Attempting a comeback

Wow.  That break took a lot longer than I expected.

I'm glad to type that I'm going to try and not take such long breaks in the future.

I wanted to come back sooner, but for a long while there, I was not in the best of moods and I didn't want that to come through in my blog.  I know there are blogs out there that put everything out in the open and that's fine for them.  It's just not how I want my blog to be.  I don't want anyone out there to think I'm perfect or anything.  I just want this blog to be about things that are on the brighter side of life.

And speaking of the brighter side of life.

I got a new job!

I had been praying for a VERY long time.  Like, since 2007, for God to open a window, door, anything to get me out of where I was.

Don't get me wrong.  I loved the majority of my customers, but I knew I wasn't where I needed to be.  And the atmosphere had been going downhill for a while.  It got to where I hated to be there.  I did my job, but when you're not doing your job with joy, you're not giving it your all.  Going through the motions is what I use to describe it.

Of course, I had my doubts about leaving.  I had been there almost 8yrs and even though I wasn't happy, it's hard to leave something so familiar.  I got my confirmation that I was doing the right thing my last day there.

Now, I have a job with the state.  I love all my coworkers and my supervisor.  There's a lot of training I have to go through, but I'm really excited about it.  It's just awesome to say that I love my job and I'm excited to get up and go to work every day.  Even though right now, I'm just reading the manuals and about to begin online training.

I know I've said that happiness is fleeting but as long as you have Jesus in your heart, you will always have joy.  It was hard to find my joy with the old job and happiness was certainly never there.  It's amazing when God answers your prayers and gives you joy and happiness.

Things are good on the home front.  Christen has just a a little over a month until she graduates from high school.  Wowza...  I can't believe it.

She officially signed with her college choice.  And my friend Amy Goins made her an awesome cake to help celebrate.





We ALL survived her first Spring Break trip without parental supervision.  It helped that the two friends she went with are really awesome girls.



Her team was like thisclose to winning their Region (which, I believe they should have won b/c they beat the team in regulation time while it took OT and PKs for them to beat us, but no asked me) but they are still able to host their first State Playoff game.  You gotta love soccer!





Jon is still loving his Star Wars stuff and getting really healthy.

Our boxer babies are still adorable and still love getting into trouble.





So to recap:

left a horrible place, started a great job, Christen closer to graduation and state playoffs, Jon still loving Star Wars and Brandi & Beckham still adorable.

I will be checking on all you awesome bloggers soon.  I hope you all haven't forgotten about me.  :)

InstaFriday!!

First things first, if you haven’t already, go enter my giveaway HERE!!  

I know you want to, it's a whole prize pack of Valentiney stuff...

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Okay, your back now?  Awesome!

I'm linking up with Jeanette from Life Rearranged again to share my moments of the week via iPhone pics.  I'd love if you linked up too!  They can be from any kind of cell phone, just as long as they are cell phone pics.

And here's a look into my week!



Brandi girl can give the funniest looks.  I can't remember what kind of commotion was going on down the hall, but it sure surprised her.

This one of the tshirts I made to wear at Christen's soccer games this season.  I made one for me, Jon and my Mom.  I'm going to make one for my grandmother too, and my MIL, but I need more tshirts.  Of course, I used my silhouette cameo to make the heat transfer!  LOVE IT!!

We got the email Thursday that her official "signing" papers have been mailed out for her to sign for college.  Ugh.  I'm so happy for her, but I can't lie, I teared up and I'm tearing up now thinking of it.



My Beckham boy is SO proper!!  Crossing his paws while he drools on my shoes.  Classic.



They are NOT allowed in the kitchen...

when Jon is around.



On our way to church, my niece Jessica pointed out the sunset and stated: "Aunt Jodi, I know you want to take a picture! You take a picture of EVERYTHING!"

the kid has a great eye!  When we turned up the road, it looked as if we were headed straight into a fire.



"Hello, my name is Brandi and I'm very needy.  Put down your book and love me.  You can't resist the cuteness."

I'm ALMOST DONE with my 21lbs in 21 days book!!  I got my juicer the other day and my friend who introduced me to the detox is getting up a list of sources where I can purchase my supplements.  I'm excited and scare to do this, but I'm praying this will help me feel better! :)



The detox tells you to drink lots of green tea.  I.hate.tea.  (I know, I hate tea, seafood, and getting dirty.  my southern card will be revoked I'm afraid)

But I figured I better get started and try some different flavors.

I was hoping putting my tea in a Christmasy mug would help me.  I can't believe it, but I actually liked the tea.  As in, when I was done, I wanted more.  SCORE!  I like green tea.  Yay me!

This one really doesn't need much comment other than: mmmmmm....baaaconnnn

Jon got his day blades for his light saber.  The doggies approve.  Do you see the blur that is Beckham??

Brandi is the queen of sneaking onto your lap and then using your lap as her pillow.

How cute are these two!?!?  I'm gonna miss that face there on the right this coming up fall.

Alrighty!  I really hope you go and enter my giveaway if you haven't already.

And check out the linky parties too!  Have a great weekend!!

I'm also linking up with these awesome linky parties!

InstaFriday & The Giveaway is Upon Us!

It's Friday!!  You know what that means!!

Well, first, it's the weekend.  Yay!

and second, The Valentine's Crafty Prize Pack Giveaway has started!!!  I will try and announce the winner no later than Monday, January 30th.  (but I may be able to announce the winner during that weekend)  So, CLICK HERE TO ENTER.  Please!  You'll be glad you did.  :)

And last, but not least...  it's InstaFriday time!  Time to share my mobile photos of the week.  I'm linking up with Jeanette at Life Rearranged and some other cool ladies you'll see at the end of the post.

I hope you link up too and let me know you did!  I want to see your week via mobile photos!

All my photos were taken on my iPhone and all but one was filtered through Instagram (I'm underthegeorgiasun, come find me!).

Enjoy!



Beckham is such a cuddle-bug.  He really is happiest when he literally right on top of you.



Jon finally got his cards!  He's famous now ya know.  B/c you have to be famous to be on a bubble gum card.  ;)

As most of you know, Jon LOVES Star Wars.  He's part of a group called "The Dark Empire".  Their mission statement is below.

And even though it's not my cup of tea, it makes Jon happy, so that's cool.

Jon even makes pretty much all of his costume.  He commissioned the leather work, but it was still done locally and by hand.  And you see his light saber?  He made that.  Not the light part, but the handle part.  And he's making another one too.



If you click above on the picture, it will take you to their website.



Christen is in love with crab rolls.  So much so, she'll go and purchase them.  I can't stand sea food and Jon really doesn't need to eat all that rice, so she's pretty much been on her own when she wants some.  Until now.  Jessica ate sushi for the first time eva!  And....



She liked it...  she really liked it.

So now Christen has someone to go on sushi runs with.



GA basketball started this past Friday night.  So now we finally got Jessica's basketball hoop up for her to practice when she comes over.  It only took us 3yrs!



ONE of Jon's crock pots full of chili!  He was given some bison and elk meat and decided to make chili.  He added some italian sausage too.  I hear it was good.  I don't eat chili, so I have to take their word for it.



I just love how his ears look here.  He also looks tiny and not like his monsta' self.



This was my view when I pulled onto my street after work one day this week.  It was like I was being welcomed home.  Love it



She makes the funniest faces.



I do believe you can still download this song for free on KLove.  I LOVE this song!!  I wrote about it yesterday.



I made home made spaghetti this week.  I have to have LOTS of garlic.  And believe it or not, this really wasn't enough.  My phone still smells like garlic.  and I love it!



Yes, I mix raw spinach in with my spaghetti...  it's really good, you should try it.



I love it when my cousin Cam comes over.  And so does Beckham.  Cam let Beckham chew on his blanket, I tried to stop it each time but finally gave up and just took a picture.



Oh my gosh dude!  Knuckle deep!  Haha.  How could you not love that face!!!



I love this picture.  Brandi and Christen just turned to look at Beckham at the same and he gave this look like: "What did I do??"



Church Youth basketball started Thursday night.  They always make me nervous.  The games can get pretty intense believe it or not.  But this game was really good. Not many fouls were called and Christen got 6 out of the 19pts they scored.  Oh, and our girls won!  Good day for sure.



Christen on the right her BFF Becca on the left during half time.  Love these girls.

Don't forget to CLICK HERE for the Valentine's Crafty Prize Pack Giveaway!!

Now, go see all other awesome photos:


I'm also linking with:

Diabetic Tacos & Homecoming

Jon found out the other day that he has developed diabetes.  Sorry Jon. 

He doesn't want me writing/talking too much about it. 

The good thing is, he's keeping everything under control with his diet now. 

We are trying to figure out how to eat right without compromising taste. 

We LOVE taco night at our house.  And we didn't want to give it up.  I had no clue the taco seasoning you buy in the packet is not diabetic friendly, but it's not.  Too many carbs. 

So Jon went online and found a recipe to make our own taco seasoning. 

Then I had to find it again when we went to buy the spices. 

We did a little tweaking to the recipe we found though.  The recipe we found online called for flour and splenda.  We left out the flour (still too many carbs) and the splenda (sorry, but that stuff is nasty). 

We doubled the seasoning recipe since we cooked 2lbs of meat.  I normally use the lean ground beef, but this time we used 1lb of lean ground beef and 1lb of ground turkey. 

Other than the fat free sour cream and the low carb soft tacos, we really didn't change our toppings.  Jon just had to measure out the cheese and taco sauce.  We did add baby spinach leaves and next time, I want to add tomatos. 

Sorry for not getting pictures of our actual tacos, but I was starving by the time we got them fixed.  No time for picture takin'! 

We had to wait a little while to check his sugar.  If it was too high, we would have to find another way to have taco night.  If it was normal, we had held onto taco night!

I must say, I loved making our own seasoning and it tasted WAY better than any packet I've ever used.  Not adding the splenda and the flour really let the spices kick, which is what I like.  So I was REALLY hoping for a good sugar report. 

He checked his sugar and it was like 95!  Wooohoooo!  So now, taco night is back on!

Checkout my other blog for all the Homecoming Pictures.  It's Christen last high school homecoming.