Annual Struggles

Every fall we do battle with mice as they try to move into our old farmhouse.

This fall has been exceptionally bad and I've lost track of how many we have caught and I still keep seeing the tell-tale signs of them nearly everyday, and hear them in the walls. (Shudder) 

This morning right after LV left for work I decided to try to get an hour of writing done before Steven gets up and it's time to do school and tackle things on our to-do list for the day.

I had only written a few paragraphs when out of the corner of my eye I see a movement. Looking up I see a mouse sitting in the living room doorway calmly staring at me. 

I screamed, it turned and slipped behind a bag of things waiting to be donated in the hallway.

I texted LV saying, "I'm going on an anti mouse shopping spree. I can't live in a house where mice feel comfortable roaming about and staring at me."

He replied, "Go right ahead."

I opened Amazon, prepared to buy all the anti mouse things I could find.

I found the traps he had been telling me about that they use at his workplace. Apparently they're the best. They come in packs of twenty, but this is war. Click add to cart.

Peppermint oil always seems to help deter them. I start my search for it. Before I found what I want the mouse was back staring at me again.  Another scream sent it scampering away.

Having my feet on the floor with a mouse roaming about was uncomfortable, so I drew them up and sat on them and resumed my search for the peppermint oil. 

It took a minute to decide which one I want, but finally decided a four ounce bottle seems like the best option. I added it to my cart and here comes the mouse again.

Another scream. This time it remained unbothered and it continued halfway into the living room. Some more screaming happened along with waving my arms which made it decide retreating would be wise after all.

More searching Amazon revealed some tablet things that supposed to encourage mice to stay out of the area. Click add to cart.

Next I search for ultrasonic mouse repellent. Turns out it's more than I want to pay, but as I sit there debating if it would be worth the price the mouse comes back.

Another involuntary scream has it ambling back out into the hallway.

I look for bait. I already know from experience I don't want the bait blocks, but after some searching I find pellets with good reviews. They come in a four pound pail. It feels like an appropriate amount by this time. I add it to my cart and then go check out.

The bait is supposed to arrive tomorrow, but the rest is scheduled for Sunday. A little longer than I want to wait, but at least the battle can begin.

I go back to my writing project and the mouse appears again! This time it takes me getting out of my chair to send it on its way. 

I went searching for a glue trap, found one, and set it in the living room doorway. Less than two minutes later the mouse was stuck on it.

I couldn't help it. Another scream, and then I hollered for Steven to come to my rescue. 

It took him a little bit to get out of bed and dressed. While I waited on him I had to suppress the urge to scream every time I heard the mouse struggle on the trap. (One reason I am loathe to use glue traps)

He came and took care of it while I went to brew a pot of tea to soothe my poor throat from all the screaming it had endured and sent Rosie a long message detailing my morning. 

Her response "I can't believe you bought all that stuff and then just caught the thing. Kind of anti climatic. I wanted better opposition from the mouse.

Currently

Reading ... in the Bible I'm still in Isaiah. 

In other books, I read The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion by Beth Brower. It was a quick little read. If you like books by Jane Austen and L.M. Montgomery the chances that you will enjoy this book too are quite high.

I also read The Final Empire which is the first book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. If you read and enjoy J. R. R. Tolkien books or the Eragon series these should be right up your alley. Overall I was intrigued and entertained. I liked the main characters quite a lot. The world building wasn't too difficult to grasp and quite different from other books I have read.

I had book two here ready to start, but I have become one of those people I can't quite comprehend and decided to quit the series for now even though I did really enjoy book one. Maybe someday I'll pick it up, but if I don't I'm satisfied with the way the first book ended and don't mind having it be my entire Brandon Sanderson experience.

Branching out some more to include a cookbook I had borrowed from the library that I ended up really liking. Baking Across America: A Vintage Recipe Road Trip by B. Dylan Hollis. Over the years I have loved doing state studies in our homeschool. Finding and adding food to try to our studies was a highlight. One year we focused on doing burgers and milkshakes from each state. We never did get to try all of them because the school year ended before we got through all fifty states, and for some reason we didn't pick it back up the next year. 

This book has recipes and fun little facts and stories from every state. I would really like to bake my way through the entire book with Steven before he graduates. Who cares if it takes several years to get it done. I have placed it on the top of my book wishlist for now.

Writing ... a few letters, lots of texts, and some chats with an old childhood friend who sent me a friend request on Facebook. What a treat that has been catching up once again.

Watching ... it snow.

Listening ... to the wind, the hum of the furnace running in the basement, the scratch of a pencil as it moves across paper under Steven's direction.

Baking ... LV flipped through one of my cookbooks and found a brownie recipe he would like me to try. It looks and sounds great, but it takes some chopped chocolate and all I have is cocoa powder, so I'm putting chocolate on my grocery list and plan to make the brownies after my next grocery run.

Cooking ... tonight we'll be having lamb burgers, sweet potatoes, and a quick salad made with lettuce, radish, and grated cheese. 

We had been out of lamb for a while, but received our latest batch last week. It's nice having it as an option for our menus once again.

Feeling ... thankful for many different things, but with the weather getting cold I'm especially thankful to have heated seats and steering wheel in our vehicle. It may seem like only a little thing, but the thankfulness I feel every time I get to use it ... ahhh.

Disliking ... mice. They have become a nuisance in the basement and are so far cleverly avoiding all measures we have taken to have them evicted.

Loving ... the photos LV takes of the sunsets at his workplace. I'm glad he was able to capture these two last week before the rest of the leaves fell off the trees.

We get to enjoy sunrises here at home, but the big hill behind our house has blocked all views of sunsets. 

Playing ...  the top four most played games so far this week have been:

Probe. It used to be one of my Mom's favorites so it makes it extra special whenever we decide to pull it out to play. 
Pass the Pandas
Skipbo
Dutch Blitz

Cleaning ... other than keeping up with the daily dozen I haven't done any special or deep cleaning.

Currently

Reading ... In the Bible I'm in Isaiah. Somehow the first chapter always gives me a thrill whenever I read it. It holds a big part of our faith journey and the reason we are no longer Amish. I shared a condensed version of our "story" in a blog post that you can read here.

In other books I am currently reading Song of  Years by Beth Streeter Aldrich. It's an old somewhat brittle book. The pages have foxing, but the story is still delightful.

My maternal Grandpa was an avid reader and this was a book he enjoyed. My Mom got her love of books and reading from him. This book was a favorite of hers when she was a teenager.

I've read it once over 25 years ago. I remember having enjoyed it a lot, but somehow I never did a reread. My loyalties lay with the Anne of Green Gables series after all.

Last week I decided I finally want to do a reread. So far I'm about 25% of the way through. I remember only key points from it and have been having a lovely time reading it. It is fun visiting the world of the seven laughing Martin sisters once again, and even though I already know, I'm looking forward to rediscovering who Suzanne was the beloved wife of.

Writing ... I've been working on copying family favorite recipes onto cards. I declare my hand is out of practice writing with pen and paper. Sometimes I have to sit and stare in disbelief at the weird way some of the letters have been formed.

I don't want my handwriting to deteriorate further and have decided that even after I'm done with this project I want to commit to a certain amount of handwriting every day in hopes it will slow down the getting worse process.

Watching ... birds. Not sure if they're migrating, but there are flocks that come in to rest on the trees outside the kitchen window, before whirling off again. I've been trying to catch them in motion as they come in for landings or lift off, but so far have been unsuccessful. 

I did get a small group of them in one of trees.

Listening ... to the light snores from Steven. We got up early to get all his school work done before heading to our homeschool co-op this morning. We ran some errands afterwards, and he was looking forward to coming home and getting back to a book he had started reading last evening. Only ... the book has slipped out of his hands and he's having a good nap. The first he's had in years.

Baking ... I have plans to make French Silk Chocolate Cookies. I'm out of one of the key ingredients, but hope to get that tomorrow and then bake them in the afternoon. The recipe makes only eight large cookies. Perfect for our weekend!

Cooking ... I love trying new recipes and tucked a few into our menu for the week. One was for Baked Potatoes with a Creamy Crawdad Sauce. I've never bought crawdads before, but have noticed them in the seafood section quite often.

For some reason, I don't know why, I just assumed crawdads would be cheap. Maybe because they abound in our creek and we have been entertained watching Kingfishers dive into the water, catching a crawdad, and then sitting on the electric wire or a tree branch to eat them. They didn't make it look expensive at all. 

As I stood there in the seafood aisle eyeing the crawdads I was not prepared for the price attached. I had two options. For the first one the crawdads came from China. My second option came from Louisiana. There was a five dollar price difference between the two, but in the end I decided to go with the more expensive ones from Louisiana. I had wiggle room with my grocery budget this week so I tried to ignore the price as I added it to my cart.

On Wednesday was the day to try my hand at making the recipe.

Getting started I had to read the recipe several time to make sure I correctly read the amount of butter needed. It seemed a bit outrageous. I chose to trust the recipe and followed it closely. In the end I was so glad I did. It turned out fabulously decadent and delicious. 

It's certainly not something I'll be making often, but we all agreed it needs to be added to our Christmas Eve menu. Having it once a year will be a special treat.

Feeling ... satisfied. Steven and I finished up a big project yesterday. It turned out even better than anticipated and the sense of satisfaction both of us are feeling is a pleasant one.

Disliking ... how dry our area seems to be. We got a nice rain and I was thrilled to finally have our waterfall running again yesterday after having been completely dry for several months.

But it hasn't lasted long. It's already back to only a trickle and unless we get more rain tonight I fear even that will be done by tomorrow. I really miss having the waterfall running all the time.

Loving ... moments of unexpected wit and humor with Steven. Laughter is so much fun!

Playing ... this week the games we played were all shorter ones. We had pulled out a larger game, set it up, but then discovered we forgot it is a three player minimum game, and no one else had the time or inclination to help Steven and me play it, so we packed it back up for another day. Instead we played:

Squirrels: The Card Game

This one is a favorite. Fun, easy to learn, and it has beautiful squirrels. What's not to love? I will happily play it when ever the opportunity arises.

Fruit Punch 

Fruit Punch has been a favorite for years as evidenced by the well worn box. It too is an easy one to learn and lots of fun to play. The box says it's for two to six players and even though we do play with only two players we find it's more fun with at least three. 

This game also goes by the name Halli Galli in which the cards and game play are the same but there's a bell to hit instead of a squeaky banana. 

Magic Dwarf 

Magic Dwarf is a fun little cooperative game that we have yet to win. One of these days we will, but this was not the week that finally happened.

Pass the Pandas

Pass the Pandas is a go to when ever we have only a little bit of time, but still want to play something. It's a dice game. It includes twenty dice with bamboo, water drops, pandas, or blank sides. On your turn you roll your dice. Discard the water drops, place the bamboo into the center of the table to build a bamboo forest, pandas you pass to the player of your choice, blank remains yours.

The object of the game is to get rid of all your dice. Careful though, if you roll and didn't roll a bamboo you have to take the entire bamboo forest to your hand.

They say it's for two to four players. Most of the time it's only two of us playing in which we each start with ten dice. Personally I think having only five dice per person isn't enough, but we do still play like that and enjoy it. I think it would be fun to buy another copy of the game and combining them to have more dice and be able to accommodate more players. The box is big enough to hold several games worth of dice so that wouldn't be a problem.

Top Trumps 

Top Trumps is another go to when we don't necessarily have a lot of time to play. 

There are many, many different themes of Top Trumps games. We have a few different ones, but our favorite is The Wonders of the World.

Thirty cards. Thirty different wonders of the world each with five same stats. Height/Depth, Temperature, Flight Time from DC, Danger, and Wonder.

On your turn you choose a stat from the top card in your hand and read it out loud. The player with the lowest number for that stat looses his/her card. Other players tuck their card to the back of their pile, and play continues until only one person has cards in their hand and is declared the winner. 

I like that the cards also include some facts about the wonder making it somewhat educational.

And now for the last game we played. MapGoMap

MapGoMap is the most educational of the games we played this week. 

Years ago I vowed our children will know the location of all the states. This game helps learn that in a painless way. 

It's not our favorite, but we still enjoyed our time playing. For the same educational purpose I would choose to play Scrambled States of America, which is actually quite a lot more fun. But this was good for something quick with a dash of fun.

With Christmas just around the corner I would certainly recommend Pass the Pandas and Squirrels The Card Game if you're looking to add some fun games as gifts.

Cleaning ... we finished cleaning the basement and decided it's time to get rid of all the bicycles the children have outgrown.

We checked, but thrift shops aren't accepting at this time, so we're debating setting them out beside the road tomorrow with a free sign for up to a week. If no one wants them we'll have Steven dismantle them and dispose of them at the scrap place for the parts that qualify for that. Either way it's time for them to go bye-bye.

For now they're hanging out in front of the house.

Next up I need to clean the lazy susans in the kitchen. Usually I try to clean them once a month, but I missed September, today is already the last day of October, so it's definitely time to tackle them again.

Currently

Reading ... in the Bible I'm midway through Ecclesiastes, plus as usual tucking a few Psalms in there during my Bible reading time.

In other books, a dear friend recommended The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by  Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. So far every book she has recommended I have enjoyed, so I immediately requested it from the library.

And ahhh ... I had the best time reading it. 

As a reader I don't buy books unless I have read them first and loved them enough that I know I'll want to do a reread, or the characters have become so dear to me that I want to keep them in my life.

This book has made it onto that list of books I hope to someday add to our home library. (Thanks, Dana!)

Writing ... since my last Currently post I have written more texts than I'm willing to count. 15,000+ words in a book I have no intention of ever publishing, but it is a story that has become insistent on being written.

Watching ... the sun rise above the horizon, illuminating the clouds that are trying to hide it in the most interesting shades of colors.

Listening ...  to the wind as it passes through the trees and around the corners of the house. I find it interesting how the wind sounds so different in different seasons. It has lost the soft sounds of summer winds, and is approaching the sound of harsh winter winds, but it's not quite there yet. It does sound cold though.

Baking ... Sharon baked a lovely pumpkin shaped loaf of sour dough bread on Saturday. I baked a chicken pot pie.

We don't have desserts often, but I was asked to bake pie for an event so I baked apple, pecan, and pumpkin pie. There was some leftover, so we got to bring those home and enjoy them.

Cooking ... usually I like to create a menu plan on the weekend for the following week. I didn't get around to doing that this weekend for some reason, so here I am on a Monday morning with no idea what I'll be cooking tonight or the rest of the week. 

I'll have to get it figured out once I'm done here.

Feeling ... a mix of feelings. The most dominant one though is one of happiness. There's just so much to be happy about. 

Disliking ... insects making their way into the house. Asian beetles have become a big nuisance this past week or so. At least they're not scary, unlike the yellow jackets that have also decided our house would be a lovely place to check out.

Over the years my reactions to bee stings, yellow jackets, wasps etc. has become increasingly worse with every encounter. When ever one gets into the house it doesn't last very long. Last week one of the yellow jackets decided to chase me around the house while repeatedly flying right at my head. It was quite the battle before I finally ended the assault. 

I was in the house alone and the thought that this is how I'm going to die crossed my mind. Thankfully it wasn't, but I'm thinking instead of only flyswatters for my safety, an EpiPen should also be secured. 

Loving ... the fall season. It's not as pretty or colorful as most years, but there is still so much beauty.

Playing ... we've played a variety of games this past week, but Steven has been on a kick of wanting to play Dutch Blitz so that has been our most played game. 

Either he's getting much faster, or else I'm becoming slower, but it is a real challenge trying to win. After several rounds I'm almost dizzy trying to keep track of everything that's happening.

Cleaning ... this week Steven and I will be tackling the basement. We had wanted to for a while already, but he had broken a finger while playing basketball, so we pushed the cleaning of the basement off until it healed. 

On Friday he got to remove the splint so there's no longer anything keeping us from getting the basement cared for.

Currently

Reading ... in the Bible I'm a bit all over the place. I'm midway through Proverbs while also reading the gospels, and my favorite Psalms.

In other books insert long exhalation this could be a post on its own. 

The library we use is doing a reading challenge that includes mostly classics. I decided to participate since I was hoping to read a lot more classics this year, but it has been rough. My latest from that challenge Grapes of Wrath I had a miserable time reading it. I had several gripes and issues with it almost from the very beginning, but I thoroughly despised the ending so much that I rated it a generous one star. 

Finishing it I thought I really, really need something completely different. Something light and fluffy. A quick read of some kind. 

Someone had shared that one of her all time favorite book series is a YA taking place in Ireland, there was going to be rugby, and high-school. The main characters names are Johnny and Shannon. Armed with only that for information I thought I would give it a go.

The library had all the books in the series so on a whim I decided to take all of them. That way if I like the first one I can immediately continue. If not, no big deal. I can always return them unread.

When I tell you I was unprepared for this series, I mean, I was unprepared! 

It was like nothing else I have ever read.

I've heard tell that some books find you when you need them. Maybe that is the case. I'm fairly certain had I attempted reading them even several months ago I would probably not have made it past the first few chapters in book one, but for some reason even though there were cringe inducing things sprinkled quite liberally in those first handful of chapters there was also something that kept me reading. And so I did.

Book one ended on a huge cliff hanger and I was so glad I had the next book to immediately continue. I could have quit reading at the end of the second book since that was the end of Johnny and Shannon's POV, but book three was waiting and I saw it would be from Shannon's brother Joey's POV who I had really liked in the previous books. He was such a good brother to Shannon and the rest of the Lynch siblings that I had to continue the series.

My heart had already gone through the wringer in books one and two. But reading from Joey's POV took it to a whole other level. It was brutally painful to read, but also so good if that makes any sense. 

Maybe it was because we're only a few weeks from the anniversary of my brother Mahlon passing away, but reading about Joey's battle with addiction was utterly heartbreaking and healing at the same time. I truly think I needed to read these.

These books should not be YA, though. They're so, so heavy. Going in I had been completely unaware of the trigger warnings attached to them and there are plenty.

I have zero regrets that I read them. They were such a hard read, but somehow still so good. I can not stop thinking about these characters. It's been over a week since I read them and I've been unable to pick up any other books. I still wake up at night and they're the first thing I think about.

In the end, even though I'm glad I read these I would be very hesitant to recommend them to anyone, because of all the triggers.

Writing ... other than this blogpost, nothing. After that reading journey my well of creativity and inspiration has dried up. I know it will come back someday, but today is not that day and tomorrow isn't looking too good either.

Listening ... to the neighbor's rooster crowing loudly, the hum of the dehumidifier running in the basement, and the trilling of a bird I can't identify.

Baking ... I made a small batch of cookies yesterday, there are still five left, but I'm assuming those will disappear soon.

Cooking ... for dinner I'll be making a lentil stew and some herbed dinner rolls to enjoy with it. It's been cold lately which has made me crave this stew, so we shall have it tonight.

Feeling ... so very thankful for the life I get to live. I've been blessed beyond measure to have LV for my husband, to have the family we have, and to know our Saviour. It's not a perfect life, but it's a really, really good one. And I'm feeling overwhelmingly thankful for all of it.

Disliking ... drought. After all the rain and flooding at the beginning of the summer we are back to being dry. Timothy and Rosie Mae's well ran dry on Saturday. They're drilling today, but in the meantime they've been coming over to our house for showers, laundry, etc.  As much as I love having them here, I wish it would be for a happier reason.

Loving ... the bouquet of flowers in the living room. They're Rosie Mae's. She brought them along over so that she still gets to enjoy them while they wait on having water in their house.

Playing ... a variety of games. My favorite for right now is called Squirrels. 

Cleaning ... we were planning on deep cleaning the basement on Labor Day but then someone wanted to have an interview so LV went into work instead to conduct it. He was able to work all day, but the prospective hire was a no-show. Not the best first impression if you're hoping to get a job, I must say.