If You Feed A Mouse A Cookie...

If you ever wake up in the middle of the night to a strange noise that sounds like a little creature (aka a mouse) scratching around, IGNORE IT AND GO BACK TO SLEEP.

NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES should you poke your husband and say, nonchalantly I might add, "Um, honey, I think there's a little creature in here."

And when he gives you an easy out by pretending that the cat might have gotten let in earlier, TAKE IT! Just assume it's the cat and that you'll deal with it in the morning.

Whatever you do, DO NOT follow up with, "No, I don't think it's her. It sounded more like what the gerbils used to do." (We owned gerbils for about a year. Not anything I will ever do again.)

By this point, my poor husband who is blind as a bat without his contacts tells me to turn on the light and see if I can see it. I can't. Can I try to find his glasses? They give him a headache, so he hasn't worn them in forever. I managed to find them. By this point, I have pinpointed the noise to our computer desk. On top of the desk.

So, after a little bit of rustling, I see the little bugger. A teeny-tiny little thing about an inch or so long. Seriously, it was tiny. Well, he runs under a little trash pile. Maybe now my husband will try not to leave gum wrappers everywhere.

He instructs me to go find a butter tub that we have saved. What the hell? We don't save butter tubs, but at 2:30 in the morning, I'll try to find something rather than point this fact out to him. I come back with a couple little tupperwares which he assures me won't work. I find a fairly deep cookie tin that he thinks he can make work -- apparently the plan is for the mouse to run into the tin and then cover it with the lid. I'm already wishing that the video camera was poised because this could be worth money.

He has yet to see the mouse. So, when something falls off the desk, I jumped. His comment: "Oh, please. Are you afraid of the mouse?! We had gerbils!"

"No, I'm not afraid of a mouse but of things that pop out without warning!"

"Oh, okay." I don't think he believed me.

So after he carefully removes stuff from the desk, we cannot find the mouse anywhere. My husband assures me that it must have run off the desk and is probably making a nest in my pillows. How sweet! Can you see why I married the guy?

Then, he gets this look of realization mixed with horror as he has figured out where the mouse probably is. "I bet it's in my computer."

"No way."

"Yeah, there's a little port on the back that he could squeeze through if he's as small as you say."
Trying not to laugh, he carefully pulls the panel off the computer. As much fun as he made of me about being afraid of the mouse, I am certain that had the little bugger jumped at him, he would have jumped big time. I could tell he was braced for a flying rodent. Once he pulled the panel on the side away, there was the little mouse sitting in his computer. The mouse quickly ran under some component (I'm so computer savvy that I call all the little card thingys -- another technical term -- components because it sounds so technical).

"How many cords are plugged in back there?"

"Seven."

"Okay, start unplugging them." So, I started unplugging the cords from the back of the computer paying careful attention to what plugged in where.

He then carried the entire CPU to the front porch. The mouse scurried away a few minutes later.

Crisis averted. Total time: 45 minutes. Total time to go back to sleep: 2 hours.

Poor hubby had a headache from dealing with his glasses for so long.

However, I did have a small reward for my sleep sacrifice. When the alarm went off for the 8th time this morning (yes, I know exactly how many times I can hit snooze), I turned it off. That means that I can't go back to sleep or I will be late. So, I was lying there trying not to close my eyes again. I was lying on my stomach, and I felt the baby rolling around. Not just once, but 3 or 4 times in the minute I laid there. It was so exciting. I've felt the little bugger move some, but this was such definite movement. And the other times I've felt him, it's been one time and then nothing. This was several times.

I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow. It's the fun appointment where the run a few blood tests and I get a pelvic exam. I hate those. Especially when I'm pregnant and they make me bleed (sorry if TMI). But, I will get to hear the little heartbeat again, so I'm excited about that.

Things should calm down now that my boss is back. Yay! And she didn't have to spend all day trying to fix mistakes I made because there were none! Even bigger YAY! So, there should be a little more time for posting.