When the cats away, the mouse will play.

I've had a very eventful weekend so far, last night topping it all. Daniel has been out of town on business since Friday morning and while I don't mind his trips, it gets awfully lonely without another adult here and it wears me out taking care of the house, the girls, and the dogs all by myself.

We've encountered a little mouse problem here at the house. Now one would think that between the girls and three giant dogs that we have, mice would know not to enter this home. Apparently our mice aren't scared though and they know that I am. Typically I don't have issues with the little rodents, as long as they aren't on my turf, but now that I am aware of their presence, I spend a lot of time with my feet elevated and picturing them climbing all over me. It really is quite humorous and I find it appalling how rude these little buggers are. You see, they only come out after everyone else has gone to bed. I think Daniel was beginning to think I was losing my mind. That was until after a night of witnessing three of them, I put my foot down and called the land lord.

Traps were set and the hunt was on. I trapped my first one earlier this week. I guess the little guy couldn't turn down a good piece of popcorn. Daniel was home and properly disposed of his body before I awoke the next morning. I'll set the trap but I would prefer to not see anything else. Daniel left for New York Friday morning and not before he re-set all of the traps. They remained empty until last night, when all hell broke loose.

The girls were in bed, the dogs were out here in the living room laying peacefully as I watched a good Hallmark movie and then it happened. The dogs heard a noise. Bandit and Toby didn't care, they remained firmly planted on the plush carpeting. Lennon though, began his mouse hunt. Now I hadn't seen the mouse, I just heard a few noises so when Lennon began taking his hunt to the front door and then out to the kitchen, and then back to the living room where he laid back down, I assumed it had been a false alarm. Turns out, it wasn't a false alarm. After I secured the dogs back into their "dog room", I heard the noise again. The noise was coming from behind the bookshelf and it kept getting louder and closer together. I knew then I was in deep trouble.

I worked up the courage to check the trap which had been behind the bookshelf and I didn't see a thing. We have very dark carpeting and the light wasn't the greatest so I went back to the couch. The noises continued so I put my big girl britches on and grabbed a flashlight and it was then that I discovered we had a mouse...a mouse that was still very much alive.

I returned to the couch to contemplate my next move. I decided then that I would allow nature to take its course and I would have Daniel remove it tomorrow when he returned home. I was secure with my decision until I made the mistake of calling Daniel to report another capture.

I believe the conversation went something like this...keep in mind that he was aware of Lennon mouse hunting earlier because we had been chatting on Facebook.

Me: Lennon did smell a mouse, its caught in the trap behind the bookshelf and it's still alive.

Daniel: Well get rid of it then.

Me: Nah, I think I will just let it die and then work up the courage to get rid of it in the morning.

Daniel: You can't wait until the morning, it will start to stink up the whole house.

Me: Quietly wishing my Dad lived near by, was rendered speechless.

That quickly ended our phone conversation because I knew the outcome wouldn't get any easier on my part.

After saying goodnight and I love you, I proceeded to gather my thoughts once more and mentally prepare my mode of attack.

I gathered the girls Disney princess fishing pole, a box that once held my ostomy supplies, and on tip toes as if being on tip toes would allow me to run faster after its complete capture, I moved in for the kill. Just one problem though, the mouse and trap were GONE. I had sat and planned to long.

It had scurried off, trap still attached, and had wedged itself under the girls hot pink mini recliner that Santa brought them last year. If I wasn't panicked before, I sure was now. I stood there dumbfounded for a minute or two and then began re-evaluating my current situation. I gathered more supplies and by more supplies I mean the broom and a legal sized pad of paper and tried the capture thing again.

I gently moved the recliner to the side and then it happened, the mouse with trap attached moved. I jumped repeatedly, may or may not have squealed like a little girl a few times and then mustered up the courage to turn the recliner upside down to throw the box on the mouse with the trap. One itty bitty problem though, after turning the recliner upside down the mouse disappeared. You know the saying "quiet as a mouse?" Yeah, well, they aren't so quiet when they are trying to get out of the trap, but when they are trying to run from a frantic stay at home mom, they are dead silent.

Even after I took the broom and went from the recliner, the ottoman, and both ends of the couch banging along in hopes that it would make a sound, I courageously got on all fours, mind you my butt was high in the air because with these ostomy's I can't lay on my stomach, I located it under one end of the couch.

I knew there was no way I could lift the couch and with not being able to lay on my belly, there was no way that I could flush it out with the broom handle without doing it blindly. I pictured myself laying there and the mouse with trap, running full force into my face. Not going to happen! You may as well have dug a hole and buried me alive, because had that have happened, I would have died right then and there and you would have had to drag my lifeless body away.

Mind you, I was posting each of these earth shattering moments on Facebook after they were occurring. Thank God for good friends, because one of them came to my rescue. Chelsea, Daniel's best friend Mike's girlfriend, drove over and I helped stood and watched while she captured the mouse and properly disposed of it. I'll leave out all of the details that took place after the initial capture, but lets say I did a lot of praying for mercy on our souls. God doesn't like accomplices to murder anymore than he does the actual murderers.

Chelsea after the capture!

 I am well aware that between her, my husband, and her boyfriend Mike, I will never be allowed to live down this moment in my life. All I know is that its good that the girls and dogs were in bed because it would have been a three ring circus if they would have all been up and helping.

On another note, any mouse hunting and trapping, will be put on temporary hold while Daniel is away on business trips in the future. Lets just hope that after two deaths in their family, these mice pack their bags and leave after realizing we aren't messing around!

Well, after realizing Daniel and Chelsea aren't messing around anyway.