trimmingthesails

December Days 16 -19

Oh my goodness, it that really the date? Thank-you so much for all your good wishes and beautiful cards, and just to reassure you that we do now have heating and all is well :). And it has been lovely, touching and a privilege to read so many Simple Moments from all corners of our world, each telling such a multi-layered story. Thank-you for being so willing to open a window onto yours ...

I was going to say that there wasn't much to say about life up here at present but if the truth be known, there is just too much to say! so I will simply leave you with a flavour of this last week in my Book of December Days.

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Wishing a happy and hopefully not too busy time over the next day or so. Anyone hanging up a stocking this year?

Simply A Moment (December 12)

Hello, and glad you could visit! This is my Simply A Moment for December ...

If you feel like joining in, it would be lovely to read your moments too - do feel free to add your link below ... Hoping the weekend is treating you kindly and there is a moment or two somewhere to catch your breath :).

December Days 8 and 13

DAY 8
Hello and welcome! I am hoping the pictures today speak (rather less than) a thousand words - I suspect you'd have little time to read them, if your days are anything like mine! Day 8 is in the album ...

The design is as Day 9 but reversed, with additional journalling space - there's just never enough room to write ...

Behind the flap lies the rest of the journalling:
"Dearest grandson number 1. I loved: our game of footie under the breakfast table, the way he gave his Mum (and anyone else) a yellow card when he was cross; his ability to compromise - his newest phrase is “OK, I’ve changed my mind”; his pleasure, in his swimming lesson, when he had the courage to jump in without the instructor’s helping hand; the way he called “Did you see, Grandma? I’m very proud of me!

Dearest grandson number 2: it was delightful listening to him repeat words when we were reading (like ‘slimy’); such fun singing songs like Incy Wincy Spider with actions and seeing him copy us; being a little wary at table when he looked thunderous and quickly moving everything out of his way; watching him eat Start like there was no tomorrow (which when you’re nearly two is probably true!).

Me: recorder of events, player of games, reader, tidy-upper, just happy to be there."

DAY 13
A trifle tardy in tackling Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas, I was taken with today's prompt about the weather, what it was like where we each live, or what we might hope for ...

You may be feeling too frantic to even think about taking a moment to simply catch your breath and note what is around and within: but on Saturday the 15th, I will be enjoying Simply A Moment and you are most welcome to join me. If this is new to you, I hope these links will be helpful:

• From Blurry to Clear (14 September): the original post
• Simply A Moment Prompt (15 September): a pdf of tips and ideas
• September's Simply a Moment
• October's Simply A Moment
• November's Simply A Moment

This cold snap, may there be warmth in your woollies and something hot in your hand! (Old Irish blessing.) And if you're a lovely blog-reader in the southern hemisphere, may there be coolness in your cottons, and something chilled to press against your cheek :). See you soon?

Working backwards ...

 ... possibly. Sounds like a crossword clue! Having been away, there's a lot to catch up on - both for myself and with all of you and your news. I thought I'd work backwards to fill the gaps. It was the 10th when I started on the 9th in my Book of December Days, and now suddenly it's the 12th. I'm not quite sure what happened, but here is a glimpse ... 

Heading back in the direction of hybrid clean and simple, I couldn't resist a bit of The Real Thing, especially when it tasted so good ...

To help my addled brain, I've hoicked out my pdf. Jump Start Journalling with a List from this time last year, with a download below in case it's of use to you ...

Download JumpStartJournalling pdf

So ... that only leaves days 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 then - not to mention Simply a Moment on the 15th. Anyone prepared to lend a TIme Travel Machine? Hoping you are all well, and looking forward to visiting you all very soon :).

 

Winging it ... (December Days 3 and 4)

Swooping in on the wing for a brief 'Hi, how are you, my blog friends?' Not easy right now to get time on the computer so my scrapbooking is of the paper and scissors sort, in little pockets of five minutes here, ten minutes there. Day 3 was inspired by an art journal page I once saw, but I am not sure I like the result. In the interests of full disclosure (as they say in journalistic circles) and just so you can see I can do duff pages with the best of them, here it is ...

Though I have the prompts for this year's Journal Your Christmas class with Shimelle, we are still very unChristmassy here, so my December Day 4 is more of a quick reminder of a few bits and pieces. I might have been better just to have written, as DH used to in his childhood diaries "nothing happened today"!

The next few will be digital and completed next week - for today, Friday, I am off to have a day and a half with my lovely son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. One thousand five hundred miles may seem a long way to go for such a brief visit but I am taking any chance I can get! The digital templates are prepared and ready for photos to be dropped in on my return, and I will make journalling notes when I am there. Right, off to hide before the Clean and Simple police come to find me ... :). Hope to see you next week?

Day 2 (December Days 2012)

Can I be the only one who feels that December is whizzing by faster than any other month? Could time actually be speeding up? And how would we know? All of this was whirling round in my head on Day 2 of my Book of December Days. Along with a love affair with the floral fabric tape ...

It's a three-layered page: the front with two photos, an inside spread with eight photos (see above), and an additional private journalling pocket underneath, accessed by pulling The Back Story tab (see below) ...

Not quite keeping pace, but hoping I'm not the only one. Gotta go - just seen half-an-hour zipping past. If I'm quick I might just catch it ...

Starting off ...

... the month with the first page of my Book of December Days. More than anything these next few weeks, I want to make sure that I journal and record as much as possible of how life is, right now ...

Photos from lef to right, top to bottom.

1 Morning sun and no frost in the garden. 2 DH hunting for something to mend the leak in the kitchen roof (I know. Blooming builders. Again). 3 First Christmas card arrives. Mine are still in cellophane. 4 I love the Christmas stamps this year. 5 DH in his finest, off to sing with local choir at a Christmas market. Doesn't he scrub up well? 6 Lunch table set by Dad for us both (DH out) while I made the lentil soup. 7 DD has finally begun to paint and draw again - I am so pleased! 8 Jamie Oliver's 15 minute Fettucine. Or, in our case, spaghetti. There's a long story involving DH and a shopping list but let's not go there, especially as he brought everything else :).

Thank-you, Julie, for the prompt in your journalling ideas on squirrelling away all kinds of bits and pieces, just in case. This envelope holding the journalling originally contained sticky letters from a German stationery store (how I love those last two words!) and was just the ticket, if that's not too much of a mixed metaphor. In case you're wondering what's happened to Clean and Simple, panic not - I am sure it will make an appearance soon. (I just felt like experimenting a bit).

And very many thanks to all of you for your helpful suggestions from your own experience of scrapbook organisation: I think I'm coming up with a solution ... See you on Wednesday?