There she was, early in the morning, minding her own business, picking through the produce (red peppers to be exact) in our local IGA, when to Sissy’s surprise, out pops a little furry grey head with black, beady eyes. Eeeek! Startled, she jumps back! Once recovered enough to speak, she turned to a female worker behind her and told her what she spotted. The worker quickly disappeared behind the door. Nothing. She then found two other young workers and repeated her story of horror. They walked over, inspected the scene of the crime, and said “Oh yeah, I see him!” And that was that. The third worker that was approached agreed that it was indeed disgusting. He asked, “Was it in between the jars”? “No, (you moron) it was in the fresh produce”. Not that any of the produce was too fresh that early in the morning.
Who would expect a mouse to greet you at the grocery store amid the red peppers? Does that mean that the mouse actually does its business in our fruit and veggies – I would guess yes! Yech! To hear her tell the tale once safely home, nobody seemed to really care if there was a mouse amid the produce, and this, needless to say, ticked off Karen no end. We did indeed have to return to pick something up (we were cooking dinner for a cousin that same evening) and Karen insisted on bringing me to the red pepper stand to show me exactly where she saw the mouse. “Get away from there” I shouted. “It could still be there waiting to attack!” I wasn’t happy being anywhere near the whole fruit and vegetable section all together.
Unbeknownst to me, Karen was still stewing. This latest mouse incident did not sit well and was still sticking in her craw. In fact, she insisted we go back to the store today to bring this disturbing (to say the least) incident to the attention of THE OWNER! It was as if he was expecting her. Yes, he knew about it and yes, when she saw the mouse it had already been slowly poisoned and it was slowly dying (no doubt in the produce section of the store). Peanut butter houses had been set up to trap the creature, and he explained how, during the ongoing renovations the door was accidently left open too long and one little, tiny mouse had managed to creep through. Sissy felt better now that we knew the story, and off we went. No doubt, I will keep my eyes peeled for any little beady eyes peeking back at me amid the fruits and veggies when I shop at that store.
Having had a mouse problem just last year (and the year before that, and the year before that) in our old house, I have to say I am not a fan. One sighting during the day had me sitting in the living room clutching a broom, terrified to walk down the hall into the kitchen. I promptly called Karen to inform her that if she wanted me to finish dinner (I was cooking dinner for guests that evening) she had better hightail it home NOW because I was horrified and was going nowhere. Another incident had us cornering a mouse into a corner, while we whacked it over its head with a broom. Whack, whack, whack, whack, whack! Now that it was dead what were we supposed to do with it? No way either one of us would touch it. I know, we’ll call our neighbour to come and dispose of it. She had a Ph.D. in something scientific so obviously she had to experiment with mice in her day. No problem, after our hysterical phone call she came over pronto. Unfortunately, she did not have experience with this particular type of mouse, but she agreed to help. We rounded up an empty box from Snowdon Deli party sandwiches, held it open and she swept it in. We quickly closed the box, wrapped it in a small grocery bag, and put it outside on the back balcony.
The next day, the bag had gone missing. We couldn’t figure out who would want that bag. Funny thing was, weeks later, we were talking to our upstairs neighbour who told us that she happened to see the bag on the back stairs while she was walking up (it must have blown off the balcony) and not knowing, thought there might be something of importance in it and opened up the bag (and the box). Needless to say, she was horrified! We had a good laugh over that one!
On the business end, advertisements were placed in three well-known international beading magazines and the response has been very positive. We spend a good part of our day filling orders and going to the post office (where I fight with the clerk at least once a week). “Are you sure it weighs that much? Weigh it again!”
One of my favourite parts of the morning is sitting down and seeing who visited our site in the last 24 hours. We have visitors (and orders) from all over the world – Australia, Philippines, Finland, India, Russia, China, South Africa, United Kingdom, just to name a few.
One of my newest discoveries is Street View. Karen thinks I’m nuts, but I think it is fascinating. Type in a city and “drive” around and view the sites. Its like you were there, visiting. United States, Europe, Australia and Japan, and just yesterday they added major cities in Canada. I now know where all my cousins (who I have never visited) live and can actually see their houses. Remarkable!
Oh yeah, if you never hear from Karen again it’s because I killed her. She plays this card game on the computer at the desk next to me. Every time she gets a certain number of matches a loud trumpet blows, and scares me to death! Da Ta Du, Da Ta Du!
I am including some new pictures of our finished Pandora jewellery and accessories. I am also adding a link to a really neat site of gorgeous photos – of insects! They are marvellous! Visit http://acidcow.com/pics/4370-amazing-insect-images-by-igor-iwanowicz-60-pics.html
Don’t forget to visit us at www.beadandsave.com! We are always adding new products to the site, as well as putting great beads “on sale”. We look forward to your comments!
Have a great week-end!
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