I did finish the audio version of Sophie Kinsella's new book, Twenties Girl . It is the summer must read. Since it is mid August You might want to save this book for the first day of school when you can take some me time. This book is suitable for older children to listen to, although being classic chick-lit you might not get you other half to listen to it.

The book goes into the details of Lara Lington's adventures with her recently departed Great Aunt Sadie. Aunt Sadie is looking for the necklace that her parents gave her as a young woman in the 1920's. Lara's search for the perfect man, will it be the long time boy friend or the intriguing American Consultant? Lara is also trying to run a viable business with a flaky friend who has run off on holiday. Will Lara survive her business partners exploits?

Lara's family has its own issues and personality clashes and not everything is as it seems on the surface of things. I do like the way Lara interacts with her family and I love the end results of her efforts.

This book does scream sequel and I would not mind following Lara for a few more books. Ms. Kinsella can we please have a few more books about Lara?

The twists and turns in the book will keep your attention and at 6 1/2 hours it is not a very long book. If you decide to rip this book to your MP3 player be prepared to take about 25 hours to down load. This was my only problem with the book. My suggestion would be to listen to the disks in the car and only rip it if you want to take it out for a run.

In the effort to keep this an honest and ethical blog, I would like to tell you that my husband bought the book for my daughter and I because we adore Sophie Kinsella's books and he did not want us to be disappointed if it was not available locally on the day it came out. No one is paying me to review this book, If however you decide to buy the book after reading this review and use the link on the left corner of my blog to Amazon I will get a commission from Amazon.

Have a wonderful day and if you decide to read Twenties Girl I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

Alpaca Farm Girl » Alpaca Yarn Giveaway

Yes you heard it here Alpaca Farm girl is having a giveaway.

Check this link www.alpacafarmgirl.com .

Alpaca Farm Girl » Alpaca Yarn Giveaway: "For the Alpaca Bunny Smackdown, we are giving away a skein of white royal baby alpaca yarn. This yarn was home-grown on our farm. Made from the fiber of our alpacas, Earth Angel, who won a Blue Ribbon in the National Spin-off Competition, and her son, Bishop, who was a Champion herdsire. The skein is a natural white in color, 16 WPI. The skein is approximately 200 yds and weighs 4.0 oz.
Alpaca fiber is prized worldwide due to its luxurious fineness. Alpaca is very light, warm, and has a nice handle. Alpaca also lacks the lanolin that wool has, making it wearable for those allergic to wool. This yarn can also be purchased in our Etsy shop. This yarn Giveaway made possible by the alpacas at Fairhope Alpacas!"

Teri is Off

This morning after a week of packing we loaded Teri's car to the brim and then some. It is a good thing that dad decided to leave his lap top at home, there would not have been room. They did stop at Carl's Jr for lunch and had to stop at 3 Boarder Patrol check points all with in California. That seems a bit much. They have arrived safely at their first stop on there journey and rumor has it that they will be having dinner at Cozumel's across from the hotel. The food is just wonderful.

At Teri's law school I am wondering if they will think that we are divorced , since we usually play tag team with Eric with one parent staying home and the other going with Teri. I went to the first event and John is doing the drop off and move in. Not to mention a long 2 day car trip so Teri will have her car there if she needs it.

Teri and John are off to a good adventure, they have never done a father daughter solo trip before. But I think that they will have a good time. This will also give John a chance to see what he is paying for, for the next 3 years. I hope that they do not freeze as they head up the coast, it has been a steady diet of 100+ degree days here.

Eric on the other hand spent the morning pouting, figuring that if he pouted long enough that Teri and John would turn right around and come home. When that did not work he decided to have a fun day at camp.

I on the other hand relaxed and spent some time cleaning, the house was very quite so I went after the first pile I saw and moved on to the next. I found time to book appointments and merge Eric's school calendar with mine. Of course there was time to knit and will be time to knit tonight too.

I am thinking of immersing myself in chicklet,movies, books and Tivo till Sunday. Not to mention going out with the girls while Eric is in camp.

Yes I do miss Teri, but if I keep busy enough I should be able to handle this stage of life with grace. After all I have spent the last 22 years getting Teri ready for this day, I should be ready too.

Have a wonderful day.

Teri

This is Teri's last weekend at home before she heads off to law school Tuesday. I have been knitting and crocheting like crazy so she will have a touch of home when she is gone. I know that this is totally irrational but the knitting will continue and I will mail what I don't finish by Tuesday morning. She is also moving to a colder climate and I will be able to knit sweaters for her( but only if I use super wash as per Teri), something that she did not need much of in Tucson.

I will not have a completely empty nest,Eric is still at home, but as daughters go, I think I got the best daughter possible. The house will lack just a little spark when she leaves and it will be a long time till winter break. I will miss our long talks into the evening after the guys went to bed, those can never be replaced or duplicated. I feel so lucky that she included me in her life so much and valued my opinion.

We got a taste of the empty nest when Teri went to England for a semester, but we knew that she was going to be home for at least a year when she got home. This time is different. We know that she will come home for visits and we will visit her if Eric's health permits. But it is just not the same. After law school she will study for the bar and enter the work force, vacations and visits will become shorter.

I am very happy that we prepared her well for life on her own. Teri has been packing all week and has her first shopping list with coupons complete. Teri went through a rite of passage today and got her own Safeway Discount Card, this seems to be a rite of passage among Teri and her friends. For someone who went through the rites of passages in the late 70's this seems like a strange ritual, but it is so new millennium.

I am going to enjoy every last minute I can with Teri and try not to cry on Tuesday morning.

Eric

Eric's room is closer to looking more like a hospital room than ever. Yesterday we got the new suction machine. It is not that I wanted a suction machine but in order to get nursing respite when Eric is really sick, I needed to have a suction machine in the house. I hope that Eric does not get sick any time soon, in his healthy state his needs are high enough. One a healthy day his care needs take 6 to 8 hours per day.

I know that I have a creative bent but I can not figure out how to decorate the suction machine with out destroying it or impeding its functionality. It is a rental so it has to go back when we are done with it. The same goes with the IV pole. I wish that manufactures would realize that these things go into homes to and we do not like institutional gray. Can't they come up with one covered in say Sesame Street friends? If you my dear readers have any ideas please let me know.

Today Eric is having a good day, so he is off to camp and I get to go to do errands and a Tucson Police Department training. This means that I talk about what it is like to be Eric's mom and what I would like the police to be aware of when they come into contact with Eric. I will also include my usual plea to ticket people who park in handicapped parking places without a permit. After all there are not many places I can deploy the ramp on my car.

I wish you a fantastic day and a short to-do list.

The Adventures of the Purple Skirt

Today is a typical Friday, except that I wore my purple skirt. I usually only wear this skirt on weekends. It is a very lovely skirt, with a big twirl and buttons down the front. I absolutely do not know why I wore today except it said wear me please. It was just so polite and leaped into my hands. So what could I do except to indulge the skirt.

Taking Eric to camp involves using a 4 point tie down system for his wheelchair, which involves crawling around the back of the van on hands and knees to make sure that everything is ratcheted down in place. Think of those straps that they use in moving van except on the floor of the car. Once we get to camp the process is reversed, crawling around to release the straps.

Today after I dropped Eric off at camp I was lucky enough to meet the Friday Fun Knitters at the Foothills Mall food court. It was drink refill time. As I was getting up to get my refill a friend noticed that there was a tear in my skirt, but it should be easy to fix because it was on a seam line.

After a lunch with Nancy and Natalie, it was time to get back to the reality of chores.

Unbeknown to me I picked the skirt eating cart at the supermarket. The wheels would leap out and grab my skirt, and being busy shopping without my list and trying to remember what we needed, I can honestly say that I did not notice till my skirt was being pulled off by the cart. I must of had to untangle my skirt from the cart at least a dozen times. I know that it was quite amusing to the other shoppers. You would think that they would have something on the wheels to prevent them from eating skirts. By the time I got home I could not face what new damage had been inflected on the purple skirt and promptly threw it in the laundry. My day of reckoning will come soon enough. This is the second skirt that has bit the dust do to be attacked by Eric's wheelchair this season.

So the moral of this story has to be that now, no matter how much a pretty skirt says wear me during the week instead of the weekend and you know you will be doing chores, you must be firm with the skirt and tell it no.

Another Bake Sale

The Young Adults at the JCC Camp Taglit will be holding another bake sale tomorrow from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. For those of you who would like to help, please stop by the JCC and buy some lemonade or baked goods, or just make a donation. The Special Needs Young Adults are raising money for the Hope Animal Shelter in Tucson.

The campers will also be collecting the following items Trader Joe's Wet dog and cat food, Feline Pine Cat Litter, Flat sheets, Blankets, Bath Rugs, hard dog toys, mice for the cats, brushes, combs and love gloves, small kitten size litter boxes and of course cash.

You will also find and even larger basket of hand knit and crocheted items than last time, my husband John loves to get hand knit items out of the house. Everything in the basket will also go to help the Hope Animal Shelter. So If you are on a diet this is a good way to help these great kids raise money for a good cause. Did I mention that you can also start your holiday shopping early this way.

The JCC is located at the corner of River and Dodge. As long as you are stopping by for the fund raiser, take a tour and see what the center has to offer you and your family. It is a great place for family center activities we have been members for 15 years.

Have a wonderful day everyone.