I’ve not been in the best mood lately.
Last week I had one day where both my kettle and my bathroom light stopped working. NO KETTLE! I mean, anyone can pee in the dark, but boiling water on the stove? In a pot!? My God.
I’ve also had a lingering ‘not that bad but quite annoying’ cough for weeks now, and pulled a muscle in my chest as a result. (Yes I have seen the doctor.)
All of which is to say, I have been feeling *a little* sorry for myself of late, which is not my vibe as a pessimist who still sees the glass as half full (half of it is gone, so you might as well enjoy what’s left!).
So, I’ve been looking out for the things that are filling my cup (at least to the halfway mark), and thought I’d share them with you.
1/ Holiday crafts
Last year we (me + kids) made a Christmas village out of cardboard, and spent ages each decorating our own house, and making furniture out of paper, and finding little dolls house decorations to decorate it with. This year we’ll be doing the same, but also decided to make a Halloween scene and fill it with all of their ‘spooky’ lego characters.
As you can see, this is not Pinterest friendly. This is really the most basic of crafts, involving a couple of boxes, a bag of skulls and a tube of black paint. But it was highly entertaining to put together and I am very much enjoying our mantlepiece now.
2/ Autumn TV
I mean:
Celebrity Traitors!?!?!?!?!?!? I’m just enjoying this season so much and rooting for Cat and Alan to win (not so much Jonathan with his weird caveman outerwear).
The Morning Show (which may have jumped the shark with this week’s episode, but which I am still completely hooked by).
The most toxic / watchable series of Love is Blind in years. Usually I would say the men who come on this show are almost all terrible. In this case, the women are too! I don’t know why I enjoy this show so much, it’s truly Not Good, but I am always sucked in and this series had a lot of drama.
My kids have been getting really into (bleeped) Taskmaster which is so fun. I never watched it on Channel 4, so it’s all new to me, and there have been episodes where I’ve genuinely been crying with laughter. Converted new fans.
Nobody Wants This. On the whole, I’m really glad this came back for a second season and that it’s already been renewed for a third. If you know me in real life, please let’s chat about it, because I have a lot of Thoughts that need the nuance of offline conversation.
3/ Books.
Obviously books are on the list. In no particular order, my favourites this season have been:
The Ministry of Time. I think if one was to study this book at university, there would be hundreds of different threads to pull out and write essays on. It’s very insightful and thought-provoking about our future and how the past affects the present and how the past would view the present etc etc. But it’s also just a pacey, fun read with brilliant characters.
All Fours. Did I enjoy this book? I’m not sure. Did it leave me with a lot I want to talk to people about? Definitely. This is my book-club-where-we-discuss-a-book (I’m in two) selection for December, and I think it’s going to spark a lot of disuccsion. Can’t wait!
12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas. Ok, I am biased here because I used to work with the author AND I’m working on the campaign for this BUT it’s one of the most fun books I’ve read it years. If you’ve been here for any length of time, you will know that my favourite genre is posh guests, who all have terrible secrets to hide, in some kind of posh location being murdered one after another, when the murderer is one of them. This sounds very niche, but there are lots of brilliant books that fall into this category and this is one of them, but it’s also very funny, in a Knives Out sort of way.
The Throne of Glass series. I was told the first book wasn’t great, the second book takes a while to get into, etc etc etc, but I have been enjoying these since the first chapter of the first book (I read Throne of Glass first, which is the right order, forget what other people might say. Assasin’s Blade is definitely better when you’ve met Calaena and are rooting for her). If you like fantasy at all, I think you’ll enjoy these.
4/ Music
We had a new album from Taylor Swift, which is always a Moment. There is a lot of commentary out there about how she’s not an English teacher and the words are not deep enough and she’s a terrible writer etc etc, but I think Life of a Showgirl is a fun pop album and people need to calm down. Beatrice and I went to the album release party thing at the cinema and ate a tub of popcorn the size of her upper body, and it was a very good thing.
I’ve also very much fallen for Audrey Hobert (in her own words)'s album. I enjoy the spectacle of a new TS, and as I said — LOAS is a fun album — but I like Who’s the Clown even more and it’s been on repeat more in my house over the last month.
When I’ve not been listening to those two things, I’ve been listening to this playlist pretty much continually. If you’re an elder millenial, I think you’ll love it.
Sadly, my Spotify Wrapped will almost definitely be focused on lo-fi and accapella renditions of video game soundtracks, as that’s what Theo listens to, and he has hogged the speaker so much I think 2026 might be when I finally cave and get us a family account.
5/ Getting into a new hobby
My love for scrapbooking and junk journalling and painting has waned for now (it’ll come back, I’m sure), so I’ve picked up a cross-stitch/embroidery set I bought last January and have been actually using it. It’s very restful and keeps my hands busy, meaning I’m scrolling less (sometimes). It’s also slow going because I’m not very good at it, meaning this one kit will likely take me until Christmas to finish. That’s not a bad thing! It’s rewarding seeing the picture come together stitch by stitch.
What have been your good things this past month or two?
What do you never buy that other people think is a necessity?
Earlier this week, I read this article by Professor Off Duty which inspired me to think about my own money habits. Some of the things she puts in her category of things she never spends money on are things I spend money on every week (eg: getting groceries delivered). But I am also ruthless in the things I think are not worth spending money on. For example:
We live in London and I hate driving, so I do not have a car. Public transport is amazing! Once every few months, my kids get invited to something that is awkward to get to, in which case I do need to ask friends for favours or get a taxi. But those favours get repaid, and for the rest of the time this is an easy decision that saves us thousands of pounds.
Disney holidays. Disney is something I know lots of adults have a really special place in their heart for, and I do too — on screen. I do not want to hang out with someone dressed up like any kind of character, or stand in any kind of long line in my leisure time. Or pay even more money to stand in a shorter line! Fortunately the kids seem to agree. I’m raising tiny cynics over here 😬
I love any excuse to mark the seasons and really love Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter etc for that reason. BUT when did these become reasons to spend more money? Any kind of boo basket / Christmas Eve box / Easter gift shenanigans is off the list. My kids have so much stuff, and they get more than enough things at Christmas and their birthdays without adding all this absolute nonsense in. I feel furious that social media has made this feel normal. Halloween presents??? If you’re giving a gift at Halloween it needs to be to your dead relatives, not your child.
On a less furious note, I love getting a lil coffee from our local cafe, but realised that I’d started getting one every day, and it was costing a small fortune. At the start of the year, I inherited my parents coffee maker when they upgraded theirs, so now I buy my beans from the cafe, because their coffee is incredible, and make my own at home. I do still go out for a coffee on a Friday morning, but am spending 1/7th of what I was spending this time last year.
What are the things other people always seem to buy that you think is a waste of (your) money? Everyone has different priorities, so this isn’t a judgement, but I always think it’s so interesting how people choose to spend their pennies (or not, as the case may be)!
A lovely read! I also adored The Ministry of Time - and I'm a big fan of the no-gift high festive season!
The best thing for me this past month has been learning to dictate fiction. I have been struggling to write because my age related macular degeneration affects my ability to process text. I can make adjustments for reading it but for some reason it was really screwing up my creative process. I was getting pretty depressed about it. But learning to dictate fiction has been a game changer. In fact, I even dictate posts and comments. So much easier when you get used to it.