Thursday, December 13, 2007

Flu, mice and other such happenings

Kamryn stayed home from school yesterday. That makes two sick days this week and a total of 7 days of kindergarten missed from the first day. I hate that she has missed so much school. And, Kamryn was nice enough to share her flu bug with me. Last night, right when Jeff came home, I started to feel sick. This morning after sleeping in till 9 and after emptying everything that I had in me, I am feeling a lot better. As much as I hated throwing up, it sure did make the stomach cramps go away. Now it is Jeff and London's turn to get it!

When I woke up this morning, I found Jeff in the kitchen with a broom. At first glance, I thought Jeff was cleaning, but then he informed me he had cornered a mouse. Before I go on, a little history of where we are living is due...

When we first moved here, we rented a small little house temporarily so that we could make sure we liked his job and the area before we bought something permanent. Jeff's boss and our Stake President at the time came to us and asked us if we could house sit for 2 years while he and his wife served a mission. Jeff and I jumped at that opportunity because it is a BEAUTIFUL home with acreage and it would give us the opportunity to pay off London's hospital bills from when she was a preemie. We moved in this past September while the Leavitt's lived downstairs until they left on their mission (in November). Jane Leavitt kept asking me if I had seen any mice. I had never seen a mouse or any droppings, but I guess she was just preparing me for what was in store. A few days after the had left was my first experience with a mouse...

I entered the kitchen before going to bed when I saw a mouse ran past the sink under our microwave. I watched for several minutes and then decided I would move the microwave. For some reason I didn't think the mouse was there still, I thought it had escaped. I moved the microwave some more and then the mouse jumped out right onto my chest. I screamed as it feel to the ground on my foot and then scattered away. Ewww. After that, I've been noticing droppings everywhere. I am not allowing these mice to ruin the Leavitt's house while I am here. The next experience I had was when I was cleaning the living room, completely separate from the kitchen, and I lifted up a blanket that had been on the ground for maybe a 1/2 day and under the blanket was a mouse...I screamed again. I am not scared of mice, they just startle me.

After making our gingerbread house on Monday, we've noticed that the mice have been eating off of it. So, we made a little trap to corner the mouse (with glue traps and everything). Usually, I am so anti kill anything like spiders or flies etc.,. But, mice ruin houses and I can't let that happen. As I walked out and saw Jeff with a broom and books blocking all exits and Tinkerbell (the Leavitt's cat) on the counter, I knew the mouse had no where to go. Jeff moved the microwave where it was hiding and the mouse ran for the hole behind the oven, but Tinkerbell caught it. The really gross thing about this story is that Tinkerbell ate the mouse before we could put her outside. Luckily, the girls were in a different room at the time. One mouse down...

4 comments:

The Chambers Family said...

I hate mice too! We fought one forever, it wouldn't touch a trap and we tried all kinds. We finally killed it with poison and our mice problem was gone. That one mouse was very stubborn, but I am so glad it is over:)

James and Lauren said...

That is sick! i am so sorry! But at least you have a cat in the house to take care of it. GROSS! I am so sorry that it jumped on you... EWWWW

Anonymous said...

Ewww, mice!! I'm still laughing at your first mouse story..but go Tinkerbell...as much as you don't like her, maybe you should keep her in more often!! :) LOL!

Lorraine said...

Ok, so I know this is an old post but I thought it would be fun to read your story from the beginning. So, speaking of mice... every once in a while lately I have smelled the dead mouse smell by our stove in the kitchen. It finally drove me crazy and I pulled out the stove to clean and inspect. Well, when Tommy built our new kitchen for some reason he didn't put a cover on the outlet for the stove. Apparently a mouse had gotten a little too close to the wires and was electricuted to death. EEEWWW!! So YES, mice I NASTY!! I completely understand. :)