Author Archives: ~~Rhonda

Living in a small town, I share my life with my husband Russell (married in 1977), five children (one still at home), and six cats (one indoors, the others outside).

I teach an online class called “The Christmas Notebook” which is about all things holiday prep. The many facets of celebrating Christmas comprises one of my favorite hobbies. Other favorite things include gardening, reading, cooking, and scrapbooking.

yard work

Wednesday DH and I were able to do a little yard work. It consisted mainly of cutting up and carting off the pear tree and the broken limb on the mulberry. We also mulched a couple of beds. The pear tree fell over after the ground became saturated from all the rain we’ve been having. […]

our kitties

Someone said, “Dogs have masters, cats have staff.” Seems to be the case around here. We started with Happy when DD was three years old. She is DD#3’s kitty, but she thinks she is DH’s cat. She loves him. When DH and I sit down to chat, Happy comes from anywhere in the house and […]

menu monday ~ may 19

Time for Menu Monday already. The week flew by! We have a busy week ahead of us, preparing for our church’s annual spring picnic at our house. So easy meals this week to leave lots of time for cleaning in the house and in the garden. Monday sloppy joes / buns veggies / chips / […]

sisters’ weekend

I, my four sisters and our two sisters-in-law try to get together for a weekend every year or two. This is the weekend. 🙂 While we gathered in the motel room, waiting for everyone to arrive, Paula caught up on the local news. Of course, as it usually happens when we have a family get-together, […]

quilt along ~ week 3

I quickly pieced the blocks for week 3 of Amandajeans’s quilt along this morning. I am attending Sisters’ Weekend with my four sisters and two SILs today through Sunday and wanted to get these done before I left. Done! This is “Ohio Star” for the cottage quilt, for which I’m using soft colors. And this […]

around the yard

Last year we had a hard freeze in April that decimated the iris blooms. This year they must be making up for that as they are loaded with blossoms. If we get no rain next week, the yard should be gorgeous and ablaze with color. The large lilacs are done, but the Korean lilacs and […]

a little yard work

Today is cool and cloudy, a little light mist. We did go out and do about an hour and a half of yard work, but when the mist came up it was too chilly to stay out. Temps are about 60*F. DH moved the two Paradigm hostas that were sitting too close to the Blue […]

Menu Monday

I have been gone for two days, so am getting a late start on Menu Plan Monday. Here’s our dinner menu for the week. Tues. turkey sandwiches veggies / dip Wed. sloppy joes chips / dip corn on the cob asparagus Thurs. salmon with honey-dijon sauce peas corn green salad Fri. chicken and noodles asparagus […]

flutterbies

I always thought flutter-by was a better name than butterfly for these beautiful fluttering insects. Yesterday we went to the Butterfly House in Chesterfield, Missouri. As soon as we walked in, a large butterfly landed on DH’s shoulder. The Butterfly House is in a large atrium, with butterflies everywhere! At the far end of the […]

walking the yard

This afternoon, I took a walk around the yard to cut some iris that had fallen in the rain. We’ve had more than 3″ of rain since Wednesday, with more coming Sunday to Wednesday. DH stopped by on his lunch hour and we walked around the front yard to see the newly opened irises. But […]