The Rutabaga Story-PART 2......EEK!!

(Original Watercolor Architectural Art Work by ruthsartwork)

       Ahhhhhh!...Home sweet home!...Or at least that's the way it's suppose to be, right?! O_O That's the way it 'has' been for us...until now!.....RE-CAP: Hubby cooking rutabags for the first time.....boiling them on high under the built-in overhead microwave!......microwave smoking, fumes filling the house!.......fans employed to get the smoke out of the house.......deep breath....Ahhhhhhh!......But, as it turns out,  that was only the beginning of the story. O_O

       We called the repair guy to come over and check out the microwave. But before he came we wanted to clean out the cabinet above the microwave and move everything so he could get to it, or take it out of the wall to fix it, or whatever he was gonna have to do! 

       Having a microwave mounted into the wall under a cabinet, and over a stove....NOT a good idea!!! But that's the set-up that was here when we moved in a couple of years ago...

      Although, as of today, I'm thankful that this microwave 'is' mounted all the way into the wall!!!...If you look in the photo you can see that there's only a can of red peppers in the cabinet over the stove. There was also a packet of gravy seasoning too. I don't know how it got in there! We don't generally keep things like that in open cabinets...Anywayyyyyyyy!...

      When hubby opened the cabinet to just make sure nothing was gonna be in the guy's way.....so he can get to the wiring..which you can see, right?!...he found the gravy seasoning packet......WITH HOLES IN IT AND CHEW MARKS!!!!!!! O_O ..*gulp!!*...He took a picture for me because I couldn't see in the cabinet, and because he didn't wanna touch it with his bare hands!!

       I'm gonna spare you the sight of it.......and the sight of the chewed electrical tape on the electrical cord with a trail of gravy seasoning going all the way to the hole where the cord came out of!!!!! O_O YIKES!!!...With the chewed up gravy seasoning and paper from the package everywhere, it looks like we have....and HAD....PLEASE LET IT BE 'HAD'!!!!....a mouse!

(Field Mouse Art Print by KiriMothDesigns)

      I just saw a news report from our local station yesterday, talking about the influx of field mice in people's homes now that the cold weather is upon us! Not in my wildest dreams did I think one....I hope it was one!...*gulp*...would get into our house!

      Maybe that really was dreaming, because a few months ago one of our neighbors was complaining that he had to call the exterminator because he found a mouse in his house. He was sure it was from his next door neighbor who had just moved in...We didn't think too much of it. Hey! It wasn't our house! And I'm such a nut about not having food out anyway, that I didn't worry about it!

      When I was a kid in the south, bugs and critters were a problem. So I grew up getting laughed at by my adult friends for being such a nut about washing every single dish out of the sink before bed every night....drying sinks and counters like a crazy person....and for keeping flour and cornmeal and anything else that was crawl in-able, or chew through-able, in the refrigerator or in solid plastic containers!...Oh, how happy I am now, that I did!!! All that mouse could get into in here was that gravy packet!!...Stupid gravy packet!!!....Although I had hubby investigate every inch of the house to make sure there was no other evidence of mice!! :-] I shouldn't be too worried...Even my crochet projects are in plastic bins!! ^_^ ...Once bitten....twice shy!....Maybe that's not the expression I wanna think about right now! ^_^

       Anyway....we're getting a new microwave in a few days...Once they un-mount it from the wall they'll be able to see what's going on back there...where the hole leads to....and if.........if...*gulp!*.......I'm hoping they don't find a zapped mouse with little 'X'es on his eyes! LOL...And if they do, that they don't tell me about it!!!!...Yuck!!!..Let's hope there is no part three to this story!! O_O I want my home to stay a 'home sweet home'!!

       This story didn't go where you thought it would, did it?! ^_^ It didn't for me either!!!!...I could let it get me in a 'Whoa is me'...'why me?'....kinda mood. But instead I'm gonna think about how much worse other people are having it than worrying about a simple field mouse in their house..and I'm gonna raise my head!!!....Have a good day, Everybody!....But still, dry up your sinks and put your dry goods in a non-get-in-able place!!! :-)

Struggle To Raise Your Head

Now, who am I to say
the way that others ought to live;
But my pep talk, to help you through,
I'm  motivated, now, to give.

The struggles of this system
are an alert-to raise your head;
To put one foot before the other,
and not lay down like you are dead.

Many things are just not fair.
They seem to happen just to you;
But is crying and complaining
all that you can find to do?

Use the logic of your mom-
who made you finish every drop,
and think of others who were hungry
for the food you left for slop.

In other words, just say
to yourself-when feeling bad:
"Look at all the other struggles
that the ones I love have had."

It doesn't  make it go away.
It doesn't  make your trials less real;
But it may make you raise your head,
and how you think,-and how you feel!