Lucky Number 13

My baby turned 13 yesterday. Excuse me??? She is what now?? That's right...thirteen. I have been on the verge of tears for a few days thinking of this milestone. It seems only yesterday, or maybe last week, I was big, fat and pregnant. We were anxiously awaiting the birth of our first baby, and much to our families' chagrin, we did not know the gender. Since she was our first, we felt no need to know her gender until she arrived. We decorated the room with teddy bears, stars & moons - appropriate for either a boy or a girl. We received gifts of yellow & green sleepers, blankets and onesies. We were set.

The day finally arrived for her to make her entrance, and though I will spare you the gorey details, she definitely came into the world with drama! Preview of coming attractions, though we didn't know it at the time. She didn't sleep much and had major colic...but those things are a distant memory. I remember how she felt in my arms, the smell of her sweet little head, and how she slept the best while laying on my chest. I remember thinking how smart she was and swearing (which I do to this day) that when I sang Itsy Bitsy Spider to her at 3 months old, she put her hands together to make the 'spider'. I remember talking to her as I cooked and explaining every step of what I was doing. I remember thinking 'how is it possible to love someone this much?'

Last night she went to Cotillion at her school...how cool that this special event fell on her 13th birthday! I helped her get dressed, fix her hair, put on her makeup. I teared up a few times thinking that in another 13 years or less I could be doing the same for her wedding, and that if the next 13 go by this fast...I guess its best not to think about that right now. She looked absolutely beautiful and made her mama tear up again once she was all ready to go.

I still hold her every chance I get and smell her head. Yes, things are different now, but those precious moments take me back to my days as a new mommy...and I tear up.

I Love Mice?

I'm a wife. I'm a mom of 2 humans (the monkeys, ages 10 & on Saturday, 13) and 1 canine (the pookie). I work part-time as an Office Manager in a mental health office (ironic?) and full time as cook, chauffer and chief bottle washer. I love Disney, food, Disney, my dvr, and did I mention Disney (hence crazy4themouse)? I don't love grown-ups who don't behave like grown-ups (in Disney World its ok, but not in the real world), people who lack common sense, and doing dishes. I want to be a writer when I grow up...so here we are.

I am a Disney junkie. We have been to Disney World 5 times since my daughter was 3, so we have averaged a trip every 2 years....but we have not been in almost 3 years, so I am going through withdrawal. But, my hysteria will be calmed in 118 days, because we are going HOME to the House of Mouse!! If you feel so inspired, you can read a trip report from 5 years ago here: The Top Ten Things We Learned at Disney

And though I totally love Mickey, I do not love LIVE mice. Which brings me to this story. This actually happened a few months ago, but I am just starting this blog, so I thought it was worth repeating. In case you missed it on Facebook. Or in person. Or on the phone. I told alot of people. Here we go...

So we had a mouse in the house. If you have never had the pleasure of this experience, count yourself extremely lucky. This has been a very exhausting adventure. Monday morning greeted me with bumper to bumper traffic, which on sight, I turned around and went home for a bit. I figured sitting on my couch was better than sitting in the car, and I would probably arrive at work at the same time. I had not had time to eat breakfast that morning, so when I came home, I decided I would get something. I opened the cabinet and was greeted with...mouse poop. Lovely.

I decided that since I had to leave for work in a few minutes, this mouse adventure would have to wait until that night. Lucky for me I had bought ice cream for the 4 cheerleaders that would be at my house that afternoon. I had to hope that the mouse would stay hidden given all of the noise that said cheerleaders would make. Thankfully, they were loud enough to keep the rodent away.
That night we cleaned out the cabinet and discovered that this mouse had an affinity for chocolate. We found half eaten chocolate hearts - in there from Valentine's Day; don't even get me started on that one. He loved my last Nana's Apple Cake mix, 2 Truffle Fudge Brownie mixes, and a Beer Bread mix. He also loved dried beans - go figure. We threw away about $200-300 worth of food and other items; anything that was open got pitched. We bleached the outside of boxes and cans, and the cabinet shelves. My kitchen was now officially a disaster area.

Hubby picked up these nifty little traps on the way home that would shield the homeowner from any views of the captured & killed mouse. This made me feel better, because I did not want to have to look at the little guy after we murdered him.  We baited the traps with peanut butter...and waited.
One would think mice to not be very smart creatures, with their tiny little brains and all. However, we apparently had a really smart mouse. A mouse with an education. He refused to go into the trap even though we had a tasty peanut butter treat inside. We couldn't have gotten a stupid mouse? One that would have said "Oh look, some peanut butter. Yummy. I think I'll go in there and eat." WHAM! Done. Oh no, we got a Harvard mouse.

After the first night, I decided that since he liked chocolate, I should add some to his last meal. I stuck a few mini chocolate chips into the peanut butter and thought "This will get him. Who doesn't love chocolate & peanut butter?" Apparently, our mouse. We heard him scratching around in the cabinet, but he didn't go for the homemade peanut butter cup. Maybe I should have bought a Reese's.

So now its Wednesday, and this sucker is still on the loose. When this adventure first began, I felt kinda bad for the little guy that we were trying to kill. I hoped he didn't suffer and wished there was another way to banish him from my kingdom. But when I came back from taking the kids to school, I discovered he had been on my COUNTER eating a hole through the bread bag. At this point, it was war. I thought if I had to burn the kitchen down or sit up all night with a gun, I was taking this invader down. My kitchen was still a mess, and I refused to cook in it because the thought of the creature touching my stuff made me want to barf. Our pest control company had left us some glue traps, so I decided to give those a try. I smushed a few chocolate chips into the middle of four traps and placed them strategically throughout the cabinet. I went to bed, but didn't sleep very well, as had been the case all week. I had visions of this little varmint wandering through the house and climbing on me in my sleep. Gross.

I woke up around 2:30 and went into the kitchen to listen. No noise. This was a good thing, I thought. I went back to bed and slept very soundly until 6. I was awakened by the joyous news that the enemy had been captured and was now out of the house.  Hallelujah!!! But he didn't go for the fancy little traps, he got stuck on my chocolate baited glue trap - the one I cleverly placed in front of the hole we knew had to be his doorway. I was so glad I outsmarted the little pea-brain.

I hope to get some much-needed sleep tonight, knowing that this little disgusting creature is out of my house. And hopefully I will be over this ordeal and able to be nice to Mickey & Minnie when we see them in Disney World in June.