uninvited guests

A week and a half ago, Matt opened the door to the basement and saw a little mouse friend scurry down the stairs.

The big question: who to call first? An exterminator, the producers of Hoarders, or my trusty pal T-licious?

(You can never have too much moral support at a time like this.)

A brief pause for a bit of irony: Ella had just received from my parents that evening a Calico Critter's luxury townhome complete with a mouse family. T-licous was kind enough to ask at one point: has it dawned on you that the mice might be drawn to the other mouse family living upstairs in their fancy mouse house?

It seems that everyone you talk to has a mouse story or two. The most unhelpful thing to hear after you have seen a mouse in your house?

"There's never just one."

We put a couple of traps down in the basement loaded up with peanut butter and crossed our fingers. I spent a couple of restless nights filled with mousey dreams.

It's unnerving knowing there are little rodents scurrying around in your house, trust me.

Know what's even more unnerving than that?

Waking up to traps that have been licked clean but with no sign of any mouse bodies.

Know what's even more unnerving than that??

Opening a kitchen drawer and finding mouse droppings.

Time to call in the Mouse Man. (Anyone wonder how you end up being the Mouse Man? I'd like to job shadow him sometime.)

He checked for entry points, set some bait, and shook his head and said, "There's never just one."

In the end, we caught four. And I think our mouse story is over.

We've had two nights of traps set and all the peanut butter is still there. We're crossing our fingers that the mouse hotel is out of business.

I'm a half-full sort of gal and in the spirit of being positive, here are a few good things that came out of our mouse house guest experience:

• Our basement is now completely clean and organized. This was not just a quick job, this was a purge-as-if-your-life-depends-on-it-before-you-get-turned-into-Hoarders type project.
• I finally worked up the courage to get the ball rolling on our basement finishing project.
• It reminded me how thankful I am to have a nice, manly husband who is willing to check the house for mice and dispose of mouse bodies before my feet hit the floor in the morning.
• I felt the love of friends actually willing to pray for my mouse problems - and we caught two little fellows the next two nights after we met for small group. Coincidence or divine mouse trapping? You decide.
• It gave me several opportunities to send hilarious photos to Matt and my gal pals of pretend mice planking and horsemanning.

As we count our blessings this time of year, remember, there is always, always something to be thankful for. Even if it's for the mice.