Report from the WV Book Club

There were more teeth and fewer chickens than I expected, but they still picked a crappy book.  One for the Money by Janet Evanovich.  I tried to read one of these once, I'd heard from several otherwise reputable sources that I'd love the main character.  I never got a chance to find out b/c the writing was so horrid.  It was really self-conscious and stagey.  I was never able to forget I was reading a book, you know?  I'll try again, though, since I want to give the group a go.

It's quite a different crowd than I'm accustomed to.  Several older women, several people who spoke of Tuesdays with Morrie in approving, rather than scornful, tones.  The host, though, is just batshit crazy.  Probably harmless, but utterly bonkers.  She gave this kind of talk to open the meeting.  Told us about how she'd had a book club in Texas and how much she'd loved it, but coming to WV she couldn't find one.  So she had started keeping journals.  At this point, she produced said journals.  She'd write a couple of pages about each book, research the author, print and clip reviews...and paste it all into the book along with cutesy little scrapbooking stickers.  Seriously?  My jaw dropped.  I didn't realize that people like this roamed, unmedicated.  My first clue should have been when I walked into the house and there was a Playmobil castle set up.  Intact.  Wholly un-sacked.  No evidence of it being strewn around the room, ever.  That's just...unfathomable with a 4 year old in the house.  So she told us that she decided she didn't want to be like this anymore.  That she wanted to talk to real people about books.  So she gathered us together.  She staged her own intervention.  Now THAT's a control freak.

On the way home, Lara and I gossiped and she told me that Ginger (the host, who kept joking that she had OTC, the hell?) had strict rules about the toys.  Each sort of toy is kept in a bin and only one bin can be open at a time.  There will be no mixing of trains and blocks, my friends.  That way lies madness!  I started fantasizing about locking her in Ben's room: (and this photo is B.L. [before the coming of our Holy Legos]):
She'd be beating on the door within minutes, "I can't breathe!! Let me out!!  Chaos. Closing. In!"  Or she'd clean it.  Either way, I win.

In other news:  yesterday, Caroline gave Lily some of Rhiannon's hand-me-downs.  One of them was a much-coveted two piece bathing suit. Lily pulled it out and exclaimed, "Look!  A zukini!"