GiveAWays I have Won!

Have y'all missed me? I sure have missed you. I have been and will continue to be very busy for a while and it is keeping me from bloggerville! I am able to lurk and post some. So I do know a little bit about what is going on. :D I am also collecting a lot of blogging material so .... when time allows... y'all watch out!

I want to take a few moments to show off some things I won!


Remember our ~Southern Lady~ Nancy's - Flaunt it Red Party! All the participants were entered into a drawing and I WON one of the 2 prizes! Thank you Nancy!

The box was just full of goodies! A precious note and kewl black, white and....

RED Goodies! There is a bag that can be used as a clutch or a make-up bag, beautiful luggage tags, look at that sweet picture frame! It is shaped like a little red purse! Zebra Kleenexes! ( I will have to hid them from DD...)

And you know Nancy! Roosters!!! She included these sweet Country French toile plates and napkins with Roosters on them. And they are Red too! They are just precious!

I also won a beautiful teacup and saucer from Jan and Tom of Rose Haven. They gave away 14-16 teacups and saucer sets in their big Teacup Giveaway that started the first of the year.

Isn't it sweet! I love the little birds. I love bird watching out my kitchen windows as I drink my coffee or tea. This is the perfect cup and saucer for that.

And Jan added something else! I am always in need of sewing needles and I found a nice surprise! A pack of sewing needles! Good sharp ones too! Thank you Jan!

Thank you for my prizes ladies.

I will be on bloggy break for a couple of more weeks. Hopefully will be able return soon!

God Bless,

Love,

Melissa

Foodie Friday~Turnip Green Soup

I hope it is not too late to participate! Thank you Gollum (of Designs by Gollum) for hosting Foodie Friday. It looks like much fun!

There is a wet chill in the air here in the South and I had to make some soup. We love Turnip Green Soup. Yum Yum!

My family loves Turnip Green Soup. The recipe was printed in the Birmingham News a few years ago. I had it at a friends house first (I mean, who makes Turnip Green Soup?) and fell in love with it. Then made it for my family... It is now one of the favorites!

~Recipe~

• Beef Sausage -fried (I usually grill-and pat with paper towels less fat that way)
• 1/2 bag of dried Navy Beans or 1 large can of Navy Beans
• 2 boxes of fresh frozen turnip greens or one package of fresh frozen turnip greens. Rinse and squeeze.
• 1 package of Knorr Soup Mix
• 3 Shakes of Tabasco Sauce
• 3 Cups of water (maybe a tad more)
  

I use dried beans. First, I like to soak them in a solution of Baking Soda dissolved in hot tap water. I usually let them soak for several hours or in the fridge overnight. Next, I cook them in an iron pot (any pot will do with 1-2 table spoons of Apple Cider Vinegar. These too steps keep beans from making people gassy and have heartburn.

I usually grill my sausage, but today I precooked them in a skillet. After patting down in paper towels, cut up into small pieces.

After rinsing and squeezing turnip greens, set them aside ( I have used fresh greens, I have also used kale and other greens. Whatever I had in the fridge that had to be used up. My family loved it. In fact, my 10 yo DD prefers fresh kale over the turnip greens...)

In crock pot or large stew pot, add 3 cups of water, Knorr soup mix, 3 shakes of Tabasco and bring to a boil. Add greens, beans and sausage. Cover and if in a crock pot, walk away until you are ready to eat. :-) If stew pot, let it cook for another hour or so.

Now you have to have bread with this soup and nothing is better than made from scratch buttermilk cornbread unless.....

You have one of these babies in your pantry! Yum yum!

Nice and hot, fresh from the oven. (Two packages for a pan like this.)

Side salad optional... This soup is a meal by itself. And very filling!
(Nina, if you are reading this, do you want us to send you some dried Navy Beans, Knorr Soup Mix and maybe some canned Bushes Turnip Greens? Can you get that where you are? We have plenty of Jiffy Mix now....)

And what better for dessert? Strawberry Shortcake!

To see more Foodie Friday participants or to participate yourself, go to Gollum's Blog. Thanks for hosting Gollum!

Tablescape Thursday

This is my first Tablescape Thursday. And I hope that I do not bore you with this tablescape! Thank you Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Tablescape every Thursday.

Now you see, because I do have a lot of dishes, and I lust, I mean admire all the dishes I see out there, and because I made the 'Dishaholic Award' a few of you accused me of being a Dishaholic! Now I have never been awarded the Dishaholic Award. :D But I think you do have to buy a lot of dishes to be a Dishaholic. ;-) (Tee Hee)

Well here is one set that I have actually bought. And some have already fallen victim to my granite tile counter and terracotta floor. (Sigh....) I certainly am glad that I only paid $9 bucks on clearance for a 4 piece place sitting for 6 at Big Lots. One of the Dessert/Salad plates was cracked (all of the boxes had one cracked Dessert/Salad plate thus "Clarance" for $9 bucks!)

A lovely white stoneware set that goes with anything!

I had to have some lovely flowers for my Tablescape so I got these from my garden. They look perfect in the vase. A friend gave me that vase for my birthday several years ago.

My Chateau (by Oneida) stainless flatware (wedding gifts) looks just right with this set of dishes. Here in the south, or at least in this house, our iced tea glasses are huge! I bought the glass (I do buy my glasses and I try to keep about 10 - 12) you see here, a Libby Glass from Wally World. .97 or so. When it falls victum of my counter top or kitchen floor, I go buy another...

The placemats and napkins are a gift from my mom. I think I have had them at least 20-25 years. Not sure. They used to go with a set of stoneware I had when I was single.

I found this little square plate on clearance somewhere last fall. It goes with one of my homemade cloches. (I borrowed it from the cloche.) Now after seeing it with this tablescape, I want 5 more.... (is that lusting or sinning? Am I a dish-o-holic?)

Guess what? When DD came along, we got several sets of Chateau baby/toddler flatware! I guess Oneida makes it for little ones too! Well I think the knives look just like individual butter knives so that is what I use them for. :-)

I thought everyone in Bloggerville had a set of these but me. Then one day I was in that French store.... Tar'je' (Target) and there they were! I plan to make tassels out of them.

The bread basket was a wedding gift. It was silver plated. Last fall, after reading all the paint parties on the blogs, I primed it and painted it blue. See, I did not buy it either and I was about to give it away. (I have given tons of stuff away. But I continue to be blessed!)

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. To view more Tablescapes or to participate, stop by Susan's blog @ Between Naps on the Porch.

Have a blessed day,
Hugs,
Melissa

Outdoor Wednesday

I am eager to spend more time up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. For us in the Deep South, it is summertime in June, but there, it is still spring. Hey, this Deep South gal packs long johns for that trip. LOL!

I love it because...

The Daises pose...

The cows pose....

The moths...

and butterflies (or maybe this is a moth as well) pose for photographs....

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. To see more Outdoor Wednesday posts or to participate in Outdoor Wednesday, stop by Susan's blog, A Southern Daydreamer. Thank you Susan for hosting another fun Wednesday!

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Melissa

Pillow Parade

Today I am also joining Kari & Kijsa's Pillow Parade!

To see more of the Pillow Parade or to participate, be sure to stop by there site! Thank you Kari & Kijsa for hosting.

I only found out about this late last night and did not have time to take photos. I had this photo in the archives. And it has to be one of my favorite decorative pillows. I bought it at Civil La Tea in Gettysburg, PA about 13 or 14 years ago. Someone made it to sell in their gift shop/boutique section. I fell in love with the pillow as soon as I saw it. I know it would be easy to make. I have made tons of pillows, but a girl can treat herself to something special can't she? :-) My mom mad the pillow that is underneath. I have a runner around here somewhere that matches.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment.

I hope that you go byKari & Kijsa's to see the rest of the Pillow Parade!

Hugs,
Melissa

2nd Time Around Tuesday

Today I am joining Diane's @ A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words blog party, 2nd Time Around Tuesday. Today I want to share with you my Grandpa and Grandma's China Cabinet. It is the first piece of large furniture that my Grandpa made. He made it from cherry wood left over from a job. Grandma wanted a pie safe style china cabinet with Hepplewhite legs. The cherry was wood for cabinets and moulding in a house. When the job was finished, Grandpa asked his customer what she would like done with the left over wood. She asked him to ..."haul it off..." He asked her if he could have it, "I can make something nice for my wife out of it." She told him to take it. He made it in 1931.

Grandpa had a hard life. Orphaned and abanded at age 8 with a 2 1/2 yo half brother to raise. After nearly starving to death, he began whittling wood into little things he could sell. A carpenter saw his work, took him under his wing,gave him a job, apprenticed and journeyed him.

As an adult, my Grandpa became one of the most sought after Carpenters/Designers/Construction Formans around. In winter months, people with 'means' would bring him photos of furniture and he would custom build it for them. If Grandma really liked it, guess what? She got one too! But this china cabinet was always a prized piece b/c it was his first large furniture. If you look close you can tell it is scrap wood. But that is OK. Does not decrease the value in my eyes a bit. :-D

A 3rd grade education, my Grandpa read everything and anything he could get his hands on. Encyclopedia books, dictionarys, practiced spelling, etc. One of the smartest men I knew.

My Grandma died when I was young so I did not know her very well. But I was very close to my Grandpa. I still miss him. This is one of the pieces I received from his estate. I used to love hearing all the stories he would tell me about his furniture. Almost every piece had a story with it.

To see more 2nd Time Around Pieces or to participate in Diane's 2nd Time Around, please go to Diane's Blog.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
Melissa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Addendum~~~~~~~~~~~~
I need to get that 3 in a row linky thing everyone else is getting. If you like this post, read this one. You will love it. It is one of my first posts.... Grandpa's Chair

Sunday Video

We are having a beautiful weekend. I hope that you are as well!

To enjoy the video, please turn off the music on my playlist that is on the right.

Have a Blessed Sunday!



Love,
Melissa

Outdoor Wednesday-Snow in the South!

Today is Outdoor Wednesday hosted by our sweet Southern Day Dreamer~Susan. Thank you Susan for another fun Wednesday!

We do not get much snow in the South. When we do, or if it is even predicted, the weather men/women are on 24 hours in advanced trying to predict where it will land. A lady at church winters down here from Michigan. She thought this was the funniest thing! "James Spann our weather man was serious b/c he had his suspenders on!" 24 hour coverage for snow melted by 2 pm. LOL! Well it did last a little longer than that. But I did explain to her and I will explain to you Yankees, our kids have never seen much more than flurries or dustings. This is the first time DD has ever made a snowman. She is 10 1/2. It was so much fun for her. People around here want to know where the snow band will land b/c they will even drive their kids to the outer edges of it, pull over and play in it for a while. And this was a good kind of snow. We had electricity, it did not stick to the roads (well, interstate bridges did freeze...), and was mostly melted by sundown. It was GREAT!!!

Now for photos! (I did not get many b/c we teach 8:10 4th grade Sunday School at church and we had a room full on Sunday!) The snow was already melting by the time we got home.

My Camelia in full bloom and melting snow falling off as I was snapping....

More photos of my Camelia, it is beautiful with the snow...

DD and I have started on a gnome fairy garden. It is in the shade and I had to knock the snow off this little gnome so that you could tell what he was... None of this had melted.

This was covered in white snow as we left for church, but still looked nice when we got home.

For more snow photos, check out my Sunday's Post. For more posts on Outdoor Wednesday or to particiapte in Outdoor Wednesday go to Susan's blog A Southern Daydreamer.

A New Pot!

Welcome to my Blue Monday post! Thank you Sally (Smiling Sally's Blog) for hosting.

My FIL and MIL took our family out to dinner Friday night. They also presented me with my birthday present (I know it was in Jan, but they have been sick, we get sick, travel, etc... just got around to celebrating....) FIL said he got it from the Smithsonian. I think it is lovely and will make a fine addition to my collection of pots.

To see more Blue Monday Posts or to participate, go by Smiling Sally's blog!

Have a great day and God bless you all!
Hugs,
Melissa

Snow In Alabama!

And here are just a few photos....


DD made her first 'real' snowman. Since she has been born (10 1/2 years old) we have not had enough snow to make a decent snowman.


Some of my yard art thawing out.


Yellow forsythia.


I think birdies taking a bath is this birdbath will find it a little cold....

We teach 8:10 AM 4th grade Sunday School and did not get to take photos early this morning. At first, I could not understand why church was not being canceled.... but Hunter Street is hosting a big Missions Conference this weekend. What a big blessing we would have missed out on if we had not gone to church. There was an International Missionary speaking in the services (Adults, Children and Tweens) and delivering the message to all venues. The church halls were full of missionaries here on furloughs and Journeyman who have just finished their first 2 year assignment, praying for God's leadership.

By the time we returned home, we still had some snow and DD was able to make a lovely snowman, DH and I were able to make some lovely photos. I hope that you enjoyed them!