Saturday, Dave had to work all day (poor guy), so I took advantage of my day alone to tidy up & do the five or six loads of laundry that had been piling up. (I’m such the domesticated little wifey, no?)Somewhere near the end of the day, I went into the laundry room, and there was a mouse on top of the washing machine. Not that mice are uncommon out in the boonies where we live, but usually when I find them, one or more of our cats are playing with and/or nibbling on their lifeless little bodies. So this mouse was noteworthy because it’s the first live one that I’ve ever seen in our house. He was very little, and sort of cute. He didn’t run away either, he just sat there and stared at me. He had a ding in one of his ears, and he reminded me a little bit of Ralph Mouse from those Beverly Cleary books. Like if I got him a little toy motorcycle and half a ping-pong ball to wear as a helmet, he’d be Evil Knievel-ing all over our house. But, then reality sets in, and I know that he’s probably carrying Bubonic Plague or something equally horrible, so we’re supposed to be enemies. And besides, if the cats find him, he will meet a very prompt untimely demise. I was thinking about putting a pot over him and scooting him off the edge of the washer and using the lid as a base, so I could take him somewhere safe (like the woods) and set him free, but I’m pretty sure those little critters can run pretty fast when they want to, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to catch him.

So I ran into the next room, grabbed the phone & called my mom. She told me to put one of the cats in the room with the mouse and close the door. Keep in mind that while we were talking, I had walked back into the laundry room, and the mouse was still sitting there, just looking at me. And dammit, he was so cute, and I didn’t want to listen to the cats kill him – the little mouse death screech is a sound that makes me cry and I absolutely can’t stand it. So I got off the phone with my mom and called Kris. She told me that I should make my husband deal with it. Luckily, around that time, my husband came home. I ran to the front door to get him, and by the time we went into the laundry room, the mouse was gone. I hope he found his way out of the house, but most likely, he’s probably in the wall behind the washing machine. Great. Stay tuned, folks, I think we’ll probably be seeing Mr. Ralph S. Mouse again sometime.

Totally unrelated: I don’t usually talk about my dreams here, because they’re usually very random and strange (whose aren’t?), but I had one on Saturday about another blogger, so I thought I’d share. I dreamed that Sally came to visit me, along with her dog, Lulu Mae Barnes. Only I kept calling her (Sally, not Lulu) by her pseudonym, not her real name. And she was really, REALLY pregnant. Like to the point where she was talking about how she was going to be induced if the kid didn’t come out on its own in the next week. And then, she, Lulu, Teenie and I broke into my next door neighbor’s house just to be nosy and see how they decorated the place. Admittedly, in real life the outside of their house is god-awful, so I am somewhat curious to know what’s going on inside. But yeah, that was weird. Especially since I’ve never actually met Sally in real life, although I think that the next time I’m in my hometown, we should totally meet up & go out for creamy margaritas. (Note to Sally: That’s assuming that you aren’t 9 months pregnant at the time, like you were in my dream.)

Movies watched this weekend:
* Hide and Seek – What a pile of crap. Yes yes, Dakota Fanning is a brilliant little child actress, but seriously. Every scary movie cliche you can think of was used in this movie. Shaky light fixtures and unreliable sources of electricity? Check. Something scary in yonder bathroom looms? Check. (Side note: what is up with scary things happening in bathrooms? I can think of at least a dozen movies off the top of my head where this happens. Does it have something to do with “Psycho”?) Creepy children’s singing voices? Check. Dopey policeman? You got it. Knife rack and one of the knives is missing? No doubt.
* Constantine – I’m still not sure what I thought of this. I guess it was ok? It was very weird. I think Dave liked it. Um, I don’t really have anything else.