Eeek! There's a mouse in the house

I have to say I am a little embarrassed to admit, but we have a serious mouse issue in our house.  Not talking Hoarders serious, but any mouse is serious to me.  PS, Are you obsessed with any Hoarders show like me....can't get myself to stop watching even though it is just completely gruesome.  But it does put me in the mood to purge, clean and organize my own house so let's call it therapy of sorts-for free!
Wish I could say this post was about finding an original version of the mouse trap game...remember that game, by the time you put it together, you were exhausted and didn't even want to play the game?

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Anyways, I digress.
So we really do have a serious mouse issue.  My mom first said that she heard something in our walls when visiting last spring, which of course I ignored and thought to myself, we couldn't possibly have mice.  Well, it took us finding there droppings and lots of snacks eaten before we believed it.  Then I thought, it could REALLY only be ONE because we're not THOSE people.  Turns out we are. 

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SO the first mouse was easy.  It was coming into the kitchen through our junk drawer and eating some old easter candy or something like that-not even good chocolate so it was all cool.  Just dropped an old skool trap at the back and he was caught that night, however not dead as it trapped on his leg and Steve had to take him outside to put him out of misery. 
And I haven't mentioned that I am deathly afraid of dead mice.  I have been known to crouch in the corner and cover my eyes when Steve is carrying one out and I really hate finding them dead-eek!  Live ones are ok-not in love but ok.  I had a pet mouse named Ellen when I was a kid-she was cool.  Trained and all and we would just chill together.
Anyways, fast forward 6ish months and we thought, after catching nearly a dozen mice (nasty, I know) and we thought they were gone.  We found them in the attic, basement and kitchen.  We boxed all of our food (what a treat-it feels like we are unpacking from just moving or something, having to go into plastic tubs everytime we want to eat something that is in a cardboard box or plastic bag) or put it into cool old glass jars (that is neat and was on my to-do list anyways). 

However, we came home almost 2 weeks ago from camping and I noticed that the peanut butter was gone from our kitchen pantry trap but there was no mouse and no trap activation.  Looks like we still had a mouse and that it had gotten so hot that the metal on most of our traps had warped so therefore the traps no longer worked.  Then comes this past Sunday night when Steve saw the little bugger scamper across our living room (3 nights in a row) and then we heard it in our bedroom while we were in bed-true nastiness.
So last Monday came and I went trap crazy.  Went to the hardware store and bought 12 new old skool traps, 4 sticky traps (which our friends who lived in NYC and had a true mouse problem (12 in one day) swear by) as well as bait.  They (the traps) are everywhere that the dog and kiddos can't reach. 
One week later and still no mice.

Last night Steve saw the mouse in question run right under the living room chair and under the built-in by our tv-there is a drawer there so therefore a handy little place for a mouse to scurry and get access to the basement.  So up went the traps.  Two sticky and one old skool.  And this morning, mouse caught.  Who knows if we have more, but I will rest a a little better tonight knowing that we are getting closer.  Just in time for cold weather again and more mice to need a warm little bungalow to nestle in for the winter.

BUT HOW DO YOU TRAP MICE:
I did some extensive research and let me tell you, you can spend a lot of money. There are all kinds of options.  We opted for the old skool option, and just when I started to go crazy last week, added the posion (conceled to prevent animals & kiddos from reaching) as well as the sticky traps.
You can do:

• old skool
• poison pellets or poison conceled to keep from pets & kids eating
  

  

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• electric traps (these are supposed to be quite effective but seemed a bit much at $20+ a pop 
  

  

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• sticky traps
• electronic noise transmitters that are supposed to scare them off
  

  

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• home-made traps with a bucket
  

  

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But basically you will have the most luck by setting out multiple traps along the walls where you have seen mice, one website recommended a trap every 3-4'.  We read the baiting them up with peanut butter is best (you can also add some bird seed or crushed cereal if you want the bait to be extra enticing).
It also helps to block all exterior holes in your home.  Mice can get in through as small as a 1/4" hole in the wall.  It is recommended that if you are not going to permanently seal with a plastic material, wood or caulking, that you use steel wool-mice can easily eat through something like cardboard or insulation.  Unfortunately, we pretty much feel like it would be impossible to close all the holes in our home being it's age but we are trying. 
I hope this post is of no use to you because that would mean you don't have mice.  :)