11/01 (Wed) – Started the month off strong by getting our flu shots at the CVS in Target.
11/03 (Fri) – Joe’s daughter made us dinner (stuffed pepper soup), which we ate at his son’s apartment.
11/04 (Sat) – Visited my bestie, K, and brought Wookie along since she tolerates K’s dog, Teddy.
11/05 (Sun) – Woke up to a layer of fog which is always cool to see.
Visited the marsh and saw the great horned owl again.
Joe put up the new white cellular blinds in the living room. We had purchased them at IKEA in late September but left the paper black ones up in October for Halloween.
11/06 (Mon) – Saw an Eastern Chipmunk for the first time ever by our house!
11/07 (Tue) – Enjoyed some avocado toast for breakfast. I was never a fan but I recently cracked the code, at least for me – Ezekiel bread (from Trader Joe’s), salt added to the avocado, and Aldi’s asiago cheese everything but the bagel seasoning sprinkled on top.
Donated clothing to a place I found called Repeat Boutique. I like them because they allow people in need to “shop” for clothing for free, unlike Goodwill or Savers who keep raising their prices and seem to attract resellers more than anything.
We also saw a new gastroenterologist as we’re both overdue for colonoscopies. We really liked him and scheduled our procedures.
11/11 (Sat) – Had our first chickadee visitor to the feeder!
My dad messaged me online requesting help as their landline was down (and no one has a cellphone) so I put in a repair ticket with AT&T.
I found out there was a new update for my Apple Watch, but when I went to install it, I was told I need to update to the latest iOS (iOS 17) on my phone first. There’s a bit of an issue, though, and I’m so happy I thought to look into it before it was too late – the reminder app I use multiple times a day isn’t compatible with the iOS 17. In fact, the app hasn’t been updated in 8 years, so I guess we’re all lucky it’s worked this long. The developer doesn’t have a way to contact them (although I did @ them on Twitter recently and they kinda blew me off) and doesn’t seem interested in keeping the app going. So I guess I need to now find a good reminder app before I even think about updating, because everyone is saying it crashes and won’t let them edit reminders, etc, and I have reminders well into the future I do not want to lose (stuff like when to cancel a free trial and whatnot). UGH!
11/12 (Sun) – Another marsh visit and another owl sighting. It usually hangs out in one particular tree, down to the same exact branch, but this time we spotted it in a different tree altogether, and even saw it flying around because blue jays and a kingfisher were chasing it.
Before this, I did something dumb. We had purchased some Thanksgiving items at Aldi before going out in search of the owl and to the arboretum, including a 3 lb Butterball boneless turkey breast. I placed it on the counter while filling my water bottle, then promptly forgot about it. Didn’t think about it again until hours later when we were driving through the arboretum when it dawned on me I hadn’t remembered putting it in the freezer. Pulled up the security camera in the kitchen and sure enough, it was still sitting on the counter. What a waste of $12, not to mention food. Someone said it might have been ok (it was left out about 4 hours), but I wasn’t going to risk giving people food poisoning. Joe said at least it wasn’t TWO turkeys (which we almost got), so there’s that!
11/16 (Thu) – Saw two chickadees at once! I think they are a couple (a Google search revealed they often mate for life).
11/18 (Sat) – Did a little grocery shopping at Target and managed to procure two packages of the best Milanos Pepperidge Farm makes – the limited edition amaretto hot cocoa flavor.
Somehow managed to get the same nasty Dollar Tree cashier I wrote about in the October Recap, even though it was a different DT location! I immediately recognized her and was sad we’d have to deal with her. She was nicer to everyone before and after us than she was toward us. Perhaps it’s paranoia, but maybe it had to do with the fact that we were the only ones wearing masks? I know some people treat masked people poorly. As if trying to protect my health is a bad thing.
We also visited a store called Wild Birds Unlimited that sells, you guessed it, nothing but bird supplies. It was really fun to look around, but ultimately we left empty-handed. I would like to support a small business such as that, but it doesn’t make sense to pay twice as much for everything either. Perhaps if I was rich I wouldn’t care as much. They clearly aren’t hurting though, as they were quite busy.
11/19 (Sun) – Another trip to the marsh to see the owl (obsessed much?) where we also saw a large flock of sandhill cranes overhead.
11/23 (Thu) – The kids came over for Thanksgiving and K brought her SO. They introduced us to a new card game called Mantis, which we loved. So much so that I ordered it from Target for pickup.
Bonus – it was 50% off for Black Friday, so only $10.
11/24 (Fri) – Joe ran to the grocery store for a few items and came back with a surprise for me – Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes! Apparently they also make them in chocolate (psst, those aren’t great, I recommend sticking to the original flavor).
I also learned I can use the Canon app on my phone as a wireless remote for my camera.
This would have been helpful on Thanksgiving when taking a group family photo.
Enjoyed Thanksgiving leftovers, which are truly the MVP of the holiday.
11/25 (Sat) – Received our new bird feeder, which was discounted on Black Friday.
Who needs a new TV when you can get a bird feeder instead? ;)
11/26 (Sun) – It snowed enough to stick. Yuck. I did get some cute photos of the birds and squirrels in the snow, though.
11/28 (Tue) – Joe had his colonoscopy. I didn’t like how I wasn’t allowed to be with him until the actual procedure and needed to stay in the waiting room until he was in recovery, especially because they were running late and he didn’t go in for over a half hour past his scheduled time. They found and removed some very small polyps so he will need to go back in three years. We’re not really sure how many total polyps there actually were, though, because the doctor told him 6, there were only 4 documented on the illustration they included in his aftercare paperwork, and the biopsy report stated there were 5.
11/29 (Wed) – The chickadee couple, who disappeared for nearly a week, came back!
Also viewed my Spotify Wrapped results. These will come at no shock to anyone who knows me. Even the timing was on point – I listened to The Cure most in the winter months because, you know, melancholy, and Sofi Tukker in the summer because of happiness and positive energy.
I do wish you could exclude comedy albums from their analysis, though, because I start an album, fall asleep, and have to listen again over the course of a few nights to finish. I’m not obsessed with these comedians or anything.
11/30 (Thu) – We had our dryer vent cleaned. I chose a company recommended by the association which is different than who we used last year. There were two guys – one who went up on the roof, and one who did things to the dryer, including checking the hose in back and the lint trap, plus checking for gas leaks before and after doing the service. He also made sure the dryer was still heating up before they left. The last company just did work on the roof, sucking up the lint (which was really loud compared to this place) and didn’t check the dryer at all. I think we’ll stick with this newer company as they seemed more thorough (and the price was literally only $1 more at $90).
