Recipes for living, loving and laughing:Jo, Elliott, Cloey & Zoey's adventures

This story has circulated for years; usually it is a church on Christmas Eve. Patricia Polacco has written a beautiful children's book, the Christmas Tapestry, which has it taking place in Detroit. She says she heard the story many years ago. The brand new Rabbi and his wife were newly assigned to their first congregation to reopen a Shul in suburban Brooklyn. They arrived in early February excited about their opportunities. When they saw their Shul, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Erev Puirm. They worked hard, repairing aged pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on 8th of the Adar (February 17th) they were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On February 19 a terrible snowstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the Rabbi went over to the Shul. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large ...

Jo has had a group of online friends for about 15 years. She has met a bunch including in those in  MA, CA, NY and FL. Her Florida friend lives in Fort Myers so once again we got together with her and her husband for a great breakfast at First Watch. Jan and Jo We decided to take the girls to the flea market and they were dreams. We are so lucky to have them. Elliott got a bunch of stuff...he loves the hardware type stuff. Jo got a top for her mom...Her Florida gifts are tops that just aren't sold at home. We watched the football game (Yeah Pats) and the...hmm third or fourth movie this trip. This one was The Conjuring. . Horror you say? Yup, Jo loves stuff like that; Elliott doesn't. We won't be renting a horror movie again. She'll have to watch them at home.  We also saw Red 2 . We liked it. Now you must understand we are not movie elitists. As long as a movie keeps our attention i.e. we don't fall asleep, it gets a thumbs up.  We saw ...

What a great time. We miss these relatives a lot. They are on Elliott's side: aunt Doris and uncle Stanley and two of Elliott's cousins.. Mike and Helene and their spouses Phyl and Russ, Phyllis and Mikes' daughter Stephanie, Elliott's brother Alan, wife Anna and son Thomas.. we sat around and chatted and laughed and sat around for dinner and chatted and laughed. Funny thing is that many of us have NYC in common so our new years resolutions are to see each other more. Everyone is tagged on my Facebook page . 

Although this is considered a craft for kids, I am going to turn it into a business adventure like I did the reindeer candy canes (below), which were a big hit. I think I will mix up the candy - perhaps use small bags of pretzels and other healthier choices for people who I know don't eat sugar, etc. The card will go on the heart. I will post a picture after I make it. All it takes is a strip of green paper, an elastic around the candy to make it look like a butterfly. pipe cleaners and a heart, which could be made of foam, paper, felt or anything you have around the house

Jo ranted yesterday about the whining going on regarding people not getting their Christmas gifts from Amazon. Come on, people! Do you know that people are without electricity? How about hurricanes, Tsunamis, wars for peace, civil wars all over the world, women getting raped and mutilated because they are women, children dying from starvation (not as in I am starving, let's go to Burger King) but real starvation? How about not having clean water to drink, on and on and on and you are angry that your gift is coming a couple of days late. It is hard to believe so wake up and stop whining. Be glad you woke up today. Be glad you woke up in the United States of American. Be glad you have money to receive a gift. On to rant number two...this is the beach we have been at and will continue to be for the next few days. It is truly one of the prettiest we've seen.  Sparkling blue water and powdery, white sand is littered with cigarette butts? We have been to the most gorgeous ...

Kid-Friendly Sparkling New Years Jello Drinks- made with grape juice and sparkling cider http://bestfoodtoday.tumblr.com/

  Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 10 mins Serves: 48 squares     This fudge is easy, foolproof and only takes 10 minutes…no candy thermometer required! The average price per pound of fudge from a candy shop is $8 a pound, and this recipe makes 1½ lbs. for about $4! Ingredients 2 tablespoons butter 1, 5 oz. can evaporated milk 1½ cups sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 2 cups miniature marshmallows 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips ½ cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional) 1 teaspoon vanilla Instructions Line an 8″ square pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. Combine butter, evaporated milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Boil 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and immediately stir in miniature marshmallows and chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla. Stir in nuts, if desired. Pour into pan. Refrigerate 2 hours. Cut into squares or use a heart sh...

We are probably staying at the friendliest campground we have ever stayed at. In addition there are lots of activities, a beautiful pool and sauna, a dog run and nice sites. We had help backing in yesterday buy all in all it was easy but our levelers won't go down! The name is Woodsmoke Camping Resort. Today, Christmas eve day, we left the girls in their crate and went to Publix, the liquor store, and got a couple of movies. Our very nice neighbours said they didn't hear the girls. We walked around, the girls ran bit in the fenced in dog area and checked out dog beach, which some people love but we didn't and then went to fort Myers beach, which we went to often in past years. It was cool but the dogs are allowed on leash, the sand and water are beautiful. The only downside is the $2.00 an hour meter. If you have never seen a campground, this is the one at which we are staying. The dog run. 

You may know that the weather is unseasonably warm. Everyday we take the girls for a run on the beach, which we have to ourselves, we sit outside and Elliott takes a bike ride. There isn't much on the strip and we haven't ventured off it but we have cable so we watched the 30 year old virgin for the second time. We head to Fort Myers, where the beach is dog friendly, we know someone there and it is within striking distance of perhaps a family reunion in St Petersburg. I can't post pics because we are using so much data since the wi fi here is non existent. We think we should submit this one to some magazine??

This is so easy to make on the road and so yummy.  Frozen Bananas, peanut butter and yogurt...delicious ice cream without the guilt!!  If you are on weight watchers use sunflower seed butter. It has 2 1/2 points for 1 tablespoon and is delicious.  Have you tried PB2 yet? 45 calories (1 WW point) in 2 teaspoons and it is yummy. It's a powder. You can put it in liquid for example soy milk (2 points for 1 cup fat free),  sprinkle it on yogurt (see above), mix it with water and spread it on an English muffin - you get the point. Back to the frozen bananas! You can substitute the peanut butter for the PB2, go easy on the cocoa (or skip it) use Yoplait 2 point yogurt and a tablespoon of Cool Whip and I've made a delicious 4 point snack!  © Jo Levy 

It can take us two hours to decide where to eat so why wouldn't it take even longer to decide where to spend a few days. Hours later we settled at a campsite for $65 a night right on the beach. It's a good thing people write reviews because we almost stayed at Bulow until we found out they have fire ants. We had given them a credit card but when jo explained how sensitive she is to bugs she was given a refund. So it all worked out and as Jo says it was meant to be. We are on the beach side with very few people. Took a walk on the beach with the girls. Elliott set up their corral and it all seems OK. Friday December 20 Jo slept much better on the foam mattress we bought. We paid for two more nights since the beach is  beautiful and we have no neighbors. Luckily iron foot bar, which is part of Flagler by the Sea, sees as much business as the higher priced real estate here. After Elliott took the girls for a walk we all took a nice walk on the beach, which is made up of finely g...

Jo can't stand to see the girls shaking. Cloey is worse than zoey but she can't just have one and not the other. It is cloey on my lap and then zoey looks pathetic or vice versa and jo ends up facing Elliott but it is all good. We had lots of swaying today. Elliott has his work cut out. We might need a bar of some sort that jo read about on forums. It's a beautiful driving day. The pic is not clear because  Jo took it while bouncing around. Cloey is on the left with her tongue hanging out.

A lot of rest areas-they may or may not have a lot of amenities-let you stay for a period of time. We have never been"chased" away and we have lots of company. We all slept really well and bought this rig for many reasons one of which is the ability to live in the unit without opening up slides. We are almost to Georgia. In 150 miles we will stop at Wal-Mart to buy a few things...well the list is growing. The girls pottying is 100 percent!

We stopped at a KOA. A very large chain and great if you have kids. This was in Staunton, VA. It was almost empty and cold out.went down to 26F. Jo needs a bed topper because the Serta is too hard for her.making a walmart list already and there are always Wal-Marts. Jo made her reindeer candy cane crafts while Elliott submitted graders!

We haven't made great time but actually we aren't in a hurry. We pulled into a rest stop and slept for five hours. The girls are doing great though Cloey is more agitated than she was yesterday. We had to pull over once because of the snow but Eliott is doing great and Jo is knitting, on her phone or looking up things in The Next Exit. We are hoping to get to a KOA we looked up by tonight. This is the girl's setup.

We got a late start on Dec. 16. Left a day early trying to avoid the snow. We immediately had a problem with the tow bar but Elliot figured out what was wrong and we were all set. Stopped for gas and dinner. The girls are doing great. We thought they might like their new bed in back of Elliott's seat but now it's between us. At least jo doesn't have them both on her lap. They aren't wandering around and finally went to sleep. They did potty on command sort of and are just much better travelers than we expected. So far so good. Hoping to get far enough south tonight but that might be impossible. We are both tired.  It's nine degrees. Think we'll all potty inside tonight.

Are the New England Patriots your favorite team? Re-pin if they are.

This is way beyond my skill level! Materials: aluminum foil flesh-tone polymer clay glass eyes floral wire 2, 3-inch long dowels with holes drilled on each end serrated needle nose pliers sculpting tools oven glue gun white glue eyelashes pastels and water base oil paints Grumtine solvent paintbrushes 8-gauge copper wire, 3 pieces (22-1/2", 17-1/2", 12") pliers wire crimping tool electrical splice caps drilled stained round wood base natural colored canvas weight fabric scissors sewing machine stuffing pellets and polyester stuffing 12-1/2" - 1/2" dowel with a hole drilled in one end batting flesh colored nylon fabric upholstery thread needle fabric for gown, robe and hat thread to match fabrics trim for robe fabric glue wool metal dog comb old scissors fur tassel greenery and small artificial fruit and leaves miniature pinecones Figure A Steps: 1. Create a foil ball for the head. Cover the ball with polymer clay and s...

This blanket I am making (see post below) is getting very boring. I am going back to my frilly scarves while on the road even though after making so many I couldn't wait to stop. I will buy some more frilly yarn. They were big sellers so perhaps people at campgrounds will love them too. Speaking of which, I got my business cards from 123 Print rather than the ones on the right from Vista Print. Vista Print was going to take too long and am attaching the candy cane reindeer craft to them to give out as well. Hoping to drum up some business.