after our big travel month of october, november was pretty chill. we are still in a pandemic and all, so there was a lot of home life during this month. sigh.
my parents arrived just before halloween, so the first few days in november will filled with family fun. guitar hero, the simpsons, our second favorite dog, gilly, and all the food. on their last night in town, which was also the dreaded election night, we picked up ronni’s pizza and wings. we concluded, once and for all, that ronni’s (owned by former buffalo folk) is just as good as pizza and wings back home.
in garden news and updates, i finally made the call to pull up my overgrown mutant tomato plants. i actually found four green mr. stripey tomatoes, the only ones that grew all year, despite the plants grown like 20 foot long vines. i harvested the last of my bumper crop of jalapenos and a few straggling other veggies and that’s the end of my apocalypse garden.
our chicken update is a rollercoaster. i don’t know if i mentioned it, but our two white brahmas disappeared mysteriously awhile back. we were bummed because they were our favorites. but, i found a lady selling them on craigslist, so the girls and i drove three hours round trip to get the new babies. but, they definitely did NOT hit it off with our flock and we were sort of worried about them because they just huddled together all day long. then one day, we opened the coop to find one of them dead. so, what i’m saying is, white brahmas might not want to come live with us. but. in more positive news, we got our first egg!!! since then a few more chickens have started laying, but nothing is as exciting is that first egg.
rip anna’s chicken. 
new tina fey. 
first egg!!
the most important event in november was my birthday, obviously. we celebrated on the day before my birthday, because it was the weekend. i got lots of great gifts and we enjoyed the rainbow unicorn cake. and derek’s brought over beef on weck and gravy fries for me to enjoy while watching the bills soundly defeat lose devastatingly on a hail mary to the cardinals.
fun fabrics from grandlidboms and derek. 
fun christmas record from my mom. 
hilarious first egg blanket from FIL 
cake onlookers.
big game ready. 
beef on weck and game. sigh. 
from anna. <3.
as always. no monthly catch up post would be complete without a collection of ruby themed photos from the month.
in the mad dash to prepare for christmas and all of the gift giving, anna was highly motivated to earn some cold hard cash. i found notes posted around the house declaring her need for employment. not to be outdone, hazel soon followed with her own announcement flyers. competition drives down prices.
and now, some daily random candid shots from lidbom november life…
puzzling. 
still loving the greatest showman. 
babysitting. 
how my bathtub looks on the regular.
just like most of everyone in america, we decided to add a little extra joy to our pandemic lives by starting our christmas season a little early this year. the week before thanksgiving, we found a tree farm that was open and set out to find this years lidbom christmas tree. it wasn’t as lovely as years past, with hot chocolate and the like. so many covid precautions. but. we found our tree and dragged it home and filled it with lights and ornaments and started christmas…
covid. meh.
photo booth plus masks. 
it’s perfect. (the other two were on their phones. happy holidays). 
so christmassy.
a week into our christmas season, we took a pause to celebrate thanksgiving. by celebrate i mean, put out some decorations, make a giant turkey and for sure too many pies, and then just have a regular day like all the other pandemic days.
i stress made pies. so many pies. i wasn’t happy with the apple so i made a second. and the pecan was basically water underneath that crust. and no one ended up eating the pumpkin cheesecake. but. baking the pies made me happy. also stressed.
trying to pretend that the entire kitchen wasn’t completely trashed and that everything wasn’t weirdly depressing and that making an entire thanksgiving feast for two adults and three kids who won’t eat any of it gives us a sense of normalcy.
dereks parents came by for a back deck dessert time. i think we had enough for everyone and then some.
there was a small incident during the decorating of the tree that caused isaac to be banned from screens for four whole days. during that time, he created a prototype for an articulating minecraft figurine made out of perler beads. he then told his friends that he could make them a personalized figurine in whatever skin they chose and got to work with his new business. once screens were reinstated and there was a road bump with one of the figurines, he declared bankruptcy and shut down operations. but it was fun while it lasted.
and then lastly. i moved the kids out of my quilt room. i was tired of sharing the space with them, since they just get their school stuff and take it out to the living room. and when they do have a craft or whatever in this room, it leaves a huge mess. then, when i’m ready to sew, i either have to turn all crazymom to get anyone to clean it up, or clean it up myself. a lose-lose. well, they’re out. and the room is all mine again. so beautiful.
yes! that’s all for november!! i might catch up after all….
Enjoy that sewing room!