Currently on Lockdown : November 2020

It's been over a year since I last wrote a 'Currently' post to share what I've been getting up to and enjoying lately, so I think it's time for a long over due catch up. 

Reading

I've read for at least an hour every day so far this year, but I haven't read as much as I would've liked because I keep getting distracted by Animal Crossing. The addiction is real! I've just finished my twenty-seventh book of the year so far, which really isn't that bad at all, and have been reading a lot of psychological thrillers over the last few months. Some of them weren't anything special, but I really enjoyed The Minders and What Lies Between Us by John Marrs, No One Home by Tim Weaver, and Come Back For Me by Heidi Perks. 

I also loved The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, about a young woman with depression who takes her own life and gets to try out all the lives she could've lived in a library between life and death. While the writing style is quite simple, it's full of powerful messages about life that you can't always see for yourself when you're struggling with depression, and I think it could help a lot of people battling depression and suicidal thoughts. I wish I could've read this when I was at my lowest in my late teens. 

Other books I've really enjoyed this year include the new Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (although, I now hate Snow even more); Q by Christina Dalcher; Dear Edward by Ann Neapolitano, and The Caraval series by Stephanie Garber (which has become one of my favourite book series of all time). 

If you'd like to keep up with what I'm reading, you can find me on Goodreads here.

Watching

I've been so restless lately, I've been finding it really hard to get in to anything new. I started watching Away, and The Rain on Netflix, but got bored after a few episodes and haven't gone back to either yet. I've mostly just been enjoying Neighbours and Home and Away, and watching true crime documentaries. I finally got around to watching a fascinating Ted Bundy documentary on Amazon Prime, and have watched a few on Netflix about serial killers and unexplained missing person's / murder cases. I also enjoyed watching the mini series 'Des' about the serial killer Dennis Nilsen, who I didn't know much about before it. Even for a serial killer, what he did was fucked up. A few months ago, I also rewatched all six seasons of Lost twice, and finally got around to watching Anne with an E, which I loved.

As for movies, I've mostly been rewatching old favourites, but I recently watched Lion, which broke my heart; The Secret, which wasn't anything special but lovely for a rainy Sunday morning; and the new Little Women film, which I actually found quite disappointing. Am I the only one who thought it was mediocre compared to the 1994 and BBC versions? I mean, it was okay and it's grown on me since the first time I watched it, but I thought the actors who played Jo, Beth, and Meg didn't do the characters justice; they were really bland. Give me the Winona Ryder version any day! (If you haven't seen that version, it's lovely, and a great Christmas film, too).

Listening

I haven't been listening to much of anything new lately, except for two albums from opposite ends of my musical tastes- Ronan Keating's Twenty Twenty album, and Linkin Park's 20th anniversary rerelease of their debut album, Hybrid Theory. The fact that Hybrid Theory is 20 years old makes me feel so old. I was still in secondary school studying for my GCSEs when it was originally released in 2000, and it's hard to believe so many years have passed. (I refuse to believe I'm getting old). It was an incredible album then, and it still holds up all these years later. I've been returning to it time and time again for twenty years, but had to get the anniversary edition, which included Reanimation and a bunch of b-sides, rarities, and demos to download. There are some brilliant tracks in the mix, and it's so good to hear Chester's voice on 'new' music again- as well as have an excuse to blast out old favourites like In The End, Crawling, A Place For My Head, and Runaway.

Stitching

Between arthritis issues and Animal Crossing, I haven't done a lot of cross stitching this year, but I've just returned to a Christmas cross stitch I began last year and never finished. I'm stitching the Deck the Halls wall hanging from Satsuma Street, which is a really colourful Scandinavian-style cross stitch, and a little different to the more traditional designs you usually see at Christmas time in England. It's a beautiful design, and so fun and colourful. I need to put the effort in to get it finished in time to hang up in December, which should be doable as I haven't got loads left to stitch now. I think I'm about 3/5ths of the way through. I'll be sure to blog the finished wall hanging once I'm done- hopefully some time in December.

Playing

I'm still addicted to Animal Crossing New Horizons, and have played it every day since it was released in March. I've lost far too many hours to it this year... more than I care to admit, but it's helped me cope with lockdown and Covid life, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. I love playing on it every day- it's so cute and relaxing. Lately, I've been enjoying collecting the Halloween and Mush furniture, making my island look all autumnal, and working on a haunted house. I've also knocked down half of my island because I hate it and have decided to redo my island instead of restarting the game from scratch, so it's currently a big hot mess. I'm trying to make it pretty and colourful and a little bit fairy-core, and can't wait to make it festive for Christmas, too. Who else is addicted to Animal Crossing?

Buying

I've been concentrating on Christmas shopping lately and think I'm about half way there now. I've found some great gifts I can't wait to give to my family next month. (How is Christmas next month already)?? I've also bought a few treats for myself along the way, including Erstwilder brooches (naturally), the OPI Advent calendar, my first Papergang stationery box, and some of The Body Shop's festive products. I'm hoping to blog about all of them soon.

Wanting

About 8395890201 resin brooches, some new books, a cure for the Corona Virus, things to go back to how they were, a good Christmas with my family, and for Trump to do the world a favour and fuck off, 

Needing

I really need some new black ankle boots, some ballet pumps, new underwear, some new dresses, a hair cut, an eye test and new glasses, Christmas gift wrapping supplies, a holiday, some pain-free days, more hours in the day, a good concert, a good night's sleep, and to get out of this house before the walls close in on me.

Face covering from Lady Vintage

Wishing

The pandemic could be over, and the world could go back to normal. The news about the Pfizer vaccine does sound promising, though, so maybe immunity is on the horizon, and things will start improving for us in 2021. Fingers crossed.

Eating

One of the few positives of the pandemic is that things have become more accessible for people stuck at home, and things I would normally miss out on are now available for home delivery. I've enjoyed taking advantage of this and have treated my family to a box of baked goods a few times since the first lockdown in March to make lockdown / Covid life a little more bearable. I treated us to a box of Krispy Kremes over Halloween, and earlier in the year, we ordered treats from Millie's Cookies, Ben's Cookies, and Doughnut Time, which were always the best ideas. Cookies and doughnuts make any day better- especially during Covid times. Fact. It's all about the little things in life right now. 

I also recently discovered Cadbury Chocolate Orange buttons and holy crap, they're amazing! 

Celebrating

Biden winning the presidency and Trump losing with all the grace and dignity of a toddler throwing a tantrum because his toys were taken away. His reaction to losing has been so entertaining, I'm just sorry I didn't have popcorn. I've never been so invested in another country's election before, but I'm so relieved that Biden won and we won't have to endure another four years of Trump talking crap and causing devastation wherever he goes. It's great to have a female vice president- and a woman of colour at that- in the White House for the first time, too. The future actually feels hopeful for the first time in a while. Now we just need to get rid of Boris and the Tories and the UK might stand a chance, too.

Loving

I've loved finally getting to leave the house again recently after barely leaving the house all year (I think last week's trip to the doctor's brings me up to six breaks from confinement in 2020!). It's been great to get back out in to the real world, and seeing how pretty The Cotswolds is looking this autumn. 

Enjoying

Over the last year or two, we've been getting almost daily visits from grey squirrels in our garden. At first, I would just spot them running along our fence line, but recently, I've seen them foraging on the grass, and scurrying closer to the house to steal berries from next door's trees. There's at least two of them, and I think we now have a dray in the tree at the bottom of our garden. I've not been to investigate, but my Mum keeps finding abandoned walnuts on the ground beneath it. I haven't been able to go out much this year, so I've been enjoying watching them from my bedroom window, and trying to snap a photo or two before they're gone again. I recently snapped this photo through my  window of one of them helping itself to a seed pod / nut from my next door neighbour's garden after it climbed across from ours. It's not great quality as it was taken through glass and zoomed in, but you get the idea.

Looking

forward to spending Christmas with my family, and forgetting about the Corona Virus for a couple of days. I'm so ready for fairy lights and cheerful decorations, Christmas movies, listening to festive tunes, indulging in some good food, and a house full of Christmas cheer. I just hope we'll be allowed to mix households again after the national lockdown so my sister and brother-in-law will be able to join us for Christmas Day. I'm keeping everything crossed.

Well, that's what I've been up to lately. What about you? How are you coping with lockdown / virus life?