November - Lately I've been...

I can't believe it's November already! October was a very busy month, and with a two week half term we were lucky enough to enjoy an amazing holiday with the children. We spent a week in Hong Kong and a week in Singapore and it was such a great holiday, I'll be sharing many of our adventures on the blog over the next few weeks.

So here's what I've been up to lately.

Thinking about

Everything that we needed to get sorted for the holiday. I got quite anxious in the last few days before we went away, trying to make sure that not only was the packing done, that the house was also clean, the fridge was emptied, all homework was completed in advance and all the uniform was washed, not to mention getting content scheduled in for my blog and other social media channels. It was exhausting!

Crafting

After finishing a pink and white granny square blanket for Mia, Harry implied that he'd rather like one too. I have plenty of white yarn left over, and I found a few balls of green and blue that I let him choose from. I'll be alternating rows of colour and white, and when it has reached the size of a nice big square I'll add a few extra rows along two sides to make it a little more rectangular. I like this sort of blanket because once you get going it's really easy and you don't have to concentrate too hard, I can work on it in front of the television or while catching up on YouTube.

The start of a new crochet project, and this time it's a blanket for my son. He chose the colours and I wasn't sure at first, but now that I've used each one I think they will work. Just need to get in the habit of sewing in those ends as I go along! #epig #craftingismytherapy_october #crochet #crochetblanket #grannysquares #grannysquareblanket

A post shared by jenniferjain (@jenniferjain) on Oct 10, 2017 at 5:50am PDT

I've also been working with a book that I was sent to review - The Line. It's a book designed to spark your creativity and it's been quite fun to work through, I still have quite a way to go though!

Watching

I've not had much time for watching anything, as I've been busy working most evenings. I did enjoy The Child in Time, although it wasn't quite as good as I was hoping. The book made a massive impression on me when I studied it for my A-Levels, and I felt that the television adaptation just didn't even make a dent in the material. I've re-read the book since watching it, and it's so much better! I'm very much looking forward to seeing the new Thor film when we manage to make the time to go and see it!

Eating

When we travel we definitely don't seek out adventurous eating experiences. We are all quite fussy, myself less so perhaps, but when it comes to the children we definitely have to stick to something familiar. We ate breakfast in Starbucks most mornings and I've definitely eaten more than my fair share of cake over the last couple of weeks!

Travelling to

We visited Singapore ten years ago and loved it, but the Singapore that we've just returned from was almost unrecognisable, it's changed so much! The skyline is completely different with some amazing buildings, and there were only a couple of times that I was reminded of our previous trip. Singapore is a brilliant place to visit with children as there is so much to do. Hong Kong was also fantastic, I didn't really know what it would be like and it far surpassed expectations. We spent two days at Hong Kong Disneyland which was fab, and then saw the other main sights. We are definitely considering returning to Asia for our next big holiday!

Reading

I've actually been doing a lot of reading lately! We have an Amazon Prime account, and if we choose the standard delivery we get Kindle credit. It all adds up, and I've been able to 'buy' quite a few new books. I've read three books - My Sister's Bones by Nuala Ellwood, Blood Sisters by Jane Corry and
After I've Gone by Linda Green. They were all pretty much the same type of book, good thrillers with a twist at the end, although they do all have elements of violence against women, something that I've noticed in all the recent books that I've read lately. Not sure whether that's because those sorts of books are generally popular at the moment, or whether it's just the books that I'm drawn to based on the cover and description.

I was also lucky enough to receive a big pile of books for my birthday which I'll be working my way through. They are mainly non fiction books, so a bit of a change, and also the new Philip Pullman book which I know Harry will enjoy too.

Planning

After all the time I spent planning before we went away, both for the holiday itself and all the associated blog and social media stuff, it was really nice to be able to relax and get away from it all! Now that we are back the countdown to Christmas has definitely started, so I'm going to be busy getting that all sorted, especially organising the calendar which always fills up at this time of year!

Looking forward to

I love the build up to Christmas, even though it can get a bit busy and hectic. Actually my favourite part is those few days once the children have finished school and all the excitement that goes along with that, and we can spend a bit of family time together before the big day.

What have you been up to lately?