Lately, I’ve been…

listening to

-Podcasts….I go in fits and spurts with podcasts. I get really behind, and then I catch up on them all at once when I do things like a painting project.

In my subscription list right now:

• Before Breakfast (Laura Vanderkam)
• How to Money
• Solid Joys
• Do You Even Blog?

-On the music front: The Japanese House, which Lisey thought I might like. And I do. The Japanese House is an English indie pop band (I think it’s just one person, though), and I like the relaxing feel of the music.

I am normally a person who is big on the lyrics of songs, but honestly, I have no idea what any of these songs are about lyrically. I just like the sound!

watching

The Crown, of course. Sonia and I finished season four.

A few notes:

• I know The Crown is fiction, but I did some reading and, um, how in the world did I not know that Charles and Diana were troubled from the very beginning? I’d always thought that they were madly in love, at least at first. Which is, I suppose, what we the public were supposed to think.
• Emma Corrin is amazing as Diana!
• Episode 5, the one where the dude breaks into the palace, has a lot of f-bombs (just so you are not surprised.) Usually the language level on The Crown is pretty mild, but this episode was an exception.
• Sonia and I are sad that we have to get used to a whole new set of actors next season. We had just now finally adjusted to this group. Sigh.

reading

In The Crown-related news, we got the brand new HRH royal fashion book from the library and it is super fun to read/look through. I ostensibly put it on hold for Sonia, but I am enjoying it too! 

I put Diana: Her True Story on hold at the library because now we are a little bit obsessed with learning more about Diana.

I’m reading The Screwtape Letters, because somehow I never read this C.S. Lewis classic. And I recently finished A Grief Observed.

I finished Glitter and Glue, by Kelly Corrigan. She’s such a good writer; very honest, and she manages to be both deep and entertaining. This one is a memoir that is mainly about Kelly and her mom, but is also about motherhood and daughterhood in general.

(I feel like that sentence does a terrible job of explaining what this book is about, but I suppose that is why no one has ever hired me to write book jacket copy. (!!) Books are seriously hard to summarize.)

shopping for:

Last time I did a “lately” post (in October), I was shopping for a bookshelf for Sonia. And since then, I got a free one, which is now painted and installed in Sonia’s room.

mid-project, obviously

I really need to take pictures of it so I can show you!

So, what am I shopping for lately, now that I’ve moved on from bookshelves?

Well, obviously I am doing some Christmas shopping. And part of that involved buying a blue Christmas tree.

I have never, ever bought a fake Christmas tree, much less a blue one. But I’ll show you what we’re doing with that once we get it all set up.

I will say, this is going to be even more unusual than our Christmas tree from last year:

Lisey named our 2019 tree Clay, which makes me laugh even now.

Also: I shopped for candy eyeballs yesterday because we plan to do our annual Christmas cookie decorating this coming Sunday. 

Christmas always seems to involve googly eyes at our house, and I love it. My kids make me laugh!

What have you been reading, watching, listening to, or shopping for lately?