A Word for Wednesday

"A man would always wish to give a woman a better home than the one he takes her from; and he who can do it, where there is no doubt of her regard, must, I think, be the happiest of mortals."

~from Emma by Jane Austen~

A Word for Wednesday

"Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of."

~from Emma by Jane Austen~

Let's Bust a Recap : Emma

Well, I've gone rogue yet again. I have officially read more books that are not on my 2017 book list than ones that are. Sue me. After having all four of my wisdom teeth out, I needed a more medicinal read, if you will, so Emma it was. 

Emma is one of my favorites. I know, I know; I say that about all of Jane Austen's novels, but Emma is so wonderfully delightful and funny that I can't help thinking it really might be my favorite. And on top of that, I can say definitively that Mr. Knightley is my favorite Austen man. And that's the truth. 

In Emma, we meet our happily single heroine who has absolutely no inducement to marry herself but enjoys playing matchmaker among the less fortunate mortals who must succumb to that blessed institution. Through scrape after scrape, Emma slowly realizes that she is not well suited to wield Cupid's bow, and SPOILER, she ultimately gives up the title of Matchmaker for that of Bride. 

The thing I love so much about Jane Austen's writing is that all her characters are so perfectly human. We all have a know-it-all Mrs. Elton or a never-stops-talking Miss Bates in our lives. We love our indulgent Mrs. Westons and are flattered by our charming Mr. Churchills but would be lost without our truth-telling Mr. Knightleys. We all know a worthy and respectable Miss Fairfax that we should probably be better friends with but secretly don't like, and prefer to spend our time with the adoring Miss Harriet Smiths of the world. And we all, at some point or other, end up sticking the proverbial foot into mouth and have to then choke down a slice of humble pie to correct our unfortunate blunder like our silly but well-meaning friend Emma. 

In my last Austen recap, I said that Pride and Prejudice is probably the best place to start for Austen newbies. Emma is an excellent followup, and I would highly recommend it. And for you sacrilegious movie-preferrers out there, I will vouch for the adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam. I actually love it. 

Has anyone seen the BBC miniseries starring Romola Garai? I know Austen-lovers generally prefer BBC adaptations, but you know how I feel about them. Have you ever read Emma? It seems to be either the favorite or the least favorite with most Austen fans I've talked to. Seemingly no middle ground with this one. I can't imagine not loving it, but those people do exist in the world. 

Casual Fridays

THEY'RE HOME! 

My heart is full.

And while I have you here, I can't get over this photo of my favorite blonde bombshell baby. 

Auntie Hannah loves her girls!

Happy Friday!

A Word for Wednesday

"A woman is not to marry a man merely because she is asked, 

or because he is attached to her, and can write a tolerable letter."

~from Emma by Jane Austen~

Casual Fridays

Caution: This post will contain photos of actual dinosaur human teeth. If that's the sort of thing that totally grosses you out, I'm putting a buffer picture of happy flowers, but you better be on your way because after that: TEETH. 

The Promised Buffer Picture

As most of you already know, last Thursday I had all four of my wisdom teeth out. And for any who have been worried: no, I'm not writing to you today from the Great Beyond--I did, in fact, survive. (None of you were worried? You all think I'm overdramatic and need to get back to blogging about books?? Well, TOO FLIPPIN' BAD, this is my blog, people!)

First of all, a huge thank you to my mom for the sweet orange vase of assorted flowers and my fabulous niece for the big bouquet of happy yellow daisies. I attribute my recovery to you because flowers make everything better. 

And speaking of my fabulous niece, I wasn't the only one who lost teeth this week. This girl is singlehandedly keeping the Tooth Fairy in business! 3 baby teeth down in less than 3 months. At this rate, she's going to have a mouthful of adult teeth by the time she's six and a half. 

Anyway, on to the main attraction. Are you ready for this? 

First of all, are you loving my super-classy ruler? I've had it since 4th grade. 

But second of all, DO YOU SEE THOSE TEETH? ARE THEY EVEN HUMAN? Those were in my head, y'all. I don't know if you can really tell, but each one is like a full inch long. Those are some massive teeth, you guys. I mean, am I right?! 

I have to say: going under the anesthesia and the surgery itself were not that bad. I (obviously) woke up from it so I mean, already my expectations were exceeded. And I didn't have any adverse reactions to any of the stuff they used to knock me out, so I am one happy girl about that. We got to the surgeon's office a few minutes before 8:30, I remember seeing 8:47 on the clock before falling asleep, and we were home by 10:00. Pretty quick. 

Probably the first 4-5 hours post-op were, by far, the worst. It took a solid 24 hours for the numbness on the entire left side of my face to wear off, and the numbness was worse than the actual pain, in my opinion. My tongue felt like it was on fire all that first day. 

But other than that, my bleeding stopped really quickly (within the first 24 hours), I haven't really had any swelling or bruising (I iced a lot), I've been progressively eating more diverse foods (though I'd kill for a good piece of chicken or steak), and the prescription-strength ibuprofen has been doing an excellent job of minimizing my pain (turns out, pulling bones out of your jaw tends to bring on some massive headaches--shocking, I know). It's definitely weird having 4 actual holes in my mouth, but they tell me it will heal, and they've been pretty spot-on with everything else so far, so I'll trust them.

I cannot praise Dr. Cornejo and Winter Haven Oral Surgery enough. He was straightforward, kind, calm, and patient with me. He answered all my questions prior to the procedure, and even personally called me at 8:00 PM the same day I had my teeth out to see how I was doing. I would highly, highly recommend him and his staff for all your oral surgical needs. 

But the biggest thank you of all goes to my amazing husband. He put up with all my theatrics, brought me pudding and pain pills, kept the kitchen clean, slept out on the couch with me, and nursed me back to feeling normal with the utmost patience, gentleness, and love. He is seriously the best. 

P.S. I have watched an inordinate amount of movies this past week. And one of my most endearing qualities is that I will watch the same exact movie back-to-back (i.e. Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina followed immediately by Julia Ormond's Sabrina or Hayley Mills' Parent Trap right after Lindsay Lohan's Parent Trap). Bless my husband's heart. 

What are some of your favorite sick-day movies? Was it too gross that I took my wisdom teeth home and showed them to the internet? 

A Word for Wednesday

"I know that I must have been mad, senseless, to believe that snow would become animated or marble warm; but what then! they who love believe easily in love."

~the Duke of Buckingham addressing the Queen in The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas~