Ralph S. Mouse

Have you ever read the book Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Clearly? I did, and I hated it. Do you want to know why? Because I hate mice! Even cartoon mice! In my mind, they are dirty, filthy rodents. Despite this fact, there are a million movies and books with mice - Cinderella, Aristocats, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, I could go on for hours. I am not sure what the infatuation is with these hideous little creatures!

Now to the real reason for this post. On Sunday, Matthew and I were up at about 6:00 a.m. I was working on block sets (yay!) in the kitchen and he was reading a book in the recliner. All of a sudden, I saw a MOUSE skitter across the kitchen floor and under the refrigerator! I immediately was disgusted and wanted to move out of my house. Yes, when I have a mouse in my house, I literally want to move out. I hate them that much! Since moving is not really an option, I whispered to Matthew to get a mouse trap and set it by the refrigerator to see if we could catch the gross rodent. While he was walking to the refrigerator with the set trap, the damn mouse ran from the refrigerator to the stove. So, Matthew got another trap and proceeded to set one on each side of the stove. Our plan was to catch the mouse regardless of which way he came out.

Throughout the day, we continued to check the traps and no mouse. Then, I checked and the trap was GONE! No, I am not joking - GONE! At first I thought that Matthew was trying to pull a prank on me and that we caught the mouse and he had disposed of it without me knowing. However, to this day he pinky swears that he did not do it. You know, to a fifth grader pinky swearing is serious stuff! Matthew and I have concluded that one of two things have happened, and they are both bad! Option 1 - we caught the mouse, he was still alive, and he is somewhere in our house dragging the trap behind him. Gross, I know, but better than Option 2. Option 2 - William found the mouse in the trap and did something with it. The thought of this happening absolutely horrifies me!

On Sunday, Matthew was convinced that Option 2 had happened. As a result, he started interrogating William. This was pretty comical.

Matthew: William did you find a mouse?
William: Yes.
Matthew: Where did you put the mouse?
William: The mouse is on the t.v.!

William was watching the movie Aristocats - and of course it has a mouse in it! Matthew continued to ask William about the mouse and the trap all day without any luck.

Today is Tuesday and we still have not found the mouse trap. However, this morning while Toby was getting Matthew and Peter up for school, he saw a mouse. I keep telling myself that it was the same mouse and that we only have one mouse in our house. Positive thoughts right! All I know is if we do not remedy this problem quickly, Toby is on his own - I am moving out!