Her Royal Spyness

The weather has been hot and miserable for a week now. The temperatures are hovering in the high 80s, and the humidity make air conditioning a necessity. The weathermen keep promising a major cold front moving in bringing thunderstorms following by a 10-15 degree drop in the weather. We've had a few brief storms, but each only seems to raise the humidity without bringing any relief. I wonder about the validity of meteorologists. Where else can you find a job that allows you to be wrong 50% of the time or more and still keep your position? If a doctor had that degree of mis-diagnosis, he's be sued for malpractice and lose his license (at least I'd hope so). I think that part of the fun of having weathermen is our smugness when they are wrong. Well darn it, this time I'd really like for them to be right. My electric bill is going to skyrocket this month from running the AC 24/7.

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen is the first in a new series starring Lady Georgie, 34th in line to the English throne and penniless. Her brother has cut off her allowance, and the queen is trying to get her to marry Prince Siegmund of Romania who Georgie and her friends have nicknamed Fishface. So Georgie moves into the family townhouse in London and attempts to make a go of it on her own. But with no servants in residence, she has to learn how to lay a fire, do basic housekeeping and feed herself. She gets a job at Harrod's and loses it five hours later, so she hires out incognito as a light housekeeper. In the midst of all this, a dead body shows up in her bathtub, and she's a top suspect. In order to lift the blame from her family, Georgie investigates the murder and digs up all sorts of dirt. I love Bowen's Molly Murphy series, and this is equally delightful. Georgie is hilarious in her ineptness, and her family is filled with the types of quirky characters necessary for a true cozy mystery. The book has lots of royal trivia and etiquette, as well as appearances by Wallis Simpson. While the murderer may seem a bit obvious, Georgie's lack of guile makes it ok for her not to pick up on it as quickly as readers do. God bless Bowen for giving readers as much info as Georgie so that we can solve the mystery on our own. This is a series that promises to be loads of fun.

I made Mia a CD with most of her favorite songs, so she's singing to The Bangles' Manic Monday and Carly Simon's Really Rosie. She also has a lullaby CD filled with songs from Tom Petty to The Beatles and Jack Johnson. Next up I have to make Molly a CD (her word, not mine), and Ian has demanded one as well. I love making mix CDs. My van is full of them so that I can match whatever mood I'm in.

Jesse just put a CD player in his car and has started listening to audiobooks. He's been listening to Dean Koontz's The Husband. He never has to time to read, but with a 1-1/2 hour roundtrip commute everyday, there's plenty of time to listen. He's giving me free rein over what books I order from the library. If you could only see my wicked grin at the thought!

Today's picture is a example of what happens when I'm not at home. Molly tends to give Mia the camera to take pictures and amuse herself. I don't discover this until I go to download from the memory card and discover anywhere from 20-75 extra pictures (lots of the TV and whatever book Mia is reading). Sometimes there are little gems like this one that proves that my girls love each other and have fun together even if they deny it.