Five Things Friday. Maybe.

Do I have five things to mention here? It's January (that doesn't count) and it seems like life quiets down in January. It's winter (that doesn't count either) so we tend to have more white space in the calendar which if I'm honest, and I always am, we need. December was full. In a good way but full nonetheless, so a little bit of breathing space is welcome.

Okay, five things.

1. Are you watching the new season of American Idol? I didn't watch last year, or much the year before that, because judging had reached the point of absurd. It's a new combination this year, and I think it just might work. I love that they're not showing a lot of the really terrible auditions, those poor people you feel embarrassed for, who insist they can sing because everyone has told them so, or at least that's how they interpreted it.  Keith Urban is back this year, and I have no complaints about Keith Urban. Plus they've added Harry Connick Jr and he's got wit and style and actual musical knowledge, so it could be good.

2. Wednesday I went on a little outing with friends to a nearby glass studio. We got our craft on. Well some of us did, and some of us tried. The projects were fused glass, so a little bit like mosaic or a stained glass piece. You laid out bits of glass into whatever design you wanted, then cut and glued before handing over to the studio for firing in their kiln.

I am not talented when it comes to stuff like this. I'm good at copying something, but not as good at envisioning something myself. Also, I'm a little bit messy, ahem, and the glue on my fingers took me back to my days as a kindergarten teacher...."Just a little dot boys and girls."

I decided to make coasters, and to keep it simple went with Christmas colors.  A lot of the glass choices were pinks and light blues which don't go with my decor, but Christmas colors work. In keeping with a familiar motto here, my design was a bit of a hodgepodge. In other words, abstract art-ha!

Shhh! Don't tell my hubs, but I had to actually cut glass. With a tool! Rest assured no one was injured in the making of these coasters. We won't get them back for another week, so I'll post an after picture then. Supposedly this all melts down into something beautiful. We shall see.

3. My women's Bible Study group started back up this past week and I'm always glad to get back into the routine there.

So. Remember my word for 2014? Yeah. Guess what Bible Study we're doing?

Walking By Faith. 

I'm not even kidding. It's a study by Jennifer Rothschild, and I'm really looking forward to it. Unafraid. Walking by Faith. Pretty sure those two things go hand in hand.

4.  One of the last things I un-do after Christmas is my Christmas card display. I have a holder in my kitchen for regular cards, and then I hang all the photo cards on our back stairs. I absolutely love walking by there several times a day during the month of December, seeing all the familiar faces from around the globe looking back at me....makes me so sad to take it down in January.

So what do you do with your Christmas cards at the end of the season? I know they can be sent to St. Jude's, or I could put them into an album of some sort, but let's not kid ourselves with that one. I'm still trying to catch up on scrapbooks from the 1990's!

This year I'm stealing an idea from a blogger I follow, Stephanie at The Honey Pot. She's adorable and wise, and you should hop over and visit, because she also has a pretty amazing story. Anyway, she posted this idea on Instagram and I knew I wanted to do the same. Here's the deal...each week in 2014 you select someone's card and pray for that person/family every day of that one week.

We received about 100 cards, so I've added two names per week, but you can do whatever works for you. It's not a challenge or a link up, it's just an idea, but it's one I'm excited about. Our friends and family really are scattered far and wide. Praying for them by name is a way of keeping them close in heart.

5.  In other happy news, Daughter1 is coming home for the weekend. She has the day off work on Monday, which makes it all just a little bit sweeter. No real plans, but I'm sure we'll get into something.

Okay, that's five. I don't know why I spend any time wondering if I can meet a particular number. If someone wanted to do a 500 on Friday link up, I could probably manage that too. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Linking up with 5 on Friday-

And Friday Fragments too, because that's a nice place to be on a Friday in blogland.