life according to three j. sisters - weddings, parties, lifestyle.
It’s officially pumpkin season! I don’t know whether to rejoice because of all the cozy feels, or cry, because when falls arrives, winter is just around the corner. My daughter has been wanting to make donuts, so we spent some time in the kitchen, and used pumpkin as the main ingredient.
This recipe is really easy because it involves a box of cake mix. You donut want to miss this one – get the kids involved, too!
Recipe and directions for these Baked Pumpkin Donuts are at Momtastic.
Moments you are grateful for in your everyday life should be noted. Whether you write it down, type in into your phone, or record it in a gratitude journal, take the time to do it. With this continued practice, your mind and energy vibrations will shift. Your perspective will change. Negativity will find it’s way to the door, and a lighter, happier heart will be full of joy.
The list does not need to be profound, and there’s no wrong answer. It will challenge you on the worst of days. And, on the best days, it will come easy. My {Jessica’s} list this past week included gratitude for two weeks in a row of bright and warm sunshine, no snow on the ground in early November, a good glass of wine shared with friends, a moment of great hope for our country, a phone conversation with my elderly and sick grandpa, kisses from my children in the morning and a husband that loves to cuddle, even when I don’t.
Oprah, a firm believer in a gratitude journal, is quoted as saying, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, never have enough.” We couldn’t agree more.
Yes, it’s true that circumstances are a reality, life can be really, unbearably hard, and our hearts can actually break. But, the one thing we can control is our attitude and the way we look at all the moments in our life. With a grateful mind and heart, life is more likely to have a beautiful view.
We have an easy and cute DIY for you to note all the things you’re thankful for in your life on a daily basis. It’s a DIY list pad; a I’m Grateful for List Pad, to be exact. The scroll means the list can go on and on, and it’s decorated with faux marble and Rifle Paper Co. paper, so it’s pretty to look at…which means it can be carried around with you, or left in a public area of your house.
Here’s how we did it!
Materials:
Directions:
Step 1: Cut wood to dimensions you want. Our wood is about 3 inches x 15 inches. Home Depot was amazing and did it for us in-store for free. Gather all other materials.
Step 2: Cut copper coil with pliers. Measure {eyeball method} the amount you will need for a U shape to reach from the left side of the wood to the right. Test out the width of the copper on the wood, and trim it down if need be. We liked the copper to hang down from the top of the wood in a U shape, so we could include the vinyl text on top.
Step 3: Gently bend the copper in a U shape. Do not bend it into a V because it is difficult to re-shape. This step is easy, and even small muscles can do it. Use the pliers to flatten both sides of the copper so it aligns right next to each edge of the wood.
Step 4: Use a drill with a small metal bit to make small holes on each side of the copper, in the center of the flat part. Press down firmly as you drill so it doesn’t move in the middle of your drilling.
Step 5: Align the copper piping just the way it will sit on the wood. Use a pencil to mark the spot on each side of the wood, so you will know where to drill the holes to screw it in place.
Step 6: Drill ‘pilot’ holes in the wood on the pencil marks. Do not drill the entire length of the screw, only about ¼ size of the screw, so you can screw in the screws the remainder of the way. Pilot holes guarantee your screw won’t break off and your wood won’t split.
Step 7: Insert one end of the copper piece through the center of the thermal paper roll and push it until the paper roll is on the center of your U-shaped copper piece. Make sure the paper roll {the way it rolls out on the wood} lies flat on the wood, which will be easier to write on.
Step 8: Align each end of the copper to the holes on each side of the wood, and screw the small screws into the holes.
Step 9: Trace the wood on the back of the Rifle Paper Co. wrapping paper and the faux marble. Add an angle on the top for a color-block effect. For the marble, cut the piece out, remove the backing and stick onto the wood. For the wrapping paper, cut it out, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the wood and the back of the wrapping paper. Place it on the wood and use a straight edge to make sure there are no bubbles. You can add a layer on Mod Podge on top of the paper if you want. We chose not to.
Step 10: Design a Grateful for design on the Silhouette Software. Follow the vinyl instructions on the box, and look at a previous post here to see how we do it. Add the vinyl on the top of the wood.
Step 11: Pull the paper down to the bottom of the wood. Wrap the hair tie around the bottom of the wood to keep the paper in place.
Step 12: Begin to reflect and write down all that your grateful for. Make it a part of your daily routine and it will change your life for the better. Do it once a day, twice a day or three times a day – just do it. Thanksgiving is a great time to start.
We interrupt the usual DIY, cutesy post today to keep it real with y’all.
Just like everyone, life behind the scenes (or blog) is as real as everyone else in the world and we have good days and bad. With Thanksgiving coming up we’ve had time to reflect and feel like sharing. We hope you share your stories of gratitude {the loss and pain that go with it, too} with us, too. Send us an email at hello@jsorelle.com.
No one ever said life was easy. We just didn’t know it was going to be so hard.
As we look at the big picture, yes we are alive and life is good. We all have a place to call home, wonderful and supportive parents, beautiful children, 2 out of 3 amazing husbands, love and each other. At the end of the day, it’s those little things that matter.
But that doesn’t mean we haven’t cried everyday, felt anxiety paralyze our bodies, mourned, felt like we were hit by a bus, prayed on our knees and worried until we lost sleep.
In just one year, we have mourned the loss of our grandma, come to grips with our grandpa’s Parkinson’s diagnosis, tried to make sense of a family member who we loved that lived a double life and deceived and hurt us beyond what our wildest dreams could have imagined, learned the pain and heartache of a divorce first-hand, been shocked by the loss of a dear friend and family member, and heard the stop-in-our-tracks, heartbreaking diagnosis of ‘childhood epilepsy’ of one of our own from a hospital room.
To be honest, some days it’s been hard not to hate and it feels impossible to forgive.
We are not complaining because we know there are stories of hardship and pain that are unfathomable, and for those of you who are in the midst of it, or through it, our hearts go out to you.
A wise friend once said, “When someone’s asks how I am, if I’m good, I say, I’m in between problems…because life has bumps in the road, and in between the bumps, life is good.” In between our ‘bumps’ this year, we have watched our children laugh and grow, witnessed the joy of a 1-year-old take his first steps, help our parents celebrate their 37th wedding anniversary, held each other close, felt the unconditional love of family by our side, laughed until we cried with friends and celebrated the pure joy of a pregnancy announcement (followed by morning sickness).
So are we grateful for his year? Yes. Do we wish it went down differently? Hell, yes. But we will take each breath, step and hope we can muster because at the end of the day, that’s all we have! We have grown closer to God this year and pray we’ve reached our heartbreak limit for the year.
After all this, what we know to be true is that everyday we have a choice. Do we wake up with anger in our hearts, scour at the world and the people who hurt us, hold on to life the way it was? Or, do we wake up with grateful hearts, accept life and who we are, choose to smile, remain humble and kind? We choose the latter {most days}, and that will save us. We will not take love for granted.
We’ve discovered that love, faith and family can get us through it…it doesn’t hurt to have awesome sisters by our side either.
We hope you find gratefulness in your heart this Thanksgiving. Lord knows we’ll be crying, praying and giving thanks as we go around and talk about what we’re grateful for at the table this year.
Keep us in your prayers, and we’ll do the same for you.
Thanks for listening.
If you do one thing this weekend, have a good, grateful day. The kind that you view as if it were your first day alive, and your last day alive – where your eyes are open to the beauty around you…and your have a grateful heart. Maybe you have the opportunity to do one nice thing for someone. Maybe you have some extra time to stare at the clouds and beautiful buds popping up around you. Maybe its a simple as waking up with a grateful heart that you have one more day alive. Maybe its a simple as enjoying a cup of coffee while smiling and breathing in the amazing aroma. Whatever it may be, choose to be grateful this weekend…and we plan to do the same.
Yes, I did just get all sappy on you! I can’t help it – I am sick in bed, and I’m always so emotional when sick. This video really had an impact on me. So, I hope you take the time to watch it too and practice gratefulness.
{video via YouTube}