So I haven't written in almost ten days. I've been busy counting the crumbs of petrified food that have accumulated under A.'s table. It's harder than one might think, since some of the food has been there long enough to take on the color of our carpet.

Just kidding...sort of.

Since my mother-in-law graciously watched my daughter every night last week, I am now in the netherworld of meal planning-- a delightful place--full of food fantasies and the excuses to make those fantasies real because "the kids will LOVE it" (these fantasies usually involve large amounts of cheese). I will soon be picking up my mother-in-law's other two grandkids from another magical world, the world of "aftercare." A. knows this place well, as she is often the last of her classmates to leave it.

I am THIS close to abandonment of all work plans and a complete surrender to my inner domestic goddess. Now that I think about, I doubt that I have ever possessed an inner domestic goddess. Frankly, I would happily settle for a toilet cleaning elf.