Argh...the stupid mouse, or maybe another mouse, is back. Last time, I discovered there was a mouse when I would see it streaking across the floor around 3 am. At first, I thought that being up grading at that hours of the night was driving me to hallucinations, but when the thing started chewing holes in the dog food bags and when it ran practically under my feet when they were up on the ottoman, I knew it was a flesh and blood mouse not a hallucination. I'm not sure which would have been worse.

Anyway, Deogi found mouse #2. I heard him clinking around some pitchers that are sitting in the corner of the dining room until I decide what to do with them in the decor. He's never bothered them before, and after I called into the dining room to ask him what he was doing once or twice and he didn't cease and desist, I went to check it out. He was very intent, like when he is hunting down a spider. So, I stood there for a minute with him gazing at the pitchers and hoping for the best, a spider, fearing not so good, maybe an obnoxious cricket, but knowing in my heart of hearts that it was probably the worse, a mouse. I gingerly starting pulling the pitchers away from the corner. One...two... breathing easier, I only had one more to go. Ugh! I forgot that mice can scrunch up small. I pulled out the last pitcher, the dog moved in, and I moved away quickly. I ran back into the living room, jumping on the couch.

Side note: I had always hoped I was not one of "those girls" - the ones that jump on furniture and scream when they see mice. I'm disappointed in myself, but nonetheless, I am one of those girls.

So, I'm on the couch. Then, an inkling of rationality comes to me, and I realize that the dog is still scuffling around in the dining room. I was not rational enough to verify the location of the mouse at this point in time, but I think maybe for a few minutes the dog was nearly standing on top of it. Then, I realized that perhaps worse than a mouse getting me is my dog getting a mouse. Eww... I mean, he sleeps in my bed with me. I'm not found of the idea of his bedtime snack being a mouse. So then, sorry neighbors, at 11:00 pm, I start yelling, "No, Deogi. No! No! NO NO NO NO" You get the idea right? He slinks into the living room. I feel kinda bad because really he was just trying to do a good deed.

Anyway, I ran to the basement to retrieve the traps and set them in the corner of the dining. After Deogi got off the floor, he started to intently gaze into the fireplace. I think that is where he chased the mouse. There are some logs piled on each other in there, so it's entirely possible the mouse is on them. In a moment of mock bravery, I went upstairs put on my rain boots (so the mouse couldn't come close to touching my feet, got big long rubber gloves, and the broom. I searched for the mouse from across the room by shining a flashlight under the logs. I don't see him. I certainly wasn't going to pick up the logs. So, now, there is a board across the fireplace held up by the DVD stand and the dog food container. I'm 100% sure the stupid mouse can climb it because it's not quite big enough to cover the whole opening. I'm hoping though that if he's still in there, he will run into the trap that I set behind the board. Yum, mouse, don't you want some nice peanut butter cracker?

I'd better see a dead (or dying) body in the morning.

On a completely other random note, as if that wasn't random enough, on my way home from picking up my bridesmaid dress from the alterations place today, I saw a car that had a bumper sticker that said "I <3 ballroom dancing." There was also a bumper sticker for the local opera company on the car too. It just struck me as odd because someone with those hobbies doesn't seem like the bumper sticker type. Ok ok, that's admitting that I stereotype people, but really, ballroom dancing and opera -- not your typical bumper sticker subjects.

Update on the mouse: I don't think he's walked into the trap in the last 5 minutes 

So, I don't use my xanga space too often to record spiritual points, but something struck me tonight that I felt was worth writing out. Plus, for some strange reason, when I'm grading essays, I find it cleansing to do some writing of my own. So, here goes:

I was in Psalm 73, and these words jumped out at me: "But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Now, I'm not really envious of arrogant or wicked people really at this particular moment. To tell the truth, I don't have much time right now to even pay attention to what is going on around me in the broader scheme of things outside of the news that students have been giving in their required news speeches. However, I do know what it feels like to be slipping and stumbling because my focus is off. It's the time of the semester where it seems like there is an infinite amount of work to do in a painfully finite period of time. It's the time of the semester where I have to remind myself that even though I want to do my best to meet the deadlines coming at me from several different directions and that not doing so could mean consequences for me and others, these deadlines are not quite the life and death things that I make them out to be when I lie awake too tired to do anything else productive but far too worried and anxious to drift off to sleep.

The Psalmist continues on in his disbelief that people can choose wrong again and again and prosper in spite of their wrongdoing (again, not really my wrangling point right now) until he gets to the point where he says, "Until I came into the sanctuary of God." And, there's the perspective that I need. It's the perspective that should come as naturally as breathing to me by this time in my Christian walk, but it's the perspective that I still lose again and again and again. The Psalmist ends by saying, "As for me, the nearness of God is my good." Word choice is important, or so I've been writing on quite a few essays these days, and the Psalmist doesn't say, "The nearness of God is good for me." He says it is his good.

So, now I will go grade some essays because there is still too much Starbucks in my system to waste and because, mercifully, I can be more disciplined about staying away from Facebook after every sensible person in my friendship time zone has gone to bed and stopped posting about their lives (an entirely different subject for an entirely different day). It also seems that by returning to grading this the lesson I just read hasn't quite sunk in, and I'll be honest, it hasn't. The mountain of work is a big focal point for me right now, but sometimes it's helpful to be reminded  of where refuge is. It's far easier to set my emotional and spiritual GPS settings if I have an address.

Well, I spent the weekend with my Jillian in Virginia. We ate lunch outside, which was beautiful. I picked up a lawn chair last week, so I'm hoping that soon we'll get a break in the weather and I can grade outside also. I'm not sure though. It looks like it might stay just a little on the chilly side this week again. Gr...spring has got to come eventually. I don't want it to get hot because I am mindful that my house is not air conditioned, but I am eagerly awaiting for weather warm enough to start sitting outside in.

We also went shopping, encountered the most cranky dressing room attendant EVER, and watched Hancock. Everyone ripped on the movie, but I thought it was pretty good. You wind up laughing a little, and it has a plot line to follow. Not an in-depth plot line, but a plot line.

So, now I'm back at home, typing this quick note, and taking a deep breath before starting into the 3 week countdown to the end of classes for this semester.