101

I'm not sure whether I feel more inspired or depressed by this... but I am sure I want to keep wearing sunscreen every day.

The 101 project

Awakening

There are plenty of bad ways to awaken. On a Tuesday, thinking it's Saturday. To the sound of water dripping from your ceiling. I submit, however, that one of the worst is to the sound of mice chewing through the carpet in your bedroom.

Oh, yes.

David had sealed all the radiator pipes going through the hardwood floors, but we hadn't worried about the bedroom, as the carpet tightly enclosed the pipes and seemed quite tough. Not too tough for mice, though, apparently!

The sound of fibers snapping, presumably between sharp rodent teeth, awakened me (not generally an easy task) at about 4am. I rolled over, saw David moving, and mumbled, "Do you hear that? I think it's mice." It was, at least to my sleep-besotted brain, a terrible, nerve-grating noise, which sounded like the mice were destroying the very foundations of our home. When David would stomp on the floor, the snapping would stop momentarily, though it quickly resumed with the same fervor. Confident the problem was in capable hands, however, I rolled back over and fell asleep. (David, who sleeps more lightly than I, couldn't, and was unfortunately awake for the next few hours. He reports that a mouse did make it into the bedroom--and into my closet.)

David discovered that there were gaps between the floor and the wall that had been covered by the carpet, so tonight he filled those, too. I did see one mouse today, down in the basement--close to poison the neighbor had set out.

With my luck, it will probably die amidst my storage boxes.

On a happier note, tonight I made an awesome dinner: soba noodles with cilantro-spinach pesto, salt and pepper tofu (with red bell pepper), and steamed broccoli. And then, because I'm trying to look less ribsy, most of a carton of Ben & Jerry's (the perfect chaser to an otherwise vegan meal). We couldn't find the camera, so you'll have to just trust me on this one, but it was bright, festive, and completely delicious.

Mice

Yes, mice.

Sigh.

So... quite awhile ago our neighbors spilled a bag of birdseed in the basement, and didn't get it cleaned up until recently. I had told them the extremely abbreviated version of the Mouse Wars horror stories, but I must not have been convincing enough, because the birdseed, and the mice whose tails I would see darting away from it when I went down there to do laundry, stuck around. I figured the first floor was a barrier between us and the vermin, and that the neighbors would get serious when they were invaded.

Apparently that happened sometime last week, and I feel both sad for them and a bit distraught that they were providing the mouse buffet for so long.

Anyway, yesterday, the invaders made it to our floor, apparently via the radiator pipes. David saw one, and went to the hardware store for steel wool and expanding foam. Although our current place is far better sealed than the last one, it is still a century old, and it looks like the mice were using those radiator pipes as their private heated highways, entering through the gap in the hardwood floor. (Also! I just remembered what David told me yesterday: that when our neighbor saw where the mice were entering the basement, he mixed up cement to seal up the hole. The mice tunneled through the wet cement. They are a surprisingly formidable enemy, for one so small, incompetent, and incontinent.)

So. David plugged up the holes. (The Small Dog was also very interested in the expanding foam; his sniffing around resulted in a little moustache that appears to be semi-permanent.)

But then, last night, I saw a fat little mouse running along the living room wall by the radiator. I shrieked, and may have continued shrieking each time the mouse moved, as David (drawn by the noise) and I stalked it as it ran to the other radiator before disappearing behind the fridge.

I ended up staying up really late as I prepared for today's first day of classes, and as I sat alone in the otherwise silent house, I could hear mouse-y scratchings behind me in the darkness. It finally appeared again, returning to the radiator and those newly-sealed pipes before running under a chair. I opened the front door, hoping to shoo it out, but it disappeared. I tried again when the mouse reemerged (all the while, maintaining what I considered an admirable silence!), but it disappeared into the office. Unable to find it, I--resignedly but determinedly--walked down to the basement and retrieved my store of mouse traps.

I set one with peanut butter, left it just outside the office, and headed to bed, leaving David a warning note. He reported this morning that the trap had its intended effect; the fact that I didn't have to witness it or bear away the results is just one more reason I love that man.

There have been no sightings today, and we're crossing our fingers that the one we saw was just a lone individual who had the misfortune of being on the wrong side (our side) of the new seals. Yeah. Fingers crossed.

On a happier note, it has been ridiculously warm here recently; today was sunny and nearly 50°! I ran errands on my bicycle this afternoon, and it was euphoric.

Also, this is Disaster Kitchen post #777--auspicious!

Christmas Cards

This year, as particularly Alert readers may have noticed, I didn't post my customary Christmas card notice. Then again, since I abruptly stopped posting anything three weeks into NaBloPoMo, it might not have been particularly surprising.

In any case, I did send out cards this year, but they went to people whose addresses I already had. I ended up having my cards professionally printed this year, and although I got a steal of a deal on them, I didn't think I could afford to expand my list much this year.* As it was, I had to have an extra one printed for me at Kinko's. Oh, but, yeah! I totally recommend Picaboo for card printing. Envelopes are even included, so with the deal I got, it was actually cheaper to have Picaboo print my cards than to do the photo-printing, card stock-buying, and envelope-procuring on my own (let alone much easier than the cutting and glue-sticking).

Ordinarily, of course, I show the previous year's card when I solicit this year's requests. Since I didn't get that done this year, though, I'll just show you last year's and tell you now that if you send me your address (disasterkitchen ((at)) gmail.com) now, I'll send you next year's:

As you may have noticed (with cards from 2009, 2008, and 2007 for reference), the cards have just gotten more elaborate and generally weirder. This year's is the weirdest yet, but I won't post it here until next year.

Meanwhile, several of you Alert Readers also sent fantastically creative cards this year! I do admit to loving the ones with adorable children/babies, and even the ones with cute couples, but quite possibly my favorite was Bog Lemming Superstar's. It took the non-traditional Christmas card to truly new heights, which I'll let her share if she so desires. Well done, I say.

So. I'm still sort of pretending it's the holidays--partly because about 3am yesterday I woke up with my every-two-to-three-years stomach bug** and spent nearly all day in bed, and have today been similarly low on productivity (and eating). The thought of gearing up for a semester that will include TA-ing (and teaching sections) for one class, teaching another two online, and, ideally, finishing my dissertation, is tiring even at full-strength. So, for at least one more day, happy holidays!

*See also: not blogging.
**Vegetarians are thankfully not very food poisoning prone

Idol

Last night I dreamed that Billy Idol was a very charming, slightly older, African American gentleman who had come to my (church? high school? workplace?) to give some sort of (presentation? concert?). In waking life, I own his Greatest Hits, but in the dream I was convinced that it was Rebel Yell.

It was one of my less bizarre and disturbing dreams in recent memory.