Soy un perdedor I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?

With this post, I'm completing Nanoblomo.  I have a blog post for every day this month.   Yay!

Today is the last day of November which also marks the end of Nanowrimo.  I can't call myself a "Nanowrimo Winner" because my novel doesn't consist of 50,000 words.  So you won't see any cool winner badges or certificates on here.

Originally uploaded by AdamBaronPhoto

I didn't hit 50,000 for two main reasons:  #1.  I'm writing a young adult novel and I don't believe I need 50,000 words.  #2.  I got to a point where I really needed some outside opinions to know where to go from there and I didn't get those before the end of the month.

While I'm annoyed that I can't add one of the cool winner badges, I consider myself to have successfully completely Nanowrimo.  I wrote every day and until recently, I met or exceeded the 1600+ word count per day.

So I'm happy with that.  I'm not a winner, but, with a word count of 36,339*, I'm going to call it good and just keep working.

*Final word count at 11:54 pm is 37,606.  I am officially calling this novel done.  From here, I move on to editing which I plan to do for a long time.  

Latkes and music

I want latkes.  Chanukah* is only two days away and I'm already drooling over the thought of latkes.

On Facebook, a friend posted some Chanukah songs and another protested that it's not Chanukah yet.  The first friend pointed out that, if the goyim can listen to Xmas music two MONTHS before their holiday, then we can listen to Chanukah music two days before ours.

I must agree (and laugh).

*There is no one translation from the Hebrew.  Some people spell the holiday "Hanukkah," but I prefer "Chanukah," because it's closer to the actual pronunciation.  It's not a soft H sound.  It's that guttural "Ch" sound from the back of the throat.  Angelica said it best in Rug Rats, "CHanukah!  You gotta CHHHH when you say it." (5:05)

Eat me. Drink me. BUY ME!

We had another house showing today.  I'm getting so annoyed with busting our butts to get the house ready only to have everyone pass.  This is a great house.  It's bigger than most others on the market.  It's bigger than any other one in this price range.  Most of the house has new hardwood floors.  We have a great sized yard.

I don't understand why it's not selling.  It's so freaking frustrating.  I just want to sell this place and move already.  I want my family to be back together.  I'm ready to move on (literally and figuratively).  Apparently, no one else is ready to move IN, though.

And yeah, yeah, yeah, "It only takes one person," people tell me in an attempt to give me some comfort.  It doesn't work, though.  It just frustrates me.  Sure, it only takes one right person to decide this is the house for them.  In the mean time, we have to bust our butts to clean for tours for all the WRONG people.  The only thing worse than that is not having anyone come for a tour.  You can't possibly find the one right person if no one is coming to see it.

Pardon me while I go pout in the corner--the corner of this lovely house that could be all yours if you get your butt here now and give us an offer.  Please, pretty pretty please?

Thankful for...

I didn't hop on the Thankful bandwagon this season.  I haven't posted a thing a day for which I'm thankful, but I do like to collect a list of the things for which I'm thankful.  So I'll do that now.

I'm thankful for

• creativity
• optimism
• understanding
• love
• compassion
• a loving hard-working husband who sees me as an equal partner
• parents
• my kids
• books
• literacy
• Judaism
• the funny little things kids say
• good music
• beauty
• working vehicles
• heat
• generosity
• health
• our home (even if I do wish it was no longer ours)
• people in our area looking to buy a home (preferably ours)
• old friends
• inside jokes
• new friends
• insight
• the interwebz
• the ability (and desire) to strive for more
• those who make a difference
• pets
• family history
• glimpses of the past
• photographs
• family resemblance
• sweetness
• siblings
• family
• sushi
• pecan pie
• COFFEE
• rum
• coke
• good advice
• Feminism
• spell check
• funny and addictive websites
• safety
• memories
• poetry
• contentment

That's the list for now.  I'm sure I'll think of more later, but thus far, that's what I've got for ya.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and has much for which to be thankful.

Shabbat Shalom

I'm signing off for Shabbat.  Before I go, though, I wanted to share this Matisyahu song "Miracle," for Chanukah.  We're only a week away and I love this song.

Miracle

Enjoy your weekend.  

Sharing a card I made through Shutterfly

Freebies 4 Mom made me aware of this great promotion from Shutterfly. For sharing a card made there, they'll give bloggers a $25 credit. Well, I often make cards there, so I jumped on the chance. Here's one of my favorites.

Father's Day Damask Father's Day 5x7 folded card

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

I send New Year cards for the holidays because I don't have to worry about different holidays and how far apart they are (Chanukah is often much earlier) plus then I get to use the great photos I took of the kids during Chanukah. So I get extra time and extra photos. I'm a wee bit addicted to photographs and creating, though, so I've been known to spend hours (and a small fortune) creating cards.

Wordless Wednesday: It's a zoo out there

This week's episode of Wordless Wednesday was brought to you by warm weather, the local zoo and cute kids.

Today was probably the last nice day of the season.  It was 80 degrees and relatively sunny.  However, a cold front is on its way.  So we celebrated the last nice day at the zoo with friends.