A Happy Retirement Candy-Gram.
A friend of ours recently retired.
Instead of just a card, I thought it would be fun to do a Candy-Gram.
It is fun to pick out a bunch of candy bars and try to make them into a message.
Great fun for special birthdays and holidays.
And the best part is – it’s a card and gift all in one!
Happy Retirement Bob! We are so happy for you. Enjoy the candy and enjoy your free time!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Fluff Thumbprint Cookies.
These cookies!
Ooooooh these cookies!
Imagine…. a peanut butter crinkle cookie loaded with a scoopful of sweet, heavenly, gooey, magical Marshmallow Fluff so that you taste it in every peanut-buttery bite.
When I saw these cookies featured on Cara Wong’s Instagram feed, I knew I had to make them.
Cara is a sweet lady who lives in McKinney, Texas with her comical, coffee-loving husband and best friend Joseph. She loves to cook and bake almost as much as she loves her MeeMaw and Joseph.
I’ve become addicted to watching Cara’s daily adventures in search of the best coffee, burgers and meatloaf in town and daily experiments in baking and cooking. The milkshake-sipping and singing visits with MeeMaw, Cara’s beloved grandma who played such an important role in raising Cara (much like my own Grandma) just warm my heart. MeeMaw now lives in a memory care facility where Cara visits her regularly brightening both of their days almost as much as they do mine when they sing You are My Sunshine or Amazing Grace.
But I digress.
Back to these cookies… these glorious nuggets of amazing deliciousness….
These may be my new personal favorite ever.
They are just such a unique combination that I cannot imagine anyone not liking.
Cara took MeeMaw’s old-fashioned peanut butter crinkle recipe and decided to try marshmallow filling. She used Smuckers Marshmallow Topping (which I had never heard of). I used a jar of Marshmallow Fluff, which I just happened to have on hand (who knows why?), and they turned out absolutely amazing!
Here is the recipe, shared by Cara, which I adjusted only by subbing Marshmallow Fluff for the Marshmallow topping. I urge you to try these, and I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl. Add egg and vanilla extract, baking soda and salt. Mix until well combined. Add flour, and stir until well combined.
Roll dough into 1″ balls. Roll balls in granulated sugar to coat. Place on baking stone or ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for approximately 9 minutes, until just beginning to brown. Remove from oven, and use your thumb or a utensil to indent a “crater” for filling. Allow to cool.
Heat up Marshmallow Fluff 10 seconds at a time just until you can stir. No more than 20-30 seconds total. Fill centers with Marshmallow Fluff.
Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Essence of Daffodil in Watercolor – 11×14
Essence of Daffodil in Watercolor.
The daffodils in my yard are shooting up and on the verge of bursting open.
Spring is such an exciting time! It seems there is something new to see every day. Bright yellow daffodils will soon be the star of the show in our front yard leading the way for the forsythia and maple tree buds and leaves and the grass turning green.
Charlie is enjoying napping in the warm sunshine on the deck or in the grass instead of curling up in bed.
The birds are singing and the turkeys are gobbling.
What could be more enchanting and welcoming than the beginning of Spring?
Besides the turning of leaves in Autumn….
or the first snowfall in Winter….
or the first bare feet in the grass in Summer?
In honor of the daffodils, I painted this very loose and dreamy watercolor I call, “Essence of Daffodils.”
If you like it, the original, as well as prints and cards are available in our McKinneyX2Designs Etsy shop, and I’ve added it to our Society6 shop on pillows and other fun decor and accessories. If you are local, you can find our work at Berry Vine Gifts in BradfordWoods, PA.
Happy Daffodil Days!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Right before dawn from my back window. Mars, PA March, 2019
Right Before Dawn.
The trees stretch their branches
and wiggle their trunks
and spread their roots
right before dawn
as if to say,
“Wake up!
It’s a wonderful new day!”
I sip my coffee
and stretch my arms
and wiggle my toes
and gaze outside
wondering how I earned
this undeserved privilege
to be right here right now.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Spring Floral Fantasy Watercolor 11×14An Enthusiast in Life.
I LOVE this quote by Roald Dahl, and it sparked my enthusiasm to paint boldly and brightly and enthusiastically in watercolor recently.
“Listening to my father during those early years, I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good, either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”
Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald
I feel a bit out of practice as I’ve been doing other projects lately, but it was fun to splash watercolor again.
My daughter-in-law, Colleen and I are enthusiastically embracing a new project, which I’ll update you on as we go, but we are expanding our McKinneyX2Designs space at the local gift shop where we display our products, Berry Vine Gifts in Bradford Woods.
For today, however, I hope you will consider this quote, and enthusiastically embrace whatever YOU are passionate about!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Abundance.
Abundance to some
is about wealth and possessions.
A truly abundant life
is about love and joy and peace and contentment.
It is about knowing
We are enough.
We have enough.
We do enough.
It is about cherishing the moments
that ultimately add up to an abundant life.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
A Place to Just Be.
Seasons come and seasons go…
but as long as there is a safe place
we can call home,
whether it be a house
or simply a place
where we are with those we love,
we can weather any storm
or any season,
and be ourselves.
No questions asked,
nothing to prove.
A place to just be.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
This past week…
I gasped at the beauty of the early morning sunrise.
I cried about a brother who would never celebrate another birthday.
I shared overwhelming joy with a friend who became a grandma for the first time.
I shared deep grief with a friend whose mom is dying.
I celebrated life with the birthday of my longest, dearest friend.
I worried with a friend whose mother-in-law was in the hospital.
I laughed with a friend I chat with every morning on our way to work.
I discussed deep, important topics about relationships and next stages of life with people I love.
I played on the floor with two little girls who know me as Grandma and cheered first potty successes.
I was devastated to learn that friends got news they are going to lose their second child.
My heart was warmed by gratitude and comforted with love for my forever Valentine of 40 years.
This past week.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Foggy, Beautiful Ending to the Day – February, 2019 – Mars, PAA Beautiful Ending.
We may not be able to control or change
ugly things that happened to us –
especially in our childhood.
We can’t choose our beginning.
But we can decide to not be
defined or deflated or diminished by them,
and create our own beautiful life.
We can determine the ending.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
The Happiest Happy of All
I know we live in a world
that says do what makes you happy,
and I get that…
But the happiness you get
from making someone else happy
might just be the happiest happy of all.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
P.S. This photo is a section of a 3-foot tall piece of art I created for a special young lady who has a few of my other abstract pieces in her home and asked me to make another to complement them. I can’t wait to give it to her and then see how it looks in her home. I sure hope it makes her as happy as it made me creating it for her.
the creative life in between 