First Things First

Go ahead. Ask me if I went looking for a computer stand today. No. Remember this is spring break. And I have two little grands to look after all week. Only two because 'the begger' is spending the week with her dad. 'The lawyer' and 'the warrior' were at each others' throats almost immediately yesterday morning, and I wanted to prevent that today. So I got them up early and changed their schedule all up, giving them the opportunity to unite in opposition to me. Clever grammy. Then I saw The Mouse.

I threw the towel back from the dish drainer and there he was, hiding under the overhang, looking up at me like his whole life was flashing before his eyes. He went from 0 to 60 in one second, sprinting down the countertop to disappear into my daughter's stove top with a flip of his tail.

My daughter told me(with a shudder) as she was leaving yesterday morning that she thought she saw a mouse, but didn't have time to do anything about it, she had to go to work. On the strength of that 'thought' I had spent the morning searching drawers, Cloroxing the counters and generally being paranoid. This was not just a thought. This was a genuine, bona fide, beady-eyed, bewhiskered disgusting little rodent. I went into grammy overdrive. The Clorox came out again, and after another cleaning frenzy, I baited an old-fashioned spring trap with a tiny dab of peanut butter, put it under the stove top, and turned out all the kitchen lights.

I eased into a comfy chair in the living room with my cup of coffee, leaned back with one eye on the early news, and waited. It wasn't a long wait. I love it when a plan comes together. After disposing of the evidence, I baited a fresh trap(in case the little beast wasn't alone), rounded up the grands and took them to my house for breakfast. We had planned a trip to the library, but it was a sunny day, not to be wasted indoors.

So we picnicked at the park, and I sat in the car and worked some puzzles in my new variety book while they kicked up their heels. We were alone when we got there, but not for long. The sun lured other restless kids and frazzled moms out of doors. All played together happily for a while, but then the 'warrior' started showing off for his admiring audience, and the 'lawyer' became his victim. I decided it was time to go home.

And so it went, one essential activity after another until the day has slipped away into weariness, and the eyelids droop and won't stay open. My eyelids, that is. Don't know about the kids. They are with their mother. So night night, sleep tight, and so on and so forth.