Something is amiss

This morning Max could not find both  of his boots and so he wore mine. It's a good thing he has feet as large as mine! After he left for school I found the missing boot, but alas, I chose not to wear HIS boots to work today. It might or might not have something to do with preteen boy foot smell.
I went looking for something to wear to work and since I have still not found one of my Birkenstocks I literally have no footwear to wear to work. I have one pair of winter boots and one pair of Birkenstocks.

So I went searching for footwear and I found a pair of almost matching flip flops. They are not a matched pair, one is larger than the other, but I chose to wear them anyway.

The only drawback to wearing unmatched flip flops - besides the fact that they feel strange - is that I have one foot with my toe nails painted and one foot without. The kids started to paint my toes for St. Patrick's day and amazingly lost interest half way through and so one foot remains "unpainted". The foot that has no toenail polish on it has a black toenail from when I kicked the riser in the house a while ago. This is not the same incident as when I slipped on a Vienna Sausage and kicked the stair and split my toe open.

I have since remedied the toenail situation, but not the shoe situation. I really need to find that Birkenstock is all I can say!

I thought I would stop into the store and grab myself a pair of sandals that were the same size, but when I went and looked at them they were FOURTY FIVE dollars each! There's no way I am paying that much for a pair of sandals. I think I might be wearing odd flip flops for a while.

Prayer

My daughter has a problem with her balance. She falls over constantly, from simply standing still she can fall. She falls MOST often out of her chair at the dinner table. Last night was no exception.
She fell out of her chair just before we said our nightly family prayer - in which I speak and she copies what I say. This is how the prayer went immediately after her tumble.

Me: Creator
Daughter: Creator
Me: Thank-you for this day
Daughter: Thank-you for this day
Me: Please help me to stop falling out of chairs.
Daughter: Please help mama Ju to stop falling out of chairs.

Needless to say the prayer ended shortly thereafter since I got the giggles.

Note: I have never fallen out of my chair

Transitions - FAS

One of the things I posted about in an earlier blog on FASD was “transitioning” – moving from one thing to another. Transitions happen all day, every day without us even being aware of it. We transition from sleep to wake, from bed to breakfast, from breakfast to the bathroom, then to work, then from task to task at work... you get my point.  Some people on the FAS spectrum have difficulty transitioning from one task to the next.

For example, I am a follower of time. So I would prepare the kids to go to bed by saying – it is bedtime in ten minutes, it is bedtime in five minutes, it is bedtime in one minute, it is time to start heading up the stairs to bed now.  While this “preparation” - letting everyone know that the transition was coming up – helped for some of our kids, we still had one that would start to cry, no matter what, every night. Did I mention EVERY NIGHT? Sometimes transitions cause tears, sometimes tantrums, sometimes complete nuclear meltdowns. It was frustrating for me because I like SMOOTH transitions and I was using a tool that I felt should work for everyone. My spouse – in all her infinite wisdom – one day pointed out to me that my transition process, though it seemed like it was natural to me, was unnatural to the child who was melting down because we had started a video (another part of the night time ritual) and the video had not come to a complete end. While I viewed the announcement of time intervals as being helpful, it still seemed unnatural to our one child because the show had not ended. I have had to adapt my preparation for transition to bed.

Another of our children has difficulty with transitioning from being on the school bus to being at home. It is a long ride, he is hungry and thirsty and tired, and the rules of the bus and the rules of home are different. On a daily basis he would fall apart before even making it to the house. One thing that we have made readily available is a snack for the kids IMMEDIATELY. They need to have their sugar levels raised ( kids on the FAS spectrum burn more sugar than other kids – which is a post for another day) but having that increase in blood sugar levels is CRITICAL to us at that time of day to assist with that transition.

Unfortunately, not every kid has difficulty with every transition and not every strategy works for every transition, and then to further complicate matters, not every strategy is successful every time – even if it has been successful in the past!

What I need to remind myself of is that it is not my fault that the kids are having meltdowns. It is not my fault that the kids are having trouble with transitions. It is not my fault, and it does not make me a bad parent. It isn’t about me! It is only my responsibility to not get upset and to continue to look for ways to assist in easing the transition.  I had to remind myself of this last night. Our kids had been at respite for a few days. Although the break is needed to recharge our batteries, the transition for the kids from being at a respite provider to coming back home is fraught with tears, and tantrums.  We sometimes skip the respite so we can avoid the transition!
I went to pick up the kids and I was VERY happy to see them. I missed them a lot. Some of them were thrilled to see me. One of them was not. He was mad, he stomped his feet, he yelled, he said unkind things. I reminded myself he was struggling with the transition and I spoke to him quietly. I told him I loved him no matter what and that I was sad he was not happy to see me (he said he wasn’t) and that I was always happy to see him and to have him come home. He even let me hold his hand as we drove home.

He was still mad, he still stomped his feet and said unkind things, BUT I was able to handle the transition better because I didn’t get upset that he was not happy to see me. I had to keep an internal dialogue goin, I won’t lie. I want the kids to be happy to see me, but I need to understand that it is not something they are in control of, and if I get upset about it the situation does not improve!  Sometimes I do better at this than others. Last night was a particularly good night for me because I was remembering these things and trying to put them into practise, but believe me we have had some UGLY homecomings where I felt like the kids were better off to stay in respite if they hated coming home so much.

This morning his transition from sleep to wake was a great one and he was happy to see me this morning. So all is good for now – until the next transition!

52 weeks of Gratitude week 3: Family

I started to think about this last night. I generally formulate a few thoughts in my brain before I spew forth onto the wide web. It got me wondering who it is that I consider to be “my family”. Certainly the first thing that came to mind was my own family – my partner, our five kids and our pets. Then I thought about my family of origin, my parents and my siblings. This morphed easily into the extensions of these families now –my brothers-in- law and sisters –in-law, my nieces and nephews. I have a half sister that I have never met who is technically family, though I know nothing about her at all other than her name and age. Then there are the foster kids who have come to us and left us, but who I will always consider my children.

Which of these are my family? What about the people who I am not related to through blood but who offer me emotional support and “know me” better than some of the people I am related to? What about the cousins and the second-cousins, or the aunts and uncles and grandparents I have an affinity with?

I guess all of them are family, though all different levels of family, and I am grateful for all of them. I can see here though that my “gratitude” has many levels – as many levels as there are different individuals. I suppose I could do 52 weeks of gratitude for family alone. I certainly have that many people that I could classify in this way.

Since I have a lot of weeks left and lots of opportunities to show how I am grateful for many of these people I am going to focus - for the purpose of this post - on my immediate family. I’ll start with my spouse. I posted a bit about her yesterday but I will add here that I am grateful for her because without her there would be no family at all.  I would not have ventured into the world of parenting without her by my side. I happen to think we are a pretty cool family, though I know others disagree with me. There are lots of people “out there” who don’t consider us a family at all since we are a same-sex couple, but nothing could be further from the truth.

I am grateful for my oldest boy. My miracle Max. I have blogged about him before, but not so much recently. He is now eight years old and this post is a good reminder to me to show him more gratitude. I am grateful for his persistence and his work ethic. I have not, and doubt I will ever, meet a harder working kid. People have commented that he is likely “going through a phase” but I know better. Last year he helped me volunteer in the community shovelling the driveways for seniors who could not do it themselves. He will work longer and harder than any other kid. I heard last week he was helping the teacher put away the skis and boots from cross country skiing day, and I know from his grade one teacher that he would offer to help when other kids didn’t even think about it. He has a sweetness to him that few people see. He is a great older brother (who often forgets he is just a brother and not a parent). I am grateful for the opportunity I have to parent this amazing guy – he gives me lots of practise!

I am grateful for my baby Ceejer. What a character this kid is. His imagination never ceases to amaze me – he lives in his fantasy world more hours of the day than not, and it is not in any way connected to the “time” in which the rest of us dwell.  He is charming and fun – his whole world revolves around fun - which makes him fun to be with. He is our spiritual connector. He has an affinity for the creator and the world around him that he maintains close contact with. Driving home at night he will be the one to point out the beautiful moon and starts, or the sunset we should be grateful for. He reminds us to give prayers of gratitude each day in our home and for this I am truly grateful.

Our third. Mike. Unassuming, quiet, sensitive Mike. He has had a hard journey in his short life and it has touched him deeply. He has great manners and is SO sweet with his little sisters, but he is right in the  middle of all the action, don’t think for a minute he isn’t! I have to be careful with this little soul that I am not “too” loud, or “too” boisterous, and that I don’t overwhelm him in all my bluster. He told me the other day he thinks I am the prettiest and also the bossiest, but I had to sit down and listen to get the message. I generally move too fast. I am grateful for this guy who needs me to slow down.

My bird. As a side note to the gratitude idea – all my life I wanted to parent – but I never wanted to parent girls! There was something about parenting girls that intimidated me and I had NO desire whatsoever to have girls of my own. I love my sisters and my nieces, but there was no way I was going to be a mother to a female! So much for that plan. This little girl stole my heart. She is feisty and fierce and I dread her teenage years already and she is only three! I am grateful that she came to my life and taught me that I have more love than I thought I was capable of. I do. I have. I’m grateful.

Our bean. ZED. THE END. Shel always thought there was another soul meant for our family. I moved too fast to get that message from the universe – but I trusted her ( and hoped she was getting some miscommunication!) Zed came to us and truly our family is complete. I cannot imagine our family without her. She is like glue – our little spider web that connects us all. She loves EVERYONE in our not-so-little family and they all love her. I have love for ANOTHER GIRL! I am grateful for the completeness she brings to us.

Barn Icicles

Our New Puppies

We have new puppies. They are just over three months old, litter mates and a mixed breed. We looked up characteristics of both breeds to see if we could get an idea of what kinds of things we might find in our babies as they grow. He are some of the things we have found out that seem to be true of our babies (they have been home with us for a just over a month).
1. They are comical, affectionate and playful.
2. They are SUPER INTELLIGENT.
3. They like to be challenged and have fun and will make up games if they are not entertained.
4. Howling is a favorite pastime. This is SO true, particularly of Flames (CJ's puppy). He loves to howl and when he gets started the others all join in. By others I mean :Brownie, Zuva, Max and CJ!

Jacaranda

Where I grew up the roads around my home were lined with Jacaranda trees - (the photo above is actually from Zimbabwe). I LOVE Jacarandas.
This Christmas my mom brought me a baby Jacaranda. She has grown it from seed - from Zimbabwe. It means so much to me and I have it in my office at work where it is safe from kids and pets.
I love it. I need to name it. I'll keep you updated on it's progress.

take down the trampoline

There are some things meant to be done as the "getting ready for winter" yard ritual. One of these things is taking the pad off the trampoline. Last year I was diligent in my preparations and I did this. This year I thought I would leave it up - I know of others who leave theirs up all winter - and then if we had balmy days they kids could play.
Well what do you know, we have more snow at the beginning of December than we had all year last year and the tramp mat was busting under the weight of the snow.
I kept thinking I would get out and take it down, and then we heard a weather warning for our area and a prediction of another 15 cm of snowfall and I knew we had to take it down right away. It was bitterly cold and windy but mom and I girded up and went out to take it down.

 It was VERY cold out - the wind was blowing and the windchill made it even colder. I think it was about -26 degrees C.

 We were enthusiastic to begin with!

 The snow on the tramp made it very heavy. The tool I have to pull the springs to get them off broke about half way through and we had to improvise our strategy. It is a LOT easier to do this when it is warmer and now covered in snow.

We did finally accomplish our task and packed the tramp away until the spring. I will have to get a new tool to put it up, but I don't need to think about it for a few more months. (You can see in the background other toys that were pulled out after being packed away for the winter. These will have to stay out now - the Quonset is frozen shut!)

looking back at baby photos

Max has to do a collage for his class that is all about him. He has to include a photo of his family, his house, himself as a baby and some of the things he likes to do.
Shel and I have been looking through photos of him as a baby. It is hard to believe he has grown so much. DANG he is a cute kid!
Here are some of the photos we have come across of him that I just LOVE and have to share.

supper creativity failed

I was trying to be creative this weekend in cooking a meal for the kids. Sometimes I feel as though we get into a rut of eating the same things over and over again and although I have no complaints personally sometimes I think I should be a "better mother" and branch out in preparing meals for the kids.

They like tuna sandwiches but we had no bread so I thought I would make a tuna casserole. They like tuna, cheese and macaroni - what could go wrong?

I checked out a recipe online and whipped everything up and thought I was quite impressive. Alas, no-one ate the creative dinner I was so proud of. Well, that's not entirely true - Mikey ate it, but Mikey eats everything!

While I was making casserole Max made tuna filling for sandwiches all by himself and he and CJ ate tuna sandwich filling without the bread instead of my tuna casserole!!

Scratch tuna casserole off the list of supper possibilities. I can hardly blame them. I didn't eat any of it myself!

pumpkin carving time

Have I mentioned that I LOVE Halloween?
As the boys get older and more "into" things like pumpkin carving I get happier and happier.

 

Shel made pumpkin seeds and they were a resounding success. We have tried to make them before without any real success but Shel nailed it this year and I hope next year she remembers what she did!
Max LOVED them. CJ gagged at the grossness of the interior of the pumpkin but did I really expect anything less from my sensitive boy?

We put our creations outside and lo and behold ... it snowed.

C is for cookie

The boys like nothing better than being creative. Sometimes this creativity involves a hammer and sometimes it involves markers and the walls of the house (unfortunately). Since Max is learning to speel we are finding evidence of his spelling mastery all over. He thinks I have supernatural powers that enable me to know where he has been and hwat he has been doing. I hate to disappoint him and tell him it is his own name in marker that leads me to my deductions.
This weekend they were all about making cookies.
I pulled out a recipe book and managed to find a recipe that we had all of the ingredients for and so we made cookies. It was a lot of fun and even Rescue puppy got involved.

After  I was all done with the dough Max took it and played "bakery" by himself. He set up the cook book and his own little kitchen. Surprisingly clean up was not so bad  - I had cookies to bribe him with!

skating

Since we live in Canada and we DO raise boys, we thought it was finally time that they learned to skate. I had intentions last year of teaching them to skate on the dugout, we even shovelled it off, but the skating lessons never actually transpired. I am loathe to become a hockey mom and undertake all that is involved in being such a mother (my hats off to those that do make this commitment) but for this reason (and the fact that winter and ice rinks are not two of my favorite things) we have never had the boys learn to skate. Until this year.
We signed the up, bought the equipment and set out on our skating adventures.
True to form, Max is not interested at ALL. I did actually to get his skates and helmet onto him, but he removed them in short order and spent the rest of the time at the rink watching the proceedings and watching blues clues on my phone.
CJ on the other hand could not get onto the ice fast enough. He is in LOVE with skating and cannot get enough. I think we may have a hockey player on our hands in the future (huge sigh).
When we finally DID manage to get him off the ice he didn't want to take his equipment off and has since asked numerous times to go back to the rink and skate again. This from a kid who for the previous years of his life has seldom uttered words that didn't involve motorcycles and quads!
We have him signed up for one night a week but we may have to increase that and let him do it more. I DID have thoughts of perhaps taking him to family skate, but SHUDDER that would involve me putting on skates. As quickly as that thought entered my head it did leave!!!

I tried to get a good shot but none of them turned out. Alas, the capabilities of my i-phone are found to be lacking :(

You get the idea at least!

hot days

Other people, in other places on hot days do things like swim, play in sprinklers, drink iced tea or lemonade, or sit and swing in the shade.
When it is hot where we live, the boys decide it is a perfect time to paint their toy boxes (translation: paint one another).As the obliging parents we are, the toy boxes get dragged outside and the painting begins.
We start with Maxies because he chose the color green. This WAS meant to be the paint for his bedroom, but I have a feeling once we are done with the toy box there will not be enough paint left for the bedroom renovation. When I say "we" I mean the boys. Momma Shel and I are not invited to this painting party as anything other than observers.

 
 

Max doesn't know how he "accidentally" painted CJ's head. 

Oh, did I not mention we paint naked? It IS hot don't cha know?

creative fail

We are having a devil of a time trying to keep the lawn mowed in the yard. If it isn't raining, we have no gas or oil for the mower engine, or the wind is blowing at ridiculous speeds, or...., or.....
What I am basically saying is that we haven't mowed the lawn in FOR EV ER and so it is ridiculously long. I thought I would be creative and lay in the long grass and take photos of the boys and puppy playing from a different angle.

My plan didn't quite work out as I had intended because as soon as I lay down everyone came to see what I was doing. I took some photos, but they were not the artsy, imaginative shots I had hoped for. This is what I got instead.

When NOT to listen to your three year old

When your three year old insists he can go to the bathroom BY HIMSELF and he DOES NOT NEED YOU in the room.... BE afraid. Be Very Afraid.

And I hope you have a stock of nail polish remover handy....

making a rink

It's shameful I know, we live in the Great White North and our boys don't know how to skate. Give me SOME slack - neither Shel nor I skate either!

We have in our yard a dugout. A perfect place to teach the boys to skate. It does take some work to maintain an outdoor rink though you know. It isn't as easy as opening a tap and letting water flood the yard. (and I dont know how people do that anyway, I am terrified of pipes freezing)

I decided this year that I need to teach the boys how to skate and since we have our own pond we have the perfect opportunity to do it right in our own yard.

When I got home from work the other evening I thought we would clear off a spot and then this weekend get some skates for the boys. Clearing a spot would have been made easier if I had two things - a shovel for myself (we have one shovel but Max is apparently the "boss" of it and so he would not let me shovel more than one row at a time) and easier access to some water - because even a pond does not have perfect ice beneath the snow. I have a feeling I will know more about pond ice by the end of the winter than I ever thought I would know.

The weather has has been REALLY mild lately, so I also hope it stays cold enough to get some skating done before the ice melts.



poop

I never conceived that body functions would be such an integral part of my daily life.

I knew that boys found body functions humorous and I AM the mother of two boys, so I expected that at some point the boys would find things like burping and farting funny. CJ in particular thinks noises made by his body are a thrill.
Don't get me wrong. We are making attempts to teach manners and to have the boys say "excuse me" when they do happen to pass gas. However, I had NO idea how captivating poop would be. Nope. No idea.

We have been working on toilet training for a while. With Max the going has been slow and he still needs reminders and has accidents. CJ has taken to using the toilet like a duck to water. He LOVES it. What he doesn't love is wearing pants. Going to the bathroom has become an excuse for him to remove his pants and underwear and go nekkid for as long as possible. If going to the toilet means he can remove his clothing then he is all over it.

Living out on the acreage has allowed some freedom in what I like to call "location of excretion". We have let the boys got to the bathroom outside because we figured at least they were going and they were developing an awareness of bodily demands. When the boys were foster kids we were MUCH more strict on where and when they would go to the bathroom and going outside was avoided. It's one thing to let your own kid urinate in your yard but we felt the province would frown on us letting foster children void anywhere they wanted!

For the most part this has worked out o.k., especially since we were able to train them that the back porch was NOT an acceptable location to urinate on. We have always tried to get them to poo inside (but admittedly haven't always been as successful as we would like to have been.)

Now they are both using the toilet most of the time. CJ in particular is very proud of his endeavours and whenever he uses the toilet he wants one, preferably both, of his parents to come and look and give him a high five before he flushes and washes.  We do. We have created a monster.

A proud pooping monster. He is extremely proud of his poop. He is VERY excited to show it to us. He comes into the living room, or kitchen, or bedroom and says "MOM! Come see! BIG BIG POOP!" Once we have witnessed the miraculous expulsion he then tells us he is going to "BIG BIG FLUSH".

Now all of a sudden his older brother is in on the action. Max, who initially did not want ANYONE looking at him or heaven forbid, asking him if he was using the toilet wants to share his poop with us also.  Yesterday he asked me if his poop was as big as CJ's poop.

Just what I wanted to be when I grew up, a comparative poop analyst.

I will just say this. After I went to the bathroom this morning I considered for one moment if it would be appropriate for me to call CJ in to check out my poop. He would have been impressed. I let the thought go and went for the big big flush.... this time.

Doors ... and then the water pump

We have been living in our house for a few years now. To be sure it is a bit small to be "ideal" for us - especially since the introduction of Great Dane Hugo to our household two years ago.
There are many, many things which need to be repaired and upgraded on the house and although it sometimes feels as though we are not moving forward on any of these projects we do sometimes make small improvements.

At the moment we are in desperate need of TWO new exterior doors.

Both doors are made from wood and neither is insulated. One problem with the house being as old as it is is the fact that nothing is "standard". The doors are not standard doors. In fact, the back door is so short, it is impossible to find a replacement by walking into a store or to a "used" lot to find a replacement.
The screws holding the door into the frame have become stripped and completely pulled out of the wall on the top hinge and the door "flops" around. in addition to the flopping problem, it is impossible to put any kind of weather stripping around the door to stop the wind, rain, and snow from coming in because the door simply does not fit the hole that was made for it.

The front door is a hollow wood door with a piece of glass in the middle. The glass has fallen down into the door and now there is a hollow door with a hole to the outside which I have covered with duct tape to prevent the majority of the air from coming in. If I sit on the couch in the corner by the front door the wind will literally blow my hair!

Every time it rains we have to pile towels at the base of the door to mop up all the water that pours in underneath. It has been our intention to replace the front door before winter and to try to at least fix the back door until we can come up with a more permanent solution at the back entrance.

We have been trying and trying to get someone to come and help us make repairs for months. Literally months. We live in such a small town it is impossible to find a contractor who is willing to work on a project so small. In the entrance to the grocery store, the drug store and in the town paper there are fliers advertising people who are willing to work on small house projects. We have called these people. One is booked "for months", one has not replied, one came out and apparently worked on the back door, but it is not fixed?!

I am getting desperate. I asked the maintenance man who works with me if there was anyway he could come out to the house, measure what we needed for the front door, come with me to buy a door and install it. I KNOW it will turn into a larger project than simply pulling the old door out and putting the new door in. I know it is beyond my capabilities.
He said he would help. He said he would measure and we put together a plan for him to come out this weekend. At the last minute on Friday he came to me with this:

It is a sheet of paper on which he would like me to measure and insert lengths to save him some time.
ACK! I absolutely do NOT want to do this. Have I mentioned this house is old? I can GUARANTEE that the numbers I measure will leave him shaking his head and he will want to measure again to make sure I have done it correctly. I JUST WANT SOMEONE TO HELP ME !

We stuck with the plan to have him come and help with the door on Saturday , and I (quietly) planned to let him measure what he needed anyway!

On Friday night I went to bed. All was well. In the middle of the night the toilet made a terrible gurgling noise and all of a sudden.... we had no water!

The house was silent, which is a bad thing. I went to the basement to check on the water pump. There was power to the pump but no water pressure. This I know is a bad thing.

We get water right into the house from the springs so we don't need a cistern or to haul water which I LOVE. There was water in the tank. I don't know enough about the system, but I know when it is not working.

This is not OUR pump - but it is what our system looks like.

Saturday morning first thing I called the plumber. I told him what I knew and that we needed some help. He wanted me to check a few things and so I was taking instructions from him on his cell, which was cutting out, laying the phone down upstairs because there is no reception in the basement, and trekking up and down the stairs with the boys and dogs in my way the whole time to check on what he was asking. Still no water pressure. After many calls he said he would send someone out to check it. He did ask me if I knew it was a weekend and the call out cost was higher than normal. I did know this and unfortunately we cannot live without water and so we needed to pay whatever it cost to get it repaired.

I took the boys to swimming lessons, (where I made them shower twice!) and the plumber came out and fixed the switch. I was hugely relieved it was the switch that needed replacement and not the entire tank, but my plans to get a door this weekend just went out the window.

So today we have a pump and water that works, two doors that STILL need repair, and it is the second weekend in October.

I sure as heck hope I can figure out what to do with the doors before the snow flies and the water lines in the house freeze because there is no front door!

Mouse in the house

On the list of things to do while mom was here I had "clean under the kitchen sink" and "clean out the bathroom cupboard". Mom and I did under the kitchen sink and we decided to buy a small piece of laminate to put down for water drips. The plumbing here isn't dripping - at the moment - but the boys like to "help" at the sink and so there is often water spilled that gets under the sink. We looked for laminate pieces but the place we looked only had really large pieces and so we haven't put it in yet. I still have a plan to get a small piece and glue it down.
The other goal was to clean out the bathroom cupboard. I started in on it while mom was in the kitchen. I pulled everything out from the bottom (the floor) and I was wiping all around. As I wiped around the corner, out of my view, a small mouse scurried out.

I screamed. Yes. I screamed. It was more of a shriek/scream and not a sound I am accustomed to coming from my mouth. I actually startled myself by the sound and mom came running.

Oh we laughed.

We needed to catch the thing and release it outside - we live on an acreage and there are many, many fieldmice around and usually the dogs and cats do a good job at keeping them out of the house but this one apparently got past our living traps.

Mice move FAST! Mom got a bucket to catch it in and I was assigned the role of mouse "herder". I am not good at being a mouse herder. I was laughing too hard to do any good and it moved WAY WAY fast. It managed to get away and down a  hole into the basement.

I am still shocked at the fact I screamed. I wouldn't say I was afraid of mice, but when I am cleaning and a moving thing comes from where I expect no moving things I was certainly startled.

I am happy to say we have not seen hide nor hair of the creature since and I removed all toilet paper from the floor so there is nothing enticing to nest in any longer. There has also been no evidence of a mouse in the cupboard since then and the cats did bring a "catch" to us which I am hoping was the offender.