To catch a mouse...

We have a mouse problem. Not sure how they are getting in, but we are having a real hard time getting rid of them. These are no ordinary mice. They are some kind of super-intelligent stealth mice. Traps are useless.

The back story:

A few weeks ago we noticed mouse poop. We cleaned out under the sink and set some traps. I showed the kids the traps and the loud noise they made when triggered. Told them DO NOT TOUCH THESE. You guessed it, the next day I was cooking and I hear Emmett say "what is this fo---SNAP". His finger was not caught but the trap did snap him. I asked him if he was going to touch the mouse trap again. In between crying he sniffed out a "yes". Well then I can't help you...

Fast forward a few days. I almost vomited when I saw mouse poop in the SILVERWARE DRAWER. eeeeeeeew. So, another round of bleach. and we set a trap in the drawer.

The next morning Pete mentioned that he saw that I moved the trap. I didn't move the trap. That sneaky little boy has a habit of putting his breakfast spoon back in the drawer (why do we have mice?!?) and he must have noticed the trap and he moved it to the floor. WITHOUT SETTING IT OFF. Crappy trap or crafty kid? not sure.

Then we went to the Dells for almost a week. We set out multiple traps and mouse poison. Got home and nada. We cannot seem to catch these suckers. But no more mouse poop so maybe the mouse problem is gone.

No such luck. A few days later I found mouse poop by my treadmill. Now I am the first to admit I do not use it every day, but by no means is it so unused that a mouse should take up residence.

So the mice are not gone. they are not falling for our traps. There have been two sightings but no captures.

Which leads me to our last-ditch effort. Last weekend Wynne and I decorated gingerbread houses at my cousin's house. Since we probably still have mice I can't leave it out (why feed the intruders). So we let the kids have at it tonight, knowing we are going to toss it. But Pete had a final idea. Let's set a trap right by the house and see if that lures the mouse. This plan has many, many holes but we are at the end of our rope. And there is a good chance we'll catch Emmett. But he's got to learn...




UPDATE: No luck, but no new sings of the critters anywhere. Are we in the clear???

Mommy's helper

I need to keep a better eye on Emmett. I just discovered that he has been putting his dirty clothes in the dryer instead of the hamper. Last week I caught him putting his used cereal spoon back in the sliverware drawer. At least he is trying...

Life with Two Moms

Wynne was telling me about her friend Bennett who has two moms. I asked her what she thought about that. She thought for a second and said "it would be great....if one mom is working you can just play with the other mom...."

Updated Photos

We've passed the inspection and have some new photos!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=a50pu45r.cl8vhkbv&x=0&y=epwlcg&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_album

The Countdown...

Our final inspection is June 1 so the end really is in sight. The carpet will also be installed that day so right now Pete is finishing touch-up paint, installing kitchen cabinet doors and lots of little things to get ready. The furnace inspector was out today and Pete put shelving, etc. in the closets last weekend.

PB & BS

I know I keep saying this, but we are seriously almost done with the house. Pete is going room by room, finishing paint, trim, installing light fixtures, etc. Our carpet should be coming in the next two weeks and all fixtures (sinks, toilets) are set. We still have to install the stove once we finish the cabinets, plug in the fridge (and hook up the water for the ice maker) and install the dryer. We can see the light.

And not a moment too soon. Emmett is hitting the terrible twos so caring for him can be a two man job. The poor kid cries over everything - I'm not even sure if he knows what he wants half the time. But he still is cute. Last week at day care one of the kids had an aunt come to pick him up. Emmett walked up to her and said "me, Emmett". It is pretty cute until you consider that he is introducing himself to strangers...

Wynne is sassy as always. And her BS meter is working. Last weekend my sister and I took the kids up to see my brother. It is a long drive and we were going to be in the car over lunch so I packed PB&J sandwiches. Wynne told me that she did not like peanut butter, wanted only a jelly sandwich. The quick-thinking mom I am I told her that she needs peanut butter. Jelly is junk food -- they both start with J. Peanut butter has protein and they both start with P. So eat your sandwich. I was pretty proud of my made-up reasoning and she quickly said "Mom, that doesn't make any sense." Busted. No fooling this kid.

Losing it

I am losing my mind. I think that all the brain cells that you kill in college and during your crazy single days do not die immediately. Rather, it happens all at once when you turn 36.

I usually remember EVERYTHING. It was kind of a joke and a little scary. Now, not so much. Today for instance:

Left work to take Wynne to her doc appt. We have been to this office many, many times and in fact I lived across the street from this office for 1.5 years.

We were running late to begin with, but I had ten minutes to get five minutes away. Instead, the trip took almost 20 minutes. Her school is right off of I35E, as is the exit for the doc appt. But for some reason I thought it was off of I-694. So we are on 35, I take the exit east for 694. when I hit Maplewood I realized I had gone the wrong way. No prob, I will just get off the exit and back on going west. Only problem is that I am on the WRONG highway. Once I was well past where I thought the exit would be, I realized my mistake and took the next exit. I had an idea of where to go next but decided to use my GPS. That's when Wynne asked if I had any idea where I was going. I lied and told her I knew exactly what I was doing.

We got there, doc still saw us even though we were late, and we headed back to school. After I drove half-way across the parking lot Wynne reminded me that I had not buckled her in!!!!!! I am a menace. Had to look twice when I got home to make sure she was not still in the backseat.

Tiling

We (mostly Pete) have accomplished a lot over the last few days. The biggest project is the kitchen floor. Pete has spent the last few days working on this -- as I write he is finishing the tile in the first floor bathroom. Yea!

He also added some tiles near the front door so people don't muck up the rug. He added a cement board on top of the hardwood so if we ever get enough money to refinish the floors we can just rip up the board -- good thinking on his part.

I took Friday off and helped by putting another coat of paint in the upstairs bedrooms. The color really pops with the second coat and will look even better once Pete does the finish work.

FLUSH!

Wahoo! A new level of civility! We no longer have the flush the toilet with a bucket of water. Pete attached the tank -- a big day at the new house! We also figured out the problem with the cabinet color. Apparently Pete grabbed the wrong sample blue -- when he looked at the chips that we selected he realized he grabbed a blue that was several shades brighter than our original choice. He picked up the original blue/grey and it looks really nice.

Pete is taking Wednesday-Friday off to tile the kitchen floor -- yea! I am going to take off on Friday to do some painting. Things continue to move along!

Cabinets

Luckily we bought sample sizes of the paint. Pete tried the cabinets both ways -- blue frames with cream doors and cream frames with blue doors. Both are just a bit over the top. Pete thinks they look "country". I think they look a little like they belong in a dollhouse. Pete has a good solution. We are going to keep the cream and try a tan or a brown. It will go with the floor tiles and we are thinking of a greenish countertop so that may look really nice. We'll see....

Painting....

The house is painted! Well, mostly. After weeks of priming, Pete and I sat down to pick out colors. I spent last weekend in Kenosha with the kids so that gave Pete the entire weekend to paint. The House looks great. As you can see, we picked a yellow for the walls and hall leading up to the bedrooms. The bedrooms are a wheat color, both bathrooms are light green and the kitchen is grey. We still have the cabinets to paint -- they will be cream frames with blue/grey doors. Pete bought samples of the paint and is putting it on the cabinets/frames so we can try it out. We'll see how it looks.

Pete is spending this weekend still working on trim, priming the doors (cabinet and regular) and cutting in the corners.

We also decided that we really should add a dishwasher. We've been researching similar homes for rent in the area and many have dishwashers. We figure as long as we are making a mess, we might as well do it now. The configuration of the kitchen requires us to put it next to the sink, which will only give us a small kitchen sink, but I know I would trade a small sink for a dishwasher -- hoping others will too.

We still have to tile the kitchen floor, carpet or repair the hardwood and some detail work. And now that the weather is nicer, it is almost time to seed the yard, as there are many patches without grass. We also should add some bushes to the front of the house. The list keeps growing. Some of the outside stuff can wait until we get a renter.

Pete is hoping to get another week off of work soon as he thinks he can knock out a lot of the remaining work if he can plow through for several days straight.

Conversations with Wynne

We were driving home from preschool today. She told me Mrs. Schroeder moved her away from Jake at naptime because he was talking too much. I asked her what he was talking about. There was a pause and she said "Mom -- don't tell Mrs. Schroeder. I was the one who was talking. I just couldn't stop...."

A few weeks ago she woke up in the middle of night and wanted to play. I told her that we both needed to go back to sleep so that she would not be crabby at school and I would not be crabby at work.

Me: I NEED to sleep. What will happen if I am crabby at work
Wynne (in a cheerful voice): You will get FIRED!
Me: that is not good. Then we will have no where to live

Wynne: (with the saddest look of shock on her face) how can they take our house?

(So now I am feeling bad. The kid is going to have nightmares now. I am a jerk.)

Me: Mom and dad need to work so we can pay our bills. We are fine and no one is going to take our house.

So I spent some time backtracking. As I was walking out of her room, in the softest, sweetest voice she says

Wynne: Mom
Me: yea
Wynne: What do turtles eat?

Must be nice to be four. You can go from tragedy to turtles in two minutes.

Back on Track

So I'm back on track. Not that the house was ever off track. But I've obviously been off track with the blog. No way I can catch up from the whole month+ that I have been on hiatus, but here is what I have for now:

I took the day off work to do some painting. Used oil-based primer for the kitchen cabinets and several hours later my head is still a little numb. But the cabinets look great. Will be off tomorrow to paint some trim.

Pete and I hammered out a timeline/to-do list. I felt a lot better having it on paper. If all the stars align, we'll be done late April/early May. Much longer than we originally thought, but still OK.

Will do a separate update of the latest Wynne-isms, but this morning was a doozey. I decided to wear Pete's work jacket so I would not get paint on any of my coats. It is too big and very dirty. I was going to drop Wynne at school before I headed to the house and she asked if I could wear a nice coat when I dropped her off at school. Age 4 and she is already embarrassed of her mother.....

Latest "wynne-ism"

I was picking up a pile of blocks that Wynne and Emmett were playing with. I asked Wynne if she could help me and she said "it looks like you are doing just fine by yourself, mom." Note to self. No more asking. You TELL a four-year-old what to do.

Perfect day, not so perfect muffins

I get it now. There is a reason for freezing, -37 weather. To make you appreciate the regular winter days. I have to say that Saturday was a near perfect day. Let's see:

• Slept through the night (no one crying at 3 am!) and woke up at 8 am - crazy!!!


• Temperature check -- 19 (ABOVE!)


• Got caribou and went grocery shopping by myself - "me time" has been redefined


• Put the kids on the sled and literally dragged them around the neighborhood. Went to our local coffee shop for hot cocoa


• Dragged them by the new house to see the progress Pete has made over the last week


• Found that Phalen Park was having a huge celebration for "Hockey Day". I was not informed about this holiday but it was a blast. Tons of people, live music, pig roast and oh yea, hockey.


• Went home and BOTH kids took a nap at the same time


• Had a fun afternoon playing with the kids.


• Being Saturday it was "steak night" so we put the kids to bed and I grilled up some steaks. Mmmmm. Yes, we are dorks.

Sunday was not as lucky. Wynne and I got up early to make muffins for everyone. There is a recipe in my weight watcher's cookbook that I have been meaning to try for weeks - lemon muffins. I was addicted to Caribou Coffee's lemon bread when I was pregnant with Emmett but have had to ban the dessert upon my discovery that it is 12 points! So I figured these muffins would not be as tasty, but would be lemony, dense and sweet.

I forgot about my disability. (that's what Pete calls it anyway) I am not able to follow recipe directions - even if I am really trying. This is not a real problem when cooking but can be awful when baking. The recipe called for lemon zest (and I don't have a zester - if that is even a real thing) so I was trying out all my kitchen tools to get the zest from the lemon. I was also trying to get the muffins in the oven before Emmett woke up. I could hear him talking in his room so we only had minutes left. When Wynne and I mixed all the final ingredients it looked pretty thick. I added some more of the lemon juice and crossed my fingers. No luck. They were like small yellow rocks. Later in the day I realized that I forgot to add the egg.

I did try the same recipe, but the chocolate muffin version, later in the day (and I double checked all the ingredients) either they are bad muffins or I am the worst baker in the world.

So - the house. We are getting closer. Our trusted friend and contractor "Builder Mike" is mudding and taping. We will be able to paint soon! Pete and I spent MLK day scraping more wallpaper. We are just about done with the main floor. The place is such a mess but things are coming together. Mike also installed a door for the main floor bathroom (I think they were using a shower curtain before) so that is a step in the right direction!