a mouse in the house, a Christmas mouse?

Nope, just a field mouse trying to eat my pies.  So, we set a few traps.  One was behind the microwave on our counter, since we saw...evidence...that he had been there.  We set the trap, went to my sister's for thanksgiving dinner, then returned home to get ready for bed.  I came down the hall from our bedroom to Troy standing in the hall telling me he had an "interesting" situation.


I followed him into the kitchen while he explained he injured the mouse.  But, the mouse had escaped from the trap.


And was running free on the counter.


Actually, he was just cowering behind the microwave.


In front of a bloody mess.  Blood was splattered all over the counter back there.  Nasty.


We were faced with the dilema - how to catch him?


Why, with a kitchen knife and grill tongs, of course!

I used the knife.  Troy used the tongs.  I chased, he waited and snapped.  We lifted the microwave.  We missed, and missed.  Oh, and missed.


Finally, I thought we needed to try a different tactic.  I made my move to set the knife down in the sink, and...


The mouse FLEW out from under the microwave right at my face.  I turned, in slow motion, saw him flying at my face, and, even though I have laryngitis, screamed bloody, (ha ha), murder.


Troy, being the athlete that he is, snatched the mouse out of his midair flight right as he was nearing my eyes.


Just kidding, the mouse actually fell into the sink on it's way to my face, and Troy tonged him right up, ran out the door and tossed him far away into the field.




Great Thanksgiving story, right?


You should hear what my parents found when they got home...

Our Thanksgiving weekend

This year, we went to Troy's sister's house for Thanksgiving.  We had turkey,

yummy side dishes,

and fun with family.

The church's music director was on vacation again, so Troy led worship this Sunday.  We had a great time in Kidmo, the children were in the mood to participate, which we always love!

We went to another church in the area and led them in an afternoon of praise and worship.  Thank you, Spring Harvest Church, for the opportunity!

Now, back to the daily grind...

Trick or Treat 2009

We don't take the girls door to door on Halloween, but we did dress them up and take them to Grandpa & Grandma's and across to our neighbor's, Mrs. Robin.  Averie was a cow and Camdyn was Tinkerbell.

Daddy posed with both of them on our front steps.

Isn't she a cute cow?

Then, we had hot dogs and homemade apple pie after the festivities.  Yummy!  I'll have to post my recipe, soon.  It was a combination of a couple of recipes from my old church's cookbook.  It's nice cooking things I can remember or at least imagine those who wrote them making.

I love leaves

We rent a house with at least 6 huge maple trees. I love their shade in the summer, and I love their leaves changing in the fall. We have the prettiest fall trees on our street. Now that it's getting later in the year, those pretty leaves are starting to fall. My landlord swept up a ton of them yesterday, these very leaves are now gone...

It's so windy, (and warm!), today, there are almost as many leaves down, now, as there were before he swept. But, they are blowing across the street into the field behind our neighbor's house. The farmer probably loves it, because our soil is full of clay, and leaves help adjust that problem. I would, at least.
So, we're having chili for dinner. And pumpkin cookies for dessert :-) Yum! Great fall foods.