10 ways to enjoy a sunny day

-Open a window, or pull up the blinds if you have allergies

-Sit by said window and read a book or drink in the beautiful day

-Play outside with the little ones, or big ones

-Turn on some "happy music"

-Take a walk and visit with the neighbors

-Wear a cheerful apron while doing your housework

-Change the sheets. Seriously, there is something so wonderful about putting on fresh sheets in a sun filled bedroom.  While wearing your cheerful apron!

-If the sun isn't coming in well, wash the windows

-Sit on the front porch with a glass of Iced Tea

-Before you go to bed, pray for more sunshine tomorrow!

My cheerful apron for today.  The fabric is called "Cherry Soda". It doesn't get much more cheerful than that!

2011-A Year in Review

2011 has been a very memorable year for me and my family.  From political campaigns to eye surgery, a new blog and new friends, I think that 2011 may go down as one of the most memorable years in my life (so far).

The year started out with me waking up on January 4th with an idea to start a blog. I still find it hard to believe that it has almost been a year since I started this blog.

January also brought some medical drama into our family, as Dad had emergency eye surgery to keep his sight. 

February saw the beginning of a baking business and several other adventures for our family.

March brought about my favorite annual tradition, the Vision Forum Ministries Father Daughter Retreat.  We had such a wonderful weekend that it took 4 posts to cover it all. (click here for post 1, post 2, post 3 & post 4).

April was a quiet month, but May was very exciting.

In May we went to the beach for the first time in 9yrs! I had forgotten how much I loved the shore!  One of my favorite memories of the trip was watching my sisters reaction when they saw the ocean for the first time.  We also went to The Lady & Sons in Savannah.  In a word...YUM!

June was a wonderful, peaceful month.  We spent the long summer days canning, enjoying the summer's bounty and just living the good life.

July was yet another hot wonderful month.  I find that the "uneventful" months are often the best.  With time to rest, spend time with God and spend time with family.

I spent the majority of August training my blogging/photography assistant.

September saw the baby of our family turn two. It also was a great month on Southern Homemaking with over 60 entries in our giveaway.

October (my favorite month) was one large baking marathon!  Some of the stand-outs were Apple Pie, our favorite Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin & Cream Cheese Whoopie Pies.

November centered around one thing CAMPAIGNING!!! 

And that brings us here to December.  Well we have all been under the weather this month, hence not much to post.  Thankfully we are all on the mend now and ready to run into 2012 head on!

Thanks for walking down memory lane with me.

Here is to many more wonderful memories in 2012!! 

An Explaination

I want to thank y'all for sticking by me, and putting up with my lack of blogging.  I know I have said this before, but y'all our the best readers a blogger could ever ask for!

Now for the explanation:

Our family has been completely immersed in a political campaign for the past two months.

As I mentioned before in this post, our family has always been politically active.  But this campaign was truly special, for many reasons. First, we had a very special candidate.  Second, we worked with amazing people.  Third, we WON!!!

Back in October Dad received a phone call, or I should say the call.  He was told that our State Senate seat was going to open up, and did he know a solid conservative that would run to fill it.  In half an hour he had the man and we were gearing up for a truly memorable campaign. 

With 9 candidates it was a very crowded race, but Mike Crane stood out as the choice for Christian conservatives.  Mr. Crane is a small businessman, homeschool father and one of the finest men I know.  It was an honor to campaign for him.

We were the underdog in this race.  On November 8th we received 20% and then turned that into 60% by December 6th.  How did we do it? By the grace of God!

If there was one thing that was evident in this campaign it was that "God rules in the affairs of men".  The Lord brought the right team together, provided for all of the campaigns needs and amazed us at every turn. 

As for the team, they were fantastic!  Because of who Mr. Crane is, the people that were drawn to him and his campaign were very like minded.  On the first morning of our door-to-door team Mr. Crane asked who was homeschooled, every hand went up.  My kind of crowd!

One side effect of this is that I have slipped into what we call "campaign mode". 
These are the signs of "campaign mode":
4 hours of sleep a night tops!
Non-stop Blackberry use
Fast food meals
Campaign paraphernalia everywhere
Exhaustion and exhilaration at the same time

I will write more about the campaign later, but let's just say memories and friendships were made that will last a lifetime.

So what's next?  Well I am going to try to get out of "campaign mode" and in the Christmas spirit. That of course means, shopping, decorating and baking.  Catch up on past posts, and update this blog with new content.  And SLEEP!!! 

I Love My Brother!!!

My big brother came home, said he was sorry for being late and handed me this.

Brother, you can be late anytime you want!

Have I told you today that I love you?

That is what my Dad would say to me every day when he came home from work.  I remember hearing his car pull into the driveway and running to the door.  There he was in his suit and tie on one knee, with his arms open waiting for his little girl to run to him.  And without fail he would hug me and then say "Have I told you today that I love you? Because I do, very much". 

So... Have I told you today that I love you? Because I do, very much.

When you stop by to read my blog it makes my day.

When you leave a comment it makes my week.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to check my blog. 

Thank you for all of your kind comments.

Thank you for being my cyber friends.

So give yourself a big hug for me, and know that you are greatly appreciated.

My blogging assistent

 

She has quite the expressive face. That runs in the family (see other sister here)

"Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain.  The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone." 

                                                                Zechariah 10:1

The perfect evening

               Starts with the perfect sunset

             And ends with the perfect shortcake

Look what I found in the freezer...

                                                      Talk about some cool shades! 

Special thanks to my 21mo old sister for helping me stay cool in the Georgia heat.

Momma's Hydrangeas

Better late than never!

Well our computer has officially died after years of faithful service (cue taps).  After 2 weeks of diligent work by our tech guys to no avail, we just went ahead and purchased a new computer.  I will resume my Father Daughter Retreat recap posts, then get back to posting about the truly wonderful things in life; homemaking in general, cooking in particular. 

Love y'all,
The Southern Homemaker

One Month of Blogging Giveaway

Well it's been one month since I started this blog.  I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing with y'all and hearing from you.  Tonight I pulled out a DVD I had not watched in awhile, The Return of the Daughters.

                                                                                                              photo credit-visionforum.com

I was so encouraged and refreshed! This is by far one of the best resources on being a stay-at-home daughter out there, I cannot recommend it enough.  I know most of the young women featured personally and they are such blessings to me and all they meet.  To celebrate the one-month anniversary of this blog I am giving away a copy of The Return of the Daughters.  To enter just leave a comment saying what kind of posts you would like to see on Southern Homemaking in the future.  The winner will be randomly selected, and announced next Saturday.

Goals for the Month

I have always been a good starter, but not much of a finisher. This month I hope to change that by setting 3 realistic goals and achieving them.

Goal 1-Finish that sampler I started back during WWII.

Goal 2-Finish one book on my nightstand.

Goal 3-Make one new recipe each week.

Well those are my 3 basic goals for February. I'll be posting updates so y'all can keep me accountable.

New recipe this week "Gingerbread Pancakes" coming soon.

Winter Wonderland

We are snowed-in, well at least by Georgia standards. After several inches of snow covered in a thick layer of ice all of metro Atlanta is shall we say "frozen"? I'm amazed how much this winter storm has affected our area. Over 2,500 flights have been cancelled, most major highways are closed, schools have been closed (but this doesn't apply to homeschool does it?) and there isn't a loaf of bread or gallon of milk to be had.

Now for the bright side. When it is this cold outside a big hot breakfast is in order. Our wonderful mother got up early and made us a delicious breakfast of eggs and pancakes before we went out to go sledding.
Bright side No 2-Sledding. We live on a street that is basically two hills facing each other with houses on either side, making each driveway a mini hill. After using cookie sheets for several years (my brother and I have fond memories of the "USS Cookie Sheet") we purchased four plastic sleds from LL Bean. We spent over an hour going up and down, up and down, up and down till we were freezing, soggy and still having the time of our lives. One of my little sisters kept going "he-haw" just like Sam in "It's a Wonderful Life".

So as the state defrosts, we are enjoying popcorn, hot cocoa and Monopoly marathons.

Stay warm y'all!

                                                                   "Can I go now? "

                                                                        "He-haw"

                                                               "Do we have to go in?"

                  

Welcome y'all!

Welcome to "Southern Homemaking"!

I decided to start this blog in order to chronicle my journey as a homemaker in-training. I have enjoyed reading various blogs over the past several years on cooking, decorating, stay-at-home daughterhood etc. and hope to incorporate all of those topics here.

What can you expect to see on "Southern Homemaking"?
Everything from step-by-step recipes, before and after photos of various projects, articles on family life, biblical womanhood and that wonderful place I am blessed to call home, the South.

Hope you enjoy