It’s been quite an eventful month, though I haven’t been on the blog as often as usual. I’m winding down to the end of the year, but before I get there, let me review November!

Goals:
So…in goals this month, I mostly focused on shaping up my 2019 ideas. More on this at a later date, of course. Otherwise, I reached some milestones in my longer-term 2018 goals. I hit over 150 yoga workouts for the year, and over 300 miles. Other than finishing some fitness-related goals in December, I’m pretty much wrapped up on the year, with about a 75% completion rate – as good as I can expect given how many unexpected catastrophes happened this year! I will say that we’re making good progress reversing the damage from all those catastrophes, especially in the yard region.

Health:
We’ve now entered the time of year when I never really do well in terms of weight loss. Even in the years I was really losing, the last quarter of each year were my mostly-stay-the-same quarters. Partly this is holiday/food related, especially given that my family has several birthdays in here as well as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. Partly it’s just being exhausted this time of year. Nevertheless, I work really hard to stay healthy during this time, and did manage to maintain my weight this month. My family had two Thanksgivings this year, and I kept my eating healthy and in moderation at both. I exercised 20 days in November, for almost 20 total hours, and included 16 yoga workouts and 36 miles walked. I actually dusted off my Garmin – which I hadn’t used since Sept 2013 – and got it working again. Yay!

Unfortunately, I discovered late in the month that the substitute doctor I saw in October – the one who said he would order a brain MRI because of my anosmia issue – didn’t know what he was doing. He got all the information together but never sent the order in, so it’s all just been sitting there untouched on a computer. UGH. I had a follow-up appointment a few days ago and my normal doctor is getting it fixed up now. Additionally, I finally gave in regarding sleep meds. My insomnia has grown absolutely unmanageable, to the point where Jason has started sleeping on the couch for fear of waking me up every time he turns over. After seven years of chronic insomnia with every doctor, treatment, and test turning up negative for any possibilities or results, I gave in and asked for a prescription sleep aid. At least that should be better than living off Benedryl and Unisom, which make me depressed and groggy respectively the next day. I’m trying out the first right now, and will see my doctor again in early January. Wish me luck!

Books:
For the first half of the month, I revisited Oathbringer (an audiobook that’s over 50 hours long). It was just as anguishing to read this time around, and my experience of relief and euphoria on reaching one specific section of the book was identical to my initial experience (at above link). After those few weeks of reread, I moved on to something new, but then found myself unable to settle to anything else. So it was only two for the month, and of course Oathbringer is still the favorite despite it being a reread (and an anguishing book).

Highlights of November:
Despite having a bit of depression this month – mostly due to worsening insomnia – I actually had a pretty good month. There were a lot of good moments to remember.

• receiving our first Empty Faces mystery package!
• having brunch with my cousins (including some who live out of town)
• having a movie theatre to myself to see The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
• re-xeriscaping the part of our yard that got ripped up back in September
• discovering and playing Jackbox with my family
• getting my glow-in-the-dark-with-stormlight Kaladin and Syl shirt from Brandon Sanderson’s store, complete with Doomslug sticker for my computer!
• early Thanksgiving with my mom’s family, and (while there) finally getting the professional photos from my grandparents’ 65th anniversary party this summer
• playing Just Dance with the boys over Thanksgiving break
• seeing the new Fantastic Beasts movie with Morrigan
• watching the Macy’s parade with the boys
• Thanksgiving with my dad’s side of the family, including playing pool with Jason, the boys, and my cousin Warren (who is between Morrigan and Ambrose in age)
• getting ready for Christmas! We always do the decorations right after Thanksgiving.
• Morrigan deciding to apply to the Air Force on a deferred admittance, to go right after college, and do ROTC throughout college
• Jojo making it to his one-year birthday when he was on death’s door last February when we adopted him.
• I’m going to be an aunt again!

Coming up in December:
Christmas, of course, along with the ten-thousand-million family traditions that pop along throughout the month (yay!!!). It’ll also be my 19th wedding anniversary on the 22nd. December is always so busy. Conversely, this is the time of my year when I tend to get really quiet. Lots of stuff happens, but I personally sit back in a quiet enjoyment of all that stuff. I tend to post less on the blog, at least until end-of-year reviews come out, and post more often on social media. I read little, and spend most of my time offline. So if I don’t see y’all much this month, I hope you enjoy your holidays! I certainly will!