The Week in Review

It's been a week of shopping, wrapping, sneaking and hiding. Makes me feel like I'm on some kind of secret mission! It's also been a week of preparation. Thanksgiving dinner will be at our home this year, and while we aren't expecting as big a crowd as other years, I still want everything to be comfortable for those who will be here.

Monday I spent deep cleaning my bedroom. Lots of dust accumulates in there and both hubby and I suffer from allergies, so while I clean up regularly a good cleaning once a month is necessary. I also got some laundry done which I'm trying hard to keep caught up. I'm almost there.

Tuesday I tackled the kids rooms. My daughter is away at college, so my oldest son sleeps in her room while she's gone. This makes E very happy, because he says his big brother snores and keeps him awake! This also means both rooms had to be cleaned up good, though the boys room is always messier. I think that's genetic.

I had spoken to my oldest son about Dad's Christmas present. Hubby is sooo hard to shop for! He's very picky about clothes and shoes, and as for everything else he doesn't give anyone a chance to shop for him because whatever he wants he goes out and buys himself. Well, R and I came up with a gift we're sure he'll like (not saying what it is; just in case) and since it was on sale at Costco we agreed to go buy it on Wednesday. R goes to school on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, and he didn't work on Wednesday so it was the perfect day. Or so we thought.

Wednesday morning I got up early to get E ready for school, and hubby stayed in bed. Since his schedule varies, I didn't think too much of it. As E and I got ready to leave, hubby told me he was working late that night so he was going to sleep in. I figured sleeping in meant he wouldn't leave for work till 11:00 am or noon. He got up, exercised, then woke R up to cut the grass and do some much needed yard work. Normally I'd be very happy about this, but I wanted him out of the house so I could go shopping for him!!! I decided to keep my cleaning schedule going and deep cleaned in the living room, moving furniture, dusting everything, scrubbing the area rug clean, till it all sparkled. Still hubby didn't leave. At 1:45 I left to pick up E from school. Even my oldest son was perplexed; how were we going to get Dad's gift? The sale would end on Saturday, R had school and work both Thursday and Friday, and it was looking like we'd have to pass on this present. When E got home he told me about a report he needed to print on the computer. This posed a problem - there was no ink in the printer. That's when R came up with his brilliant plan. Go to Wal-mart to pick up an ink cartridge, then run to Costco which is only about a mile away and buy Dad's gift. R gave me cash and promised to help E with homework and keep Dad occupied while I ran my errand. It actually worked out better than I'd anticipated.

Hubby asked me to pick up some stuff for him while I was at the store. Good, that would give me more time in case I got delayed. When I got to Wal-mart, it turns out they didn't have the ink cartridge I needed. So I called R and asked him to find out what other store I could go to, since I didn't want to drive all around wasting gas just to find one item I needed. In the meantime I checked out the sale section at Wal-mart, and found something that I think R will really enjoy (again, not saying what it is). The price seemed really good; I would later find out comparing prices on the Internet that it was 90% off the actual price, so I got it for a steal!! As I was getting ready to check out, R called and said I could get the ink cartridge either at Office Max or Office Depot. Both are just blocks away from Costco, again to my advantage. So off I went to Office Max, then to Costco to buy Dad's present. While I was there I bought him his favorite breakfast cereal, since he'd run out. That way if he asked where I'd been I could answer honestly that I'd been to Costco. I got home satisfied with my shopping expedition - I'd managed to get 2 presents instead of just one.

I figured I could wrap both presents on Thursday, when R went to school and Hubby went to work. Well, only one of those scenarios became reality. R left for school, but Hubby worked all night and didn't get home till 5:30am, so he didn't have to go to work till later on in the afternoon. I didn't want the presents in the car - too much risk of Hubby going to look for something. I took E to school, then waited till Hubby was fast asleep and snuck both presents in the house. Hubby's present I put in my daughter A's room, because I knew he wouldn't go snooping in there. R's present I left in the living room and proceeded to give the dining room a deep cleaning. When Hubby got up I showed him what I'd gotten R, and wrapped it up. One down, one to go. Except Hubby didn't leave the house till I went to get E from school, and I knew I couldn't let E see the present because he's not very good at keeping secrets. So the gift stayed safely tucked away in A's room.

This morning I dropped E off at school and went to Winn-Dixie to start my grocery shopping day. I like going to Winn-Dixie early; there's less people so I'm in and out in less than half an hour. When I got home I was surprised that, once again, Hubby was still there! Not another night shift, I thought! But no, it turns out he was waiting for me to come home so I could wrap a gift for one of his clients - a very nice dress shirt that the client had admired on him. So I got a box, packed it up, then pulled out the wrapping paper. And wouldn't you know it - the paper I had saved to wrap up Hubby's gift I used up on this other present and now I was out of wrapping paper!! Can anything else go wrong?! Understand, it's very important that this gift get wrapped. If Hubby has the slightest inkling that there's a present for him in the house, he'll tear it apart looking for it. He's very much a kid in that respect. Besides, if E saw it he'd spill the beans. No problem, I was going to Wal-mart again anyway, I'd just pick up some more wrapping paper. Finally, after getting several other errands taken care of, I was able to wrap Dad's present. I have to say, all this sneaking around is not good for my nerves!

Hubby's gonna change the oil in my car tomorrow (Saturday) so I may be stuck at home most of the day. Not good, since I was hoping to go shopping at a big outlet mall before Thanksgiving. Sunday I'm teaching Sunday school, and after that we'll be at a cousin's baby shower. Plus E's science project has to be finished this weekend so he can turn it in on Monday. Never a dull moment in our house!

God bless, have a wonderful pre-Thanksgiving Day weekend! :-)