How do ya'll like my blog layout?

      It's been an interesting experience trying to get it all worked out! I wanted a series of pictures at the top, but I've used up all of my space for photos and have to purchase more in order to add photos to the layout there. I can't add them anywhere on the layout, just gadgets. I'm working on my Valentine's Day banner and I decorated my dining room table. I need plates, crystal, silverware, etc. to make it complete. But those things will come in time. One thing God has taught me is to wait for things that I really want. That gives me time to decide if I really want them and to be prepared and/or surprised when I receive them. I don't enjoy waiting for things, but I try to have a good attitude while I wait. As Joyce Meyer says, "I don't want to have to go around that mountain again!" I have enjoyed her teachings for many years, and have tried to apply them to my everyday life. I've seen tremendous change in me over the years and still I have a long way to go! That's what makes this journey we call life so interesting, the lessons we learn as we go along. How did I get off onto that? Oh well, guess I needed to share that. Hope your weather is better than our cloudy, rainy, windy, colder day! Blessings from Bama! Rolllll Tide!!!!!! 

Self photography is not easy.

Cameo in action!

'New' Bird cage bought at Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Scrapbook paper to be cut into banner. 

Changing my blog look.....and a little cooking!

      I'm really enjoying learning how to make changes to my blog! I hope it won't confuse my followers by entitling it "Wisteria and Roses"! I wanted to change it on blogger, but I was afraid of losing everyone, so maybe this will work. I wanted a frame for the name, but I couldn't get the title inside of it, so I deleted it. I also want to change the color of the title, but I don't think I can. If any of you have any tips on these changes, feel free to let me know! I would really appreciate it!
      I've been cooking again these past couple of days! Cooking is so much fun, it's just the clean-up I'm not fond of. Just don't look behind me into the kitchen cause I've got a mess!

After seeing house in the roses blog, her recipe for quiche inspired me to make my own.

I used sun-dried tomatoes instead of peppers. Delicious!

Yes, that's homemade banana pudding and I ate some!

A cookbook I received as a Christmas present.(Thanks, Audra!)

I made the delicious spaghetti and meatballs and they taste just like the ones at the restaurant!

I cook dry beans every week. This week's beans are Great Northern. Delicious!

More bread in the making!

I want this picture at the heading of my blog. They are wisteria and roses.     

      

       I accomplished most of the things I wanted to do today except for making my Valentine's Day Banner. The night is still young, so if I get that kitchen cleaned up, I may still have time to do that! Thanks for reading and following my blog! Leave a comment when you can! Blessings from Bama! 

A little Valentine Love....

       Just thought I'd pop in and show ya'll a little creation I made. When I was at Hobby Lobby the other day, I saw some really pretty little wreaths. For some reason, I've been infatuated with wreaths. After I left HL, I went to Goodwill where I found some little Christmas wreaths marked half off! I snatched them up! That same day, I purchased some little rose bouquets at the Dollar Store, so I pulled those apart and glued them onto one of the wreaths. I had purchased a bag of pink lace and a bag of artificial flowers at another thrift store a few months ago. I used these to decorate the other little wreath.

      What do you think? They're not as dainty as the ones at HL, but they'll work for me! If the Dollar Store had more of the light pink, I would have gotten them, but they only had two bunches. Maybe they'll have more next time.

      All I did here was put a piece of fifty off priced scrapbook paper into the apothecary jar. I love the scene! So 'French'! 


       I mentioned in an earlier post that I love to cook! Well, I love to eat too, but I want to be healthy, so I'm sharing a picture of fruit, to remind us all to eat at least one piece everyday!

      These are turnips and turnip greens cooked in a pressure cooker for a total of eight minutes! They're healthy too!

        I wished I had grabbed the camera before we chowed down, but this is what's left of the chicken and dressing and corn pudding. They were delicious! I decided that we don't have to eat like this only during the holidays, so I made  a large batch and froze part of it(dressing). (We didn't eat this for Christmas but Thanksgiving) These may not be quite as healthy, except in moderation.

       Hope you enjoyed reading this post! Thank you to all my followers and commenters! Hope you all have a great weekend! Blessings from Bama!

So glad to have entered 2012!

      I'm so glad that we've entered a new year and a new month! A fresh new beginning on a clean slate, what could be better? We were on 'stay-cation' last week and boy, did we get a lot accomplished! We normally go to the Smoky's, but the funds weren't available for that this year. So we took a stay-cation. It was more like a work-cation since we moved so much furniture almost everyday! Hubs took two days to work on his step-van and after that it was: take old bed and desk downstairs and move it to Birmingham; bring in new bed and take upstairs; bring very heavy tanning bed downstairs and out onto a trailer. Move it to Mom's house; bring a table and armoire here, whew! Hubs elbow is still hurting! We did eat out several times, however, since we were supposed to be on vacation! I do love to cook but eating out is nice too, especially if it includes going to Carraba's. We have a nice restaurant in town that is a meat and three during lunch, and has a nicer, white tablecloth setting in the evening. The food is excellent! We ate there twice last week. I've been cooking everyday this week and enjoying every minute of it! That's what makes keeping up with blogging difficult, trying to do everything that needs to be done in a day and having time leftover in the evenings for blogging. I think that is working for me now so I'm staying with that. From what I'm seeing in blogland, it looks like ya'll are getting ready for Valentine's Day. I did a little Valentine shopping today as well, Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby, and Goodwill. I only spent about twelve dollars total! Thank you for taking time to read my blog and when you can, comment! Blessings from Bama! Enjoy these photos.

The temp. finally got cold enough for our first fire.

New bed. Can you tell it belongs to a teenage boy?

Where the tanning bed was; the table from my Mom's.

The armoire from Mom's needs a facelift and some appliques for the top. I'm hoping we can build shelves for it to contain all of those movies!

The sun was shining on the photo; me and hubs slow-dancing at his brother's 25th wedding anniversary.

Dark chocolate and white chocolate dipped pretzels. They're delicious!

Southern tradition: black-eyed peas with a ham-bone  in them. They were delicious!

Against the wind...

      That's the weather here today! The winds are very strong and gusty, so who wants to embrace that? My hubs has, all day working on his step-van. I think he's finally done with everything, changing the oil, replacing a bearing,etc., actually, no, he's going out again for more of the wind. I would be walking outside, but my ears just can't take it, so when I'm done with this post, it's treadmill time for me! 
      Christmas was wonderful this year, as usual! Everyone was here and enjoyed the food and gifts. I'm busy today trying to clean and get my thoughts straight. The stencil arrived today and it is beautiful! I chose Gabrielle allover and it has two parts. It's very large, so I'm not sure if it will work on my little cabinet, but I'm going to try! I have it laying flat and weighted so that it can come un-rolled. It needs to be flat before I can use it. Did I mention that I received a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas? I was so surprised for I didn't expect one at this time! I thought I could download graphics like from the Graphics Fairy and use them on the machine but I can't seem to find out how to do that yet. If anyone who may read this post has done this, please leave me a comment on how to do it. I would really appreciate it. It's fun learning new things, but can be frustrating at times. I hope to go thrifting some time this week, hopefully tomorrow. I'll let you know what I find. Blessings from Bama!

Since I can't afford a maid, this is the next best thing, Miele for wood floors.

The blue package is the Silhouette Cameo.

The exercise equipment was an unexpected surprise. When we were at our friends' house the other day, he said he was going to run an ad for someone to get it for free! Needless to say, that ad was never run! I just got off the treadmill you see in the background, and I love the rush I feel afterwards!

The dough ferments for 12-18 hours and tastes amazingly like sourdough!

Hubs reading the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2.

Smoking ham and turkey breast in the rain!

Smoked ham and about to be smoked baked beans. They turned out delicious!

Marinated slaw made with a whole head of cabbage. It didn't make much, and none was left!

Son sneaking a bite of ham.

Winterlynn, Woody, and stilettos!

They loved playing in the box the best!

My Dad got in this picture!

What's left of the bread!

The bread cooked in this dutch oven, in the oven.

Windy day!

He tears up his bed and looks like this!

What a rainy Christmas!

      We got in just in time for the bottom to fall out! I was  dressed for a cold rain but I should have had on shorts and a T-shirt! We went to the mall to watch the children while their Mommie shopped. The mall was crowded and cell phones don't work in there, which makes it difficult to find someone when you get separated from them. No worries, he was still where I left him, that sixteen-year-old boy! Last year we had snow at Christmas which was quite a shock for the South. This year is like all the rest, rain! Oh well, at least the water table is filling up again! I'm thankful for rain, even though it may sound like I'm not, because I'm a gardener. I realize how important it is for plants and trees to acquire water, even in the dormant season.
      With all the business of the season and that headache I had, I forgot something important and exciting that happened to me. I won a stencil! Yes, me! I entered a giveaway at fromgardenerstoburgers.blogspot.com who was hosting a giveaway by Cutting Edge Stencils, and I was randomly chosen! I'm so excited! I can't wait to get the stencil in the mail and try it on my little cabinet that I just painted. I've never actually used a stencil and have recently tried to make my own stencil. It turned out pretty good, but I haven't used it yet. Hopefully soon, (is what I always say) I'll have the opportunity to try it out. I will snap a picture of it as soon as it comes in. I better hurry, the lights are blinking! Merry Christmas!

Liquid snow.

Need a drink?

The little mountain is covered in fog.

I need some rain barrels to capture this water!

Looks like snow but the dog chewed a hole in his bed and the wind blew the little white pellets onto the ground. That is a lot of water! We don't usually get that much at one time.

Tearing down a deck, family Christmas, and dirty santa!

      That's what we've been doing these last few days! We've been in a whirlwind of activities, but I love it! We also went to an estate sale and a thrift store. I purchased some goodies I'll share later. The deck was attached to an above ground pool and we finally got the rest of it down! Now, all we lack is getting the pool down. I wonder if this project will be done in time for summer?
      If anyone has any advice for migraine sufferers, please leave me a comment. I had one all of Thanksgiving week and again this past weekend. They stop me in my tracks! I did have an ease during the day long enough to attend the family Christmas, thank the Lord! I totally sympathize with those who suffer from these terrors!

      We attended a fun gathering last night where we played dirty santa. I really liked the gift I took. It contained a nice metal, holiday basket with a bow that I purchased at the thrift store for a dollar! I put in it a pizza cutter, measuring spoons, and tongs, all purchased new at WM. I really could use these items, so when my time came to choose the gift, I chose my own. I was the first to go and I was so afraid someone was going to take it away from me but they didn't. I was so happy to bring it home! Is that selfish of me? The other gifts were nice too, but I liked mine the best! Blessings from Bama!

The dirty santa gift.

Do you like his doll? (This is not my house. Wished I had that picture!)

He loves playing with the children.

Oh it's not a sunk pump, it's a clock!

Get me off of this thing, it's alive!