Lately I've been...

Reading

I've been doing so, so much reading! I've been making a huge effort to get through my stash of Kindle books. Our Prime membership is brilliant for filling up my Kindle - I get at least one free book each month as part of the First Reads promotion and the Prime Reading library lets you borrow ten books at a time from a really good selection of recent and older titles. Along with the many free Kindle books already available on Amazon I had amassed quite a collection, and because I couldn't physically see them I never found myself inspired to read them.

So I wrote myself a list which really helped me to visualise the scale of the problem, then I started reading and ticked them off with a flourish each time I finished one. I started with the low hanging fruit, mainly children's books and modern chick lit type books which I can read very quickly. I'm pleased to say that I'm now down to only four unread Kindle books! I've just started The Three Musketeers though which I can see is going to hold me up a bit, it's not difficult to read it's just very long!

Some of my recent favourites - The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams, Karitas Untitled by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir, The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett (free classic) and Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup (free classic). 

Photo credit felipepelaquim via Unsplash

Watching

When we have had time around the football we are working through The Rings of Power which we are watching as a family. It's not bad, it's not as good as the Lord of the Rings films but it's quite watchable. There's also a new series of Monkey Life which Mia loves as she's a big fan of Monkey World where she has an adopted gibbon. My husband and I also watched The Crown which we enjoyed although I'm finding it less interesting as it approaches more recent history. I preferred the earlier seasons where a lot of the history was new to me, and it didn't matter so much if the actors didn't look like the real life people.

Crafting

I've had the paints out and I've been decorating some blank wooden Christmas decorations to add to our seasonal stash. I'm also planning to get the Hama beads out tonight - I have a few new crafts in mind!

Planning

I recently started a Bullet Journal along with Mia and we've been having a lovely time making all sorts of plans for the rest of the year and the next. I've been using the system for a few weeks now and I'm finding that it works really well for me. I've been listing out all the things that I want to achieve next year - craft projects, home projects, housework routines, books to read, exercise tracking and so on. It's definitely helping me to feel more organised.

Eating

I'm trying to cut down and to make some healthier choices at the moment - it's not easy at this time of year! On Black Friday I treated myself to a new soup maker after my old one sadly died. I do love a soup maker - I don't follow a recipe I just throw stuff in and see what happens and luckily it has always worked out well. My husband is cutting back too which has made things a lot easier, we've not been filling the house up with the usual pre-Christmas chocolate tubs, biscuit boxes and mince pies. I won't be holding back over the actual Christmas period though!

Feeling proud of

Harry for passing his Grade 3 Music Theory exam and Mia for passing her Grade 2 Flute practical exam. They both worked really hard and I'm so impressed with their progress. 

Looking forward to

The end of term, not long to go now! And then two lovely weeks at home with no school run, packed lunches or uniform to wash before what will hopefully be a fun Christmas period.