High/Low - A Sunday Ritual

High of the week:  Christmas of course!  Joseph and I enjoyed a nice relaxing holiday together.  We slept in, enjoyed dinner and a movie together at Studio Movie Grill, and drove around to admire beautiful Christmas lights.

Low of the week:  Christmas of course!  This was my first Christmas away from family in my entire life.  While I didn't miss crazy schedules to get to everyone's home for a quick visit, I missed other traditions such as:  Hanging out at my sister's house playing cards with everyone, visiting my Grandma and Grandpa, Christmas Village in downtown Ogden, homemade eggnog on Christmas Eve with our children, while Joseph reads the nativity to us from the Bible, and snow! 

Frisco City Square

How was your week?

XOXO

Find out what High/Low is all about HERE!

Moments of Our Year 2013

A Short Video of Moments of Our Year HERE!

XOXO

High/Low

High/Low - A Sunday Ritual

High:  Joseph and I had several deadlines to meet last week for the bindery;  we also had to get our Christmas presents mailed out for our families.  We pulled two all-nighters, maybe three; it felt so good to get everything done even though we lost several hours of sleep.  Situations like this make life fun I think!

Low:  Ridiculous family drama; family drama with extended family, which makes the drama all that more ridiculous in my opinion.  I learned a few things about extended family though, and it's always good to know someone's true character, even if the character turns out to be a hateful one.  

Our little Christmas tree this year!  Also a soccer ball for our cats!

How was your week?

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

XOXO

Find out what High/Low is all about HERE!

MIA Lately

My new reading glasses!

I've been MIA lately, and I am sorry about that.  

I love writing so much, but I'm finding it hard to keep up blogging consistently.

So I'll write when I can and that will have to be good enough for the time being.

I will continue with High/Low every Sunday though!

I do hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! 

XOXOXO

DIY ~ Wrapping Paper

I personally hate buying Christmas paper, mostly because I don't like designs of the affordable paper, and I refuse to pay a ton of money for the good stuff, especially when I can make the good stuff myself.  I love wrapping gifts in Kraft paper and twine, but I wanted to add a bit of holiday color to my wrapping paper this year.

This project was inexpensive and I think the paper turned out great!  

Here's the process:   

Supplies needed:

• Blank paper.  I buy my brown paper rolls at Home Depot in the paint section; you get more for your buck buying the paper at a hardware store. 
• Acrylic paint.  You don't need the expensive stuff for this kind of project, they are around .66 cents at Wal-Mart or a craft store.
• Wooden dowel.  Or any thing you can find laying around the house that is the shape and size you like.  A bottle cork works great, a cap from a 2 liter bottle of soda, or even the lid from your empty milk carton. 
• Fleece.  I used fleece because I wanted a softer texture on my stamp, but you don't need fleece.  Using raw material adds to the texture and feel of your paper.
• A rubber band.  This is to secure the fleece around the dowel. 
• A few paper plates.  These are used to hold your paint and spread out the paint so you can get an even layer of paint onto your homemade stamp.

 

 The process is quite simple:  Using paint is different than using an ink pad.  You'll want to spread out the paint on your paper plate little bits at a time.  You don't want to dollop paint on your wrapping paper, but you need to get enough paint on the surface of your stamp.

Once you get a feel for the amount of paint you need on your stamp you're good to go! 

What I love most about using paint rather than ink is the texture left on the paper.  The paint gives a certain rustic feel to the paper.  I wasn't too concerned about perfection either.

I love that I've created something special and original to wrap my gifts in.  

These special but simple touches adds purpose to gift giving for me, and presentation is everything!

This would be a fun activity for children too!  

Have fun!

XOXO

Week Two - The Fast Diet

It isn't a secret that I've struggled with getting in shape and losing weight, especially since I lost my leg five years ago.  It isn't a secret that I absolutely love delicious food either; I'm also an emotional eater.  I can find any reason to celebrate and enjoy a good meal!  Most of all, it isn't a secret that I'm getting older and it's time to get serious about my health.

My cousin Kandin told me about a diet she's been doing and she's been successful too!  The diet is called The Fast Diet, check out the website HERE!  The diet is really quite simple:  Five days out of the week eat as you normally would (within reason), and two days of the week only eat 500 calories (for women) or 600 calories (for men).  To help you understand the benefits of fasting check out Dr. Mosley's documentary HERE!  I usually hate watching documentaries; it's hard to find one that doesn't have a hidden agenda or one that isn't completely biased.  Dr. Mosley's documentary about fasting shares great information from several different doctors who approach dieting and fasting in different ways, and the diet is about overall health, not just weight loss.

via

Joseph and I started our I.F. diet two weeks ago.  We fast on Mondays and Thursdays, however, our first week of dieting was Thanksgiving so we fasted on Monday and Saturday that week.  Our second week of fasting was harder for me, the excitement wore off a bit and I felt hungry both days.  I feel I should watch the documentary again to re-excite myself as a way to stay motivated.

When my cousin Kandin was telling me about the diet, she said something to me that clicked.  She said, she loved that she really only has to worry about what she's eating on fast days, she doesn't have to stress about what she's eating every day.  For those of us that enjoy eating, calorie counting only two days a week is pretty nice.

Our first week of the I.F. diet we didn't lose weight, but we didn't gain weight either; something to do with enjoying Thanksgiving I think.  Today is the first fast day of our third week, so we weighed ourselves this morning:  In week two I lost 2 pounds and Joseph lost 3!  We're feeling good and we're not discouraged about dieting either!

Have you heard of intermediate fasting before?

What do you think about dieting?

XOXO  

High/Low

High/Low - A Sunday Ritual

High of the week:  Today, Sunday is such a special day.  I was raised in a religious home and Sundays were always a day for worship and family.  Now as an adult, Sundays are just as special but in a different way; I have my own little family to love and cherish, and religion and spirituality are much more personal and intentional as an adult.  I just love Sundays!

Our first Cyber Monday was good to us!  We really didn't know what to expect; selling our blank books and marbled paper is just one facet of what we do at Eidolon House, we were thrilled that people bought our books!

Low of the week:  Bad weather make people do the strangest things.  Coming from Utah, we're used to bad weather and expect it; we know what to do when the power is out, we know how to drive in snowy weather, etc.  I get the feeling snow days in Texas are going to be a little different than snow days were in Utah.  When you live in a place that rarely has to deal with snowy and icy weather the people seem to be unprepared and common sense flies out the window I think.  The front office of our apartment community offered salt to help melt the ice; but we had to go to the main building to get it and they gave us maybe two handfuls.  They also sent a note around to the community stating they would not clear walk ways or stairs at all.  We saw one of our neighbors trying to break the ice up on the road with a 10 pound hand weight, I still can't figure out why he was doing that, and his efforts weren't successful either.  To be fair, the weather went from 68 degrees to well below freezing in one day so the rain turned to heavy ice and there have been a lot of power outages throughout the city and a lot of road and tree damage as well.  No one can be fully prepared for that kind of damage 100% of the time.  We still love you Texas!

River and Willow

      

What is your high and low of the week?

XOXO

Find out what High/Low of the week is all about HERE!

  

Cyber Monday!

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High/Low

High/Low a Sunday ritual.

High of the week:  The obvious high of this past week would be Thanksgiving!  Joseph and I cooked a fantastic meal together; we stayed home and enjoyed the day!  We missed our families and friends back in Utah terribly, but we are one couple who knows how to celebrate, and enjoy life in almost any situation.  

We also took a drive this afternoon to Ray Roberts State Park; we took many pictures of the beautiful Fall colors too.  (See our pictures on J&J Chronicles HERE!)

Low of the week:  My husband got sick Friday and is still feeling a bit weird today.  Joseph rarely gets sick, so I worry when something is wrong with him.   Who really likes worrying about their man, right? Bleh!

A few photos from our drive today!

Our leftovers the day after Thanksgiving!  Yummy! 

What about you?

What is your high and low of the week?

XOXO

Find out what High/Low is all about HERE!