I would just like the record to reflect that in the five years I have been doing a monthly recap (either “If We Were Having Tea” or “Catching Up Over Coffee”), I have not missed publishing a post on the last day of every month. Until now, thanks to the cold I got post-Thanksgiving. I’m feeling better now but I spent the weekend doing absolutely nothing on the couch.

Life

November felt super long. It’s like we had the election and Thanksgiving in the same month? I’ve been trying to not be online as much—boy am I glad I deleted TikTok off my phone last year—and watching less cable news. Just to keep some of my sanity.

Josh and I went to our first Springfield Thunderbirds hockey game of the season! It was the annual game in partnership with the local classic rock station’s Thanksgiving food fundraiser, called the Mayflower Marathon. The past two years, the game was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but this year it was the Friday during the week before. The Thunderbirds were playing the Charlotte Checkers and there were a few fights, which is always exciting. We left before the third period started because Josh had to get up early to go to work the next day; the T-Birds ended up winning 4–3 in overtime.

I went home to my parents for Thanksgiving day and stayed over because I kept my yearly tradition of drinking an entire bottle of wine. We watched lots of football, and Lucy brought out every shoe or slipper she could find. And then I came back to the condo with the cold Josh had earlier in the week.

But now that Josh and I are feeling better, we’ll be putting up the Christmas decorations tomorrow! Last year I was such a grinch about it, but I’m actually looking forward to it. Even if it means hauling up boxes and bins from the (creepy) basement.

Other things:

• My last few dance classes of the year were in November. We’ll pick back up next year, probably in March, so it’ll be nice to have the break during the winter but I really enjoyed the weekly class.
• The theater group I volunteer with performed Rock of Ages; I went to a rehearsal to get some videos and then went with a friend to see the entire show. It was my first time seeing it and I really enjoyed it!
• We had to do an adult thing and buy a new dryer. We had to replace the washing machine earlier in the year and the dryer eventually died a few weeks ago. (Both the washer and dryer came with the condo and we really didn’t know how old they were prior to me moving in three years ago.) Unfortunately, I wasted a day last week waiting for the delivery guys to come but my dad was here and they eventually came. Good news, though, the dryer works great.

Exercise

I ran a 5K race the weekend before Veterans Day, one that I’ve done in the past. I didn’t take any pictures, shocker, I know. It was a super small race, but next year will be the 10th anniversary of the run, so I’m looking forward to that. I was also signed up to run a 5K on Thanksgiving morning (the one I did last year) but ended up not running it; Josh had a cold earlier in the week and Thanksgiving day here was just cold and rainy, so I skipped it. (Still got the shirt, though.) Hopefully next year.

That being said, I’ll be hanging up my running sneakers for the year. I don’t like running in the cold, mostly because of my asthma, so I won’t be going back out until the spring. (I’ll also need to buy new sneakers next year since I put 300+ miles on my current pair.) My winter exercise plan will include walking outside on my lunch breaks and riding the stationary bike 3 times a week.

What I’m Watching

TV

• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• High Potential
• 9-1-1
• Law & Order
• Law & Order: SVU
• NCIS
• NCIS Origins
• The Irrational
• Doctor Odyssey

Netflix

• Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox
• Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
• Martha
• Our Little Secret
• Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?
• Escape at Dannemora (E1)
• Dexter (S4E4)

Hulu

• 9-1-1 Lone Star (S3E3-S5E8)
• Only Murders in the Building (S4E4-S4E10)
• Abbott Elementary (S4E2-S4E6)
• Tracker (S1E1-S1E6)

Peacock

• Twisters
• Chicago Fire (S1E1-S1E5)

What I’m Reading

• Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell: 4 stars
• Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: 4 stars
• All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers: 3 stars
• The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny: 4 stars
• One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin: 4 stars
• Off the Air by Christina Estes: 3 stars

I know I barely posted in November, and I know blogging on WP hasn’t been the same this year; I feel like the little community I was part of (am still part of?) has dwindled and I don’t know who’s really reading my posts anymore. If anything, I like to have them as a history of things I’ve done in the past. I want to write a bit more this month, and do my yearly recaps. We’ll see.