How I spent my day off

I am quite a lazy person. I think sloth is probably my biggest deadly sin - although I can score quite highly on most of them if I put my mind to it. And I am very good at berating myself for all my deadly sins, rather than looking at what I have achieved and trying to amend my bad habits.
So in some ways I didn't do very much yesterday but in others I did so I thought that if I wrote it down that would help

• several loads of washing (5 0r 6) either put away or washed and dried. Actually I have just realised that the whites are still in the dryer which means I will have to iron some shirts. horlicks.
• cleaned and tidied downstairs loo and conservatory and also washed floor in sitting room. (Please let our next house have wooden floors)
• Did a few work emails and highlighted others to deal with today - which I have!
  
• Worked on my second set of 4 canvasses. Have a bit of a problem with these as having merrily stuck down paper in a slapdash way with multi medium (which I was sure is what we did in a class I took) I have discovered it is acting as a resist and is an ugly looking rim around the paper. Each canvas is now having a different treatment to try and hide it. Horlicks is not what I said when I discovered this.
• booked two holidays - one near number one son so we can spend some time with him and the others can see where he lives; the other near my parents so we can join in the 80th birthday celebrations when they arise.
• Finished two layouts (see below)
• Watched movie with family - Nativity! and Glee (not so keen on the second series and am close to muting Lea Michelle as she makes my ears bleed. No offence)
• Spent far too much time sitting on my backside on the computer.

but it was not so bad was it?
I can see that what was missing was

• quiet devotional time. I do struggle with this. I feel really bad as I should be able to concentrate on long times of quiet prayer surely? However I am 45 now and I still haven't caught the knack so I need to truly find what works for me. Which I think is spending more moments in quick prayer and contemplation - a bit like one of my fave hymns (we don't usually sing it like this but all the organ versions had VERY loud organ and quiet singing and I rather like this). Being a "good" Christian does not come easy and at the points that it does, well, that can sometimes be a sign that things are not actually healthy either (although there are some really blessed saints who have their act together!). I preached on Sunday about it being "all about Jesus" - not John the baptist, or us - that success or failure is not just about how good/bad we are. I've found that phrase has stuck with me this week and as next Sunday I am leading worship at two other Churches and the readings follow on, I think more will be said along those lines then.
  
• exercise and fresh air. I've been having a few annoying health issues and so am not throwing myself around like an idiot at the moment but I really ought to do something - even if it is taking a reluctant dog for a walk. Yes I ahve the only dog who is pulling to go home after 100 yards...

so lets see how I do on my next proper day off which won't be next week as I have a funeral in the middle of it!
Phew this is getting long and I haven't shared the crafty makes yet. I am waiting to take another funeral. It is hard to settle to anything on those days so I have been catching up on emails and looking at the lessons and ideas for Sunday (and wittering on in this blog)

Layouts then...
This one is about Phil being on a boat when they did an Air Sea rescue exercise. I suppose it could have been Prince William!
Papers: Echo Park; Bazzill white card stock
Embellishments: sassafrass (stickers) ; maya road (flower) ; prima (gem)
Lettering: American Crafts; Making memories; Cosmo Cricket
Tools: Nestabilities circle and label; Fiskars scallop punch; Sewing machine (either I need a new needle or to give up trying to sew on layouts)
Distress Inks - blues and greens used together;
Turquoise glimmer mist

And this one uses the photo that Phil photoshopped in December
Do you know this is the first non holiday or Salt layout that I have to put into an album since April 2010? I ahve made others - for the competition - and I hope they will be returned. But that is quite something. it takes me a year usually to finish the summer holiday album which is fine by me as it tends to be about moments or reflections on the family rather than events or a linear documenting of the hols.
This was based on an old Sketchy thursday sketch, originally for two photos. I am usually good at working out how much space I need for journalling. This was an epic fail...
I am fed up with just using all papers from the same manufacturer and also feel I am good with using loads of papers in different ways but rubbish at adding embellishments so I actually went through lots of paper selections to try and find colours that fit and having a pile of potential bits to use too. Kind of worked! The star tag is really the wrong colour so I might take it out and paint it a bit. Or leave it. The flower was white as was the little paper ric rac but I used the scarlet glimmer mist to paint them.

papers: Bazzil Cardstock; Basic Grey Junebug and Ambrosia: Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo
Embellishments: papermania brad and metal tags; corner and "family" plate from Costco kit; prima flower; Doodelbug paper trim; acrylic shape from a Gottacraft kit
Lettering: basic grey boxer
Tools: papertrey Ink die scallop die; nestabilities circle; Cuttlebug embossing folder
distress ink - Pumice Stone Glimmer mist - Scarlet

And the song still plays in my head every time I look at this photo!
And what do you know - I just went to see the intro to possibly link to the photo and you see the group walking sideways; individual headshots and a back view and never en masse towards you like this. Its an iconic shot that never was...
Hmmm got to be a sermon in that somewhere (yes ministers really do think that way!)

By the way - thanks for all the lovely comments on the last post - they make me all warm and fuzzy!