Roseau Times-Region - Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper

Everyone in the office received a special Christmas Amaryllis from Genevieve Michal.

It's been fun coming in every day to see how much it has grown. You could see a substantial difference each day and over the weekend they went crazy.

I think mine is the tallest and I'm hoping it doesn't topple over with the flowers blooming.

We could actually see the flowers changing today as we worked.

Thank you for thinking of us Genevieve. We are having a great time watching them grow! We have a friendly office competition going on.

Martha Washington Candy

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

6 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup shortening

Directions

In a large bowl, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla until blended. Stir in coconut and pecans. Divide dough in half; refrigerate, covered, 1 hour.

Working with half the dough at a time, shape mixture into 1-in. balls; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate 30 minutes longer.

In top of a double boiler or a metal bowl over barely simmering water, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip balls in melted chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Return to waxed paper. Top with additional coconut if desired. Refrigerate until set.

To Make Ahead: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Joke of the Week

Two 90-year-old women, Rose and Hilda, had been friends all of their lives. When it was clear that Rose was dying, Hilda visited her every day. One day Hilda said, "Rose, we both loved playing women's softball all our lives, and we played all through high school. Please do me one favor: when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's women's softball there."

Rose looked up at Hilda from her deathbed and said, "Hilda, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favor for you." Shortly after that, Rose passed on.

At midnight a few nights later, Hilda was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to her, "Hilda, Hilda."

"Who is it?" asked Hilda, sitting up suddenly. "Who is it?"

"Hilda, it's me, Rose."

"You're not Rose. Rose just died."

"I'm telling you, it's me, Rose," insisted the voice.

"Rose! Where are you?"

"In Heaven," replied Rose. "I have some really good news and a little bad news."

"Tell me the good news first," said Hilda.

"The good news," Rose said, "is that there's softball in Heaven. Better yet all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it's always springtime, and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play softball all we want, and we never get tired."

"That's fantastic," said Hilda. "It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?"

"You're pitching Tuesday."