My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter. -Thomas Helm

After Friday’s news I had a rather busy (and slightly emotional) weekend. I’ve been feeling a little defeated as of late (more so now with this whole job thing) and it’s been difficult to not think about everything that is going on. I know that this will work out alright; as my Mum and I always say “We’ll figure it out”.

I had a mini heart attack on Saturday after the movers finished unloading and had left; I could not find my box of Nancy Drew books anywhere! I had started unpacking the den by putting all of my books on their shelves and had left a shelf open for the Nancy Drew ones (Lucy Maud Montgomery also gets her own set of shelves); I could only find one book! I opened every box in the den, couldn’t find them, and was on the verge of freaking out when Alex found them (yay Alex!). Apparently I had put them all in the box and then put a couple of DVDs on top since there was a little space. When the movers brought in the box I took a peak in the top, assumed it was all DVDs, and put the box on the DVD shelf to be dealt with later. I am so happy that they weren’t actually missing – I’m sure I would have cried.

I finished The Friday Night Knitting Club last night and have now started What-the-Dickens by Gregory Maguire. I love Gregory Maguire, but this book (while entertaining) is just not doing it for me. I will finish it and hopefully I’ll like it more by the time I do. I really, really liked The Friday Night Knitting Club. It was a pretty easy read, which was really nice actually, and the characters were very real. All of the women were different from each other but all were able to bond and become friends. It was just a very nice book and I think I’ll read it again. I even cried at the end (damn Kate Jacobs pulling at my heart strings!) while sitting in the Muskoka chair out back.

I haven’t been showing any crafty pictures lately because I’m working on that top-secret wedding gift I mentioned for my High School best friend. It’s going to take awhile, but I will definitely post pictures after it’s done. Maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in a couple of small projects while working on this one.

I have big plans to take pictures of some more of my early edition Lucy Maud Montgomery books to post for tomorrow (or so I think). I’m hoping I’ll be able to; I’m also praying for some good light and steady hands on the camera as well!

 P.S. Have you seen this cover for the new Lucy Maud Montgomery biography that is coming out in September (I believe); isn't it fantastic? I really think they need to make a print of the cover to sell - I'd love to own it!

When angry, count four; when very angry, swear. -Mark Twain

It has been an interesting week and a half since I last posted (really the last two hours have been the most interesting). Let’s discuss the most recent news first and then move on to better, funner things. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but my current job is a contract position with a large company here in Canada. My contract was supposed to expire on July 31, then I was going to go to Alex’s cottage for a couple of weeks, and then back to school to start my Masters in September. Today I found out that the woman whose maternity leave I’m covering has decided to come back to work early and was told that I’ll be out of a job in two weeks. Really not sure what I’m going to do. I can’t afford to not work until I go back to school, but I’m also going back in three months so who’s going to hire me? I know that I’ll figure it out but right now I’m really worried. Moving on.

Alex did come home last Wednesday and I was so very happy to see him! Everything is a-okay and we’re settling into our new apartment fairly well. By the by I’m moving the last of my stuff in tomorrow; as a matter f fact I just had a call from the movers to confirm (not that I can really afford movers now, but again, there’s nothing I can do about that). Now I can show you the pictures of things I’ve made that I promised last week. This is the little pillow that I made. Nothing overly fancy; I mainly made it to keep myself busy for a little bit while Alex was gone. The birdie’s name is Walter.

And the little present I made for Alex was an owl pin. It’s now pinned to the messenger bag I bought him for his birthday. I made the pin using the cover button method, pried the button attachment off of the back, and hot-glued on a pin-back. I used a small piece of Alexander Henry’s Spotted Owl fabric in white for the cover. This owl does not have a name.

Sorry about the blurriness (this was actually the best one!) but the picture taking was not going well that day.

I finished Five Quarters of the Orange last week and it was really good. I really love the way that Joanne Harris uses food in her writing (I love food!); she’s a really engaging writer and I liked this story even better then Chocolat.

I also just finished Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King on Wednesday night. It was great! I majored in Fine Art History at University; I specialized in 16^th and 17^th century Dutch and Netherlandish art but also focused a lot on the Italian Renaissance. This book talks about the construction of the massive dome atop Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (the Duomo). The dome was designed by Brunelleschi who oversaw most of the construction (he unfortunately died a few years before it was fully completed). Ross King is really good at writing books that contain lots of interesting history and facts, while still making his books really engaging. They read more like a novel than non-fiction. One of my favourite facts that he related is that ancient Romans used to take the wheels off of their chariots at night, and lean the chariot against a wall so that the wooden wheels wouldn’t warp under the weight. Very cool! I know that fact really has nothing to do with the dome itself (he was using it to illustrate some facts about wood warping when using centering to contract domes and arches) but I just love it!

Right now I’m reading The Friday Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. It’s definitely a lighter read, but I love how it has something crafty at its heart. I don’t knit (I can, but I don’t), but I admire anyone who creates handmade art. It’s nice to read about people who do something similar to yourself. One of the most interesting things that’s come up so far is a character who views knitting (and other so-called “domestic” activities) as an archaic tradition that seeks to keep women in their “place”. She views the resurgence of women spending their time on domestic pursuits to be a slap in the face of feminism. I find this to be a really interesting view as I’ve dealt with people like that. Just because I like to sew or bake or quilt or whatever does not make me unintelligent. Just as I can take about Einstein’s second postulate of special relativity for an hour if I need to, but that does not make me an astrophysicist. Arghhhh…sorry about that, I’m fine now.

Okay, gotta go, must get back to work. They may have screwed me over, but I’m not going to retaliate by lagging behind.