Squeak

It was a lovely afternoon. It was very unseasonably warm for Chicago. I got home from Church and found a quiet and peaceful house. Perfect, I had some things I needed to work on.

After about 45 minutes I decided it was time for some food, so I scrounged around in the fridge and found my left overs from last night's Kuma's Corner. So good. Just as I was about to put it in the microwave, Nelly comes out of her room and says, "Do you hear that?" I look at her and ask, "Um, the microwave? Cause I hear that."

"No," she says, "the chirping."

I was quiet for a second. Then I moved my foot and the floor squeaked. I looked at her questioningly. She shook her head.

Then I heard it. A chirp. And again. And again. What was that? After some ridiculous brainstorming and a bit of fun, we decided that maybe we had a bird in the house? I told Nelly that I was going to look for it. Good thing I had my head lamp.

After I told Nelly to close all the doors to the kitchen, she made sure to close herself out of the kitchen. I guess she doesn't like things flying at her. I checked the cabinet it was coming from and didn't find anything. I moved the fridge and didn't find anything, except a bunch of dust. So I got out the broom and started sweeping up. My broom swept under the cabinet and caught on a spider trap. I knelt down to see what else was down there, and I saw another sticky trap. With a mouse!

Squeak.

Ugh.

Alive.

Alive and crying for his life.

In the basement there are glue traps, and they are filled with spiders. I figured that is what these contraptions are: spider catchers. Spiders don't cry as they starve and won't smell after death.

Mice do.

What was I going to do?

Squeak.


Ugh, this is horrible.

I decided I would report to Nelly.

She informed me that these traps are intended to catch mice.

What? Seriously? This is a thing? It is horrible! It is horrible for the mouse, it is horrible for me, and it is horrible for the person I am going to call to exterminate. Where is Jesse Katsopolis the First Season when I need him?

Squeak.

Oh, Jesse.

I have a home teacher named Jesse. Maybe he is available to help me out.


Squeaaaaaaal.

I called him immediately.

Squeak.

Jesse answered but he wasn't able to come over for 2 hours.

Squeal!!

I told him I looked forward to his coming.

I got off the phone, reported to Nelly, and then we heard the mouse squealing, squeaking, and crying.

My stomach dropped.

We couldn't wait two hours. There was no way I could sit there and listen to the painful and slow death of that mouse.

Ugh, so gross.

Then I remembered Matt! He lives around the corner, and most importantly he is online.

I picked up my computer:

3:17 PM me: Matt!

 Matt: Myriah!

 me: are you at home? do you have a minute to come over here and save me from the mouse we found on the spider sticky trp thing in our kitchen????

3:18 PM Matt: haha the mouse stuck in the trap? So you just need the mouse thrown out/

  ?

3:19 PM me: yes, but the mouse is alive. and squeaking. but he can't move

  cause he's stuck and wining

  and i can't handle it

3:21 PM Matt: ok im on my way

 me: bless your heart

  and i'm googling processes

3:22 PM Matt: im thinking shoe

3:24 PM wait

  bat!

Please note the pause when Matt realized he is going to have to kill a mouse. I like to think that he is just asking his wife if he can come over, and not just pausing because he doesn't actually want to kill a mouse. 
Please also note that I can't manage to format this after I cut and copied the chat. 
Nelly and I waited in suspense for about 8 minutes, 2 of which were spent googling processes, and let me tell you: DO NOT DO THAT. It is a horrible part of the internet that nobody needs to see. 
Matt shows up, bat in hand, and I lead him to the area of death. I inform him there are also some bricks if he needs them. We open all the doors to the back yard, I give him a plastic bag, and then, brave soul, he grabs the mouse, takes it to the back yard, and I went to the living room to pray. 
He came back, and handed us less horrible mouse traps. "Here," he said, "use these next time."
Will do, Matt, will do. And also, thank you for saving us. 


  

Standing Outside the Fire

Sometimes when I listen to music I cry.

I just do, okay?

I was minding my own business on my way home from work today when Garth Brooks came on my cute little iPod. Garth was singing "Standing Outside the Fire".

Oh man.

Oh, man.

Not once in my known memory have I not cried while listening to this song. I remember the first time I saw the music video.
I was in the third or fourth grade.
It was after school, and I was watching CMT.
And I cried.
I bawled.
I couldn't breathe.
I don't remember ever feeling like that before.
But mostly, I was embarrassed and was glad no one had seen me crying at a music video.


Fast forward to the year 2005.
I was living in Idaho, in C4, and I had just come home from work. I was walking through the living room when the music video for "Standing Outside the Fire" suddenly appeared on our TV screen.

I stopped.

I had avoided that video my entire life.
And now, there it was.
There wasn't a soul in the living room.
Just me and Garth.
I stood transfixed.
As the message of the song and video unfolded before my eyes and in my heart I started to cry.
Tears were streaming down my face. I basically knew it would happen. I figured Garth and I could have another private moment. It was about time, anyway. It had been years since I had last seen the video.

As I stood there with my things in my arms, my face glowing with tears, eyes glued to the TV screen, I noticed a slight movement of energy to my left. I turn my head and here comes Tara bustling around the corner. She sees me.

She stops.

She stares.

Her mouth opens just a bit.

She looks at the music video.

She looks at me.

She says, "Are you crying???!"



I have no idea what I did then. I only remember Tara's shocked face. She was astounded, I think. I'm pretty sure Tara never looked at me the same after that.

Anyway, I figure you should probably all watch the video.



I hope this version is okay; I didn't watch it all the way through.

Red Rover

We went to the beach a few days after the corn feed, and witnessed this huge group of teenagers enjoying a game of Red Rover. People were even running from the ocean shouting, "Wait for me!I love Red Rover!!!!!"

We were all amazed.
I know i haven't seen anyone that excited to play Red Rover since 4th grade.

Things are sad sometimes

I finally threw out my favorite house shoes. I found a replacement for them, but it's just not the same. I was so sad the day they really officially became unwearable.

And other traumatic news:


Friday night was vomiting night. Somehow, i had gotten sick. So i puked up a storm. In the middle of the night, of course. So i stayed up, vomiting, and didn't get to bed until 8 in the morning.
Because of this, i had a really late night on Saturday. I sat down at my computer, contemplating life, and noticed that the top of my book shelf was wet. It turns out that one of my favorite (not) roommate had left some food storage in the cupboards above my book shelf. She had a gallon of water up there that somehow got a hole in it, and slowly leaked all over my stuff.