November Reflections

I’m doing it!

I’m sneaking in this post before the end of the month!

I’ve challenged myself to post at least monthly, if only for the self-reflection.

I think that’s what I miss most about daily blogging–the self-awareness I gained by reflecting on the day. I would love to start doing it again, but truth be told, I know I don’t have the energy right now. I even abandoned the new video series I started earlier this semester.

Everything just feels harder and more exhausting lately. I fear if I blogged daily, it would just be a big whine-fest anyway and who wants to hear that? We’re all struggling, aren’t we?

At least that’s what it feels like.

Then I took a peek through the photos on my phone from this month, and, well, I realized something. I’m totally not giving myself credit. It was a pretty kick-ass month, even though we kicked it off with our first family case of COVID.

Every day I get a letter from one of the kid’s schools letting me know there was a case, and those who were in close contact were notified blah blah blah. The letters come home so frequently you tend to ignore them. Then you become one of the people notified of actual close contact, and the quarantining-testing-circus begins.

We were a week from getting The 10-Year-Old vaccinated when we got the letter. We got him tested, and boom… positive. Franky, we were shocked. The kid barely showed any symptoms.

Not a great way to kick off the month, but we felt fortunate he had such a mild case. We talked to his doctor, who recommended we still vaccinate him, so we did, and, bonus, The Husband and I were able to get our boosters at the same time.

After he recovered and got to go back to school, we needed to get over some academic humps, but he’s managing well. He’s still my little artist too.

He’s also following in his brother’s footsteps and taking trombone in music class.

Oh! And he’s the family pet-whisperer.

Speaking of his brother, the 16-Year-Old, well, he is in full-fledged teenagerhood. He has his driver’s permit even though he doesn’t really want to drive. He’s trying to find a job. I’m on his case about his grades. You know… all the good stuff that comes with being a teen. I have a few photos I could share of him, but I honor his desire not to be online much.

This one, though. This one needs to be shared.

Look how cute/old/handsome (I can’t pick one adjective) my baby is! He was posing in front of the Thanksgiving turkey he helped carve. He also made the mash potatoes this year and did an outstanding job.

There are days I absolutely want to murder him, and other days I feel blessed beyond measure by having such an awesome kid. I’m sure anyone with a teen can relate.

So that’s the kid updates. As for me, well, I’ve been cooking up a storm as usual. Here are a few highlights from the month…

Then, of course, there was Thanksgiving!

Most of the family was able to make it this year, and it made me so happy.

I made a giant bird as I do.

And all the fixins.

After quite a few years and quite a few experiments, I think I have finally settled in on my menu: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, corn, green beans and bacon, Brussels sprouts with walnuts and cranberries, and homemade cranberry sauce with clementines.

Besides cooking, I’ve been killing it in my other passion as well, lifting. I’m back to going to the gym first thing in the morning before work. I lift heavy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. I still run my mile every day, and I don’t think I’ve missed a Sunday Trail run in well over a year!

Here are some photos from some of my November Sunday trail run adventures…

Today was day 622 in my mile-a-day run streak. Here is my November Stats…

Notice that I “only” run a mile most days, but you know what, that mile matters. I look forward to it every day. It’s the bare minimum I do for myself, and it keeps my going.

I also started another streak I’m proud of!

That’s 123 days of Spanish lessons on Duolingo. The Husband and I are learning together, and it’s so fun!

He’s a few days ahead of me as I did need to use a streak freeze on some hectic days, but I’m not bitter or anything. Nope. Not me.

Let’s see, other November highlights…

We had friends over for a family game night.

We got our eyes back on the fridge, albeit he’s a little sideways.

And we put up our Christmas tree!

Oh! and I forgot Marsh. Here he is staring intently on a treat as I try to take his picture with a Santa hat.

He’s as awesome as ever.

See, a pretty awesome month, right?

Yet, most days, I feel like I want to cry. I guess that’s what they mean when they say the days are long and the years are short, or in this case, the month.

How about you guys?

I hope everyone is fairing well in this current state of crazy.