It's getting slowly chillier down in these parts as we head into Winter, and with daylight savings ending next weekend I've been starting to piece together my survival plan for the gloomy cold days ahead.
1. Make our living areas cosier with better lighting
We have overhead lighting and it's so bright and glarey. I'm halfway there as I found this unused lampstand at my parent's house and added a shade to it.
2. More cushions/throw blankets
I made this 'Home' cushion the other week on a total whim (it started out as a way to practice very basic quilting) and it made me realise how cosy cushions and throws can make things look. We have ginormous blank couches and sometimes they make the whole room feels quite stark. (We also don't have a rug or coffee table, so that doesn't help, but they're not priorities in our budget and with little kids sometimes it's easier this way.). One day I'd like to get all our cushions etc sorted out and coordinated instead of the random mix we currently have.
3. Plan a trip away
Fiji would be great... but realistically we'll be staying closer to home this year. Something for when we're at least halfway through winter should make that second half not drag quite so much.
4. Make these peppermint marshmallows and hot chocolates again.
Husband requested it!
5. Family Night
A couple of times now we've had a Friday night family night where we do something together, beyond what we normally do. The first time, I managed to convince everyone to make donuts with me (based off a recipe from the Farmer Boy book in the Little House series I read as a kid) and it was so different for us to cook all together (minus Josh who was in bed asleep). Ella was really excited by it which made me chuffed. We often do outdoorsy things together ('family adventures') but doing an actual activity together is pretty new for us. Another time we took a soccer ball to a field we've never been to before and kicked in around in the howling gale, getting absolutely freezing with all our noses running. It was memorable tho.
Other ideas we had for this were: a scavenger hunt; a board games night; doing a fun science experiment; making something together; etc.
6. I was going to write embrace the slow-cooker but in all honestly I'm still tired of slow-cooking from last winter! Or am I just tired of all cooking? Hmmmmm...........
7. Make a quilt + other projects
I'm trying to get started on making:
- a quilt for Ella's room (the planning is hard!)
- a rag doll for Ella (I'm up to embroidering the eyes and it's looking so creepy with my novice embroidery skills)
- a wooden bear name sign for Josh's room (it's cut out, I just need to stain it and paint the name on)
- maybe a top for me? Something long sleeved in a pretty fabric, but a basic cut.