Inconvenient Annoyances

Dates, with the stones removed, stuffed with marzipan, then half dipped in chockie. Yummy

That's hardcore! 

Dates, with the stones removed, stuffed with marzipan, then half dipped in chockie. Yummy

That's the traditional Christmas sweet at the French in laws, but not dipped in chocolate.  They do something similar with prunes, and put a chunk of marzipan between two pecan halves.

What happened with the cookies?! I can totally volunteer as tribute to suffer through a batch of cookies 

I recently inherited some money and not was considering finally getting British citizenship and NOW they’re going to change the passport to blue? Do you know how long I’ve wanted a maroon passport? FOREVER. A British passport being blue takes half the fun out of it.
Anyways, I realise if I get citizenship in the next few months I can have a maroon one, but still. Inconvenient annoyances and all...
I don’t usually rant but I thought you guys might understand.

I recently inherited some money and not was considering finally getting British citizenship and NOW they’re going to change the passport to blue? Do you know how long I’ve wanted a maroon passport? FOREVER. A British passport being blue takes half the fun out of it.
Anyways, I realise if I get citizenship in the next few months I can have a maroon one, but still. Inconvenient annoyances and all...
I don’t usually rant but I thought you guys might understand.

Oh, I just saw that they're being phased in from October 2019.  So I've got almost 2 years to finish this immigration stuff and get my maroon one before they change.  I just want to own a passport that is distinct from the US one, even if it's only for a short time. 

What happened with the cookies?! I can totally volunteer as tribute to suffer through a batch of cookies 

They are in the freezer...  I can’t imagine they’ll taste nice!

I've caught another cold from my lovely co-workers. 😫 I hate being sick. It's not a bad one but I am sneezing a lot and having to blow my nose. Yuck.

I have "known" for a while that the mice were still coming in (our House is full of holes... it's cold outside... we can't stop them).  I was fine with that.  But lately, I have seen subtle signs that they might have found a way of getting onto the utilikitchen worktop again (I recently found the stem of a chili that I thought I'd left on a plate was on the worktop next to the plate the next morning... little things like that).  Yesterday, I got confirmation...


We definitely have mice.  (sigh)

So I did a massive reorganization and cleaning... got rid of anything that looked contaminated, tidied and cleaned it all, and then I fashioned a barrier to block where I thought the mouse was gaining access from.  And then I set up the test:


Would they take the bait and prove that I have failed?

I was quite proud of my work.  I was pretty sure the mouse/mice were getting up to the worktop by climbing up the old broken boiler that we still haven't had removed yet, and which is too big to fit completely under the worktop, so part of it forms a nice ledge out in front from which the mouse/mice can jump up to the worktop easily.  So I put a board across the front to block them from making that jump.  But today, I found this:


The cheese is gone!  I have failed!

But, what's more, I also found this!  My avocados!


No Mexican Platter this week. 

I've been able to leave avocados on the worktop for all these months without a problem.  But now, all of a sudden, mice love them?  I dumped a bunch of potatoes yesterday because the mouse/mice found them and suddenly nommed them after not eating them for the past year.  I am going to have to have a rethink about how they're getting onto the worktop.  This is war!

You need a cat! 

Although admittedly conflicted because, poor mouse is cold and VERY hungry! 

Oh man, that happened in a rental house I lived in because the landlord refused to fix broken windows. My cat was an awesome mouser and it was horrible lol.

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You've got hipster mice, since they like avocados.  Was all this happening at night?  In the dark?  How did the mice read the note? What's all that red stuff in the picture?  Isn't Biscoff crazy good?

Awww, cute little mouses looking for cheese! 

It's like you guys know me!  When I first discovered the mice, at the start of last year, I was in love with "it".  My husband said, "them".  I said, "I've only seen the one, and he's adorable..."  He said, "If you have one, you have lots."  He turned out to be right.  As usual.  But back then, I didn't know this yet, and I thought my pet mouse was cute, and I fed it digestive biscuits, because I don't like the things, and the mouse was so cute and looked hungry.  My husband laughed at me.

But then we started having issues with food storage and contamination.  That's when we ripped out our old kitchen (full of nests of chewed up paper and debris that they'd been collecting for years).

Anyway, I thought we had it all sorted.  We have heard quiet scratching and rustling, so we knew the mice were still in the house, but they seemed to be keeping out of the food until the last couple of weeks.  I'm not sure what changed... they found a new path up?  They lost an alternate food source and have had to get more assertive?  I don't know.

But we can't have a cat because I'm allergic, but my husband is allergic to the point of misery.  Plus, then we'd see the poor victims... :/

Mouse traps. Or you're living with the mice forever. 

Yeah, I think mice (in zoos) are very cute.  I don't think I'd be pleased if one was in my home.  And I REALLY wouldn't be pleased if it was invading our food (the good stuff at that!).  I hope you can figure out how to keep them out.  I wonder if a bowl of food outside would do the trick?  Though I guess the only thing worse than feeding the neighborhood cats would be feeding the neighborhood mice?

Sobe wouldn't know what to do with a mouse.  He'd probably cuddle it.  Or just go back to sleep.