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.

happy birthday!!

They’re five! We had cake and ice cream this evening for the twins. Lots of fun! They practically squealed when they saw the pile of presents. Snow White’s favorite presents? Dora’s friend Boots the monkey and her blue feather boa! Rose Red and Snow White…happy birthday girls. ~~Ma

menu plan monday ~ november 5, 2012

This week, the twins turn five! Cannot believe it has been five years already! We’re having cupcakes with them this evening and cake tomorrow night. May as well celebrate twice! For trick or treat, the twins visited Great-Ma next door. All the able residents gathered in the front room with bowls of treats and toys. […]

menu plan monday ~ october 29, 2012

On Saturday, our son and his wife came to help deep clean in prep for the Christmas Open House. They were a great help, and came back on Monday when my sister Genny was here to help, as well. They got a lot done. While they cleaned on Saturday, I made Brownie Biscotti, Raspberry Truffles, […]

macadamia nut shortbread cookies

I love shortbread and these cookies are no exception. I found the original recipe, Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies, on dianasdesserts.com in 2006 and have been making them ever since, though I use macadamia nuts. Also, I like to add white chocolate, which the original recipe did not call for. Macadamia Nut Shortbread Cookies Ingredients: 1 c. […]

leaves of autumn

The Southern Pin Oak in the back yard is a gold cloud. Crepe myrtles are a great shrub. They bloom in the heat of summer when other flowers are beginning to falter. And the foliage is always beautiful in the fall. Into the woods… Mulberry leaves… Mimosa leaves… Redbud leaves… Sassafras leaves in the woods… […]

menu plan monday ~ october 22, 2012

Busy weekend. DH and the three girls saw Les Misérables, which took up most of Saturday. They had a wonderful time. My sister came on Saturday and helped put up Christmas trees. Yes, an early start, but we have to be done by the first weekend of December for our annual open house. And with […]

Christmas trees are going up

My sister came down this weekend and we worked on putting up a few trees. The Three Kings tree sits in the corner of the library. It displays a small collection of gold star ornaments and three wisemen figurines. The other tree in the library is the Nativity tree. While I was contemplating trading it […]

sour cream sugar cookies are headed to the freezer

The almond flavored sour cream sugar cookies are a favorite at our Christmas Open House each year. I made the cookie dough Saturday (I think…), popped it in the fridge, and baked the cookies today. If you can’t tell, those are wreath cookie cutters. The day before the Christmas Open House, the cookies will be […]

menu plan monday ~ october 15, 2012

DH and I enjoyed a country drive yesterday afternoon. It was very windy but a beautiful day. The color is wonderful this year. This is sumac. The hickory trees were in full color. We drove out to a quiet country cemetery. Does anyone else take “cemetery dates?” The ground was covered with hickory nuts. I […]

blue and silver tree

Well, DH brought the tree down from the attic for the downstairs bedroom. This is what it looked like last year. Not bad, huh? The tree was old when I first painted it silver in 2008. Painting it rejuvenated it. I got a lot of compliments on how pretty that old tree was. But the […]