Lessons Learned In The Cold November Rain

This month, this thankful month has been difficult for me. Me, who has always been the optimist, the "look-on-the-bright-side-of-things" girl. Me, who has always had hope that tomorrow really would be better, that grey skies would be gone, that all would turn out all right every time. Except this time.

Because November caught me in its cold, November rain and would not let the strangle hold go until the very last day...

My Thankful Month Project ran out of steam at 21 days and could not be resuscitated, no matter how many times I tried to gather my blessings and wordsmith my way out of this funk, I was mired deep in the drudgery and it just didn't pan out.

All is not lost, however! There are lessons even in the grey and cloudy and here are a few of the things that I have learned.

• Never pick up a sick child at school when you have left work sick. They are not really sick. They just want to go home early. You will get sicker and no matter how many times they tell you that they just want to cuddle on the couch and watch movies with their momma - they are liars and should never be trusted. 

• No matter how sick you are, unless you are in the hospital, you will be putting your child to bed while your husband snores dutifully on the couch after his "hard" 7 hour work day. Dreams of going to bed early without interruptions are short-lived when there is a 4 year old involved anyway. Manipulation seems to be a dominant gene in her mix. 

• Not only does no other member of my household no how to use the washing machine and drier, but apparently they have never heard of the terms "laundry basket" or "put away". I can only guess that the growing mountain of "clean clothes" on the floor of the laundry mountain is meant to someday become a tributary statue to the greatness of me. Perhaps I keep ruining their surprise by scooping it all up and putting it away. 

• If clean laundry is in a basket, there is a 99.6% chance that the Supergirl will place her dirty clothes in said basket. If the basket is empty, there is 100% chance that she will place said dirty clothes directly on the living room floor. Every single time. 

• The Hubs does that too. 

• Advil Cold & Sinus may be a miracle drug. Seriously. I think it might be made of unicorn rainbows and fairy sprinkles. 

• The second that you trust your preschooler to vacuum your floor when neither of you can breathe or smell, will be the exact moment that your vacuum decides to catch on fire. True story. Thank God, I noticed the smoke and turned it off before things got crazy. 

• 4 year olds think that feeding a vacuum cleaner styrofoam peanuts is funny. Until their momma starts screaming and speaking in tongues and banishing them to their rooms through the smoky air. Then, they will refuse to vacuum anymore because, "I'm scared of the vacuum..."

• The more food you put outside for random cats that just show up - the more cats will start showing up. Don't tell the Hubs...

December looks to be promising. We will see how it goes.

Happy End of Hurricane Season Everyone!