A mouse in the house

For those who don't know, Chad is in Alotau, PNG on a "business trip" helping out for a few days at the regional center there . (If you look at a map of PNG, Alotau is on the very tip of the big penninsula.) So, the kids and I are on our own for a few days.

Tonight, the kids and I were sitting in the living room, minding our own business, watching a movie when out of the corner of my eye I see something scurry across the floor. At first I think it's a big cockroach so I grab Chad's big boot to squish it with. Upon closer inspection, I see that it is not a cockroach, but a mouse.

So, I turn on a couple of lights, grab the broom, open the front door, tell the kids to get on the couch and stay there, and I chase the thing around the room. First, it hides under the couch. Next, it goes behind the TV and into to box that holds the X-box controllers. Then, behind the wood stove, around behind the smaller couch, and finally it runs right out the front door.

The kids, of course, wanted me to catch it so they could keep it as a pet. I was proud of myself that I didn't freak out. I actually remained rather calm. Afterward, I called my friend Molly (I had to tell someone what happened) and the first thing she said was, "You didn't kill it? It's gonna come back. You need to get a cat." Well, we all know I'm not getting a cat!
Thanks a lot Molly! Now I'll have to be on constant lookout for mice in the house! I'm not naive enough to think there will never be mice in our house, but I'm perfectly content to never see them.

It's funny, though, I was actually a bit relieved that it was a mouse and not a cockroach. The cockroaches are disgusting. I don't like those anywhere. Mice, on the other hand, can be kinda cute, just not when they are scurrying around my house.