House News

The process has started. Today Hubby and my Father moved eighty plus boxes to our new apartment to lighten the load next week-end. Apparently there's still a lot of work to be done in our new place, a few unanticipated problems came up during the renovations! While fixing the laundry room our landlord realized that he had to repair the pipes, which also happened to run into our kitchen of course. So what may have already been a big job turned into a much bigger one. Hubby told me that the bathroom turned out really nice though, dark wood baseboards and trim to match. He even painted the bottom portion of the wall (under the wooden trim) a very light blue to match the decor of our bathroom. Isn't that nice? The sink, bathtub and toilet weren't reconnected but I think they were the next thing on the list to be done. There's still painting to be done as well. I know he's been working really hard at getting everything done before we move in there and I appreciate the hard work! What a HUGE difference between him and our current landlord!

Update on our current apartment situation. Our landlord has decided to rent to the roomates which boggles my mind because he thought we were loud! I know not all roomates are roudy but I wish him luck if they are! I'm also not intending to move the mouse poison myself before we move because I don't feel it's my job to do it. I don't want the poison to come into contact with anything we own so I don't want to have to touch it. I wonder if our landlord is intending to remove the poison traps before the new tenants find out about the friendly visitors! I don't see when he's going to have time to do it considering they're moving in the same day as we are moving out. This should be interesting.

Scurrying Feet and Little Sleep

So I woke up to a three beautiful tulips (from our garden) lying on the pillow beside me and a home-made card from the boys. Hubby then left with the brood to go pick up stuff from the store, I'm still in the dark about what those said things are but I'm looking forward to Mother's Day with two kids. My day was off to a great start...

Unlike last night! Hubby went to bed at about 10:30 or so and I decided to keep the bedside lamp on so I could read a bit. At one point I hear scurrying on Hubby's side of the bed and I felt my heart drop. I really thought that the mice had gone because I hadn't heard any sounds or seen a single mouse. No such luck. At the same time I heard the scurrying at one end of the room, a saw a flash of dark brown streak by, just a few feet from my side of the bed. WHACK! "Wake up! There's a mouse over there, there's a mouse, a mouse..." Hubby jumps out of the bed to humour me. The mouse runs the other way. "IT'S THERE NOW", I scream! "Where?" ... "There!" How am I supposed to verbalize my absolute horror when there's vermin running rampant in my bedroom of all places? Needless to say the little buggers ran back and forth for awhile before they went into hiding and surprise of all surprises, Hubby never actually saw them! I stayed up till two in the morning listening to the pitter patter of little feet.

I asked the Husband to check the mouse traps in our room this morning and behold! Two mice had been snapped to death (sorry I sound heartless, I feel quite heartless towards the rodents) and I would be happy except that I'm still hearing scurrying in our room and in the kitchen, under the fridge. When are they going to pack up and move on? Apparently not too soon if we keep killing them!

No Mouse In The House?

Our landlord has continually denied to us that he has mice in his apartment. My logic is that if mice are running free in our home and our neighbour downstairs has them (they live right next to our landlord), then realistically he must have them too! Apparently he told said downstairs neighbour that he's been hearing "weird sounds in the walls" but doesn't know what they are. Said neighbour explained that yes indeed, those were the sounds of little feet running in his walls. HA! Seriously? How can you mistake the sound of scurrying mice for anything but mice, or rodents anyways? Still he holds fast that he does not have mice in his place, maybe he thinks that if he admits that it wasn't us that "brought them in", then he'll have to assume some responsibility. I really don't know and can't pretend to understand what goes on in his head.

Hubby calls me over to our backdoor to announce that one of the neighbourhood felines is playing with a mouse in our garden. Gross. I look down and sure enough, Mr. Grey Cat With Beautiful Green Eyes is hitting the mouse around like a hacky sack. We watch him play with his prey until he disappears out of sight and I ask Hubby, "Wouldn't it be funny if he left the mouse at our door as a present?" I wasn't too far off. Our friend the cat that often cap naps on our balcony and rummages through our garbage, so nicely left the mouse remains on the very bottom of the fire escape stairs, coincidentally next to our landlord's door! Hmm... is there any doubt in one's mind that the mice exist? The exterminator told us that the mice would leave our home and start making their way outdoors and apparently that's exactly what's happening! I couldn't help myself, I called our landlord and left a message about the nice puddy cat and his present downstairs. That made my day.

All That For???

So FINALLY our landlord paid for an exterminator to come and set some traps for our little mouse friends. This is the funniest part ... he had those tiny tin plates (like muffin cup sized) that he filled with peanut butter and poison (set behind objects where the kids can't reach them of course). They're supposed to kill and dry up the mice from the inside. It seems way too simple but I keep thinking that sometimes the most simple things are the most effective! Should have I told the landlord that I think that maybe when Hubby chased Speedy into the bathroom and down the pipes into our heaters, that he finally trapped him and I don't think he's been back! Nah...

Dear Sir/Mam

This is how I imagine the advertisement for our apartment should have been written...



"Dishonest landlord looking for passive renters with quiet children. Will lie about renovations that have been done and promise more than I can offer. I will provide leaky pipes, infestations of spiders/ants and last but not least, a hoard of mice to greet you on a daily basis. All I ask in return is rent that exceeds the quality of the dwelling! Suckers wanted. Please call (514)555-5555"



P.S. Don't mind the disgusting smell of the local breweries, the smell is only present on days that end in "Y".(I couldn't resist that part!)



... I suppose I don't need "my corner" to lash out about frustrations!

It's War!

Hubby and I are standing in our kitchen yesterday morning and out of the corner of my eye I see this flash of brown streak out from behind the fridge. "MOUSE!" I yell. Hubby says that he doesn't see anything and we wait, very quietly to see what will happen. Sure enough Speedy Gonzales shoots out from under the stove (where he found refuge) and skittered behind our garbage can. I've never jumped so quickly up onto a high surface before, which just happened to be the kitchen sink! I'm screaming, the Husband's running around trying to find where the mouse has gone and Bulldozer is looking at us all like we've lost our marbles! Needless to say we find ourselves on our landlord's answering machine asking him to "call us back immediately!" Later that day he calls back and we voice our "concerns" and then tell him that enough is enough, it's time to do something about the problem. Right after Hubby hangs up the phone I call landlord number two (otherwise known as landlord's brother) to complain and get the, guess what? Yup, the answering machine! With requests to call us back I am left feeling like we're not getting an awful lot of help for a problem that's been going on for six months now! TOO LONG.

This morning Hubby and I are sitting at the kitchen table when he casually mentions that maybe we should address the mouse problem again... "Okay but we called yesterday, do you really want to call again this morning?", I reason. He answers in a calm voice, "I just saw the mouse run under the fridge again!" WHAT?!? Up onto the kitchen chair. You got to be kidding me, if there's a mouse say so... AND NOT SO CASUALLY! I proceed to go onto the net and research house mice and children. I find all sort of unpleasant diseases/allergies that I include in a very detailed e-mail to both landlords to inform them that we have had ENOUGH. Six months is too long. Waiting for neighbours to help chip in so everyone gets an exterminator is suspiciously taking a very long time as well. Mice running across my kitchen is not acceptable. Mice clawing in the walls of my bedroom does not add to the ambiance. I want them out. It's war.

P.S. I didn't add that the mouse we saw in the kitchen this morning was chased around by my Husband and a plastic container for twenty minutes but to no success. The mouse got away but I have a distinct feeling that my Husband actually had fun! At least some one's enjoying it!

M.I.C.E.

My husband has dubbed the intersection of our street and the connecting one my "B*$%# Corner". I'm really starting to wonder what it is about that spot that unleashes the fury. It's a pretty regular rant site and it's not intentional at all! Never do I think, well we're at the corner again, maybe I should complain about that rude person at the grocery store or what our landlord's newest antics are. It just seems to happen.

A couple of days ago the topic of conversation was mice. On our walk back from the grocery store we rounded that corner and all I could think of was how upset I was about the mouse issue in our apartment. I have never lived in a house with mice that ran free before and I have to admit it's a bit nerve wracking. I constantly worry about getting up in the middle of the night and having a mouse run with those little tiny feet of theirs, right over my own feet. I hear the scurrying in the walls (of our bedroom of all places) and it keeps me up at night imagining how many mice there could be. Get this, I've even had nightmares about the critters! I know I have a pet rodent in my residence but it's simply not the same thing. He's caged, cute and doesn't scurry around in my walls. He doesn't go through my cupboards and eat the labels off of my oil containers or make a regular appearance on my kitchen floor. I hate the mice. I want them gone. My Hubby set up traps with poison but we had to put them in out-of -the-way places so Bulldozer doesn't get into them. The first trap seemed to work. I mean the mouse managed to upturn the poison pellets everywhere so I'm assuming he gobbled at least one of them up which in turn would cause him to die and dry up in our walls! Heartless? Maybe but I'm not a fan of "vermin". The second trap was strategically placed in our bedroom behind the dresser and I don't think it has been visited once! So it's been approximately five months or so that we've been putting up with our "visitors" and they've definitely overstayed their welcome. Were they ever really welcome?

We're waiting for all of our neighbours to agree to exterminate together (our homes are all connected) so they'll be gone once and for all. I am a pretty understanding person or at least I'd like to think that I am. I have been quite patient considering the circumstances. I keep wondering if there is something more that we could do. Maybe we can train Dexter (our rodent) to give Stewart Little the boot, you know like a bouncer for our home! If I wasn't completely and utterly allergic to felines, I'd invite a pussycat in to take care of the problem. Oh-so-very-compassionate-Husband-of-mine has suggested waiting in the living room with a pellet rifle to ummm, "scare" them away! Serving an eviction notice has crossed my mind but what language do mice read? A swift kick in the behind is also, I believe, a worthwhile exertion of my energy but the buggers are quick!

P.S. Since you the mice have taken over and use our kitchen for eating, our bedroom for sleeping and our hallway for traversing between rooms, I can only assume that you also use our computer for personal use as well. If you read this, please accept our plea to vacate the premises and relocate somewhere else. That man who proceeded to almost run over our child at the mall with his scooter is first of my list for houses that would enjoy your presence. The man who works at the Vietnamese restaurant down the street is my second pick. Hey, if you could only live downstairs in our landlord's apartment and not ours, you could gladly pack your bag for an extended stay.