It was a momentous month in so many ways. Covid is back on a major rise, worse than it’s been so far. The presidential election has been strung along for weeks and weeks with the Prumpster still grouching about his very obvious, not-at-all-related-to-fraud loss. There was Thanksgiving, which felt so weird away from family, without even having Morrigan home from school. Lots of health problems, Stormlight Archive, and house-issues rounded off November.

(on top of a mountain when Biden/Harris officially won)

Books
While there have been other books this month – including the absolutely wonderful Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – the month was dominated by the Stormlight Archive. I always knew that would be the case, with the release of Rhythm of War midway through November. But the month also saw my reread of Oathbringer and a new Stormlight novella called Dawnshard. I’ve been steeped in the Cosmere for the last few weeks, and don’t plan to come out of the haze any time soon!

Goals
Not much to say this month, since nearly all the goals still left on this list are all covid-impacted. I’m in the process of making 2021 goals right now! I did finish all of my 2020 book priorities (only Rhythm of War was left!), as well as my Autumn Bucket List.

Health
In October, I talked about the weird stuff that started to happen in my body, and November just kept along that route. My weight continued to skyrocket upwards for no reason. My feet are misaligned and my gait has affected my whole body, so I can’t run at all anymore without severe pain (even after getting new, personally-fitted shoes). Hell, I can’t even go for a slow walk around the block without pain right now! I haven’t had a full night of sleep in several weeks, even with medication. I keep getting weird skin-burning patches on my arms (feels like sunburn, without any exposure to sun). My calves have constant red streaks up the backs of them that are a circulation issue ( <– compression socks in an attempt to alleviate this!). Every part of my body is swollen, even my tongue! On the 30th, I got blood work done, and am waiting for results and to see a (new) doctor. Hopefully I’ll have answers soon, because these last two months have been really f-ed up!

In better news, I’ve done well on cutting out coffee. There were only two days in all of November that I had more than two cups, and toward the end, I dropped down to one cup per day a few times. I didn’t quite make it to zero by the 27th, my original goal, but I’m getting closer.

House
Right away on the 1st, Jason discovered an issue behind our siding. He had to cut some of it away in building our deck walls, and when he did that, he found signs of Stupid and/or Lazy Contractors. When they installed the outlet back there, they cut through the fire-board and insulation that protects the house! They left big holes in the fire-board, which means that the house has been a major fire risk ever since then (we have no idea when this happened). It’s also how all the mice were getting in the house when we first moved in. The mice are gone now thanks to pest control, but Jason pulled at least four old nests out from the wall. He patched it all up and got it fixed, but now we have to replace the rest of it in December, which is just another drain on our finances. Sigh. Plus, at the end of the month – while taking off more of the siding to start the replacement process – he found mud daubers living inside the frickin’ siding!!!!! I am terrified of wasps and refuse to go out into the backyard or onto the deck until these are all dead and gone.

The good news is that after the wasps are exterminated, the back deck is now usable! We still need to finish the railings, but we have a floor, heh, and it’s lovely out there. And while Jason was working on all of that, I planned out the next couple sections of our front yard. The local nursery had a bunch of the right plants for sale, so I went ahead and cut through the next section of turf, and finished xeriscaping that area (above). It looks so pretty. I hope a lot of these plants survive. You never know how these things will work out. So far so good! (PS – I’m pretty sure that the manual labor involved in using a grub hoe and shoveling dirt/sod is the root cause of my hip/knee/shin/foot issues, cascading down from really horrible sciatica.)

Highlights of November
This has become my favorite little section to look back on when I go back to old in-review posts. I’m so glad I’ve kept it! Here are the good happenings of November:

• pumpkin muffins
• all the election memes, especially re: Nevada
• Dawnshard arrived!!! And it was soooooo good!
• Madame Vice President
• all the beautiful colors at Lost Maples
• new Kavu sling bag –>
• discovering another series by Elly Griffiths that I didn’t know was out there, with the first few of them free via Audible Plus!
• planning a (safe, secluded) weekend getaway for Jason’s and my 21st anniversary, while still keeping our formerly-canceled Planniversary trip (for our 20th) tucked away for post-pandemic times
• Rhythm of War Rhythm of War Rhythm of War…
• chocolate chip cookies mmmm
• artists in the wild –>
• picking out plants and finishing the next section of the yard
• having multiple outdoor spaces (covered and not) to see a couple family members safely during the holiday season
• cranberry orange muffins, mmm…
• seeing my mom and sister the day after Thanksgiving!
• Christmas decorations!

Coming up in December
Christmas season is upon us, and I have no idea what that’s going to look like in this weird, weird year. Especially with Morrigan flying in for a week and needing to be under quarantine during that time. Maybe I’ll be hosting a socially-distant-and-masked mini-party on my deck (or in my garage, heh) again. I guess that’s one good thing about Texas – it rarely gets so cold during winter days that we can’t be outside! (It’s summer that’s a problem for us, all those 100+ degree days…)