The Tale of Two Mice

The First Tale (as told by Josh)

As I've said before, one of the greatest things about where we live is the fact that we back up to a nature preserve.  In just a few short months, we've been visited by several deer, an owl, foxes and plenty of turkeys. Last week, we were given the pleasure of meeting a new outdoor friend: a mouse.

Due to the long (and, let's be honest, it's been long) winter, Mr. Mouse (that's what I call him) was likely caught outside during a cold spell and needed shelter from the blustery winds. Fortunately, Mr. Mouse stumbled upon a cute English-looking cottage and found a hole just big enough in the garage to squeeze through.

Famished from his journey from field to finely decorated house, our furry friend needed to regain his strength. Low and behold, the kind owners had left out a delicious, fluffy corn muffin just for him!! (though, the ziploc bag made it slightly more difficult to enjoy). While I had yet to meet Mr. Mouse face to face, I imagined he looks like this:

Hello! I'm pleased to meet you!

What Mr. Mouse didn't know is that an evil witch lives in the house (her name is Ashley) and is on a mission to rid the world of all rodents!! She developed an evil trap to lure Mr. Mouse to his death using bright colors and clever tricks. It looks something like this:

I'm scared to think what will happen to Mr. Mouse if he is not careful!!!

The Second Tale (as told by Ashley)
One of the "great" things about living next to a nature preserve is that the boundary between house and forest is blurred. Turkeys have claimed our yard as their own. An owl considers the tree out front her personal post. And this past week, mice have decided they are just as sick of winter as the rest of us and are finding more "tropical" environments to wait out the weather.

On Sundays, I always make something for Josh and I to take for lunches during the week. Homemade chicken noodle soup was on the menu and, of course, freshly baked corn muffins. I put them each in their own ziploc bag (convenient 'grab and go' portability) and went to bed that night. On Monday morning, I noticed one of the bags had a hole in it. Since it was next to the burner on the stove, I figured it had melted from the heat. Just to be safe, I threw it away and took another muffin for lunch.

THANK.

GOD.

Tuesday went by without incident.

Wednesday morning I awoke to find evidence that an evil rodent had breached our home. The last corn muffin (inside a now-ripped ziploc bag) had A GIANT HUNK out of it.  Upon further examination of the bite marks, I concluded he must look similar to this:

Enlarged (slightly) for effect.

I marched upstairs and showed my husband (Josh) evidence of our intruder. Clearly, drastic measures needed to be taken.

After work, I visited the local hardware store and purchased several traps for the kitchen and the basement (clearly, our new "friend" is using the tuck-under garage as an access point). It pained me beyond belief to use my sacred food (peanut butter) on a lowly, disgusting mouse trap but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I hope mice like Ezekiel bread and organic peanut butter...

With fingers crossed, we went to bed that night hoping to catch (and kill) this rabid menace threatening our health and home.

The Epic Conclusion (the finale of BOTH tales- as told by Josh and Ashley)
Thursday was a bust. No mouse. We figured that the trap was probably not in the right place (around the corner of the kitchen island) and needed to be more out in the open at night.

Sure enough, Friday morning, Ashley nervously went downstairs to leave for work when she peeked around the corner and saw a tail.

A long. skinny. white. tail.

Our nemesis/Mr. Mouse must have met his demise earlier that morning (warning: graphic image ahead - do not proceed if you just ate breakfast, or any meal for that matter):

OMG this "mouse" is either on steroids or extremely well fed. 

While we'd like to think we caught the sole perpetrator, our hunch is that more furry friends are still hiding in the house. Tonight, we're putting out a fresh trap and hoping (Ashley especially) that we catch the last of the new visitors.

Once it gets warmer out, we'll be tasked with closing the gaps in the garage and the holes in the walls we think they are using as an entrance.

Oh the joys of home ownership.

Earning Our Stripes

"There's nothing like a fresh coat of paint to brighten up a room."

That's what the liars hosts of HGTV keep telling their faithful followers as a surefire, cheap way to turn a room into a beautiful living space.

With our growing collection of art, we decided that the office would be the best place to showcase our eclectic array of screen prints, concert posters and framed infographics.

After taking down the hat lamps and covering our office with a fresh coat of white paint, we realized that the room felt like a doctors office. Sterile. Uninviting. Panic inducing.

Seriously, who would want to work or do ANYTHING in here?

Rather than repaint the entire room (something I was absolutely against- I don't want to look at another paintbrush or roller for at least six months), Josh had this horrible cool idea to paint some horizontal stripes to give the walls some visual interest.

A warning to anyone that believes this is a good idea: you WILL hate yourself halfway through the project.

At first, we simply measured from the floor and ceiling and marked where the stripes would go. But as we started taping the lines, we were reminded of the joys of owning a house that is over 70 years old. Houses, like any structure, start to settle. And not evenly. Sure enough, the room isn't level.

Awesome.

So, what happens when you can't use a tape measure to create stripes? You are forced to use a laser level.

I wish you could have seen us that quiet Sunday afternoon. Me, holding the level as my arms are shaking trying to keep it straight and Josh, hurriedly trying to tape a straight line using this microscopic laser that kept disappearing if your finger got in the way.

Three freaking hours just to TAPE those stupid lines. There were tears. Angry words. Feelings of defeat as we made our way around the room with a step ladder and pure grit.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

And just when you've finished taping you realize you're only HALF DONE. You still have to paint it.

(face palm)

Fortunately, the painting was quite easy for me (Josh, on the other hand, was once again forced to edge because I am too sloppy with a brush and get it all over the trim).

Another helpful hint: if you don't want the paint to peel off, spend the extra money and purchase the professional grade masking tape at Sherwin Williams (not the blue tape by 3M). I promise, you will thank me later.

Ta Da!!!

We're actually REALLY happy with how it turned out! Hopefully by the end of April we can get all our artwork on the walls and put the finishing touches on the room.

PS- with spring finally making an appearance, we can start working on some new projects. We have some exciting plans in the works and hope you'll stay tuned for the results!