Home Life...The Unexpected and Chirstmas Shopping

We had another unexpected event last night. DearDaughter2 had a fever of 102 (degrees F), was breathing rapidly, and had a cough. These are 3 major symptoms for Pneumonia in infants and because DearHubby has Pneumonia, I too DearDaughter2 to the ER at midnight.

After 4 hours and an X-ray, it was confirmed that DearDaughter2 DOES NOT have Pneumonia. Praise the Lord. Yet, the trip to the ER was a long one and we didn't get home until 4am. I was scheduled to meet some friends at our local Chick-Fil-A at 8am. DearHubby was nice enough to go into work late to let me get a few hours of sleep, but "few" is such an understatement. I think I only got 2 and I was such a drag!

With this unexpected event, I was quite ineffective in everything today. I didn't make one meal and so we spent about $23 today on take out. There goes my goal in trying to be a miserly homekeeper. In addition, none of my chores got done today and so some things are in disarray.

One goal I did accomplish tonight was ordering all my online Christmas gifts. This year we are going to California to spend Christmas with my family. This too was an unexpected event in the beginning of the year and I hadn't planned on doing many Christmas gifts. However, it's been a few years since DearHubby has had a true vacation and he really needed a break. Being at home doesn't help him get much rest as he's always tempted to work on our house renovations and so we decided to go to California. As a result, I added my family to my Christmas gift list.

I am quite pleased with my shopping. My goal at the beginning of the year was to keep all gifts at least $10 or under. If I average out the cost of each gift, I met my goal of $10! There are a couple of gifts over the $10 mark, but I purchased other gifts at such a low cost that I was able to spend that extra money. I kept my gifts to 3 main categories, clothing, book, and gift card. I thought these 3 categories would be the most practical and cost effective.

Anyway, I just have a trip to Target to make some time before Christmas to purchase a few gift cards and the shopping will be done! I must say setting a goal, shopping throughout the year, and doing a bit of planning made this year of giving stress "free". The next step is wrapping the gifts and getting some local gifts delivered. Next week I hope to get my Christmas cards sent out.