Fuschia, Mars, PA – June, 2019
This is your Time.
It is your life,
your decade,
your year,
your month.
It is your week,
your day,
your hour,
your moment.
Unfurl your beauty,
stretch your limits,
reach for greatness,
Blossom and bloom boldy!
This is your time.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Grandma’s Bleeding Heart – A Mother’s Day Flower
The Best Mother’s Day Gift.
When I was a young, extremely naive, stay-at-home mom
to two energetic and spirited little boys,
the perfect Mother’s Day “gift” would have been
an hour or two of peace and quiet all to myself to do whatever I pleased.
But now that I am an older, experienced, working-outside-the-home mom
to two amazing and independent young men,
and have gained two “daughters”
and a granddaughter too…
the perfect Mother’s Day “gift” has become
an hour or two of time together
to love and laugh and appreciate
the greatest gift of all…
The gift of
being a Mom!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
White Floral Abstract Watercolor 11×14 140lb Cold Press
Time to “Art”
It is the week following Christmas…
a time I once used to feel “let down.”
After all the busyness
of the weeks leading up to Christmas…
The checklists
and shopping lists.
The writing and signing…
The sealing and stamping and mailing.
The sifting and stirring…
The separating and straining and sugaring.
The ripping and wrapping…
The taping and twisting and tying.
The fluffing and folding…
The scrubbing and setting and shining.
It’s all so exciting
leading up to the celebrating!
But there is something special also
about the days “after” that I have truly come to appreciate.
I am fortunate to be able to take time off from work
the week between Christmas and New Year.
And this year is especially special
as I get to spend extra days with my granddaughter.
We are snuggling and tickling…
We are reading and singing and laughing.
We are napping and relaxing…
We are twirling and tumbling and kick-backin’.
And yesterday, during an especially long nap,
I had a chance to escape to my art room
for some much-needed “arting”
that I’ve been longing for.
I had no idea what I wanted to paint –
it’s been weeks since I’ve gifted myself with the time.
But it was as if the paper and water and paints
decided to give me a gift…
And this is what emerged…
A white floral abstract of sorts.
A celebration of time graciously granted
at “life in between.”
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Daniel Smith Watercolors: Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold.
A DIY Rainbow Clock.
My BFF Jill is an “all the colors of the rainbow” kinda gal.
She loves color – bright, bold colors.
So when I came across this idea on Pinterest for a colorful clock made out of a wooden plant stand, I knew this was the gift for her birthday this year.
I found this approximately 12″ diameter circular plant stand on line at Ikea for under $10! It came with wheels that could be attached so that you can use outdoors and move your plants around I suppose, but I just tucked the wheels away to save for some other use some day.
I simply divided the circle into 10 pie shapes from the center with a pencil and ruler and painted them with bright beautiful colors of indoor/outdoor grade acrylic paint I found at Walmart (Waverly Super-Premium Plaid).
I hit the whole thing with a spray of Krylon UV Resistant Clear Spray after the several layers of paint dried.
Then hubby came to the rescue to cut out a piece in the back and drill a hole in the center to add the battery-operated clock works.
And Voila! A fun rainbow bright colorful indoor-outdoor clock! It’s TIME to celebrate YOU Jill! Where has the TIME gone? I love our TIME together!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
sun dial and hydrangeas, conneaut lake, pa, october 2016
Time…
Can fly or crawl,
is free yet priceless,
is forever or an instant,
can be treasured or wasted.
Can be measured by clocks or by moments,
can be traveled in dreams or books,
can be stopped by a kiss or a look or a touch,
can be managed, but never recovered.
We all have the same
seconds in a minute,
minutes in an hour,
hours in a day.
But none of us know
how many days
or hours or seconds
we will have.
Cherish the moments
not measured by clocks
or sundials or calendars
or schedules.
Cherish the moments well spent
with people you love,
or with yourself,
doing the things you love.
Cherish all the moments…
every single moment…
at life…
in between.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Once upon a time… (isn’t that how all fairy tales begin?)
there was a young woman
whose dreams came true
when she was blessed with the gift
of two sweet boys
two years apart.
The young mom lived next
to another young mom
who had a boy and two girls
a few years older.
The one little girl
came to visit quite often.
She loved the other mom’s babies,
and the mom loved the little girl.
Her name was Stefanie,
but the boys could not say that,
so she became “Bunny”
forever and always.
Time and distance
have a way of dividing
people and lives
even those that are special.
But time and distance
can also be overcome
like it was this past weekend
for that mom and sweet “Bunny”
when the news of another
baby brought them together.
Some special relationships
are simply meant to be
like the mom who will now
soon be a grandmother
and the little girl who now
is the best momma to her own
two sweet boys
two years apart.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
This post is dedicated and written in love to a very special young lady and mom, Stefanie (“Bunny”). Thank you for reaching out. Thank you for sharing your time and your heart and your little loves. You are my hero, sweet Momma. Keep doing it right! ❤
“How to stop time… kiss.
How to travel in time… read.
How to escape time… music.
How to feel time… write.
How to release time… breathe.”
–Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive
Time
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
I don’t know about you? But I’m all screwed up….
In our part of the world, we switched time.
Yep – just like that, we are supposed to change the clocks – Fall Back, Spring Ahead – Daylight Savings Time – on – off – and just adjust….
But the challenging part is – the older I get – the harder it is to adjust to the time change.
For days weeks, I will say, but it is really XX time, even thought it is XX time. SERIOUSLY! Can an hour really do this to a brain?
Yep.
But I digress…
The topic of this blog was supposed to be what can we do with that extra hour….
and…. it was supposed to be posted on Sunday – the day we got that extra hour.
But – hey – whatever – I had other stories to tell and recipes to share, and I’m just getting to this….
(I have a card I am DYING to share, but holding off until tomorrow because I am worried you will grow weary of my silly cards – even though I am super-excited to share this one (for the Paper Players Vintage challenge 🙂 )
Sunday gave us an extra hour.
What did you do with it?
I stacked firewood. And I’m proud to tell it.
Very exciting -right??!!
Well – it was a beautiful day – and who knows what I was doing?… Oh I remember – cleaning off the porches/deck for the upcoming winter season 😦 …
Marty and Nick were cutting and chopping and stacking firewood so that we can keep warm, wonderful fires burning all winter long in the fireplace to keep us toasty. (As I wear t-shirts through this lovely menopausal period of life!)
I decided to help. I heaved and hoed and bent and snapped — anybody get the reference here??!! 🙂 — and tossed and stacked like the best of them.
And it felt good! Then….
Legs are a bit sore two days later. WIMP!
But I helped (for a change) my guys with the “physical” work that gets done around here; and it felt good, and it was nice to be a part of it.
What did you do with your extra hour? What would you do if you had one?
I spent it with a couple guys I so greatly appreciate and love even more!
Thanks for all the hard work you do to keep our home warm and comfortable and cozy, my dear Merv and my sweet Nick!
Cheers & Warm, Toasty Hugs,
(while I turn up the ceiling fan!)
Jodi
the creative life in between 