The Casual Vacancy: Book Review

We're definitely not at Hogwarts anymore.

Very long and slow-paced, more character sketches than plot-driven. There's no main character; you follow the stories of several people in the small town of Pagford and how their lives are affected by the death of council member Barry Fairbrother. No one is painted black or white, but rather shades of gray, so it's difficult to fully like or detest any one character. Rowling is a fantastic storyteller. I'm always amazed at her talent for developing characters and interweaving their story lines. Even though the book was sometimes tedious and slow, and quite depressing throughout, I found myself compelled to read on. I wanted to know how it would all end, how Rowling would tie it all together. I was a little disappointed in the ending. It seemed a little anti-climactic after all the excitement of that one fateful day about 3/4 of the way through. But in the end I was just kind of relieved it was over, so I didn't care all that much about how it ended. Now I feel like I need to do something uplifting and fun-filled, to get the heavy, depressive feeling off me. Ugh. Three stars from me.

Get the book on Amazon.

Read reviews of it on Goodreads.

Read about J. K. Rowling on her Goodreads page.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: Book Review

This book must not have been too terribly compelling because it took me nearly a month to read. I felt a bit like it was an effort to cash in on some of the Downton Abbey craze and fame, but I didn't really mind that so much. It was well-written and easy to read, and it definitely gave me a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the culture and times of Downton Abbey. I had already read about 30% of the book before watching the last two episodes of season 3, and it did enrich the experience for me. I have since gone back and started season 3 again, and I absolutely understand and appreciate the show even more after having read about the real people who lived at Highclere Castle. Just little things like why the younger servants asked Carson for permission to go see a movie after work make more sense to me now. The entire social structure makes more sense to me now.

I feel the book really got bogged down in the middle, and don't fully understand why the current Countess of Carnarvon felt it necessary to spend so much time talking about WWI in such detail. There really was very little need for all the details of the war that she provided. Some of it was somewhat difficult to read; it was a downer and most certainly contributed to my lack of enthusiasm about finishing the book.

In reading this book, you can easily see the real people and events that have inspired certain story lines in the TV series. Not everything that happens on the show actually happened to the real 5th Earl and his wife, but most of them happened to people in their circle, home, or to their contemporaries. I laughed out loud to find that there truly was a Mr. Bates who had an injury and walked with a limp!

I had no idea that the 5th Earl of Carnarvon was the man who discovered King Tut's tomb; that part was fascinating. I only wish the author had included more photos of this discovery, from the first time the Earl ever went into the tomb. It was so sad that he passed away before ever actually seeing everything he had discovered. I also find it interesting that archaeology, specifically in Egypt, was such a huge part of the real Earl's life, yet the writers of Downton Abbey have not used it at all.

In the end, this is probably a book that only the most dedicated fans of Downton Abbey (or of English social history) will be interested in reading. Three stars from me.

Buy this book on Amazon.
Read more about Lady Fiona Carnarvon, the current Countess of Carnarvon.

Butterfly Shirmp Sho' Is Guud!

One of my favorite things to do is to find grammar and spelling mistakes out and about, take photos, and make fun of them. Luckily, all my friends and family know this about me so they send me pictures of things they find too. I love it! (Yes, I know I'm a geek.)

Here's a recent photo, sent to me by my parents (see photo, right):

They bought the meal deal and reported that the shirmp was pretty good; it tasted just like shrimp!

Here's another one, sent to me by my cousin (see photo, left):

I never feel very welome at Moe's. Do you? Moe might know his burritos, but he sho' don't know his spelling!

If you have any photos of stupid mistakes like these, please send them to me. I love to share!

Vera Bradley + Mickey Mouse = Love

Vera Bradley and Disney? Love! Now you can have the perfect luggage, tote bag, and carry-on for your trip to The World! And I'm sure it will only cost you an arm and a leg...or maybe just half a leg.

I love that the bags aren't obviously Mickeyfied. From the larger picture below it seems the pattern is pretty subtle on both prints. I also like that they chose the classic, vintage Minnie and Mickey look. That fits the Vera Bradley style much better in my opinion. I had kind of stopped buying Vera Bradley bags as purses recently, but the black Mickey print might be worth getting.

The names they've chosen for these two new patterns are just as cute: "Just Mousing Around" and "Midnight With Mickey."

The new patterns will be released this coming fall. I'm not clear on whether or not they will be sold exclusively at the Disney Parks and on Disney websites. Hopefully you can also purchase them at your local Vera Bradley retailers.

What do you think?

For more information, see the Disney Parks Blog.

Downer Abbey and Idiots on GetGlue

I just finished watching season three of Downton Abbey, and I've decided they should change the title to Downer Abbey. What in the world?! I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it, but OMGoodness! Why, Julian Fellowes, why?!

Speaking of spoilers, let me just rant here for a moment. (Right now I'm the Rantin' Maven rather than the Ravin' Maven.) Nowadays, most people have DVRs, am I right? So, if you're like me, you don't ever get a chance to actually watch the show when it first airs. I'm lucky if I get to see it within three months of its airing. I don't know many people who actually do get to watch a show live. (I couldn't even tell you when my favorites come on. I just set the DVR and when I go look for them, they've magically appeared.) So, DON'T SPOIL IT FOR US! I love GetGlue. I love getting the stickers (although I never know what to do with them once they arrive). So I check in to GetGlue when I finally get around to watching my shows. I usually do it as soon as I sit down to watch. And once you check in, you get the screen that shows everyone's comments who have recently checked into that same show, right? Well three times now in one month, things have been spoiled for me by idiots on GetGlue!! Once was with The Vampire Diaries (I now know who has recently died even though I still have not gotten that far in the episodes, so now I'm just watching and waiting for it to happen.), and the other two were with Downton Abbey. I'm so frustrated! So I knew it was going to happen before it did, and the entire last (double) episode was a downer for me. It was made worse because Mr. Maven did not know exactly what happens, but he knew something was up because of my being spoiled by idiots on GetGlue. So the experience was kind of ruined for him too. So just don't do it. If you get to watch the episode as it airs originally, good for you. But don't run to a social network and blab to the world, because someone might just be checking in so she can get the limited-time sticker, but is delayed in watching because she's got to put her baby to bed. She doesn't want to know!

So now I don't know if I want to watch season four of Downton Abbey. (But you know I will because how could I not? The show is amazing.) I just don't see how they can do it now! Which way is the story going to go? Oh how I love this show.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go now and rent season one. You must. Your life is not complete yet. And once you've done that, come back and thank me. Here it is on Netflix. Here it is on Amazon Prime Instant Video (free for Amazon Prime members!). You're welcome. Just don't check into GetGlue yet. There are idiots on there.

Approaching 40 - To Baby or Not To Baby?

I'll be 40 late in the year this year, and I'm struggling with the decision whether or not to get pregnant again. We have two amazing kids already - a boy, nearly eight, and a girl, age two . We went into this marriage thing thinking, "Definitely two kids, maybe three, (heck) no to more than three." Everyone around us was having zero trouble doing the pregnant thing, so we never considered we would. In fact, the experience of most everyone we knew went a bit like this: "Hmm...okay we're ready to have kids. We want to have a baby in August, so that means we need to get pregnant in November." They start trying in November and bam! Baby on the way after the first month of trying. So why would it be any different for us?

Apparently we don't have good baby-making karma. It took us a year of trying and three early losses to finally get our beautiful, healthy boy. It was SO HARD. But I know that we appreciate our Mini-Maven so much more because of the miracle he is. When he was about 18 months old, I was nearly crushed under the weight of depression. I don't know if you can call it postpartum depression because it hit so long after he was born, but whatever it was, it was ugly. Maybe I'll share those details some other time. Well, that bout of depression lasted so long and was so bad that we got off our "schedule" of having kids. (We apparently never learned our lesson about telling God what our life plans are.) Once Mini-Maven was born, we figured we'd have a second baby about 3.5 - 4 years later. Well, three years came and went and we still hadn't started the task. Once we finally decided it was time, I had new health issues crop up which threw another wrench in the plan. Another year and one more (awful, terrible) miscarriage later, we were finally sent to a specialist. My clock was screaming at me at this point. Mini-Maven would soon be five and starting Kindergarten. This was not the plan! We had to wait over a month for our appointment, of course, and then the day finally came. We sat down with the doctor, who had diagnosed me as having idiopathic infertility, basically "we don't know why you can't get pregnant, but it seems you may have infertility issues." We scheduled appointments for the first round of testing, and went home with a bit of hope and at least a plan. The very next day, I thought to myself, "Well, I know it's not possible for me to be pregnant, but they didn't even test me at the doctor yesterday. I need to make SURE I'm not pregnant before we start all these tests," so I peed on the stick. I will never forget that feeling, when I realized the line was solid, bright pink. I was excited, yes, but more than anything, I was scared. Only once before, out of five times being pregnant, had it actually worked. Only once had it ended with a healthy, live baby to hold and to keep. My odds were not good, in my head at least. Of course it was 4:25pm, and the specialist's office closed at 4:30. Would they pick up the phone? No, of course not. So I spent an entire day being terrified to move, terrified to do anything that might jeopardize the chances of keeping the tiny life just starting inside of me. Terrified that the morning would bring blood and another heart-wrenching loss. I couldn't take it. I called my husband at work, sobbing and hiccuping into the phone; he couldn't tell if I was happy or sad. Neither could I, to tell you the truth. In the end, we were blessed with another miracle, Mavenette. But there were 5.5 years between her and Mini-Maven - not the plan! So that meant if we were to have a third baby, he or she would need to come just 2.5-3 years after Mavenette, because I had decided I didn't want to be older than 40 and pregnant. I didn't like the idea of having kids that close together (maybe I'll share those reasons some other time too).

So here we are again. My "window of opportunity" has just recently passed - if I wanted to have a third child before age 40, I needed to have gotten pregnant two months ago. So what do I do? Do I really want another child? Or am I just lamenting the loss of that part of my life? Would I be a good mother to three kids? Or am I just selfish because I love being pregnant and don't want to never experience that again? Mavenette still, at nearly 2.5 years old, does not consistently sleep through the night. In fact, I think Mr. Maven and I got three hours of sleep total last night. At 3am on any given night, I'm pretty confident I do not want a third child. But then I think of how selfish that seems, to make the decision not to have a child because I don't like giving up my sleep, and I wonder if it's the right decision. On the other hand, my track record at staying pregnant is not great. And the facts are, the older I get, the more likely it is to encounter problems. And what about my best friend, who had a child with Down Syndrome when she was just 36? What a struggle that has been for them all from the beginning. But then again, I feel selfish--her baby girl is so loving, so happy, so sweet. She's truly a blessing. Is it awful that, even though her little girl is so special, I hope I never have to go through the same thing? It's because I know I'm not strong enough. I'm not made out of the same stuff as my best friend. She's amazing and I'm just barely treading water with the two I have. And there's another issue right there: quality. I want to be the best mom I can be to my kids. I don't think I'm willing to sacrifice quality time with any child. I want to give each of them everything I can; can I do what I want to do when my attention is divided between three?

I think it all boils down to facing my mortality. My mind still thinks I'm in my early 20s, although my body says, "You're delusional!" I've never really cared so much about age; it didn't bother me to turn 30. I've not really ever spent much time thinking about it, and I've never been one to really be overly concerned about my looks. So it's like middle-age has sneaked up on me when I wasn't looking. It never occurred to me what it would be like when I was too old to procreate. It never occurred to me that that day would actually come! I think I'm more upset about the decision to have another baby being taken away from me by time rather than me consciously making the decision myself. I think that's the crux of it. I find myself wishing we had started earlier in life. If we hadn't waited until age 27 to get married, then we could have had our first baby way before age 31, and then maybe we wouldn't be racing against the clock now. But then, I know I wouldn't have been as good a mother as I am now if I had started in my 20s. I just want the decision to have or not to have baby #3 to be my own, and not time's. I just want to be 30 forever.

What about you? Do you struggle with the same issues? Do you lament the loss of your reproductive-ability (if that's even a word)? I know plenty of folks have babies well into their 40s, and there is no hard and fast rule that 40 has to be my cut-off. But I hope you understand my fears, based on my experience with loss and the grief that comes with it. I think if things had not been so hard for me all along, I would have no problem being an older mom. But it is what it is, and that's why I feel the way I do. Thanks for bearing with me and reading this far. I want to hear what you think.