Mouse Stories and Thanksgiving Dinner

Have I mentioned "our" mouse? I don't think I've really gotten into it, but I feel the need to work through some feelings here, in a very SHARING way! ;)

So, we discovered a mouse in our house in October. How? you may ask. Well, it ate my very best potholder. Silly thing to be upset over, really, but that pot holder was PERFECT for handling my stoneware (from my Pampered Chef Consulting days). I have very sensitive hands... and heart, but that isn't pertinent for the story... so the GOOD pot holder was wonderful for me. Well, it is no more. It has gone the way of all the stuff - sent to the landfill. :( I could have started to become angry about living here, but I've decided to see the mouse as a trial to overcome and try to remain positive through. (NOT easy... especially when Jess has been campaigning to move for many reasons - for a while now.)

The funny thing about the move issue is that I felt really strongly that we were supposed to be heading to Orlando, so I felt like we should be preparing to move - a few months ago. Now, I'm not saying that we will stay here forever, but I don't feel that we're going to be moving as soon as I thought, either. I think we may end up in Orlando eventually, though.

Anyway... the mouse.

Well, Jess has this thing. He becomes determined to rid himself of annoyances. Like gnats. It's like the things (gnats) can TOTALLY tell they've got his gander up and they just torment him all the more. Well, the mouse is CERTAINLY no different. And, to top it off, it's SMART as all get out! Jess has spent a ridiculous amount of money (relative to trying to catch a mouse) we really don't have, to catch the mouse. Only one of said traps is humane, unfortunately... but the mouse is waaaaay too smart to be got by that thing! Jess even set up "THE temptation trap" with a cookie and banana (because this mouse likes bananas and banana bread - found out when it ate some of my homemade banana bread and the top of a whole banana -2 seperate nights!) surrounded by mouse traps. Do you think the mouse was fooled/coaxed/temped/trapped? Nope. And Jess IS vexed. Well, for the past 3 or 4 nights Jess has successfully FED the mouse some peanut butter and oatmeal, which he set out ON a mouse trap (the traditional kind with the spring set guillotine sort of thing). The trap was not set (because the darn mouse stays away from them when they are!!!). He's tried to keep it in the same place each night... let's see how habituated the mouse is... tonight is the night to see if the mouse can be caught/killed. If not, we're going to resort to poison. It's down to the wire now. You see, the mouse has put a hole in something that has made our dishwasher unusable! :( How rotten, right!? Well, if that's not bad enough... the dishwasher is BRAND spankin' new!!!! ARGGHHHH! Unfortunately, I don't know that our landlord will do anything about it at all. But I certainly wouldn't, were I him, unless the darn mouse was TAKEN CARE OF (ie: dead and accounted for!). How frustrating, right!??

Given that I shared that Jess is ready to move, I'm sure you can imagine his feelings on the whole situation after the plumber told him this morning that the dishwasher is NOT covered on warranty now because it's "an act of MOUSE" not a problem with the machine. How annoying! Well, he was ready to start packing up the house himself. I'm not opposed to the idae of moving iteself. If we could find another house in our town for what we're paying, I would go through the trouble and annoyance of moving everything a few blocks to try to make my husband happy... we just can NOT find the deal we have here in another house in our town! I HAVE looked. *sigh* I've looked a LOT and for MANY months. There just isn't this sort of deal out there.

So, instead of moving... I had a talk with Jess about choosing to see the positives and striving to feel happy (CHOOSING happiness) because of them rather than focusing on the negatives and trying to run away from those. He used to be a natural at that and I was pretty horrible at it. I recognized my lack and have been striving to become more like he was... and he's been taking up my lack slack. :( I certain don't think that's necessary! I guess, though, since I wasn't as good a person, there was a certain dynamic and it take a HUGE conscious and concerted effort to change dynamics... in general, but especially in marriages! So, I don't know if it's worked... but Jess didn't gripe about moving for the rest of today, at least! :)

Oh, and on top of the AWESOME deal we have on rent/utilities for our house, we also have Ria's piano teacher AND dance class right here in town. I can walk to both of them easily when Jess is at work - even with all three of our babes. If we moved out of town, we'd have to pay for gas to get to classes, which would increase the overall expense of the move/new rent! :( So... it's just not in our best interest.

Thanksgiving Dinner
We had it tonight! It was joyful. Our sister missionaries were already scheduled to come to teach a lesson to/for Jess and our family. When they called to confirm I asked if they had a dinner engagement. They didn't, so we invited them for dinner. It was SO nice to have a fuller table for our Thanksgiving meal! It was a tastey meal, too. Jess made a succulent turkey, gravy, bread stuffing, warmed some peas, and I made some mashed potatoes. For dessert we had THE BEST pumpkin pie (I DID make another one!!) and apple pie that I'd made yesterday just because I really felt a hankerin' for that other traditional dessert a'la Farrell family holidays. Can you tell I miss my family?? I do.

P.S. on the Mouse Stories
Jess took Kat to the library while I was with Ria for her (our ^_^) piano class today. He did it last week, too. So nice since he's available anyway! Well, he was tickled with himself when we were riding home together after class when he held up a movie for me to take note of. When I could finally look at the title I was a little confused. The movie he'd chosen was "MOUSE HUNT"!!! Can you imagine? I was wondering, in a worried way, if he was looking for some mouse catching tips via Hollywoodd! Thankfully it was his way of finding the humor in a situation he's very frustrated about (by getting a movie that sort of mirrors our situation). Kinda cool, right? :)

P.P.S.
It just struck me as I was scrolling down my own blog to look at others' blogs... I saw the emboldened words "THE temptation trap" and a thought crossed my mind. "This mouse is an AWESOME example of resisting temptation and choosing the right (relative to a mouse)!" And then I thought, "Oh, my... how STRANGE I am!!" I thought it was funny, though, and that you might get a little laugh at my silliness. :) Also, I didn't have anyone to verbally share my thoughts with right now as it's rather late and Jess is already in bed (YEAY!). So, there ya go.