there's a mouse in the house

well not MY house...in the cabin we were staying in this past weekend.

a couple months ago, rusty's family wanted to gather somewhere in tennessee to celebrate his grandma's 90th birthday. we were going to celebrate by bringing 4 of her grandson's together again as a big surprise. every single place that i looked into was booked. our last option was a place that we had stayed at 3 years ago...and i certainly didn't have fond memories of the place. but, i thought, it's about being with family afterall....i can live with it for 2 nights.

these cabins were built over 50 years ago. the decor was multicolored carpet, dark brown and shag....70's printed wallpaper with bright orange, green and yellow flowers. the kitchen was purple. everything was...well...old.

now, i'm a city girl, but i don't mind camping every now and then and when camping, i understand that there will be bugs, spiders, critters all around me....because they live outdoors afterall. but when those critters come inside, i get a little creeped out. (ok, maybe more than a little). so when i'm staying inside a cabin, i'm hoping that i won't see those critters, and if i do, then i make sure they know they are NOT welcome.

the first night we were there, we had put evan to bed in his pack-n-play and waiting on him to fall asleep before we layed ella down in the same room (the 4 of us were having to share a room). we shared a cabin with r's brother and his new wife. we were all sitting around chatting when r's brother says calmly, "um...we have a mouse." i immediately curl up in the fetal position on the couch! he watches it as it moves down the hallway...into MY bedroom. the bedroom where my baby boy is sleeping. in that first minute, i had a million thoughts run through my head....there is NO WAY i'm sleeping in that room, where is the nearest hotel, oh somebody please get my bags OFF THE FLOOR, my poor baby boy is going to be attacked by a mouse, when there's one mouse - there's more!

we came up with a plan. i convinced rusty to go in there and at least move the bags off of the floor. we would get evan up and i would hold him while the boys (by this time, r's other brother and nephew were there) rampage through the bedroom to try and find the critter. while r was moving the bags, he saw it move out from under my bed and then it disappeared. so when all the boys got in there with their choice of weapon (shoes, books, etc), they moved all the furniture and didn't find him. they did, however, find a hole between the carpet and the baseboard where they figured he ran off into when r was in the room earlier.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! i don't like mice. can you tell?

so they tried to reassure me that this little sucker was NOT coming back through that hole. they stuffed it with a washcloth and checked to see if there were more holes anywhere else. i was not convinced. my sister-in-law and i were "this close" (can you picture my fingers?) to saying "see ya at the hotel." i decided to toughen up and trust that they did all that they could. i knew i was in for a long night of light sleep!

and light sleep it was...ella woke up on and off through the night. the LOUD window A/C unit would scare her everytime it cycled on and off and she was concerned about the mouse as well. at one point, rusty and i both sat up because we kept hearing a strange noise. we were thinking it was ella again. rusty got up and checked on her in the other bed while i sat up staring at that washcloth stuffed hole right at the foot of my bed.

and.........then.........IT MOVED. the washcloth was MOVING. "AAAHHH!" i gasped. rusty jumped on top of ella's bed and was standing there saying "what!!?? what happened? what did you see?!" i couldn't speak well...i was so freaked out. i finally let him know that i saw it move and that the mouse was trying to get out. so my hero husband got down and stuffed some more washcloths in the hole and covered it with MY running shoes (i think i need some new ones now. hee). during all this, ella got out of her bed and was laying with me while her daddy was building a bigger barrier. while laying there, she was still in a semi-coma of sleep, she said "mommy, there's a mouse in the house." it was so cute. some comic relief that i needed.

rusty ended up sleeping with ella after the excitement so i just layed there without my husband to protect me, thinking MORE thoughts about how this mouse was going to find its way in my room and in my bed so that he could attack my feet or run across my face while i was asleep. i wondered if i was EVER going to be able to fall asleep. as i layed there thinking about the whole scenario again, i was chuckling to myself as i thought about my "manly" husband jumping up on ella's bed and standing there right after my big gasp! :)

we did not see the mouse again....but boy did i check that hole every time i walked in my room. and the second night we saw all kinds of other critters....spiders, giant bees and other flying insects who were taking over the den area.

so after 2 nights of fear....it's good to be home. despite the scary critters, it was a nice time with family. r's grandma was just so thrilled and thankful for all of us being together. so i realized a few things this past weekend. i will NEVER be on "Fear Factor" (i pretty much learned that before this weekend though), i really REALLY hate mice, and i really REALLY like NICE hotels.