Well THAT was stupid...

I'm kicking myself right now.  A couple nights ago I walked over to the kitchen sink to put a dish in it, and I looked down and saw this tiny little baby mouse drowning in a cake pan that was full of water.  I felt so sad for it!  I couldnt let the poor thing just drown.  It was swimming around, barely able to keep its head above water.  I know that might seem so disgusting to some people.  Well I had 3 pet mice when I was little, as well as numerous hamsters.  I think mice are cute :)  I even like taking a little extra time when I'm in Petco, to watch them in the little class cages.  Theres honestly nothing about mice that I think is gross, or freaks me out.  So naturally, I couldnt let this poor little mouse just die like that, right in front of me.
I picked it up out of the water by its tale and set it on a napkin that was nearby.  I called Mr Darling into the kitchen and showed it to him.  He felt sorry for it too.  This mouse was SO tiny.  The little gal was maybe an inch and a half long and its legs were huge and kangaroo-ish in proportion to its body, which made it even more precious.
So its wrapped up in this napkin that I'm cupping in my hands.  I'm totally distracted because I'm talking to Mr Darling about what we should do.  I looked down and the little mousy had crawled out of the napkin and was heading towards my hand, which totally caught me by surprise and I screamed and dropped her on the ground.  Then she just laid there COMPLETELY motionless, and I started to cry thinking I had killed it!  Meanwhile, Mr Darling was probably thinking I had completely lost my mind, getting so emotional over a rodent (hey, it has been a stressful couple of weeks)!  I scooped her back up and grabbed my beta's old fish bowl out of the closet, shredded up a couple of paper towels, and then put her in it with a piece of bread.  I put her in front of the heater and just watched her.  She didnt move at all, except for the occasional twitch :(  It was sad.
I had to get to work on some stuff in the office, so I brought her in there with me and set her on my desk so I could keep my eye on her progress.  I decided to name her Mizu, which means mouse in Japanese.  She stood up after a little while and started nibbling the bread.  Then she would fall back over and just lay there, twitching.  Then she would stand up again and eat, then fall back over... this went on for about an hour.  I needed to get to bed, so I put saran wrap over the opening of the bowl and cut a little air hole in the middle of it.  Obviously I didnt want her getting out in the middle of the night.  When I woke up the next day I went straight to the office, worried I would find her dead.  I looked into her bowl... kept looking... looking... yeah, she was gone.  That little mouse had recovered and literally JUMPED OUT of the bowl through that little hole in the saran wrap!!!  There was no way she would have been able to climb the sides, so jumping out was the only way, and I still cant figure out how she did it.
That night I spotted little Mizu in the kitchen, at least 8 or 9 times, running amok and doing whatever the heck she felt like doing.  I knew it was her because her fur was all matted because it dried funny.
Now I'm sad because, although I really do like pet mice, I do NOT like mice in my kitchen.  They poop and pee wherever they go and its disgusting.  Now little Mizu must die :(
So I'm feeling really stupid.  I nursed that little mouse back to health, just so she could escape back into "the wild" where I will find her, and kill her.  Am I sick? lol
She's too little to set off the traps we put out.  I accidentally caught her walking all over one (I dont like to look at the traps because I worry there will be a mouse in it.  Mr Darling checks them every hour though) and eating the bate off of it.  She's too little for it to even register that she's on it.  We have resorted to poison.  I feel bad they will have to suffer (I'm sure being poisoned isnt a very comfortable way to die)...
And its not like she's the only mouse that has made itself at home here.  I know that if she's out there, there have to be tons more.  Why did they have to come HERE!?  I hate killing little critters!
Well, merry freaking Christmas, mice.  
Here are some pictures I took of little Mizu, before she pulled a Houdini and jumped ship in the night.

all wet and still in shock.

Her kangaroo legs :)

*nibbles*

Dear Mizu,
                   I really wish you would have stayed in your fish bowl.  You would have only needed to stay there until morning, and then I was going to buy you a nice new house with tubes, an exercise wheel, and an endless supply of food and water.  But you didnt stay.  You escaped.  And now you are going to die.  Because you see, Mizu.  I cant JUST poison all your little mouse friends, and not poison YOU.  Trust me, I wish it could be that way, but it cant.  I hope you have a quick death, with little or no pain.  I know you'll enjoy mouse heaven.  Please say hello to Mrs Mouse 1, and Mrs Mouse 2, as well as that boy mouse I had who's name I cant remember.  If Chewy and Scratchy happen to be there as well (do hamsters and mice share a heaven?) , send them my love.  They were my favorite hammys. 

Sincerely,
                  your 5-minute-mama

I wasnt much of a pet-namer when I was little. lol.  I think I've gotten a little better in my old age.