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.

menu plan monday ~ november 10, 2014

We had a fun weekend. Genny came to help with Christmas decorating. We put up the tree in the craft room that holds my Christmas Notebook exchange ornaments. We also finished the glass tree in the upstairs guest room. Genny started on the chalkboard tree. Here’s the chalkboard tree in 2012. And 2013. This year, […]

Christmas card shadow box class

Wednesday I had the honor of hosting a Christmas card shadow box class for five young ladies and their Moms. We had a great time and they all finished at least one box. It was a lot of fun to walk them through the process. It was also fun to see how each one placed […]

cherry fudge truffles

I have a board on Pinterest that is just for truffle recipes. I pin other recipes there, too, that I think might work for truffles. This recipe for Cherry Fudge is one of those recipes. The picture on the web site ShugarySweets.com was so inviting. They looked delicious. Here’s what I ended up with. Cherry […]

menu plan monday ~ november 3, 2014

We had a busy weekend with Christmas decorating and Christmas cooking going on. Our daughter-in-law came over on Sunday with the grands to help out. Our middle daughter and oldest grand-daughter put up the Three Kings Tree in the library. I made three kinds of truffles and enjoyed having the company. We also found a […]

two truffles dipped and done

Yesterday I made Peanut Butter Truffles and also dipped the Chocolate Cream Truffle centers that I made earlier this week. I had planned to freeze the Chocolate Cream centers and dip them in candy coating a few days before the party. But DH found a container of various truffles from last Christmas in the freezer […]

two cookie recipes and a truffle in the freezer

The past few days, I made several recipes for the freezer in prep for our annual Christmas Open House. Daniel’s Cookie Bar Bites are a favorite. A few days before the party, I will thaw the cut cookie bars and dip them in chocolate, then decorate them with a variety of sprinkles. Until then, the […]

macadamia nut shortbread cookies 2014

Yesterday, I made the delicious Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies that I like so much. They are already packed and put away in the freezer for the Christmas Open House. I used to roll them into logs, refrigerate, then slice to bake. Last year, I scooped and then rolled each portion into a ball and rolled […]

menu plan monday ~ october 27, 2014

Sunday, I made the Brownie Biscotti for the Christmas Open House. It is now in the freezer, awaiting the big day! You can see the recipe at this link: Brownie Biscotti Monday Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry Rice Tuesday Rosemary Ranch Chicken Sauteed Zucchini and Yellow Squash Baby Baked Potatoes Wednesday Pan Seared Tilapia Steamed […]

saturday afternoon

We have the grands this weekend and that is always fun! DH took the twins to the park to play on the new playground equipment. When they got home, they wanted to play on our devices, so it turned into some impromtu quiet time. Rose Red and Pa’s tablet… Snow White and Ma’s phone… After […]

apple sauce, apple slices, apple jam

Our house smells like apple pie. I can smell it in every room. What a wonderful candle scent it would be, though I’m not sure a candle company could really do justice to the spicy undertones in the air. If only we had smell-a-vision… It smells like apple pie around here because we canned about […]