November...Being Grateful

Ever since I got back from vacation for Fall Break back in October, I have been plagued with one illness or another. My son gave something to me and I felt terrible the last day of vacation on our drive home and that turned into a major sinus infection...I thought I was starting to get through it and decided to finally get our flu shots...maybe it's coincidence...but within a few days I got all the flu-like symptoms and have been lying in bed for the last week. It's amazing what a few weeks of ill health will do to a person. I haven't been really all that ill since before the pandemic. It's made me really appreciate the health I had before I got sick and what I can look forward to once I start feeling better.

It really sets me back for holiday plans and excursions and goals I'd been working on...all need to be replanned, gotten rid of, or moved to a much later date. It's exhausting.

That's life, though, plans and life just can change in an instant. Without times like these it is harder to appreciate the good health that we have or the good times that are here. 

Finally, feeling better. Probably the best I've felt since October 15th! I am truly grateful for antibiotics, humidifiers, cough drops, mindless holiday baking shows, and a family that kept going...

Made it out before my flu hit with my dear friend Steph to celebrate her birthday right before Thanksgiving.

Books read in November...I'm surprised I made it through these, tbh.

The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum

An interesting look at some of the ways the culture wars have affected people in journalism. It wandered a bit but it was a worthwhile read.

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith

I've been wanting to read these for awhile and decided this was as good a time as any. Not my most favorite start to the series by any means but I'll read the next one just to see how the characters evolve and interact with one another.

The Last Wish (The Witcher #.5) by Andrzej Sapkowski

These are a conglomeration of stories about the Witcher Geralt. I've been watching the Netflix series and decided it was time to read the source material! I liked this a lot better than I thought I would. So much of the stories are reimagined Grimm's fairytales...Beauty and the Beast...Rumpelstiltskin. It kind of makes me wonder of Sapkowski wrote the series as a bit of satire or parody on the fantasy and fairytale genre. A bit tongue and cheek, as they say.

The short stories give us some insight into Geralt's world of misfits and magic. We also learn a bit more about Yennefer and how her and Geralt meet and how they become so intertwined. And yes we see a lot of Dandelion, Geralt's infamous bard. It's just good fun. I don't know how else to describe it. 

TV

All the holiday baking shows, of course! The Great British Baking Show was fantastic and something I look forward to every year and their holiday special they do with actors is a riot.

1899 on Netflix was also really fantastic. Be prepared to have more questions by the end than answers but it's quite a mystery and I can't wait till season 2.

White Lotus' second season on HBO has been very engrossing. Loving this season's take. And let's not forget the wrap-up season of The Vow on season two on the wellness cult Nexium and the prosecution and conviction of its leader Keith Raniere. So good and disturbing.

Magpie Murders on PBS was a great adaptation from Anthony Horowitz' novel. Fun, fun, fun.

Movies

I'm not going to lie...I watched a lot of movies this last month...I didn't have much energy for the other important things at night...so yeah.

But my favorites were Bodies, Bodies, Bodies; Smile; Fall; and for the holidays the winner was The Noel Diary on Netflix. I actually kind of teared up a bit...

And over the Thanksgiving weekend we watched all of the Harry Potter movies as a family! It's almost a family tradition. Loved it.

I am looking forward to watching all the holiday movies of old with my family and then the weird sequels and or the new adaptation of that timeless classic...A Christmas Story followed by its sequel on HBO and the new Spirited, A Christmas Carol adaptation, with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell on Apple TV. 

We're going to show G "It's a Wonderful Life" for the first time. I've been saying that almost every year but there are a lot of good ones and it seems this one never popped up. But it's a goal!

The Holiday with Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Cameron Diaz are DH's and I's favorite as well this time of year. Can't forget Elf either. G will also watch a few holiday horror movies with me like Krampus.

I'm also looking forward to our 19th wedding anniversary! Wowser. Nothing fancy, but we're heading up to downtown Salt Lake for a night, eat some dinner, and spend a nice time together. Hopefully catch some holiday lights up there as well.

Happy holidays!

Joining up with Deb from Readerbuzz and her Sunday Salon.