There’s a Mouse in my House

I hate mice!! I just can’t stand finding mouse poop in places that I want to be mouse free. But those nice little sign posts they leave for us seem to show up in the worst places. At first I only saw one mouse run along the wall past the front door shortly after midnight each night, but now they sometimes run by a couple times a day.

One night I had to get up to go to the bathroom. I went to the one in the hall so I wouldn’t wake up Jasmine. As I was getting ready to leave, a mouse ran right past my bare foot and under the cabinet. Scare me silly! I don’t think I screamed out loud because the girls didn’t wake up but I most definitely did in my head. Talk about freaking out a half asleep, blurred eyed woman. That certainly woke me up.

I have a mattress on the floor next to my bed for Jasmine or Lily, you know just in case they decide to sleep by themselves :-O. I was lying on my bed one afternoon trying to get Jasmine down for a nap when I noticed mouse poop on the comforter on their mattress. Does that mean they are crawling into my bed at night too?? I haven’t seen any actual evidence that they’ve been in my bed but I have to admit it makes it a lot harder to fall asleep with that on your mind. Like I need the added stress!!

Disappointing fact – our Chihuahua is a very poor mouser. Should have gotten a terrier.

We’ve already caught 6 mice and I know there are more because they are bold little suckers. We caught a couple with the regular Victor snap traps. I guess the mice got wiser and more careful because we stopped catching them. So we tried the new design of Victor trap and caught a couple more, but then those traps became ineffective. We tried using one of those “catch’em live and release ‘em outside”, “humane” traps. The “humane” trap worked at my brother’s house, but not mine. Didn’t catch a single mouse with it. Most recently we tried the glue trays – it’s like flypaper for mice. We got two more with the glue trays. I think we’ll switch back to the snap traps because as much as I hate mice I prefer them to have a quick death rather than suffer a slow demise in a quagmire of sticky goo.

I thought of using baited poison but with the toddler and the puppy that’s not an option. Besides my Granny and Pop tried the poison at their old place once. It worked but the critter died in some inaccessible place in the walls and stunk the place up with decomposition odor for a couple weeks. Not something I want to experience. Isn’t it great that we can learn from other’s mistakes?

Anybody got any suggestions for eradicating the mice?

My quest for child support.

I’ve been trying to get Jasmine’s father to pay child support. He’s never paid any. He said he wants to do it the right way, which means the way that’s going to cover his rear. He won’t even start paying just a little bit to help buy diapers because he wants it to go through the courts so that I can’t come back later and say that he hasn’t paid. Something I’d never do. On the one hand I can understand his position and on the other I know it’s the child that is negatively impacted by his selfishness.

He’s planning on taking out a loan so that he can get an attorney. I think Child Support Recovery may be the better route to go so I asked him to at least look over the paperwork. He agreed to look it over.

He came to my house last week. The first time in 6 months he’s bothered to come see his daughter. Things went well. At least I thought they did. He called me 2 days later and said that he was going to go ahead and get himself an attorney, but for me to do what I needed to do. I have no idea how long that will take and I need some child support now. So, I’ve decided to go through with Child Support Recovery to cover my rear and make sure I get timely support payments.

I have been receiving monthly child support from Lily’s father every month, but several times it has been late. I count on that money to be in her account on time. I have to do some major scrambling and juggling to put food on the table when it isn’t. It is not fun having to call the ex up to find out where child support money is, especially when it is obviously not a big deal to him. So instead of playing that game, with the advice of my friends, I’m going to file for Child Support Recovery on him too.

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to fill out the paperwork required but it is a royal pain. Not to mention all of the documents you have to provide. I certainly hope it is worth all of the time and effort.

I have a rant!

As you may have read in my previous posts I have 2 little girls, no husband, and no job. That means I’m a struggling stay at home mom who tries to make it off of the child support I receive. It isn’t much. In fact, it doesn’t even come close to being enough to raise a healthy, well-fed, suitably clothed child. Lily’s father, who owns a thriving pest control business in California, got away with paying next to nothing (a couple hundred a month). That was okay when she was a breast fed infant but now that she’s a fast growing, high energy five year old, it’s not nearly enough to cover her expenses. Jasmine’s father has never paid anything. Both fathers have moved on with their lives and gotten live-in girlfriends, etc. And that’s fine with me. I have no problem with that. But please have some concern and regard for the offspring you so callously left behind!

I was talking to a friend from church yesterday. She is also a single mother of 2 girls, not married, and works from home on a contract basis. We were discussing the unfairness of a society that allows men to marry, father children and then move on without adequately providing for those they leave behind. Why is it ok for the men who were the breadwinners to move on and live in expensive houses, drive expensive cars, buy expensive toys, and indulge in expensive hobbies while their children do without? Why are these men able to just turn their backs on these beautiful children that they so willingly and eagerly helped to create?

Fire in the Forest

We had a bit of excitement around here on Friday. I was returning home from picking up Lily, my 5 year old, from school when I saw 2 big, red fire trucks in the yard of the house across the street from our home. My heart sank and my anxiety level skyrocketed! I said a little prayer, thanking God that they weren’t at my house. Since everything else looked normal, we went on into the house. I didn’t want to be a “nosy neighbor”, but my curiosity got the best of me and I decided it was time to take Angel, our Chihuahua puppy, out for a little walk. As I walked her around the yard I was trying to scope out what had happened. It didn’t look as if anything was happening at or to the house, plus there was not an ambulance there so I released thoughts of injury and illness from my racing mind. As I stood in the front yard waiting on the dog to do what I thought it needed to do, I looked out towards the trees behind my neighbor’s house and it hit me. DUH!! There's a fire in the forest! I saw the smoke. I saw the flames!

By this time the Forestry guys were showing up with bulldozers to cut a firebreak. I breathed a sign of relief and thought, “Good! They’ll take care of everything and I don’t have to worry about the whole neighborhood burning up.” Thank God for firefighters.

I took a few pictures, but you can't tell too much. My Dad said it looked like berries on the trees. Here have a look for yourself.




















































Here's a picture from the local paper. It's a close up...

My Silly Girl!!

Well, Papa is instilling in my daughter that "it's all about the money, boys!!" And he's mainly doing this because when my brother and I were growing up, we always heard about how important college and a good education was, but now that my Dad is retired and we've spent most of his money trying to buy a farm, invest in real estate, and get in the restaurant business, he's come to the realization that having a Master's Degree hanging on your wall, as he does, will not necessarily get you very far in life financially.

So he's holding out hope for a miracle and keeps trying his luck at the lottery;trying to absolutely convince himself that he is the winner(that's what the Secret says to do). I give him kudos because he's quite the cynic and not generally much of an optimist, but he's trying very hard to be a "half full" kind of guy.

So anyway, my daughter had decided that she's going to go ahead and make her wish list for Papa now, before he's actually won "his million dollars." So at least once a day I hear "when Papa wins his million dollars can I have____?" And of course I always say sure. Well today she says, "maybe when Papa wins his million dollars he can give us a credit card." And finishes off with "and we can tear down this house and build a rich house because when Papa gets his million dollars my room won't be big enough for all of my stuff." Jeez!! Where did she come from?? She cracks me up.

Fast Forward

Well, we found that farming wasn't putting food on the table, so, my Dad suggested I get into real estate investing. So, I attended a 90 minute seminar in Chattanooga. That just wet my appetite for more knowledge regarding real estate. I ended up going to Ron LeGrand's Ugly House and Pretty House Boot Camps and thus began my real estate investing career.

Here it is more than 2 and a half years later. I never had any of those killer deals all the gurus touted. Sure we made a little bit of money but not what we had anticipated. Especially for the money that we put into it. So I am once again faced with finding the "golden egg".

I've reached the point of considering get getting a J-O-B, but I still have a hard time with the thought of someone else raising my girls. Not to mention the fact that a job might produce some income but for a single parent that doesn't really equate to much money because after childcare, clothing, transportation;how much will really be left over? If anybody has any suggestions I'm definitely open to them.

I have started an eBay business. I even have a store. www.TippetoeTreasures.com. But from most of the research I've done on eBay it takes a while to make a profit. But I guess you have to start somewhere.

Here's a cute picture of my girls...