Foreign Language Magazines to Use as Gift Wrap and Gift Tags

I snatched this from a free pile over the weekend.

We were returning home-I was tired-We passed a free pile in front of someone's home-One daughter asked if we could turn around-I obliged.

My daughter was after a pair of roller blades in the pile. My other daughter saw some bottles that she thought would make good sketching pieces. I just sat in the car and waited for the two of them to finish fishing through someone's trash free pile. One of them knocked on the window and said there were some cookbooks and crafting stuff. Okay. Got me. I'm not hugely keen on handling stuff that really does look like it could use a good washing up. Lucky me, though, this magazine was at the top of a stack.

Besides the fact that the photography in the magazine is truly beautiful, what makes a foreign language magazine or book so suitable for use in crafting, gift wrap or gift tags is that with text in another language, it adds to, rather than distracts from, the decorative aspect.

Do you remember the small, squat canning jars that I picked up on clearance a month ago? I mentioned they would become part of this Christmas's gifting, using some for beeswax candles. I'm thinking that maybe some of those jars would be nice filled with homemade mustard. Pages from this magazine would make nice wrapping for kitchen-inspired gifts.

Even the pages which are mostly text have decorative appeal.

When You Find Yourself Walking in the Darkness, Carry a Flashlight and Grab Onto Someone's Hand

A "flashlight" can come in many forms. For a person of faith, a flashlight might be their book of faith. I know for me, reading scriptures from my faith steadies me. My Bible is my main flashlight. There can be smaller flashlights to carry in the darkness, along with the main one.  In addition to having my words of faith to hold on to, I also am spending time with my thoughts, through journaling.  I recently began a very simple and brief journal.

What makes this journal effective is:

• It is very brief, no more than 2 sentences in the morning and 2 sentences at night. In fact, they needn't even be complete sentences. I can use phrases and keywords in place of sentences, if that is all I have. 
• It is a routine of twice per day, in the morning and in the evening. The routine works for me.
• The morning entry sets up my day.  In 1 or 2 sentences, I write my hope for the day. It can be a plan for something specific that day, like ordering new socks, or spending an hour with a family member. Or it can be more vague, like trying to only say positive things for the day. Because the morning entry is so brief and simple, I can easily check with myself, as the day is progressing, as to whether or not I am or have fulfilled my hope.
• The evening entry pushes me to reflect on the good from the day. In 1 or 2 sentences, I identify either a pleasant moment, an accomplishment, or a realization from the day. It's a gratitude entry.

Anyway, this is part of what I am doing to pull myself out of a dark place. Last week, you all reached your hands out to me, and I grabbed on. Thank you.