Figured I had better get a blog in while I can. Steve is off to bring the keys to the realtor so the condo can be shown while I am in Lexington house hunting. Oh what fun! It has to be more fun than cleaning and putting personal things away so the condo looks un-lived in! Poor Sophie was very upset as she knows Mom only cleans like that if a move is eminent or I am really upset about something. Steve pauses at the door when he sees me with windex or 409 in hand! :-/ She was even more upset when Steve put her in her carrier and we took her to the kennel. This is the first time for her so we got her a double cat condo and they will let her out to play with the house cats if she can handle it, or by herself if she can't. She was queen of the island cats in the neighborhood on St. Thomas so she will do fine. At least that is what I keep telling myself. I was all teary eyed when we left and Steve was teasing me that Sophie was saying, "Time to party!" I sure hope so.

I had to destress a bit during all of this and read Shannon Hale's Austenland. I am not a big Jane Austen fan so it was not the title that got my attention. It was the fact that Shannon Hale wrote it. She is one heck of a writer and I devoured Hale's Goose Girl and Princess Academy. Both are upper elementary/middle school titles, but this one is adult with YA appeal. Bloomsbury is cross marketing it for teens and adults. Smart move! For those who want to listen to a bit of the book, there is a sampler CD. More and more books include supplemental materials or abridgements on CD. I didn't listen to the sampler, as I do not like to listen to abridged books, so I can't tell you about it, but I loved the book. The protagonist is a 30 something woman who has had nothing but bad luck with guys. Well, no darn wonder - she expects them to act like Mr. Darcy and look like Colin Firth! A lunch with an ailing great-aunt who told her to get on with life instead of day dreaming about Austen character's in tight pants results in the very same aunt bequeathing Jane a trip to Austenland, where the imagination is supposed to take over and you become a character in a Regency-era environment. Feeling more than a bit of a fool, Jane goes along with it but is having great difficulty staying in character and invites herself into the gardener's home to watch a basketball game on his forbidden TV and one thing leads to another, but not that far as this is the Regency-era! I'd ruin the story if I said more, but I can say this is one fun romance. I found myself thinking in a silly British accent as I was reading it and laughing out loud at the antics of the other visitors. Offer this one to teenage girls and I don't think they will mind Jane's age, especially when they read her modern impression of boyfriends, of which she had had many starting very young, but kept none. Well, maybe one.... :-)

Steve just promised me a glass of wine so I am going to call it a day as I ache from one end to the other from boxing stuff, stooping, climbing, etc. The story of how I almost lost the tip of my finger will have to wait for another blog entry!