Happy November!

Today marks the third day of November.  I'm not sure how we got to this date so quickly, but we're here nonetheless.

I love November with its Thanksgiving family celebration, and time to reflect on our many blessings.  One of my blessings is the gift of friendship with some wonderful people.  Last Wednesday I drove downriver to have lunch with my girlfriend, Sandy.  We went to a Mexican restaurant called Angelina's, where I ordered a yummy grilled Chicken Taco Salad.

Afterwards we went to a nearby antique mall.  We had fun browsing, but neither of us found anything we couldn't live without.

Thursday my girlfriend, Lori, picked me up and we went to Royal Treat Tearoom to sip tea together while catching up.  The building has recently got a new facelift.

  

We ordered Harney & Son's Green Tea with Lemongrass, Coconut, Ginger and Vanilla.  It was very good and paired well with our selection of scones.

 I couldn't resist the pumpkin shaped scone!  So appropriate for this time of the year.

I ordered the Quiche Lorraine and it didn't disappoint.

Now that November is here my mind begins to think about a Christmas gift list.  While we were staying with our grandkids in Chelsea recently, I took along several catalogs to look through. Catalogs arrive in the mail daily from various mail order companies, and they pile up quickly.

While browsing through one, I came across an ad from The Bradford Exchange.  It was a music/jewelry box for a granddaughter with the words "I Love You, a Bushel & a Peck and a Hug Around the Neck" written on the top.  Ever since Izzy was tiny, I used to sing that song to her, and I usually sign all her cards with that line to this day.  I knew I had to order the music box for her for Christmas.  It's my first Christmas present purchased for 2021.  [Izzy doesn't read my blog so I'm safe in sharing it here.]  It arrived last week and is lovely.  I'm very pleased with it.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?  When granddaughter, Brooke, was home recently she was lamenting that her mom only had one baby photo album for her, but several for Brianna [the first-born].  Shortly thereafter, a coupon arrived in the mail from Shutterfly for unlimited photo pages good through Nov. 14th.  So I got the idea to make her a photo book for Christmas of all her baby and childhood pictures.  It will keep me busy since Nov. 14th is less than two weeks away, but I think I can make the deadline if I hunker down.

I've spent the last couple of days preparing for a Nov. 15th presentation at the Romeo Monday Club, but my script is almost done so I'll  be freed up to work on the photo book.  The topic they gave me to speak on is Tea - a subject I love to talk about and am very familiar with so it hasn't been a difficult task.

There've been a couple of adjustments at our house recently.  My hubby was in a car accident last week.  Thankfully no one was injured except his car.  It'll be in the body shop being repaired for a couple of weeks, and during that time we're sharing my car.  It's a bit of an adjustment but is working out okay.

In the same week my Whirlpool washing machine of 18 years decided it was time to die.  My hubby bought another one and it was delivered and the old one taken away.  The new Whirlpool had a different panel board with five sensor buttons.   That sounds simple enough, but we couldn't get the machine to work.  We read the manual and followed the instructions, watched YouTube, and checked the obvious to make sure the hoses were properly connected, the water turned on, and the machine plugged into the electrical outlet, but nothing happened.  Whirlpool nor Lowe's were of any help, so my hubby decided to return it. What good is a washing machine we can't operate?  We did our homework on other machines and settled on a Speed Queen.  Only problem is, with the truck driver shortage it'll be a couple of weeks before it will be delivered.  In the meantime it's trips to the laundromat.  

I snapped the above photo yesterday.  The good news... half of the washers and dryers there were Speed Queen and the other half were Maytag.  I think we made a good choice, but laundromats make me thankful for the convenience of being able to do laundry at home.

What are some of the things you're thankful for this November, big and/or small blessings?

In closing... Today is National Sandwich Day and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches are America's #1 choice.  Anyone for a Grilled Cheese Sandwich [accompanied by a bowl of tomato soup]?