The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Valentine Hoop Wreaths

My hands worked on a new craft this week! I’d been seeing the elegant hoop wreaths around the internet and couldn’t wait to make one.....or several. My supplies were simple and inexpensive. Gold hoop rings: I ordered a set of 4 rings (2 big, 2 small) from Amazon for $10. Walmart also carries them for $2 or $3 a piece in their floral department.  Florals- The possibilities are endless here! Just get what you love! I found my florals at Walmart. They have some really good looking artificial florals these days. The picks I got were anywhere from $1.47 to $4. I also used some felt roses from Dollar General that you’ll see further down the post. Ribbon- Use whatever you like here, but don’t go ... Read more

BBQ Peach Pulled Pork (Instant Pot)

I promised another Instant Pot recipe and this is a good one! My cooking club met this month which gave me another opportunity to use my new kitchen toy! We meet every other month and the hostess for that month chooses a meal theme, a cookbook, or a celebrity chef for us to pick our recipes from for the meal. This month’s hostess decided on Trisha Yearwood dishes and left it up to us to choose one of her recipes. I haven’t seen her cooking show, so I wasn’t too familiar with her recipes, but I found plenty to pick from off the internet. Trisha’s BBQ Peach Pulled Pork had me at PEACH! And if that hadn’t been enough, PULLED PORK would have gotten me too! And then I noticed that it was prepared ... Read more

Fluff the Nest Friday: Let’s Do This!

Around here, Friday is the day to "fluff the nest", which is just a much cuter way of saying "clean the house". Am I right? So my Friday posts are all about tidying up and getting the house fresh and in order for the weekend. Some weeks my nest-fluffing comes more easily than others. I need motivation each Friday. Happy Friday! It’s been a long time since I’ve done a “Fluff the Nest Friday”! I really don’t have anything spectacular to offer today as far as cleaning tips, but I wanted to hop on here and cheer us all on in ending the week strong! After the kids and I finish school today, I’ve got a huge load of housecleaning to accomplish before the weekend. We’ve had some scheduling changes ... Read more

Prayer Requests

Good morning, friends. Isn’t this little chapel just lovely? It’s the Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel in the beautiful Callaway Gardens of Pine Mountain, Georgia. Living in somewhat close proximity to the gardens has allowed me to visit many times through the years. This sweet chapel is nestled inside the woods along a quiet trail of trickling creeks, rustling pines, and fragrant blossoms. Approaching the chapel and entering its wooden doors, gives one the most peaceful feeling, and I’ve always thought that if I lived in these woods, I would walk to the chapel every day for prayer. Although I don’t have my own little prayer chapel in the woods, I do have my own quiet place to pray each ... Read more

Hello, Instant Pot!

Any Instant Pot people out there? I may be way behind on the trend, but after having absolutely no interest for the last year in purchasing and making room in my cabinets for another appliance, I finally took the plunge and got one! What finally won me over? Well, besides learning that I could cook frozen meat in an hour, and dried beans in less than an hour without presoaking, what really stopped me in my tracks was hearing about the EASY PEEL EGGS!!! WHAT?! I love boiled eggs, egg salad, deviled eggs, you name it. But I absolutely loath peeling the eggs! So much so, that when I ask a hostess what I can bring to a meal, I’m secretly saying in my mind, “Please no deviled eggs, please ... Read more

Do You Wanna Build a Snow Globe? ❄️

We've had some snow days here lately! Well, a different kind of snow day. The "white stuff" doesn't come around often in Alabama, yet our household has had a snowy theme going on for the last several days. Last week, we went to see the Frozen movie (a homeschool perk--we waited until after the holidays, went to the 2:00 matinee, and literally had the entire theater to ourselves!) and this week we made snow globes! We'd planned to make snow globes during December, but with so many other Christmas activities going on, I decided January would be the perfect month for a snowy project. I just googled "snow globes" and found these instructions from Better Homes and Gardens. Their supply list and ... Read more

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

I sure hope I didn’t just lose anyone with the words whole wheat, because you’ll be missing out on a tasty (and, yes, healthy) breakfast treat! If you’re still with me, hang on for just a minute. Is anyone else tired of eating from the holidays? I can enjoy the junk for only so long, and then I’m glad to get back to fresh fruits, veggies, whole grains, and WATER! Despite the many desserts and goodies I post here on the blog, for the most part, I really try to feed my family healthy meals. The goodies are just our splurge days (holidays, Sunday lunch, etc), but through much of the week, we go fairly healthy. This magical muffin gives you a healthy little carb fix by way of whole grain, ... Read more

Family Bible Celebration

Bible study is important to our family, both individually and collectively. We each use our early morning quiet time for personal Bible reading, and then in the evenings we have family Bible time. Some years we’ve read through the Bible, taking a chapter a night to read and discuss (this takes a couple of years). Other years we’ve worked through a topical study together. We’ve done this since our girls were little, not perfectly, but somewhat consistently enough that we’ve read through the Old and New Testaments together a few times. Sometimes when we’ve completed a particular study, or accomplished a big Bible memory goal as a family, we’ve had a small celebration with a special dessert or ... Read more