Of Mice And Men

(*Updates at the end)

This past week has been interesting for so many reasons!

First, it was a shortened work week. Monday being a holiday and my hubby being off work 3 days last weekend meant he had lots of time to spend with the kids & me!

Then, my hubby told me he's glad about his new job
and likes the environment and situation.

Also, I've been feeling better than I have in a month and have enjoyed spending time with my kids
(that stinkin' bronchitis/pneumonia kept me down
long enough!).

I prepared meals every night for my family. I tried a few new recipes plus a couple old faves...and my hubby was home to eat those dinners...and he liked all of them!

Speaking of eating... My kids have always eaten whatever is put before them. But recently Josiah got on some anti-carrot/anti-green bean kick that drove me bonkers. I couldn't figure it out. I had varieties from different stores, but he was simply on strike. I worried about permitting his picky behavior, worried that by forcing the issue I'd scare him away from vegetables forever, and worried about him going to bed hungry. (Yeah, I worry about a lot of stuff!) After struggling for a week alone, one day last week I sought advice from mom pals on FB, and many shared a variation of the idea of just offering them and waiting 'til he came around. Fellow blogger & church member Lori told me that sometimes w/ kids it's a peer pressure thing, which I've seen to be true with Siah wanting to do much of what his sister does. Ironically, that very night, with every bite of veggies Kyleigh took we made a point of it to Josiah; she and Daddy made silly faces and comments to JoJo, and suddenly he picked up his carrots and at them. All of them! Ha! Note only tiny carrot remnants in the pic above? Awesome! He's still not goin' for the green beans, but I feel like maybe he'll come around! I suppose we all have days when maybe we're just not in the mood for some particular food, right? *sigh*

Another great aspect of the week includes my tally of bargains! I started putting away Christmas gifts long before now, but this week I really took notice of our totals so far and I feel okay with it all...

*My holiday shopping strategy:

I budget throughout the year, I don't get caught up in the last minute hustle and just buy 'something' just so I'll have 'something' for someone...I prefer to budget so that any month, even if it's April or May, if I see an item and think, "Wow, ____ would really like that", I can get it and store it away for that person w/out worry or stress in that moment or later in the year! And I try to be done with Christmas shopping by October because after that I have holiday celebrations and birthday parties to plan, family portraits to schedule, and just way too much chaos for crowded malls!

In preparing for Christmas, we start with the kids in our family first because it's most "magical" to them. Including our 2 kids, there are 10 kids in the most immediate family. Wowsa! So far we've got Christmas gifts for 9 out of the 10 for approx $82 + tax = $90. I think that's pretty decent for that many people! Of course it's always possible that we may pick up a lil' thing or two in the upcoming weeks, but for the most part we're nearly ready to just wrap and wait! Sorry I can't show you all the cute finds, but our family reads these posts and that would give away the surprise!

Oh, and today I got this skirt, orig. $44, on clearance $4.98! I've been eyeing it at Belk all summer, but wouldn't pay full price. So I checked back a couple times, and then just let it be. While at the mall with my family tonight, I decided to peek and see if any of these skirts were still around--yup, one my size, & under $5 to boot! As my daughter says, "Hooray, hooray!"

On a not-so-fabulous note, we found a mouse in this house we're renting. EWWW! Ok, I'm a city girl, I don't do mice. Mom & Dad, are you reading this? Just imagine how many times I had exclaimed, "Oh no, oh no, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, oh no, oh no, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, oh Jesus!" before I started to tear up! It's the middle of the night, Chris had just dozed off but I was wide awake in another room and heard something, so I brought him to the other side of the house and then we both saw it! I was totally shaken up, so my knight-in-Ohio-State-sweatshirt-armor got it trapped in the utility room and went to the store to buy traps that would remove it from our residence permanently--that's where he is right now, the store! He'd have preferred to wait 'til morning, but quickly understood that he'd get no sleep if I were freaking out all night! Dude. It's just so gross. I keep a clean home, so I'm certain it's nothing I've invited.
EWWWW. Just EWWWW.
I wonder if I'll ever sleep again.

*Update 1:45am--
Hubby's back now. He set up traps.

Still, I'll likely stay awake 'til that rodent is gone.

*Update 9:35am--
Hubby promises he found the mouse
caught in a trap this morning. Dude. Ewwww.