in which i relieve myself of rat trauma that has gripped me for a few days now

after 4 days of endless worrying and staying out of the kitchen, i think my rat trauma is finally showing signs of subsiding. after 2 packets of rat poison, lots of chewed up newspaper bags and probably lots of roaming around in my kitchen, my very own stuart little seems to have left my home.

there is no logical explanation other than that, because in a smallish house, with close to no furniture, there arent too many places stuart could have gone into hiding. the few places he could have, we searched thoroughly and no amount of disturbance or shaking things up got him out of those places. so i concluded that he wasnt there.

the finale came in the form of "trouble gum" -- a nifty contraption manufactured by pest control india, that is a sheet of cardboard smeared with super sticky adhesive on one side. one has to simply place it where the rat roams, drop a piece of bait and let the rat come get it. once it does, it gets stuck. literally.

we laid the sticky trap out last night, with a nice tempting piece of fresh bread. this morning, i crept out to have a peek and there sat the piece of bread. just the way we had left it last night. no sign of the rat. which only further confirmed my feeling that stuart has either: 1) taken a dive out of my kitchen window 2) died in the insides of my washing machine 3) has decided our home isnt good enough for him and gone on looking for greener pastures.

finally, normal life can resume again. i havent cooked a single meal since saturday night, when stuart made his grand entry. because i couldnt bear the thought of being in a kitchen where a hairy rat has roamed all over. leaving invisible rat paw prints on my kitchen things. stepping in only to make my morning cup of chai, i have subjected the husband and myself to copious amounts of eating out. and i cannot take it anymore.

frankly, im quite relieved to go back to normal. out of the grip of rat trauma. thanks stuart, for leaving me alone :P

current mood: elated!
current weather: rainy and oh-so-loverrrly
current obsession: hey soul sister, by train. listen to it!