Reading an article from the New York Times about pandemic-proofing your habits, came across this sentence: “Things we had already figured out and relegated to the brain’s autopilot function — going to work, visiting the gym, taking the kids to school, meeting friends for dinner, grocery shopping — now require serious thought and risk analysis.” This is what having a chronic illness is like. Every single thing you do requires thought and risk analysis and also how much pain is this likely to cause, and then there is calculating energy expenditure, or how many spoons will this take and how many do I have left for today anyway. Spoon theory is a good way to make things understandable for those who don’t need to worry about such things.

Have been avoiding using my laptop recently, not only because I have been really struggling the past while. Pain, cannot sleep at night so sleep during the day, not being able to get anything done. But the laptop main reason I realized yesterday. It’s because looking out at the empty storefronts across the street is depressing. No life, no lights. Not liking that at all. So I moved the laptop to the coffee table, and here I am. 🙂

Had an okay Thanksgiving. I was able to do some things, so made candied sweet potatoes. baked a Marie Callendar pumpkin pie, and a Boston Market frozen turkey dinner. Sweet potatoes were great, as always. Pie was good but too sweet and too rich and the spices were all wrong. I have only eaten my own recipe pumpkin pie for eons. and this was nothing like it. Good, but not mine. The turkey dinner was mediocre, like all frozen dinners are, but it did at least have a bit of roast turkey flavor.

It’s barely winter, and the gray is getting to me already. And the hardly ever seeing another human, and then usually for only a couple of minutes while they are in the hall and I am inside. Am watching a Christmas movie every day to cheer me up, and because I cannot do decorations because Gertrude will destroy them. Such a cute kitty. LOL There are some really bad Christmas movies out there, but once in a while you get something good. I am saving White Christmas and Christmas in Connecticut for closer to the day. I would do a Christmas story, but you have to rent it. I try not to pay for things is I don’t have to. Bezos and Suckerberg have all the money, so there is not a lot for me to spend. If you are interested, I thought Jingle Jangle on Netflix was very good. 12 Dates of Christmas was good too, and Holly’s Holiday was kind of cute. Finished binge-watching Wild at Heart on Prime, a long running series set in Africa, which is beautiful in the show. Of course, they didn’t really show the slums, which are horrid. Some were featured in an episode of Wallander, and lord how we force people to live is a disgrace. Humans suck. But anyway, The series had a really impressive ending, which I was not expecting at all. And really, really beautiful scenery and animals.

We’re about done with November, so here’s a gorgeous picture from Afon Llugwy Betws y Coed, in Wales. I am ashamed to say I do not have a credit for it.