And Now It's November

November came to Philadelphia feeling like November should! It's been cold and sunny and that's fine with me. 😊

This past week has gotten away from me. I've been kind of out of it, and though for the most part, I was able to do what I needed to do, I just felt exhausted as a result. Then on Wednesday, I got my RSV vaccine, and I didn't sleep well that night because of chills, and yesterday I just felt awful. Which is not surprising, but it meant it was kind of a lost day. I managed to get one load of laundry done, and it felt like I'd done it on a washboard down by the river, I was so wiped out! 

This year we had zero trick-or-treaters. Zero. Sigh.

Alfie and Esme are pleased though, since we put out two new cardboard scratchers. Alfie likes the wavy kind, and destroys them big-time. He was thrilled with a new one! I got a box-style one for Esme, because I thought it might make her feel safer. I think it worked.

Don't get me wrong, the others use these and enjoy them too, but the photo above is from about 10 minutes after I opened them. 

Alfie is also quite pleased because he discovered the basket cat bed that is very near the heater on the third floor. He *just* fits into it - when others have used it, there's always been plenty of room ... just saying ...

Knitting-wise, I'm busy trying to finish The Tim's Christmas socks, since his birthday is 15 days from now. I think I'll make it, since yesterday I finished the heel and got onto the body of sock #2, but that's what I've been prioritizing at the moment, so nothing else has any progress to report.

And then in just a few weeks, it will be American Thanksgiving - whaaattt??? Don't get me wrong, I adore Thanksgiving, as it is the coziest and homiest of holidays in my opinion. But I just keep being surprised that it's well on the way to being here!

Which leads me to a Gratitude Friday, which I've decided to try and do for each week in November. And of course, I'm grateful for all of the things that I have, including just for my life, but that's kind of what we should all be grateful for, right? So I'm going to try and go beyond that level and find other things.

On this Friday, I'm grateful for a good (if twisted) sense of humor. I have to tell you, I'm not sure I would have made it to this point in one piece if I didn't have humor to keep me company. Granted, I often find things funny that shouldn't be funny, but that has its own beauty too. Being able to laugh about something, or find something funny to distract myself has helped me through some serious sad times and major lows in my life. I think having grown up in a family where everyone had a good sense of humor helped too, because no matter how awful things were, there was always something that could make all of us laugh until we cried. And then I was lucky enough to find The Tim, whose sense of humor is so ridiculously similar, it's almost scary. (His sister: "No one thinks you two are as funny as you do.")

So I hope you can find something to laugh about, or that at least makes you smile as you go about your day. And I hope your weekend has a good dose of laughter in it. I know ours will, since we are going to Baltimore after The Tim gets home from work tonight for an overnight visit, and visiting my niece and her husband is always a blast.

So happy November to all of us!