Oh the stories this old porch swing could tell…
Of afternoon story time with mama and sons,
and little boy shenanigans, plots, and plans.
Afternoon breaks for dad and mom,
important decisions discussed and planned.
Moonlight kisses,
and engagement photos.
Tears shed while swinging,
both happy and sad.
Deep conversations,
and happy reunions.
You have carried us through,
and will continue to do.
Living surrounded by woods is such a nice way to share our home with the beauty and the beasts nature provides.
I think this girl is beautiful as she prances along the edge of the woods and our yard.
Our furry son, on the other hand, thinks these “beasts” need shooed away and makes it his mission to bark and chase and keep them out of “Mikey’s yard.”
So while Mikey was barking and acting tough and big and ferocious (to no avail!), I grabbed my camera and caught a shot of this girl in the shadows of the woods yesterday…..
and I told Mikey we are allowed to share our home with her… (I just wish she wouldn’t eat my hostas!)
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
See me?
Yep – that’s about all you are going to see for a while of me at the gym…. Oh dear – it is NOT a pretty sight!
Maybe when my form looks a bit more like this, by possibly 2020, I’ll share my tips with you!
For now – I was lucky to lift one foot up on this contraption:
Oops! Need to flip it over!
Here is an ultra special top-secret sneak peak of my amazing form mid lift (action photo!)….
…all while snapping the photo with my iPhone and listening to Uptown Funk on REPEAT through my headphones – AND keeping my shoes off the wall! (which are not, God forbid, the shoes I wore to enter the gym from outside, as that is a BIG NO NO! – and there are cameras everywhere!)
Impressive – right?! Okay – maybe not so much – but last week I couldn’t even balance with two feet on the dang thing. Believe it or not, it takes some core muscles to do it…. And now Nick (my son and fitness instructor) said, after I proudly texted him the above photo, I need to work on one-legged squats/toe touches on the ball! SHEESH!
So anyway- did some crunches and then planked (I know – talking like I know what I’m talking about here – right?!).
I even managed TEN (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 – count ’em kids! 10!) [ahem] girl push-ups!
But last week I could only do 6! (Am I PITIFUL or what?!)
Here’s my view from the floor where I was covertly snapping these photos with my iPhone, trying to be discreet to the 3 or 4 other patrons that braved the 1 degree F temperatures today to join me at the gym on their lunch break.
I’ve been trying to get up at 5am and “hit the gym” before I get too busy, but couldn’t do it yesterday, so I went at lunch time. (a great perk on days I work from home)
So hey – I’m not calling this a New Year’s Resolution! I never stick to New Year’s Resolutions! Does anyone??!?
And besides, I started going on December 27th – exactly one day after my BFF posted some photos of me on Facebook that made me gasp!
That is almost a full week BEFORE New Year’s Day, so it can’t count as a New Year’s Resolution!
Gotta go for the lifestyle change dealeo – right?! ….
….again…..
If you need some motivation to get moving, I just double dare you to not boogie while you listen to this:
Are you wiggling yet?
Well – put it on repeat and get movin’!
Help hold me accountable by asking if I’ve gone to the gym today? K friends? I’m thinking if I tell all of you, I’ll stay accountable. What burden I ask of you – eh?! 🙂
Time for some cardio! Are you dancing with me Jo Freehand? How about a song to keep me moving when I burn out on Uptown Funk?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Snow birds stay
and weather the storms,
frolicking and fluttering about.
I will nourish your soft and feathery frames,
while you nurture my heart and soul.
Decorations down…. thank you notes sent… the holidays are over.
Now it is another New Year. A time for renewal, hope, dreams, clean slates, reflections on the past, goals for the future.
For the first time, I “mass produced” a batch of cards. I had many thank yous I wanted to send in appreciation for wonderful friends and family – good times spent together, generous and meaningful gifts exchanged, love and appreciation expressed.
I designed a card I liked that I thought would be somewhat easy to duplicate 15 or 20 times. I’m happy with how they turned out, but the important part was the handwritten message inside – a message of appreciation and gratitude. I love sending thank you notes. They are probably my favorite…. Maybe because they are becoming such a lost art and etiquette. Mostly because it is an opportunity to let the recipient know how thankful I am to have them in my life.
Thank YOU my lifeinbetween.me blog friends! I am thankful to have you in my life.
Cheers & Thankful Hugs,
Jodi
I gotta say, it was a great “back to” kinda day yesterday …
Back to work…
Back to the gym…
Back to the craft room in the evening… and back to The Paper Players Challenge!!
Felt so good!
I need a birthday card for a special friend, so I was excited to use the Stampin Up Butterfly Basics Stamp Set and Framelit to make it.
Butterflies remind me of renewal and hope and change and that speaks January birthday to me and also this special lady.
The Paper Players first challenge of the new year #226 is “Everything Old is New Again – create a project using a recycle or re-purposed item. This challenge is right up my alley and just the right challenge to get me back in the stampin’ groove!
For my card, the recycled/re-purposed items are craft paper packing material from my endless Amazon Prime Christmas gift shopping packages and a touch of burlap ribbon from my dear daughter-in-law, Colleen’s wedding shower (we both love burlap!) 🙂
I loved creating a rustic, but fresh and renewed look with the recycled/re-purposed materials and a bright butterfly. And I adore the ferns that are in this stamp set and how great they work for the stamping-off technique to get a variety of shades.
I only used three colors of ink for this card – SU Mossy Meadow for the ferns, Stazon Black for the sentiments and a bit of Ranger Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink for the vintagy edges.
Hope you are getting “back to” your groove after the holidays and seeking cherished moments at lifeinbetween and always.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
P.S. For my stamping friends, if you haven’t seen Deb Valder’s Youtube technique tutorial on dryer sheets for thinlits, I urge you to check it out. Possibly life-changing for these challenging die cuts! 🙂
My glorious two-week holiday “vacation” has come to an end, and it is time to get back to work – – – and back in the groove – of a structured work schedule – and a better eating and exercising habit too after a month or so of glutenous indulgence!
So yesterday, I made a batch of breakfast energy bars to have a go-to breakfast or protein and energy-packed snack. I have made a similar version of these before and blogged about. The beauty of this recipe is you can use whatever you have on hand (within reason) to create a unique bar each time.
I received several gorgeous sets of measuring utensils as Christmas gifts, so I was excited to get to use some of them for photographing below. (Really don’t need to measure these things precisely…. but it made for a fun photo to share 🙂 ). I gathered some creamy peanut butter, coconut oil, honey, oats, shredded coconut, a variety of seeds (pumpkin and sunflower), dried cranberries, and chopped some dates and some beautifully healthy English walnuts.
To begin, melt the peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey in a good size saucepan.
When melted, remove from heat and add your chosen dry ingredients.
Mix all ingredients until incorporated.
Then spread in a 13 x 9 pan and chill for several hours until firm.
Once completely chilled, cut into bars.
I packed them in pairs in Ziploc bags and placed in the freezer – ready to grab for a quick breakfast at home…
or on the go…
Here is the recipe you can use to tweak with the ingredients you like:
Breakfast Energy Bars
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil (solid form)
2 1/2 cups oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried dates
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
Melt peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil in a saucepan.
Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
Spread in a 13 x 9 pan.
Refrigerate approximately 2 hours.
Cut into bars and wrap or bag individually.
Return to refrigerator or freeze.
Feel free to substitute other dried fruits (golden raisins, dried blueberries or cherries) or nuts (slivered or chopped almonds, cashews, pecans, peanuts) or even chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, white, peanut butter, butterscotch).
I am going to share this recipe as my first at Fiesta Friday #49. Fiesta Friday is an online ‘party’, where bloggers share posts in a link up. Everyone ‘brings’ (shares) a recipe, photograph, craft, memorable story, etc. to the party I have been hearing about it from several others and decided to join the party this year. Gotta love a good party – right? 🙂
Groovy Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is ‘New.’
So why strawberries you might be are probably asking?!
Well – I got a new camera, a new lens (telephooooooootooo!), a new (my first first) tripod, and a new (another FIRST!) light box between Christmas and my birthday, and I couldn’t wait to play with them after the holiday festivities had settled down.
I set things up on Saturday, and I played…. With my breakfast…
and with my lunch 🙂
Another new…. went to the gym in between breakfast and lunch 🙂
And trying to eat healthier too! Another new. (But I assure you I will still be baking and sharing!)
I know – it all sounds so cliche! Everyone starts diet and exercise routines this time of year… But you have to start sometime! And maybe publicly discussing it will help hold me more accountable… 😐
Hope you enjoy these new pictures.
Happy NEW Year!
Cheers & Old Hugs,
Jodi
How is it that is is January 3rd, 2015 already?!?!
What a busy, wonderful, joy-filled holiday season it has been.
I have been a bit lazy in my posts lately, but only because I have been so busy simply enjoying life!
I have taken two full weeks off from my full-time job to just relish in and enjoy the holidays, and boy has it been lovely!
I spent the first few days of my vacation baking and shopping and last-minute preparations for the upcoming 4-days in a row of hosting festivities.
We started on Christmas Eve by sharing dinner and the evening with our boys and and our sweet daughter-in-law. We made our first prime rib dinner, exchanged gifts, and played games.
On Christmas Day, we hosted extended family for a hunky styled feast of halupkis and pierogies, ham, and lots of other goodies.
The day after Christmas was our special McHendy Christmas celebration with our “best friend family,” followed by Saturday with my Dad and “Mom II,” brothers and their families, Aunt and Uncle.
Sunday was spent with hubby’s 91-year-old Aunt who was in need of a little TLC.
Monday was an effort to get back to some normalcy and a bit of time in the gym.
Tuesday was prepping for New Year’s Eve celebrations, and Wednesday brought friends and family to celebrate New Year’s Eve (and my birthday!).
We were fortunate to have friends stay over and enjoy New Year’s brunch.
Friday brought my first “free” day, so Marty and I took a ride to the city and I got to take some photographs with my new camera from Santa 🙂 .
Two more days of vacation, and I’m thinking, “where did the time go?”
I’m glad the weekend is still in front of us! Then it is time to get my groove back. 🙂
For now, it is cheers and hugs from a tired, but very content, very blessed, completely humbled, extremely grateful, but briefly blocked blogger who is so grateful for all of you and your “likes” and “comments” and love!
Jodi
Don’t you love the possibilities?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 