Mouse-Warming Party at Grandma’s House
Things you don’t think of when deciding to move into a house that’s been empty for 6+ months…MICE.
Keeping it real on this blog. We are currently in the middle of eradicating mice from grandma’s house before we move in. Our plan was to move in over last weekend, we spent hours cleaning, unpacking and organizing. On Saturday as I was cleaning the kitchen, I noticed mouse droppings on the counter. Cleaned them up and moved on but on Sunday I found new droppings in the same places. My husband originally said, well let’s just move in, mice won’t be as active if they know people are here. I said hell no. I wanted to at least attempt to get rid of some before we moved in.
So, in a fit of desperation, I called Orkin Pest Control to get a tech out to the house. A guy stopped out on Monday. He essentially told us to set traps ourselves and that any kind of extensive mouse proofing on the exterior of the house would be pretty costly. While I appreciated his honesty, he wasn’t very helpful.
We (read: my dad) set up mouse traps throughout the house. We are using both regular mouse traps with peanut butter (his solution) and a bucket of antifreeze and water in the basement (my stepmom’s suggestion). Bryan and my stepmom have also spent time this week looking at any possible holes / access points. So far they have patched or plugged holes under the kitchen sink, behind the microwave, behind the stove and around the exterior.
Our mouse catch count is up to 10. Clearly, it was a good idea to not move in right away! So gross. I am hoping to get into the house this weekend. We are currently staying with my mom and stepdad. Their house can accommodate us all just fine – and we are grateful to have their space to use, but with the kids, the dog and four adults, it starts to feel a little chaotic.
Our adventure with this move thus far has really gone so smoothly. A weird hiccup like this is bound to happen I guess. Hopefully we don’t have any other weird snafus to report. Although I guess it makes for interesting blog content…glass half full perspective?
All I know is we need to commit to one location or the other – this week we had most of our stuff at grandma’s but we were sleeping at mom’s. We kept running out of diapers for Noah, I didn’t have enough clothes for work and a lot of our groceries were at grandma’s. The houses are only 8 minutes apart or so but it’s still inconvenient.
And again, hindsight of course is 20/20 but really wishing we didn’t have this 2 month long transition period! Wish us luck this weekend! Hopefully we are getting settled for real this time. Going to keep laughing about this whole situation mainly in an attempt not to cry…
After all, Life is a Mother ** !
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