It is 40 degrees here but the SUN is out. It’s the 4th day in a row of big, beautiful sun. I’ve taught Hadley to say “Hello Gorgeous!” when we see the sun. They’re still so unaccustomed to it, which is so bizarre.

I’m headed to the library in a bit to pick up a book by Paul Newman’s daughter, Nell called The Newman's Own Organics Guide to a Good Life : Simple Measures That Benefit You and the Place You Live. It’s all about living a more eco friendly lifestyle. We’ll see. I’m reading James Frey’s My Friend Leonard now. The follow up to A Million Little Pieces and after 10 pages it is just as good as the first. Heartbreaking.

We installed a kitty door in the garage so Stan could get into the garage and then into the house because there is a kitty door from the garage into the house. (Does that makes sense?) My initial fear was that he would bring in dead animals. He didn’t do that. At first. In the last 3 days, we have found 2 dead ones and 1 live one. The funny thing about the dead ones is that it doesn’t phase Hadley. She was playing with something and then stopped and said “Uh oh, Mom. Dead mouse over there. I’ll get Finn away from here.”

Now, a dead mouse outside isn’t really a big deal to me but for some reason a dead one, IN my house is nasty. Beyond nasty. Here’s where you’re going to think I’m a freak. I said there was 1 live one. The live one didn’t bother me nearly as much. Yesterday I walked downstairs and was talking to Peter when he said “Oh wait, hold on” and darted into the living room. I had no idea what he was doing but then he says “I got one.”

“You got one what? A mouse?? It’s alive?” I said hoping it is.

“Yup,” he says as he walks toward me with the yellow lego bucket. “It’s really cute.”

He puts the bucket up on the kitchen table so we can all admire our Christmas mouse. It IS freakishly cute. It was a round little chocolate brown mouse.  I picked up Finn so he could see too and he squealed with joy. Hadley was already asking if we could keep it. We told her it needed to go home to his mommy. Peter let it go in the backyard. This afternoon, Peter said there is another dead mouse under the picnic table outside. I don’t have the heart to go look and see if it is “our” mouse.