Mickey or Minnie?

I've had some interesting characters come through the church house in my almost six months of working there, but today's visitors were most UN-welcome. I guess I should say Thursday's visitors, because we only found evidence that they'd been there today. First thing this morning, I noticed some little black dots on the counter in the kitchen. Showed them to my coworker and we thought they were dead bugs. Five minutes later, I noticed some of those same little black blobs on my desk. "Uh, Amy, these aren't bugs! It's mouse droppings!" YUCK! EWWWW! NO!!!!!

We (OK, it was mostly me) freaked a little bit, then called the exterminator, who came and verified that we had, in fact, had visits from Mickey and/or Minnie, and maybe Mighty, too. Actually he said that what we saw could have only been done by one mouse. He also proceeded to use some exterminator "humor" by asking if we knew how to tell if the droppings were fresh. (EWWWW!!!) Then continued to tell us some of the physiological functions of mice and what we'd see if he shined a black light in the room. (I said, EWWWWW!). He investigated further, found the probable entry point under the sink, left a bunch of glue boards in strategic places, and left us to the task of cleaning up the office.

Since two of the glue boards are by my desk, I will be MOST unhappy if I come in on Monday to find Mickey or Minnie hanging around. And let me tell you, that glue is industrial strength! Later in the day, I accidentally stuck the leg of the step-stool on one of the glue boards in the kitchen and it was not easy to remove it!

My morning devotion this morning was an admonition to do everything without complaining, so I've been trying to find the positives in this experience and tried to look for ways to be thankful in this circumstance. I've been hoping that maybe the no complaining thing didn't count when you found mouse dookie on your desk and counters, but somehow, I don't think that's the case.

So for starters on the positives:

1. We have an incredibly clean kitchen at the church house (not that it was that awful before, but it's Clorox clean now).
2. And we got rid of mustard packets that expired in 2007 and various and asundry other things that had been stashed in those vintage cabinets.
3. I was not stressed out with other pressing matters this afternoon and was wearing jeans, so it could have been a lot worse.

I hope that Mickey and Minnie don't bring their friends to party at the church house this weekend, and if they do, that someone else finds them on the glue boards before I get there on Monday. I'm pretty sure that if I do see evidence of them, I'll need another reminder to be thankful and not complain!