I Hereby Declare War!

I may be a microbiologist, but I don't consider myself a germaphobe.  I like my kids to go outside and get dirty.  Scrud, I like to go outside and get dirty myself.  We eat food that's fallen onto the floor or ground.  I eat my kids' leftovers on their plates (call me weird, go ahead).  That all being said, I have a few, very clear, lines when it comes to what grosses me out.  Recently, one of those lines has been crossed.  Our house has been invaded.  By mice.  

I want to squirm, scream like a little girl, power hose everything with bleach, and use whatever means necessary to feel like I have my house back.  Even if I feel it needful to use barbaric methods, count me in (speaking of which, how many people have you heard really care about using "humane" ways to kill mice?  To me it seems like all bets are off when it comes to rodents and pests.  We all just want them dead.  Very dead).  

We used to live in a house built in 1948.  We dealt with mice a little off and on.  They were tricky buggers.  Normal traps wouldn't kill them.  We had to get creative.  We eventually found their point(s) of entry and they were never heard from again.  Inside the house.

We moved this past spring.  Our new house was built in 1979.  But it's close to a river.  So naturally we deal with more small animals and rodents (more on voles and garter snakes another day).  We have a fruit room of sorts under our front steps.  It's an extended pantry and a great, cool place for food storage.  The local mice agree, much to our dismay.  Over the past few months, we have killed and trapped at least 11 mice (that's if my count is correct).  And there are more.  

As far as I recall, we've had to throw away a box of brown sugar, box of ramen noodles, box of Kodiak Pancake mix, a number of bags of pasta, part of a birthday cake, and a toaster (yep, you read that right.  One hid in the toaster.  Gross!).  War has officially been declared.  These vermin are going DOWN!  All our chewable-through items from under the front stairs on currently on the kitchen table.  All our snack cupboard items (kept in a lower cupboard for easy access for the kids) are on the counter top.  Um, I don't have a very large kitchen  It's getting crowded and difficult to eat in there.  NO more.  Enough.  These mice must and WILL die.