Another month or two has gone by, and I haven’t written a single post. I miss writing here so much but am hamstrung by my brain when it comes to actually doing it. Every idea I have in my head falls into one of two categories: what I could write about but don’t actually feel like writing about, and what I feel like writing about but am not sure I want the world to read.

In an effort to just write something to see if I can either get myself to a place where I feel like expanding on some ideas on one or the other category, I’m just going to share some dumb thoughts and some random anecdotes from my life lately. Maybe something I write will make you laugh, maybe something I write will make you think, maybe something I write will make me laugh or think. Maybe none of those things will happen, but I’m at least holding out hope that it will spark something in me to keep writing.

So, random anecdote No. 1.

this story is about these two yahoos, specifically the one in the foreground

I agreed to take a freelance assignment from my old employer that kept me out of the house all of Thursday evening after I finished up at my day job. Somewhere around the time when I was driving from one place to the next, the Modern Love Machine was at home trying to figure out why the dogs were going ape about his closet, which is located in our home office (old house, must get creative with limited closet space). He went into the room to see what was holding their attention. As he walked up to the door, Penny (the one in the background in the above photo) lined up behind him, and Lucy was right behind her as if to create a receiving line to greet whatever needed to be greeted.

The MLM opened the closet door and, without really knowing what was happening, watched as Penny got down snarling and Lucy went into pounce mode. The MLM presumed it was a cricket — it wouldn’t have been the first time those dog lost their shizz about a cricket — and was closing the door to the closet when Lucy crunched on something and then spit it back out.

You guys, there was a mouse in my house.

When I was laying in bed that morning, 3/4ths asleep but trying to will myself awake, I had thought I’d heard something squeaky coming from the shared wall between my side of the bedroom and the home office. I convinced myself in true half-asleep fashion that it was my own tossing and turning in bed, even though the noise seemed to catch the attention of Lucy, who usually does not move a strand of fur when I stir in bed in the mornings. Now I realize we had both heard the squeaks of a mouse without realizing exactly what it was. I realize I live with a dog who is mostly terrier, so I don’t have to worry about any critters getting to me before she gets to them, but, still, mouse in the house.

While I have a high tolerance level for spiders and other home-dwelling bugs, I was not exactly prepared for co-dwelling rodents. Though I’ve always teetered on the verge of being too terrified of our dark, damp, creepy basement to actually go down there, I’d done a pretty good job of overcoming my fear of the potential critters that reside down there to do what I need to do. On Saturday, I had to have the MLM accompany down there for the three minutes I needed to put the Halloween decorations away. This does not look good with my self-sufficient independent bit I like to manifest.

Sigh.