sometimes you break a window and find a mouse in your apartment in the same day

Yesterday morning as Doug was getting into the shower he decided to crack open (no pun intended) the window because there's no fan in our bathroom. Apparently he doesn't know his own strength nor the power of the palms of his hands because he busted right through. The best part was hearing the glass break, hearing him yell out of frustration, and then walking in and seeing him standing there naked with the broken window.

Awesome.

And then last night I came home from tutoring, flipped on the light of the kitchen, and saw a mouse speed around the corner running for its life. Of course I screamed first, and then I started laughing. I mean, a mouse in our apartment?? That's funny! Doug was at work for another hour, so I did the logical thing and called my dad. Surely he could do something from Rhode Island. When he didn't answer, I called my landlord. I guess I just felt like I had to tell someone.

Meanwhile said mouse ran to hide behind our TV, but joke was on him--that's not much of a hiding place. But he quickly realized that and booked it accross the room (causing me to scream again) and hid in our bookcase. Next to our scriptures and my Honda manual. I didn't know what to do, so I just got on the computer right next to the bookcase and stared him down. I chatted with Jenn on Skype and we discussed my wimpiness and the funniness among other things. I kept my eye on him, and he wasn't moving. My dad finally called back, but--shockingly--his sympathy was minimal. He told me I was the size of a water tower to that mouse, so unless that mouse is a complete moron, he's not going to attack me. His logic was wasted on me, though, because I could HEAR the mouse in the bookshelf, most likely eating this way through 1 Nephi.

When Doug FINALLY got home I immediately told him the story, and he got right to work gathering tools: garden gloves, a paper sack, the broom, and a flashlight. I stood on the couch while he started shifting the books around on the shelf. The mouse came streaking out (they are surprisingly fast!) and I let out an uncontrollable scream and it ran right back where it came from. Doug was NOT pleased with my reaction. And then... it disappeared. We could not find it! Apparently he snuck past us and ran around the room or something when we least expected it. We spent the next 45 minutes looking for it in all the likely and even the unlikely places (note: he was not in the shower or the silverware drawer). That mouse is good.

We haven't seen him since, and I admit I'm a bit obsessed with where he might be. Despite the screaming, I'm slowly growing attached to him. I woke up at 2 a.m. and wondered if he was in our room at that very moment. Doug bought some traps today but I don't want to hurt him. I'm living this fantasy where I think he's the only mouse in our apartment and he's kinda cute and he's like a pet that lives in our bookshelf. Our neighbor downstairs told us they think they hear a mouse scurrying behind their kitchen cupboards. I feel a bit hurt that he would ditch us, so I'm assuming it's another mouse.

So breaking a window AND finding a mouse in our aparment in the same day?

DOUBLE AWESOME.