Four things | ten

My weekly check-in of what I’m reading, watching, loving, and working on. This week, I’ll turn the tables on you, put on an old favorite, love a song Marshall shared with me, and work on everything at once. We can be a little tired and a little behind together.

What I’m reading

In a very rare season of life, I didn’t have time for my usual reading this week! I listened to one of my audiobooks while walking, but I didn’t have time to read and study like I usually do. It’s just a busy season of life with concerts, special events, travel, and trying to fit in decorating and gift shopping. It’s only December 5th and I’m already feeling pressed for time. So, instead of sharing what I’m reading, why don’t you tell me what you’re reading and what you like about it?

What I watch

I’ve included the BBC Dickensian series on one of my tours of the period series (you can find those posts here – Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 ), but I’ve only been watching it once a year since I found it. I was looking for something to watch that I didn’t have to pay much attention to, so I could knit or draw while it was on, and Dickensian came to mind. If you’re a fan of Charles Dickens, this is a great series that serves as an introduction to many Dickens classics. Prominently featured characters are from Bleak House, Oliver, Great Acceptations, and A Christmas Carol, but there are side characters from The Curiosity Shop, Pickwick Papers, Our Mutual Friend, and more.

The creators and writers of this show did a great job imagining what happened to these characters before we met them in their stories. In my opinion, they also remain true to the spirit of Dickens’s writing.

This series can stand on its own if you’re not familiar with all the books, but I suggest reading (or watching the movie/series) Oliver, Bleak House, and Great Acceptations so you have some character references. Seeing where these characters end up really highlights the brilliance of this series.

What I like

Marshall, my oldest son, and I are very similar in our love of music. We both have music playing all day long… while working, exercising, driving. We sing together and went to three concerts together this year. Although we have different tastes in music, there is some overlap and we started sharing songs we like with each other. Earlier this week, he came into the kitchen and asked me if I’d heard Brandon Lake’s Country Psalm. I didn’t, so he played it for me. It wasn’t good enough to play it over the phone, so he brought his Bluetooth speaker and played it so I could really enjoy it. “Are you going to add it to your playlist?” This is always a test to see if I really like him or not. Yes, they are being added to a few of my playlists. Even though it’s not a Christmas song, I happened to have soup on the stove and was working on Christmas decorating, so it felt very holiday-y to me at that moment.

He loved it, I loved it, and maybe you too…

What I’m working on

I’m getting rid of the Christmas decor this week. I’ve done a lot of Christmas decorating in recent years that was part of my job and, in some cases, felt like a chore. Now when I decorate my home, I make sure I enjoy it and that I do what I want it to do. Some years that means making a lot of things and taking the decorations to the max. Other years, I keep things simple. I don’t really know what kind of year it’s going to be until I get into it. I feel like this year might be simple, but we’ll see!

Today, I need to finish a commissioned painting for a client so that it can ship in time and finish decorating one of the trees at our church. Jeff is so thrilled he took me to Hobby Lobby so I could pick up more decorations and ribbon. (We’re at the point in life where we’re dealing with two cars and three drivers.) He said (jokingly), “Why should I go to Hobby Lobby?” What did I do wrong?

I replied (jokingly): “Well, you asked me to decorate the trees in the church. This is what I did wrong.”

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