Mostly at Home in November 2022

At Home

I love travel, but sometimes it's nice to stay put. We had a lot of home time in November. 

Much of the weather lovely. We enjoyed it and so did our neighborhood critters.

Midterms
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​Early in the month, we had midterm elections. Don and I voted one morning, then went to breakfast.

In the afternoon we relaxed outside and refused to fret about the outcome... which wasn't perfect, but better than we feared.  

​Work!

I spent a good part of November, lifting and dragging boxes from closets and underneath beds. A lot of sorting and purging and debating over...STUFF.  

Getting 7 rooms (plus hallways) carpeted, requires lots of prep work. Especially when you've lived in a house for nearly a quarter of a century. It was a daunting task, but this is the Happy Blog. I actually laughed a lot, as I went through old stuff. I laughed at the bathtubs as I filled them up! 

Big Stuff

Luckily the installers moved all the furniture. But only bare furniture. Don's back is still healing, so I was on my own for most of the junk-moving.

I was amused when I saw how they shuffled our furniture from room to room. The old pump organ jammed here, the antique youth bed, jammed there...

Shelves

I had a heck of a time clearing out shelves, so they could move them. Few people have shelves so oddly packed with goofy displays. I had fun putting it all back.

Even the built in shelf had to be dealt with. But I made some fun discoveries as I pulled out neglected scrapbooks and a few forgotten autographed books!  Justice Sandra Day O'Connor...!
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Celebrating with People

It was nice to be home for a month, to catch up with a few friends.  

Here we are having a good old fashioned potluck with "old friends". 
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I also enjoyed some "younger friends" at a baby shower. Jessie's little one was born before Thanksgiving!

And I got to enjoy a visit from an even younger, little neighbor friend. I was so glad to have that new carpet, for sitting and looking at books!

​2-Day Getaway

I guess I didn't exactly stay put, in November. But I did stay in Texas, when I met up with friends in Fort Worth. 

The 4 of us had not been together since the pandemic. We also made a new friend. Larry is the best waiter in all of Fort Worth. Maybe the world!

Quiet & Cozy Thanksgiving
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It poured on Thanksgiving. There were even tornado warnings at one point.

This could have been a depressing Thanksgiving, since it was just Don and me. But it was cozy and relaxing and we kept in touch with family, all day!

Family in Oregon

I couldn't have been happier knowing that our West Coast Kids, were having  celebrations with 2 of my siblings. Heidi, Jamie and Charlie drove 2 hours from Portlond, to be with my sister and her family.

They sent us updates and photos and we did the same. 

Family in Idaho

​I was equally thrilled that Scott and Chali were were able to drive from Sacramento to Boise. They spent Thanksgiving with my brother's family.

Again, technology made us feel like we were all spending the holiday together. Our family is so spread out, but so many of us were together!


Turkey for Two
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It was just Don and me in Sugar Land, but we were totally content. I pulled out Aunt Mary's old crystal for some sparkling wine. I set the table with Grandma Daw's old china.

Then Don smoked 2 turkey breasts and I tried 2 new recipes. The turkey was amazing. One success and one fail, for me.

I didn't get a photo of the turkey chef, but we have a bit of Don's hand, in our toasting photo!

Decorating

Weather was gorgeous the day our neighborhood planned to decorate the entrance. It's been many years since Don and I have gotten out and helped.

But there we were, in the sunshine, chatting (and sometimes helping) with neighbors. Some, we haven't seen in years.

In our yard, I wound colored lights around some tree trunks. I had help from a visiting kitty. Then I decorated the porch.

On the last day of November, I put out 11 boxes of donations for charity pick up. All that sorting and purging... Whew! I kept fingers crossed that UPS deliveries wouldn't cause confusion. (That happened once) All was good!

It was a good month! Except for a 2-week ailment, which I wasn't going to mention, because this is a happy blog. But it was my first sickness since the pandemic.  I'll put that in for the record. Yay, for getting well and yay for still managing to avoid Covid for nearly 3 years!  Yes, a good month!
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