And then she said ... (miscellany)

(mostly written on Monday morning, sitting in my drafts folder since ... I am going to post because it's this or nothing!)


I had (have?) Big Plans this week to start a new habit. (Maybe because I've been reading this book?) I want to get up a smidge earlier--giving myself a half an hour before my kids usual wake time rather than my 10-15 minutes--and write letters and emails, keep in touch with those I love who are far away. (I love the old-fashioned-ness of letter-writing, but it is also immensely practical when one can't talk without multiple little hands and voices pulling at you and insisting on attention whenever you pick up the phone.) And then, caught up on all my correspondence, I would blog.

Welllll, getting up early. Such an easy resolution to make before you go to sleep, right? ;) Also it seems that getting up earlier entails going to bed earlier. Hm.



Anyway.

I think the moths are living in my air ducts.

One of the previous owners had a dog, and my theory is that they are munching happily on dog hair somewhere inaccessible. Or thriving in a bird nest in our chimney. Those are the only two explanations I can think of for why moths keeps fluttering through my living room and kitchen despite every last bit of everything having been vacuumed, laundered, etc. Repeatedly. As I work my way through the house I've even found them dead in my kitchen drawers. (And yes, they are CLOTHES moths in those drawers and in my bathroom, not pantry moths. I have double-checked more times than I can count.)

My house is very clean. I am very exhausted. I am going to call a professional sometime this week. I hope to avoid anything chemical; even exterminators say on their websites that this isn't a pest you generally spray for. The vacuuming, dry-cleaning, and baking of yarn should be enough. But it isn't.

And I am over this.

[Note: no moths spotted since Sunday. Fingers crossed. Will call exterminator if I see another one!!]



Happier things ... our fourth anniversary was last Thursday. :)

On Friday, my parents came over to spend the night with the kids, and we got away together, on our own, for the first night since having children! Keith planned it all and kept things a surprise. We stayed in a very nice hotel, had our pictures taken at the Point--the place in Pittsburgh where the three rivers meet, ate dinner at a nice restaurant, and watched a ballet. It was perfect and wonderful and I hope we do it again before another four years pass. :) It was also very nice to come back to where our children were waiting--to have that time to focus just on each other, to renew the roots of our love and then come back to its fruit.



It is not naptime. My children are happily wreaking havoc upstairs, and I have another room to vacuum (sigh). Until next time!

Knitting in the Time of Moths?

Hey look! I'm sewing leaves together!! Yay!

Or at least, I was up until a few days ago. I decided I've found a few too many moths in my pheromone traps and am now in full-throttle de-mothing mode. Which is exhausting. And despite having thoroughly cleaned the upstairs and moving all potentially affected laundry out to be laundered ... I caught ANOTHER moth last night. I feel like this either means that I don't actually have a moth problem--that they are just flittering in from the outside and that is why I'm not actually finding much damage--or else ... it means I have a major problem somewhere. Argh.

So the only times I've been touching this blanket lately have been to pull it out of the basket and give it a good shake. Just in case someone decides to munch on it.

I've also found carpet beetles, so I guess deep-cleaning is a good thing right now. But so stressful.

Anyway, the blanket is a little less than halfway put together. It will hibernate until after I finish cleaning, and then I need to knit a hat for my cousin who is entering Carmel in August ... and then I will finish this beastie. It is turning out beautifully--I'm half-tempted to keep it for myself, except Michael would never let me get away with it--but I am not enjoying the seaming process. Oh well.



Reading: Better Than Before, a book about habits that wasn't quite what I thought it would be, but the writing is engaging enough to keep me going. The Green Ember is a book much loved on this blog and so I thought I'd give it a read and keep it for the boys to grow into.


Linking up with Ginny!