November! What A Month!

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if that's what you celebrate!).

What did I do in November? I wrote a book! At the very last minute I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month challenge - 50,000 words in 30 days.

It's rough, it needs to be fleshed out, the characters are not done with me yet, but I took it from beginning to end in one month! And I reached my goal of 50,000 words early because . . . .

Copyright 2013 Theresa Buchle All Rights Reserved

We went camping for Thanksgiving!

Four cold days in Stephen F. Austin State Park. It had recently flooded, so there was water everywhere. Some of the campsites had standing water in them - not puddles, standing water. Our own site had been under water at the beginning of the week!

Copyright 2013 Theresa Buchle All Rights Reserved

We were surrounded by green everywhere and by trees. I saw my very first Mississippi Kite - a beautiful bird. Think of a small, silver colored hawk. We heard cuckoos at nightfall, owls right outside our tent, and one night the beautiful sound of coyotes greeting each other. Ariel saw a giant armadillo (her words) and we came across fellow campers on a trail carrying a huge rattlesnake that the young man had just killed. We had our own rattlesnake encounter when we got back home - Ariel was startled by one in the back forty when putting up the bikes. I thank the universe that she was not bitten! It was too close a call - her dad came to her rescue and took care of the snake. I hate killing them but sometimes it's a necessity - this one was too close to the house (we only have an acre, mind you) and too close to the child and the animals. Mama Cat has been bitten and is recovering nicely on her own, but I don't want anyone/thing else bitten.

Copyright 2014 Theresa Buchle All Rights Reserved

It was cold and muddy - this is where I spent most of my time. We had our traditional mac and cheese with sausage - not good for me, but it's tradition. And cheesecake (our Thanksgiving pie), s'mores, broccoli cheese soup - several times (there was a lot of it). And of course, hot cocoa!

Now it's time for Christmas/Yule celebrations, a very special birthday later this week, a visit from my darling boys and then Christmas with them. If I'm lucky, a big Yule fire in the back forty with friends.

I will also start planning my strategy for 2014, because those beads are calling loud and clear - my brain is filled with a cacophony between the beads and the book characters. I'm staging a comeback and a premier at the same time - bwahahahahahaha!

Looks like December will be a crazy month too!

A Month For A New Endeavor And Thanks

And a tiny beady break. The month of November is National Novel Writing Month. So I'm working on a novel - it's one that's been inside my head for a while. The challenge/goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month. There are lots of tools, fellow writers, and many, many pep talks. There are also face-to-face gatherings which can be good for a wanna-be hermit like myself. So, as of this moment, I am on schedule with my daily word count and we will see what happens. If I can just get the bare bones down, I will feel like I've accomplished a lot.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my bead angel very busy. She has four projects and she is busily beading samples. All of those will be downloadable tutorials. She beads samples, I write tutorials. I learned several years ago that I cannot do it all and having a dear friend like her is indeed priceless. She is an angel, a cheerleader, a shoulder, a confidant, and a soul mate all wrapped up in one wonderful package. Love you, Gaye!

And in family news:

And he is due in the spring! Grandson Number 4 is eagerly awaited by everyone!

It's November and it seems that it's time for Thanksgiving - I am always very thankful for my family. I am also thankful for friendships, old and new. I only wish I had been taught at a much earlier age how to stay in touch with people. So, oddly enough, I am very thankful for social media! I have reconnected with folks that I've know since I was in 8th grade. That being said, I am thankful for this every day and not just during the month of November.

I am seeing a "30 days of Thanksgiving" going around Facebook. So what are you thankful for right now?

It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

It's cold as all get-out, but it's gorgeous outside. Oh, I know you folks that live up in the frozen north laugh when I talk about the cold. But you should realize that before the blizzard at Thanksgiving, the last time we saw snow was Christmas of 2002 when we visited T-man's grandmother in the mountains of Pennsylvania! It just doesn't snow here. It does get cold, but usually with rain. However, the past two nights have been crystal clear and in the mid-20s, with crystal clear days that warm up to the low 50s. Brrrrrr. And yes, I do want to make it to Alpine some day, where it snows every winter and the mid 80s makes for a heat wave. But there are so many things I love about that area that make up for the temperature.

I finished part of the special project, and today hope to finish it. Then I will send the designer pictures, mail the project and right after Christmas I'll post the pictures. I don't want to unveil it before the proper authorities (lol) get to see it. That just would not be good manners.

Now, are you sitting down? No coffee in your mouth? Swallow, sit. I cleaned house yesterday. No, no, no -- nothing big, but I did clear out the corner where I was doing my photography. We also moved some things around, which made the room look a bit bigger. Today I need to clear my beady stuff from the living room. Then I should have the space for the Christmas tree, which please A immensely.

I'm also doing something else I don't usually do. I'm making changes (not resolutions) for 2008. 2007 has not been the best year. T-man believes it is because I swerved slightly from what the universe directed. He keeps pointing out that when I do what makes me happy (rather than what I think people want me to do) my work is better and more profitable. It's not that I do this to make money, but those darned kids have to be fed on a regular basis! Anyway, more along this line throughout the week. I just got a call from T-man and must rush something to him at the office. Stay warm wherever you are and have a peachy-keen day!

Blah Humbug

Crikey, it is such a nasty day here on the prairie. *sigh* Sometimes I think I would be happy living in Hawaii, where the sun shines almost every day. Then I remember things that occur in Hawaii, like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. Nope. I guess I'll just stay here for a few more years.

I do not like this time of year. I used to like it, when I was younger and had a sense of wonder. But now it's just too stressful, too commercial. I detest going into the stores right now. There was a story on one of the local news channels about how this year we seemed to move from Halloween straight into Christmas, with no Thanksgiving. Did you notice? There wasn't much said about Thanksgiving itself, and little was said about Thanksgiving sales (what happened on Black Friday?). I totally understand why craft stores start putting Christmas items out in July, but the grocery and hardware stores?? That started in September!! And the stress, oh my stars, the stress is just horrendous. T-mas is already feeling it, which makes me worry about him. It's not just monetary stress, either. There is the stress of which house do we go to on which day, traveling when we want to stay home, putting up with things we'd much rather not, what should we get for whom, etc. And I'm a bit sad that Thanksgiving was just glossed over. I appreciate that day, even if it is solely an American holiday. It reminds me that I should be thankful for all that I have, like a good husband and wonderful children, my supportive family, a good house, food to eat, loving friends. If we could channel some of the appreciation for what we have, rather than the commercialism of the season (which grows longer by the year), back into Christmas maybe it wouldn't be so depressing for so many people. By the way, A pointed out to me that we could make presents for everyone this year and boy, is she ready to get started! She may have an idea there.

So, on this dreary, wet, cold, dismal day during this overly commercialized, stressful time of year, I leave you with some tasty links.

Melanie at Earthenwood Studios has this great ornament in her Etsy shop. She has several "queen" ornaments, so there is probably one for each of us! She also has a wonderful step-by-step post on her blog of how the ornaments are made.

Heather Powers has free gift tags with her original art on her Humblebeads blog.

Suzanne Cooper has some holiday freebies on her site. And free box templates which are just the right size for jewelry here. A few bright spots in this horribly dreary day. I'll post more as I find them. I hope you are having a good day, wherever you are.

Who Else is Having Split-Pea Soup for Thanksgiving?

Yes, that is correct -- split-pea soup. No, that is not what TrashCan and Oliver are sharing. This is N's request for Thanksgiving dinner. She does not like turkey (I do), she does like my stuffing (we all do). She likes all the desserts, but not the sweet potatoes (I do). We went camping for Thanksgiving the year before T-man and I got married and again a couple of years ago. Both times, we had split-pea soup on Thanksgiving day, and that is her request. Maybe we will get to go camping, also. We'll see. I'm not sure I want the split-pea soup to become a tradition.

So, Thanksgiving being less than a week away, what are your traditions? I'm not talking about your mother's traditions or your grandmother's traditions or your mother-in-law's traditions, but your very own traditions established now that you are an adult. I always fix a lemon curd tart. This is something I started doing when T-man and I got married. Every Thanksgiving, there is a lemon curd tart, and each of the girls has helped make it. I also make my very own wild rice/sausage/pecan stuffing -- not my mom's cornbread stuffing or his mom's bread stuffing, but my own recipe that came about from years of experimentation. And each of the girls picks a dessert that she wants me to fix, or that she fixes herself (last year N made her first apple pie). Share your traditions with us.

Tonight has been declared "family night" by A, which means really bad movies and games. We haven't had one in quite a while, and this causes her some concern. I'm very proud that at the ripe old age of ten, she realizes the value of family togetherness. "Family night" was something she came up with last year, and we tried to do it on a regular basis. We seem to have fallen away from that a bit, so she has decided to fix things. This is a tradition I like. We usually held "family night" on Saturday nights so we could watch bad sci-fi movies, but N won't be home Saturday, so we'll have to wing it on the bad movies!

Today I am working on the computer. I need to revamp the Etsy store and work on the web site. I'm trying to stay focused on this. It's like house-cleaning -- I can find so many other things to do. But it needs to be done. I need some cash flow, and the only way to generate it right now is via the WORLD WIDE WEB. The Internet is a wonderful thing, but using it properly takes some work. *sigh* Sometimes I wish I could just wiggle my nose like Samantha and get everything done.

Oh look! A puppy . . . . . . . .