Thursday, December 6, 2018

November Wrap-Up






November Snapshots



These photos were actually taken in October, but I didn't post them online until November, so I'm counting them as November photos.



If you want to know what this looks like in November, imagine it with no leaves and covered in a foot of snow.



This scene doesn't look colorful anymore. Everything is snow now.




1. Well, that’s disconcerting. November started with me looking at photos of tornadoes on Pinterest. Why was I looking at tornadoes? Honestly, I’m not sure. I think I fell down an Internet rabbit hole that started with something completely unrelated to tornadoes. Anyway, I was looking at tornadoes, and I found this photo.




When I scrolled to the caption, I discovered that the photo was taken in the town where I live! The moral of the story: If you’re thinking about moving to Colorado, probably don’t.




2. Three-second rule. I cooked a turkey for the first time ever. It took a whole morning to make, but it was yummy. It was a maple-bacon turkey. You can find the recipe here, if you want to attempt it. Preparing the turkey went pretty well. Then, my mom started to put it in the oven, and . . . she dropped it. She dropped the turkey! Just rinse it off and re-season. Nobody will know.


It's a bacon mummy!


Other than the turkey drop, Thanksgiving went okay. I learned that it’s impolite to call stuffing “butt bread.” Also, “Jonestown” was added to The List Of Things I’m Not Allowed To Talk About While People Are Eating. Good times.




3. Nonfiction success! I unofficially participated in Nonfiction November. “Unofficially” because I didn’t have time to write extra blog posts. I did spend the whole month reading nonfiction. I didn’t get as many books finished as I’d hoped, but I’m considering the month a success. 















Wayward Googlers



Here are a few amusing Google searches that led people to Read All The Things! last month. I’m sorry to the unfortunate souls who ended up here instead of finding what they were Googling for.

“The fun starts here book haul.” If the blog ever needs a new name, this is going to be it. 
 “Le binge watch discussion.” Ah, yes, le binge watch. It sounds a lot fancier when you say it like that. Normal binge watching involves me eating cake in my pajamas. It’s far from glamorous. 
 “Antique book haul.” This search isn’t strange, but the Googlers really love book hauls. I just want to let them know that I occasionally write posts that aren’t hauls. It would be good for my self-esteem if they looked at other posts once in a while.












Books I Read



In November, I read 7 books. So . . . not great. If I want to reach my Goodreads goal, I need to read 11 books in December. That’s unlikely, but not impossible. “Not impossible” is my favorite kind of challenge.




Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington
The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn
A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean by Tori Murden McClure


(Why do nonfiction books have such long titles? How am I supposed to remember these things?)

I also made progress on my reading challenges. Click here to see how I’m doing.












Best Books Of November





1. The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn
3. A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean by Tori Murden McClure












Most-Viewed November Reviews

















Most-Viewed November Non-Reviews

















All The Things!



Number of unread books on my TBR shelf = 51 books

I’m currently reading = A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson












What did you do in November?







37 comments:

  1. Yeah, after almost 18 years of parenthood I believe in the 3 second rule, even if it's a turkey that drops to the floor. :-) I love reading nonfiction too, but compared to past years I haven't read as much this year.

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    1. I also believe in the 3-second rule. You can’t throw out a whole turkey just because it fell on the floor. I love nonfiction, but I never feel motivated to read it. That’s weird.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. Butt Bread! *giggles childishly* You did well with your non fiction in November. I'm happily having a clear the shelves time for December which is going nicely!

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    1. Good luck with your shelf clearing! That’s how I’ll be spending the first half of next year.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  3. Great job on reading all nonfiction last month. And you can totally read 11 books this month!! I'm not sure I could...unless I read lots of graphic novels...but I have faith in you!! :-)

    -lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. I badly wish I had some graphic novels. I’m trying to get books off my TBR shelf, so I don’t want to buy more just to win my challenge.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  4. I read four books in November, but I never read as many as you (but I have read two of your November reads: Emmett Till and Sand Mountain). Yes, eastern CO experiences Tornadoes, but if I ever moved there, it'd need to be on the other side of the Rockies.

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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    1. Yeah, I don’t know why I live on the plains. It’s really stupid. I’d rather be in the mountains!

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. Wow! I'm tired reading everything you accomplished in November! Adding the Margaret Atwood non-fiction to my TBR list... And if you want to feel better about your reading pace, I only finished four, and I think one of them was just a preview (not long enough to be a whole book...).

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  6. Still pretty fall photos none the less. And you've definitely talked me into trying that bacon turkey- looks so yummy!! <3

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  7. What a great wrap-up! Your photos are gorgeous, no matter what month they were taken in. And your turkey looks delicious. (And hey, the cooking will kill any germs it might have picked up from the floor...) "Le binge watch" made me laugh. As for not moving to Colorado... as far as I can tell, there's nowhere on earth where Nature doesn't occasionally try to kill you in one way or another. Including where I life: you don't usually think of tornadoes in Virginia, but they've been pretty much a yearly occurrence in our area for the last 10 years or more.

    Congratulations on a great reading month, and best of luck with your December goal!

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    1. Yeah, I guess nowhere is safe from nature. We get grassfires and tornadoes every summer, but nature hasn’t killed me yet!

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  8. Tornadoes are scary and that picture is terrifying. I did not know Colorado was a tornado zone. Huh. Your fall pictures are beautiful. You have a lot of great nature out by you. I know we have some around here too, because I see it in Angela's (Musings of a Literary Wander) blog. Your turkey looked amazing! Nice job!

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    1. The mountains aren’t a tornado zone, but I live on the flat part of the state. I love Angela’s blog. You guys have some great nature.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  9. I feel like it's ok if the turkey hits the floor before it's cooked; the hot oven will kill off any germs, right? My brother lives in the midwest and it always scares me a little that the airports have tornado shelters in the stairwells.

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    1. The Denver airport has tornado shelters. My elementary school had them, too. They were in the bathroom, and we used them a few times.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. Tornadoes are terrifying and I hate them! I'm forever trying to convince my husband that we should reinforce our closet. Seven books isn't bad at all! Good luck meeting your Goodreads goal though. I STILL want to read the Jonestown book, but it's so intimidating. I hope you have a great December!

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    1. The houses around here have basements for tornadoes, but most people don’t seem to use them. We’ve never had a tornado get close to the house. Usually, when there’s a tornado cloud, everybody in the neighborhood runs outside to watch the tornado come down. We’re idiots.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  11. LOL butt bread ha ha....Everytime i visit your blog my TBR grows. I am REALLY curious about The Jonestown book. I checked and it is on Scribd! yay!

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  12. Wow, those photos look so pretty! And congrats on your first ever turkey cooking! Shame about the turkey drop incident, but clearly it worked out OK, because it looks delicious on the picture.
    Have a great December! :)

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    1. Thanks! It was delicious. Dropping it on the floor didn’t hurt it at all. :)

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  13. Lovely photos! And congrats on cooking a turkey for the first time. It looks delicious. Happy December!

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  14. You're down to 51 books on your TBR bookshelf? Nice! I've been working on my shelves this year, too. It's one of the reasons I decided to participate in the Beat the Backlist Challenge. Good luck with your remaining books!

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?

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    1. I want to change how I acquire books, so I’m trying really hard to get my TBR to 0. I have a long way to go.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  15. I need to do a book haul... I got SOOO many books over Black Friday weekend because they were so cheap. Vengeful and The Great Alone were among the books I got. They were $2.99 each, I think.

    The Jonestown book and Get Well Soon book still look good.

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    1. This was the first time in years that I didn’t buy books on Black Friday. Letting those deals go was difficult. I wanted books!

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  16. That tornado photo is amazing. And yikes!! I hope you never see one.

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  17. “The fun starts here book haul.” ha! That rules!!

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  18. I am loving the leftover foliage photos. 🍁🍂🍃

    I lived just outside of Greeley Colorado in a large hippie "commune" house in 1976 for four months. Ha ha. We had a goat and chickens. 🐐🐔✨

    Butt bread... and I thought the argument was over stuffing versus dressing. 😂

    I hope December is treating you well. ⛄

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  19. Sounds like a great November and I think sitting around your Thanksgiving table would be a really interesting, enjoyable experience:)).

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  20. Those Google searches are hilarious :) And totally with you on the 3 second rule, haha :) That tornado looks terrifying though...

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  21. ACK tornadoes! Oh my gosh, I hate those things. We lived in Indiana for a few years and I swear it was during some of their worst times. The first weekend I went back there to look for a job there was a half mile wide one in the town north of ours. We had some friends lose there houses in the years we lived there and I still get tears in my eyes when the emergency broadcast system goes off out west. Here's hoping you don't ever get one in your town again, they are so scary *hugs*.
    And for the turkey there's always the 2 second rule right? ;)
    Jen @ Star-Crossed Book Blog

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  22. My neighbor's daughter moved to CO for a job in August. They spent the first week with no power due to a storm. I agree that you can't toss a whole turkey after a quick drop. Though "turkey drop" reminded me of that old WKRP in Cincinnati episode where they tossed live turkeys out of an aircraft only to find out the things couldn't fly. Butt bread is what I'm calling the in-bird stuffing next year.

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  23. OH NO to dropping the turkey! I would actually have put the turkey away and not been able to eat it after that DD: But if you don't mind, you don't mind ;) And it's a whole turkey so it would've been very wasteful DD: I also think that it is great that you managed to read some non-fiction November :D 7 books is still a good number and YOU CAN READ 11 BOOKS THIS MONTH. YOU CAN!

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