Maybe the new neighbours are interested in a house mouse AND a MIL: Random Tuesday Thoughts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 2:14AM 
The new neighbours are here! The new neighbours are here! I saw the man pull up, and then take a kitchen chair out of his car and let himself into his new house. I was like - that's IT? A chair? You moved just a chair? In a Honda Acura? Who DOES that? Omigod these people are weirdos! And then I realized that, ahem, I'M the one standing on my own couch to stick my nose over the sill of the piano window to spy on him, because it's the only window on that side of the building, and I don't want to gawk out the front window. Who exactly is the whackjob here?
My suspicions were confirmed later when I texted Fashionista about their arrival and her response was, "So are you going to take them over a casserole or a loaf of fresh baked bread or something?"
Oh, right, THAT'S what normal neighbours do.
I may or may not have posted a while ago about how we have a mouse in the house. I can't remember. It really seemed kind of trivial to me - I saw it once, but it doesn't seem to poop anywhere important or eat the last handful of Goldfish crackers or anything. Unlike hubby, who seems to think it's the fourth horseman of the fucking apocalypse, I was pretty content to let it clean up after the toddler and scare the shit out of
himus every once in a while.Until today, when I was contentedly seated on the throne having a morning pee and heard this weird ticking noise. I looked down and saw a tiny pink nose poking out of a gap in the baseboards, gnawing away on the wood.
"You cocky little fucker!" I exclaimed, and the nose disappeared, like: crap, she saw me.
(Or more likely, Merde! I have been sighted! I must alert zee Resistahnce! Because I totally imagine mice all having this outRAYggggeous Franch accent.)
So now it's all-out war, mouse. My apologies in advance to your extended family, but you should have thought of that before you interrupted my morning constitutional with your arrogant display of teeny cojones.
My MIL apparently thinks I'm opening up my own mess hall. Or something. We have limited drawer space in our tiny kitchen, so since we moved in to this house I have been keeping my cutlery on the counter in mason jars. I don't know, I kind of thought it went with the 50s decor. But apparently this year it became too much for her, because she keeps buying me cutlery caddies to replace the jars.
The first time it was the (used!) plastic cutlery basket out of a dishwasher. Because yeah - THAT says 'classy' way more than canning jars.
This last time she was here she brought a new cutlery caddy, that came with it's own place setting for 4. In case that wasn't enough, she threw in an entire extra box of utensils. That's in addition to my original cutlery, which was complete and matching for 6 people.
When I queried hubby as to the motivation, he said she thought I might want cutlery that matched. But my cutlery DOES match. And I fail to see how giving me more cutlery THAT DOESN'T MATCH is going to help the situation at all.
I swear, it's enough to make me want to drill tiny holes in the end of each and every one of them and hang them from the ceiling.
I don't think I'm ready to start this cleanse tomorrow. I need to detox, before I can detox. I am going to have problems with the lack of caffeination. More than likely, other people are going to have problems with my lack of caffeination too.
I was going to post a Mother's Day thing yesterday about how you other moms should celebrate the things about yourself that aren't necessarily nurturing or maternal, the things that make you YOU that aren't making snacks or kissing booboos. Because those things make you a better parent, too. But then my kid threw things at my head all day and refused to nap and bit me and peed on some comics and screamed a lot, and I didn't feel like a good parent no matter what.
But, yeah, you should celebrate those things.
Never mind, I'll just post it next year.
I was also going to to post something to my own mother, along those same lines, about how much I appreciate her as a FRIEND and how intriguing and entertaining she is because she has so many aspects and interests that aren't directly related to motherhood. Plus because I didn't get her a card. But I felt like murdering instead of writing and she'd never read it anyway because she's on fucking dialup.
I'll just post it next year.
Okay, who thinks the people at MIT have waaaaay too much time on their hands?
(I still want one, though. I'd set it up in a corner of the living room and put a sign on it that says NO BOYZ ALOWD)
Aaaannnd on that note, I'm off to my Hut of Solitude. Want to play Random Tuesday Thoughts? Grab the button, make a random post, and link up with Mr. Linky! I had a little talk with him after the issue he had last week with commitment, and I think we're all on the same page. Nevertheless, he's on notice, so he gets one week to shape up or I'm demanding we go to counselling.
Happy Tuesday!
Reader Comments (67)
Random is soo soo good today. Hey canning jars - totally classy! My hubby has these two spoons from his mother that he uses for ice cream and refuses to let me throw out. They match NOTHING in my or rather our utensil drawer and I just want to chuck them. But somewhere inside I know that would be wrong.
Gotta love MIL's. Let me count the ways right?
I hope your new neighbors aren't freaks. I mean one chair? That's seriously weird.
I see nothing wrong with canning jars. And hey, it's your kitchen anyway.
This is my first time to join Random Tuesday Thoughts and mine was brought on by a bar of chocolate.
Happy Tuesday!
Peeking under the bathroom door to try to get a glimpse of a woman on the can, are you sure it was a mouse, I was guilty of that a few times! LOL!
LOL to mice having french accents! Why must mother in laws be so unbearable??
ONE kitchen chair would probably be something my hubby would do...it might be a 'guy thing'...
Cutlery in Mason jars are totally shabby chic classy - if I had more counter top space, I'd be all over that idea... :)
This is the first year I haven't seen any mice in our house (prancing right past our lazy cat who does nothing to stop it). I'd be in full-on war mode, too, if a mouse interrupted my morning constitutional - I'll be looking forward to hearing how it goes (and thinking of that funny movie 'Mouse Trap' until then). ;)
Wow - those MIT kids sure need to go out, drink way too many beers and maybe make some dumb choices with the opposite sex.
My MIL always give me strange serving trays, like Christmas tree shaped plates and stuff. I'm always trying to figure out what in the hell that means.
Can I have a cave and hang a sign that says "No Kidz Alowd!"??
I think new neighbor brought in one chair so he can sit while he tries to defend his new property against the his neighbor's french mouse revolution!
Your MIL sounds like my mom, she's always trying to decorate for me and sending over things that SHE likes and I have no room for. Good luck with that.
I'm always on the lookout for new neighbors and Jamie even yells for me to come look if there's a woman with a stroller within one block of our house. What? I need friends too.
I'm pretty sure your innocent little mouse friend comes complete with a million other relatives.. have fun with that one.
(I'm raising my hand....those people at MIT do have time to waste.) That WoW Pod is seriously a little too much.
Which did you decide casserole or bread? Or did you chose to pretend to wash your window so you could stalk him some more? For me it would be the window washing thing.
Who doesn't think the mice have outRAYggggeous French accents? Run away! run away!
Great post!
I'm leaving work now to buy some Mason Jars. I wonder if you take the new neighbor a friendly welcome dish if he'll offer you his "only" chair?
I have 2 of those pitchers for like gravy and stuff (Big for gravy honestly) on my counter full of utensils. I also have a drawer of utensils. It looks normal to me for stuff to be easy to reach.
As for the mouse, borrow a used cat litter box, not full of 'used" but so that it definitely has a cats scent, the mouse will FLEE in fear! :) my MIL swears by putting chocolate in the traps.
I cannot believe the nerve of the socialist bastard mouse to sneak a peek at you! He has no idea what he has gotten himself into!
ha - great RTT!! My SIL drinks out of a mason jar.... she prefers it..... so - nothing wrong there!!
At a grow house, you just need one chair to sit and guard the place, right?
Hey my husband thinks his mother in law is crazy too. She thought we should have more in our front garden last year. So... she came over with her own shovel and plants, started digging holes and planted our front garden. She didn't even knock on our door. Just went straight to work. He really didn't think it was all that fabulous.
Great randomness.
My Mother's Day included pants being peed in and a kid getting lost. I totally rock!
Okay, I had to snicker over the WoW Pod. I don't do MMORPGs (blogging takes up enough of my free time, thank you very much), but I'd so put one in my living room, too.
Beloved wouldn't let me, though. Party pooper.
Someone new moved in across the street. All I have seen is all of the plants she is bringing to the house. I think she is going to have a jungle going on.
My husband is going to laugh so hard when I show him that Pod, he played WoW for eight hours on Sunday (he let me just relax). Aren't all Mom's a little crazy, the kids drained all the other stuff from us. Mason jars are so useful, for so many things! Give your neighbors cakes in jars: http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/recipes/Jar_Cakes.htm
Great RTT! Umm, don't see Mr. Linky???
I'm doing Tuesday random thoughts! Woot.
Time for you to get a mouse trap-- i.e. a cat. :)
I think you and Mr. Linky need counseling.
http://greenjelloland.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">Random Tuesday Thoughts
A no caffeine detox? Glad I'm in Florida. You're gonna get VERY angry for a while... :-)
Okay, just saw the WoW link. We're doomed, I tell you! DOOMED!