I Took the Cottage Food Law Test!

      And passed it! My certificate will be mailed soon and I will be able to sell food from my home! Specific food that is. Such as non hazardous foods that do not contain cream fillings and/or have to be refrigerated. I'm limited in some ways but I'm thankful for the opportunity! I'm really excited about this new direction God is leading me in. The only problem is I don't have any customers! I can't even sell a dozen eggs! I'm trying to get the word out through Facebook and here, but I don't have a large following. The farmer's markets don't get started around here until June, so I can't set up there yet. There are some flea markets I could check into. I need to visit them first and see what's offered there. If ya'll know of an outlet I can try, please let me know in the comments!

      I'm doing real good with my weight loss, exercise and healthier eating. I really love to exercise! I have since elementary school. I just got lazy last year and didn't pursue it like I should have. I also didn't pay as much attention to my eating habits as I should have. Now that I am paying attention, I am losing and shaping! I have only lost about 7 pounds but my clothes have gotten real loose. I'm happy with the results! I still need to lose some more tummy fat. That is the hardest for me to lose. I hate ab work! I may have to do crunches to get those lean abs, but I'm not looking forward to it! I believe I can accomplish my goal without crunches! I'll keep ya'll informed as to how it goes.

      The girls have been coming over more on the weekends than before. I'll have Yasmine and Layla tonight. It's so rainy here and they will have to stay inside. Yasmine won't like that! She LOVES to go outside when she's here! There's plenty for them to do inside though. I may let them help me make play dough. Of course, they look forward to playing with Randy!

      I just cut my own hair! I can't believe I did that, but it was so easy! Haircuts are so expensive and I rarely like the way my hair turns out! I turned my head upside down, brushed my hair forward into a ponytail right at the forhead, held out how much I wanted to cut off, and cut. That was it! It looks like I have some layers. I'm so glad! I wanted that bowl shape taken off and it looks like it is! I didn't know it would look like that! I guess when it comes to saving money, there's not much I won't try! Hair will always grow back! I hope ya'll enjoyed my ramble! Thanks for reading and commenting! Blessings from Bama!

Having fun at Fefe's!

Staring game! Who blinked first?

Smiling game. Guess who smiled first!

Simon says.

Red light game.

My beautiful wisteria!

I made these! With the help of Randy of course. They are for sale on Craigslist.

This cake is delicious!

Some cooler weather this week!

      After experiencing 60 and 70 degrees over the weekend, we are at 47 today. That's quite a difference! Especially since it's quite breezy! I don't care for cold wind blowing at my face or body! I do like the sun shining on my back, however! The weather inside is beautiful! We have lots of windows that let in the sun and its warmth, which is good in winter; not so much in summer.
I'm thankful we have a table in such a room where I can have the laptop. As I sit, I can look outside and see the chickens on one side, and the goats on the other side. The sun is streaming in and the warmth of it is amazing! I send you sun to melt your snow, if you have it on the ground. That would be nice if I could!

      I'm finally seeing some changes in my body from exercising! Not a lot, mind you, but a little. Which is better than none! I would hate to know that I've done all this in vain! I am enjoying all the different things I'm trying. I actually over-did something this week and am suffering from a very sore shoulder. I was really trying to lift myself up doing the chin-ups. I also did Turkish get-ups the same day. The next day I did kettle-bell swings. I think the combination is what got my shoulder. I will have to re-evaluate my routine and see what changes I can make to avoid this, or any other injury. My knee also gets a little squeaky when I do  squats and other exercises that utilize the bending of my knee. I may just stick strictly to the re-bounder. The more I read about it, the more I realize that's really all I need to do! It's hard to believe that I don't actually need to work out with weights when using the re-bounder! I still would like to accomplish an unassisted pull-up, but not at the expense of my shoulder! I will keep you updated as to my routine changes. Another thing, I've cut down on my food intake. And I'm not hungry! I read where the re-bounder will decrease your appetite. Just bounce five minutes before a meal and the rise in blood sugar level will decrease your appetite! I did that unknowingly yesterday, then I read the book that came with the re-bounder and it happened again today! All I had for lunch yesterday was my green juice and I didn't eat much dinner later! I just wasn't hungry yesterday! Today I was aware of what I was doing and still I'm not very hungry. I had my juice and a small piece of bread. I'm satisfied as of this writing. I hope this continues! I seem to be doing my workout about lunch time, so hopefully it will.

      I'm thinking about making some changes in the garden. The strawberries are very thin this year, so I'm going to pull them out and put in a couple of blueberry bushes. The mice, or some kind of rodent, always beat me to them. We're hoping to put up goat fencing down the hill opposite from the girls. That will leave their yard vacant. I don't have enough raised beds to plant everything I want, so I'm going to let Randy till that spot and make a traditional garden there. I hope to plant beans, squash, watermelons, etc. there. I will keep you updated as to our projects. 

      I hope ya'll are staying warm and keeping your chin up! Winter is almost over! Spring will be here soon! I hope that for you, especially if you're in the 'vortex'! Have a nice weekend! Blessings from Bama!

The weather was so nice the girls enjoyed swinging!

Little sister copying big sister.

I love daffodils!

Red tips blooming!

The greenhouse up and anchored down! I can hardly wait to put plants in it!

We have so much wind, there's no sense in setting it up right now.

Future garden spot?

Hand-held quiches!

Yummy picnic bread!

February, a time for Love!

      I love the month of February! Every day during the month of February, I'm reminded that God loves me and wants me to love others. Even more than I already do! Focusing on love keeps my mind off of the weather as much. Since February began, we've had rain and clouds. I don't like cold, dreary weather! So instead I focus on how to be a better wife and Mom. I do this by deliberately trying to remember what I read in the Bible that day, and numerous other things. One of the things I've been doing lately is browsing Facebook and blogs for new, healthier, and budget friendly recipes. I've tried a couple this week that were pretty good. I'm not sure if they're 'keepers', but maybe. The first recipe I made was from Budget Bites called Yakisoba. It is homemade but utilizes ramen noodles. I don't care for ramen noodles, but the rest of the recipe was very good. Skylar said it needed something and Randy said it was O.K. I probably won't fix it again. The other recipe I made was tomato bisque from 100 days of real food. It is good; I just wished I hadn't put the cream in the whole pot. I'm not loving the flavor. Maybe it will be better tomorrow. It felt so good going down on this 30 something degree day! I'm also trying to show some love in the housekeeping department. I'm making sure things are getting placed in the proper place instead of cluttering up the house. I've cleaned out closets and drawers and have bags ready to go to the thrift store. I've sold my bread machine, but don't worry, I've go two more! A little at a time, and I already feel good about what I'm doing! Guess I'm loving on myself a little too! 

      I'm also being diligent about exercise. I really miss walking outside because that helps me more than anything. I did get to walk with Ran Sunday since it was 64 degrees! I'm rebounding and doing all those other things like kettlebell swings, Turkish get-ups, burpees, attempting pull-ups and sissy push-ups, etc. I hope to see results soon. I am trying to modify my diet to make it conducive for weight loss, but I get the munchies at night! I always want to crunch on something! How do I conquer that? If you have any advice, please let me know. 

      I've added a Facbook button to the blog but it doesn't take you to my page. It's like I had to create a new Facebook page to do this. My Facebook page is in my name: Felecia Cofield. You can click on the page on the right if you want, and in the meantime, I'll see if I can change that. If you have any information that can help, please let me know. I really do like Facebook and write on there several times each day. That way ya'll can keep up with what's happening at the moment! Thanks for reading the blog, and don't forget to show some 'love' this month! Blessings from Bama!

January 28th, Winterlynn's birthday!

Side front where the boys are.

Our dogs have to be right with us.

Side in back. The snow looks really deep here.

Animal tracks going down the hill. I think they were rabbit tracks.

The road in front of our house.

Lovely sunset!

Cooking flour tortillas.

Delicious!

Randy caught me in motion.

A beautiful sunny day for a beautiful girl. The clutter before some 'love'.

Tomato bisque soup.

Happy 2013!

      I hope you all are doing well and have enjoyed the holidays! There's a lot of sickness going around and I've had my share! I am well now, thank the Lord! My nieces have been sick, but I hope they are doing better now. Christmas was wonderful and filled with joy and excitement as the children opened their presents! The food was good, and everyone got full. We packed up the camper and went to the Great Smoky Mountains the day after Christmas, and boy was it cold! It rained a lot too! We even got to see snow, just not on the ground. There were so many people there, it took an hour to drive twenty minutes! I don't like it when there are so many people, but we had a good time anyway! We went to the Opry show, the Titanic, and the Comedy Barn. They were all fantastic! The Comedy Barn show wasn't the same as before, though. The Opry show was done so professionally! All the singers and dancers were so talented! And the Titanic! Wow! I highly recommend you see that if you ever get the chance! 

      I have started the New Year out exercising today! I can't believe how out of shape I am! I couldn't even bring my legs to my chest! I only had to do fifteen minutes of various jumping and jogging exercises, but they were so difficult. I could only do them for thirty seconds each, instead of sixty! I am going to continue to walk on the alternating days. We'll see how long this fifteen minutes of jumping and jogging lasts! It really made me sweat, and that's how you loose fat! I also worked out with weights and did some yoga. I like yoga, it really helps me to unwind after a hard workout! I will also be continuing with my green smoothies, and eating more salads and fresh and steamed veggies. 

      I am so looking forward to Spring, especially on a dreary day like today! I hope to order some more seeds soon, just as quickly as I can go through my seed catalogs. I do hope the garden produces for us this year! I'm ready for a harvest! I hope I've learned from past mistakes so that we will have more veggies this year. I have a lot of photos to share the season with you. Hope ya'll stay warm and well! Blessings from Bama!

Skylar got a helicopter for Christmas!

She has outgrown her bed! She's grown even more since I took this picture!

Skylar also got an i-pod. He is really enjoying it!

They are really serious about that food!

Wait, is that the cd Skylar lost?

I like my red dining room! Even though it's not finished yet!

Seriously opening presents!

She's enjoying the excitement!

Oh, lookey what I got! All 3 of them fought over this! If we had known they liked it so, we would have gotten all three of them one!

Yasmine and Layla with their kitchen.

This is Nocollula Falls, close to where we live. There is a huge gorge all this water falls down into.

The river that runs through Gatlinburg.

My two favorite men.

Can you believe this rose was blooming in late December?

When I first saw this, I thought it was really floating along. Then I saw the cord attached and realized that it wasn't going very far.

The building where we saw the show. I have no photos of this show since I thought my camera was at the camper. It was in the car, argh!

My handsome fellow! Those are apple trees.

Isn't this a lovely barn? Actually, it's the store.

They wouldn't let us take cameras inside, and that's o.k. since I forgot mine.

Sorry about the truck, but I was taking a photo from the road and there was so much traffic!

This thing looks real! It's at the wax museum.

These are a good likeness.

The Comedy Barn show.

Dancers!

The whole gang!

Our camper.

The creek behind the camper. This would be a nice place to come in warmer weather.