Pinch, punch, first of the month. Got my UK friend but not Hubby. Suspiciously (I thought), he asked me last night about the ground rules for P&P. We had gone over them numerous times, and I stated that in order to win you had to ensure the other person was awake—at any time after midnight. Well, around 2 AM, he heard me stir and turn over (I was conscious), and that’s when he got me. Pretty stealth, I thought. I suppose I have to let him win from time to time.

So how did November come by us so quickly? Looking at the national day calendar, today counts 18 awareness items for today, 1 awareness item for the week (World Communication), and 31 awareness items for the whole month! Among some of those relevant to me are National Author’s Day (4 books and counting), Family Stories Month, Gluten-free Diet Awareness Month, and National Novel Writing Month (AKA, NaNoWriMo). Back in 2002 I participated in NaNoWriMo, the rules of which are to write a novel of at least 50,000 words without editing your work; just write. I parsed my word quota at 1,667 words per day to stay on top of things, and I actually managed to write a novel; never published and never went back to read any of it either. I’ve always wanted to participate again but never made the time.

It’s also National Gratitude Month, so it’s the perfect time to celebrate daily something I’m grateful for. Today I’m grateful for the sun, the contractors who have been working on my house—even if they’ve messed things up a few times—and the fact that I have a job, a roof over my head, and food on the table. A lot to make one contented. I’m also grateful to my work team, which I’ll be departing soon, who sent me a mug with an Edgar Allan Poe quote on it. Our team’s old name was Programs, Operations, and Engineering, or POE; get it? I shall remember them every time I sip my tea. And finally, I’m grateful for the long chat I had this afternoon with a neighbor whom I’ve hardly seen in the past 2 years. Apparently, she’s had some medical issues, which kept her inside. She’s kind and fun to chat with. I caught her up on the basement project (she’d been seeing everyone coming and going for months) and the groundbreaking of the master bath. We talked about how the neighborhood has a stream—or several—running under it but that didn’t stop builders from getting permits to put houses on top of them. Everyone around here has a wet basement and swampy yard when it rains, although thankfully ours is fairly dry, as long as the sump pumps don’t conk out during a hurricane. Another thing to be grateful for. It’s going to be a fun-filled month; I can feel it.