STORYTIME: Twas the night before Christmas...

On Tuesday morning, the girls had a dentist appointment at 8a.m. Of course, that was the morning that we woke up to black ice on the roads so I was very nervous about driving all the kids across town. K was very kind and backed the car out of the garage and put it in 4 wheel drive for me. As I came out the door, I was carrying H, coats for everyone, my diaper bag and my purse and I was leaving a little later than I had planned on leaving so that was adding to my stress. Right where my car used to me under the drivers door was a dead mouse. I almost stepped on it. I started screaming and frantically told K to take care of it. Later that morning, A ran out to the garage to get her coat out of the car. She came back in and calmly announced. Did you know there's another mouse in the garage? I just saw it run under the car. So now I am being held hostage in my house by a little 4 inch creature.

Last night, K was insistant that I needed to find him a piece of equipment that he needed for work today. I told him it was in the garage and that he would have to use something else for work because I couldn't get it for him. That was not the answer that he wanted, so I faced my fears, very bravely!!!

I put on Z's coat, because he is very brave and has had to go out to the garage for the last couple of days everytime I need something and he has never seen the mouse so it must be scared of him. I had A stand at the door and make cat noises because mice are scared of cats for obvious reasons. I had to go to the back of the garage to look. I was very careful to look everwhere and touch things cautiously. I also tried to make lots of noise. (Seriously, I wasn't sure we still had a mouse in the garage because A had reacted so calmly when she said that she had seen it earlier so mostly I was just playing with my kids.)

Suddenly, there he was! Looking me right in the eyes. He was on the same shelf I was looking in. (I made a little visual aid for you so you could get the full effect of my trauma) I started screaming and jumped on the back of the car. (It was 10:30 at night so I'm sure my neighbors love me!) I yelled for A to close the door so he wouldn't run in the house. So she did. Crap! Now I'm stuck in the garage, standing on the back of the car, all alone, screaming, with the mouse between me and the door. I can hear the kids in the house screaming also. K, being so thoughtful, decides to save energy and turned the light off in the garage. (He's very thoughtful like that!) Now I'm really screaming. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was really scared. I told him to PLEEEEEEASE come and rescue me. I was in serious distress. He did, sort of. He opened the garage door for me and then unlocked the front door so that I could come in the house that way. (Again, he's very thoughtful like that!)

But wait, that's the shelf with all the bread on it. HE'S EATING MY BREAD!!!!! So, K went out to investigate. Sure enough. He's been eating well the last few days! I discovered, though, that mice, when given a choice, are very picky eaters! I had a loaf of healthly whole wheat bread, a loaf of expensive white bread (not the wonderbread kind though, the healthly white bread.), a package of cheap hot dog buns, a package of Sourdough Hoagie buns and a bag of very soft yummy bagels. Guess which ones were eaten on and which one's remained totally untouched. He/She ate the EXPENSIVE white bread and the YUMMY bagels! The HEALTHLY whole wheat bread, the CHEAP hot dog buns and the SOURDOUGH buns were completely untouched and they were all on the shelf together, side by side! Can you believe it? I am so mad!!!!

This morning S asked me, "Are you as scared of spiders as you are of mice?" Good question. No! I'm not. But don't ask me why. I don't like spiders and I scream when I see them also, but I seriously was hoarse last night and this morning from screaming so hard and I really thought that I might have a heart attack when K turned the light off in the garage and I was stuck out there alone with that mouse!

So, now I am stuck in my house again. I can't go anywhere because my car is in the garage and so is the mouse and K is not here to back it out for me. I need some traps, but I can't go get any because I need my car, which is in the garage, with the mouse. I think A may have a sick day from Kindergarten today because I can't get her to the bus stop because my car is in the garage with the mouse.

Do you have any mouse traps that I could borrow? I'm being held hostage.

I guess since I'm having a stay-at-home day, I'll go work on getting that marker off my bench. It's all good around here!


P.S. I just called my neighbor and she is coming to get A to take her to the bus. Am I over-reacting? Maybe just a little bit....