This year, as I process each month's photos, I'm creating a digital layout featuring six photos and journaling "by the numbers." I'm using a digital template and various papers from my stash. My plan is to include a photo of me and Robbie and a photo of my mantel display as the top line of photos each month. Since my green mantel display was still up in October, I included a photo of our new couch on that layout and the fall mantel display on the November layout.
Here's how the numbers add up for October & November.
* 3 vacation days & 8 final days Robbie worked from home for FPT.
* 2 weeks off between jobs.
* 36-hour roundtrip to Mississippi for Aunt Betty’s funeral.
* 1 new desk purchased & 1 AC vent installed for Robbie’s home office setup.
* 2 new laptops & 2 new printers added to home network.
* 1 visit from Mama & Daddy.
* 2 early votes cast in the presidential election.
* 5 curbside grocery pickups from Kroger/ WalMart.
* 1 game of Battleship played with Logan via Zoom.
* 2 bookstores visited to sell back books & pick up new magazines.
* 2 virtual crops with friends.
* 1 movie watched: Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
* 21 layouts created, 2 cards made,1 Bible page illustrated, 1 scrapbook- for-hire project completed (58-page album), 10 blog posts published.
We watched some Netflix shows and football games during October, so we ended up only watching one movie. If you've been around my blog for a while, you already know that I am a fan of the Little House on the Prairie books, that I took a comprehensive class on Laura Ingalls Wilder as a writer a few years ago, and we've even visited the Wilder home in Missouri. So, when I heard about the two-movie series Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, I wanted to see it. The first movie focuses on Laura's meeting, marriage, and first few years of life with Almanzo Wilder, which involved the birth of their daughter, losing a year's crop to a hail storm, a still born baby, a bout of diphtheria that left Almanzo weakened, and a house fire. The second movie, which we watched in early November, followed their trip to Missouri and the new life they built for themselves there. The movies are well done and true to their life story (as opposed to the Little House on the Prairie TV series, which veers greatly from Laura's actual life).
* 1 CFO position at Katsumi began.* 1 family member diagnosed with Covid-19 & 2 others possibly exposed.
* 3 online church services attended.
* 56th birthday celebration for Robbie!
* 1 visit to Mama & Daddy.
* 17 family members in 5 homes & 3 states on Thanksgiving Zoom call.
* 5 Christmas trees decorated.
* 13 movies/shows watched: Beyond the Prairie Continues, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday in the Wild, Christmas with the Kranks, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Little Drummer Boy, Coat of Many Colors, Christmas of Many Colors, The House Without a Christmas Tree.
* 9 layouts created, 2 cards made, 40-page theme album completed, 3 Bible pages illustrated, 1 scrapbook- for-hire project completed (54-page album), 10 ornaments created, 1 diaper cake assembled, 8 blog posts published.
Along with part two of Beyond the Prairie, we watched one other movie before we began enjoying Christmas movies. The Day the Earth Caught Fire is a 1961 movie that was recently remastered for Blu-ray. The United States and Russia test atomic bombs at the same time, which alters the Earth's axis of rotation. This is a really good end-of-the-world movie with an intriguing ending.
Like many others around the world, I was ready to start decorating for Christmas and watching our favorite holidays movies this year. For us, the Christmas season typically starts on Black Friday when we pull the Christmas trees down from the attic and begin decorating. Since we were not hosting Thanksgiving or traveling anywhere this year, we started a week or so before Thanksgiving and ended up watching 11 Christmas movies/shows before the end of the month.
We started with the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street, a favorite that ends up with Judge Harper declaring that there is a Santa Claus. The Netflix movie Holiday in the Wild follows the story of Kate as she travels alone to Africa after her husband leaves her. While the storyline is fairly predictable, the setting makes this a memorable movie. It is set in an elephant sanctuary that rescues young orphaned elephants and cares for them before they are returned to the wild. We watched Christmas with the Kranks on Amazon Prime, but this is such a FUN movie that we'll be adding it to our movie collection for next year. When the Kranks daughter announces she's not coming home for Christmas, they decide to skip Christmas all together, which leads to hilarious interactions with friends and neighbors.
We have a TV Christmas Classics Collection that includes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, and The Little Drummer Boy. These animated and stop-motion shows always remind us of childhood Christmases and watching these on television. The House Without a Christmas Tree is another favorite made-for-television special that first aired in 1972. I don't remember ever seeing this one until Robbie and I married, but he's enjoyed it for many years. Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors and Christmas of Many Colors - Circle of Love are two new favorites that were just released in the past few years. These stories from Dolly's childhood in the Tennessee mountains are touching and extremely well-done. While Coat of Many Colors is not technically a Christmas movie, we always watch it at this time of year because the story in Christmas of Many Colors follows it chronologically.
How did the numbers add up for you in October and November?