Let me start by saying, I keep a very clean house, and that even the cleanest of houses can get mice. I wouldn't normally share a story like this because its gross and I don't want to be judged but I know this is a safe space Last winter I had some mice move into my house. Its not an uncommon problem in the cold areas like where I live. It took a long time to get rid of them. The longer it takes to get rid of them the more they reproduce. Its a hard battle. They were mostly in the basement. I did have a couple of times where they got upstairs and into my cupboards . those were bad days because I spent all day disinfecting EVERYTHING in my cabinets. I have been putting off cleaning the basement because I knew it would be a big task. The mouse poo really triggers my health anxiety. Like seriously bad. Like, I really want to crawl out my skin. Not metaphorically, literally, crawl right out of it if I could. Today I decided today I really had to tackle it. I can't ignore it any longer, I enlisted my sister in laws help and we got started. Most everything I have in storage is in plastic bins but I also have some stuff in cardboard boxes. The cardboard boxes were the worst! I tried to be brave and started working with just some protective gloves. My sister in law wasn't bothered by any it so I wanted to be cool like her. The first box I went through triggered my allegories so bad I couldn't see for all the tears running down my face. After that I decided I needed use the respirator mask. I did better after that, but it was a real struggle. Wearing the mask made me feel better about not breathing in any mouse germs but it also made me feel suffocated like I couldn't breath properly. But I pushed on. For three long, long hours I worked down there feeling like I was going to pass out and not make it through this project. I am more than half done with it but I had to stop for today. I simply couldn't do it anymore. I will finish tomorrow. When I decided to call it done for the day I had to change all my clothes, disinfect the bottom of my shoes and disinfect every door handle touched . I still feel like my skin in crawling, I'm very unsettled, but I feel good knowing that my basement is almost clean and poo free. Hopefully we stay mouse free this winter. I mean I've lived here 15 years and never had a problem before so hopefully we will be good and I will never have to face this particular fear again. Honestly, how can something so adorable, cause so much trouble
