What I've been up to recently

With the end of the month and also the school term approaching, I thought I'd share some of the things that I've been up to lately.

Reading

I have several excellent books lately which I shared in detail last week. The Book of Form and Emptiness, Cloud Cuckoo Land and The Count of Monte Cristo are all long and involved reads but books where I enjoyed every page. 

I am making very good progress with my to be read pile, and in fact I am getting very close to finishing it! I will have a few options soon, either a trip to the library to pick up some more recently published books, a second-hand shop at Wob for some of the books on my 'want to read' list or re-visiting some of the excellent books on my shelves that I haven't read for a while. 

Watching

I don't seem to watch much television or film these days, now that the children go to bed later we don't have the energy to stay up late watching anything! We nearly went to the cinema to see the new Ant Man film but the reviews weren't great so we decided to wait for it to hit Disney+.

We did tick The Northman off our list which we've been meaning to watch for a while. I like stories about the Vikings and it was pretty good, it's based on an ancient story which also inspired Hamlet with lots of gore. 

As a family we've been watching The Mandalorian on Disney+ which might as well now be called The Baby Yoda Show! It's one that we all enjoy watching but I can't help feeling that they are aiming this season more at the younger children that have been enticed in by the cute Grogu, he's definitely getting more screen time than the other characters!

I do have a couple of documentaries lined up to watch when I get the chance - Finding Michael (Disney+) and TikTok, Boom (Amazon Prime). I'm hoping that the children will watch the TikTok one with me, I'm anti-TikTok so I'm keen to pass that sentiment on to the children before they get sucked in!

Crafting

I've been very busy crafting this month which has felt good. I got all my crafty bits and pieces out to make this homemade felt Easter bunting which I'm really proud of.

I've also been using the sewing machine and making a dent in my fabric stash. I made these drawstring bags to give as gifts on our upcoming cruise:

I also attempted an eye mask to wear on the plane. It was quite a fiddly project and I made a bit of a pig's ear of it - I made so many mistakes and had to keep unpicking it with the result that it kept getting smaller and smaller as I re-sewed it over and over! It does the job though and now that I know how to make one I'll be having a go at some more. 

Next I want to try crumb patchwork which is a way of using up tiny leftover scraps of fabric, and I also have some more Easter crafting lined up, in particular some felt crafts. 

Eating

Mia and I have been enjoying making waffles this month using the waffle plates in our sandwich toaster. They haven't all been massively successful as I find they keep sticking, but practice makes perfect! I've also been making lots of soup to keep me warm and I've been enjoying different meals with wraps including what I call 'TikTok Wraps' (maybe TikTok is good for something!)

Working on

I have been working on reducing my screen time. I discovered Reddit when I was researching bullet journals and before long I was sucked in, subscribing to loads of subreddits and getting distracted by many more. I also have trouble staying away from the news sites - BBC news and we also have a Telegraph and a Times subscription. So I've been trying to keep away and also attempting to keep my focus on things like writing blog posts without getting distracted and clicking away to Twitter.

Planning

I'm still using my bullet journal very successfully. I'm finding it really helpful for getting recurring household tasks ticked off and also for keeping track of birthdays and other important dates. Every Sunday afternoon Harry has a piano lesson at our house and so the half hour slot to sit at the kitchen table and do my planning for the next two weeks.

Feeling proud of

I'm pleased that I've been getting myself out for regular runs when it's been so cold lately. I only missed one recently when it was both freezing and raining. I'm also very proud of both my children, they work so hard for school. 

Looking forward to

I am very much looking forward to the Easter holidays when we are jetting off to enjoy some warmer weather! Hopefully by the time we are back the temperatures here will have warmed up a bit and I can work on getting the garden ready for the summer.