Done and Done!

Well, it’s November 30, and all the NaNoWriMo writers are stepping away from their keyboards. … hopefully with 50,000 words and one long month of intense writing under their belts.

Although I didn’t participate in NaNoWriMo this year, I had my own drummed-up deadline to meet – by Dec. 2, I had to have my Golden Heart entry on the desk of the Romance Writer Association’s group in Texas. Late Sunday night, I was boxing up six copies of a 44-page partial, six copies of an 11-page synopsis, and trying to get the entire manuscript into one file and on some form of CD or flash. (It’s always those last-minute techie things that take the longest, you know?) By midnight, I was finally strapping the packing tape around the box and feeling pretty relieved. …

On to the next project. …

Cyber Monday? Black Friday?

So is all your Christmas shopping done?

That’s how I feel all my cool, really-pulled-together friends are. Done, that is. Black Friday – check. Cyber Monday – double-check. They probably have all their presents wrapped already, too.

Me?

I’ve barely started.

I did manage to make a list the other day.

And I scanned a web site I like of gift baskets for some far-away family.

And I supported Rene and Nathan when they wanted to get up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday and walk up to Big Lots and Target. (And by “supported” I mean “told them they should drink a glass of chocolate milk before they go out.”)

They did, too. The alarm went off at 5 a.m., Nathan sighed deeply, then he went and woke Rene up. And the two of them lumbered downstairs in the dark, drank two glasses of chocolate milk, then trudged a half mile around the block to Big Lots, where Nate wanted to stand in line to get a camcorder with his allowance money. Continue reading

I Love Thanksgiving Week So Much That …

 

Is it Thanksgiving week already? Yay! My favorite time of year.

I love Thanksgiving time so much that:

  1. My house is basically decorated in all Thanksgiving colors (I can change things up slightly, but overall, the “fall look” remains!).
  2. I chose Thanksgiving week as the week to get married, and now we get to spend the beautiful week of Nov. 25 every year as our anniversary.
  3. I have special “November music.”
  4. I desperately wanted Nathan to be born in November — his due date was Nov. 4 — but, alas, he became a Halloween-time baby! 🙂
  5. I always choose the November birthstone as my favorite gem in jewelry — love that citrine color in gemstones.
  6. My favorite sandwich of all time is turkey and cranberry — I order it at any place that offers that combo, any time of year.
  7. Going  Boston Market is like a big deal for me because of all the fall food. That sweet potato dish they have is to die for. (Although it’s something like 600 calories, so I rarely order it!)
  8. I look forward to pumpkin frozen yogurt all year.
  9. I get giddy over pumpkin-flavored waffles (have you seen those this year?), pancakes, lattes, or basically pumpkin-flavored anything. Best. Time. Ever.

What about you? What’s on your agenda this week? I want to hear everyone’s plans!

November Music

I know everyone knows “holiday music” — all the Christmas carols and holiday tunes we all know and love.

But I actually have “November music” too. … Do you?

For me, “November music” is almost anything by James Taylor, because we used to listen to “Carolina on My Mind,” “Sweet Baby James,” “Something in the Way She Moves,” “Walking Man,” etc. all through fall and especially when we’d go apple-picking in Oak Glen when the kids were small.

And “November music” is also anything from the “When Harry Met Sally” movie — “It Had to Be You,” “Love Is Here To Stay,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “I Could Write A Book,” and more.

And “November music” is probably anything by Ray Charles.

So I went in to buy a new CD for my car for November and stumbled across that Tony Bennet Duets one. And I really like it! He does a cute one with John Mayer (“One More for the Road”), Lady Gaga (“The Lady Is a Tramp”), and others. All those old standards, and they all have that When-Harry-Met-Sally feel. …

I guess that’s what it is: I like to hear music in November that almost sounds like holiday music (because it’s by the same classic holiday performers — Dean Martin, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett), but isn’t quite holiday yet. …

Do you have “November music”?

Here’s Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga for this fine November day…

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