As you may know, I have moved into a new house with some new roommates. Our house is little and cute but it has lots of character. Things are slowly finding their place and it is starting to look a little more settled. The biggest problems we have had were some bugs and roaches which I thought was awful but little did I know it would get worse.

It all started about a month ago when one night I was in the house alone and I heard some scratching around in the kitchen. I walked towards the kitchen and froze when I realized what the sound was. A mouse! I freaked out for a bit and went outside to gather my courage. "A mouse can't hurt me," I told myself. I got ready for bed when K1 (roommates will be referred to as K1, K2, and O, if you know who they are that's fine if not you don't need to know anyways) came home and said she had heard it too. That night I slept with a towel stuffed under my door.

I did a little research on mouse traps but never really got around to it since I left for about 10 days. When I came back I saw no evidence and heard no noise from a mouse. "It must have left," I thought. K2 moved into the house and brought with her a cat that I deeply hoped would help control the bugs and possible returning mice. She has done a little roach hunting but they always scurry under the oven, washer or dryer, out of reach. Keep trying kitty!

So last night K2 and I watched the Olympics and were getting ready for bed. She was keeping an eye on her cat who seemed very interested in what was going on under the wire cabinet in our dining room. Ever since she had seen the roach she had been keeping an eye on the oven, washer, dryer area of the kitchen but had never really caught anything and we thought maybe she was just pretending to make us think she was a hunter. But, we watched her for a bit as she tried many different ways to get back there, but failed. With K2 standing in the doorway to the kitchen at my left and the cat in front of me I lifted the cloth covering on the cabinets and out scurried a large mouse!

K2 and I screamed, which scared the cat, and I ran into my bedroom while K2 fell on the floor in the commotion of the mouse and cat. (yes I left her there to be attacked by the mouse) Eventually K2 made it to my room where we gained our composure. She had not seen where the mouse ran but knew it went into the kitchen either into her room or under the appliances. So quite jumpy we stepped back into the room and stood on chairs (yes, like in the movies) and laughed/screamed while we scanned the floor for the mouse.

The cat continued to be very interested in what was under the cabinets so after a while (still standing on chairs) we pulled everything off to look underneath to find nothing. The mouse was somewhere in the kitchen/bedroom area. We looked under everything in the kitchen and saw nothing. We looked in K2's room but it was covered in boxes from just moving in. She decided it was hopeless and we went to bed (me with a towel stuffed under my door). So far there has been no other mouse sighting.

So where did the mouse go? Well I neglected to mention the mouse size hole in the wall behind our washer that goes OUTSIDE! I am serious. I was walking by it the other day and saw some light from behind the washer. I got my flashlight and looked (hoping it was a mirror or something else reflecting inside light) and yup, a hole leading to outside. K2 and I checked where it came out on the other side but we could not see it without laying in the mud. You will be happy to hear our landlord is coming by tomorrow to take care of this and a couple of other new house problems.

But who can blame the mouse (or mice) and bugs and roaches for coming inside. We practically have a door for them that says "Come On In-Everyone Welcome!" All that is missing is a door mat to wipe their feet on!

Let this be a lesson to all. REALLY examine your house before you move into it. Just because it is cute and not too expensive and looks nice does not mean it is nice. I really do like the house though and hopefully our problems will be solved after covering the hole. If not I may be looking for some good friends to help me set mouse traps. Ahhh!