Things I like to find in my kitchen:

• No dirty dishes
• Food simmering on the stove or in the crock-pot
• A fresh bouquet of flowers on the table

Unfortunately, none of those were what I saw this morning as I readied for work.  Instead, I heard a noise near the pantry and saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye.  I pondered over whether the refrigerator just kicked on/off and if there was a light or something underneath that I had never noticed before.  Those thoughts only lasted mere moments as by then, I saw the culprit – a mouse – scurry out the other side of the fridge, under the front of the stove and then into a crevice between the toe kick and cabinet by the sink.  Awesome!

Now, Noah had worked very very very late and was still upstairs sleeping (Logan too was asleep), however, I ran up the stairs screaming Noah’s name to wake him up.  I think I then shook him awake yelling that there was a mouse in the kitchen!  I am not afraid of mice. I had several as pets growing up.  But there’s just something about finding one in your kitchen, coming out of your pantry and running across the floor that is not a pleasant experience.

Noah got up (Logan slept through the chaos) and went into our crawl space to get some traps, which he set-up two along the toe kicks.  He didn’t bait them, and we had to keep Lava from sniffing them.  By the time I left, the mouse was still MIA.  Noah didn’t think it would take too long for it to get caught, but I’ve talked to him a couple times since I left the house this morning and he didn’t mention catching the mouse before he left for work.  So, when I get home today I am hoping I don’t find:

• A dead mouse in the trap (mainly because I don’t want to have to be the one to deal with it and I don’t need to see that…
• A partial dead mouse in the trap, because that means a certain dog of mine got the munchies (this has happened before) and thus I need to make her vomit.
• A trap stuck to Lava’s face.  This is possible and would not surprise me.  Perhaps then, if that’s the case, it may be a good thing she’s a wooly beast right now.

Over the weekend, Noah brought me a container out of the pantry that had a few little brown somethings on top.  He asked me what I thought they were.  I said they didn’t look like poop any of my mice had dropped.  They looked more like caraway seeds or weird dead bugs (which bugs in the pantry wouldn’t be ideal either).  I guess now we know what they were…yuck!

Since we live near several open spaces, I supposed it was inevitable for a mouse to infiltrate our kitchen.  And Lava is a terrible house cat.

On the way home today, Logan and I are stopping at the store and buying some more plastic storage containers.  Who knows what that little guy has munched on so far…or how many of his friends he has invited to the smorgasbord!  Oh and can you tell just how excited I am to disinfect my pantry!  Better plan – I’ll take care of the baby and Noah can clean out the food and disinfect the shelves.  Yes, much better idea.