30 Days of Gratitude

We just got back from Disneyland yesterday, and I could not believe how exhausted I was. I also couldn't believe that we'd just stepped into November. I always love October, but November is fun in a different way.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) kicks off on November 1st of each year. I am sort of excited for it this year because I just took part in Novel in a Day last week, and it made me feel like I accomplished something, writing a fairly decent chapter in just a few hours. I realized that I might just be able to get a book finished at some point.

Digital Scrapbook Day is the first Saturday of November (so it fell on the first this year). So many fabulous things, so little time and money. My Paypal is screaming! Not to mention... the Lilypad has kicked off a new monthly subscription for pocket scrapping. Ugh. It is simply divine... and going to hurt my bank account. Seriously I am beginning to wonder if Laura (TLP owner) is trying to break me. Hahha.

AND I usually start my 30 Days of Gratitude practice in November. This year, I am also doing something different. I've signed up for a "detox" program through Rebelle Wellness so I can try to maintain some sanity from now on (I know... good luck with the whole sanity thing).

Just Jaimee released her November Storyteller (amazing kit). I love her kits because she includes fun page templates that make things so easy for me. And they are always chock full o' goodness. So many good things, I never get to use them all. But I managed to get a page spread done before we left for California last week. This is Week 44 from 2013. I am officially under the halfway mark for 2013! Only 25 weeks left to go. Bwahhahahahhaha. Maybe I can finish up 2013 before 2015 arrives and then I will only always be one year behind *wink wink*

Oh how I miss my furry friend. :( It has been five months since he died, and I'm still heartbroken. But I'm so thankful to have had him in my life.

Speaking of thankful...

Day 1: So glad to have arrived home after a crazy whirlwind trip to Disneyland and California Adventure. So thankful to be going to sleep in my own bed. So happy to be loving my sweet kitty (Isabella), and that the dogs were so happy to have us home. Also thankful that my mom watched out for them while we were gone AND she helped clean up the house too. Such a nice surprise.

Day 2: Thankful for an extra hour of sleep that came as a total surprise since we didn't know that daylight savings had ended. LOL. Grateful for a day to rest and recover after our trip. Glad to set aside a wee bit of time to write. Grateful for a home-cooked meal and all of the coziness of family.

So what are you up to this November?  Do you have any non-holiday traditions you participate in each year?

NaNoWriMo... Why Must You Tease Me?

So every year, in the lead-up to November, I think about undertaking the National Novel Writing Month challenge.  The challenge is simple.  Write 50,000 words during the month of November.  I did it once.  Back in 2004.

I'm still not quite sure how I did it other than I had a job with a little flexibility in what I was working on at any given time, so I could sneak in a few words here and there, take my lunch early in the morning and write away, uninterrupted.  I also had the goal to reach.  And I had a personal goal to get the story down on paper so I could give it to Tim as a wedding gift.  We were getting married in January, and I thought it would be a great idea to write up a story, have it printed/bound and give it to him.  It was a good idea.  He never read it, but I still think it was a good idea.

This year, I fully intended to participate and top the word count I had last year (15,542).  But it is the 20th of November, and I have not written a word.  Not one.  It is embarrassing.

I do have some ready-made excuses like migraines, scrapbooking, blogging, schoolwork, a toddler, and ailing in-laws, but I'm really kind of mad at myself for not doing at least a little writing during the month.  I wish I could count the major papers I had to write and submit (due to my own horrible procrastination), but since I hate every word I wrote for those papers, they simply cannot count.

Maybe I need to stop writing this blog post now, and shut out the world and squeeze some writing in today.  At least I wouldn't end the month with a ZERO word count.  :)

Hmmm.