Things that make me go, "EEK!" UPDATE!!!

VICTORY!!!!

I just went down and the MOUSE IN TRAP setting was up on one of the traps!

I cautiously placed it in a target bag and tied it tightly, just in case.

WHEW.

Good timing because Hubs comes home tonight and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" just showed up in our mailbox. Mouse-free date night is on!

Things that make me go, "EEK!"

Once again, I really don't mind having a husband who travels, but on nights like last night, I could have used an at-home Hubs.

I was sitting in the basement watching a HORRIBLE movie, doing some work on the computer and had just clicked over to write a blog post about my favorite things when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. You know when you think you see a bug crawling, but it's not a bug because it's way too big? Yeah, one of those.

All the lights were off, because I was in movie theater mode, and I was looking at the computer screen, so I brushed it off as something in the movie playing tricks with my eyes.

Then I saw it again, going back the other way. So I put the laptop down, criss-cross-applesauced my legs and stared.

No denying what it was when it ran from the Bose speaker to a pillow on the floor.

A MOUSE!!!!!!!

I sat, wide-eyed and staring at the pillow. I glanced at Zoe who was perched next to me on the couch, also staring at the pillow.

Crap, that means it's NOT the valium I'm taking playing tricks on me. She saw it, too.

Three seconds later, it scurried back from the pillow to the speaker.

Zoe and I exchanged glances and I said, "Go get it!"

She hopped of the couch and started sniffing and wining at the spot, then paced around the entertainment center. I, heroically hopped onto the footrest/storage trunks and stared, trying to figure out what the heck to do now. I told Zoe to stay and bolted upstairs, grabbing the biggest, heaviest, easiest to bleach clean bowl I could find. I ran back down to find Zoe in the same position. I figure if she's born to hunt, Mickey hasn't gotten past her.

Oh, and I'd like to take a moment to say that I LOVE animals, and I would never kill something, just because, but the moment I saw Mickey scurrying around my nice clean basement, all I could think of was, "DIE MOUSE DIE!!!" Ick, what has it touched or crawled on?! Was he alone? Does he have a mouse family?! The basement just flooded and we didn't see a mouse home when we were re-doing it. OH GRAVY! What if they're in the CEILING! AHHHHH!! Mice dropping all overhead! They're going to be crawling up my pajama legs. They're everywhere!!!

Ok. Deep breath. I stand on the trunk with bowl in hand weighing the situation. I could try to scare it out and try to get Zoe to catch it. But then what if she bites it in half? And eats it? Then I'm going to have mouse blood and guts to clean up, and I will HAVE to clean out Zoe's mouth. Can dogs gargle Listerine? And then I'll probably vomit, so I'd have to clean that up, too. And if SHE scares it out and I can slam the bowl down and trap it, then what in the hay bales am I going to do with it? Try to slip some cardboard under the bowl, take it outside to release it into the wild and risk having it crawl up my arm and bite me? Leave the bowl over it with something to weigh it down? Then just leave it there to die? Three problems with that; 1. that's horrible 2. I'm sure it would be going nuts and we'd end up with a bowl sized hole in the carpet while it tried to escape and 3. that's the kids playroom, so what am I going to do? Say, "Just leave that bowl and phonebook in the middle of the floor. DON'T touch it! Mommy's waiting on a mouse to die."

We don't have any mouse traps (real ones) in the house. I could RUN across the street to the Wal-mart-ish store and hope no one wakes up. I can't call the neighbors because it's almost midnight and this isn't a life or death situation. Hmmm.

After 20 minutes of standing and staring, I finally decide what to do. Leave the light on, hoping this makes the mouse stay in the dark corner of the entertainment center, RUN upstairs and barricade the basement door with a big, yellow beach towel and my laptop bag.

I thought about taping the covers around the kids and myself, but thought that might be overkill.

I then texted Hubs to say, "THERE'S A FREAKING MOUSE IN THE BASEMENT." He calmly replied that he thought he heard something in the ceiling the other week (AHHHH! I was right! They're everywhere and will be dropping on my face while I sleep!!!!). Ugh.

After a not-s0-g00d-night's sleep, I tossed the kids in the car and headed across the street to shop for mouse traps. I tried to call before going to see if they had them, and Customer Service said, "Hang on and I'll transfer you to health and beauty." Umm. Really? Mousetraps are located by mascara?! Ick!

I treated myself to a mocha, because if you're shopping for mouse traps before breakfast, you deserve a little something happy.

I went in thinking I'd have to get something like this:

And the thought of having to dispose of it and keep the kids and dog away from it was skeeving me out, big time. I also wondered how many times I'd snap my own finger in the stinkin' things before I actually got them loaded and set.

We did NOT head to the Health and Beauty section, but instead wandered over to where bug spray was, and there they were. Good, old, wooden mouse traps. But, to the left were bait and wait traps. Of course, they had poison and the dog/kid factor worried me.

There were also these

But then I'd have a mouse on glue paper, and again, there's the kids and dog factor.

Then I saw perfection:

No view, no touch, ignorance is bliss mouse traps. Slap a little peanut butter in there, set it and forget it! There's even a little spot on the top that says, "Set" or "Mouse in Trap," and if it gets tripped with no mouse, it has a "Not Set" button that flips up. I resisted the urge to purchase everyone they had and just got a 2 pack. Well see what happens, however, knowing my luck, I'll have some super smart mouse who flips the trap over, peels back the tape, eats the peanut butter and leaves, smearing mouse-feet peanut butter prints all over the carpet.

And then we'll have ants.

Things that make me go, "Yay!" Back-to-school edition

School is starting back soon, SOON, and to keep my mind off of the fact that my baby will be riding the school bus, I'm embracing the back-to-school things that make me say, "Yay!" And now I'm sharing them with you, because, let's face it, Hubs just doesn't get that excited over this kinda stuff.

#1 Lunch Boxes

******************OHMYBATHTUBS. We interrupt this blog post because, as I just texted Hubs, THERE'S A FREAKING MOUSE IN THE BASEMENT. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH*******

I don't mind having a husband who travels

I do mind having a husband who travels places I love!

When we lived in Florida, travel was a mix of random farms (no thank you) and beautiful beaches (yes please!). I never had a desire to travel then because I either had a small child, had a small child and was pregnant or had 2 small children. So the idea of spending a weekend at the Ritz was not appealing after adding in the packing up of pack-n-plays, diapers, wipes, swim diapers, clothes, lovies, pillows, food, snacks, cups.... you get the idea.

Now, Nugget and Strip are pretty golden. 3+ and 5+ are pretty easy travel ages. They eat what we eat, sleep where we sleep and pee where we pee. But, since Hubs got the traveling job in January, there was nowhere I really wanted to go or could go with work and kids in preschool.

That changed last week when he scooted to Chicago for a couple of days.

Don't tell NYC, but I LOVE Chicago. Love it. I figured I'd enjoy it when Hubs took me there to see Wicked, and even though it was bone chillingly cold, we had a good time. Back with the girls? We had a great time. Back with another couple friend for our anniversary? I want to MOVE there (the above picture was taken on that trip. It makes me giggle every time I look at it)!

When I mentioned to Hubs that the kids and I could "totally go with you," he replied that it was going to be a quick trip and not really worth it for us to go up there." The next morning, when he called, he confirmed that it was "really pretty boring."

Me: Oh yeah? What did you do?

Hubs: We literally checked into the hotel, went to dinner with the ad guys and went back to the hotel.

Me: I love the ad guys! We had a great dinner when they were here.

Hubs: yeah, and now I'm just going to meetings all day, then I'll be home tonight. You wouldn't have fun.

Me: HellO?! I wouldn't go to meetings with you! I'd sleep at the hotel, but the kids and I would head to the Pier, go to the American Girl Store, shop, play!

Hubs: I gotta go.

So once again, Hubs headed out to Chicago. We have too much going on this week to run away with him (because, really HUbs, what would you do if we just showed up at the hotel? Tell us to drive home?), so we're making the most of it. I really miss Hubs when he's gone, but the kids and I have developed a routine, and sometimes things go much smoother when he's not around. Not that he's not a good husband and father. I think it's more that I HAVE to be both parents, so I'm on my game more.

But just to rub salt in the wound, tonight we were chatting before dinner. I'm going through my 5 year plan about cars and discussing the pro's and con's of cars and what car we should get next (not any time soon) when Hubs interrupts me:

Hubs: WOW. This room is MUCH bigger that I thought it was going to be.

So sorry to hear you're slummin' Hubs!

So, I'm embracing my single-lady status and have put the kids to bed, washed my face and slipped into my pjs. I've poured myself a nice glass of wine and am enjoying a scary movie in the basement, since my big girlie husband prefers Twilight over thrillers.

Nuggets from Nugget

Nugget was much slower to speak than Strip. Part of the reason could be that no one can get a word in with Chatty Cathy as a big sister. He's doing much better, but his voice and inflection crack me up. At first he sounded like a caveman (I go. You play.). Now, he's doing better with full sentences, but he reminds me of a cross between Borat and the Dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Thursday, we had to run some late-afternoon errands and were making our last stop to drop off books at the library. Because the kids were cranky, I was letting them pick favorite songs. Strip picked "American Honey" Nugget rocked out to "Need you Now," then back to Strip with "Perfect Day." When Strip's song was over, Nugget wanted to sing "Our kind of Love," but Strip was done.

Strip: Let's just not listen to music.

Me: No, you picked 2 songs, now it's Nugget's turn to pick a song.

Strip: I just want quiet. I don't want to hear music.

Nugget: Maybe? You don't like music? You can get our of this car.

I almost ran off the road I was laughing so hard. AND, it made Strip giggle and forget that she was cranky pants, at least for a minute.

Then, yesterday, we were running late afternoon errands again because I was meeting 2 different craigs list people. The first one was after we had been at the museum, and I got the kids a giant cookie to split. They ate the cookie on the way to Costco, but Nugget was falling asleep during the 20 minute drive. I grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to him to drink. After chugging 1/3 of the bottle, he was perking up a little, but not totally awake. Strip and I were singing really loudly in an attempt to keep him up.

Out of nowhere, we hear a giant BUUUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPPPPP.

Me: Excuse you, Nugget!

Nugget: Oh. That one taste like chocolate. It was delicious.

Oh boys will be boys, even if they're only three and are falling asleep.

Tic tac vs painkillers

vs

I've done something to my back.

It feels like someone's smacked me in the tailbone with a metal pipe (no one has, although at the med stop, the nurse did ask if I was in a domestic violence situation while eying a large bruise just below my knee. Again, no clue where that came from).

I'd been telling myself it was nothing since Thursday, but today, when it took me a good three minutes to stand up, I decided it was time to call the doctor. Problem? I don't have "just a" doctor. Come to think of it, I haven't had just-a-doc since I lived with my parents. I guess when you see so many -ologists, a primary care just seems silly.

Hubs has one, so I called there to see if he could see me. Just-a-Doc didn't have an opening for a new-patient, so I ended up going to he med stop (not the er, but not wallgreens). The doctor was super nice. But, because I didn't have some catastrophic event to pinpoint it, we really didn't have much to go on, so the plan is, painkiller/muscle relaxers for 2 days. If I feel better, great! If not, back in for mri/x-ray/bone scan to see if I have a fracture.

Really?! Fracture in my back? I am way too young to be falling apart like this! I recently joked with a friend of mine that God put our group together for a reason; if we put together all of our functioning parts together, we might actually make a person.

I took my first muscle relaxer at 5. It's been almost 4 hours and nadda. So what's the difference between tic tacs and painkillers? At least with tic tacs, you get fresher breath.

Oh Mickey. Where is your moral compass?

For those of you who have not watched the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, it's a pretty cute show. Mickey and the gang have little adventures and use counting, colors and memory games along the way. Sometimes, they need a little help, so they call on Toodles (oh TOOOodddlles!). Toodles has 3-4 things that will help Mickey and his friends, including a mystery mouse-ka-tool.

While not a substitute for preschool, it's a cute show that keeps the kids involved, reinforces basic skills and invites you to do the Hot Dog dance at the end.

My first, "Really, Mickey?" moment was last year when Goofy said, "Guess what?" to which Mickey replied, "What?" and Goofy said, "Chicken BUTT!"

Really, Mickey?

This morning, I was getting breakfast ready for everyone and Goofy was in some sort of a race. Something happened and he went off course, and at one point, Mickey suggested finding a mouse-ka-tool to help Goofy.

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

I thought Strip was talking about how much milk I gave Nugget vs her, so I asked what she was talking about.

"Goofy is supposed to be running this race, and Mickey's going to get a mouse-ka-tool from Toodles to help him. You can't do that. That's cheating. He's going to win the race because of Toodles and that's not fair!"

Good point, Strip.

What next Mickey? What next?