Me On A Monday - December 4th

At The Mall

Good Morning. It's all a go for the festive season.  On Friday, we had snow on the ground, very pretty snow. The kind that makes the whole world seem like a Christmas card.  It's mostly gone now, with the milder days of +5 & rain.  Makes me think more of a Dickens like Christmas scene rather than a Thomas Kinkade scene.

Currently Reading:  the fourth & latest book in the Thursday Murder Club series; All The Devils Die. Of all the books in the series, I am enjoying this one the most.  My Christmas book requests are slow in arriving to the library.

Currently Watching:  the start of season 8 of Shetland with the introduction of the new DI Ruth Calder played by Ashley Jensen.

Currently Feeling: like a pin cushion. We just had our annual flu jab & 3 weeks ago we had the most current Covid vaccine jab.  

Currently Wisdom: did you notice my Wednesday Wisdom theme for November ... silence?  

Currently Observing Advent:  This first Sunday is for Hope.  Oh yes, hope is much needed in the world right now, IMO.

And speaking of Advent, I have never seen so many varieties of Advent calendars, both online & in home. The variety of Advent calendars for adults is staggering.  There are ones for tea lovers, puzzle lovers, bath lovers, of course one for chocolate lovers. There's even one for Scotch experts.  Did you get yourself an Advent calendar this year?

And now let the hoping begin ... "don't lose hope when the sun goes down, it is then that the stars come out".

Wisdom

 

"See how nature — trees, flowers, grass — grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” 

                            – Mother Teresa

Me On A Monday - November 27th

 

Good Morning Everyone. Brr it is cold.  For us November had a temperature turning point on the 20th. No more of the unusually warmer temperatures.  Snow was flying about on the 24th!

Currently Thinking About: December Daily, a scrapbooking project. I've struggled with myself about whether I wanted to do, what to do with all my Christmas related papers, stickers & die cuts. So in the end I've decided, I'm all in, but not in the traditional or standard way.  We don't have a lot if any activities planned for the holidays, so I've worked on a list of photo prompts for myself, that will work for me. Some of my themes for the day are similar but only to accommodate my layout plans.  I'm planning on a page a day. What I've yet to 100% decide is the size format.  In my sorting through my stash I found I have a 6X8" green binder that could be re-purposed into a DD, or I could go with my standard scrapping size of 12X12" pages.  No decision made as yet, although I am leaning into 12X12.

There are a few days of December that may get a switch up with plans that just might happen.  Pre-Covid, we use to celebrate Express Christmas on the 16th with friends. For those of you that were fans of the TV show Modern Family, you'll know about Express Christmas.  For those of you that don't, here's a link. Express Christmas

Anyway, I am happy with my list & my decision to embracing December Daily scrapbooking.  This is my list in case anyone wants to play along, or use as a jumping off point for their holiday season recording.

2023 December Daily Ideas for Stories & Photos

1.    Christmas Tree(s)

2.    Gift Wrap

3.    Advent Wreath (1^st Sunday in Advent)

4.    Christmas Reading

5.    Christmas Movies

6.    Sounds of Christmas

7.    Favourite Ornament

8.    Happy Mail

9.    Dear Santa

10.   Cozy

11.   Stockings

12.   Holiday Baking

13.    Decorations

14.   Christmas Wear/Wardrobe

15.   Wreath(s)

16.   This or That (questionnaire)

17.   Your Elf Name/Snowman Name

18.   Christmas Cats

19.   Us

20.   At Home Christmas Concert

21.   Winter Weather; winter arrives at 10:27pm

22.   Colours of The Season

23.   Table Setting

24.   The Christmas Eve Drive-Neighbourhood All Aglow

25.   True Meaning of Christmas

26.   The 12 Days of Christmas/Blessings

27.   Christmas Memories 

28.   Christmas Crafts

29.   Christmas Gifts

30.   Resolutions or Goals

31.   Good Bye 2023 Hello 2024

Wisdom

 

“They who do not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.” 

                                    – Elbert Hubbard

Me On A Monday - November 20th

 

Greetings my favourite people.

Currently Reading: John Grisham's latest, The Exchange, which is a follow up of the two main characters in The Firm, 15 years later.  Too soon to tell if I'm going to like, but I will say, it has pulled me in quickly.  Waiting for a couple of Christmas themed books at the library, which include two new to me Christmas cookbooks.

Currently Interesting:  I found this on one Canadian women's blog;  "Make Blogging Great Again, Comment & Support".  How many of us are still lurkers on some blogs, how many of us comment & how many of us enter into a dialogue?  IMO, Blogger should follow WordPress's example & have a like button for blog posts, similar to FaceBook & Instagram, because sometimes you just don't know what to say.  👍 💖

Currently Shopping: we drove out to my favourite scrapping store on Saturday. They are not normally open for walk in traffic on a Saturday.  Since lockdown pandemic days, they really stepped up their online ordering service, which included store door pick ups.  I haven't bought a lot in the last 3 years, but on Saturday we ventured out so I could get my 3 ring binders for the coming year's garden & day to day layouts. The binders require extra shipping costs, so to save myself the cost, we combined a couple of other errands with this trip.  Storage space is at critical overload for scrapbooks, so I think these two binders will have to start incorporating more than one year, which will require more planning. I'm also going to go back to see if I can bunch up two years into one binder.  Maybe I'll follow This West London Life, Ruth's example of a page a month.  

Currently Realizing: I'm not good at stamping for card making.  I have been in a flurry of activity making Christmas cards as I like to get mine into the mail no later than December 1st.  I like the paper piecing & cutting, it's the stamping parts that strain me - I'm not good at it.  

Currently Assessing Lingering Projects:  aka PHDs, projects half done.  One is my Covid binder. I don't think I will ever complete all the layouts that I had intended & bought product for.  The pages that I do have done, will probably end up in the album of the day to day layouts for 2020/2021.  As I mentioned earlier, space is at critical levels.  I've gone through the box of layouts & supplies & assessed which products can be used for something other than Covid related layouts.  Some of the stickers I will make into a closing page collage.  It was very interesting to read through some of the layout journaling & photos, to see life during a pandemic. To read the new words & phrases that came out of the Covid pandemic.  One interesting factnoid from all the online experts, was that to say worldwide pandemic was incorrect as pandemic denotes worldwide. It made me laugh & laugh.  And it now appears as though all these online pandemic experts have shifted their expertise to Middle East politics & diplomacy.  

Currently Mr Man's Eyes:  The last appointment was 15 days ago, the surgeon specialist wanted to give his eyes more healing time before deciding what's next, if anything.  

And now it's on to the week.  Be kind to yourself  👸

Wisdom

 

Most of us know how to say nothing; few of us know when.

                    Anonymous 

Me On A Monday - November 13th

 

Smoke enjoying some late afternoon sunbugs

Hello & Good Morning.

Currently Reading: The first book in Elly Griffiths new murder mystery series; The Stranger Diaries.  I really like Elly's style of writing, in all of her books, especially the Ruth Galloway books, she pulls you into the story in the first line or two.  The only, not my favourite element of reading this book, is that I have to read on my ipad & I don't really like the method.  I want to hold a book, I want to engage with the story by turning pages, that sound holds its own intrigue. 

I have waiting for me at the library the first book of my Christmas reading. I've decided to start a little earlier & also I want to read Christmas themed books that I have not read before.  First up will be: "In Joy to the World", three popular authors come together to offer a heartwarming collection of holiday Regency romance. Based on lines from a beloved Christmas carol, these three novellas in one book have depth, faith, and satisfying stories all packed into the perfect length for readers to curl up and take a brief break from their holiday busyness.  

Currently Helping: my friend that has the pool, bring some of her patio plants indoors & moving all the patio furniture to a central gathering place & covering for the winter.  I spent the rest of the afternoon with ice on my back.  

November seems to be that in between time; summer so long ago & spring so far away.

Currently Purging: my email inbox of far too many messages from all the decluttering experts.  If not all, at least 99% of them want me to buy one or all of their products. No thanks, delete.  

And now on with the week ...  one of my tasks for the week is to call people of the church congregation & convince them to make at least four dozen cookies for the cookie trays sold at the bazaar.  Wish me luck with the sales pitch.🍪🎅