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.

more Christmas goodies

Recipes 6 and 7 are done and ready to put in the freezer. I made the centers for the Chocolate Creams. I’ll wait to dip them in white chocolate until after they are thawed for the Open House in December. The recipe makes about 100 – 110…depending on how large the centers are made. The […]

menu plan monday ~ october 8, 2012

I baked a lot this weekend. Made five recipes for the Christmas Open House. They are safely stored in the freezer. Two kinds of Biscotti…Christmas Biscotti (with dried apricots, Craisins, and pistachios) and Toffee Bar Crunch Biscotti (which seems to be everyone’s absolute favorite). I’ll post the Christmas Biscotti recipe soon. I also made Date […]

pumpkin streusel swirled cream cheese pound cake

The recipe for this Pumpkin Streusel Swirled Cream Cheese Pound Cake has been on my Pinterest board “Autumn Goodies” for some time. I made it this week when our daughter-in-law’s mother visited from out of state. It was delicious and a good choice for coffee and chat over a yummy dessert. I’ll let you visit […]

brownie biscotti…sooo good!

Today I made Toffee Bar Crunch Biscotti and Brownie Biscotti. We have company coming this evening and other company stopping by Saturday. I’ll be serving these both times. The leftovers will be frozen for Christmas. Brownie Biscotti (Recipe is from Taste of Home, though I modified it slightly.) 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 3 eggs […]

menu plan monday ~ october 1, 2012

Another busy weekend. DH spent time getting our son’s house ready for its sale. The new owners move in on Thursday. Wondering if we’ll get a quiet weekend any time soon. At this point, perhaps not until January. This is a busy time of year for us. We have less than nine weeks to make […]

menu plan monday ~ september 24, 2012

I am loving this beautiful September weather. Cooler days (and nights). Jackets and blankets are coming out of storage. The garden is beginning to look and feel like autumn. The changes in weather, temps, and season seem to perk up everyone. And it makes me think apples! Several weeks ago, DH and I canned 21 […]

weekend snapshots

Autumn is in the air, for sure. And it’s in the yard, too. The garlic chives have bloomed and are setting seed. Beautiful golden rod everywhere. One of my Mom’s favorite flowers. The red geraniums on the back step are perking up for the last part of the season. The bouquet for church looks quite […]

paper circle garlands

Last year, I came across a blog with a Christmas tree garland made from waxed paper punched into circles. Click the link to see the garland she made. She glued her paper pieces to the string. Sounds like a long and frustrating job to me. I sewed mine together. Worked great. She put hers on […]

menu plan monday ~ september 17, 2012

It was a busy weekend! The grands came Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday evening. They didn’t realize how cool the weather would be, so had to improvise when they wanted to play outside. Snow White is wearing the Christmas sweatshirt I made for her father 22 years ago, and Rose Red is wearing the […]

thrifty Christmas decorating

People keep asking if I’m decorating for Christmas yet. I have to admit, I am already thinking about all aspects of Christmas…the decorating, the entertaining, the baking, and all the other fun things we do this time of year. It’s a big event at our house. Last year, I made a real effort to cut […]