First to do list for 2023

Good morning 

This is a pretty long list and it won’t all get done this week but it does all need done so at least I have a plan 

I’ve got plenty to keep me busy

Talk to you all soon

❤️Rhonda 

First day of 2023

Hello everyone 

I hope you all have had a nice first day of the year.  

We had our traditional black eyed peas, cabbage, rice, cornbread and a smoked spiral ham.  We don’t eat it because we are superstitious but because it is just a fun tradition.  And it tastes good! 

Our son in law really enjoyed it and asked why we only eat it once a year.  We eat all the components during the year but I guess we only eat the whole traditional menu on New Year’s Day,  

Thank you all for the complements and suggestions about our front door.  I’ll let you know as we order, etc.  The windows will all be custom made so I don’t think it will be a very fast project. 

This prayer is in my 2023 planner and I really like it.

And a good blogging development for me is, after a year or so of not being able to,  I can finally comment as my self on my own blog and on other blogs.  

That reply option has been missing and it’s been hard to talk back to you all and just took the fun out of blogging

I don’t know exactly what fixed it but I did adjust some setting on my iPad- even though I’d done similar things multiple times before.  

Who knows?  I’m just grateful it is fixed.  

I don’t know what 2023 holds.  I do plan to get my home put back to pretty much how it was before except even more decluttered.  

And I plan to blog often

❤️Rhonda 

I want some advice

Good morning everyone 

The last 10 months with our 5 house guests has been fun and busy.  They finalized the purchase of their brand-new just-built home yesterday and started moving in. The new home is beautiful and I will share some photos later. Right now it’s very much in transition as they move stuff from this home and from several storage buildings.

I’m guessing most all of you were in that recent cold spell over Christmas. That was a hard one, wasn’t it? Anyway we’ve known for a while that our doors and windows were kind of leaky, they are 22 years old. But during that cold spell with the hard winds, the curtains in our dining room were fluttering back and forth from the breeze coming in the closed and locked window.

So, we have started shopping for replacement windows and a replacement front and back door, there is a good company in our town and we feel very safe using them.

My biggest decision is what kind of front door to get. We can get a metal door which we can paint or they will paint whatever color we would like. Or we could get a wood door and my husband is thinking he would like a wood door.

Our home is brick, with a lot of terra-cotta in the brick and gray mortar. We have fairly new siding and it is white.

Our roof is brown and our fence is white. Shutters are white but could be painted.  

We do plan to paint the hanging light fixture glossy black to match the ones we painted by the garage door.  

What kind of door and what color do you think would look good with our home?  I don’t want a big glass window again.  I’m leaning toward maybe a row of windows just at the top or a solid door with no openings but I really don’t know. 

Do you think a color like terra cotta, gray or blue would be good?  Or what about a wood door and what stain wood?  

About 2023,  I plan to be back to blogging regularly 

Thank you all 

❤️ Rhonda 

November news 🦃🍁🥧

Hello everyone 

Today was getting things started for our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday.  

I think 10 of us will be here

I’ve started a pile on the  counter for the Thanksgiving ingredients, 

I saw Manuela at  https://acultivatednest.com/ had links to several free printable Thanksgiving planner sheets.  I’ve always just made my list on plain paper but this year, I printed off a few sheets that worked for me.  I plan to keep them and reference them year to year.  

Our 3 little house guests wanted to help peel the potatoes so I said sure! 

I diced onions and celery for dressing,  chopped pecans for several dishes and diced some onions just for anytime we need diced onion.  

We also grated some really sharp cheese to make pimento cheese to eat in celery.  

Earlier this month,  my husband and I spent 9 days in Branson, Missouri.  The trip had been planned for months with reservations and show tickets all paid for.  My husband has several back issues and one of them flared up shortly before we left.  But he still wanted to go so we did.  He was physically hurting most all of them time though 

There are many things to do in Branson and we like the musical shows best. 

We saw The Haywood’s, Clay Cooper, Hot Rods and High Heels, Christmas Wonderland, Jersey Boys, Hughes Family Christmas,  The Gatlin Brothers, The Bellamy Brothers and The Oak Ridge Boys- and maybe a few others but I can’t recall them as I type this.  

We stayed in a condo and ate most of meals there.  We didn’t shop except to get groceries at a huge, fairly new Aldi in Branson and of course Walmart.  

It was cold in Branson!  

We had a good time and got our fill of vacationing.  

And this homebody is happy to be home 🏠 

The Gatlin Brothers 

Jersey Boys - we learned the young man on the left side of the photo graduated from the university in our town. 

 He is an amazing singer and we also saw him in Christmas Wonderland 

Hot Rods and High Heels- a 50s theme show 

Clay Cooper 

Our sweet Cora- she is growing fast!  She likes plain raw carrots and doesn’t want them cut up.  

A funny joke about inflation 

Although there is really nothing funny about inflation.  

I know many people are truly struggling right now

❤️ Rhonda 

Back to regular homekeeping

Hello everyone 

It’s Monday and I’m hoping to have a productive week.

I made a to do list 

I checked off a few things but my husband had a morning Dr appt with his back specialist and then we got a grocery pickup.

No photo of our purchases though as I was in a hurry to put things away and it was just normal kitchen items.  

Sadly they were out of 8 things on my list- lactose free milk, hens, strawberries, clementines, and I don’t remember the other things 

And then we had a visitor.

So…….. I didn’t get as many things done today as I hoped but tomorrow is a new day. 

I put out a few fall decorations 

This wreath  is not new, according to my blog it’s been on our front door since at least 2014 and I think it’s several years older than that.

We got some much needed rain today so I’ll sweep the leaves later.  It would of been pointless today,

The pumpkins were bought at a church fundraiser by our son in law’s mother.  She takes her grandchildren there every year and since those children currently live here,  the pumpkins are on our front porch.  

The baseball shoes belong to them too 🙂

I saw this instagram recipe and tried it today as we had all the ingredients on hand 

Below is a screenshot from IG 

They were very fast to mix up and they are quite tasty.  I’m sure the grands will like them.  


Hope you all have a productive week

❤️Rhonda