Real Life, Right Now

I’ve been a bit MIA lately as I take a bit of an unplanned blogging break and recharge my creative batteries. Here’s a quick look at what I’ve been up to today:

Waiting…for my husband to return from a business trip (in just a few minutes).

Eating…tomato soup with Saltine minis. A favorite from childhood.

Making…lots of different Christmas tree ornaments. I’ll write more about this next week, but here’s a preview:

Listening…to the kids at the school by my house play outside at recess. My grouchy neighbor complains to me about “all the commotion” but it makes me happy to hear the kids laughing and shouting.

Learning…to cross stitch. A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to try cross stitching and now I’m completely hooked! So far I’ve made a little kiddie kit (to get the basics down) and a small Bitcoin logo that I designed and made for my husband to hang on the wall of his office. Now I’m working on a ri-DONK-ulously cute pattern called Gingerbread Lane from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. It’s a stitch-along project so I only have the first part of the pattern at the moment but I’m loving it. Here’s what it looks like right this second:

That little penguin is killing me.

Compiling…a list of cookies to bake for Christmas this year. I love Christmas cookies more than just about any dessert and I like making a variety of recipes so I can make up boxes to gift to friends. We always have old family favorites like iced sugar cookies (my #1 most favorite), cream cheese spritz, and caramel graham crackers, but I also like to try a few new recipes each year. So far this year I’m eyeing these Spiced Vanilla Cookies from Cooking Light, Lemon Crinkle Cookies from LDS Living and Eggnog Cheesecake Bars from Martha.

Gathering…materials to make indoor “snow”. I spotted an easy recipe for “snow” in the Modern Parents Messy Kids Hands on Holidays e-book (it’s one of the cover projects) and I knew I had to make it since we aren’t visiting my parents for Christmas this year and the boys won’t get to play in the snow. This is a poor substitute for sledding, granted, but it should be fun in a different way.

Reading…a ton of books! My husband bought me a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday and I’ve been shocked by how many books I’ve read since I started using it. Before, I was reading e-books on my iPad, but I never enjoyed it because it was so heavy and uncomfortable to hold. I particularly disliked it when I’d doze off reading it in bed and the iPad would fall down and crack me on the forehead. Ouch! (Yes, I realize this is a ridiculous first world “problem”.) In any case, the Kindle is much lighter and more portable so I’ve been carrying it around in my purse and reading whenever I’m waiting in line or while the kids are playing or whatever. A few of the books I’ve especially liked in the past few months are Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Gone Girl, and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.

What are you doing today?

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Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Some are not. All are things I like or think I’ll like.