If You Give a Mouse Some Chocolate...

...it will want to live in your pantry forever.

We've been seriously deep cleaning and decluttering our house for about two weeks now.  There are a lot of items that haven't had a place in the rooms we've been clearing out, so they ended up in the pantry.  Namely, three large bags of gift bags, some mason jar boxes that I wanted to keep to organize the freezer, a winter blanket, a mattress pad, and some bulk kitty litter, baking soda, and vinegar.  They make it difficult to get into the pantry, but we've been eating a lot of fresh food, so it didn't matter too terribly much.

I went down to get some rolled oats for Oatmeal Pancakes a la Momzoo, and I saw something very disheartening:  two chocolate bars had the corners gnawed off.  I was just down there getting a bar of chocolate the other day and they were fine.  A closer look showed mouse-sized teeth marks.  It could have possibly been our cats, but I doubted it.  The door is always shut and latched.

Then I saw this:

And this:

We do in fact have a mouse (or mice).  When I started pulling things out of the pantry, Wicket got excited.  She jumped all over everything, sniffing it.

And when she had her fill of that, she visited the back of the pantry itself.

We left the door open for the cats to peruse the pantry at their leisure.  I expected to wait a few days before anything happened.  But *B* and I were watching TV tonight when the cats were pouncing around, and we heard a squeak.  There he was!  In our living room, a whole floor above the pantry.  *B* and I sprang into action and scooped him into an empty kitty litter bucket.

He is so CUTE!   *B* liberated him in a strategically distant location.  I'm hoping that he was the only one for two reasons.  One, I don't want to have to worry about having mice in the house.  Two, if there are more mice, there is a greater likelihood that the cats will finish them off before

Mold Be Gone

Tomorrow, two guys will come over, seal off my bedroom, and demolish the wall under my window and tear out my carpet.  I have to pay them to destroy my carefully crafted room.  In exchange, I can be sure that *B* and I don't get sick from black mold toxicity.  I guess it's a good trade off.

The mold on the corner of the window trim was really obvious.

 

It wasn't until someone came out to give us an estimate that we found out it was underneath of our carpet, too.

I disassembled our room today, and it's a little sad.  Slowly, it's looking more and more empty.  At the same time, the rest of my house is filling up to the point of being uncomfortable.  Given that *B* was at work all day, I was on my own to get the whole room emptied minus the bed.

I have just a few more things (painting supplies) that I have to pick up before they get here tomorrow at 9:30

On the upside, Evie and Wicket like the fact that they now have new playtoys in strange places.  

We've picked out paint, and we've picked out new carpet.  I'm hopeful that this will turn out to be a good thing, a blessing in disguise.

Simple Pleasure Thursday

My simple pleasure for today is thinking the worst, but having everything turn out okay.

A story: This morning, I lumbered out of bed and dragged myself into the shower. I was sudsing up my hair, thinking deeply about something I've now forgotten, and I heard a crash. Almost immediately, I knew what it was:


Wicket likes to sit on top of the hamster cage. To keep her from doing that, we put it on a bookshelf. So far so good. She had only attempted to get up there one time up to this point, but I caught her. This time, she pulled it over on top of herself.

Awful thoughts were spinning around in my head: that Wicket had pulled over the tank, crushing/cutting herself or Sixie. If not, Sixie was a playtoy that Wicket was smacking around. So I ran out, hair full of suds, dripping from head to toe, just in time to catch the hamster running away. I managed to spirit her away into her ball before a) one of the cats got her or b) she disappeared into the secret passageways of the house that only rodents find.

In the end, it turned out alright:

The only reason she's wet and crazy looking is because I was wet and crazy looking when I picked her up :o)

Looks like we'll be going to PetSmart today...

Simple Pleasure Thursday Plus

My simple pleasure today is a BIG one. It's the first day of spring break! I started to read a book in bed round about 8:30 last night and passed out two chapters in. I slept in until 9:30 am. It. Was. AMAZING! I haven't felt so good in so long.

Though I will say...

This morning I made myself a really good breakfast - two waffles, a fruit cup, and a raspberry yogurt. Very healthy. I even ate it outside on the picnic table. It was wonderful. I went to let Hailey in after I was done eating, and it happened - Evie got out. AGAIN! Hailey chased her down and kept her busy under the picnic table. I couldn't get a hold of her. I stepped back, and Hailey managed to chase her straight into the house.

Okay, I thought. The one bad thing for the day is done. So set about washing up dishes, and documenting the garden's progress (which I'll post about later). I heard this very distinct sound coming from the basement. From my experience with rushing water and our basement (see posts here and here), I ran down the steps as fast as my little legs could carry me. The cats had knocked Shamrock's return tube out of his tank such that the filter was pulling dirty water out of the tank and dumping clean(ish) water on my carpeted basement floor.

While I was cleaning up the soaking mess that was my floor, Evie hopped up on the edge of the turtle tank and started punching Shamrock in the face. I've seen this before; it was Wicket's favorite pasttime as a kitten. Then, it was funny. Now, it was infuriating. It was her third strike for the day. I swatted her ever so gently straight into the tank. I've never seen a cat clamber so fast. I'm hopeful that she won't do that again.

Now, after a very delicious, very healthy salad lunch, with laundry in the washer and hanging out on the clothesline, things have settled down. I'm going to have my siesta, then, back to the spring cleaning extravaganza.

My Brother is Amazing!

My little brother is absolutely amazing. We had asked him over to barter some help - exchanging help building our square foot garden with Indian food. A few weeks ago, he asked to stay the night for a few days. He said he'd build us a cat tree. Long story short, we now have a cat tree, but no garden yet :o)

And oh what a cat tree it is!
You can tell my baby cats absolutely love it! We were worried Wicket wouldn't be able to fit her tush into the house, but she squeezed through there.

About midway through construction, I fired up the grill and made honey-butter shrimp (chicken for *B*). So yummy!

My daffodils and crocuses are just now peeking through the soil. As soon as they show their colors, you bet I'll be posting pictures! With any luck, our garden will be underway this weekend. Welcome to spring :o)

A Happy Birthday

My baby turned two today. Around here, we celebrate birthdays and gotcha days alike. Wicket got a fist full of treats in her food bowl and gobbled them all up. For the most part, she celebrated by sleeping in her carrier.

While Wicket has been lazing about, I've been hard at work. I made another batch of Italian bread after my first one disappeared! I made a double batch of chili with some cornbread and put it in the freezer. I made some cobbler to go in the freezer, too, but *B* got into it. Before I go to bed, I'm making chicken pot pie for tomorrow's dinner.

Over the course of the last few days, I've come up with a list of things I want to do/learn. I want to:

• take a First Aid course
• take a cooking course
  
• make my own candles
• make my own soap
• make more of my own clothes (skirts)

While I will be working this summer, these things I'd like to get done when I have a little free time.

They're Back!

Oh, how I missed posting pictures. While my laptop is still dead, I finally got a camera cord to connect up. Enjoy the last few weeks!

Pretty Evie cat, watching the snow.Our cars were totally covered by the blizzards. It took forever to shovel that path.

Those are normal sized trashcans. By the end of the snow, they were 100% covered.

*B* gets bored/creative with our snow mound.The snow covered our entire first floor.

This is the snow coming in through our first floor window.

So much snow!!

Evie's hanging out! Look at how big she's getting!I love my kitty!My mom's kitten, Shadow. Doesn't she look JUST like Wicket?This is Wicket...I think.One of our new birdie friends.Another one of our new birdie friends.My new seedlings-to-be! I'm so excited to watch them grow :o)

An Exciting Day

It is only 10:30 AM and it's been a very exciting day.

This morning, I decided to try to shovel off the deck. The top three inches or so is ice, so it took me a good 20 minutes to get a path one shovel wide out to the yard. *B* bravely trekked through the snow and ice to drop off our compost and to get me some planting soil from the shed. When I opened the back door to let him in, both our cats slipped out. I managed to get Wicket back in, but Evie ran along the edge of the house. Before we could get her, she slipped through a little hole in the deck. I was so panicked!

*B* shoveled faster than I've ever seen anyone shovel before. In about 10 minutes, he got a 6x10 square foot patch shoveled out. We managed to pry up the cellar cover, and *B* coaxed Evie out from under the deck. I was soooo scared she was lost and gone forever. We haven't gotten a chance to microchip her, so if she made it under the fence, we'd never get her back. But I had her safe inside, gave her a bath (she was a muddy little girl) and held her tight in a bath towel until she clawed me to get away. Ah, kitten love.

After the initial excitement died down, I decided to start my herbs for the spring. I have cilantro, parsley, and lavender. I used an egg carton to start the seeds, and will transplant them when they get a little bigger.

The final excitement of the day (so far) was my decision to bite the bullet and order my gamma buckets! They will be here in 1-4 days. I have been waiting for this day for so long. I'm just jumpy about ordering things online. I can't wait to re-situate my pantry!!! Between the major earthquakes, tsunami warnings, the THREE blizzards we've gotten this winter, the birds acting funny, and some normal paranoia, I am definitely revved back up for getting my pantry stocked.

A Lovely Valentine's Day

Since *B* and I have a number of expenses this year, we knew that Valentine's Day would be low key. I did all the dishes, swept and mopped the kitchen, and started to clean the house in general. At some point, I got a great idea: I was going to finish the work in the bathroom as a present for *B*. I painted the bathroom with my mom just before Thanksgiving, but it really needed a second coat. I had bought the second can of paint a few weeks ago. Today, I got up the guts to just go ahead and paint it on my own. I think it turned out really well! I will get the fixtures for the walls as soon as I can and then we'll finally have a finished bathroom upstairs. I also took us out to dinner at a great little pub type restaurant. *B* bought me the most beautiful flowers for Valentine's day - daffodils and purple paper like flowers.

I am very sad to report that my laptop bit the big one. Thank God I made a memory card recently with good pictures from the last two years. My dad doesn't think he can salvage the data on my hard drive. Given this very sad turn of events, I bought an external hard drive. I've learned that being prepared doesn't always mean being ready for just big disasters. It also means being proactive to avoid personal disasters, too. There's one more possibility to save my pictures and wedding plans, so I'm praying for it to come through.

My mom's cat, Shadow, is staying with us for the week. It's crazy to see her - she looks JUST like Wicket, but about 5 pounds lighter. When one walks in, it takes a while for me to figure out which is which. Shadow is very skittish and easily startled. Right now, she's peaking around the ottoman and staring at me. Shadow and Wicket stop and stare at each other a lot. I wish I could upload pictures of it - it's like looking at a mirror image of my cat. She also "talks" a lot. Even when she's not put away in a room, she yowls pretty loudly. I'm hopeful she won't keep this up all night.

Stay tuned for pictures. I'll upload as soon as I can get a cable for my camera.

Surviving the Blizzard

Well, we've survived the blizzard. I got a text yesterday that my school is closed for at least the next two days. And on Tuesday/Wednesday, we're supposed to get another round of snow. *B* and I shoveled so very much, but we weren't able to dig ourselves out. Someone with a snow blower came to our little row of homes and helped us out. I believe it's the same person who helped just before Christmas, but I don't know who he is. I need to find out so that I can give him some kind of thank you card/token. The snow in our front yard is taller than I am by a good two feet. We got about three feet of snow total.

On the upside, our office is now clean and fully functional. I was able to set my desktop computer up for the first time since we left the apartment. It really took no time at all to clean and organize everything - maybe an hour. But it was such an obstacle mentally. I'm very happy with the results. The only thing that drives me a little nuts is that the wireless internet has a mind of its own. If it wants to work, it will. If not, its your problem.

Our 72 hour kits now live in our office closet. In setting up my computer, I needed batteries, so I pulled them out of my kit and left the kit out so that I could put the batteries right back in when I went to the store. That was, apparently, a bad idea. This morning, when I came in, the bag of cat food stowed in my pack was in the middle of the floor, wide open - again. This is the second time this has happened! It's in two layers of freezer Ziploc bags. I'm a little afraid to find out how they got the cat food out of my pack, because I don't quite remember where it was. I'm hoping and praying they didn't chew through the pack to get to the food. I swear I do feed my cats well and on a regular basis! They don't need pack food!

Wicket has really changed since Evie has come into the family. She's definitely not the alpha cat. Evie dominates all. But Wicket is now lovey and purrs a lot. She will come ask for love and to be pet. Right now, she's sitting here on my desk next to me, watching the world go by. I've often secretly envied people whose cats sat all over their laps and desks while they worked and play.

Evie, however, is a little hell raiser. She chases Wicket, sinks her claws in Wicket's tail, and even as I type, she's trying to claw my curtains because Wicket's tail is making them move. Earlier today I was sitting at my desk and heard tinkling water. I was worried that my pipes had frozen or something. Nope, it was Evie, laying on the toilet seat, lazily batting at the water.

Peace and Relaxation

We took Wicket to the vet. They told us it would be $411 for x-rays and blood work to make sure she didn't have an obstruction. We hemmed and hawed because we really couldn't afford it with the wedding, but we'd be much more upset if something happened to her. So the doctor came in and looked at her. He gave us a $5 tube of "kitty lube" which is like ex-lax for cats. The string should work itself out. She goes in one week from now for a follow up to make sure she's okay.

We also put a deposit down on the restaurant for our reception. We found out the church we booked overlooks the restaurant. It's walking distance! Here's what we still need to do:

• Get my dress
• Pick out bridesmaid dresses
• Pick out men's clothing
• Negotiate pricing with my photographer friend
• Buy wedding bands
• Get flowers
• Find a DJ/ask a friend to MC
• Book honeymoon

I'm sure there are other things, but those are the biggies. We have our date set, and that's the hardest part.

Worried About My Baby

My first cat, Wicket, has developed a knack for getting into the trash can over the past few months. Right after Thanksgiving, she got some turkey scraps. Soon after that, she got some pork that had gone bad, and Wednesday was the worst of all. I made a turkey breast that was wrapped in an elastic netting. I forgot to take the netting off before I cooked it, so when I took it off after, some turkey came with it. It got thrown away, no big deal. The next morning, it was a part of some vomit I found in the shower. It looked like almost all of it was there, so I was a little worried but not too bad. This morning, Wicket ate voraciously, threw up, then started eating again. She never throws up! I was thankful that I was home when it happened so that a) I could clean it up right away and b) I knew which cat did it. There was a little piece of string in it, so I know Wicket was the one that ate the turkey, not that I had doubts. It looks like we'll be going to the vet today. I really can't afford it, but I don't want my baby cat to die. Please pray for us that she will be well and the vet will not be too expensive.

A Beautiful Sound

Evie is getting better. She has an upper respiratory infection. I have to give her amoxicillin twice a day for a while. We did find out, however, that petsmart was wrong about her age. She's five months, not three. Not that I love her any less, but I have less kitten time with her now.

After just about a week of quarantining the cats, I'm currently listening to the pitter-patter of eight little feet. Wicket chases Evie up the stairs, then somehow Evie ends up chasing Wicket down the stairs. While we won't go anywhere without separating them, they seem to be okay together while we're here. We only let them out together for a little while. Wicket's still scared of her and hisses at first, but overall we're doing just fine.

We had a lovely little New Year's party. There were only nine of us, but I enjoyed it immensely. My friend from high school confirmed that *B* will be performing his wedding ceremony! I'm very excited. *B* has only performed one other ceremony, and that was for his sister's wedding a few years ago. It does mean, however, that we have to get up airfare and hotel to get to Indiana for a weekend. It's two months after *B*'s best friend's wedding, too. I guess I'm getting to that age :o) I'm hoping that I'll be able to post news about me in that respect, but I don't know when that'll happen. Right now, I'm just hoping and praying that it'll be soon. As Billy Crystal said in When Harry Met Sally, "...when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

I decided to join a gym a few days ago. It's $30 a month (less than normal because I'm a teacher). I had been putting it off because of the expense, but I realized my health is worth more than $30 a month. This place is open 24-7, is less than a mile away, and has brand new equipment. I went for the first time yesterday. I was so excited to get back into it that I spent almost two hours there. I loved it so much. Now, though, I hurt SO BAD. I'm going back tomorrow for some light cardio. If I don't, I'm not sure if I'll ever go back :o) *B*'s aunt gave me a cute padded journal that looked like a sweatshirt. This is a journal something like it:

My access card fits just in the pocket, and I can keep track of what I'm doing. I like keeping data on my progress. When I first got it, I was thankful but ambivalent, though now it seems like it perfectly fits my needs.

Once I get into the habit of going to the gym, then I'll work on eating better. This year will be a much more relaxed endeavor than the usual "lose a bunch of weight" campaign. I want to be healthy. If that means I end up losing weight, great. If not, at least I'll be fit. Maybe, as if by osmosis, *B* will follow suit. Not that I'd ever critique his physique, his family's history of health problems is cause for concern. And anyway, he's the one that pushes vegetables all the time. Maybe now I'll actually listen to him :o)

We Made It!

We weathered the storm (pardon the pun) quite well. We got two feet of snow! That hasn't happened since I was about 7 years old. As it's such a rare event, I took a million pictures :o)


That's a normal size picnic table right there - the snow went well over the seat.


We walked down to a local park to see what it looked like outside of our neighborhood. This is a good indicator of how much it snowed. *B* is just shy of six feet.


This is Main Street of our little town. Isn't it gorgeous!?

*B* taking a much deserved shovel-break.


This is picture number two of me on this blog. Not the best picture of *B*, but it's Christmas break. He's entitled not to shave or wear contacts :o)

Even Wicket got into the action! We weren't afraid of her running, unlike other times of the year. We tossed her out into the back yard earlier in the day to see if she'd like snow. A few seconds after this picture was taken, she was pawing at the door to get back in.


I've gotten so much done in the last few days. Almost a year after I received it, I made a good playlist for my digital picture frame. Before, we just threw in whatever card was full. Now, they're good pictures that make me happy.

I've finally gotten my meds in order. I am so thankful for it, too. I was pretty miserable. I'm still working with a psychologist. I'm starting to think teaching (or at least teaching physics) is not for me. The more I talk to her, the more I realize I dread work. Not as much as other jobs I've had, but still more than I should for a career. She made a really good analogy - what would you say about a relationship where you're together because he's an okay guy and there was no one better around, but you didn't love him. That made a lot of sense to me.

I also reorganized our pantry this week. For my birthday, my brother got me 24 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix. That means we now have enough cornbread mix to feed an army!




Isn't it a gorgeous pantry? I've asked for gamma buckets for Christmas, and I plan on getting/making more shelves like those shown here. We've got plenty of vitamin C fruits, veggies, and canned soup to last us for three months. I'm so proud! It feels so good to not NEED anything. There are things I go to the store to get (like the ingredients for our awesome dinner last night), but nothing I MUST get.

Speaking of last night, I made prosciutto-wrapped pork loin with pears and sweet potatoes. It...was...AMAZING! I got the recipe from Real Simple. Oh so delicious, and very, very easy.

I'm also very excited for our Christmas Eve dinner. We're going to a very nice (so my brother says) local restaurant. I've never called to make reservations anywhere before, and I've never been there before, so this is going to be fun. *B* even said that he'd dress up for it. I just have to get him a dress shirt. He only has two collared shirts, and they're super casual.

I love Christmas!!!!!!!!

Let it Snow!

We got over 5 inches of snow yesterday! That's a big deal for around here, and probably the most we'll see all winter. Wicket seemed to enjoy it, as she ran out the back door when I opened it. Usually, I freak out and run after her, but I knew that she wouldn't get far in the cold, wet snow. She pawed around for a good two minutes and ran right back inside. Good girl :o)

Because of the snow, we couldn't go to get a tree like we wanted to. It took me an hour and a half to get home from school yesterday morning when it's usually a 45 minute trip! So instead, we addressed all of our cards to be mailed tomorrow, had some mildly spiked coffee, baked cookies, and watched Christmas movies.I love spritz cookies. We happened to go to Joann's (a craft/fabric store) the day after Thanksgiving and I saw a spritz gun for $6.99. I just had to have it. So yesterday, I made 5 dozen chocolate spritz cookies in varying shapes.
When I was little, I had a teddy bear hamster. If you don't know, they are what most people who think of hamsters imagine. We gave him a tree-shaped spritz cookie for a treat, and he stuffed the WHOLE thing in his pouch. It was bigger than his head! You could see the outline of the tree through his cheek. It was hilarious.
More spritz cookies. YUM!I only made half a batch of shortbread, because I didn't pull enough butter out of the freezer ahead of time, and it was eaten quickly. I have four left this morning. Side note - I've cleaned that pan a million times, and those splotches are still there. It used to be my mom's, and that's how I got it. Any ideas?

I'm really hoping that we'll be able to get the tree. Last year, we waited until the weekend before and I didn't feel I could enjoy it. We used the little lights last year because that's what *B*'s family does. This year, we're using the big, C8 light bulbs. I like them much better.