My January and 3rd Cativersary

January was very hot, most days -- except for a wonderful -- day/night-long thunderstorm right at the end. I'm "between jobs" right now, so I've had plenty of time for crafting, reading and doing things around the house. I heard the term 'funemployed' for the first time recently -- I'm not quite sure how I feel about it!

What I've been journalling...
I've been very much focussed on my Hobonichi art diary again -- probably because I've finally been able to start using my brand new 2019 edition. To kick things off, I've been doing Rainbowholic's Dare to Dream cute journalling challenge, and started documenting things that I wouldn't have before. As Kaila from Rainbowholic says, daily journalling is all about the little things in life.

What I've been working on ...
Way back in April last year, I posted that I started crocheting a blanket. It's both a craft and art project (I'm doubling up, but it's not cheating, honest!) and I'll do a proper post about what it's all about soon. I've been working hard on it in January, so I thought I'd share a couple of 'preview' photos:

What I've been embroidering...
As a change from constant crocheting, I've been doing a bit on my tapestry project as my TV craft in the evenings. In the artificial light it can be hard to tell the difference between the colours, but it's still enjoyable.

What I've been reading ...
I did the 24in48 Readathon challenge last weekend -- to read for any combination totalling 24 hours in a 48-hour period over the weekend. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be! I ended up with a total just shy of 11 hours. My eyes were sore and dry! I did however finish one book that I'd started a year ago ... and one I'd started over two years ago! Having the challenge there to motivate me helped to keep my short attention span on track and read for longer periods than I would normally.

Here's my to-read stack before the challenge (not all shown):

Here are the books I donated to the Little Library afterwards (only the top one was finished during the challenge! I just had a big stack built up. Also, my mother-in-law gives me a lot of her old romance novels -- don't judge me!):

Here are the books I picked up in exchange from the Little Library:

3rd Cativersary
And now here are some kitty spams to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Sharick coming to live with us, which was on 6th January. He's such a part of our household now, I can't remember life before he came to live with us.