Windows 7: Wireless Optical Suddenly Not Working

I was using a Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500, which has worked flawlessly for me until now, when it suddenly stopped working. I was simply watching a video embedded in a webpage when it suddenly stopped late on the night of October 3rd (a few hours ago). I've downloaded or installed nothing. The mouse is in use 18 inches from the tower. It's plugged directly into the tower. Thinking I would reinstall the device driver I uninstalled it, but now Windows won't recognize my mouse at all. I hope this is the proper forum to be posting this issue. I would happily give any other information needed and I would be so grateful for help with this.

This usually can be resolved in one of two ways. Either the battery went dead, or it needs to be reconnected to the wireless dock/reciever that's connected to your computer.