When the Cat's Away...

  So, we don't get to be home all that often these days, and when we do it's usually a whirlwind of a few days where we are unpacking, laundry, and repacking. Well, last week we got to be home for a whole week. It was so nice and we took some time to relax and unwind.

    On one particular night we were relaxing on the couch watching a TV show, just enjoying the evening. My little boy had fallen asleep on me, and my little girl was snuggled between me and hubby. It was just so nice and peaceful... until something in the kitchen caught my eye. All the lights in there were off and it looked like something was quickly hopping towards the pantry.

   Fun Fact for ya: I'm terrified of frogs. And with the hopping, I thought it was a frog. So, in a mild panic I whacked my husband in the arm and pointed in the kitchen. Because if I spoke the thing would hear me and it would disappear in my house and torment me for the rest of the time we lived there. What it really boiled down to was, we would have to move if the thing disappeared. So, my brave hero went into the kitchen and started searching. He looked behind the pantry, the counter, and every nook and cranny anywhere near where I saw the creature. NOTHING! It was gone, nowhere to be found. So he came back to the couch and said "just don't worry about it". Right. Cause that was going to happen.

   So we go back to watching the show. Five minutes or so went by and then I saw it. It wasn't a frog. It was just as bad though. The biggest, nastiest, scariest, most devious looking thing I've ever seen. If you are easily scared, don't look at the following picture.

 

Don't judge me. It was in my house. Crawling around my kid's toys. Not cool, mouse. 

   The problem was that every time we would make a move, the mouse would scurry back in the kitchen and disappear again. So, my hubby wanted me to forget the mouse and we could get traps in the morning. My idea of forgetting the mouse was taking my kids in our room for the night and locking the door, because that keeps mice out, and not sleeping a wink until the next day. Knowing me all too well, hubby decided it was huntin time. He loves to hunt. So the opportunity to hunt in his own house was perfect for him. He went off in the other room, then into the kitchen cupboards, then came back with a box that had peanut butter and cheese cubes inside. He put it down against the wall between the living room and the kitchen so the mouse couldn't get back in the kitchen without having to go all the way around the outside of the box. And what little mouse would be able to just walk by all that yummy goodness, right?? 

   It wasn't even two minutes and the mouse was checking out the box. But again, the box was facing the couch so it could see when we would make a move and it would run off. So hubby went around to the other kitchen door and hid in the kitchen behind the box, out of sight. A minute later, the mousey came back to the irresistible box of goodies. At that moment, hubby tipped up the box, closed the lid, and TRAP!! Bye bye, mouse. 

   Our little girl was very curious at this point about what her crazy parents were doing, so my hubby was going to show her the mouse. You could hear it jumping and clawing at the sides. Not wanting to scare our daughter, or let the mouse escape, he shook the box a little to daze the mouse so he could show off the catch. My little girl looked inside and giggled with her daddy at what he caught and then she came back inside to sit with me while daddy disposed of the intruder. 

   While sitting on the couch and waiting, my little girl looks at me and goes "Where him's mom?".  I said "I don't know, I hope she's all gone forever".  She replied with "Awwww, poor little guy mouse. Him's all alone". Really, now we feel sorry for the mouse?? Then when hubby came back she discussed it all again with him and told him that she liked the mouse, and her brother liked the mouse, and daddy liked the mouse, but mommy thinks it's yucky and she doesn't like the mouse. That's right, kid. Mommy doesn't like the mouse. I'm not sure where the sympathy she has comes from, though. 

Several people have asked me already what I'm going to do in Brazil, because I will most likely see mice.... and frogs for that matter, much more often. My answer. Just because they will be around, doesn't mean I have to like them. And now I know how to catch them with a redneck mouse trap. Next to learn in the Brazil department, how to grill a mouse??