a fun solution to both organization and displaying keepsakes. I wanted to create something that would compliment my craft desk makeover project (Yes, I know I've linked to it a thousand times, but it was my first big makeover project and I'm proud of it! Give a girl a break!).

I've had this old poster laying around forever. The poster made its way to Salvation Army, and the frame had a little date with my black spray paint.

I mentioned here that I found this fabric at JoAnn's with my 50% coupon.

Poor T drove all over town for me trying to find cork board that would not be too thin. The backing on the poster was just thin cardboard, so the cork needed to be thicker. He finally found a package of cork squares at Office Depot.

He glued the squares to the cardboard backing and we put some heavy stuff on top of it overnight. Three days later The next day, he cut the extra cork off the edges for me with a box cutter.

Then it was my turn to go to town! I grabbed my hot glue gun and wrapped the fabric as tightly as I could, wrapping the cardboard backed cork like a present.

Voila!

It's not hanging because I need to see how high my shelf over the desk will be first, and T a certain person likes to take their time in between projects. T is much better at hanging stuff than I am.

Close-up!

Some cute push pins in bright colors (I'm thinking red, green, yellow, blue, etc.) are in the works.

Total cost of this project? About $17.00 (The cork boards were ironically the most expensive thing at $13!)

{What are you hooked on this week?}

Thrifty Thursday: It's Chic to Be Cheap {20}

This post is linked to Kimba's Do It Yourself Day at A Soft Place to Land.

For this edition of Thrifty Thursday, I want to talk about cats. Wait...don't click on the "x" in the corner of the screen and leave! I don't want to chat about just any kind of cats.

Copycats, to be exact, are what I want to blog about today.

The blogosphere has opened my eyes to all sorts of fabulous creative ideas, particularly in the homemaking realm. I've spent the past three years or so in a sort of semi-coma; and making my house look cute was the last thing on my mind most days. Mostly, I just wondered when I'd have five minutes to read a book or maybe wash my hair. Yep, that would be nice.

Seeing pictures of the wonderful ways other bloggers have transformed their spaces gave me a little lift of confidence. If they can do it, I can at least try, right? Instead of bemoaning the fact that I can't afford those fabulous Pottery Barn pillows, I can learn to make some! Rather than whining about not being able to choose a pricey desk at the local furniture store, I can head to Salvation Army and start scouting for the perfect desk to makeover.

I've started attempting to copy some of my favorite bloggers, and I thought I'd share one of my copycat projects with you today.

Somewhere out there, I saw a blogger use brown craft paper to cover some boxes for a unique storage solution for her home. Reading that entry sparked my interest, because I am currently searching for little things to make my makeover craft desk (link above) more homey.

When I saw these boxes from The Container Store online, priced at $8 to $10 a piece, I immediately remembered the blog post I'd seen a month or so earlier. I liked the natural color of the paper, and I thought it would coordinate well with my new craft area. I just knew I could try to copy The Container Store's idea, and I could do it for much, much less!

I shopped my house for some shoe boxes one afternoon. Lucky for me, Natalie has lots of shoes and Michaela Byrd has teeny feet. Check out the little bitty box on top!

I dragged took the girls to Wal-Mart one morning and spent a whopping $2 or so on a huge roll of brown craft paper. Then I let those boxes sit on my dining room table for another week or so.

Every time I passed them, I thought about how much I wanted to try to be a copycat, but I was just too scared that I'd mess up.

I am a recovering Type A, I think. This is why the Nester's mantra of "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" rings so true with me.

Finally, I grabbed the craft paper one night after the girls went to bed and T was occupied with the History Channel.

No special directions here. I just cut big squares around the lids and boxes separately, and folded the paper up and over the inside of the box and lid until the surfaces were completely covered. Then I used Scotch tape to secure the paper to the inside of the boxes. No cutting required, unless there was an excess of paper!

This is what I ended up with:

They still need labels, but I'm not sure what exactly is going in each box, so I'm holding out.

They're not perfect, but they work for me! Free boxes, and I have a ton of that $2 paper left!

Being a copycat is fun, y'all.

{Meow}

Ahoy, Mates!

Yesterday was a day that we were rewarded for our flexibility! Our original plans may have been cancelled, but we found something even better to do. I love days like that!

The girls and I had plans to check out a thrift store I read about in last week's paper. The article boasted that this shop carries (working!) bread machines for $3 to $5 regularly, and I've really been wanting one. The store is in KG, which is a little country town about 25 minutes from us. I grew up in KG, so I thought it would be fun to drive the girls around town before meeting up with a friend and her daughter.

This is the Opp Shop, and it was completely packed when we walked up. It was hard to even get in the door. The Opp Shop is only open three days a week, so when they are open, it's apparently a mad rush to get in the doors. Navigating with a toddler and a preschooler who was set on playing on the front porch was interesting, to say the least!

We didn't find a bread machine, but we did find a few treasures for a grand total of $2.20. Check back in to see what we found!

Here's a shot of KG's main street. No stop lights. A few old churches, some shops, the Courthouse, Library (my favorite place growing up!), and Post Office. The rest of the county is fairly rural, but I noticed several new neighborhoods with some luxury properties.

Our friends ended up not being able to meet up for a play date, so I drove the girls around instead. We stopped at the old elementary school, but the playground was locked up for summer. I attended kindergarten here before my parents started me at a private school in the 'Burg.

Natalie was so bummed about not being able to meet her friend, that I promised her a treat. We stopped at a "Cake & Candy" shop that's been around for ages. She was like, well, a kid in a candy store. (Don't you love her necklace? She also chose a hot pink plastic bracelet and a canary yellow "diamond" ring.)

She settled on a chocolate butterfly.

She even shared some with her sister!


Afterwards, we had the brilliant idea to go and visit my father-in-law, who does civilian work on a military base just outside KG. He's a scientist who works with some classified stuff, so he had to get us cleared for a visit. Natalie kept asking "why does Granddaddy work in a vase?"

{The neat thing about this base is that my dad also did civilian work there, and he hired T's dad in the early 80s. The two guys hit it off and became fast friends. That's how our families met!}

Pop (that's what I call my father-in-law) chauffeured us over to the base's marina to see his new boat. He's completely renovating it!

Good warning for us:

Michaela Byrd's first thought was to jump right off the pier. She would have splashed right out into the Atlantic if we'd let her!

Pop was so sweet by reassuring Natalie about the "bridge." She was a little scared at first, but excited to see the boat.

The houses lining the marina have a beautiful view!

I was pleasantly surprised when we reached the end of the dock. I think I was expecting some kind of a row boat or canoe or something. I've always turned down offers to enjoy the old boat because I envisioned being shipwrecked on an island (off the Virginia coast?) somewhere. I've seen too many episodes of LOST to know about the Others, and smoke monsters, and all that jazz. Plus, I've seen Titanic about 67854 times.

This changed my mind!

Here's Pop's big project in the works!

A little table unfolds from the wall and you can sit on a bench to eat. There's another bench opposite the one pictured, and I believe they both fold out into beds.

Cute little kitchen being redone. The stove has a latch on it so it can rock back and forth with the boat in bad weather.

He's completely refinishing the floors! The bathroom is a little scary...reminded me of something you'd see on an American Airlines flight...except you have to shower in there too. Wish I could have taken a shot of the back bedroom, but it was a warm day and kind of hot down there.

Neat little lantern on the wall above the table.

I know someone who'd like to sign on as first mate!

It was so quiet and peaceful out there! I wanted to give myself a time out.

Back to the car!
We had a tour of Pop's office and got to see a bunch of the spots around base that I remembered from visiting my own dad where he worked.

After lunch at McDonald's, it was back to the 'Burg and naptime for the landlubbers, but the girls talked about our boat day all afternoon. (Well, Natalie talked about it. Michaela Byrd just said "Boat. Water." alot, so we knew she liked it too)

Today was a great lesson in flexibility for us. If you go with the flow, so to speak, fun things can happen!