Showing posts with label I hate November. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I hate November. Show all posts

Monday, December 1, 2025

Right now

Right now...* 

*(A (mostly) monthly series/meme.  Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first (similar) "The Current" post, here.)

November was grey & chilly, and went by in a blur. The first half of the month was a build-up to Little Great-Nephew #1's birthday party. After that, I was ready to launch full speed ahead into holiday season preparations -- and then I came down with the nastiest cold I've had in a while (since last December, anyway...! -- see this post!). Bah humbug. :(  I like to think I no longer hate November, as I once did when I was still working -- but it's clearly still not my favourite month!  

This month, we: 

  • Got our annual flu & covid shots (at the same time)(Nov. 1st). 
  • Went with dh to the supermarket for groceries and takeout soup or pizza slices for lunch (Nov. 3rd, 10th & 17th). 
  • Mourned the sudden loss of my 65-year-old cousin. (Nov. 3rd) 
  • Headed to the local mall for walking & shopping (Nov. 4th & 11th). 
    • Stopped at the drugstore en route home to pick up a prescription, and at the supermarket for takeout soup for lunch (Nov. 4th). 
    • Stopped at the bank ABM for cash, and at the supermarket for takeout pizza slices for lunch, en route home (Nov. 11th). 
  • Drove with dh into midtown Toronto to check in (again!) with my optometrist, Nov. 5th.   
    • Stopped en route home for takeout soup for lunch from the supermarket. 
  • Drove out to the mall in our old community for haircuts, lunch & shopping (Nov. 7th). Stopped at the cemetery on our way there (swapped out the Halloween decorations on Katie's niche for Christmas ones), and at M&M Foods for a few things on the way home.  
  • Stayed cozy inside during the season's first snowfall, all day Sunday, Nov. 9th (!). 
  • Went to a local imaging clinic on Nov. 10th for bone mineral density scans. Both I AND dh had them done!  I'd had one done previously, about 10 years ago;  this was dh's first. 
  • Drove 30-45 minutes north to meet up for coffee with a childless friend I first met online, who was driving about the same distance south!  We picked the coffee shop within a local bookstore, so that dh (my chauffeur, lol)  could browse there while we chatted.  : )  
    • Stopped at the drugstore en route home to pick up a prescription. 
  • Attended Little Great-Nephew #1's 6th (!!!) birthday party (Nov. 15th), at a retro video arcade about an hour north of where we live (in a small town not too far from where Older Nephew & family live). Picked up BIL & SIL and drove up together; headed back to Older Nephew's house afterward to open presents. Chaotic but fun. 
    • Stopped at the supermarket en route home for takeout.   
  • Went to the nearby lab for bloodwork (ordered by our family doctor), after fasting for 12 hours -- then drove straight to our favourite breakfast spot for omelettes & home fries!  ;)  (Nov. 18th) 
  • Got sick for the rest of the week (and then some...!). :( 
  • Put up the Christmas tree!  :) (Nov. 29th) 

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 2 books in November (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2025 books"). 
This brings me to 35 books read in 2025 to date, 78% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :) 

Current reads: 
  • Crooked Adam by D.E. Stevenson, together with my DES fan group (after initially reading through it myself). I'll count it as a re-read when we finish, on or before Feb. 3 (2026). 37% completed. 
  • "The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald -- a slow readalong with Footnotes and Tangents, which started Nov. 3rd and runs for 7 weeks, through the week of Dec. 15th. I am currently behind schedule, with 33% read. :p  
  • "Childless: A Woman and a Girl in a Man's World" by Fabiana Formica.  This one is beautifully written, but slow going, and I was reading it (or trying to...!) at Mom & Dad's, where there were a lot of distractions. I've put it aside for the moment to focus on other reading priorities, but I've completed 33% to date.
  • "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 
Coming up: Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  
(Not sure I will be doing all of these?  "War & Peace" and Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy will also be available again to paying subscribers who are interested! I did both in 2024, and highly recommend the experience!) 

A few recently purchased titles (all in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points):  


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Watching: 
  • The World Series!! Game 7 on Saturday night, Nov. 1st -- our Toronto Blue Jays vs the Los Angeles Dodgers, here at home in Toronto. Alas, the Jays came within two outs of winning the game and the series, but lost to the Dodgers, 5-4, in 11 innings. Some called it the best/most exciting game/World Series of baseball ever played.  
  • Figure skating: I watched parts (if not all) of most of the Grand Prix events this month on TV and/or livestream, including Skate Canada in Saskatoon (ended Nov. 1st); NHK in Osaka, Japan (Nov. 7-9);  Skate America in Lake Placid, New York (Nov. 14-16); and the Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland (Nov. 21-23). 
    • The final is coming up in Nagoya, Japan (Dec. 5-8). 
  • (Parts of) Grey Cup 2025 on Sunday, Nov. 16th in my "home city" of Winnipeg (and the CFL Western division final in Regina on Nov. 8th). Grey Cup is like the Super Bowl of the Canadian Football League -- but much older, and (dare I say) better.  ;)    
    • This year's edition featured the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who defeated the Montreal Alouettes.
  • Despite feeling sick the entire week, I managed to stay awake long enough every night to watch Ken Burns's six-part opus about "The American Revolution" on PBS. (I promptly headed off to bed as soon as it was over!) He's certainly a master of storytelling. 
    • It's sad to think we'll likely see less of his work in the future because of the American government's defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 
  • I also stayed awake to watch "The Great Escaper" on PBS last Sunday night, starring Michael Caine as a 90-year-old WWII veteran who slips away from his retirement home and makes his way to France for the 70th anniversary of D-Day in 2014, encouraged by his wife (Glenda Jackson, in her final film role before she died).  It's based on a true story that I remember reading about at the time and thinking, "This would make a great movie!" and they did a wonderful job. :)  
Playing:  
  • Heardle Decades: Stats as of Nov. 30th: 
    • Heardle 60s: 73.7% (829/1113, 327 on first guess), up 0.1% from last month. Max. streak: 15.
    • Heardle 70s: 76.3% (651/853, 368 on first guess), same as last month. Max. streak: 18. 
    • Heardle 80s: 41.2% (295/716, 107 on first guess), up 0.5% from from last month. Max. streak: 5.
    • Heardle 90s: 33.0% (269/814, 72 on first guess), up 0.4% from last month. Max. streak: 5. 
  • NYT Connections: 
    • By Oct. 31st, I'd completed 459 games and won 88% of them, including 241 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, including 12 where I got the most difficult/purple category first.  Maximum winning streak: 45 (unchanged). Current streak: 16. 
    • As of Nov. 30th, I'd played 489 games and won 88% of them, including 257 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, including 13 where I got the most difficult/purple category first.  Maximum winning streak: 45 (unchanged). Current streak: 2. 
Listening:  Turned on Stingray's holiday music channel while we were decorating our tree this weekend.  :)  I love Christmas music (just not too early...!).  

Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  
  • Unfortunately! -- after valiantly trying to eat better, lose weight and maintain the lower cholesterol levels we achieved last January (2025) (after less-than-stellar bloodwork results in fall 2024 earned us both serious chats with our family doctor), we both registered higher-than-acceptable cholesterol numbers again on our most recent bloodwork. :(  I have a phone appointment on Dec. 3rd  to discuss the results with him, and I am bracing myself for yet another prescription in my future. Sigh...  :(  
    • I ended the month exactly the same weight as when it (eyeroll, boo, hiss...). Overall, I'm down 11+ pounds since this time last year (dh has lost about 22), and a little over 23 pounds from my heaviest-ever weight a few years ago. (It ain't hay... but I guess it wasn't enough to keep my cholesterol levels at bay... :(  ) 
  • We also indulged in some of our usual takeout meals for lunch once or twice a week (pizza slices, soup), plus Saturday night dinners, including teriyaki rice bowls from the supermarket, and Swiss Chalet's annual Festive Special (1/4 rotisserie chicken with choice of sides, stuffing, cranberry sauce, bun-- and five Lindor chocolate truffles! lol).
Wearing: My collection of holiday-themed waffle-weave shirts from Old Navy, brought to the forefront of the closet again.  :)  

Buying (besides books, lol):  Christmas presents!  Also presents for both Little Great-Nephews' birthdays (LGN#1's was in mid-November, LGN#2's is coming up just before Christmas). This was mostly during the first half of the month, as I've been sick since then...! 

Noticing: How early it gets dark now (definitely before 5 PM).  :( 

Appreciating:  The extra light the Christmas tree gives off! 

Wanting/Hoping:  To be rid of this cold, sooner vs later...! 

Trying: To get to bed earlier while I haven't been feeling well. 

Wondering: Whether the cold was actually covid?? I tested negative, but the fact that we ALL got sick all at once, and the way it's been hanging on, makes me wonder... 

Prioritizing: Getting my Christmas cards & (most of) my Christmas shopping done before we head west for Christmas, later in December. 

Anticipating: Another prescription in my near future (re: my elevated cholesterol levels).  :(  

Enjoying:  The lull in the news, notifications, numbers of emails in my inbox, etc., over the past few days, as the U.S recovers from its turkey coma!  lol  

Loving:  While I do NOT love November, I have much warmer feelings towards December!  lol  Love the Christmas lights, music, and festive spirit I am already seeing! 
                           
Feeling: Not 100%, physically, but hoping for a better December!  Looking forward to Little Great-Nephew #2's first birthday and then to heading west to spend Christmas with my family! ❤ 
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Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Odds & ends

The double standard and irony of it all is that, in my experience, often, those beating their drums the loudest about us childfree people talking about being childfree are usually the ones who have made parenting their whole personality and have “mom of boys” or “proud mumma bear” in their bios.

And that’s ok.

But why do they get to build their world around having children and expect those of us who don’t have them to be silent?
  • Rosalyn at NoMo Book Club describes the comfort that can be found in books that encompass the worlds of other childless/free women ("Sharing sanctuary"). 
  • Carrie Hauskens at Blooming With Care wrote about her childless holidays -- and her Bonne Maman advent calendar tradition (yum!).  
  • Further on the New York Times magazine story of the 65-year-old woman who can't stop/won't stop having babies (gift link included in this post), Sara Petersen at In Pursuit of Clean Countertops invites former fundamentalist wife Tia Levings to muse about how "It's Easy To Want Babies:  It's Harder To Raise Them." 
  • American journalist Kirsten Powers (who has no children) writes about the panic attacks she's been experiencing as the holiday season approaches ("When Grief Take You Out"). After reading about what her year has been like, you'll understand why...!   
  • I've been mulling over an "I hate November" rant these last few days (feeling sick and sorry for myself...) -- and Anne Helen Petersen just posted about "fall regression" on her Culture Study Patreon, and the comments section is filled with people venting about season depression and grief. My comment begins with the words, "You all are my people,"  lol    
  • Lyz Lenz's list of Sunday links on her Men Yell at Me Patreon included this one (from McSweeney's, a humor site), and I couldn't help but think about infertility as soon as I saw the headline: "When It Happens."  
It’s impossible to say when IT will HAPPEN. But it can’t be too long until IT HAPPENS. Looking at the data (age, high-stress job, cardiac history), it is statistically plausible that IT will HAPPEN in the next thirty-six months.

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Sunday, December 1, 2024

Right now

Right now...* 

*(an occasional (mostly monthly) meme, alternating from time to time with "The Current"). (Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first "The Current" post, here.)

November was mostly grey and gloomy (as November usually is...!). But grey skies aside, for a month that I have historically NOT had a good relationship with (lol) it wasn't too bad -- some fun family time, some hints of Christmas coming... (Also, it went by pretty fast! How is we're almost at the end of the year?? And Christmas??) 

Pandemic diary/update: November was month #56 since the covid pandemic began in March 2020 (now in Year FIVE). :(   We (still!) remain covid-free (knocking wood, loudly...) -- although dh came down with a nasty cough/cold within the past few days (and brushes off my suggestion of testing...). We continue to mask in stores, malls and (most) other such indoor public spaces hereabouts, especially if/when there are lots of people around. (Well, I do -- I know dh has been slacking off, whenever I'm not around to hand him a mask...!) 

On top of the usual worries about seasonal colds, flu and covid, we now have to worry about H1N5 (avian/bird flu). Canada had its first confirmed case this month -- a teenager in British Columbia, who wound up in critical condition in the hospital. They're not sure about the source. 

Among other things we did this month, we: 
  • Went to Chapters (bookstore), Carters (children's wear), Reitmans (women's wear) and Shoppers Drug Mart on Nov. 4th. 
    • Back at Chapters and Shoppers on Nov. 13th. 
  • Went to the mall on Nov. 5th to walk & shop for a few hours (and escape the U.S. election news coverage, lol). (Regretfully bypassed the pizza place and had a healthier lunch when we got back home. Maybe in January we'll treat ourselves, if we get a good report on our cholesterol levels...!)  
    • Returned on Nov. 12th, 19th & 26th to do the same. (Each time we went, the mall got busier and busier... and we had to park further and further from the entrance!  lol -- the holiday madness has begun...!).  
  • Headed back to our old community on Nov. 8th:  took Christmas decorations to the cemetery for Katie, had lunch at Tim Hortons in the food court in the mall, then had haircuts and did a bit of walking & shopping. (We'll be back in mid-December for trims, before heading west for the holidays.) 
  • I attended a "baby sprinkle" on Nov. 9th for Older Nephew's wife -- i.e., a small shower to celebrate their second baby, due by scheduled C-section just before Christmas. There were about 20-25 women & children total -- including a half-dozen of her friends and a couple of her cousins  -- all in their early 30s, all either having babies (two other pregnant women there) or thinking about it.  
    • Needless to say, I mostly stayed away from them!  lol  I wound up spending a lot of time playing with Little Great-Nephew ("I'm a professional at Lego," he told me, as I helped him assemble his latest project, lol) and Little Great-Niece, and taking photos of them to show dh later.  We didn't play any dumb games (yay!), it was at Older Nephew's MIL's spacious house so there was plenty of room to walk around (and escape, if necessary! lol), and the food was really good (see "Eating," below). (I even managed to (mostly!) make good choices!  lol)  
    • Bonus: BIL drove me & SIL to the shower, and came to pick us up again later -- at the same time as Younger Nephew came to pick up his wife and Little Great-Niece. I suggested that they could drive me home, since they live quite close to us, and thus save BIL & SIL a longer trip home. LGNiece kept saying, "Aunt Lori! Aunt Lori coming! Aunt Lori here! Aunt Lori!"  all the way out to the car and then half the way home, lol.  MADE MY DAY.  :)  
  • A week later, on Nov. 16th, we headed up to Older Nephew's house with BIL & SIL to celebrate Little Great-Nephew's 5th (!!) birthday party. Younger Nephew, his wife & Little Great-Niece came too, and we all had such a good time together. :)  
  • We got a last-minute invitation to dinner (along with BIL & SIL) to dh's cousin's for dinner (the same cousins who have the cottage we've been to the last couple of years in the fall). Her parents were also there. Prime rib, potatos au gratin (I had a small helping), sauteed rapini, salad and tiramisu for dessert (small piece).  This cousin's wife loves to cook and entertain. Lucky us!  :)  

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 1 book in November (reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2024 books").  
This brings me to 32 books read so far in 2024, 71% of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books.  I am currently 9 (!) books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(   (Too many distractions this month, plus I'm (still) trying to catch up on my Hilary Mantel reading -- see below!) 

Current reads: 
  • "The Windsor Knot" by S.J. Bennett, the January pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club (previously read in 2021 and reviewed here).   
  • "Miss Buncle’s Book" by D.E. Stevenson, for my DES fan group. We began reading this together on Oct. 7th, and will finish in mid-December. I'll count this as a re-read then. (Original 2015 review here;  most recent review here.) 
  • "Living the Life Unexpected" by Jody Day.  I'm once again taking part in a chapter-by-chapter group read of this CNBC classic!  The most recent meeting covered Chapter 3.  This is the 5th (!) time I've read this book, or the earlier version of it ("Rocking the Life Unexpected").  (Most recent review, with links to earlier reviews, here.)  
  • "The Mirror and the Light" by Hilary Mantel (book #3 in the Thomas Cromwell Trilogy) -- part of a year-long "slow readalong" hosted by Simon at Footnotes & Tangents (which participants have dubbed "Wolf Crawl,"  lol) -- about 40 pages per week.  :)   
    • We started during the week of July 21st.  I chose to focus on some of my other books over the late summer/early fall, and as a result, was 9 weeks behind the posted reading schedule at one point (erk).  I've been doing a bit of catching up, and am currently about 8 weeks behind, at about 51% read. We will finish at the end of December. 
    • Simon will be repeating the Cromwell Trilogy slow readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers. I highly recommend the experience! (and am considering whether I'm up to another round of it myself...!). (Yes, I'm nuts...!)  Details here!  
  • "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy (!). As I wrote here, I needed another book club/readalong obligation like a hole in the head  ;)  but nevertheless, I'm taking part in a year-long readalong of this book, hosted by Simon at Footnotes & Tangents -- a chapter a day for a full year, which began Jan. 1, 2024. (And I'm really enjoying it!)  Currently at about 92% read.  
    • If you've ever thought about reading W&P, Simon will be repeating the readalong in 2025 for paying subscribers -- and I highly recommend the experience! (and yes, I'm probably doing it again!). Details here!  
  • "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 
Coming up: Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  
  • My L.M. Montgomery Readathon Facebook group is reading assorted short stories by the author right now.  We'll begin a new book in January (to be announced soon). (I love LMM, and her books are usually fast, easy reads -- but I have to admit, it's nice to have a bit of a break to catch up on other reading!) 
  • For my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club: 
    • "Others Like Me" by Nicole Louie. (Not a book club selection, but Katy Seppi has said she will be interviewing the author in January!) 
    • "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang (February). 
  • For my D.E. Stevenson group:  This list of upcoming books should keep us busy through 2025 or even into early 2026!  (A couple of the books are ones we covered shortly after I first joined the group back in 2014 -- you know you've been around for a while when....!)  
A few recently purchased titles (mostly in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points):  

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Watching:  
  • "The Marlow Murder Club" on PBS, adapted in four parts from the Robert Thorogood novel, which I started reading before the first episode aired on Oct. 27th (and finished just after that). 
    • Nice as it was to see Rita Tushingham back onscreen after so many years (I remember watching her and Lynn Redgrave in "Smashing Time" when I was a kid), her character was not in the book, and she seemed to be there only to provide a few brief moments of comic relief, even though she received prominent billing in the credits.  It does bug me when TV does stuff like that!  
  • "Wolf Hall" on PBS, based on the books "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel, both of which I read earlier this year (click on links for my reviews).  The first of six episodes aired on Oct. 27th;  the last will air Dec. 1st (tonight!). I am hugely enjoying this.  Mark Rylance is wonderful in everything I 've ever seen him in (and this role, as Thomas Cromwell, is no exception), and Damian Lewis makes a great Henry VIII, both charming and menacing. It really brings the books to life! 
    • An adaptation of "The Mirror and the Light," the final book in the Cromwell Trilogy (which I'm reading right now -- see "Reading," above), with most of the same cast members, will begin airing in March 2025. Looking forward to it! 
  • Ken Burns's new two-part/four-hour documentary about Leonardo da Vinci, shown on PBS on Nov. 18th & 19th. 
  • Too much American/election-related news (CNN).  :p  :(    
  • The 111th Grey Cup, championship game of the Canadian Football League, featuring my beloved Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who went down to defeat versus the Toronto Argonauts, in Vancouver. (Kind of the Canadian version of the Super Bowl, but with slightly different rules, less glitz and a much longer history.)  
    • Missed the pre-show, which apparently featured an interview with Prince Harry (!), in town to promote his Invictus Games, which will also be held in Vancouver, in February.  (This article from People magazine says he was at "Toronto's Grey Cup"   -- it was actually in Vancouver.) 
Listening:  To the Eighties Stingray channel a little more lately. (Trying to boost my 80s Heardle scores!  lol)  Soon:  Christmas music!  :)  

Playing:  
  • Heardle Decades: Stats as of Nov. 30th: 
    • Heardle 60s: 76.5% (595/778, 238 on first guess), down 0.1% from last month. Max. streak: 15.
    • Heardle 70s: 78.8% (406/5151, 227 on first guess), down 0.3% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
    • Heardle 80s: 40.1% (156/389, 58 on first guess), down 0.8% from last month. Max. streak: 4. 
    • Heardle 90s: 27.9% (137/491, 27 on first guess), up 1.2% from last month. Max. streak: 5 (up from 4!). 
  • NYT Connections: 
    • At the end of October, I'd completed 95 games and won 78% of them, including 46 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors and a maximum winning streak of 15.  :)   
    • By Nov. 30th, I'd completed 125 games and won 79% of them, including 62 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors and a maximum winning streak of 15.  :)   
Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  
  • More beans and lentils, more fresh fruits & veggies, fewer convenience foods, fewer cookies, since getting our cholesterol readings...!  I'm not cutting out sweets entirely, but we've definitely cutting down/back!  and I'm down a little over 4 pounds so far.  :)  More bloodwork to come in January (and hopefully not another prescription)! 
  • That said...!  I can't say we've really been depriving ourselves either...!  
    • The food at the baby sprinkle/shower on Nov. 9th was really good, mostly catered from a local Italian restaurant.  Lots of charcuterie/appetizers (I just had some pita bread & hummus). There was chicken piccata (which I had) and beef (which I didn't), along with little roasted potatos, rapini and asparagus, green salad (had all of those), spring rolls and chicken fingers (for the kids, mostly). Huge sweet table for dessert. I had a small piece of the cake (strawberry filling), one cookie and some fruit.  
    • Older Nephew's wife is a great cook :)  and we had a nice birthday dinner for Little Great-Nephew on Nov. 16th:  orecchiette pasta with rapini, followed by baked boneless chicken thighs, potatos & (more) rapini (plus birthday cake, of course -- and yes, despite the diet, I did not turn down a piece!).  :)  
    • We had dinner at dh's cousin's house (the one with the cottage), along with BIL & SIL and the wife's parents on Nov. 23rd. It was a spur of the moment invitation (I had one hour to get ready to go!):  she had a large prime rib roast she wanted to use, and cooked it along with potatos au gratin (delicious!), sauteed rapini and a salad. SIL brought a tiramisu (from the supermarket) for dessert. I had a small helping of the potatos and tiramisu. (Sigh!) 
    • Takeout: The usual soup from the supermarket takeout counter, once a week or so; a pizza slice for dinner (ditto, Nov. 15th), a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket (Nov. 24th), which created some leftovers for another dinner and lunches! and a chicken teriyaki rice bowl  (also from the supermarket takeout counter, Nov. 30th). 
Buying (besides books, lol):  
  • Christmas and birthday presents, including things for dh, Little Great-Niece, Little Great-Nephew and his baby brother, who will be arriving soon...!   
  • A black peacoat from Old Navy (in-store). I didn't really NEED a new winter coat (and the sleeves were a bit long -- but that's the story of my life...), but I don't have anything that's even semi-dressy anymore, and it was 40% off an already-low price. I wound up paying about $47 for it!  I also bought a new black tuque to match. 
    • (It's a "tuque," NOT A "beanie!"  lol -- at least, it is here in Canada!  I always cringe whenever I hear anyone referring to it as that! -- although, sadly, I am hearing more & more Canadians use that term too. It just sounds WRONG to me!)  
  • A couple of pretty "textured lace" scoop-neck tops in different colours, also from Old Navy (online purchase, on sale). 
  • A pretty metal snowflake photo frame, and some Christmas-y placemats (two different patterns) for the table at Homesense. 
  • Skin care and cosmetics at 30-50% discounts from Clinique's website. (I don't wear a lot of makeup these days, but there's a family wedding coming up next year and a lot of my makeup -- even the stuff that survived last spring's purge -- is pretty old, so this was a great opportunity to restock a few of my favourites!) 
  • (And I HAVE been buying a lot of ebooks in Kobo's Black Friday sales these past few days, lol. Some of the titles listed above are ones I bought then!) 
Wearing: 
  • Fall/winter jackets (sigh...) 
  • Eased into my sizeable collection of seasonal/winter/Christmas-themed PJ tops from Old Navy by the end of the month!  :)    
Enjoying:  The lull in online activity/emails these last few days ( = fewer distractions!), as Americans celebrate their Thanksgiving!  

Appreciating:  Retirement!!  Never more so than this month, as HALF A MILLION Swifties (and their chaperones) descended on downtown Toronto to attend one of six Taylor Swift concerts at the Rogers Centre/SkyDome between Nov. 14th and 23rd.  I don't get downtown much these days, but I've been there (when I was working) when other big events have been happening -- and the congestion (on the roads, on transit and in the downtown area generally) has been absolutely and increasingly brutal since I retired (endless construction and roadwork). No thank you! (But I'm glad everyone who was able to get tickets had a good time!)    

(Still) Trying: (as noted in "Eating," above)  To make better food choices and be a little more active = lose some weight and lower that cholesterol!  (I'm already taking prescriptions for high blood pressure and a sluggish thyroid -- I do NOT want to add another one!)  

Noticing:  Down 4+ pounds on the scale (so far!) since our visit to the family doctor on Oct. 23rd (4+ weeks ago), where our cholesterol levels were flagged. I need to lose a whole lot more, but hey, it's a start...!    

Hoping:  To lose a few more pounds before we head west to my parents for two weeks over Christmas/New Year....! (Especially since I'll probably gain a few back while we're there...!) 

Remembering:  The small mall that opened in the town where we were living in late 1978/early 1979, when I was in Grade 12/senior year of high school -- which recently announced it will be closing its doors at the end of December. (I heard this from my cousin's wife, who grew up in another town nearby. I asked about it on my high school class's Facebook group, and a classmate there directed me to a news story online.)  
  • I got a part-time job there before it even opened, at the Woolco store, which was one of the two anchor stores at one end of the mall -- a Safeway supermarket was at the other -- stocking shelves, pre-opening, and then working in the hardware department (!! -- lololol...).  I continued to work there over the summer of 1979 and as seasonal staff during December that year (home from university early and feeling at loose ends), and also had another part-time job at a clothing store in the mall (Mariposa) the next summer (1980). My sister also worked there, at a photo studio/camera shop, and at two different restaurants there.  The end of an era... 
Prioritizing: Christmas shopping!  Rounding up stocking stuffers in particular.  Still trying to figure out what to get for a few people... 

Wanting: To get the Christmas tree up soon!  I was hoping to do it this weekend, but dh is miserable with a cold right now, so I decided to drop the subject for a few days until he's feeling better...!  (I can do most of it myself, but I need his help with a few things, particularly getting the boxes of decorations from the storage locker in the parking garage and bringing them upstairs.)  

Anticipating: The arrival of Little Great-Nephew #2, in mid-December!  

Wondering:  Whether we'll be able to see him before we leave for the holidays? 

Also:  When the Canada Post strike will end, and whether I'm going to get Christmas cards sent this year?? I haven't bought any yet, because it seemed kind of pointless until I knew whether I was going to be able to send them out. I don't think I have ever NOT sent Christmas cards out, since I started doing them for myself as a teenager/young adult.  

Loving:  Seeing more and more Christmas lights and decorations as we drive through the nearby neighbourhoods at night.  Gets me in a festive mood!    

Feeling: A little nervous about Older Nephew's Wife and the impending arrival of Little Great-Nephew #2 (as I always am whenever someone I love is expecting).  Glad November is over. (It's not as bad as it once was, but it's still not my favourite month...!)  Looking forward to (more) Christmas-y things in December, and spending time with my family!  
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Monday, October 21, 2024

#MicroblogMondays: I love October :)

If I hate November (as I have often moaned in this blog over the years...!), I think I can safely say that, on the flipside, I love October.  Especially when it's like this October has been (so far, at least!). The temperature late this afternoon reached 26C with a touch of humidity making it feel like 28C (78F & 82F, respectively) -- not especially normal for this time of year, perhaps, but nice, just the same.  We have had the balcony door wide open for most of the day. 

Overall, the weather this month has been pretty good. Even if it's been a touch chilly some days (and certainly in the morning, with the thermometer hitting close to freezing some days -- we've had to turn the furnace on, and yes, it HAS been running!), it's often been clear & sunny as compensation.  It's gloriously so today. :)   

And the colours! It felt like the leaves took their time to start changing colour this year, but this past week, they've started popping out, big time. Dh & I drove back to our old community on Sunday afternoon, to get our covid & flu shots at our family dr's office, and I was kept busy trying to snap some photos out of the (unfortunately dirty...!) car window. I've posted a couple below.   

October is also Thanksgiving for us Canadians, and with all due respect to American readers, personally, I think the timing is so much better than late November. It's closer to harvest season (hereabouts, anyway), the weather is better, it's not so close to Christmas, and there's no Black Friday the next day to send you rushing out to crowded malls.  ;)  (Not quite so much football, either, lol.) You won't see vast hordes of Canadians jamming the highways and airports to get "home" for the holiday, but if family happen to be nearby, they often do gather to share a good meal and visit. We got to spend the Sunday of the Thanksgiving weekend with BIL & SIL, our nephews and their families. We had the meal (mostly) catered, and a good time was had by all.  :)   

25 years ago, I'm not sure I would have written a post like this. October 1998 was the month I went back to work after the August stillbirth of my daughter -- only to have to leave work again, two days later, when my beloved grandfather died at age 86. Not quite a full year later, but still in October (1999), my wonderful Grandma followed him... and a few days after her funeral, while I was still at my parents' house, my aunt's husband died, less than a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 

I'm thankful that, these days (and certainly right now), I can enjoy October again. 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.  

I am (still) a Prairie girl at heart -- but I have to admit, 
autumn in Ontario is spectacular!

Oh, those colours!!  
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Friday, November 17, 2023

Odds & ends for the weekend

  • It's Little Great-Nephew's 4th (!!) birthday today!  We'll be heading up to Older Nephew's house tomorrow for a family celebration. We sure miss seeing him as often as we have (especially during this past year), since he started school this fall, but we're so grateful for the time we've been able to spend with him, and to have him in our lives!  
    • Here's the post where I announced his arrival, four years ago (November 2019).  :)  
  • In the WTF?/Annoying things category:  On Nov. 2nd, I ordered 6 (paperback) books, as well as some boxed Christmas cards, during a sale from our national mega-bookstore chain -- 30% off with my membership card.  
    • The cards were delivered on Nov. 6th. 
    • Two books were delivered in one package on Nov. 6th.  
    • Another book arrived on Nov. 15th. 
    • Two more shipments -- one with one book, the other with two books -- arrived at the same time yesterday, on Nov. 16th.  
    • That's 5 separate shipments/deliveries (!) over 10 days! (I was perfectly willing to wait the full 10 days to get everything all at once.)  I get that they may have come from different warehouses -- and the shipping was free, to me anyway -- but seriously? It seems so wildly inefficient...! -- all that packaging (cardboard = recyclable, at least), all that additional labour to get them to me... 
  • The New York Times had an article this week celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of "Emily of New Moon" by L.M. Montgomery. (Gift link.) I was kind of gobsmacked by how many people in the comments -- many of them ardent fans of "Anne of Green Gables" -- had never heard of Emily (let alone the many other wonderful books & heroines Montgomery created). All of Montgomery's books were touchstones of my growing-up years, and (as you all probably know already!) the older I get (and the more of her work I re-read), the more I realize just what a huge impact she had on my life and on the person I am today.  (My reviews of "Emily of New Moon," here and here... I've also read & reviewed the two sequels on this blog over the past three years.)  
  • I loved this! -- go read it!  "A very short essay against 'as a mother': On being able to care without kids" by Amy Key of "So Glad I'm Me."  (This link was recommended by Sara Petersen at "In Pursuit of Clean Countertops" -- she got it from Jessica Stanley at "READ.LOOK.THINK.") 
  • I'm not the only one who has a problem with Novembers: Katie Hawkins-Gaar at "My Sweet Dumb Brain" ponders her own history of grief during this month in "As the layers of life accumulate." (Very appropriately, I read it on Nov. 14th -- the 25th "anniversary" of Katie's due date.) 
    • (That said, Nov. 14th this year was... okay. The sun was shining, which helped enormously, I think!) 
    • Content warning: a parent's death, and postpartum psychosis (living baby) mentioned.  
    • Sample passage: 
Some days, some weeks, some months, are heavier than others. These are the times when bad things have happened, when our lives are forever changed. Our minds may not always note the date, but our bodies typically do. 

On these days, we feel out of sorts — we feel sad, anxious, or irritable, and we’re not entirely sure why. Our bodies nudge us along. Then we remember.
  • Also this:  "Maybe she manifested it" from "The Antidote" by Helen Davenport-Peace. (When did "baby manifestation coaches" become a thing?? UGH!)  Sample passage (bolding & italics are the author's): 
To be clear; if you’re reading this and Not Pregnant Yet…

it isn’t because you haven’t manifested it. It’s not because you have a baby blocking belief buried deep into your subconscious. It isn’t not happening because you don’t believe enough, that you aren’t manifesting properly, hard enough or with the right coach by your side to clarify and cleanse your vision. There isn’t a missing piece in the wiring between what your mind and body desire that someone else can solve in three monthly installments of three thousand pounds.

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Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Midweek odds & ends

  • I Hate November, Chapter ??:   Longtime readers will recall that for many years running, I would publish a post titled or themed "I hate November."  Admittedly, November doesn't suck QUITE as much as it used to: I'm no longer working and dealing with year end and, with the passage of time, Katie's due date doesn't loom quite so large in my mind these days. And it's still early in the month to issue judgments...!  
    • But it's been pretty dark and gloomy lately, because of the weather, if not (just!) the recent time change...!  I'm not quite ready to dive into the holiday season just yet (I like to wait until after Remembrance Day, at least, if not American Thanksgiving, before starting to decorate, wear my Christmas-themed shirts, etc...), but I will admit I look forward to the way the decorations and tree lights literally and figuratively brighten things up!  
  • I'm continuing to work my way through the list of my Mom's Ancestry DNA matches, while waiting for my own results, trying to figure out how we're connected. In addition to the matches I mentioned in my previous post that had me going "hmmm..."  I noticed one match came from someone whose Ancestry profile identifies themselves as an adoptee born in 1970, who knows nothing about their birth family. It also identified the place where they were born -- which signals to me which branch of the family they might be from ( = potential grandparent or great-grandparent, at least). It's not a part of the family where I've had much contact with anyone, though -- so I think I will just sit tight for now and see if anyone approaches me for information... 
  • We're due for a dentist visit later this month. And I've been feeling some sensitivity around a crown on my lower left jaw -- my original crown, and one that was actually replaced a couple of years ago. PLEASE don't tell me I need to get it replaced again...!  Sigh.... 
  • The comedy of errors with "Big Blue" (pseudonym for my telecomms provider -- although any Canadian will know exactly which company I mean...!) continues, after we upgraded our internet service and had a new modem installed... then had to have a new TV receiver installed...!  (See this post, and my update in the comments.) 
    • First, last Monday, we attempted to return our old (now defunct) TV receiver and remote to the local Big Blue store. Guess what? -- they don't take equipment returns in their stores now -- we will have to send it by post/courier (within 30 days, or risk getting charged). Of course, dh already threw out the box it came in, so we had to go to a nearby postal outlet to buy a box and some bubble wrap, etc.  
    • I found instructions on how to return the equipment online and attempted to print off a shipping label.  Nothing happened. I eventually realized that (duh!) it's a wireless printer -- and so it needed to be reconnected to the new wifi. I wound up spending half an hour on the phone with my sister's computer geek partner. Between the two of us, we eventually got it done...!   
    • In the meantime, we had a voice mail message on our phone. I input my password to retrieve it -- and was told that was the incorrect password. (!) I was asked for my "temporary password." I didn't HAVE a temporary password!  It dawned on me that this might have something to do with the new internet/modem (since our phone runs off the internet). Called Big Blue and yes, it probably did have something to do with the new equipment. Got some instructions on how to reset my password. I was intending to just reuse the same password -- except that's no longer an option -- they now want 6 to 15 digits, versus the original 4. (Sigh.)  I came up with a new password, retrieved my message and all is well. For now, anyway...! (Just waiting for the next shoe to drop...!)  
    • Once this is all over and I've returned the TV receiver, etc., I am writing Big Blue a letter/email to complain about the ridiculous rigamorole we've been through -- it's been just one thing after another...! There HAS to be a better way to do this...!  
  • On the bright side:  we spent a fun afternoon with dh's cousins on his mom's side on Sunday, playing golf virtually, indoors -- a new business venture in a nearby community, owned by the two adult sons of one of the cousins (one of them the same age Katie would have been).  I don't play golf, so I mostly watched dh & his cousins (he had a BLAST) and socialized. 
    • We also got to see Little Great-Nephew AND Little Great-Niece AND the dog last weekend at BIL & SIL's house!  :)  It was LGNiece's first encounter with the dog... she seemed curious about him (and he, of course, instantly loved her and wanted to lick her!), but she started crying whenever he came too close, so we did our best to keep them apart for now...!  
  • Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos of Silent Sorority was Christine Erickson's guest on New Legacy Radio on Nov. 7th, discussing "When the Personal is Political What is Our Responsibility?" A very important (essential!) conversation for our community, and so well done! -- please listen! 
  • Thank you to Jennie Agg at Life, Almost for the link to this great Substack piece by Helen Davenport-Peace on "the fertility wellness industry." I especially liked this part, towards the end: 
We are surrounded by the message that there is an answer to infertility that lies in the things we consume and the lifestyle we create. It’s alluring. It offers quick fixes in three month packages, often costing four figures sums we can’t really afford. It also feeds into our wider inhabiting of not doing a good enough job...

What happens when you do try out all alternative modalities, try all the diets, take all the supplements and you don’t ever get the outcome you’re seeking? How do we reconcile this with the narrative that holds us responsible for our fecundity? What do we do with that? It’s not easy to hold our heads up high in realms of wellness and diet culture when we’re positioned in this way.

We do get to do this though.

Fertility is not solely reserved to ‘healthy humans’ (however we deem this to look).

Infertility does not equal ill health.

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