Let me start by saying I'm typing this with one hand because I have a gassy 6 week old who won't let me put him down. Not to mention he feels he has to nurse every hour because he won't take a pacifier to help the gas. Not quite sure why he's gassy, especially since I haven't eaten anything that could cause this. Actually, now that I think of it, I haven't hardly had time to eat for the past week, and when I have had time...oh wait...I haven't had time!
Let me explain:
It all started almost 2 weeks ago. One of my neighbors had been talking about how she had a "mouse situation". My first thought was- HOW? She has such a clean house! I now know that this was my downfall. You see, God heard that thought and instantly decided, "Wow- she needs to be humbled!" So, two Saturdays ago we were getting ready to leave for some soccer games and Maddie came to me saying that she saw something big and black run under the fridge. My first thought was- CRAP a mouse! I looked under it and under the washer & dryer (she said it came from there). I didn't see anything, so I started to think that it was probably just a feather. (The kids recently had the Halloween costumes out and there is a black boa that constantly sheds.) I told Kenny about what happened, he looked, and he said (AND I QUOTE):
IT'S NOTHING! WE DON'T HAVE A MOUSE- IT WAS PROBABLY A BUG.
Hesitantly I agreed that we didn't have a mouse and I continued with my normal life. Or at least for the next 4 days.
Thursday, October 8th was the day the world stopped turning for me!
It was early- 6:30am. I had just woke the girls up for school and had gone to use the restroom. There I was, yes, sitting on the toilet, (because we all know it wouldn't have been as ironic if I could have moved!) and it all happened like they say- in slow motion- I saw something dark moving toward me quite quickly. Here's the weird part: I couldn't tell what it was for the first split second because it was moving so weird. Once I caught sight of the tail I realized it was a mouse who was running at me and spinning at the same time! Yes, that's right, I said spinning. My first guess was that he had broke into my cooking wine, however now I believe that he was trying to do some sort of serpentine! Well, like you guessed- I screamed! I jumped into my shower (hindsight says I should have jumped into the tub- better protection.) I froze as it ran under some clothes and behind the garbage can. I couldn't see or hear it. I was terrified. Then I thought how funny it was that I, who worked at a pet store years ago, and once owned a hamster, was afraid of a tiny mouse. So... I took a deep breath...built up my courage...and... ran out of the bathroom, slammed the door shut, and shoved a nearby towel under the door! I then preceded to put Kenny's shoes up against the towel, because what if he was strong enough to move the towel?!? Next, Maddie asked me what was wrong and I simply said..."Your father is dead."
Well, that was the start of my insanity. I could blame it on having a newborn in the house, but no, I believe it was being attacked (ok- I know I use that word loosely) by a mouse.
The next step was driving the kids to school and then going straight to WalMart to clean them out of mouse traps, which I promptly did. I hurried home for fear of Satan (sorry, that's the mouse's nickname) escaping. I then called for reinforcements. I'm much braver when people are around. (I could wrestle a snake if there was a crowd:) Andrea came over and helped me set traps, (one which I very quickly shoved under the door and replaced the towel.) and search for mouse droppings. Can I say that searching for mouse droppings alone can drive a person to unspeakable acts?!? It was horrible! We didn't find alot, but we also didn't realize we would have to look EVERYWHERE! We thought since it was a mouse it would most likely be in the kitchen (check) in the laundry room (check) and obviously in my bedroom/bathroom (check) since that's where he was seen. I spent that whole day cleaning and sanitizing my bedroom/bathroom, laundry room, and the cupboards where we found the droppings in the kitchen. Oh- and, ya, the mouse in the bathroom escaped. Those suckers can fit through anything. It was a crazy day, and I was up till 11pm doing this-on top of everything else. Kenny came home...I spared his life because he had the next 2 days off and I was going to force him to help me find this mouse. We set about 10 traps.
The next morning we woke up to empty traps and droppings in 3 new cupboards and 3 drawers in the kitchen. I spent all day doing dishes, sanitizing, washing, and alot of throwing away! On top of all this cleaning I was having to wash clean laundry all over again! You see, I'm terrible at laundry and I get backed up to where I just put it in baskets on my bedroom floor. I feel I'm a clean person, but give me a break, I just had a baby- there's going to be laundry! So, I was having to do load after load after load of clean laundry, and fold it immediately because NOTHING could be on the floor! Friday had ended with half of my dishes on my kitchen counter, most of the laundry done, and no caught mouse.
Day 3- No mouse in traps. Found no droppings. Thought maybe it had left.
Day 4- same thing
Day 5- Monday, Kenny's gone at work so guess who's left at home to find more droppings by herself! Sure enough I found more droppings in my bottom cupboards as well as drawers in my kitchen. I spent all day washing and sanitizing my kitchen- rewashing stuff I just washed! I decided to empty all bottom cupboards and all drawers. Wash everything and put it all on the top of my counters until this mouse was found! I also deep cleaned my living room!
Day 6- Empty mouse traps- at this point I had put down about 20. I thought it was getting a little better...then I went into Cole's room that night to get his towel. I saw something on the floor in the middle of the room and I'm sure you can guess by now what it was!!! ARGH! Droppings- there, in his closet, and a few by his walls. I pulled everything out of his closet (that was on the floor) I cleaned up the mess, and left it for the next day. Kenny put traps in Cole's room.
Day 7- Empty traps. I started the day soooo tired, but with so much to do! I started by filling up our bathtub with water and bleach and dumping all of Cole's toys in. That took two separate rounds. I threw away stuff, I sanitized EVERYTHING, and I lost about 45% of my sanity. Note that I only had about 75% left at that point. I cleaned Cole's room so much you could smell Lysol and Bleach a mile away! It took all day. I then cleaned off the crib, put it in Cole's room, and filled it with Cole's toys because there was no way that I was letting any toys on the ground until that mouse was gone! I also did the hallway and the main bathroom this day! Then Kenny came home and found droppings in the office room.
Day 8- NO FREAKING MOUSE CAUGHT YET! Yesterday was the office room. I started cleaning it- it wasn't too bad, just a few by the walls. THEN: I went to clean off the big table we have in there with our old computer on it. I stopped before I even touched anything and froze! There is was- a dropping! ON MY TABLE!!! What the &*(^%^%%$%$&%^&*^&&*&(@! THEY AREN"T SUPPOSE TO BE UP ON ANYTHING!!!! I started to cry.
I looked for a white handkerchief. I tied it to a stick and began to wave it. I had lost it. Then the baby started crying. I woke up from my day dream and decided that I couldn't give up. I was not going to let this mouse win. (By now I started thinking that it might be whole cult of them! Like the Mafia!) I drove to Walmart- cleaned them of traps once more and headed home to spend the day cleaning and laying traps.
Day 9- Today- I woke up. No dead mouse. All 30 traps clean. Not even a nibble off any bait. Droppings a mere 2 inches from my traps. THIS MOUSE IS SCREWING WITH ME!!!!!
I give up. We will be moving. I may light my house on fire. I HAVE LOST IT!!!!!
Does anyone have a cat?
These pictures were pretty funny- Cole actually was the one to point out that Logan was "showing his muscles"!
Maddie took this picture- she's getting really good at it, almost tempts me to buy her a "real" camera:)
This one is interesting- Katie took the picture, and don't even ask me where I was at the time?!
