NaBloPoMo Journey
I’m SO SAD NaBloPoMo is ending! I truly love this project, and it’s one of the reasons November is my favorite month. I always start out the month full of ambition, but by the end I’m barely hanging on. I try to have a meaningful theme, and end up with way too many photos of pie. NaBloPoMo is a spinoff of NaNoWriMo, where the challenge is to complete the first draft of a novel in the 30 days of November. After failing at NaNoWriMo (I WONDER WHY) Erin Kennedy launched NaBloPoMo in 2006. Several times during this month, I tried to imagine what it would be like if I were TRYING TO WRITE A NOVEL. I can picture my readers now: “This was pretty good, but I didn’t understand the ending. Why were they eating so much pie?” It feels like November flew by, but when I stop to think about everything that happened, it was quite an adventure. We started fresh from Halloween- then there was the election- lots of crying- I ran a race!- sustained a bizarre rib injury- our high school football team won the regional championship- our weather changed- my son came home!- we got our Christmas tree- and had an amazing Thanksgiving. Phew! I didn’t write a novel, but I feel like I lived one. I loved reading everyone’s posts! I wish NaBloPoMo could go on and on, but, well- we’d probably all go insane. December will be busy enough. A huge thank you, once again, to our fearless leader San. I wouldn’t be part of this amazing blogging community if it weren’t for her. And thank you to everyone who read along and supported us this month! Lastly, congratulations to all who participated. It’s a wrap!
Thankful
Ah… what a nice Thanksgiving! Because we did a LOT of cooking on Wednesday, today was completely sane. We managed to get dinner on the table by 4:45, which is a record for us. Yes, this is for four people! My son says he’s not bringing any clothes back to school with him- he’s just going to fill his backpack with leftovers. I wonder if the mashed potatoes will make it through security? Here’s my plate: And here’s my son’s: After he ate us out of house and home last summer, he went back to school and was too busy to eat all the time, so he lost 20 pounds. I think he gained half of it back today. After we ate we went for a walk. It used to be so exciting to see the very first Christmas lights go up on Thanksgiving… this time lights were up all over the neighborhood! That’s what happens when Thanksgiving is on November 28. Here’s our house- (JUST KIDDING. I wish this were our house because then our decorations would be up!) Putting up our outdoor lights will first involve a trip to Target, to replace the lights I took from the outdoor stash to put on our tree… I have no idea when this is all going to happen. But the tree is decorated! After our walk, we had pie. Here’s my sugar-free pie (sweetened with monkfruit.) It was pretty good! (Recipe adapted from Nora Cooks.) The other two pies were another pumpkin pie (with sugar) and an apple-cranberry pie. We watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and of course there was football! In the afternoon we watched the Bears lose (sigh- someone should put together a montage of all the weird ways the Bears have lost this season) and now I’m watching the Dolphins. It was such a nice day, I’m sad it’s over. I know not everyone was lucky enough to be surrounded by family today. Having my son home and the whole family together is a gift, and for that I’m truly thankful. If you celebrated, did you have a nice Thanksgiving? Are you shopping on Black Friday? Top photo by Preslie Hirsch on Unsplash
IT’S THANKSGIVING!!!
This is the Thanksgiving card I got from Engie! Thank you, Engie! I am giving thanks, and I am happy. We’re thoroughly enjoying our Thanksgiving-Christmas mashup! Tinsel and star are now on the tree: …and we have the first candy canes of the season. I’ll be back tomorrow with photos from Thanksgiving dinner, but here’s a preview of the pies: I feel like the Charlie Brown of the pie world. I just can’t seem to get them to come out right. Looks-wise, I mean. I’m sure they’ll taste great! If you celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving! If not, Happy Thursday! I hope everyone has a delicious day.
A Cry For Help!
HEEEELLLLP! I need help with my face. SIGH. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it here- I know I’ve talked about it in the comment section of other blogs- but I have rosacea. It first showed up about twelve years ago, and it’s been plaguing me on and off ever since. About three or four years ago, it got so much better! I started to think it was gone forever, but then about a year ago it returned, with a vengeance. I have the extra-special kind of rosacea that’s not just red, but also looks like little pimples (I know- yuck.) Some days it’s better than others, but I know it’s been really bad lately. How do I know this? Because other people have started commenting on it. One day, a coworker said “What’s wrong with your face?” Okay- time out. I don’t think this is something that should ever be said. Granted- this woman speaks English as a second language, BUT STILL. It’s a Universal Truth that that question is not acceptable. Another day, a client asked me if I had just done a chemical peel. And several other people have asked- in a “tactful” way- what’s going on with my face. I’ve never been overly concerned with my appearance, but as you can probably imagine, I’ve become a little self conscious. I’ve experimented with some “home remedies” like turmeric, ice, and antibiotic ointments, all of which seem to work temporarily, but nothing really helps. I don’t eat dairy, I do eat gluten but try to limit it, I eat very little sugar, and I’ve tried eliminating various other things from my diet, like seed oils, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Of course unhealthy things creep in here and there (hello, Coke Zero). I think I may be looking at some sort of drastic elimination diet (sob) but I just can’t think about that till after the holidays. There are some products on Amazon that say they work for rosacea- of course the reviews vary from “this cured my rosacea!” to “this did nothing.” I’m willing to try, but I also don’t want to waste my money. Has anyone had rosacea? What did you do about it? Tell me there’s hope! Ending on a positive note- the grad school essays are going well- I think we NAILED the “diversity statement!” And… I’m off to make the dough for our pie crusts! Wednesday is “pie day!” Top photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash.