November begins

Well, it's November now. Hard to believe we're closing in on the end of the year. This one is going fast, if I do say so.

It's a beautiful day. After school and indoor chores, we raked out the gardens and cleaned up the front porch, which has more or less been a constant mess since June thanks to being a "drop zone" for construction work upstairs. Now that the last of the insulation and sheetrock has been brought into the house, we could finally reclaim that space. You know, just in time for the porch to get buried in snow drifts.

The best part of the outdoor work was not needing a jacket or even a sweater. Unbelievable!

Equally unbelievable is the fact that we've not had even a flurry in the sky yet. It's been all sun and cloudless skies. I don't think too many of us around here are complaining.

I am feeling good today, which is the first day in about a week and a half that I've been able to say that. Just as my horrible, no-good cold started clearing up, I managed to get myself one seriously pinched nerve in my neck. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I can't remember the last time I actually cried real tears because of pain, but I was crying on Monday! Thank goodness for ice packs, tylenol (the one thing I can actually take while pregnant!), and chiropractors.

In an effort to make the most of 1+ week of feeling under-the-weather, I tried to make some headway with plans for the house that Daniel has been needing from me. This included finalizing the upstairs bathroom floor plan so that he knows where to run electrical boxes in there (he's done with the bedrooms, closets, and attics-- I was officially holding him up). That sort of thing is pretty daunting for me, so I tend to do a lot of research (thus the slowness). 

Thankfully, putting together ideas and plans for our on-going renovations (target end date of August 2012, so we're in this one for the long-haul!) has become infinitely easier with pinterest.

Of course, as I put together all these ideas, I start thinking outside the box. Daniel is a really good sport about letting me spring my latest brainstorm on him. I think he's learned that the good brainstorms stick while the not-so-good ones don't, so he just lets me talk in the meantime. I love him for listening!

I've also started working on holiday plans while being laid up. I haven't purchased many gifts yet because some of the sisters, Mom, and I are planning a shopping trip for next week, but my lists and ideas are being compiled. As usual, the only part of preparations that makes me roll my eyes with exhaustion before I've even begun is Christmas photos. I like to try to get something taken because we are so bad about taking pictures of all 7 of us throughout the rest of the year, but trying to get everybody looking decent and feeling generally happy at the same time is no easy task. I think we may do black and white photos this time around because then it doesn't matter what we all wear!

So yes, November is already in full swing, and it's a lovely one at that. I sure hope that we can figure out a way to make the most of each day left in 2011. It will be gone before we know it.