Discover – Reaching for a Better View

/ Jodi / 22 Comments

https://dailyrecord365.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/p1110678.jpg

As some of you may recall, my “One Little Word” this year is Discover.

This is the year for me to Discover… more about myself… and more about the world around me.

I am honored and privileged to share a very special piece of artwork with you today from my friend Jo Freehand at Daily Record 365. 

Jo created #Two Hundred Two: Discover just for me and my word!

I have been slowly taking it in since Jo kindly created and posted it several weeks ago; and every time I look it, I discover something new.

Here is how I first saw it:

The microscope is mammoth and massive and complex (like life), and it is examining the hole in the record (the “in between” part – the part where we have the freedom to do and be what we want). The lady is REACHING – almost as if for the stars and then embraces and takes in that light. And the microscope reminds me of the Discovery Satellite too – exploring the universe – and that is what the lady is seeing and feeling and it is filling her heart, and she is happy and excited and fascinated. And it is saying that what you see with your eyes (or at least on the surface or at first glance), might not be the “be all /end all.” You have to look closer, you have to feel it, you have to let it fill you, and it will bring you joy. There is a better view if you reach, stretch to look closer or look at a different way, and you need to look “in between.”

Jo elaborated:

Discovery is an individual experience. However this image speaks to you is right for you.  For me, the microscope is focused on a watch, an everyday object. Or perhaps it represents time or a moment.  She’s “reaching for a better view.”  Does she realize the view right there beneath her skin? The entire universe right there? (Or has she been focused outwardly, watching hands move around the clock.) Can anyone else interpret her universe?

Deep stuff – eh??!!  🙂

What do you see when you look at it?  What does it say to you?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

And I urge you to discover Jo’s blog.  It is always fun to see each Daily Record and interpret what it speaks to you.  Comments are usually as diverse as the people sharing them, which make it that much more fun and interesting.

I hope you are discovering more about yourself and the world around you – every day – because there is a lot of “good stuff” in and out there!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Perspective

/ Jodi / 11 Comments

Moon Lake Thoreau What You See

Today is my brother’s birthday, and this is the card I made and sent to him.  He is a purist and likes simple and uncomplicated things.  He is also a deep thinker, so though this card may not be a “stunner” in the creative artistic sense, I think it is perfect for him.

The StampinUp Moon Lake stamp is stamped onto white paper.  I then overlaid it with vellum that I stamped the sentiment on and stitched it to the white (so you can lift it to see the boat and tree clearer – kinda symbolic of the message if you get my drift).  I added a few clear star stickers to embellish just a bit, framed it up with black and then blue card stock and adhered to a white card base.

I’m thinking of my brother today and wishing him a year full of simple, uncomplicated pleasures and happiness.  I love him dearly.

What do you see today?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies

/ Jodi / 19 Comments

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 5

Chocolate Cookies…  Sprinkles…. Hershey’s Kisses…. How can you go wrong?!?!

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 1

Before heading away for a week, I had to make a special sweet treat for the guys.

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 2

I had some Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses in the pantry and thought it was time I used them.  PLUS I was dying to eat one or two or ten or twenty.

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 4

I found a recipe for a Chocolate Valentine Kiss Cookies on The Kitchen is My Playground that sounded good, but since I didn’t have “Valentine” sprinkles, I just used some fun colorful ones and some chocolate ones.  Tracey’s are really cute with Valentine sprinkles though, so check the out here if you want to see.

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 3

They are really chocolatey fudgy inside, a little crispy on the outside with the sprinkles and just the right amount of creamy chocolate cherry cordial in the center for a bite or two!

chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 6

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies

  • Servings: 25-30 cookies
  • Print

Ingredients chocolate sprinkle cherry kiss cookie 4

  • 1 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 c. cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 8 T. (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 2/3 c. sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 T. milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3/4 to 1 c. assorted  sprinkles
  • 25 to 30 Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses (or your own favorite flavor)

Directions

  1. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt; set aside.
  2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla; mix until incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture until just combined.
  3. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
  4. Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in sprinkles completely covering the dough ball with sprinkles. Place balls about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Gently press down into the center of each ball slightly to make a very small indentation.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes.
  6. After removing cookies from the oven, immediately place a Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each cookie. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, remove to a cooling rack to cool.
Original recipe found at The Kitchen is My Playground – please check out Tracey’s yummy blog.
Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Winter Morning Moon over Mars

/ Jodi / 21 Comments

winter morning moon over mars

Dawn yesterday morning brought a fresh dusting of snow, single digit temperatures, and the brightest beautiful full moon.  I threw a coat on over my pajamas, slipped my feet into my rubber crocs, and set my tripod up on the side porch to capture the scene (and oh what a scene it would have been if you would have seen me!).

When my dad called for our daily chat at approximately 7:05ish (he’s a school bus driver in his retirement, and we are making up for lost time, so we talk every morning between his high school and middle school run), he commented on the beautiful moon he was looking at while we were talking.

It made me smile to think we were chatting and sharing the same moon together, if even for only a few moments.  Our morning chats are so special.  Sometimes I talk the whole time, and sometimes he does.  Sometimes we have lots to stay, and sometimes not so much, but it always makes me smile and is such a wonderful way to start my day.

Dad reads my blog every day, but since he gets up at 4:30am and is on the road before my blog posts each day at 6am, he always comments about the post from the day before.  I think it’s sweet that he always reads it (and sometimes finds typos for me to fix).  But it makes me smile, because he reads every single word – even every ingredient in my recipes (wondering if he would like it as he’s a pretty picky pop).  I’m so fortunate to have him in my life as one of my guys.

Hopefully he is smiling reading this (and hopefully there are no typos).  🙂

Happy Friday everyone!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

PS Look for a yummy cookie recipe post tomorrow: Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies!

Don’t Fence Me In

/ Jodi / 18 Comments

don't fence me in

The wonderful thing about taking a walk with my camera

is that even though I may take the same route every day,

when looking through the lens,

there is always something new to see.

Don’t fence me in!

 

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

The Little Log Cabin

/ Jodi / 14 Comments

little log cabin

Oh Little Log Cabin on the edge of the woods, what is your story?

What tales would you tell if you could

of life now and life then?

Are we doing it right?

You stand so solid and sturdy and beautiful.

You remind me to slow down, breathe deeply, gaze intently.

You do speak…

to my soul.

 

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

The Little Things

/ Jodi / 30 Comments

sheltering tree and hello life

Isn’t it true?  It’s the “little things” that mean so much!

Next week at this time, I will be in (hopefully) sunny, warm Florida with one of my besties, Janet, celebrating “the little things” that have sustained our friendship for 40 years!  And seriously – I’m not sure how that is possible when I am [ahem] barely past 40, but Janet is my oldest – really meaning “longest” together – friend.

I can’t wait to just spend time with my sweet friend doing the “little things” that have sustained our friendship through the ages, miles and miles, and extended periods of separation (Janet lived in Alaska for about a million years).

Janet is my sister and her family is my family. 

My hubby, Marty, gave me the BEST birthday gift this year.  He’s sending me off to spend time with someone I hold so dear.  And I can still hear the squeals when I called her on New Year’s Eve (my birthday) to tell her the good news.  And we are going to get to celebrate her birthday, which is just a few days after my visit.

We will talk, walk, laugh, likely cry, eat, drink, reminisce, reflect, discover, and just “BE.”

No matter how much time or space has separated us, we have always enjoyed “the little things” that make life and our friendship so precious.

So this card I created is dedicated to my Janet.

It is made from the Stampin Up Sheltering Tree and Hello Life Stamp Set.  It is clean and simple (CAS), because the message is so powerful:  Love the little things – for they are what make up the greatest joys in life.

Wishing you a wonderful day filled with many reasons to celebrate “the little things.”

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Our Children

/ Jodi / 25 Comments

winter front yard bush 020115

My copy of “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran arrived a few days ago.

And what a treasure it is.

It is a book to be savored in small bits and pieces,

with words to be read over and over.

Several people told me about the section on Children, so it was the first place I went…

On Children by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I love this.
I hope to think I have raised my boys this way…
respecting that they have their own thoughts…
not forcing mine on them.

It was the greatest privilege of my life to house their bodies,
but I will never own their souls.

I’m so proud of the men they have become.
Sometimes we have different opinions, sometimes we disagree, but I have, do, and will always respect them immensely…
and love them all the same.

This was not necessarily the way I was raised, but that only makes me feel all the more convicted about it.
I am honored to bend my bow with gladness, and shoot two blazing, sharp, strong arrows into the world.

May all of our children be as unique and individual as they desire, like each snowflake that falls and blows in the wind and catches on thistly bushes.  And may we love them all and cherish their beauty.

With much love and pride to my Jake and Nick,
Your Mom

Freeze, Thaw, Melt, Drip, Repeat

/ Jodi / 3 Comments
icicles dripping

icicles glistening and dripping from the back of our house 1/31/15

Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge:  Depth

Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

/ Jodi / 28 Comments

apricot chocolate chip cookies

Apricot and semi-sweet or dark chocolate is such a yummy combination, so I thought I’d try it in a cookie – as a twist to my “almost famous” chocolate chips cookies.

apricot chocolate chip cookie

and it’s a winner according to my guys.

apricot chocolate chip cookie batter

I snipped a half pound of dried apricots into the batter.

apricot chocolate chip cookies on rack

and tweaked up my original chocolate chip recipe by exchanging vanilla extract with half almond and half orange extract (though I think vanilla might be yummy too) and used 1/2 a bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to allow the apricot to be the “star” of the cookie.

apricot chocolate chip cookies plate

The balance of flavors seemed just right.

Hope you’ll give them a try.

And can you believe it is the last day of January 2015 already!?!?  We are hunkering down for a snow storm here in Mars this weekend, and of course, the Super Bowl, so we will be set with some sweet treats if “needed.”  🙂

How about you?  What’s happening in your part of the world this weekend?

Have a good one!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

And here is the recipe.  Enjoy!

Jodi's Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Servings: 2 dozen large cookies
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

1 cup butter, softenedapricot chocolate chip cookies plate
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) dried apricots, snipped into small chunks
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) Nestle’s Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Blend softened butter with granulated and brown sugar with mixer until well incorporated. Add in almond and orange extract and eggs and mix on medium-high speed until creamy. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt on low speed until incorporated. Fold in apricots and chocolate chips.

Chill dough for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough into golf ball sized balls and flatten slightly.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

I think I will share this recipe with my friends over at Fiesta Friday for the Anniversary Party, because every party needs cookies – right?!  Check it out for lots of awesome recipes by some amazing foodie bloggers!