Melding Book Lights and a Mouse in the Bed

I bought a real, made of paper, book a few weeks ago, at great risk of denting my forehead.

The use of a real book meant I needed to use a real light. I go through book-lights at about one per year, they always seem to meet some strange fate. The latest was the second of the same brand, it clips on to the cover and shines over two pages using a row of LED lights. I can use a cord or batteries.

However, one evening I found it on the floor between the wall and some books with it’s little pivoting neck broken. My son and I tried to brace it with some packing tape. When this treatment didn’t work, it experienced a change of career rather than retirement. The book-light became a sort of a night-light and I began a new reading affair with MobiPocket Reader and my cell phone.

When I bought the book I am reading, I also bought a nine-dollar clip-on light that illuminates about a fifth of the page and glares like crazy. It is a horrid little light but like its predecessor it clips onto a book and provides some respite from the darkness.

I use a sleep med, prescribed by a real doctor and filled by a real pharmacy. The med kicks in rather quickly and I begin experiencing side effects that I do not remember. The biggest complaint I hear is that I am prone to making late night sleep phone calls to inform people of very strange things. The last phone call complaint was about me reporting my darling husband was under our porch with mustard. Another night I had to have my son help me back to bed after I retrieved index cards from the living room because I thought of something noteworthy. I have a lot of empty index cards at the side of my bed, now. Some users of this drug experience sleep eating and sleep housekeeping, neither have happened to me, unless my family is keeping it secret. Maybe, I should ask.

The other day when my son got up I said I had two questions. They follow.

Was there a mouse in my bed? And, when did this happen?

The answer was yes and last night. So, we exchanged information useful as a reality check can be during the morning after. The cat brought me a mouse and my son and I trapped it between the headboard and mattress. My son put the creature in a box on the porch that my husband goes under with his mustard.

That evening I went into the bedroom, did a mouse in the bed check, got comfy and took out the real book, made of real paper. Attached to the book was the most amazing bit of McGyver-ism I have ever seen.

I called my son in to see if he had anything to do with the melding of technology. Then I called my darling husband in for his opinion. Neither of them admitted to doing it, so it had to be the cat, the turtle, the parrot, the service dog or me. Since the animals do not have thumbs, I am going to accept that the fixer of lights is none other than the user of sleep meds.

It seems, after the mouse incident, I began work on book-light repairs. I took the cheap light with the clip and attached it to the retired book-light posing as a night-light, wound its flexible neck around the broken neck and made a sort of light orthotic that worked.

I do not recommend using sleep meds as a jump-start to creative problem solving, but in this case it worked. I have no memory of the event. Hide the car keys and sharp things. But, we have one less mouse and I am just about to finish the book I am reading that is made of real paper and so far my forehead is dent-free.

Thanks for hanging out with me and come visit again in a few days.