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my space

shannanmanton

I'm very lucky to have my own little creative nook in our house. It's just at the top of the stairs so I am close to the daily goings-on in the house but also cosily tucked away with my things and my stuff.



But this is also my 9-5 job workspace on Monday and Thursday and I think that is becoming a problem. Lately I feel that when I am at my desk I am at 'work' and it sucks the creative side out of me when I come here on Fridays or weekends to do creative stuff. Even if I pack all of my 'work' away, close down Outlook and have the coffee and music cranking.


My city-office PC is about to die (I'm there Tuesdays and Wednesdays), so I'm looking at replacing it with a work-only laptop that I can use both at home and in the office (right now I use my home Mac for work). I'm wondering if changing locations on WFH days will trick my tiny brain. I could set myself up on Brett's desk in our library (he is mostly in-office) or even try other spaces in the house. I don't need a lot of other 'stuff' while working so maybe that will help? Keep my little nook just for creative time. Maybe even switching out devices will help?


How do you all manage deliniating WFH and craft-at-home?


~


I took a very purposeful ‘gentle January’ approach to the start of the year. I read recently that January is the new 'lost week between Christmas and New Year' and that rings so true. Our January ended with a very lovely and blissful four-day weekend (with all four of us home Friday to Monday).


Technically it was five days for me because I finally got a last-minute appointment for my ensoscope on the 23rd after I called the hospital to follow-up the day before (again). The early report said everything looked normal so I have to wait for my biopsy results to determine yay or nay on coeliac disease. Zara’s was visible right away and Eli’s wasn’t, but positive from biopsy, so it could go either way. Results in a week.


Friday we met friends for lunch at the Italian place that serves the best gluten free pizza and pasta (according to my kids). Saturday we went to a BBQ. Sunday was quiet and Monday Zara and I went to IKEA and picked up some things for uni at Officeworks (she is starting a degree in music composition this week!!).


scrapbooking


I've taken the last two weekends off scrapbooking while we said good bye to January (and the fun part of summer) and got prepared for school and university starting.


life + home


Brett and I have been putting more framed photos and art on our walls this week. Nothing has made our renovated home homier. If you've been procrastinating like me I highly recommend hammering some hooks into the walls and putting things up, even if it's not quite the perfect thing. You can always switch it out.


health, wellbeing + the kitchen


I've been trying out some new gluten free recipes to assuage my guilt at passing on this faulty gene to my kids. As someone very experienced in the kitchen, GF baking is just so strange and the doughs are not like anything I am used to. But I'm learning and trusting the process.


I made donuts using this recipe by The Loopy Whisk , but I stuck with a bought GF flour blend rather than her suggested mix of flours - I just don't have my GF storecupboard set up right yet.


I had my oil too hot so they were beautifully golden outside but partially raw in the centre but 10 minutes in the oven fixed everything and they were all eaten. If you have a stand mixer, donuts are actually a pretty easy thing to make (especially the gluten kind). People can never believe I’ve made them but if you can handle yeast dough and fry an egg, you are good to go.



I also made GF flour tortillas on Sunday (using a forgotten about tortilla press I bought in the Covid lock down times). They came out great, although its a long and messy process. I used a Loopy Whisk recipe again because I've had good luck with her recipes.



My goal this year is to really get into gluten free cooking and baking. It’s a learning curve and I feel like I have to unlearn things as well. Eli has been asking me to try gluten free pizza dough but I’m honestly terrified. Maybe next week.


currents


reading:

I finished and enjoyed Intermezzo by Sally Rooney - a lovely, slow story about grief, family and unconventional love. I've just started Yellowface by Rebecca Kuang and I'm also listening to Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat In Difficult Times by Katherine May (on Spotify).


watching:

Zara started watching Killing Eve so I've been rewatching parts here and there with her. I realised I never finished so this is a great way to catch up and then we can watch the last season together. It's so good! We also watched Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me this weekend which led to lots of David Lynch YouTube rabbit holes (never a bad thing).


listening:

I listened to Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown on the long weekend at a BBQ - I have definitely aged out of that demographic but enjoyed it anyway. Brett and I played some pool on Friday night and did that Spotify thing were you play one song then it keeps playing other songs with a similar vibe and an hour later you say, this is really good music but you don’t know what most of it is.


planning:

Still obsessed with kitchen planning. Definitely-probably going with some kind of wood look for a lot of it - I just love the warmth.


well, thank you for listening! until next time... s




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