Yes sir I'm cut from a different cloth

We're not the best chinchilla babysitters...

You better watch out...

Ain't nobody who can comfort me

Upon handing her medications to her with my left hand one of my girls said: Where's your ring? Aren't you married?
Me: No...
She: I thought you were married! 
Me: No dear I am very, very single.
She: Well you should be married. I thought you were married! You look like someone who should be married!

Greetings loved ones...

I am wearing a (thin) cardigan and I'm not hot! Few things could make me happier. I have a sudden urge to bake pumpkin flavored things. Bring on the fall.

I open my eyes

I can't decide which is worse...

Sunday's horrible dream

OR

Monday's fantastic dream that isn't happening.

Thoughts?

If I was a blade I'd shave you smooth

I know you came to the internet today hoping to see a picture of my foot. I'm happy to provide one.

Tiny bubbles

Maybe it's only funny to me.


Girl: Jodi! What do you do when you don't have any clean underwear?
Me:...laundry?

It's all uncharted

 So, once upon a  time I made a list of 26 things I wanted to do this year. How about an update?

1. Read the Book of Mormon - I still need to work on this. Oops.
2. Do that one thing in that one place - Done! Quite pleased with this one. It deserves a separate post.
3. Redesign the blog - Done. I'm not terribly thrilled with the results but I also don't really care that much.
4. Sew at least 4 items of clothing - Yeah, I should start on that. Maybe some fall skirts?
5. Have my entire room completely clean at the same time - I'm counting those three days in March when I cleaned for my mom and sister's visit.
6. Bake 104 things - Oh boy. Yeah, I started out strong on this but then certain things (people) distracted me. This won't be happening.
7. Take 4 hobby related classes - One down, three to go.
8. Take more pictures - This was a vague goal. Maybe I'm doing it?
9. Meet Kyle Beckerman - Still working on this one. Please let this happen.
10. Become a tourist in my own state - Slowly doing this. Not enough to call it good.
11. Host a party a month - Nope. Also not happening.
12. Learn to run - I sure think about this a lot. It can still happen.
13. Find a third lantern for that one corner in my room - Still looking.
14. Blog 10x a month - Ha.
15. Go camping - I'm making this happen in September.
16. Read one book per month - I would have to actually count but I think I'm close. Especially if I get to just count the total of books read instead of the month in which I read them.
17. Index 6,000 names - 350 down, 5650 to go. I actually feel okay about this one still considering I did all 350 of those names yesterday afternoon.
18. Sell something at the farmers market - Not yet.
19. Visit a new state - Not yet.
20. Make handmade lemonade - Not yet.
21. Check out Timp cave - Not yet. I should have gone with the girls last week.
22. Attend 5 concerts - Almost! I just counted four and I have several more lined up.
23. Spend at least a day working with Habitat for Humanity - Not yet.
24. Go to the Salt Flats - Nope
25. Go to another roller derby - Not yet. Soon?
26. Let my family know how much I love them - I don't know how to measure this. Maybe?

In summary, I haven't done much. The interesting thing to me is the things that have happened so far this year that I would have never imagined. I've learned so much and much of that learning has happened the hard way. That's all I have to say about that for now.

Make a brand new sound

Today I'm grateful for beautiful canyons, beautiful weather and a day off. Plus a wonderful friend who suggested we utilize all of those things to have a leisurely afternoon of reading in the shade. Hooray for summer.

Woke up with a new tattoo...

I would like to introduce you to someone special in my life. I'm kind of obsessed even after 3 years.

It's time to say goodbye to turning tables

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming." -Goethe



I am the decisive element.

I think I wanna marry you

Last night I had a dream wherein my wedding reception was held in a gas station that the groom's parents  owned. We had it there because his parents thought everyone would enjoy picking out their "refreshments". Our receiving line was in front of the beer cooler because hey! we're Mormon so no one needed in there. I had no idea who the groom was.

Last weekend was my coworker's wedding reception. This weekend was 2 days of wedding celebration for my favorite cousin. Two of my roommates are engaged. I'm the maid of honor for a set of friends who are getting married in April. Several other friends are planning weddings all around me.  I'm quite happy for everyone but if I keep having weird wedding dreams that happiness might fade pretty quickly.

Be careful what you do, don't go around breaking young girls' hearts

If you follow college basketball at all you know who Jimmer Fredette is.
If you read my blog at all you know that I fall hard for aliens.
What you don't yet know is how these two things are related and why BYU owes me a thank you letter.
 To enlighten you I would like to share a song written and performed by one of my work girls. (The homeless one for those who know.)

Havier is Not My Lover

Jimmer was a man

Wha was well loved in this town

He had a fancy car and he would drive it around

Jimmer was a star - a star in Basketball

Seemingly the man, yeah he seemed to have it all

But Jimmer actually had a secret that was bad

it was so crazy-mad

the secret that he had

OH! Jimmer is in love with Jodi Leynse.

He's an alien in disguise

Jimmer's in love with Jodi Leynse

His whole life is full of lies

Havier is not my lover!

It's really Jimmer, yeah.

Havier is not my lover!

It's really Jimmer, yeah.

People, this song is GOOD.

Cooking raw with the Brooklyn boy

So, I went on the work snow mobile trip again this year and learned a very important lesson that I wish to impart to any soul so lucky as to read this blog. May my experience be a lesson to all.

Ahem.

If you happen to embark on a weekend trip to a cabin surrounded by at least four feet of snow and then upon entering your cabin find that in a basement window well two skunks have become stuck by said snow I plead with you to follow your initial instinct to call animal services. By all means do not send two clients and an intern to dig out the snow, remove the grate and place a board to act as a ramp from the window well to save the skunks. This will undoubtedly anger the skunks because they lack the higher brain functioning that would allow them to know you are there to help and not harm them. Even if the skunks do not spray your clients and the intern they WILL still spray. You will then realize just how non-airtight the window wells of older cabins are as every item you brought with you will soak in the stench despite locating your belongings as far away in the cabin as it is physically possible to locate them. This might induce headaches, fuzzy thinking or at least a strong desire to ultimate punch every skunk in the world. In any case it is helpful to note that the laundromat by Cafe Rio has free dryers until 3pm because you will want to wash out your sleeping bags. And your pillow. And anything else remotely porous*.

You are welcome.


*You will be surprised to find out how many of your belongings are porous.

A kick in the teeth is good for some

This is an old picture from last season but I would appreciate if you noticed that #5, Kyle Beckerman, is not wearing any shin guards. One of the many reasons he's so dreamy and meeting him is on my list of things to do this year. I love Real Salt Lake. My dear friend Dirrty, author of this blog, bought season tickets and I'm planning on tagging along quite often. I can't wait for the season to begin!

#2 - Vanilla Cupcakes with Pear Frosting

Here we see #2 of 104 bakings I will attempt this year. Yes I know bakings isn't a word but I really think it should be.
These are vanilla cupcakes with pear frosting. Not much to say about these, they're just simple and delightful. It was my first time using flavored oils in a frosting. The label said the oils were quite strong so I went pretty easy and probably could have used a little more.

The blue shell is coming so I'll go ahead

You can tell it's Friday because the two things I came here to post are both of questionable quality.

First? One of the best texts (I feel) I've ever written.

After a friend suggests I call in sick to work to watch a movie I respond:
"I wish I could but since my people have turned what was a mere creek of trouble into a full blown river of feces I, as supervisor, get to captain our paddle-less vessel tonight."

Perhaps it was funny to me since a certain Garth Brooks song popped into my head? I don't know. Clearly I'm looking forward to work tonight.

Secondly I have this video to share with you. It's a thing of beauty.

#1 - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Well, I've started. Saying I would bake 104 things this year has both seemed like a daunting challenge and then a underachieving goal. I realize that I'm crazy. Once I started trying to choose what to actually begin baking for my goal so many things looked good. So many that I thought I was going to end up baking 4 things last weekend. Luckily for my behind I only ended up baking two things, the first of which was this pineapple upside down cake. I was especially excited because I got to use several of my Christmas gifts in the process. (Look mom! They're not just gathering dust!)

Anyway, about the cake. I used a recipe from one of my favorite Food Network dudes, Alton Brown. It was tasty but the very center of the side without pineapple was kinda dry but apparently not dry enough to keep my coworkers from scarfing it down. Another plus? My apartment smelled like the caramelized dark brown sugar for a few days.


Mmmm.
Would I bake it again? Sure, but I would make a few adjustments so it isn't so dry on the cake side.

I’ve got a rocket, you’re going on it

Dear Seven People Who Read my Blog,

I have a special treat for you today! I would like to present to you a story written by one of my girls, typos included. Consider yourself lucky.

Love,
Jodi

 

The Ultimate Space Search

There were three girls named Jodi, Brittany and Rachel. They were about to go off in the ultimate space search for the ultimate burrito. Finally, the day came and they blasted off. Brittany and Rachel were very excited and ready to explore looking for ingredients. Jodi on the other hand had more on her mind. She was growing old and was ready to settle down and make mini-mormons.

"Oh well, " she thought, "how could I manage a relationship wile in search for the ultimate burrito?"

She decided to not tell her BFF's, Brittany and Rachel, because she didn't want them distracted. First, they blasted out of the galaxy and headed for a yellowish planet to the right. They arrived to the planet and discovered it was full of Jewish chinchillas. They headed toward the main one who was sitting on a throne.

"Squeak, squeakers," he spoke.

"Oh no!" said Rachel, "we don't speak chinchilla!"

"I do! Don't worry, I'll translate," said Brittany. Brittany chit-chatted a bit with the king chinchilla and discovered his name was Joseph Smith. Brittany discovered that they make a special cheese on the planet. Eager to find it she scurried after Smith who wanted to give her a tour. Brittany first told Rachel and Jodi to just entertain themselves. As soon as they were alone an English speaking chinchilla came up to them and said, "You've fell into our trap," and whistled. Rachel and Jodi got very scared, and before they knew it they were surrounded by chinchillas. They started to attack and repeated the phrase "all hail Sean Kingston".

"This is so un-Mormon" Jodi yelled as she flung a chinchilla off her leg.

"Mormon? We aren't Mormon. Were wicken and obey our leader Sean Kingston!" Suddenly a blue space ship swung down and grabbed Rachel and Jodi. To there suprise Brittany was in there too sitting with two large blue aliens!

"Those chinchillas were evil! Thank God were saved, Oh! This is Havier and Cliff," said Brittany. Brittany had already explained there situation to Havier and Cliff. They had told her no one had ever survived the search for the ultimate burrito. Jodi found Cliff, and Havier especially attractive. She didn't know why but she kept finding herself strangely staring at Haviers beauty. He finally asked to give her a tour of the ship. Jodi nodded yes.

"Jodi," Havier said as they waslked off, "You are such an amazing Mormon! You're always showing you're inner Mormon. I love you!"

"Oh Havier! We need to have you come back to Utah, I love you too!" yelled Jodi.

They ran back to tell Cliff, Brittany and Rachel of there plans and headed back to earth. The girls got there old jobs back, and Havier became 4^th staff. A few months passed and Jodi and Havier got married. They had found true Mormon love and lived happily ever after.

 

Later I'll delight you with a picture of Havier the girls made for me.

I know the heart of life is good

Quote of the day:

Girl: I've been here almost two years!
Me: Oh yeah?
Girl: Yeah! It will be two years in August!

The 26 List

Last year I never got around to making any specific goals and therefore never really accomplished anything major that I would have like to accomplish. This year, in an effort to do more, I've complied a list of 26 things I want to do before I turn 27. I've got a year and two weeks to get all of this done and I totally think it's possible.

1. Read the Book of Mormon
2. Do that one thing in that one place
3. Redesign the blog
   
4. Sew at least 4 items of clothing
5. Have my entire room completely clean at the same time
   
6. Bake 104 things
7. Take 4 hobby related classes
8. Take more pictures
   
9. Meet Kyle Beckerman
10. Become a tourist in my own state
    
11. Host a party a month
12. Learn to run
    
13. Find a third lantern for that one corner in my room
    
14. Blog 10x a month
15. Go camping
    
16. Read one book per month
17. Index 6,000 names
18. Sell something at the farmers market
19. Visit a new state
20. Make handmade lemonade
21. Check out Timp cave
22. Attend 5 concerts
23. Spend at least a day working with Habitat for Humanity
24. Go to the Salt Flats
25. Go to another roller derby
26. Let my family know how much I love them