I’m always amazed at how quickly we seem to fly through the holidays. It all begins with the perfect Halloween costume. (Did you notice how many Elsa’s were running around out there this year? My daughter was one of them.) You search high and low for that one character that your kids are looking for and before you know it, you’re in a sugar coma from “taxing” your kids candy loot and having to consider what plans you might have for Thanksgiving.

I love Thanksgiving. It’s nice to have a holiday that’s sole purpose is pause and give thanks for all that you have.

But, before we even got the Halloween decorations down, Christmas decorations have been set up in stores all around us and my daughter is now super excited about seeing Santa.

Now, I understand that Christmas is really just around the corner (I’m told we only have seven Saturday’s left!), but really, where are the decorations for Thanksgiving? Where are the Thanksgiving activities to celebrate this awesome holiday?

So now the pressure is on to plan for both holidays. The toys are out en-masse in all the stores and I’m getting bombarded with Black Friday emails and catalogues. Just last weekend, my daughter and I went to a Christmas shopping event in our local area downtown, and while it was fun, I couldn’t help but be a little sad that it wasn’t themed for Thanksgiving. (I guess they wouldn’t have made as much money that way.)

So Christmas is coming. I should state here that I really do LOVE Christmas, even if it seems to be taking over the month of November. I get so excited to watch all my favorite Christmas movies and TV shows, listen to Christmas music, and setting up my decorations.

I’m looking forward to seeing my family and catching up with everyone. All that’s left is for the first snow to softly fall outside the window so I can curl up on the sofa with a blanket, a fire, and a great book.

In the spirit of the holidays, I thought it would be neat to list some holiday resources here – something to help put you in the mood for this special time of year and.

1) Thanksgiving Activities and Printables

2) Thanksgiving Party Ideas

3) Thanksgiving Menus

How do you celebrate the holidays? Do you have any great family traditions? Are you already stressed about ever tying going on?  Does your family do anything special for Thanksgiving?

My family and I just got back from visiting the happiest place on Earth, with a quick stop as well at Diagon Alley.  It was so wonderful to be able to walk into a world that was created from fellow writers.  It amazes me what in writing becomes popular and what doesn’t?

Who would have thought that a story about a talking mouse would turn into this world?  A world that I swear many that we ran into there, didn’t get the “happiest place memo.”  I mean seriously, how pushes a five-year old out of the way to get ahead in the line for the rides.  I digress.

Setting aside the image of me skipping down the road here (honestly though, I was skipping a little), I couldn’t quite believe that someone was able to pull this all from books.  Isn’t that awesome!  I wonder if either ever thought that their dreams would grow this way?

What are your dreams?  Have you been working towards them lately?

Between increasing housing costs, medical, and school loans; it’s no wonder that so many American’s are facing problems with debt. The subject of finances is nothing new and one that usually causes the most stress. (According to an article on eHow.com, marriages in America “at this time have a 50/50 success rate potential…one of two marriages potentially heading to divorce due to a money issue.” This is not good news.

Speaking of news, did you happen to see this article from CNN that talked about how 1 in 3 American’s are in debt collections? Now, I know the data collected might have all different kinds of contributing factors, but how often have you met with someone who had money problems? It’s not unheard of for me to start talking with someone and they end up mentioning something like their mounting student loans or overwhelming medical bills. It can almost make you feel that you don’t even stand a chance, which is pretty scary.

I know that companies are even now checking applicant’s credit before interviewing. Following this train of thought, you might be someone in debt trying desperately to work your way out, but you can’t even get an interview for a job because your credit isn’t great.
I know this is an unusual topic for me to blog about, but when I read the headline, something just grabbed me and I couldn’t stop myself. I really wanted not to go on any kind of rant about the state of the economy or anything like that, but I was thinking maybe I could encourage a collection of wonderful money saving ideas on this post, so if you have some ideas – PLEASE SHARE THEM BELOW.
So, here is a personal story of mine when it comes to money.  I have noticed that I never seem to have a financial emergency until after I spend a good amount of money on something else.  For example, we just recently got a new dining room table (it was needed our old one was falling apart), but the day after we made that purchase, my husband and I hear “scurrying” noises coming from above our head in our bedroom at night. (And yes, you could hear the theme music from Halloween here.) Sure enough, after calling our pest control company, it was discovered that we had mice in our attic. (Insert girly scream…three times….by me, not the hubby.)
You remember Indiana Jones and his fear of snakes?

Yeah, imagine that multiplied by a thousand or so. (This is what I think of when I hear mice.)

I know it’s silly, but I just can’t seem to control it. So when our unnamed pest control person quoted us a price tag of $1500 to seal up “multiple wholes” for the “infestation”  in our attic, not even to set traps, I was this close to discussing payment plans, just to get the process started before I lost my mind. Luckily for me, my very level-headed husband, who is not afraid of mice, was like, “Uh, no,” and we got a second opinion from a good friend who not only came over and put some traps in our attic for free, but helped us look around and find that we really only have one or two places that we might need to cover to fix this problem. (God Bless our awesome friends – we have the best.)

So, aside from flesh-eating, zombie-killing mice, all is right in our world again….for now.

Going with this theme, I recently read a book called, America’s Cheapest Family, that if you ever get the chance to read, I highly recommend it! This family survives on an income of less than $40,000 a year and they are very happy. They’ve got some really great suggestions in there that I believe everyone could benefit from.

So, what about you? Have you had any mice emergencies lately? What are some great money-saving tips that you would suggest for those out there trying to save?