Life: It Goes On - December 2

Happy December! Hope this finds you all...oh heck, I hope this finds you all. I've been so lax on my blogging lately that I'll be really surprised if there are any of you still out there reading.

I am hunkered down for the day. We got a few inches of heavy snow last night, after a whole day of rain, sleet, and slush and I have no reason to venture out into it other than to have been out to scoop the driveway. Besides, I was hardly at home yesterday so this girl needs some quiet home time.

Also, it's time for me to finally finish the Christmas decorating. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I've spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about, playing with, and re-doing just the mantle. I'm working on a less busy look this year and I have several new pieces to work into that so it means rethinking everything I've done before. Maybe next year it will actually be easier to put up?

November came to an end, as did my attempts to write my first novel during National Novel Writing Month. The goal was 50,000 words. My final total? About 15,000. It's a fail in every way other than that I did do some writing; I have a start and can move forward from there if I so chose.

The end of November also meant the end of Nonfiction November. I always look forward to this month and it's always another thing I just can't seem to do right. I did read a lot of nonfiction last month and got up quite a few reviews. But I didn't manage to do any of the posts associated with the event. Ah well, we can't do everything, right?

Last Week I:

Listened To: As much of The Woman's Hour as I could get listened to before my loan was up with my library. I've got it back on hold and hope that next time it doesn't become available when I still have ten hours left of another book! On Friday I started Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalists, and I must say, I'm quite enjoying listening to fiction after several nonfiction books in a row.

Watched: Last night we went to see Widows with friends. I think I liked it better than the rest of our crew. I appreciated the fact that director Steve McQueen was able to make an action film that isn't gratuitously violent and the way he turned an action film into a film about people.

Read: Like I said, not much. I'm having a hard time focusing on books right now. I do have several books I need to get read in the next month so I need to find my reading mojo again soon.

Made: Homemade mac 'n' cheese, chicken noodle casserole, beef stew. It's been cold and it's time for comfort food!

Enjoyed: A couple of parties yesterday.

This Week I’m: 

Planning: On finishing up most of my Christmas shopping this week. I'm mostly finished but need to get Mini-me's and Ms. S's gifts off in the mail to them; the first year they weren't here I waited too long and it cost me $95 to get their gifts to them on time! Never again.

Thinking About: Christmas cards. I need to get them ordered today so that they can go out in the mail by the end of the week.

Feeling: Lazy. Not a good thing with so much to get done today.

Looking forward to: I don't think we have anything on the calendar this week. Which means I'm probably forgetting something!

Question of the week: How do you decorate for the holidays? What is the one thing that you absolutely have to put out to make things feel festive?

Life: It Goes On - November 4

One last week for the picture at the left. In another week, most of the leaves will be gone and even though it won't officially be winter yet, it will start to feel that way. Try as I might to not think about winter coming, it's hard to avoid when the five-month season of bare branches has begun. I'm working hard making things warm and cozy and bright around here to avoid getting dragged down - I'm burning candles, making hardy breakfasts, walking outside as much as I can.

What haven't done this week is very much reading. I'm distracted by too many other things and working through a book that's not grabbing me. I'm so distracted, in fact, that I've actually started to plan Christmas decorating!
A lot of what distracted me this week was good stuff. I got a new phone on Monday so I spent an evening setting that up. Thursday we went and voted early so we spent a good part of Wednesday evening researching our choices. And Wednesday, I signed up for NaNoWriMo (more on that later).

Last Week I:

Listened To: I finally got The Hate U Give Back and have finished that. Today I'm starting, at long last, Sheri Fink's Five Days At Memorial. Some of my Litsy friends tell me it's a tough one to keep track of on audio but I'm going to give it a shot.

Watched: Last night The Big Guy and I went to First Man, the story of Neil Armstrong, starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy (The Crown). Their performances were both fantastic. The movie is a curious blend of very intimate, quiet moments and, as you would imagine, very big, loud, incredible moments. We both liked it a lot but it's a surprisingly slow movie and I'm not sure it's a movie for everyone.

Read: I've been working on John Boyne's Ladder To The Sky this week. It may be too close toe Andrew Sean Greer's Less for me; I'm having a hard time getting in to it. Today I'm moving on to Apollo To The Moon, a nice tie in to having just seen First Man!

Made: BG made broccoli-cauliflower soup which we enjoyed for a couple of meals. We also ate out three times and had popcorn for dinner at the movie one night so there wasn't really a lot of cooking in our house this week.

Enjoyed: Celebrating our 36th anniversary on Tuesday and two evenings with friends. Last night we got together with friends we've known for decades but haven't seen in more than a year. Their daughter, son-in-law, and grandson joined us later so it was fun to catch up with them as well.

This Week I’m: 

Planning: On spending a fair amount of time working on my novel. Partly because I'm already behind. To stay on track with writing 50,000 words in one month, writers need to be cranking out almost 1700 pages a day. So I should be at 6800 pages by the end of today. So far, I've written about 1700. I'm hoping to get another 1700 done today. I'll share more on this as the month progresses.

Thinking About: Bangs. I got talked into a haircut yesterday that included bangs. I'm learning to like them but I haven't had to make them do what I want them to do myself yet. We'll see if I can figure that out and then I'll decide if I keep them.

Feeling: Excited to get off the computer and down to the basement to start working on cleaning out some stuff. BG's agreed to help and I'm going to be so happy if he actually bags up some things!

Looking forward to: I'd like to say the election on Tuesday but after election night two years ago, I'm nervous. We may go to a movie and ignore the results until later in the evening.

Question of the week: Have you ever considered writing a novel? Have you ever actually written one? If so, what tips can you give me for staying on track?