Fall Flurry

It seems like we've been so busy lately.  Between babysitting and projects on deadlines, I feel pretty tired out.  It has been a lot of fun though.  There is absolutely nothing more precious than being with my grandbabies.  They are the joy of my life.  My daughter keeps me busy with projects and it is all so much fun.

My daughter has a monthly Bunco group and we always have a theme.  This month she was hosting and the theme was "Jane Austen."  We usually get some creative ideas for costumes, and try not to spend too much money on them.  But we've had several Jane Austen events, Pride and Prejudice movie nights, tea parties, craft nights, so I decided to sew both of us a "Jane Austen" dress to wear for this month's bunco.  Again, I bit off a little more than I thought I was doing.  I thought I had plenty of time, but things just don't always work out  the way I think they are.

We also had some ideas for decorating.  My daughter was making bookmarks and some little miniature books, and I was going to make a book banner and decorate some mugs with quotations from the books.  We managed to get everything done.  Did you know that if you write with a Sharpie on a mug and bake it, it is permanent?  Of course, we get our best ideas off the internet.  :)  I didn't realize until I looked at the picture, that I made the pleats in my dress fold the wrong way.  I'll have to rip and fix before I wear it again.  :)

~Jane

Jane Austen Addict

I'm sure if you are paying any attention at all to my reading list, you've seen a number of Jane Austen-themed books there.  I don't know why...maybe my life just seems too busy lately and I'm hankering for a slower-paced life, but I've definitely been attracted to the Jane Austen take-offs recently.  I just finished Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and it was a very good read.  Of course, then I discovered www.janeaustenaddict.com, which has some short videos about the book.  Last night, while ironing hankies and aprons from my mother's stash for my daughter's Etsy shop in an attempt to liquidate some of them at other than garage sale prices, I watched Sense and Sensibility again.  Ahhhh.  I think that I'll hit up Netflix again this evening and see what's available to keep me company as I iron.

~Jane

Searching for Pemberley

Have you ever started a book that looked wonderful, only to have it fall rather flat?  That was my problem with Searching for Pemberley by Mary Simonsen.  The book had good reviews and seemed interesting at first. Its premise was that Jane Austen based Pride and Prejudice on people that lived in her neighborhood.  By changing a few names, etc., she didn't really make up the whole story, she retold it, or at least most of it.  The story involved a young woman with an interest in Jane Austen delving into letters written by local people that prove she used her neighbors to provide her story line.  A second thread to the book was the romance of the young woman and her friendship with two different guys.  A third thread was the family of one of the descendents of the Darcy (Lacey) family and their story.  I could accept the theory that Jane Austen got her stories from things she heard happening around her, but I didn't really need to read all the supporting letters to prove it.  Even when we got past the Jane Austen part of the story and moved to the story of the young woman, the book failed to really catch my interest.  Ah, well.  On to the next one. 

~Jane