November 2025

Happy Harvest

    There is no pagan holiday that I am aware of for celebration this month. However, I prefer not to acknowledge the main holiday of this month due to its problematic history. Instead, I will share other terms used this holiday month to shed some light on raising awareness. 

There is a National Day of Mourning protest held every year on Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to honor Native American people's history and suffering. 

Un-Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on Alcatraz Island, also known as the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony. This celebration honors indigenous peoples and their civil rights. 

New Native American Heritage Day falls on the day after Thanksgiving and is observed as a time to celebrate indigenous cultures and their roots. 

I know I'm such a "woke snowflake," but I don't have any shame in believing what I feel is the right way to respect other people and their cultures. 

Adventures!

     I didn't really have a lot going on this month. I went on a coffee date with a co-worker, which was fun because she's been encouraging me to go back to school so I can further my career goals. Sheldon also took me on a coffee date for breakfast after a really rough week for me, which felt nice. Sometimes I make plans and feel very overstimulated because I already work 40 hours a week and help care for Juno's needs, so when it comes to doing anything outside of work, I can stress myself out by thinking about how exhausting it will be. I'm trying to shift that mindset and enjoy the moment, which in these cases I did, and it felt nice to be able to do something for only an hour out of the house. 

A funny little story: When I got coffee with my co-worker, we went to a local shop near me. I want to visit it more, so I decided to purchase a coffee mug from them. They didn't have any pricing, so it wasn't too expensive. Well,l they rang it up at $44, and I have the personality where I felt it was too late to say no, and I bought it beacuse I socially panicked! So now I have a reason to kick my ass and go more... 

Yappy Hour:
~ I forgot to share in last month's blog post ~

 
A few times a year, an event called Yappy Hour is held around the Salt Lake Valley. Juno's cousin goes to almost every event all year long, so the vendors love and adore him. We decided to take Juno along with him this time to see what it was all about. 

A beer tent and several food trucks are open for humans to enjoy at this event, while there are several areas for dogs to play around in. As you walk around, there are also several local vendors with free items for your pup to enjoy! 

Our first stop was a coffee shop booth held by Hugo Coffee. Any purchases made that day were donated to Best Friends Animal Society, which was really cool, so I made sure to purchase a bag of coffee. 

The next booth was hosted by PetSmart. They provided a bag to carry all of your goodies in and several toys and treats to pick for your pup. Juno also got his first "tattoo" at this booth, which was hard to do because the dog-safe spray paint scared him. 

Supreme Source also had a booth with sample food to give out to your pups. Juno was loving all of the goodies! They even gave us coupons that basically gave him free treats and half off their food at Winco. 

Subaru had a booth where you got to customize your own mini dog tag, which was neat. They had a Plinko game that you could try as many times as you wanted for a prize. Sheldon tried twice for a Subra-Chew, which was a stuffed car with a squeaker in it. The third time, I told him to let me try it, and he tried it anyway. So when I got to try it, I got the Subra-chew on the first try, which was very lucky and funny. 

The rest of the booths consisted of Radio Stations that handed out throwing sticks with tennis balls, training centers, day care centers, health centers, and even State Farm was there. 

I tried a "Pumpkin Spice" beer from Proper Brewing Co. called Witches Brew, which wasn't bad, but it would not be my first choice to pick on another outing. I also got to try a Pizza Cone for my first time, which was not disappointing. 

Here is a photo of Juno's "Haul" after that day. He was very exhausted from all of the excitement! 

Juno's Leg:

 Little buddy had injured his left inner haunch this month. I took him outside to play with his best friend, who lives next door to us, and within the first minute of being outside, we heard him whimper, and he whimpered/limped over to me and lay on his back. 

We didn't see what happened because we were saying hello as the dogs were saying hello. Sheldon heard it inside our apartment and went outside to check what was going on, and had to carry Juno inside. The rest of the night, Juno was yelping every time he tried to walk, so we took him to the vet the following morning. 

Luckily, he did not break anything. The vet said it was very common for dogs to tear their ACL's and we lucked out with not having to pay for any surgery with him. They did have to put him to sleep for the X-rays and give him some opioids for the pain, which was pretty funny to see him wake up from. He couldn't close his mouth and kept his tongue out the entire time. 

His leg is doing a lot better, but we also had a scare with his medication. It was causing some diarrhea and bleeding, so we eased up on it. The vet said it was normal, but Google said the medication is known to cause internal bleeding, so we panicked. We are also really grateful to have pet insurance!

Enjoy some photos of his doped-up moment

Bark's Giving:

Juno was able to have turkey neck and giblets for his very first time this year! (That we know of.) He didn't like the texture of the giblets, so we gave him some little bits of turkey to make up for it. 

He was able to get a Pup-kin Pie for dessert! 

Santa Paws!

It's the final day of November and Juno's shelter decided to hold a fundraiser! They invited all of the dogs that were adopted this year to get a picture with Santa Paws and purchase some toys/goodies.  

Everyone at the shelter immediately remembered Juno, and he was so happy to say hello to them! It gives us reassurance that they take good care of the pets there, considering how excited he was when we pulled in. 

We bought him a ton of goodies and downloaded an app called TREAT that helps support giving treats to the shelter dogs there! It's partnered with Chewey and and all you do is play a little game on it and watch some ads. 

Language Learning:

  I DELETED DOULINGO! Yep, you read that right! It started feeling like a mundane chore to do every day when I wasn't really learning very much from it. I think if I want to learn a new language, then a parrot app is not the way to go. I want to be able to learn what words mean, as well as proper sentence structure, and so on. I feel like I got my money's worth from the app, and I don't regret deleting it. 

Gaming:

We've been playing a new game called Shape of Dreams. Sheldon is loving it because it's basically an ARPG, but uniquely hard in my opinion. I'm still giving it a chance. I didn't like the first character that I played with, but now that I'm unlocking more characters, I'm starting to figure out which one fits my gaming preference. 

Reading:

Oh man, my monthly reading journey... 

I finished The Chronicles of Narnia and wanted to flip a table for how it ended... It's also slightly because it's a very Christian-based series, and the entire time in the final book, I had a huge guess of what the ending would be, and I was right, but I didn't want to be. 

I really loved a book called Hell Followed With Us. It does have a trigger warning for transphobia/homophobia and religious trauma. However, I really loved that the main character was trans and it was portrayed from a relatable point of view. I'm for sure looking into the author's other books. 

I started the Shadow Children series. It was something I read in sixth grade and didn't have a chance to finish. I forgot how much I was enjoying the series, and I'm happy to be picking it back up again. 

I had some extra money to splurge on myself, so I decided to try a book box from Caffeine & Legends. I plan to subscribe monthly as my finances see fit. 

It's a neat book box subscription that consists of a book each month (of course). These books are from small authors who give you a little thank-you note, which is ADORABLE! They also pick a snack from a local shop each month, along with a random item. You can choose between coffee, tea, and hot cocoa in your box as well. I did the coffee and tea options, which did not disappoint! I also ordered a small fall box from them, which consisted of items provided by a small business. 

Anime/K-Dramas:

I haven't been watching anything Anime or K-drama related at the moment because I decided to watch the new season of The Witcher instead. 

Mental Health Status:

Psychiatry/Psychology: 

The seasonal depression has been kicking in for sure! I really dislike it being dark and cold outside at 5 pm. It really messes with my brain! I'm doing my best, though! Keeping up on my therapy, medication, and journaling has been helping a lot. I've noticed that when I'm tired and don't feel like doing anything, taking Juno on his little walks around the neighborhood helps boost my mood. Seeing him happy makes me happy.

  

 Physical Health Status:

Health Wrap Up:

I got very sick at the start of this month, and all of the coughing that I did started to affect my lower pelvic floor muscles. It doesn't help that the cold weather has been making my muscles more achy and causing more frequent flare-ups. My appointments have slowed down due to the holiday season and potential weather. I'm making sure that I keep up with my physical therapy every day at home. 

Final Thoughts:

I'm just in a resting survival mode this month. I don't like publicly airing personal family things going on due to privacy reasons. I'll just say that the end of the year is always pretty stressful. I'm just really thankful for my little family at home, and it's definitely very healing for my inner child. I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season so far, and I will see you again in next month's post! ♡