Or: Alternative ways to mark gratefulness, habits and accomplishments.
I was going to use a jar from my small stash but bought one at The Container Store. Of course, any jar would do, right? A spaghetti sauce or an olive jar would be nice. Others may want to start with a pint jar, so they get to see their goals or progress more quickly. One of those candle jars would be great. A tiny little jelly jar might be just the ticket for someone! (Last year I learned that if you put your pungent jars in the sun for a couple of days, the food smells go away. A tip for anyone who needs a jar.)
The marbles: Starting with two little packs from Hobby Lobby, I put them in an older bowl from a thrift shop and placed some yellow/yellow and white ones in the jar for six ducklings that were in my yard. Over the days, I moved the set up around and ended up with them within easy view.
Many are from Mega-Marbles who do color sets for nature, outer space, etc. The orange represents my husband (his favorite color), black or white with black swirls are morning coffee, teal green is yoga, emerald green for walks. These came from Hobby Town, but they are also available from Amazon. There are some good online shops, but marbles aren’t as popular in the brick-and-mortar stores, which is my observation.
I told my friend (also my “career mom”) about my marbles, and she loved the idea. She said she used to collect marbles as a kid. I told another friend about my marbles, and he told me about one of the games they used to play back in the ‘50s.
It is definitely a good conversation starter if you so choose. There have been some tough moments, but it is successful so far. Each day, my goal is to move marbles from the bowl to the jar, and I am trying to be realistic about the time it takes while enjoying the process.
Dedicated to my bus stop friend, J.
Effie Sue's Closet 