The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Cottage Pie

I’m in a cooking club that meets every other month with a different meal theme each time. Our group is called The Mixing Bowls. Isn’t that cute! I told my kids I must be getting older now that I’m in social clubs that have cute names like that. Haha. And I’m totally embracing it! It’s so much fun getting together with the ladies to eat, talk, and laugh for an entire evening! I love these women and I always come home with a full tummy and lots of great new recipes! We met last night and our theme this month was “Family Favorites”. I took Cottage Pie because, not only is it a favorite meal at our house, but it represents a favorite destination of ours as well: Disney World! We’ve eaten this ... Read more

Autumn Apple Cookies 🍎

Hello, dear friends! Well, I promised a happier post today, and a cookie is certainly a happy little thing! If you followed my old blog, you might remember that I pretty much devoted every September to all the apple recipes I could squeeze into the month. I’m reposting one of my old favorites today, so for some of you this will be a repeat. My apologies. 🍎 ☺️ I’ve been making these apple cookies cookies since I was a teenager, so it’s an oooold recipe and a very memorable fall tradition for me. They are a delicious, almost cake-like cookie that makes your house smell amazing while baking! AUTUMN APPLE COOKIES  1 cup light brown sugar 1/2 cup shortening 1 egg, beaten 1 1/2 cups all-purpose ... Read more

Sweet Lottie

Last week our family said a tearful goodbye to the sweetest dog ever. Our poor Lottie suffered from a brain disease, seizures, and multiple orthopedic disorders, and that’s just scratching the surface of her problems. Having loved this dog as much as we did, and having lost one of our bunnies over the summer, I was concerned about how the kids would hold up when her time came. However, I was the one who sobbed and sobbed when she passed. Yep, me. The mom. (We each cried. Mine was the ugly kind.) Despite the numerous pains and discomforts she experienced on a daily basis, our Lottie girl loved and protected our family fiercely. Joel and I never worried about the kids when Lottie was ... Read more

Fluff the Nest Friday: Laundry Room Spruce Up

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. ***** Whether you live by yourself or with ten other people, one of the weekly (maybe daily!) tasks of your hands is LAUNDRY! Several things motivate me to tackle laundry, but my drab laundry room was definitely not one of them! So in my effort to spruce up some work areas of my house this summer, I decided it was time to paint my laundry room. Below is the before photo, and as ... Read more

The Transitional Wreath

I love a wreath! I love front doors and porches and the welcome they offer. A pretty wreath and swept porch communicate to our guests that we’re anticipating their visit and we’re celebrating the current season! Being in between seasons can sometimes create the dilemma of not knowing what to display at our home’s entrance. Currently, we’re transitioning from summer to fall. Nobody is more ready for fall decorating than my girls and me! We delight in the rich oranges, browns, and plums of autumn. But with temperatures still in the high nineties (blahhh), I’m just not feeling pumpkins and mums yet. But I’m also so ready to move on from summer. Really really ready. My solution: TRANSITIONAL ... Read more

A Grandparents’ Day Tradition

Happy Grandparents’ Day to all the grandmamas and granddaddies out there! We have a tradition of inviting our grandparents over for a meal to honor them on Grandparents’ weekend, and so yesterday Joel’s parents and mine joined us for lunch at our house. Having our big extended family together is always wonderful, but for this meal we enjoy  time with just the GRANDS! As we began setting the table yesterday morning, Country Girl and I had no idea what we’d end up with because the day before our special lunch, a certain very bad doggie, who shall remain nameless (ahem, Barney!), ate the zinnias we were planning to build our table around. So, I went rummaging through the cabinets and found ... Read more

2019 Summer Bucket List in Pictures

Hello, friends! I still can’t believe we’ve started a new school year and summer break is in the books! At the beginning of summer I sat down with the kids and had them each name several activities they really wanted to get in during our summer break. Over the years I’ve learned that the best way to get the most out of each season and make lots of memories is to make a bucket list. If we put things on a list, we’re more likely to do it! So, we made a bucket list and then marked them off one by one throughout June, July, and August. Today I’m going to share that list in pictures and I’ll try to go through them quickly. So here goes! 1. Visiting cousins in North Alabama We all love going to ... Read more

Summer Unplugged (mostly)

When my husband and I were first married, I was thrilled to have my first grown-up home in which to to decorate, organize, and set up housekeeping. But one thing I noticed pretty early on was that there was a particular drawer in our kitchen which seemed to collect junk. It frustrated me until I finally determined that we would NOT have a junk drawer in our kitchen. I took measures to keep each kitchen drawer organized and free of nick-nacks, doo-dads, papers, and mail. A place for everything, and everything in its place! And you know what? It worked! Well, so I thought. I proudly believed I’d accomplished that goal until I one day opened a drawer in our bedroom dresser to find....JUNK! ... Read more