I should be busy calling friends, having a serious conversation with my husband, prepping my children to behave in synagogue, preparing a break-fast and ...
instead I am sitting on the couch horror-stricken as I watch the mice run freely across the living room. You know, the floor strewn with toys and where my children will get dressed in a few short hours. All career angst will be postponed until the mice are under control.
The thing is that this is NYC. We live above Dunkin Donuts (up 6 floors, but still). And a famous pizza place. And a bubble tea storefront. And we are the only residents of our floor who have been here less than 40 years (nothing against old folks, but their tolerance for mice is way higher than mine).
Oh, and I am paranoid of spraying chemicals and my adorable dumpling is a toddler boy who loves to explore gadgets, so no glue traps or even kid-friendly snap traps allowed. Instead we bleach, scrub, reseal every electrical outlet and crack ... and hope that our neighbors eventually call in the toxic chemicals. Other suggestions welcomed (we have the plug-in sound rodent things, and don't think they work). There have been mice before and they have always disappeared within a week. All of our food is in glass jars or the fridge. The bleach is out. But I am suspicious that these are baby mice and the nest may well be near our apartment. I am also so entirely grossed out by NYC rodents touching toddler toys that I may well spend the next week disinfecting every toy in sight (seriously, there were bite marks on two board books ... and the cardboard box where we keep the blocks ...).
Mice. Gross. Career angst on hold.
But in all seriousness, even if JD were living here, you'd better bet that both the mice and the fusspot's doctor's appointment would fall to me. Speaking of which, utter success. I priced appointments with CityMD (very reasonable), the copay at the pediatric ER (covered by insurance), got an estimate from our pediatrician ($350 and they wouldn't even commit to no higher than that) ... and then got our actual pediatrician on the phone who offered to just write off the bill entirely. So yeah, I paid $50 cash and she wrote a note for the billing department and that was easy and done. But 4 phone calls that I placed this morning even though theoretically any of them could have been done by JD, even from afar (this is not really a criticism of him, but more a need to acknowledge that even in 2012 household management is time consuming and annoying).
Mice. 4 feet away from me. Not in the least scared of me. So gross.
instead I am sitting on the couch horror-stricken as I watch the mice run freely across the living room. You know, the floor strewn with toys and where my children will get dressed in a few short hours. All career angst will be postponed until the mice are under control.
The thing is that this is NYC. We live above Dunkin Donuts (up 6 floors, but still). And a famous pizza place. And a bubble tea storefront. And we are the only residents of our floor who have been here less than 40 years (nothing against old folks, but their tolerance for mice is way higher than mine).
Oh, and I am paranoid of spraying chemicals and my adorable dumpling is a toddler boy who loves to explore gadgets, so no glue traps or even kid-friendly snap traps allowed. Instead we bleach, scrub, reseal every electrical outlet and crack ... and hope that our neighbors eventually call in the toxic chemicals. Other suggestions welcomed (we have the plug-in sound rodent things, and don't think they work). There have been mice before and they have always disappeared within a week. All of our food is in glass jars or the fridge. The bleach is out. But I am suspicious that these are baby mice and the nest may well be near our apartment. I am also so entirely grossed out by NYC rodents touching toddler toys that I may well spend the next week disinfecting every toy in sight (seriously, there were bite marks on two board books ... and the cardboard box where we keep the blocks ...).
Mice. Gross. Career angst on hold.
But in all seriousness, even if JD were living here, you'd better bet that both the mice and the fusspot's doctor's appointment would fall to me. Speaking of which, utter success. I priced appointments with CityMD (very reasonable), the copay at the pediatric ER (covered by insurance), got an estimate from our pediatrician ($350 and they wouldn't even commit to no higher than that) ... and then got our actual pediatrician on the phone who offered to just write off the bill entirely. So yeah, I paid $50 cash and she wrote a note for the billing department and that was easy and done. But 4 phone calls that I placed this morning even though theoretically any of them could have been done by JD, even from afar (this is not really a criticism of him, but more a need to acknowledge that even in 2012 household management is time consuming and annoying).
Mice. 4 feet away from me. Not in the least scared of me. So gross.
3 comments:
Borrow a cat, and good luck.
Ugh. I hate mice. So sorry. Would second the cat idea. Or a terrier, or any kind of hunting dog. My previous dog was a better hunter than any cat ever. Here in field-mouse overrun old farmhouse, we've had decent luck with the live traps (of course then you have to deal with live mice...) since we too have a curious toddler (and a completely useless whippet.) We finally broke down and got a cat and haven't seen mousie evidence since...
Apparently, mice hate the smell of peppermint. So cotton balls with a drop or two of peppermint oil behind the oven etc.
If there are places where your small one doesn't go (like around pipes under sinks/cabinets) borax.(two dollar boxes in laundry aisle) Mice don't like it on their feet.
Also, we had a particularly brave mouse and I ended up setting up snap traps (with peanut butter) ALL OVER my living room and kitchen at night after the kids went to sleep, since mice are more active at night. Then in the morning, I would round them all up before the kids wandered around. Even if they had to sit on the couch and wait. Ha. Then we got him, and he was fat and I felt terrible but GROSS. Also, look up how to place the traps against the wall for the best outcomes.
I can't believe I have this much to say about mice but UGH, I FEEL YOUR PAIN.
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