Thanksgiving Eve

When I was a junior high teacher, Thanksgiving Eve was one of my most favorite days of the entire year.  We had been working for months without a break and had just finished conferences, which coincidently were my least favorite days of the year.

I would lay on the couch all day in my jammies, order pizza, and watch movies - like the childless, 20-something year old that I was who had no comprehension of just how sacred this luxury was.

Today was the opposite of that day.  The kids were home from school, and I baked all day.  Looks pretty amazing, right?!

What this photo does not show was me running to Kroger twice in my jammies: once to get RumChata for Friday morning and nacho chips for tonight’s dinner.  The other time was to buy two pie plates since they mysteriously went missing.  They did not have any in stock on the day before Thanksgiving. Surprisingly. I was, however, able to scavenge some from my parents.

It also does not show that the pies were all done at different times making us late for a play date.

Nor does it show the failed double batch of cookie dough due to miscalculating the amount of butter.

Regardless, the finished products look pretty impressive (and I can attest that the cookies are delicious).

Tomorrow, I will make the coconut cream pies – my absolute favorite Thanksgiving dessert.

Why coconut cream pie and chocolate chip cookies?  Last year, I wrote a piece for Huffington Post explaining the significance of these special desserts.

So I won’t cooking a turkey this year  (or celebrating my two years of working through my raw poultry fear), and I didn’t have time to do any art therapy.  But I still worked that dessert jam and can’t wait to celebrate tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My Incentive Program

It is mid-November, and I am fully immersed in writing my book.  I am going to bed before 10pm, which hasn’t happened since the last time I grew tiny humans in my very own body.  I am waking up at 5:10am to write for 2 hours before starting the rest of my day.  I am researching and thinking and then thinking some more.

I am starting to have faith that I will be able to reach my 30,000-word goal by the end of the month.

I seriously love this process! Love it!  I feel engaged!  And excited!

And so damn tired.  Oh, goodness, am I tired.

By the time I get back from dropping the kids off at the bus stop, I have been awake for over 4 hours.  And I can expect only so much from my coffee.

I am pushing myself so hard this month because I do not want to try and maintain my focus during the holiday season.  The kids are in school for a mere 14 days before they are home for a 16. straight. days. 

During those 16 days, we will celebrate Christmas, visiting with out-of-town family members, and of course, seeing The Force Awakens.

Even though I love what I am doing and learning so much about writing and myself, I feel that I need to reward myself for staying committed to goal. 

I have decided to reward myself with going to the movies.  I don’t have all of the details worked out yet, but I am visualizing myself in the deluxe recliner with real butter popcorn, possibly wine depending on the show time.

Here is a list of movies that I found on PopSugar's site that cannot wait to see:

Steve Jobs

Burnt

Rock the Kasbah

Suffragette

Our Brand is Crisis

Spotlight

By the Sea

Love the Coopers

Mockingjay Part 2

The Night Before

Joy

Concussion

Touched by Fire 

Wow!  I don’t know if I can wait until December to see all of these (and Touched by Fire isn’t supposed to come out until February, too).

Either way, I am really looking forward to some recharging time.

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Since I am committing more time to writing my book, my blog might not be as active.

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