Done and Done

First off, I'm done with Breaking Dawn. I bought it early (and I mean EARLY) Saturday morning and was a mere 50 pages away from finishing today, when Trevor insisted that I get ready for church. GRR. He did give me alone time after church so I could crank that bad boy out. Now, I won't be shirking my wifely duties this week by reading the book. See how selfless I am?

Next, I promised a little swim lesson update. It's over. You have been updated.

~The proud owners of blue and green card stock certificates~

Now, you know I wouldn't let you all off that easy, right? So, yes, the two weeks of swim lessons are over and the boys both did great. Preston, of course, loved every minute of it, was always excited to go and never complained. Carson was...Carson. Everyday was a mega fight to get him to go. I would have to dangle him in the air by his wrist and drop him to his instructor to keep from being kicked or to avoid him running away from me and having to chase him down. Which, by the way, is embarrassing. Once he was in the water, he did alright, not counting the first 3 days when he cried the entire 30 minutes. Then, we would get home and he'd bug me for the toy I bribed him with, which, under our arrangement, he wasn't going to get until ALL the swim lessons were over. The last three days were heavenly, though. Carson finally agreed with me that swimming IS actually fun and Gage (his instructor) was NOT trying to drown him. After all these years, how can that boy not trust me? Don't answer that. Carson ended up passing level one, but I think they did that to ensure they wouldn't have to deal with him next year. But tough luck. I'm still not going to advance him next year. Muahaha.

Preston

~Preston doing a freestyle relay and jumping off the lifeguard chair~

~Jumping of the block and waving to his little sister~

Carson

~On a noodle ride and attached to Gage. Don't let that happy little face fool you.~

~Jumping off the block. And he was always peering over the edge to see if I was still there.~

~Abby was their biggest fan and came to ALL their lessons. I won't mention that she had no alternatives. Oh, and see the Bishop gap in her teeth. Gotta love it!~

So, there's the little run down on us. Pretty dang exciting, eh?

Jane Austen Book Club

No, I haven't seen Jane Austen's Book Club, but I've been watching Masterpiece (formerly Masterpiece Theatre) on Sundays. For the last 2 months, they've been showing all the adaptions of Jane Austen's books. I love it! I've only read 3 of her books (and none of them were her famous ones) and I've enjoyed them all. But there is something about seeing it on screen. This was one of the reasons I longed to be an actress. I want to live in that time, but not permanently. It's a shame I can't act, really. Anyway, I saw this quiz on my friend Amy's blog and it fit right along with my present T.V. obsession. I do think it's rigged though. I kept all my answers the same and only changed which actress would portray me. I got a different answer each time. The answer I got was always the heroine who was played by the actress I chose. Therefore, I'm Marianne, since Kate Winslet shares my pleasingly plump figure. Do any of you love Jane? I think I need to go read the rest of her books. I just can't seem to get enough of it.

Take the Quiz here!

Inconceivable!

I got the greatest deal at Wal*Mart (of course) the other day. They had the new special edition The Princess Bride DVD and it came with the actual Princess Bride hardcover book by S. Morgenstern all for $14.78 or something. Fabulous! I love a good deal.

I brought my new purchases home and promptly opened my new book and started to read. I've seen the movie hundreds of times, who hasn't right? I had never read the book. I started with the introduction by the author, William Goldman who abridged the original by Morgenstern. He talked about taking his son's son to Florin city to research Morgenstern's sequel Buttercups Baby. He talked about the Morgenstern Museum and then suggested that we read the one finished abridged chapter (he hasn't finished the rest of the book owing to problems with the Morgenstern estate) of Buttercup's Baby at the end of the book to better understand his introduction. I obliged. It was okay. I went back to the introduction and continued with Goldman's intro. He went into all the details of the Museum, Buttercups wedding dress is on display there, a mold of Fezziks hand (massive BTW), the six-fingered sword, yada yada yada.

I was enthralled! I had never realized it was all true! I couldn't wait to hop on the trusty Internet to research it more. That's what I do. I find an interesting topic (DaVinci, Hystiocytosis, Britannic, Kabuki Syndrome) and learn as much as I can about it via Internet explorer.

Sitting here this morning, I got my chance. The boys are watching Saturday morning cartoons and I have Trevor's laptop mostly to myself (Abby keeps hitting random keys). I search Florin: it's a unit of money. I search The Princess Bride: plenty of info on the book and movie. Not what I'm looking for. I search Morgenstern Museum: nothing. Weird. I search S. Morgenstern and here's the kicker. He's not real. No such guy, EVER. Evidently, The Princess Bride is a book within a book. A made up story about a sick boy (a young Goldman) being read Morgensterns story by his father. In fact, I find out that this Goldman guy doesn't even have a son. He has two daughters. There was no trip to Florin city with a supposed grandson. All lies.

I'm such a sucker. I figured introductions were true insights into the author or story or whatever. But wait. It get's worse than just a moment of self embarrassment.

We had friends over last night. Heather and Kirk. They saw my book and we started talking. No one has read the book. I haven't either but was happy to add all my new insight on how it's all true. There was really a Vizzini and really a Prince Humperdink (seriously Brenda, a real Humperdink?). I ranted on and on about the museum with all the relicts of their story. How there's an unpublished sequel and Goldman can't get his hands on it to abridge as he did The Princess Bride. Oh, the shame. And I have to face these people at church tomorrow.

I'm a fool. I pride myself on not being a very gullible person. There's no pride anymore. Nope. None at all. I'm still going to read it. Why not. It's a classic right? But I'm bitter at William Goldman. That was a nasty little game. And I've got your number now, dude. There's no problem with the Morgenstern estate. You just have a serious case of writers block and can't find a storyline for Buttercups Baby. Take that! Ya. Take that you... filthy millionaire. I... showed... you.

What Am I Going To Do Now?

I'm so sad! One of my favorite authors died last night! Dave (our former neighbor) got Trevor and I reading his books several years ago and we were both hooked. He wrote 11 books in the fantasy series "Wheel of Time". It's sort of like Lord of the Rings, only easier to read, or Harry Potter, only for adults. At any rate, he wasn't done with the books. I think he still had 2 left to write. Will I ever know if Rand saves the the world? What happens to Elaine? Does she have her twins? And will the Aes Sedai accept Egwene as their true Amyrlin? There's so much I won't ever know. I feel so bad for his family, but I have to beg the question, what am I going to do now?