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.

popcorn and cranberries

We made popcorn and cranberry strings this weekend. It’s a family tradition. My mom always made them for our trees as I was growing up, and we have always had them on our living room tree for the 30 years of our marriage. After a long day of decorating, stringing popcorn and cranberries is a […]

busy weekend

We accomplished a lot this weekend. On Saturday, we did everything in the living room except the tree. DH put up the garlands over the arches and windows. We set up the nativity, decorated the fireplace mantel and groomed and rearranged the plants. We also did a lot in the dining room. When they come […]

bedtime

It’s getting late. My sister has headed to bed. We worked hard today getting a lot of Christmas decorating done. AND I mowed the entire yard one last time for the season. It was a beautiful day out. Mowing takes about an hour and 30 minutes. Genny worked on decorating the mailbox while I mowed. […]

the biscotti is delicious!

The house smelled SO good while the biscotti was baking and the final result was as delicious as the smell. The dough contains melted butter and veggie oil, so it has a different look than most cookie doughs. Shinier and denser. The recipe called for broken chocolate-covered toffee bars which I didn’t have. I used […]

biscotti and cake today

Last night I worked on more invites. Watched The Two Towers while doing that. This AM I’m planning to make Toffee Bar Crunch Biscotti and Holiday Petit Fours. I’ve not made biscotti before but want to try it for the open house. I’ll let you know how it comes out. My sister Genny is coming […]

kitchen garland – going up!

Last night DH put the garland up in the kitchen. Standing on the counter is the only way to do it. The next step is to add the snowflakes. We’ve had some frosts, so the geraniums came in. Not sure where they are going to end up, but they are so pretty right now that […]

addressing Christmas cards

The piles are getting bigger…

halfway through

3:00 pm – I’m halfway through the Christmas card list. Taking a break as my hand needs a rest. There are about 20 more finished invites then I will have to stop and make more. I have a meeting tonight and a chat later this evening, so won’t have time tonight to get much else […]

cards, invites, and tv

Today I have several projects on my agenda. I have the bulletin inserts for church to format and print so they can be copied for church. After finishing that, I’ll catch up on some Tivo while addressing our Christmas cards. I have half the open house invitations done, so will be doing more of that […]

Cookie bar bites – finished

This picture from last year shows the finished product. Easy and delicious. I’ve made them for teas and baby showers by cutting them with a 1″ heart-shaped cookie cutter and then dipping them. For the baby shower, I dipped them in vanilla almond bark and sprinkled the tops with blue sanding sugar.