…blogtober wrap…

It has been a strange month. It both dragged, and flew by – much like the rest of 2021. After the three century long year that was 2020, 2021 has been weird flux of time. Blogtober has similar been a mixed bag. Some days the ideas and the words flowed. Other days I sat down at 8.30pm and realised I needed to come up with a post.

Blogtober continues to be a fun project, but strange in these non-blogging days. It’s screaming into the void even more so than usual. And yet, I love doing it. I love the challenge of coming up with posts that are interesting to write and, hopefully, enjoyable for you to read. All while trying to not double up too much on content from Instagram, and generating ideas and scripts for the podcast.

This week has been an odd one too. The post camp slump is real, even staying at home for camp-by-proxy, and getting a decent amount of sleep. I’ve been both inspired to make all the things, and lacking the mojo to actually do anything. The weekend has turned out to be reasonably productive though with a couple of new projects underway, and getting jobs done outside including adding a bit of space to our back patio.

Around here this week I’ve been:

READING: Deeper Water (Jessie Cole) – found this on BorrowBox and am enjoying it so far. Based in the Byron hinterland, during flooding rains, the innocent & unworldly Mema is content with the simple, small, confined life she lives with her mother. That is, until the flood leaves a traveller stranded with them. Looking forward to polishing this one off this week!

WATCHING: Wentworth! After nine seasons, this fab Aussie drama wrapped up on Tuesday. There were a couple of things that didn’t sit right with me, but it’s always tricky to wrap up a long show and please everyone at the same time. And the original Prisoner theme to end with was perfect. Not going to lie, I cried more than once.

LISTENING TO: everything and nothing. I’ve been picking day-themed playlists on Spotify since I haven’t been in the mood for anything in particular. Throwback Thursday was particularly interesting when the teens started adding their opinion to the mix…

STARTING: my December Daily papers. I’ve gone with gelli prints this year, and am almost done. Just a couple of extra to round out the full collection, and then I can scan and prep the printable pages ready to roll.

FINISHING: Blogtober, of course!! I made it to the end!! I did miss three days, but overall I’ve managed to keep blogging every day and I’ve really enjoyed the challenge. It’s helped me hone what I want to share here and what works for me in this space now.

PLANNING: lots of new house things. We had a couple of big leaps forward this week on our house build, so I’m all about the Pinterest hunt to pull all the elements together and get really clear on what I want ready for the builders to break ground sometime in the first half of nextbyear

We had a break from the podcast this week, but behind the scenes there’s been lots of chatter about a potential season two. I have lots more thoughts to share on the podcast experiment, hopefully next week.

This week coming, we’re rolling into the final shift of school for the year. Exams and reviews and finishing our lessons ready for December and Advent activities and group work. I’ve got a dress cut out I want to get sewn up, and start sewing some swimmers as well. My cross stitch is rumbling along nicely so I’m aiming to get my current block finished this week too. It feels a bit Groundhog Day-ish sometimes, but in a good way. Caring for kids and animals and spending time outdoors and together. Reading and creating and doing life. Finding magic in the mundane, and the extraordinary in the every day. And maybe catching my breath after a month of daily blogging…