It's a New Month--November!!!

There's something I just love about the feeling I get when I turn the page beginning a new month on the calendar.  It's kind of like my own "mini-New Year's Day"...except it comes around every 30-ish days or so, rather than once every 365 days.  It's like the Anne of Green Gables quote, "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it."  When I see the page turn on a new month, I'm always inspired to do better, start anew...you get the picture...

I'm especially glad to see the calendar page turn to the month of November.  October carried its own sorrows and difficulties for me, but time {and my Jesus} truly does heal all, and I already feel some of those raw wounds being gently soothed with His amazing grace.

So, November marks a happy time of year for me.  My very favorite holiday {and perhaps our most non-commercialized holiday--may be why it's my favorite} is Thanksgiving.  Fall is drawing to a close, but there are still leaves on the ground...still the scent of burning leaves floating on the air.  We still have crisp, cool days that call for sweatshirts or warm woolen sweaters...but we aren't quite to the point of bundling up in Michelin-Man-esque proportions.  Soup {or some such Big Red Pot meal} is on the menu more nights of the week than not...and our fireplace blazes more evenings than not, also.

My brain has been in overdrive the past day or two, recovering a bit from its October-haze.  Right now it's running in bullet-point mode, so I'm just going to give you a peek at some of my prevalent thoughts. {scary, huh?}

❧Every year, I choose a "Word for the Year".  The first year I did this was 2010--my word that year was "Calm"...in 2011, it was "Perspective"...this year, my word is "Moderation".  The idea is to have one major goal, embodied in a single word, to work on the whole year through.  While Moderation continues to challenge me {and I continue to struggle with it}, I am already finding myself provoked by what I am almost sure will be my Word for 2013--Gentleness.  I am confronted daily by Gentleness...or more accurately, by my utter lack of Gentleness.  There's far, far more to be said on this subject...more on that at a later time.  Suffice it to say for now, I am daily working on being just a little more gentle...in every way possible...and most predominantly, toward those with whom I live.

❧I've set a personal weight-loss goal for November.  Throughout the month of October, I "accidentally" lost eight pounds.  This never, NEVER happens to me.  I don't accidentally LOSE weight...I accidentally FIND weight...never lose it.  Well, anyway, it happened.  And I'm happy about it.  So in November, I'm going to try to purposely lose another eight pounds.  I've started walking with a friend a few days a week {started that a few weeks ago--that may be what spurred the October weight drop}, and I plan to make healthier eating choices {namely, portion control--that's such a big one}.

❧I've got some rough-drawn {not drawn on paper at all, but in my head} goals for my Etsy store.  Lately, I've been unloading much of my vintage wares on Instagram.  And while that has been fun and has proven profitable, I don't know how long that boom will last.  For years, I had the goal of opening an Etsy store, and now that I've got one up and running, I need to maximize it, by George!  So, I'm going to.  I have a few definite steps mapped out in my head...the rest is a bit fuzzy.  But at least the wheels are turning.

❧And not to contradict all I just said about Etsy, but I do have goals to continue to clear out some of my less-Etsy-able hoards via Instagram.  This venue has proven profitable for me, and it is especially convenient for culling through collections that just aren't worth the time and detail that Etsy requires.

❧I'd love to build my blog readership during November.  Even more so, though, I want to build my blog relationship.  I've received caring, thoughtful, heartfelt comments from so many people...and I've been too busy to answer them.  I've allowed myself to be too busy to answer them.  I don't want to continue to do that.  I've made some great "in real life friends" via Instagram and I belive that blogging is a great vehicle to do the same.  So here's your warning!  If you don't want to be friends with me, you'd better not comment!  And by all means, if you do want to be friends with me, I'd love to hear from you.  And if you fall into the latter category {you do want to be my friend}, and if you also have a blog, this is the comment I would MOST love to have from you: PLEASE comment with a link to your very favorite blog post on YOUR blog.  I want to look through all the pretty blogs of all my pretty blogger friends...but if I can see your favorite post ever, that kind of gives me a shortcut-sneak-peek into the real YOU.  Do that for me, m'kay?

❧This month, I want to wash all my house windows.  Yes, this is a {pitiful} goal.  No, it might not happen.  But it's a goal, nonetheless.  {note: I'm currently accepting applications for friends who want to come help ::wink::wink::}

❧I want to wake up at least a half hour earlier than my "normal" wake-up time...and I want to do this five to six days out of the week.

❧ I want to try at least two more of The Pioneer Woman's recipes. Y'all, I made her Scalloped Potatoes and Ham for our family dinner this past Sunday.  Oh.My.Garsh.  Life-changing...view-altering...ahhhhhhhh-mayyyyy-zing!!!  

The only other recipe of hers that I've made is the glaze that she uses on her Cinnamon Rolls {note: I haven't actually made the from-scratch Cinnamon Rolls...just the glaze.  Yah.  I'm lazy like that.}  These two recipes are enough to convince me that she is indeed a culinary goddess.  And I, a lowly peon. But I shall attempt to elevate my standing just a bit by working through a few more of her creations this month.

..........and I know there are a bunch more goals, floating around in my cranial grey matter, that I'm simply forgetting to mention.  But I'm tired...and I need to go to bed.  So......I'm going to exercise Moderation and stop now........so that tomorrow, I can be Gentle with my family.





Have a blessed Friday, friends!
And consider yourself hugged.....from me!