Valentines Gingerbread house party

Hello everyone,  

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with a family gingerbread house party.

The kits were bought on clearance after Christmas for about $1.25 each.  

I didn’t know before I opened the boxes but some gingerbread houses need to assembled with frosting as glue- and it’s tricky. 

Other houses come all the assembled.

If I ever buy more kits,  I will only buy the assembled ones as they are so much easier and stress free.  The boxes are labeled but a quick way to discern the difference is the unassembled kits are in flat boxes and the assembled houses are in cube shaped boxes. 

All those kits,  we only had 3 preassembled houses 😱

Before the party,  we covered the tables with disposable tablecloths. 

And I opened every kit and threw away all the packaging.  

I bought a little extra candy and I asked the guests to bring candy too.  

Now on to the decorating. Some the children chose to work in pairs as they decorated. 

The preschoolers all had and needed an adult for assistance and supervision.  

The kits came with frosting bags but I didn’t put them out for children.  I made a big batch of royal frosting with meringue powder.  It made a fluffy frosting that I put in bowls and we used little plastic knives to spread the frosting on the houses.  I think spreading the frosting was fun and less aggravating for littles.  

All the decorated houses -quite an assortment, right? 

Below are our 8 grands who had the best time being together and creating.  

They range in age from 3 1/2 to just turned 11.  



 Happy Valentine’s Day everyone 

❤️ Rhonda 

Cake mix cookies

My husband was away almost 2 weeks so I thought cookies would help welcome him home.  And after not baking before Christmas,  fresh cookies sounded really good to me.  

Cake mix cookies are so easy and delicious 

Just use any flavor mix you like, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of either oil or melted butter.  Add your choice of stir ins like baking chips, nuts, sprinkles

Then bake like any cookie recipe- 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes 

I used a yellow cake mix, butter, chocolate chips and a dash of vanilla 

Happy baking! 

❤️  Rhonda 

Hello

Hello everyone

I had intentions to share our Christmas decorations and baking here but I ended up sidelined with a torn hamstring.  I’m doing much better now and have to watch it but I’m happy to be able to walk almost pain free and with no aids.  

I didn’t do a single batch of Christmas baking.  Our desserts were store bought with a candy tray from a former neighbor and a buche de Noel baked by our daughter.  

We had 2 family Christmas gatherings in our home,  and afterward,  our home looked like it.  

So I made a new to do list and started working on things yesterday.

This may not all get done this week,  but I’ll do all I feel up to.  

several more of these tasks are completed, they just aren’t checked off in the photo.  


I did a good bit of coupon shopping in 2019.  So much so that my storage areas are plenty full.  For 2020,  I intend to take a break from most coupon shopping until our stockpile is used some.  

But I had some store money at CVS and Walgreens so I made short trips to both today.  

It seems foolish to let free store money expire.  

At Walgreens,  the pizzas were buy 1 get 1 free

The bags are buy 1 for $2.79, get 2 free. 

I used $20 in Walgreens points and paid $8.05 for all of the above.  I also ended up with $10 in points and $7 in register rewards that I was not expecting.  

About the Walgreens brand food bags,  this sale repeats often.  They also repeat similar sales for their brand of aluminum foil, paper plates and trash bags.  All of these are excellent quality products and much cheaper on sale than name brand products.  I actually like the Walgreens food bags better than Ziploc brand bags.  

At CVS,  I used $11 in extracarebucks from previous purchases and several coupons that printed when I scanned my CVS card at the CVS scanning machine.  I used NO newspaper or internet printable coupons.  

And I still did very well,  getting 5 boxes of cereal and 2 face moisturizers for $6.96.  

That’s all the news I have for now.  

I really do want to keep blogging,  but sometimes things just get in the way.  

Thanks for stopping by today ❤️

First week of December To Do List

Hello everyone, 

We had a very nice Thanksgiving - just too much food.  I’ve made a note on my list to try and cook less next year but I think I thought the same thing last year.  And we did prepare less food this year  but it was still too much. 

After 2 days of holiday activities,  Saturday just felt like Monday.  Our home needed attention so I went ahead and made a new list and got started on it yesterday.   

The new week brings more appointments than usual but I’ve planned meals and have a pretty much clean house so I think it should all go pretty smooth.  

I’ve done no Christmas decorating but I have been thinking about it.  We usually leave our tree up through January so it’s no rush to put it up right now.  

Our youngest son bought this Norfolk pine at Lowe’s on Black Friday and set it up for my parents in their small retirement apartment.  

I think it is perfect for them,  and it looks like how my mom would of decorated a tree if she was up to it.  

Our daughter’s husband put lights on their balcony.    He also put pretty lights on their home but you can see their address in the photos so I won’t post them.

Their retirement home always puts out lots of gorgeous decorations in the common areas and I know my parents will enjoy having decorations in their own living  space as well. 

Did any of you do Black Friday shopping?  My brother went out and said he got everything he planned to get and was very pleased.  

I didn’t go to any stores but I did order 3 things from Walmart that will be delivered soon.  

For our 8 grands who truly need no toys,  I decided to make them each a photo book of highlights from this year.  I’ve made a lot of photo books over the years and find  Walgreens to be easiest for me.  They had 75% off their photo books so I somehow made all 8 books Friday and Saturday and got them ordered before the coupon expired.  I chose In Store pick up to avoid a delivery charge and the books will be ready the 2nd week of December. 

Children love to look at photos of theirselves and their families.  Their parents have some paper photos but  most of their photos are digital and “on their phones”.   Now the kids with have hard copies to look at whenever they want.  

So with those Black Friday specials,  we accomplished a good bit of our gift purchasing without ever going in a store.  

For supper tonight,  I’m making turkey lasagna and I was going to share the link but her site seems to be closed down.  I’m glad I printed a copy when I made it the first time so I can still make it.  It’s really good.  

So my tip is if you see recipe or some instructions you want to keep - screen shoot it or print it or hand copy it on paper.  Web sites sometimes go away.  

I hope you’ve all had a good Sunday and are ready for this new week

❤️ Rhonda 

Thanksgiving eve

Thanksgiving 2019 

Smoked ham and turkey breast - Jeff is cooking outside 

Mashed potatoes- Rex

Dressing - John Mark 

Sweet potato casserole- me - made and will heat Thursday 

Corn casserole - me 

Deviled eggs - me and made today 

Green beans - me - May be plain, May be a casserole, may be both 🤷🏻‍♀️

Gravy - me 

Rolls - me 

Pumpkin and pecan tarts - Nina 

Relish tray- baby dills, green olives and celery with cheese

Cheese ball- Jimmy

Jello salad - Jimmy 

So Thursday morning,  I’ll need to put the purchased, frozen rolls out to thaw and rise, then bake just before we eat about noon. 

Stir up the corn casserole and bake it with the sweet potato casserole

Decide and do green beans 

Make gravy

Make relish plate 

Just before lunch, we will set out the buffet and everyone will serve theirselves.  

My husband surprised me with fresh flowers for both tables.  I’m pretty sure he bought them at Sprouts.  

I made the felt leaf coasters years ago,  inspired by some I saw in a magazine for  

$20 a set.  

We’re using disposable plates and utensils,  

To make them a little easier,  I wrapped them in bundles. 

The eggs and sweet potato casserole are prepared and in the fridge,  just hanging out until tomorrow.  

Our Thanksgiving preparations  have been easy and stress me, 

I’m especially thankful this year to have so much help.  

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving 2019 

❤️Rhonda