In the Storm

December Daily | 15

Jeff and I are forever passing funnies via text. We'll capture a picture or save a screen shot and share it with each other. For laughs. We insert appropriate emoji's into our responses, laughing out loud, ha ha, that's funny, rolling on the floor laughing...

The following are just a few funnies we've passed over the past several days, but definitely in December - as I am documenting our December. 'Tis true it is an ongoing playful habit we have but these are the December funnies I wanted to document. 

I don't often use FLIP's  anymore, not like I might have when I was forecasting at Hunter, but I work in the same building as Air Traffic Controllers and this is a truly brilliant FLIP for the North Pole airport. Love it!

Nothing like some good laughs to begin our day's with.

December Daily | Day 14

Trying to keep these December stories real. These are stories that have happened or things I've thought about this season. And, this story. Best Christmas present. For reals. Finishing off the year with my husband home and not working out of town. Just lovely.

Since deciding on keeping this album pretty simple, for the most part, that has made it such a joy putting pages together. There isn't a lot of creative thinking going into the pages because, honestly, I don't have a lot of creative thoughts. If you've seen some of the outside of the box creativity going into others' December Daily albums you'd know what I mean. But, I've realized for me, clean and simple is best. Sure, there are a couple pages that are fuller or more colorful but still, for the most part, they are simply created, also.

December Daily | Day 13

One of my goals for this project this years was tell simple stories. Another, was to make simple pages. I've captured both with these two pages telling the simple story of Brownies in a Jiffy. My kids call them Mommy's brownies because they know it's my favorite brownie recipe and it is not like any other.

I shamelessly bought a couple Buffalo Plaid pieces from Home Goods and some dish towels just so I could use them in pictures of my Christmas cookies or Homemade Hot chocolate. True story. Shamelessly.

While I adore Brownies in a Jiffy, they truly aren't my favorite Christmas cookie. Cherry Walnut Bars holds that moniker. But, Brownies in a Jiffy are my preferred cookie if I need comfort and joy.

what I've been reading lately | december

All year long I have been making a 1-page layout each month of what I've been reading lately. I'm still doing that this month - making a scrapbooking layout/page of what I've been reading lately. But, I'm changing up things up a bit. I am documenting our December, joining thousands of others documenting their December with Ali Edwards' December Daily®. Thus, I am documenting what I've been reading lately in a 2-page 6 x 8 layout because my own December Daily® 2017 is in the 6 x 8 format and I wanted to include these pages into my album for December.

On to what I've been reading lately...

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. A-mazing! It took me a couple chapters to figure out what was going on, the weaving of two stories, but once I did - wow! Penny, seamlessly, moved from story to story. Such a good book! I cried several times. That's a good thing. And, this might be my favorite so far as I have gotten in the series. 89/100 books read.

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. A-mazing! One of my favorite books of the year.  90/100 books read.

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny. Definitely not my favorite! Probably my least favorite of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series thus far, but after the first six and one of those a favorite in Bury Your Dead it would be hard to top. Still, I have high hopes for her remaining books in the series (which thankfully don't appear to be ending anytime soon). 91/100 books read.

The Camel Club by David Baldacci. The beginning of the book was choppy and hard to follow but once it started moving along it turned out really good. 92/100 books read.

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. Not my least favorite of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series but...this one takes us away from it all to a secluded from all society monastery where a monk has been murdered and a favorite character is driven aground and evil descends. It wasn't the mystery of the murdered monk that I had a hard time with (that was actually very interesting) but it was the desolation of a favorite character (although I can understand how something like this can happen to the best of us) and, moreso, the arrival of pure evil, and the feeling of having my hands tied while spiders are crawling all over me. 93/100 books read. 

The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs. Before settling on She Reads Truth Advent study, Joy to the World for my month long Advent study, I considered The Women of Christmas from a recommendation by a friend. The book is not set up for a day by day study so I set it aside for Advent but did, however, simply read for enjoyment. Truly, enjoyable. 94/100 books read.

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny. Oh my! This book ties up so much that has been loosened in this series. While not as neatly meshed as Bury Your Dead, I'm so glad a story line was solidified and wrapped up because I just could not take it any longer without it being resolved. 95/100 books read.

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. I savored this little book slowly (on my bedside table so I would read snippets before bed) because Lewis is a master with the English language, an intellectual giant and, alas, - I am not.  Lewis, intelligently, authoritatively, and argumentatively persuades the reader of the importance and the relevance of universal values in contemporary society. Written in the early 1940's, it is astonishing to me how applicable the discourse is for today's society of individual truth, a distorted and flawed modern education system, and sheds a prophetic bright light on a worldview void of values. 96/100 books read.

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny. I struggled with this storyline. It was frustrating and sad.  97/100 books read.

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny. I hope Penny isn't moving from mystery's into evil thrillers which this one was. That being said, it was interesting, the backstory, and the presence of Three Pines characters I've come to love were there (but, not necessarily more developed), but again, it was evil. I realize there is a certain kind of evil in murder mysteries but, still... 98/100 books read.

The Undoing of Saint Silvanus by Beth Moore. I won't say I dislike this book. It is written with quick-witted, beautifully written imagery and well, Beth Moore knows how to tell stories. However, the first part of the book was difficult to wrap myself around, and many other parts were quite frustrating and long-winded. I think it is a good first-try at a novel versus her Bible studies, which I adore, and her non-fiction work that is usually pretty good, too. 99/100 books read.

You can find all 100 books that I have read 2017, by month, here: January  |  February  |  March  |  April  |  May  |  June  |  July  |  August  |  September  |  October  |  November

My favorite books of 2016 found here.

I'm still deciding on my favorite books of 2017. At least two from this month will probably make my list.

December Daily | Day 11

We love Christmas music around here. We crack the speakers up when a favorite crosses the airwaves. Once we find a favorite rendition of an old favorite Christmas song we cling to it and play it on repeat. But, let's be honest here. I'm not on spotify, nor do I have playlists on my phone, but I want to. I'm just not tech savvy enough to acquire all of these songs into one place so I normally have to sit at my computer, find the song, and hit play. It's sad, I know. Maybe, when Ashley comes and visits I can upload a bunch of songs (I do have Amazon Prime) so I can make some various playlists, one of which will definitely be a Christmas playlist.

Now, regarding these two digital pages. I see I've made a couple errors and I'll fix those before I send them off to the printers. One error, nowhere on either page does this indicate day 11. I'll fix that. And, I think I'm going to change up my journaling to include that little story, in the fashion of openness and truth, I told above. It's only fair.

But, all else written is truth. We love all those songs and set them on repeat. Even if it is hitting play each time. These two pages were fashioned using mostly Ali Edwards Design digital products plus a smidgeon of Sahlin Studio because most of this years album is based on the colors from one of her December kits.

December Daily | Day 10

Today I am sharing a simple 1-page of 10 (ten) gratitude's I'm currently - well - grateful for. This has been a year of gratefulness, to say the least. With this page, in the coming year, 2018, I think I'm going to change things up and record 1000 gifts (after Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts book and project). I'm actually, planning on changing a bunch of things up this coming year, and how I record my gratitude's and thanksgivings is just one of them.

But, for now, here are simply 10.

Digitally, I found a bunch of 'tens' or put ones and zeros together, added paper (mostly Sahlin Studio, and Ali Edwards Design) or color to them and journaled my gratitude's. The font is Traveling Typewriter.

December Daily | Day 9

This may be a simple page but I love the simple story more. We have been blessed, and Jeff's feet have been blessed, to have really good pairs of boots to wear on the job. He's on his feet - a lot! We haven't given the boys boots such as these for two reasons, 1) boots from Red Wing, while very well made and long lasting are also very expensive, but 2) their feet hadn't stopped growing yet. But now they have and they are moving into careers shortly. So, they'll be walking in with a good pair of boots on their feet.

Digitally, I used a Paislee Press template that I modified and Sahlin Studio journal cards and embellishments.

December Daily | Day 8

Super simple page; My hair was getting so long and it wouldn't do any thing. And, then there is the gray. Mostly at my temples and the hairline but still evident. It wasn't a pretty sight. So, a new doo and some fresh color was in order. Just in time for Christmas!

Digitally I used a Paislee Press template from her December Fav No.6 kit and Ali Edwards Design overlay. Like I said, super simple

December Daily | 7

I love the simplicity of this days' pages. I love my Advent study with She Reads Truth, 'Joy to the World'. It is amazing! I wanted to make sure I documented this part of my December.

Digitally, a very simple page. I used an Ali Edwards' 6 x 8 overlay and a Paislee Press digital brush. Doesn't get any easier than that.

December Daily | Day 6

Simply designed page but not so simple to create. I started with a blue-ish tinged background and could not for the life of me get the background to go white (which is the background the phones camera should have seen). So, what's a girl to do? 

I duplicated the page, changed it to white, zoomed in really close and began erasing out every thing but the wrapping paper. And, Voila! The white background I should have had in the first place. I say that like it was easy. But, in fact, it was time consuming. The key is, definitely, to zoom in really close.

Very pleased with the resultant page and that luscious Stone Wrap, too!