Droppings

A few months ago, we had a mouse in the house. I am embarassed to admit that it took me a while to realize it was there. At first, I thought that the girls were tracking in little pieces of mud. The droppings were only on the floor. Then one morning there were droppings on my counters. That's the thing about mice, they leave little bits of you-know-what everywhere they've been. It's a great way to know what you need to sanitize or throw away. Anyway, one morning I found an energy jelly bean half eaten on my kitchen counter. While I was gagging, I imagined the night the little guy must have had, all juiced up on power beans. Then I got to work with the Clorox Bleach Wipes and the mousetraps. He was gone before the sun rose again.

Sadly, I was reminded of the mouse adventure today when I was walking through my house. My kids leave droppings everywhere! Not the biological kind, but little pieces of things to let me know where they have wandered during the day. A fruit snack here, a stuffed animal there, one little shoe in the middle of the staircase. While I love the reminder of my three favorite girls, I can't keep up. Like the mouse, the droppings are endless. Right now there is a dress-up shoe (high-heeled, of course) under my bed, a dirty sock in the hall, and an American Girl catalog with a Post-It stuck on the cover that reads, "Dear Santa, I have srcled what I want in this magazin" waiting for me on the kitchen table. Okay, the last one is something I can't get rid of just yet (even though there are more things circled that not), but the others... Where are the rest of those jelly beans??