Revenge of the Fruitflies

So, I must have somehow offended the fruitfly gods or something. My kitchen is swarming with the little buggers. My sister came over today and assured me that my infestation is far less than the one at her house, where evidently you can only see the person sitting immediately beside you at the dinner table, the cloud of fruitflies is so thick. I find it hard to believe... I really feel like I'm being overrun.

We had a cheerfully unexpected day around here. Anja woke up at her usual time, but Greta slept in, which is always kind of nice. I like being able to give Anja a lot of attention in the mornings, and it's nice when she and I can eat our breakfasts together. When both girls wake up at the same time, I am very slow to get ready for my day, and I usually don't eat breakfast (and sometimes don't even get to have my coffee!!!) and I certainly don't have time to sit down with Anja while she eats her breakfast. So this morning was nice. We were all ready by 9:00, which is about when Laura came over to walk with us. I really like our morning walks with Laura and Mary Grace. It forces me to get out of the house. It forces me to be social. It spends pretty much our whole morning, Greta gets her morning nap in the stroller, Anja is thrilled to ride around on my back in the Ergo, and by the time we get home it's naptime for Anja. Perfect. Plus, Laura is so nice and Mary Grace is so darn cute, what's not to like about it? Today it was the usual thing, except when I got back to my house a little before 11:00, I realized that Anja had fallen asleep on my back. Oops! I was on the phone with Martin when I noticed, and he suggested that instead of messing with her and possibly waking her up, I should walk on up to my mom's house for a visit. So I started up that way, but when I got to Highland Park I turned back around and went on home. Anja wasn't snuggled into the carrier like she had been, and I couldn't manage to wriggle her back down, so her head was hanging back. Not only was she going to have a completely sunburned face and neck if I walked another 20 minutes, but she could not have been comfortable and I worried she'd wake up with a stiff and aching neck. So I went home. When I was almost home, I got a call from my sister who was stopping by to drop off some toys for us! We got to my house at the same time... I tried to put Anja down on her bed, but of course she woke up, as I knew she would. That's okay though, because she loves her cousins. We all hung out on the porch, and with other children to play with, Anja doesn't feel compelled to run off down the sidewalk like she does when it's just me out there with her. All the kidders played in the driveway while Sarah and I sat on the porch and talked. Then I made a pot of coffee and we all moved inside, and they left when it was lunchtime and when poor Gracie's eyes started to itch. It's really sad that they are allergic to King Lovey Boy Theodore the First, because I like having them over, but it's probably really not worth it to them to be itchy and runny for the rest of the day. (Sad face.)

We had a happy little afternoon. Martin came home for lunch and we ate leftover chili which really isn't very good, so I froze the rest to eat on some day when I don't really feel like cooking and when I will be grateful for a frozen meal, even if it is less-than-yummalicious chili.

Later in the afternoon, my sister-in-law stopped by to show my her completely awesome and adorable sweater that she knit herself for the fall. It screams "COZY AUTUMNAL DAY." (I used the word "autumnal" for my sister there, just then.) This is not the first sweater my sister-in-law has knit for herself. She knits socks in a small number of hours. Really cute socks, too. And amazingly delicate scarves, just like the ones you see in the knitting book. You know, the ones with drool spots on the photos. Can you sense my jealousy, or should I keep going?

Martin got home from work at a decent hour, so the evening was delightful. Anja is already in bed, and I'm going to put Greta down right after I finish this post. While I make some carrot soup, Martin is going to read me some word puzzles he found on the internet. This was my suggestion as something to do while I made soup... I suggested he look some up on the internet too, but when you look up things like "word puzzles" and "brain teasers" and things like that, you mostly get stuff for kids. However, when you put in "adult puzzles" or phrases of that variety, you kind of have to use discretion when filtering through the results.

Tomorrow I have a [begin scary music] root canal. Yikers.

So I'm reading this HILARIOUS book called "Addition" and it's maybe one of the funniest books I've ever read, and definitely the funniest in the awhile. (Okay, it's the first novel I've read in a long while.) The main character is totally OCD, except seriously. I'm just at the beginning of the book, but it seems she's actually lost her teaching job and is on disability because of her bizarre counting/numbers obsession. So anyway, I often get a little bit away from reality whenever I'm reading any novel, but I found it pretty weird and funny this evening when I was sitting at the kitchen table reading and I realized that Anja had been awfully quiet. I look up from my OCD novel and there she is behind me, opening and closing the pantry door. Over. and over. and over. and over.... Is that normal?

Time to put Greta to bed and start on some delicious carrot soup.