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 ~ june 17, 2013

I’m at a disadvantage this week, computer-wise. Mine crashed. Boohoo! So I am using an old one we have while waiting for the repair service to fix mine. I don’t have access to some of the things I need, so bear with me. It’s been a frustrating few days. Hopefully, it will be fixed on […]

menu plan monday ~ june 10, 2013

This morning we enjoyed a visit from a group of ladies from a St. Louis garden club. DH’s cousin is a member and she brought them along for a garden tour. Sadly, the daylilies are running late this year, so there wasn’t a lot to show them in the way of bloom. But they enjoyed […]

menu plan monday ~ june 3, 2013

After a lot of rain last week (5″ in 48 hours, plus more during the week), we are having a nicer week this time around. Temps are lower, A/C is off, windows are open. All good! Last Wednesday, the grands were over. They helped Pa make brownies. Always fun! He happened to flip a bit […]

Sunday bouquet

The peonies are in full bloom, a bit later this spring than usual. They smell heavenly. I hope you have peonies in your garden. ~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ may 20, 2013

The iris and peonies look beautiful right now. Here’s the bouquet from Sunday. Love this combination of colors and flowers. My menu is late, but I’m squeaking in. I do better during the entire week if I have a menu in place. Even if we shuffle it or change plans all together. At least we […]

happy 80th, Dad!

This afternoon our family celebrated my Dad’s 80th birthday. It was fun to be together and to honor our Dad. The next-to-the-newest family member freely shared smiles with everyone. The cake was half carrot cake and half chocolate cake. Carrot cake was Dad’s request. Once they started putting candles on the cake, they decided to […]

happy birthday!

Yesterday was our younger son’s birthday and also my Dad’s 80th birthday. Happy birthday to you both! With love from me. ~~Rhonda / ~~Mom

irises and peonies and hostas, oh my!

I haven’t been able to get out much this spring, but managed to today. The irises and peonies are beautiful right now. And the hostas…well, some survived last summer’s drought and are looking great…some didn’t make it. We need to do an inventory to figure out how much and what we lost. I really love […]

a car for dd

Well, the time has come…our youngest daughter is taking driver’s ed and has her driver’s permit. She’s been practicing driving with her Dad and her sisters. How time flies… We didn’t really plan to get a car for her right away, but a great deal came up and we took advantage of it. The car […]

menu plan monday ~ may 13, 2013

I hope you had a good Mother’s Day. We had fun here, with all our children home, with the exception of our younger son’s wife. She’ll be visiting the area at the end of the month. We enjoyed the long weekend with our son home from Seattle. My Dad joined us for dinner and the […]