Sampling Villette

I'm reading a free sample of Villette on my Kindle. I don't remember when I decided to try it, and am puzzled as to why I did, since I hate Jane Eyre with the fire of a thousand firey things. But there it is, so I'm reading the first bit.

The little girl is the creepiest child in all of fiction. It doesn't say how old she is, but since she has a crib I'm guessing...five or younger, possibly around three, since she's "tiny?" But she talks like she's 25, and acts...really weird.

Naturally my brain has come up with a working explanation for this. "Oh, I see," says my brain, "she's a vampire! Well, this will be an interesting book."

I fear my brain is mistaken.

So this is what spare energy feels like

The playroom/study/library in the front of the basement has a big metal vertical pipe right smack in the center of it, holding up the main I-beam that runs down the center of the house.  In pre-Charlie days I jokingly called this my stripper pole--it's about 3 times as big around as a conventional stripper pole, just as I am 3 times as big around as a conventional stripper.  Hrm. Anyway, now it is called the pole of doom, because while the floor has foam tile all over the place [ToysRUs has these alphabet tiles, BTW, in case you're looking to pad your kiddo's floor], the pole has just been a big head-bump hazard.  Nothing bad has happened thus far, but it's been a source of worry even when I had it kind of boxed in with cubes of foam floor tiles.

So today I went and got foam pipe insulating thingies, covered the bottom yard of the thing with 2 layers of foam, and then put a nice piece of quilted fabric around that and sewed it shut. With an actual needle and thread! And I am not collapsing into bed immediately afterwards! W00t!



This evening's activities were made possible by the generous support of the Never Touching Zyrtec Again Foundation, in partnership with the Better Sleep Through Esophageal Health Foundation, the Blood Pressure Meds Only Make You Tired For About Six Months Foundation, the Depo-Provera Can Halt Your Endometriosis Foundation, and Mobil Corporation.