Not the Way I Planned to Start My Day…..

Jay was a substitute bus driver today. He had to be at the school by 6:30 this morning so we both got up early. He got ready and then helped me finish getting the house in order. We had kind of destroyed it Wednesday night. We still had some time to spare so I decided to wrap some Christmas presents. I got two wrapped for Avery and then decided to get Cade's out of the trunk of my car.

I bought three things for him the day after Thanksgiving. Two of them were not a big deal – a fleece and the traditional pair of PJ's. The third thing was a little bigger deal. It was a really nice vest that I got at Gymboree (that's a picture of it). The tag said $32, but since I was at the mall at the break of dawn that day, I was able to purchase it for $15. I thought it was a pretty good deal. Sunday, when we got home from church, I popped the trunk so I could show Jay everything. I like to make sure my clothing purchases are "boy appropriate". Everything appeared to be fine. I held up the three items and nothing struck me as being weird or out of place.

Fast forward to this morning (before 6 I might add!) and I'm sitting on our family room floor. I had just brought in my sack of goodies so I can wrap them while Cade is still asleep. I grab the wonderful, cozy vest and give it a little shake. I hear things hitting the floor. I look down to see these brown pellets pouring out of the vest. I froze for a minute and tried to think back to what my car had been used for the past few days. Had Jay hauled something? Was it dog food? Had we even bought dog food recently? All the while I knew what it was, but I was trying to think of every possible thing except what I feared the most…..I had a mouse IN MY CAR. Not just any mouse….a mouse that loaded up what appeared to be at least of cup of Charlie's dog food, hauled it to the trunk of my car, climbed inside a Gymboree sack and made itself at home inside one of the best of my Black Friday Deals.

I was so grossed out and mad. I HATE MICE. I think they are the nastiest creatures on the planet. They absolutely tick me off. They chew up things, ruin what ever they get their nasty little teeth on and then leave their filthy calling cards lying around. Then the stupid little thing didn't touch the fleece and the PJ's it chewed on the vest.

So at around 6:00 am this morning, if you had been our neighbors, you would've seen Jay and I carefully taking apart the trunk of my car. We also discovered the mouse had chewed a hole in the cover that goes over my spare tire. Jay put on gloves because he was afraid there might be a nest around the tire. We didn't find a nest, but we found 6 inches of water around the spare tire. I guess I have a trunk leak? I was so ticked off…and grossed out.

Jay drove my car today because I couldn't. I don't know what I'm going to do. He thinks the mouse is gone, but I'm not as confident. Our next dilemma is what do we do? Do we put poison in my trunk but then risk having the mouse crawl somewhere unreachable and die? Do we put the poison in the garage and take the chance it will still get in my car and die? Do we do nothing and risk having the mouse crawl up my pant leg while I'm driving down I-44? I knew I should've traded off the car when I had the incident in Cassville this summer. This was the car that was supposed to last me for awhile. I was going to drive it for years after it was paid off. Having a mouse loose in the car may change that plan. Jay just shrugged off my rant this morning about the car grossing me out. He doesn't quite share my hatred for mice though.  I need to ask him how he'd feel if he found a big fat possum sitting in his truck.....