Book Review #6: Austenland by Shannon Hale

This novel was a thoroughly enjoyable light read. The premise is that Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her life. No real man can compare.

When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.

Quite witty and entertaining, I'd definitely reccommend this one if you are at all a fan of Pride and Prejudice.

Play Gym Fun

We went to the play gym on Thursday morning, to burn some steam and just get out of the house. These indoor playgrounds are a life saver during the winter. There are a number in and around Edmonton and the boys have such a good time, climbing and running, jumping, sliding, playing with balls, you name it. Bless the people who thought of building these places, (and for Karly: shame on those with no vision to build them in the fair city of Lethbridge!) We hadn't been to this particular play gym since the spring and I was amazed by how much Jack has developed in terms of coordination, strength and sheer pluckiness. He was like a little mountain goat climbing across the monkey bar ladder whereas last spring he couldn't be coaxed near the thing. It was another reminder to me that things change so quickly with children. Ever six months and you are into a new phase or stage. The last time we were there Eric was content to sit in an exersaucer. This time I chased him the whole time to ensure he didn't kill himself trying to do all the things Jack was doing!

We had a pretty productive weekend. We moved our living room around and brought in the big TV stand from the garage. That took about 5 hours and it's still not quite done. The big coffee table and the old TV bench haven't made their way to the basement yet. Darrel and I were simply too pooped to do it last night. The missionaries are coming for dinner Thursday -they are always asking if we have anything for us to do and I'm tempted to leave that for them. Seriously. :)

We left church early today due to teething woes and one child who was up at 5:30 and therefore FINISHED by the end of sacrament meeting. We came home and both boys slept for 3 hours and I slept for 2.5. So heavenly! Naps are a very good thing for children, mommies, whole families really.

I have made some bluberry GF (gluten free) muffins tonight that I think are the best ones I have ever made (before or after our wheat woes). That feels pretty good as GF cooking is tricky to say the least. I think I will even be able to coax Darrel into eating one and then eating another one of these, (the repeat partaking being the true test of yumminess), they are that good.


It's a good thing, because my pumpkin muffins from last week certainly left room for improvement. I made them in a mini muffin pan and talk about little lead bullets! Yeah, when I woke up from my nap Darrel was feeding them to the kids for a snack and I actually felt bad for them , even though they were eating them and all. At any rate, I've redeemed myself, these are yummy.

I am copying a post off of Lily's blog, hers actually told her she should be an artist, which is pretty funny considering that is probably one of the main facets of Lily-ness! I am laughing outloud that my results say that I would also be good as a therapist. Hmmm, as long as I could solve other people's issues and not my own! I find I get too emotionally involved in my own problems but I can easily "see the obvious answer" when it's other peoples' problems. (at least what I think is the obvious answer. Very interesting...go check it out.

You are a Doctor

You Should Be a Doctor

You are practical, sharp, and very intuitive. Optimistic and energetic, you are a problem solver who doesn't get discouraged easily. You are also quite compassionate and caring. You make people feel hopeful. You're highly adaptable and capable. You do well with almost any curve ball life throws at you. You do best when you: - Are always learning new subjects - Use your knowledge to solve problems You would also be a good therapist or detective.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

Jack's Nose All Better, Whew!

This has been a long time coming. I tell you, getting a two year old to not pick at a scab has to be one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do, good grief.

A Post for Nan

I have not been as vigilant in keeping my blog up to date lately. Anne mentioned that she has been missing her regulargrand children fix, so I thought I'd put these photos up as they are pretty cute. When Darrel went away to Ottawa I went to Toys'R'us and bought a few new toys to help me get through my period of single parenting. The boys would start getting bored and cranky and voila, I'd whip out another new toy. No, we can't afford to do this on a daily basis, nor would it be healthy to have our children think they get something new every day, but desperate times call for desperate measures. They have fun with this bowling set, although Jack can get frustrated as Eric often knocks the pins down before they are even all set up! Every time he hits the pins Jack shouts, "KNOCK", as in knock them down. Too funny!

Still Loving the Potato Head Parts

Eric came waltzing into the kitchen the other day wearing these glasses from the Mr. Potato Head. He was SO proud of himself! When they fell off after he tripped on his pants he cried and screamed until I helped him put them back on. Honestly, he just walked around like that for about 45 minutes. He's a pretty cute little guy. Teething has started up again in earnest around here. He can be pretty miserable so it was good to have him entertained and cheerful for a prolonged period of time.

Other than that we are busy busy. I have 4 contract projects on the go right now, in various stages of completion. I've been asked to teach a digital scrapbooking class at the library on the 29th so I'm preparing that and I'm doing some photo restoration work for the librarian. good grief, how do I do this to myself. :) It's all good, one day at a time right?

Tomorrow we are off to play group for a little fun and frolic.

Happy Anniversary to Us

Today Darrel and I have been married five years. I didn't start out the day in a particularly wonderful mood so I feel kind of bad for setting a grouchy tone on our day, sorry honey!

I couldn't imagine being married to anyone else. Darrel and I have our differences of opinion/action, (my precarious stacking and his compulsion to keep everything!), but overall we get along really well and make an excellent team.

Grant and Sue are coming to visit this weekend so we will be going out to dinner tomorrow night. Darrel has presents squirreled away from his Ottawa trip and I am taking him shoe shopping for his gift. Other than that we've been kicking around the idea of a winter holiday just he and I. It may be down graded into a night away at a hotel...whatever it is it will be good because we'll be together. I love you honey, happy 5th anniversary!

A Week of Events

Of course, the big news this week was Halloween. Jack had a ball going door to door for candy. Nervous at first, about 15 minutes into our walk he came out of his shell and started yelling trick or treat before we even got to the doors.

Jack also had his first trip to the dentist. He was quite impressed with all of the hygeniest's tools. She let him hold the water/air sprayer and feel the polisher on his hand. After some coaxing he let her count his teeth and do a little polishing. He was pronounced cavity free and was then free to run amok in their kiddie lounge. A good time was definitely had.
This morning we woke up to about 2 inches of snow on the ground. Right away Jack was shouting, "SNOW, SNOW!" This was quickly followed by, "I want to go outside." His two, hour long, trips weren't enough apparently and after dinner he wanted to head out again. Alas, with the time change it was dark outside so snowman building has to wait until tomorrow. It was fun to watch him play so excitedly. As an adult my thoughts and feelings when the first real snow falls are accompanied by inner groaning and complaining. Jack was simply full of joy, pushing his bulldozer around the yard, making the snow fly in the air. It was a good reminder of how I should be a little more often.

Our other big event this week was that we sold our car on Saturday. A couple from Saskatoon bought it, they were coming to Edmonton for the weekend anyway, saw the ad and thought they would check it out. I'm a little sad to see it go. I don't know why I'm so nostalgic about it really, maybe because it was the first big purchase that Darrel and I made together. Plus there's good memories in that car: our road trip to BC, driving to the hospital on the way to have our children born (well, labour isn't a good memory but you know what I mean), when we moved to Edmonton and Anne and I rode together. So, yes, I think I am in mourning a little but on the other hand I'm happy to have the cash in the bank. One thing about Darrel driving the Lebaron for a few more years, it's really not going to depreciate any more than it already has. Darrel puts on tons of km's just going back and forth to work, it would be kind of a waste on a good car. (Although if the Lebaron wasn't reliable we would have kept the Toyota, but that car will probably still be running 5 or 10 years from now.) So, adieu Matrix, I loved you, hope you are as good to your new owners as you were to us.