What's Up Wednesday: November 2023

When I wrote my What's Up Wednesday post in October I said I was looking forward to the coziness of November. While I had a lot more time at home in November, and accomplished quite a bit, I am still missing out on some coziness. I want more time to do a puzzle, watch a Hallmark movie, come home from work and put my pajamas on -- you know, that kind of thing. November was definitely less crazy than October, but I still want more, you know... So there are my November musings.

As always on the last Wednesday of the month, I'm linking up with Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too for their What's Up Wednesday post.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... For the first time ever, we signed up for the fall CSA share. So we've been eating lots of CSA veggies still -- and getting some more unusual ones.

 

This weekend I chopped up a huge rutabaga and another half of one into fries and served them with steamed tatsoi and pan fried fish. Rachel thought this was the best meal ever! She especially loved the rutabaga fries!

November is also a great soup month -- butternut squash with pear on the left and cream of carrot-cheddar on the right.

On the left we have mizuna greens stir fried with onions, tofu, and peppers and served with sweet potato fries. And the star of the show on the right was the roasted potatoes! So good!!!

And then we had some spaghetti squash with veggie meatballs on the left and pumpkin penne pasta on the right. Did I mention we've been eating well this month?!?!

And hands down, the star of November has been Applesauce Jumbles. This recipe comes from Holly at Pink Lady and is a favourite around here. (You can find the recipe here and I highly recommend making them!)

What I'm reminiscing about... Rachel is a mouse in The Nutcracker this year, among other things, and I'm reminiscing about last time she was a mouse. It was during Covid (December 2020, so three years ago) and she filmed her piece at a theatre and, for some reason, we never got to see it.

See the cute little mouse mask.

What I'm loving... I am loving all the walking I've gotten done in November. I've mentioned before that I do virtual walks through an app and I'm currently walking the length of the United Kingdom. At the end of September I was 31 kilometres behind my goal. Well, with all the walking I've done this fall, I'm currently 81 kilometres ahead so I'm really happy with that. I am also so much happier when I can walk a lot. Although the kids hate when I make them join me. Hahaha! I get a lot of walking in going to and from work and walking with the kids to their activities or doing errands.

Walking home with Sam from badminton on the left and with Rachel to catch the LRT to dance on the right.

What we've been up to... As I mentioned above, November was the month of getting things done at home. Here are a few highlights...

...I dug a new garden bed and planted the lily bulbs my parents sent me. Hopefully next spring these shoots will pop up and by summer I'll have beautiful lilies. I hope.

Dave and I went on a few dates this month. We got to go to a Candlelight concert and the one we attended was classic rock on strings. It was so good!!! 

We helped our friends' kid celebrate their 9th birthday, complete with a pinata! This was a really fun afternoon with our friends.

Dave and I saw a young adult friend perform in She Kills Monsters. It was such a fun play and I'm so glad we got to see it. And the weather was good so we walked to the university and back to see the play, which was also nice.

What I'm dreading... Well, Rachel was supposed to get braces next week but we got a last minute call to have her appointment in mid-November. So I was dreading that and now I'm just glad we're through it.

 

Now I'm dreading travelling over the holidays. Remember last year?!?!? (You can read about some of it here but it involved numerous cancelled/delayed flights and a last minute road trip.) Here's hoping that this year's holiday travel is a lot smoother.

 

What I'm working on... I'm working on (low key) decorating the house for the holidays. I haven't done very much yet but I think this weekend I'll get more done. I bought the plants below at my favourite greenhouse on Saturday. The two small pines are for the kids' room since we're not putting up a tree this year as we won't be home. Then I bought a Grinch tree for a dining room centrepiece. Like I said above, I'm going with low-key decorating this year.

 

And laundry. I'm always working on laundry! Hahaha! 

What I'm excited about... Right this minute I'm excited about my mug of hot tea since we've gotten a lot of snow over the past couple of days and it feels really cold outside. I'm also excited to get my holiday potpourri going on Friday (I try to wait until December 1 for this) and that I only have three and a half weeks of work left until Winter Break. And I'm excited that tomorrow night is labyrinth night at church. I love this evening.

 

What I'm watching/reading... I haven't been watching as many Hallmark movies as I'd like but we will get there. Dave has to work out of town today and the kids and I are planning a frozen pizza/Hallmark movie marathon this evening!

As for reading, my current lunch book (at work) is A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. I'm also reading The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett for my book club tomorrow night and The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg. You know me -- I always have a few books on the go :)

 

What I'm listening to... I just finished Sharon Says So's podcast Resilience on the Japanese imprisonment camps during World War II. I listen to them while I'm folding laundry. Now I've started her podcast on the 1970s (the decade I was born) and it's so interesting.

I haven't started listening to Christmas music yet but I'll probably start listening to that on Friday -- December 1.

What I'm wearing... The matching holiday pjs have been pulled out and they are so fun this year! Buffalo wearing Buffalo plaid -- hahahaha!!! We just bought pajama pants for everyone this year and are wearing pajama shirts we already have.

They're hard to see in this picture but click this link (I don't get commission if you click on links!) for a better look at the pattern.

 

What I'm doing this weekend... Rachel is dancing in The Nutcracker so we'll be ferrying her to the theatre and back all weekend! And watching a performance, of course :) And I'll be doing some decorating when I'm not doing Nutcracker things.

 

Besides the aforementioned mouse, she's also an M&M and a "rose" in the Garden number.

 

What I'm looking forward to next month... Channukah! Christmas! Time with family! Two weeks of sleeping in!!! Jólabókaflóð! <-- This is the Icelandic tradition of exchanging books on Christmas Eve and then spending the rest of the evening reading. It's so much fun!!!

What I bought on Amazon... Channukah candles! The store where we used to buy them closed this past year so I ordered some on Amazon. Our menorahs are going to be so pretty this year!

So that's what's up with us this Wednesday. I'm looking forward to some warmth and coziness and some enjoying of this next month of celebrating, in all its various forms.