One Little Word | 2014

December has become somewhat of a calendar cue that among all of the events and planning and craziness that I need to start looking at the next year and what I might want to accomplish or focus on. It also means looking back and seeing what happened with the previous year’s word.

My word for 2013 was STORY. And it took a much different path than I had planned. My intention was to spend more time in this place and capture more stories from our lives. I said as much this time last year. That’s not at all what happened.

Instead, stories got documented – but not here. There’s a little bit on Instagram, some on Facebook, a handful of tweets. Not much to speak of here in this space. And that’s okay. Because story wound up being another journey altogether.

Last summer some friends and I decided to start a small group Bible Study. It was something we all felt we needed – we volunteer in church on Sunday morning and so don’t always get to study with other adults. The study we chose was called…. The Story. It didn’t even occur to me at the time that it was in fact my One Little Word.

It did turn out to be one of the most challenging Bible studies that I have ever embarked upon. Perfect for the time and challenges that were in front of me, and a front and center reminder of my word.

This year’s word came with a bit of thought and introspection. Again, a goal word.

I want to discover life around me.

Discover what 2014 has in store for the next 365 days.

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The One Little Word concept was started by Ali Edwards. You can read more about it on Ali’s Blog.

December Daily 2013 | Day 7 + 8

I am sitting here listening to the magical sounds of water streaming off of the roof and large chunks of ice smashing into the ground creating piles of slush.

It is downright warm today.

Well, warmer than it has been, and the sun is out full-strength. I think the ice days are done and we will be able to get out and about again.

This is the plant right next to my front porch. Completely coated in a thick layer of ice. It sits right underneath where the water drips off the roof by the porch, so it caught all of the freezing rain starting Thursday afternoon and then every drip off the porch during the slight daytime thaws. I hope it survives.

The sun made a short appearance on Sunday afternoon. It warmed the paved surfaces enough that we were able to shovel the driveway.

That was so. much. work.

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HAHAHAHA! Just Kidding!

The tractor provided some snow plow services for the driveway and the road in front of our house. We just cleaned up the stuff leftover with the shovels. You didn’t really think we shoveled the whole thing, did you?

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December Daily 2013 | Day 5 + 6

It is day 4 of Icemageddon 2013. We slipped out to Wal-Mart yesterday late afternoon for all the good it did. The 18-wheelers are parked along the sides of the highway, so no deliveries had been made and most shelves were bare. No bread, no milk, no orange juice, no apples. No ice cream? It was a good lesson on scarcity, I think. There were a lot of people there – maybe some doing regular weekly shopping – but some had some weird combinations of items all loaded up.

“I don’t know what I will make with pinto beans and sardines, but I feel compelled to buy everything I can get my hands on.”

We were there mainly to get out of the house. We did pick up some junk food though. And fruit. They were out of frozen pizza, so we go pizza rolls. And since all of the regular sized oranges were gone we got Cuties instead. It was a weird trip to say the least.

Cute package toppers – Candy Canes, polished hemp twine, bells, hot glue. So, so easy.

That’s how we do sledding around here.

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December Daily 2013 | Day 3 + 4

I feel like I am losing my mind. We have been icd into the house since Thursday night. Going a little crazy. While it’s nice to be home guilt-free because all of our activities have cancelled for the weekend, we’re just not used to being iced in for this long. Usually we get a little ice and it lasts a day or maybe a day and a half, and then the streets are passable and life returns to normal.

Not this time. Oh, no. Temps that haven’t gotten above freezing for three days have kept us frozen into a winter wonderland he!!. The kids have been dealing well, playing outside and inside off an on. Watching TV, playing games, and one (I’ll let you guess which) spent 5 hours curling her hair.

On the upside I have had time to work on my December Daily…

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December Daily 2013 | December 2

The kids starting looking for our elf on Black Friday. He didn’t show up until December 1, and I didn’t get his portrait done til the 2nd. Which is a win when you consider that I still haven’t gotten the annual pictures of the kids in front of the tree done.

Christmas pictures for the win! Or parenting. Or…something.

And our new ornament for the year – celebrating the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Party Boy doesn’t get our love for the Doctor, but that’s just because he hasn’t watched any of it. Yet.

Off to try and get pictures of the kids…

December Daily 2013 | December 1

If I can take a moment to step off of the bullet train that is heading to the end of 2013. I am trying very hard to be intentional about my scrapbooking, my celebrations, and my outlook this holiday season. Trying hard to not let the month get away from me, while also preparing for the inevitable month getting away from me.

I was working on this on Monday I was reflecting on pages from years past and remembering how much I really love this project. I love having this little window to look back on holidays past.

Cover

December 1 – Left

December 1 – Right

 

And I’d like to take a minute to brag on my kids too. MOTS had a solo in this program and the girl has a gift. I know I’m her mom, but seriously, she was really, really good. I wish she had been able to sing a little longer good. Party Boy took video on his phone, and when I get it uploaded I’ll post it here. Really good.

And Hollywood and Captain Chaos were entertaining in their own ways – dancing and being crazy expressive on stage. It was fun to see them all up there enjoying themselves during the program.

Post-Easter Sugar High

This Easter weekend was so much fun! It was so fun that I took, like 3 whole pictures. *facepalm*

Oh well. It’s all about the memories, right?

Last week, Party Boy was off work and we took that time to work on some home projects for the spring.

Here I am supervising the digging of a flowerbed next to our front porch. By the time he was done it did resemble a swimming pool, but it all worked out in the end. We put much better dirt back in and I think our landscape plants will thank us. At least I hope they will.

And no, I did not spend the entire week with my feet up.

We also put in a new stepping stone sidewalk from the driveway to the front door. Twice. Heh.

Truth is that we had it mostly completed and level and it looked really nice. And then we turned on the water for the plants and Captain Chaos got involved and by the end half of the walkway had the sand and dirt washed out from under it.

And then we re-did that section. Or really Party Boy did.

And then it rained and rained and rained. And because we were waiting on the last stone delivery it got washed out. Again. So we’ll probably re-do that section again.

I will say that I would highly recommend this product for anyone to use, but it’s meant to be placed on a yard. With grass. And there should be very little leveling involved. We don’t have any grass there yet and because of the nature of our dirt we had to dig out and use cushion sand so the walkway wouldn’t look bad.

 

We planted new stuff in our flowerbeds. This is the first house I have lived in that has a north facing front yard, which means we need to use some different plants than we’re used to. The picture above is of the hydrangeas that we put in that are also accompanied by azaleas. We’ll see how it turns out. The other areas are filled with Mexican Heather and  Lantana – both native to Texas and known to us as well. They do well in sun and heat, of which we have a lot.

And that folks, is how I spent my week. Hard physical labor and exhaustion, culminating in a celebration of the risen Lord. It was and is good.

What I Did on my Winter Vacation…

I know it’s a little trite, but hey, what better way to tell all of you what I’ve been up to?

For starters, we celebrated New Year’s in style in Phoenix. And, as is usually the case when we vacation, the temperatures were unseasonably cold. Cold in a desert. You call me if you need temperatures lowered for you. I like to fly first class and stay in 5-star resorts while my presence lowers the temperatures in your area.

Anyway, we saw lots of desert, and just really enjoyed being out and about. When we weren’t out running around I had quality time to work on Project Life – finished 2012. That’s 2 years of Project Life that’s complete. 2 whole years. Wow. I won’t share the layouts here, since I was way back at week 36 or something when I dropped off and I don’t want to bore anyone with the minutia of my life for that many weeks to catch up.

I also started work on my Project Life 2013 album. Got the cover page done. As usual I mixed it up a little bit to keep the albums looking unique. I’ll share that cover on Monday and any new ideas I have for Project Life. I’ll also get my 2012 pages put up on the album page and I’ll post that link soon too. Just in case you really want to see the whole album.

Next week I will also be sharing my One Little Word for 2013. And probably doing a blog redesign to go with it. Like usual. Only a little late. I like having the One Little Word hanging around reminding me what I want to focus on. I feel like “Create” was a good word for 2012. I certainly did a LOT of creating.

I did lots of thinking too. And planning. We started back to schoolwork this week, and we started a new way of eating, called Paleo/Primal. I won’t lie, it hasn’t been easy, giving up grains and sugar. But, it hasn’t been as hard as it has been in the past. Maybe my goals have changed, maybe I’ve changed. Whatever it is, I hope to keep it up for a month, then we’ll see. I’ll probably try the grain again and see how I feel. We don’t have to be gluten-free, but if I feel better being gluten-free? I will totally stay that way.

I hope your 2013 is off to a great start! Here’s to another year on the blog, more photos, more life…captured.

December Daily | December 3, 4, + 5

I was pretty busy in November (ha!) so I didn’t really do a lot of pre-planning for my December Daily this year. Still, a pattern has emerged – one large photo, a few emellishments, the date, and a bit of a story from the day. I am happy with how it looks so far, and to be honest, it has been very quick and easy to keep up.

December 3

December 4

December 5

Products I Used

Cozy Christmas Papers Glitter Pop Papers Cozy Christmas Elements December Daily – Blank Labels December Daily – Calendar Countdown Machine Stitches v. 1 Machine Stitches v. 2

InLinkz.com

December Daily | December 2

Crazy weather and an angry 5 year-old. Got to be a story there, right??

Products I Used

InLinkz.com