Diana Lively is falling down! Will she be able to get herself back up?

Booklist called Sheila Curran's novel, DIANA LIVELY IS FALLING DOWN, "Beautifully detailed and rich in exceptional characterization . . . . Curran's novel gently reminds readers that fantasy has a place in everyone's life, and dreams can come true. Uniquely uplifting and never didactic, this is a gem." It doesn't get much better than that!

Here's more about Sheila's wonderfully fun novel:

Like the legendary London Bridge, Diana Lively has been transplanted from England to the Arizona desert. Trained as an architect and top in her class, she makes dollhouses. Widowed at a young age, she distrusted people who were kind to her, and married Ted, the one man who wasn't. Maybe it's a good thing that Diana Lively's life is suddenly out of her control.
A brash American billionaire wants to put up a King Arthur Theme Park smack in the middle of the Arizona desert. With dollar signs dancing in its head, Oxford University is only too happy to send Ted Lively, their resident Arthurian expert, to consult on the project. There, in the most unlikely place, in the most surprising ways, Diana is about to discover that the happiness she thought was lost forever can shower down on her again, can flood her dry life like a lake in the desert, and make it bloom.

Oh, and Ted. Ted is about to discover that there is justice in the world...

Tonight we're going to a sock hop! (unfortunately they won't be serving "adult beverages," as I discovered last year when I made the suggestion to a horrified PTA member) My kids' school is having a sock hop and so, of course, last night my daughter told me she wanted a poodle skirt. Well, there isn't a poodle skirt in my closet, so I had to figure out how to make a pink poodle skirt appear from out of nowhere. Enter my neighbor. I am lucky enough to have an amazing neighbor who has three girls and knows just about everything. She's the one I call with my questions about "girl stuff." She suggested I go to the fabric store and make one. Great idea! I have no sewing machine, no special scissors that make that zig-zig cut, which I think is mandetory for fabric, and the only thread I have is in the free sewing kits I've stolen from hotels over the years. But my daughter needed a poodle skirt, and by gosh, I was going to give her one!

So, my daughter and I get in the car and drive over to the fabric store where I'm hoping someone knows something about making a poodle skirt. And, as soon as I pull the door open, who do I see standing there? My neighbor!! And what is she doing? She's buying pink felt fabric, black sew-on poodles and sequin leashes. Turns out her oldest daughter was in the market for a new poodle skirt to replace the one she's worn for years, so my neighbor volunteered to make my daugther one as well - on her sewing machine, with real thread. Yipee!

It took me about three seconds to take her up on the offer. And tonight, when my daughter is looking all cute in a pink poodle skirt with a pink scarf around her neck, and a high little ponytail with a pink ribbon I'll be beaming at how great she looks. And she'll be forever indebted to my neighbor. And I'll be still be thinking that adult beverages are a great idea for a sock hop.

I watch cooking shows much in the same way that guys watch sports: as a spectator event to be enjoyed, one that gets me all psyched up and even a little nostalgic that, if I worked hard enough, I, too, could be that good. But, alas, I know it's all a pipedream, and watching the action on TV is a lot less work than actually striving to accomplish the very same feats myself.

So, this weekend my daughter was on the couch with me watching a cooking show, and she decided that she wanted to make what they were making. Unfortunately, the dishes they were making weren't anything I'd eat, and I knew my finicky daugther wouldn't go near them.

"They're making asparagus pasty puffs, do you want to make that?"I asked, knowing what her answer would be.
"I don't like asparagus."
"They're also making mushroom soup."
"I don't like mushrooms."

It looked like I wouldn't be forced into the kitchen any time soon, when they offered up a recipe I actually wanted to make - cream cheese pound cake! It sounded, and looked, so amazing. I'd found our dish and was ready to get out the sugar and start warming the fourteen sticks of butter the recipe called for.

"That looks delicious. We are so making that pound cake," I told her.
She instantly put an end to my dreams of high caloric intake. "But I hate pound."

Now, I know I've mentioned how picky my kids are, but when my dauther claims to hate pound, I have to wonder how they're ever going to function out in the world.

"It's not an ingredient, it's how much the cake weighs," I explained.
She hestiated for a minute. "Oh. I thought it was a vegetable or something."

Needless to say, we didn't make cream cheese pound cake. Instead we watched as they enjoyed this creamy creation on TV and decided to go out for pancakes the next morning instead.