Priceless

Every now and then when I can find myself with more than one night off in a row, I try to find a way to make the most of my time without causing too much sleep swings and deprivation.

So, yesterday when I came home from work, I slept until about 3:00 in the afternoon and then headed over to see a high school friend that I haven't seen since my days at Dordt. After that, I came home from dinner, and by 8:00 I was soundly asnooze on the couch. It actually worked out really well for Ghee since he had to study for his Hebrew exam today. So, after he was finished studying, he woke me up to go to bed, and after I roused myself from one room to the next, I was able to sleep until 6:30 this morning.

Here's a recap of a really good--and very rare!--day for me (parenthetically, I like the idea I recently saw on a blog playing off of the Mastercard ads):

-Morning coffee: bag of Starbucks beans, $11.99 on debit card.
-Paying bills while hubby gets ready for school: Undisclosed amount of dollars from checking account
-Cleaning the whole house, including the bedroom (which is HUGE for us!): no dollars on debit card
-Rescuing a lizard from my mousetrap: no dollars on debit card
-Throwing away the mouse traps after feeling guilty about the poor lizard: a loss of $2.99 on debit card
-Heading to Nordstrom to exchange an article of clothing: Refunded on visa card
-On a whim, after shaking my head and wondering about southern California Nordstrom attire, I found a blouse I couldn't resist at Ann Taylor Loft: $24.99 on visa card
-Wandering past the Yankee Candle store, a place I haven't been to before but thought I'd check it out: $15.99 on card for 12 votives on card
-Heading to Albertson's for a Thanksgiving Meal (courtesy of our diaconate for seminary students for the last two years): $24.99 on visa card for a nice beef roast and other ingredients
-Using my new All Clad roaster to make roast: $11.99 on visa for shipping the pan
-Enjoying the BEST roast I've ever made in my life: Priceless
-Forgetting the cranberry sauce AND the glass of wine due to enjoying the roast so immensely: $1.99 on visa card. (Oh well. Guess I'll refrigerate the cranberry sauce and have it for dessert.)
-Having the easiest clean-up of a pan that I've ever seen with a new bottle of dish soap: Can't remember how much soap costs on Visa card

And lastly, having that rare feeling of a great day of accomplishment after sleeping for a 10.5 hour stretch and many tasks thoroughly enjoyed today, PRICELESS.

But speaking of the poor lizard, I recently set some mouse traps because Ghee saw a mouse crawl up into the closet outside where the laundry machines are. There is a hole in the wall next to the washing maching, so you can imagine how much I DON'T want the mice to get into the house from the outside. Thus, I caught one mouse a few days ago, and figured I'd leave the traps out just in case there were any more. This morning, there was a large Gecco that had the lower part of his leg trapped. I felt so bad; I just didn't have the heart to kill him! So, after seeing that he could still use the upper part of the injured limb and on the whole was running around pretty well, I released him from the trap. Poor little buddy. Apparently though, it wasn't the first of his injuries; half of his tail was missing, so I know he's had more injuries than what I gave him. And also, it wasn't the lizard we're normally used to seeing out on the patio.

On that note, I think I'll finish my salad greens and hunt down my cranberry sauce and wine. Good night, dear bloggers!