Dance into 2012!

"Your time is limited, don't waste it living someone else's life.  Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other peoples thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

                          -Steve Jobs

************

My heart was full as my kids were home for the week.  There is a beautiful energy in the house with them here.  Its the heartbeat of a family. A rhythm of voices, laughter, teasing and my oldest son playing his guitar. It fills us overflowing with gratitude and joy.


Today the house is quiet and I'm picking up the leftovers of a wonderful week.  Things that would have bothered me years ago, but I savor now. Paper scattered on the bedroom floors, a stray sock left behind, empty dishes on the nightstand. They are remnants of the people I love and hold so dear. My children, my family.


So...now I'm a little teary. (and still in my Pj's at noon, by the way) I'm looking forward to helping Jeff put up the tile back splash today. Then we are meeting up with our dear friends for a movie out and appetizers.  It won't be a late night for us.  All the family time this week has left us a little worn out (in a good way!)


As each of our children bring in 2012 in their own special way, I pray that God will watch over and protect them, tonight and every night. I pray that God will guide their hearts to be all that He has created them to be, the courage to change what they can, trust in God to be beside them when they can't, and learn to celebrate the process!  


I pray for you too, my friends, that your new year brings joyful fresh starts. That you will take each moment and opportunity and dance with it. Take the lead and dance!


xoxoxo
Jodi

Happy New Years Everyone!

Please be safe, and don't drink & drive.  

Dear Santa....and a Mothers Love

Christmas Eve!

It has been a quiet, relaxing day at the Green House.

We are breaking the fondue tradition

and having pizza for dinner.

While watching "Its a Wonderful Life".

Then, its off to 

Christmas Eve Service at our church.

That is my favorite part of the evening...

I have written about my dad

many times on my blog. 

But I have not shared much about my mom.

I talked about her last Spring when 

I visited for my step fathers heart surgery.

As an Air Force "brat",

we moved A LOT.  About every 2 years.

Luckily, most of the time we were settled during the

Christmas Season.

One thing I know is that my mom ALWAYS made Christmas

special no matter where we were.

When I was about 5 years old

we lived in a single wide trailer in Wisconsin.

The snow was as high as our trailer it seemed.

That year I was very worried about Santa finding his way to our

little white trailer in the snow.

Here is a "word for word" letter (said by me, written by my mom)

on December 15, 1971

Dear Santa,

My name is Jodi and I'm 5.  I've been good. Can I have a Crissy doll please and a Baby Tender Love and a record player and and electric tooth brush and a sled please.  And my name is Jodi and I live in a trailer in Wisconsin. It's a whole bunch of white and a little bit of green. Daddy has a new car with a little black roof and shiny yellow.  You can get a sandwich and a beer when you get here. And milk too. Don't no little kids be naughty! Bring ma ma a beautiful dress with Christmas trees on it and get daddy some bafume that smells really good. That's all.

God Bless you!  From Jodi

Funny, huh?  

Makes me think of the movie "Christmas Vacation" with

Uncle Eddie. Remember? ha ha

The following year, my sister and I awoke to

the most amazing sight.

We had an entire village of "Little People"...the house, farm, schoolhouse.

New babies in in their cradles, and a Daisy BB Gun for me.

I will never forget that morning.

My dad had been gone over seas for a year and he was home.

It was more than we could ever imagined.

When I was 11, we had a foster sister

named Rosemary that lived with us. She came

from an awful home situation. My dad made cradles for her and my little sister. 

Mom made blankets for their baby dolls.

Rosemary cried because she had never had a Christmas like that.

She was adopted by a family in Seattle soon after.

I would love to find her someday.

That next year we moved from Washington

to Minnesota.  Everything we owned was in storage and we had to live

in a huge, scary, lodge know as  temporary housing.

We were the only family there during Christmas.

We went sledding down the huge hill behind the lodge, went to the club

for dinner, and I played my 45's on the record player all day.

With everything in storage, my mom made all our ornaments

for the little tree we had that year.

I still have several of the felt and sequenced ornaments.

They survived many more moves, a divorce, and being passed around for a few years.

They are some of my favorites.

A reminder of a mothers love in every stitch.

When I was 14, we moved to Phoenix

during December.

Again, we found ourselves in a temporary housing situation.

It's like living in a hotel room.

The temperature was hot.

Not at all like any Christmas we'd shared before.

One late night, a few days before Christmas,

 I saw a glow between the cracks of the bathroom door.

I snuck over and peeked inside.

There was my mom, sitting on the toilet seat, with a stocking in her hand.

She was sewing embellishments on two hand made stockings for my sister and I.

With all our belongings in storage,

she HAND made us stockings.

I have often wondered if I would do the same.

Take the time at the end of a long day to create a hand made stocking.

I love my children, but I think I would

go out an buy one instead.

I cherished that stocking for a long time.

It found its demise on my 2nd Christmas with my husband.

Our black lab puppy decided he wanted the

chocolate, and ate through the toe!

He did not care about the loving stitch work.

 I couldn't fix it. I cried.

Many Christmas mornings have come and gone since then.

Some years we have had much, and others we barely scraped by.

But one thing remains constant.

Love

May Jesus' love be the thread holding together the embellishments of your life.

God Bless you this Christmas and always.

xoxox

Jodi

UPDATE:  We love our church located in Silverdale, WA
The staff created this video as part of a beautiful Christmas service.
They always incorporate laughter into the services.
I love that.  Enjoy!

Silver Bells....Silverdale version

Easy Breezy Almond Roca! Simple gift giving...

Now that our kitchen is functional again,

can I get a *woooo hoooo*,

we have been baking!

One of my sons absolute favorites is this

Easy (with a Capital E!!)

Almond Roca Recipe

I have a batch cooling right now for him to take

up to Mt. Baker to go snowboarding.

EASY Almond Roca Recipe

1 Cup Salted Butter (2 Sticks)

1 Cup granulated Sugar

2 TBS water

Melt butter in medium sauce pan,

Stir in sugar and water

and bring to a rolling boil.

Add 1 Cup Chopped (or sliced) roasted Almonds

Stir occasionally.

Cook until it looks and SMELLS burnt.

It will be a medium brown color.

(don't panic, I undercooked this the first couple times because I was worried it was burnt)

If its undercooked, it will be chewy.

Pour onto foil or parchment paper 

(I like to line my cookie sheet, and pour into that)

Sprinkle with milk chocolate chips while still hot.

When they start to melt

use a spoon to spread the chocolate like frosting.

Sprinkle the top with more almonds.

Let cool completely and break apart.

Sometimes I will put it in the freezer to speed up the process.

Makes a great (delicious AND easy) gift!

I also found this Chocolate Covered Peanut recipe over

at Southern Hospitality!

Its also super easy and done in a crock pot!

I have mine going right now,

I cant wait to try it out.

I know! A Crock Pot! 

Awesome.

Counter! and Story of the Day #1

Hi Friends!

Hey, anyone else still shopping?  I'm running about 3 weeks behind this year.  I'm not worried though, it always works out just as it should.  We were determined to get most of the remodel tools, paints, trims, etc. out of the living and dining room BEFORE we put up the tree and bring out the Santa Collection.  We succeeded...except for one little corner...and I'm ok with that!

One of the delays we faced was the large butcher block counter top from Ikea.  We waited about 5 or 6 weeks for this sucker.   I thought for sure we would be serving Christmas dinner on a piece of plywood.  Last Monday I was visiting with a friend in the dining room and Jeff came flying in the front door  "It's here!!  I called and they will hold it for 2 hours... " he exclaimed on his way to change out of his uniform into real world clothes. My friend left rather abruptly (sorry Susan) and we dashed out the door to our "local" Ikea. Its about 1 1/2 hours away.  Does anyone else feel like a hamster in a habi-trail while trying to find something in that store???  Just give me a wheel.  Anyhow, we finally found the kitchen area and we got the LAST one...yes, the LAST one, and that was because we had it on hold.  I could've kissed the sales lady.  We went in circles dashed over to to checkout and paid for it.  With the receipt stapled to the pick up slip, we headed back in to look at a few other fun things.  About 25 minutes into "browsing", Jeff realized he was no longer holding that paper between his cute little fingers.  His face went white...and the backtracking started.  We can't find our way around while browsing...how in the world will we back track?  It was an adventure.  We stopped, prayed a prayer of desperation to a loving God, and I walked up to a sales lady.  While I explained what happend, a woman standing about 4 feet away says "I just set a piece of paper on top of those clips...over there".  I think she was an angel...because in that sea of a store, it WAS the receipt.  We wouldn't have been able to pick up the counter top without it!  Not wanting to take any more chances, we were outta there licketysplit.

Today Jeff is doing his baking marathon, so its not all pretty and staged for pictures.  But I think I have made you all wait long enough.  After Christmas, and we get the last details finished I will take beauty shots, okay? OK.

Countertop right out of the box. VERY heavy! See the sink on the floor? And the to do list....

Snickerdoodles, Swedish Rye Bread and some vintage tins.

New counter in Laundry room/Pantry.  I refinished a large dresser to hold platters, and table clothes.

We still need to do the the subway tile back splash above the counters.

Laundry side of the laundry/pantry.  Smokey is enjoying his eating station too.

Baking area. This is where the door was into the hallway.  I still need to change the knobs to the pulls. 

He is enjoying the (small) baking center that we created.  Its all organized and perfect for us.  Again, he is baking and I do not want to mess up his laboratory. The kitchen/dining area get sun all day long (as you can see in the glare and on the microwave) and at this time of day (late afternoon) the sun hits the Puget Sound and Olympic mountains in a lovely glow. It's so peaceful.

 ********

Ok, so I am going to start a series, kindof, I guess that's what it would be called.  When I was in High School it seemed I always had some silly story to share.  After awhile my friends started calling it my "Story of the day".  I do love to tell stories.  However, I would not want to bore you to death with a story EVERY day.  But as things happen...as they usually do.... and if its blog appropriate (some of you may have noticed a few posts "missing"...deleted.  Just a little too much information. Or as my husband says "It's YOUR blog, but do you REALLY want to tell everyone about THAT?" Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. My blog, my rules *wink*)

*********

So to start...THIS is  STORY of the DAY #1

I have spent the past several weeks cleaning out attic space, drawers, closets, etc.  I am on a cleaning frenzy.  I separated items to "donate", "take to booth", and "dump".  On Tuesday I filled the truck cab with several boxes, and a giant boob tube TV.  As I started the truck I heard a farting sound. HUH?

I looked around to make sure my husband wasn't nearby playing a joke on me.  Nope.
"rrrrriiiiip" I heard it again.  The long, squeaky kind.  Hmmm.

Then I remembered that while cleaning out the attic, I found the old "fart machine" that my husband boys loved. They had more fun playing pranks on innocent by standers and guests than should be allowed.  I was a prime target, and the butt (ha ha get it?) of many of their little jokes.  They loved to tell me that the machine farts sound JUST like mine.  Thanks boys.

I thought about keeping it for about 2 seconds, but the remote was MIA and enough was enough...its outta here.  It sat in a box in the house for a week with not so much as a sputter.  But here I am sitting in the truck all alone with a fart machine that will NOT stop farting!!  With no remote nearby...   surely it will stop any second.  I started laughing and I could not stop. Hmmm, they really DO sound like mine.

A few miles down the road, my mind begins to wander to other things and the farting simply becomes background noise....until I pull into the pharmacy drive thru to pick up my prescription.  As the young man in the pharmacy window turns on the speaker and asks me how he can help me....
"rrrriiiip, rrrooooar, squirt (I dont know how to write the sound of a wet one???)"
He gives me a really strange look.
"Umm, hi, yes, I'm here to pick up my (rrrriiiip) prescription. My name is..."
At this point do I explain the whole thing or just look like a lady with a serious case of indigestion.  Should I ask to throw in some Rolaids?  I decide to play dumb.  Fart? What fart?  I pay for my prescription and drive away.

By now, I am laughing hysterically...to myself...
I decide to call my daughter in Pennsylvania.  She is at work.
"Hello, Janelle?" "Do you hear this?" ( I hold the phone to the backseat)
"Yea mom, is THAT you?  I'm at work you know"
"I know, but I HAD to tell someone..."  I go on to tell her the whole story. We laughed until we had tears.  Real tears.
"Only you, mom! Only you!"
We hang up.

Next stop...Goodwill.
I rush to the side door and explain before opening it. The young guys couldn't get to it fast enough.  "This will be GREAT to do pranks at work!!!"  They were so excited.

I went home and told my husband the story.  He laughed, but only after he got over the initial disappointment of  "Aww, man, I've been looking for that!"

Boys.

Closing Shop!

Yep,

you read that right.

Its been a hard decision,

but I am closing up my booth at the

Poulsbo Antique Mall

January 31st.

I still LOVE collecting and

will open another space

at some point,

BUT

FOR NOW...

the monthly cost is too much.

Business is VERY slow.

and I live too

far from the store to keep it at 

the caliber I envision.

So,

Stop by next week.

I am bringing in several new things.

Some of which are NOT refinished or refurbished.

The prices will reflect that.

Thank you to those who have supported

and encouraged me.

I will be back!

Bigger and better....one day.

The blog stays....I LOVE writing!!!

I LOVE you!