Moving in Regular Stuff

So we find ourselves moving again. For those new to my diary, I live with my daughter, her boyfriend, and my 3 granddaughters. We currently live in a condo, a very nice condo, but it's on the third floor. There's no playground for the kids, no pool, a long commute for my daughter and her boyfriend, and quite a ways away from my oldest daughter's school and the younger one's daycare. It's very hard to live over top of anyone if you have children. I feel like I spend half my life telling them not to run, keep it down, etc. I'm sure it's no picnic for the people living underneath either lol. But these are the kind of things you have to put up with (within reason of course), when you live in a multi unit dwelling.

On top of that, my favorite part of living here was the view out back. We live off of a pretty major road but when we first moved here, you would have never known it. Out back was a little oasis in the middle of the city, with trees and birds and even deer. I loved to sit out on the balcony enjoying the few. About 3 months ago, a construction crew came and starting bulldozing all the beautiful trees. It was heartbreaking to watch. Apparently they are going to build a hotel there. Now the view is dirt and construction equipment and a clear view of that major road and all the traffic. This will be going on for another 12-15 months.

So it's a good thing were moving in more ways than one. We've been looking and looking hoping to find an affordable house to rent. We finally found the perfect one!

It's almost 2000 square feet so it's got plenty of room. A good sized kitchen, laundry, a nice sized fenced in back yard and a big, beautiful family room, and an attic for storage. It's literally 5 minutes from the school and daycare and 15 minutes to my daughter's work. About 25 minutes for the boyfriend as he uses public transportation. It's not cheap, about $500 more per month than we're paying now, but it is doable. We can easily make this work if we stick to a budget. I am thrilled at the thought of these kids having a yard to play. And my personal favorite part, an icemaker! I drink ice water all day and always feel like I have to be on ice patrol so we don't run out.

So we've signed the lease and given the deposit. We are scheduled to move in on the 15th, a week from tomorrow. We already have the keys and Aimee has been taking stuff over every day after work. And then today, our bubble burst! Aimee went by after work and guess what she saw in the kitchen? A mouse!! A baby mouse stuck to one of those glue traps. It wasn't there yesterday, or at least not visible, so it must have been under the refrigerator and somehow worked it's way out.

She called the landlord and he knew nothing about it. He contacted the other tenant and she said they had had a problem and have had a pest control coming out for 2 years!! 2 years??? What the hell kind of infestation do you have that is still a problem after 2 years?!?! Poor Aimee, she has been under so much pressure and this devastated her. And it seemed like the landlord was kind of putting it on us to fix the problem. So Mama called him! I told him that this was unacceptable. That there is no way we can bring small children into these kind of unsanitary conditions. That HE needs to take care of it. I wasn't rude, just firm. We are really in a bad situation as we have to be out of here in a week and have nowhere else to go.

I am so upset by this. I cannot live with mice!! They terrify me. And I'm worried that he will not do whatever is necessary to make sure they're gone. Like he'll say he did but how do we know for sure?? Can you really get rid of them completely? Should we get a cat just in case? I do love cats. We hadn't planned on getting one but I'd do it in a heartbeat for peace of mind.

Thoughts, suggestions?