November - Lately I've been...

I thought it was time for a little catch up of what I've been up to lately! So here's a November update

Thinking about - I've been spending a lot of time working on my blog, going back and updating new posts, especially thinking about Pinterest, and realising that it's probably time to be a bit less tight and start to invest some money into the blog to help me out a bit with some of the tasks that need to be done in addition to writing the posts, which is the part that I enjoy the most.

I'm also starting to think about Christmas, putting aside a few little stocking fillers and planning some festive activities as well as gifts that the children can make for others.

Worrying about - The children seem to be settling well at their new school, but it is still taking a little longer than I'd hoped, especially for Harry. With a two week half-term holiday I also got very behind with my work, I hadn't realised quite how much I rely on the time when the children are at school to get on with things!

Crafting - My Sky Blanket continues and I'm still enjoying working on it. I've also been taking the first steps towards some Christmas crafting, and I've been making some little crafty videos for a couple of brands. I studied Media Studies A-Level and I really loved the video editing that we did as part of the course - back then I never would have thought that I could end up with a job making videos that companies would actually pay me for! Here are my glittery napkin rings in collaboration with Bostik:

I also enjoyed taking part in the Halloween celebrations in our village, lots of people put in a great deal of effort to decorate their houses and the children had a great time going around and seeing them all. I made a little Halloween window display and carved some pumpkins, and now I'm thinking about how I can make our decorations bigger and better for next year!

Watching - We've just started watching Westworld, we are only a few episodes in but it's looking like it's going to be a good one. We binge watched Stranger Things a few weeks back which was excellent, and at the cinema last week we watched Doctor Strange.

Eating - Far too much over the school holidays! I was doing very well at cutting back during the school term, then we went away and ended up eating out a lot and with the children at home I find it more difficult to stay away from the biscuit tin. We did a food order from nife is life which is where we buy our pizza flour from, and to make up the order for free postage we had to add a few extra bits, which were mainly biscuits, and so along with all the additional pizza that we've been eating there have been a few too many calories consumed lately!

Travelling to - We were out and about a lot over half-term with a holiday to Center Parcs Whinfell, time with family in Warwick, an outing to Birmingham and a day trip to London. I'll be sharing more about the Center Parcs holiday shortly on the blog, we had a lovely time.

Reading - I keep my Kindle topped up with free books and those that I find on special offer. Recently I read The Photographer's Wife by Nick Alexander which was excellent, and I'm currently enjoying Silver Bay by Jojo Moyes which is also very good. Next up is Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown which I'm looking forward to (Amazon affiliate links).

Listening to - We went to watch the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical last week, which was brilliant, and so we have spent most of our car travelling time lately listening to the soundtrack. We recently bought the Amazon Echo which has taken up residence in our kitchen, and while sceptical at first I'm really enjoying how easy it is to listen to music through Spotify hands free, I can just tell it what I want to listen to. So I'm revisiting some of my teenage music while I make packed lunches and dinner in the evening, with a bit of Pulp, Manic Street Preachers and Space.

Planning - Being in the middle of still catching up with blog work from the half-term holiday I'm making sure that everything is planned in advance ready for Christmas, going back and updating old Christmas posts ready for re-sharing and trying to schedule as much as I can so that I don't need to spend to much time on it while the children are off school.

Looking forward to - Christmas! I do love the build up to Christmas especially with the children in school and Nativity plays, Christmas fairs, carol singing and so on as well as crafting at home, putting up the decorations, making gingerbread houses - so much to look forward to!

What have you been up to lately?