When it rains it pours.

Oh, blogger, I've missed you. I told you I had some stories coming, but I figured that it might be better to just make a descriptive list of my last week. I will preface this by saying that I have been deprived of exercise for three weeks and I am terrified of worms...total phobia.

Last Monday: I hadn't been to the gym in two weeks, trying to fight off a cold, heal my tender knee and massive amount of work. Imagine how good (and sleepy) I felt to get out of bed, put on my gym cloths and head out for a morning Zumba class. I shut the door and realized immediately that I had locked myself out. It was chilly and I had to wait on the porch for my friend to drive across town with the spare key.

I had a problem with some paper mites (at least I think this is what they were) over the summer, but thought I had eradicated them after some vigorous cleaning and throwing out lots of old prints that had been sitting in my flat files. I found two this afternoon and called the exterminator. This set the tone for the week, no Zumba + bugs = uggg!

Tuesday: Right before the exterminator came I pulled a piece of making tape off my large collating table and there was a maggot stuck to it. Screeeeeeeeeeeeaaammmmmmmmmm! The tape stuck to my hand. OMG I almost died right then. Sara calmed me down and assured me there was no way there could be more. The exterminator came and said the same thing. Then he sprayed some bug killer and I felt better. Until...maggots started falling out of the table, dying. Complete panic, I'm the only one in the studio and I can barely breathe. I call the exterminator back and he says not to worry, they'll be dead by morning and life will be beack to normal....perhaps a dead mouse was in the table...who the hell knows!

Then, the bookbinder for the big book project comes up and tells me the leather for the book is too small. The book was supposed to be bound by tomorrow. More panic and skin is still crawling, I order new leather and have it overnighted.

Wednesday: FedEx is late. I call and they say the package will be there shortly. Another hour goes by, still no leather for the book. I call again, then three more times. The local facility can't reach the driver, they've tried twice. Finally I get a call that the packae will be delivered in 15 minutes. The driver comes, I try to be as nice as possible then race over to the binder and the book is officially out of my hands.

But....I go into the studio and there are more larva and they have crawled away from the table toward my press. Ok, now I'm almost hysterical...who knew these things could travel so far?! I have to leave to teach and I can't stop crying and I don't know how on earth I can clean up the studio. So my wonderful friend comes to the rescue and removes the table from my studio and vaccuums up all of the bugs (which is how I will refer to them from here on out). I am so relieved that I start crying again. Then I get to have Marni's mac & cheese, which is declicous.

Thursday: I go to the studio to meet with some clients and find more bugs. They have reappeared, or come out of their hiding spots in the floorboards. I have to meet with my very understanding clients near the door because I can barely walk into the space and as soon as that's done I call the extemrinator to spray the whole floor. I gather up all of my ink and plates and get ready to print elsewhere until I can walk in the studio again.

Saturday: The exterminator comes, sprays the whole floor. We still can't figure out where the problem is coming from. But, I hope that this will solve it. I have to stand near the hall the whole time and Jake moves things so the floor can be sprayed.

Now, I'm tired of being overwhelmed and just want to relax a bit. We go apple picking for a friend's birthday and it's perfect weather. We get lunch with friends. We get to see the finished book project at the unveiling, which turned out beautifully. And then I look at travel books at the book store with a friend.

Sunday: We drive to Letchworth Park with the dogs and meet with Jen and Jim and my dad for breakfast. Then we hike for about four hours under perfect blue skies and falling leaves. I grade papers in the car, both ways. Then a double feature of Julie and Julia and District 9. More grading papers and Jake goes into work for an all-nighter.

Today: Jim calls me from the studio and says there are lots of dead bugs. He cleans them up...total life saver! Now we have to wait and see if they just came out to die or if there are more tomorrow. But, I have to wait for someone else to go in the studio before I do or I might just pass out. I ran a ton of errands and then I teach for the rest of the day.

So, now you've gotten to live vicariously through me for a whole week. I promise things aren't ususally this crazy. I've stopped crying and I laughed a lot this weekend. And I took a ton of great pictures and ate lots of apples. Tomorrow is going to be packed, but Wednesday I will be able to breathe again. I'm looking forward to a good week and a full night of sleep.

ps-I love this video (the first words out of my mouth are "oh shit") and I love that Jen says "what thumb?"