where's the pied piper when we need him?

We had a mouse. I didn't want to post about it earlier, because mice are kind of yucky and I was afraid you'd say "ew, they had a mouse. Guess she's not been cleaning." I know, I know, anyone can get a mouse. But you know how it is. It's like lice - any kid can come home from school with lice, but it just seems so yucky. I hope my kids never get lice. That being said - if any of you ever have lice, or your kids do, rest assured that I won't think you're yucky. If you have a mouse I will not think it's because you aren't cleaning your house.

The mouse had been running around in the ceiling of the basement. You could hear it scampering across the tiles. I was actually beginning to think it was more than just a mouse because it sounded huge! I think it's the cheapo tiles. That's also part of why I didn't blog about it. My readers may forgive a mouse, but if you thought we had rats? I can't count on your loyalty that much.

I went to Wal-Mart the other day and bought two traps. No, they were not humane traps, and no, they were not quick death traps. I'm mean. I buy whatever is cheapest. Besides, those snap traps freak me out. I remember snapping my fingers in one when I was a kid. Why is it that kids always have to play with those things anyway? Ever since then, I can't bring myself to set one of those. They freak/gross me out. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought the little sticky plastic thing that lures them with the promise of food and then they stick to it. I'm assuming from here they either have a little mini heart attack or starve or something. See, I told you I wasn't nice.

Steven stuck one up in the ceiling the other day. He's actually a bit of a girl about it (sorry honey, I have the utmost respect for your hunter/warrior side). I'd try to get him to peek up in there and see if the mouse was in there. He'd act like there was no need, but I'd pester him to do it. Eventually he'd get on a chair and warily peer into the dark abyss.

Actually, the whole thing was pretty funny. The other day I told him just to reach in and feel around for it. I warned him that he'd probably stick his hand in the trap, and then the trap would be stuck to his hand and the mouse would be stuck between the trap and his hand. The look on his face was priceless. He went and got a flashlight.

Today I heard the giant mouse galloping around in the ceiling again. I knew it was in the area of the trap. Suddenly, no more galloping. I use the word galloping because it honestly sounded massive running around in our ceiling.

Steven came home. I told him that I heard the mouse in the trap area, but that I thought maybe it sounded bigger than a mouse. Steven takes me very seriously. It's kind of nice.

"You mean, maybe it's a rat?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, but it sounds kind of big up there. Check."

"I'm not looking. We'll just leave it, it'll die on its own right?"

"You should check!" I said. "Watch, you'll lift that tile beside it, and it'll panic, unstick itself and leap out and stick to your face. Wouldn't that be crazy."

The look on his face was absolutely priceless. He laughed, but looked somewhat concerned. We were both a little squeamish. He finally lifted the adjacent tile and we saw it's little head peering out at us, it's little whiskers twitching. Steven actually lifted the sticky thing, mouse and all, out of the ceiling. It surprised me that he did this. Then the mouse panicked and got itself entirely stuck in there. We kind of felt bad about it. Steven doesn't want to use those traps anymore. Turns out he's nicer than me.



We caught our mouse though, hallelujah!