Isn’t that amazing? Riona, in my comments, said that Our Lady of Venice, my new yarn lady shown there on the left, is named Beatrice! She met her a couple of weeks ago while she was there (hold on. Must shake off my jealousy. Okay. One more sec. All right, back to the blog). I swear, it’s the perfect name (and a variant of alison’s new pal’s name, which just makes it all that much better). I knew you could get a LOT out of this blogging thing, but the very name of the yarn lady in the most beautiful city in the world? In less than a day? Yowzer.
Killed ants yesterday. I actually became Very Lazy right after I wrote the post about having a busy day planned. Isn’t that the way? The second you admit you’ve got a ton of crap to do is the second you realize you’ll die if you don’t take a nap on the couch. And I don’t even nap. So I went in the kitchen and just peeked at the sugar bowl. Just took a quick look, to see if I could just chuck a few dry goods and get rid of their food source, sending them on their way kindly and gently.
THIS is what I saw. Don’t click if you’re squeamish. Theresa in SC, don’t. You can’t handle it.
So I cleaned. Damn it. They’re still around today, but in fewer numbers and I’m hoping for the best.
And I wrote, too! I haven’t been talking about it, don’t want to jinx myself, but I think I’m back in the saddle. I took a break over the holidays that I felt terribly guilty about, but did it anyway. I lost all motivation and lost some belief in the book, too.
But I know by now that confidence in your own writing is completely situational and subjective. If I wake up and my hair looks great and my cheeks are naturally pink and the sun is shining and Digit is purring and my coffee turns out perfectly, then the novel is a sterling example of the creative originality of the Great First Novel. If I stub my toe on the way to the bathroom and ants are marching and I can’t find the phone and I’m sneezing from allergies, then the novel is a blithering, self-indulgent collection of silly, trite, overused words, strung together like a candy necklace from the dime-store. Cheap, ready to break, and attractive only to six-legged pests and already grubby hands.
Slight exaggeration, perhaps. But know what? I just need to finish it. And then start really writing/revising it. You’ve heard that before. I’m 490 pages in and I feel the end coming. No, I mean it this time. I have no idea what’s going to happen, exactly, but I’m confident my characters are going to take me there. They’ve brought me this far. Just have to write. Every day. And I have been.
So has Bethany! Tell me it’s not just me – her posts slay me. Especially this one. If you have any Robert Earl Keen or Steve Earle CDs, put one on before you read her. They’re her soundtrack.
And lastly, gratuitous cute kitty shot. Adah, sleeping:
I almost barfed when I saw the sugar bowl shot. So gross. Ewwwwwwww!
I clicked. I’m in shock. I had no idea it was that bad. Adah looks like she’s dreaming of trouncing ants.
490 pages! That is amazing. You ROCK. Did you ever see or read Wonder Boys? Just, you know. I hope you finish. 🙂
Did you know that ants can’t cross a chalk line? When I was innundated last summer, I drew a chalk circle around their entrance and they did not come back in. I also drew a chalk circle around the hook that was holding my hummingbird feeder and I never had ants in the feeder again, until it rained and washed the chalk away.
p.s. love your blog, I’m a daily reader/lurker…
Oh for pity’s sake, don’t you know if you tell me not to do something, that just makes me want to do it that much more???? Now I have to go throw up and wash myself, because I can feel little nasty ant feet all over me. On a side note, I just read The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan, and they talk about using a chalk line, too, to keep out insects. It’ll probably look like a crime scene at your place . . .
Holy Cow Rachael! That there is some bad ants. I will never complain again about my scattered guests! You have truly been invaded. Why isn’t the kitty eating them up? I just got the chills again thinking about your sugar bowl. But I have to go back and click again.
I just showed my kindergartener the picture and he wants to come and kill some for you. He said, “What’s her name? I’ll kill the ants.”
Let me know if you need to call in the reserves, Cameron is at the ready.
OK – that picture of the sugar bowl put me over the edge – you need to pull out the big guns – POISON! Clean what you can and toss the stuff that has been invaded – but if it is this bad, you need ant poison.
Hang tough, girl – soon they’ll all be dead and gone. I use tinfoil to make small ‘bowls’ that you put the poison in – and then place it where the ants are and the cats can not get to. GOOD LUCK!!!
Well, ants aren’t as bad as cockroaches in SE Asia or in Texas. Are you OK with using Borax? Every landlord/lady I ever had swore by it. (In SE Asia the cockroaches are 3 inches long and they fly. Yup, they fly, usually into your hair.)
Cool banner, by the way. And your blog is the bright spot in my day.
490 pages? You’re my hero, lady. And don’t those good writing days totally make up for the angsty ones? Go eat some toast w/ olly olly berry (I forgot how to spell it and I’m nowhere near the kitchen) jam and bask in the glow of Having Written, sweetie.
I woke up to ants like that once. Blegh. I called in sick to work and spent the day squishing and cleaning. Later on you could see me spraying bleach around all the cracks and corners and windows and doors in the hopes that I would never have them again (I didn’t) But I was maniacal about making sure I never walked out into my kitchen in barefeet to feel that again.
Okay, the ants were gross. I feel your pain now. I had a tiny cockroach prob at my house…(the cockroaches were tiny, not the problem.) Ew.
Bethany is hilarious. Her posts are cracking me up. Once again, YAY SISTERS!
I could NOT click. I was grossed out way before the *thought* of a picture. Must.not.look….things like that make me feel “yuck” all day (as my four year old would say). My daughter got a fish this weekend and the next day it was covered with the appropriately named “ick” disease. Eeewwww….My skin has been crawling all week and now this! By the way, I am really NOT such a girly-girl 🙂
I just had to chime in on the subject of ant tips. Borax is definitely not safe in a house with kitties! I’ve never heard of the chalk thing, but something similar I’ve seen work is liquid dishwashing detergent. You just put a thin line of it around whatever doorway/window/etc. they seem to be using to get in, and they are very reluctant/unable to cross. I have all kinds of theories about why this works, but really, I don’t know. It sounds like it would look stupid, but you don’t have to use much and no one has ever noticed it at my house.
Gross. Simply gross.
and the ants are pretty nasty too. But that Adah, man…
(don’t tell her I said that. The little drool factory won’t get the joke, and she’ll just shake her drool out and make it look like tears)