NaBloPoMo Final Thoughts + Thanksgiving Break Recap + November Goals Review

Well Thanksgiving break is over, November is over, and NaBloPoMo is over. Let’s see how it all went!

NaBloPoMo Final Thoughts

I just went back and looked at all the posts I published this month. I can’t believe election day was not even a full month away! Many of them were phoned in (literally, written on my phone), but a couple were worthwhile. As is always the case, I did not comment nearly enough, even though I read so, so many posts. I found a couple of new people, but haven’t added them to my Feedly yet (a list is sitting in a draft email somewhere). I really love NaBloPoMo and was so thankful for the camaraderie and support after the election and in the weeks that followed. I was so impressed that everyone posted daily. It was hard on some days! Really hard! A MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who read and commented here. It was, as always, a very gratifying experience.

Thanksgiving Break Recap

This ended up being a fairly nice break.

• Monday was soooo lovely. I stayed home, did nothing but some work on the calendars, and ended the night binge watching the last episodes of Sunny (AppleTV+) while everyone else was out.
• Tuesday was meh. I got the calendars ordered, but sparring was shitty.
• Wednesday was a very nice day too. I got work done at D&Bs while my son and his friend played, I walked to the Mission, got my very favorite dish (ever!) from Mission Chinese and spent some time at the dojo with my bestie.
• Thursday was… intense. I got the stuffing made without issue, but actual Thanksgiving was kind of stressful (for reasons I don’t feel comfortable writing about here because close family friends were involved). I had hoped my husband and I would hang out that evening, but he went to bed almost as soon as we got home.
• Friday was surprisingly delightful. We went to Hallyu: The Korean Wave exhibit at the Asia Art Museum, and then to the downtown IKEA. I had loose plans to take the kids to Moana 2 that evening, but I had heard nothing but lukewarm things about it, so instead we watched Deadpool & Wolverine. It was then11yo’s first R-rated movie, and he was honestly kind of nervous to try it but he loved it. The 14yo did to (it’s her fifth R-rated movie, she informed us multiple times). My husband and I already saw it and loved it, so it was super fun to watch it with them. We all read a lot of Marvel comics so many of the inside jokes were appreciated by them. It was a blast.
• Saturday was stressful. We spend the morning at my in-laws doing our traditional post-Thanksgiving breakfast with them. The food was amazing (chilequiles for breakfast and homemade pesto pizza for lunch), but the 11yo started melting down in between those meals, so he and I had to go for a walk and hit up Whole Foods for the ingredients I needed for my book club lunch on Sunday. That afternoon we went to the Chase Center for the Warrior’s tree lightening, but we could only stay for about an hour because my parents picked up the kids at 5:30 for a sleep-over. Saturday night my friends and I went axe throwing, which was fun, then went back to my house to hang out. I hadn’t planned to invite them over, but my parents took the kids, so no one was home and the house was cleaned up for book club on Sunday, so I said we could be at my house. My husband made us cocktails and it was a nice time.
• Sunday was fine. I woke up later than I wanted, but the house and meal (Coconut Curry Chickpeas With Pumpkin and Lime) were ready on time. Two people cancelled last minute, but three people did come. They liked the food (I don’t cook often so I was nervous it wouldn’t turn out well) and we had a great discussion about the Book (Stay True, by Hua Hsu). My husband and I took a walk into the Mission after, and we talked for what felt like the first time all break. He had been really distant, and he explained why and I was glad we were finally connecting. Not being sure what was wrong made the last three days of the break very long. My parents brought the kids home around 5pm, and we’ve been doing dinner, school lunch prep, and showers since then.

All n all, it was a nice break. I know Friday I posted an “end of break blues” post, but honestly, by Saturday afternoon I was so over being with my bickering kids that I was looking forward to going to work on Monday. It’s now Sunday night and one kid is having a fit because it’s too late to watch a movie, even though we told him multiple times if he took too long eating dinner it would be too late to watch a movie. Yep! Ready to get away from everyone tomorrow.

November Must-dos and Hope-tos check-in

I posted my November Must-dos and Hope-tos as my very first NaBloPoMo post, so it seems fitting to review them here (I should have reviewed them yesterday, but as I mentioned, this weekend was CRAZY!)

Make calendars (CHECK!)

Tasks: Text SIL to get her photos, Move photos on phone to folder, Upload photos, Choose template, Make calendar for fam, Make calendar for ILs, Final check and order calendars.

I put the first three tasks on my to-do list the first two weeks of November and actually got them done then. I even chose a template the week before the break. That is how I was able to have the calendars ordered on Tuesday. It was really nice.

Put up tree (CHECK!)

Tasks: Get tree from shed, Put together tree, Get down Xmas box, Put up lights + star, Decorate with kids, Reorganize Xmas box

I did all of these by Monday, except reorganizing the Xmas box. It is a disaster area and will probably remain one until I repack it at the end of December.

Clean up downstairs (FAIL!)

Tasks: Straighten up kitchen, Wipe counters/mop kitchen, Straighten room, Vacuum/mop floor, Straighten bathroom, Wipe counters/mop floor, Clean shower

I did none of this. On Thanksgiving, when my parents offered to take the kids on Friday or Saturday night and I realized if they took them Saturday, I could host upstairs, which was in good shape, I immediately let cleaning up the downstairs fall from my to-do list. I picked it up a couple times, but it kept getting messy again. I was going to clean the shower today, but the long walk with my husband made that impossible. Hopefully I’ll get the bathroom cleaned next weekend, but honestly I do so much Xmas prep down there in December, I doubt it will ever look or feel clean in the next three weeks. This will now be a December Must-do, because I cannot let it fester for a whole other month.

1A free reading program launch (Check!)

Tasks: Library inventory, Library barcodes print, Library barcode stickers, List page finalized, Boards copied, Patron QR codes printed, Slide deck updated

I actually had this done pretty early, which was good because I had to do all of this for the 1B class too. And I’m almost done, I just need to copy the boards.

Sister in town (CHECK!)

I saw her six times! Twice with the kids, twice with our parents, once with my husband and one alone. We had some good convos and I felt like we saw each other plenty.

***Get advent calendars for kids (CHECK!)

I did not have this on the list but it should have been, and I did do it.

Hope-tos

• Clean out bench (to store Xmas presents) (CHECK!)
• Learn 2/3 of form (martial arts) (Kind of check?) I learned probably closer to half but I know that part pretty well.
• Donate clothes (Kind of check. I took one bag to the 11yo’s school but haven’t taken the other two bags to the Salvation Army drop off).
• Get rid of fridge (FAIL! I didn’t even attempt this. Boo.)
• Tri2 pacing guide doc (FAIL!) I actually need to plan out the next 2.5 weeks of work, and badly.
• 1B library ready (CHECK! I thought this was a hope-to but it was a must-do (if I wanted to not get behind this month).

I need to do some work planning and some life planning for December. I feel like I’m starting the month behind. I’ll try to post my December Must-dos and Hope-tos soon. Maybe tomorrow?

{Sometimes I wonder if I should split posts like this up and publish them separately. What are you thoughts? Do you prefer sparser, longer posts, or more frequent, shorter posts?}