mouse to mice

So, some of you know that I have had a little bit of a mouse problem in the apartment. It has not been one of my favorite things. I chronicled the first mouse situation mostly on Facebook, but felt this second run-in deserved an entire post.

The first mouse was warned with a couple traps that he managed to cleverly evade. He taunted me a few times running in and out of his hiding place while I watched from my couch. But, on the third trap attempt, he did succumb to death-by-trap (I might be willing to die for a little feta myself).

However, tonight I was sitting on the couch and I see ANOTHER dare-devil mouse running around the kitchen. Only this mouse acted like he owned the kitchen...not skittish at all, just running around eating crumbs like he was at a mouse buffet. I watch him...I actually got up and moved into the kitchen and he just kept going about his business. He didn't hide until I turned the light on. And at this point I am a little panicky because...how many mice are there and where are they coming from. But, I got out the rest of my traps and and set them with some very nice little Havarti cheese (much too good for a mouse, but that's what I had). I turned around to update my Facebook status with the latest mouse episode ....and SNAP. I jumped completely out of my skin and practically hit my head on the ceiling and my heart stopped for at least 5 beats. And when I turned around I was in time to see the mouse twitch and convulse for about 30 seconds before he was completely dead. So, naturally, I had a mild melt down for a minute, and called Yemi and left a slightly crazy voice mail. I had done pretty well at being mouse-killer extraordinaire, but that kind of pushed me over the edge just a little.

Obviously, the next rational step was to head to Walmart at 1am because I wasn't going to be able to sleep anyways. I got some more traps, some D-Con, a staple gun, staples, wire mesh, a swiffer, dry clothes for the swiffer, and wet clothes for the swiffer. I came home, and there was a SECOND dead mouse in another trap. And now I am on the verge of a serious break down and trying not to freak out because I am a capable adult and have to deal with my own mice situation now, evidently. I strapped on some gloves (thank goodness I am a nurse and have a small supply of medical gloves at the ready) and disposed of the two dead mice. Then I dry dusted my kitchen floor, wet mopped my kitchen floor, set some more traps (almost lost my finger a couple of times), and pulled out everything under my sink to manage the open little area where all the pipes come in. And, of course, I got the wrong staples for the staple gun, so I had to make another 2am trip to Walmart to remedy that problem. But then, I managed to cut the wire mesh screening and staple gun it (in about 50 places...I'm sure my neighbor downstairs wants to kill me) to the bottom of the cabinet and zip tie (thank you Dad for instilling in me the importance of having zip ties at the ready, because they work in almost as many situations as duct tape) the top of the screen together around the pipes and then place D-Con in the corner, just to make sure I covered all my bases. And it's now 245am and I feel a little too wired and a little too creepy crawly to actually go to bed, and my nerves are a little frazzled at the moment.

And my window air conditioner that I am sitting next to just sounded like it exploded and shot little chunks of ice at me. So, my heart has stopped at least 3 times tonight, and I kind of feel like I could throw up a little.

Anyone have an extra cat lying around?