My Week (Really a Fortnight) with Jane: Part II

Back in summer of 2020, everyone was glum about restrictions and most of us were not having fun.

Then I saw that the Jane Austen Society of North America: East Washington and North Idaho (JASNA EWANID) was doing a Flat Jane.

They decided for the summer they would be sending Flat Jane about, she staying with a person for a week and then moving onto the next home to visit. They asked people on instagram if they wanted to sign up and I was like, yes please!

I wrote about our adventures in a previous post, My Week With Jane

This became so popular that they made multiple Janes and allowed people to have Jane revisit, which I requested. Now this visit didn’t happen recently but two years ago!

Yes, I’m really behind in my posts. Jane’s second visit happened in October 2021 and I was sidetracked by Horrorfest X that I didn’t get a chance to post it. Then I completely forgot about it as I was sidetracked by other things.

From Clueless

This visit happened from October 6th to October 20th 2021. I held on to her longer than a week as I was in the middle of moving out of my apartment and didn’t get to give her as much attention as I would have liked.

The parts that are italicized are from 2021 (my postings on Instagram) while anything not italicized are my current thoughts.

Day 1) Wednesday, October 6th

Today Flat Jane returned to me, and just in time for our tea party/book club/Bible study. I was also gifted some Pride and Peppermint tea that I cannot wait to drink while I read all about what Jane has been up to.

While I was in the middle of writing Horrorfest X, I also started my own 31 Days of Hallotean on Instagram when Spilltheteawithlucy choose not to do it again.

Day 6/31 of the 31 Days of Hallotean. Today’s prompt is Apple tea and we had a homemade apple, calendula, and green tea blend. “Indeed they are very delightful apples…”-Emma
Jane thoroughly enjoyed this tea, and the lovely teacup (a birthday gift). I can’t wait to see what we end up doing this week! I know I will be busy as I have a lot of moving to do, but I’m hoping we can still have some fun.

Day 2 & 3) Thursday, October 7th and Friday October 8th

On Thursday I left Flat Jane occupied at home watching The Moonstone while I packed and moved things to my new place. I was going to leave her again on Friday, but she insisted on coming with. First we stopped at Walmart to pick something up and she was amazed at all the Halloween things as she had no clue what Halloween was. Afterwards we packed up my remaining miscellaneous items and then used my matcha wipes to relax after all that hard work.

Day 4) Saturday, October 9th

Day 9/31 of 31 Days of Hallotean prompt is Fall Flatlay! I meant to post this last night, but I fell asleep-I was so tired from moving. I had just received my September Quaintly and Co Jane Austen box and decided to use it for my fall Flatlay. It included all the items seen here (minus Flat Jane and the teacup).

Day 5) Sunday, October 10th

Yesterday Jane and I went to church and then she took her daily constitutional in the cemetery. She was surprised how “young” the graves were as none were earlier than the 1870s. Afterwards we went to the Dollar Tree to get some movie snacks, and boy was she surprised at all you could get for a dollar, and at all the candy available. Then it was movie time! My niece and I went to see Scream, but Jane declined as it wasn’t her type of film. Instead we met her in the lobby after and she told us she saw a movie with a character named James. She said he had a British accent and the film made her cry. After the movie we dropped my niece off and it was back to Wal-Mart to exchange my purchase for new drip pans and more cleaning. I feel bad that she came when I’ve been moving, but I do have a few fun things planned for later this week.

Day 6 & 7 & 8) Monday, October 11th; Tuesday, October 12th, and Wednesday, October 13th

[Monday] was Game Night! Last time Jane visited she and I played my Pride and Prejudice board game (as I had just received it as a Christmas gift). This time we played Clue: Mysteries and the very fun card game, Marrying Mr. Darcy. I won at Clue Mysteries, as I figured out who revealed Miss Scarlet’s secrets. Jane won Marrying Mr. Darcy as Georgiana Darcy; although it was very close as I played the nearly unbeatable, Caroline Bingley. I tried to sound her out as to which of the single Austen men (from any of her novels) would she set Georgiania up with (I lean toward William Price, the best man in Mansfield Park), but she said she was too tired to comment and went to bed. Maybe by the end of the week I’ll be able to swindle it out of her (or maybe not).

[Tuesday] my mom made albondigas (Mexican meatball soup) and I told Jane she had to try some as she had never had Mexican food before. It was different than the soups she had growing up, but she enjoyed it! It turned out to be a soupy day as she then helped me prepare the soup we will be having for tea, when we have our tea party/book club/Bible study.

Today [Wednesday] we met for our tea party/book club/Bible study and had a good time discussing The Power of Six, drinking Thai Green Milk Tea, eating Iron Rich Black Bean Soup, Roasted Carrots, and gluten free lemon and chocolate chip cookies. Flat Jane of course joined us, and enjoyed the tea and the soup she helped prepare the day before.

Day 9 & 10) Thursday, October 14th and Friday, October 15th

[Thursday] I had to work and do some moving out errands, so I left Jane at home with my cat. My cat hates getting her picture taken, but I managed to get a cute shot.

[Friday] Flat Jane and I went to a Halloween party. We ate spooky snacks and watched some horror comedies! The only downside was the fact that we ordered dominos and it was late, then the delivery person gave us the wrong order, they told us they would remake it but only IF we didn’t eat the pizza, and then it was another hour and a half until the new pizza was delivered. I am never ordering from dominos again. Jane was fine with it as she was having fun enjoying the food and watching the movies.

Day 11) Saturday, October 16th

Day 10 Road trip! Jane is buckled in with a snack as we head out to visit with some friends. It’s nice to have company on this trip.

I used my current reading stack of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, To Kill a Mockingbird, Katie the Catsitter, and Mexican Gothic so that the seatbelt could actually fit around her.

Day 16/31 of 31 Days Of Hallotean! Today’s prompt is Tea for a Halloqueen so I thought what better thing to do then a trip to Royal Tea Garden. I highly recommend this place as it was beautiful, had wonderful food, the staff was extremely friendly and efficient, and the tea delicious. It was a delightful experience and I will most definitely be back. We had Lavender Earl Grey Tea, Duchess Grey Tea, Irish Blend, Scones (with clotted cream, jam, and lemon curd), chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber cream cheese sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, a mini hand pie, spinach puff, and corn & bean salad. Everything was so good, I couldn’t even have dessert! Unfortunately I brought Flat Jane with me but she’s missing from all my pictures. I don’t know how that happened. Oh, well. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Day 12) Sunday, October 17th

Day 17/31 of 31 Days of Hallotean. Today’s prompt is an autumn bake and I made pan de Muertos por la dia de Los Muertos y té de Rosa aźucar. This was my first time making Pan de Muertos and it was fun, although I didn’t squish the bread down as well as I should have. I paired this autumn bake not with hot chocolate like you are supposed to, but with the dia de Los Muertos tea blend that Madsen Creations made and is currently selling a limited amount of. I bought three tins, two are to send to friends and the third to go with flat Jane on her next travel. Of course if the theme of the bake is Dia de Los Muertos, then of course I also had to use my Madsen Creations Jane Austen Catrina mug. (I love that mug so much!) I’m glad for my first try these came out well and plan to freeze a couple to save and use when I set up my ofrenda.

Flat Jane did help with the baking of the Pan de Muertos and was grateful for this view into another culture.

Day 13, 14, & 15ish) Monday, October 18th; October, Tuesday 19th; and Wednesday, October 20th

My time with Flat Jane has come to an end. On Monday we had game night, where we played the Pride and Prejudice Board Game and Loteria (she won the first, I won the second).

On Tuesday we had a movie night (the films pictured may or may not be part of this years’ Horrorfest X, you’ll just have to wait and see. 😉) They were Northanger Abbey (1987) and Ghostbusters 2.

Today I helped get her ready for her next destination, taking a welcoming gift to her new hostess. It was sad to see her go, but I know she has plenty of adventures ahead.

It was a ton of fun having Jane and now that I finally reviewed my last trip, I’m itching to ask for her again.

If interested in having Flat Jane visit you then contact JASNA EWANID to signup. I recommend it as it is a lot of fun.

For more Jane Austen, go to Jane Austen Witty and Wise Coloring Book

Pride and Prejudice: The Game

From my week with Jane

So last year I reviewed the card game Marrying Mr. Darcy, and decided that this December I will review another Jane Austen game, Pride and Prejudice: The Game.

Each player chooses two corresponding couples: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley, Lydia Bennet and Mr. Wickham, & Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins. Each of your couple will start in a different location (for example Elizabeth at Longbourn and Mr. Darcy at Pemberley).

The object of the game is to collect all Regency Life tokens (nature, tea time, society, music & dance, and letters); along with The Novel tokens: Vol. I, Vol. II, and Vol. III. The areas to store the tokens are located on the back of your character sheets.

To gain Regency Life tokens you have to go around the board and enter different locations from the book and purchase the tokens. You need a token from each category to win. You can use both characters of your couple to collect them or just move one around the board.

To gain The Novel tokens, you have to answer trivia about Pride and Prejudice, needing to gain each volume (answer three questions correctly) to win.

Of course there are other squares on the board that will redirect you, cause you to lose money, gain money, and lose a turn.

If you run out of money, you can return home and gain two shillings, or you can sell tokens back to the bank for money as well.

Once you have all the tokens needed you must have both couples to enter the church, but you must enter by an exact roll of the dice.

Now this is the tricky part, I ended up losing the game as I had only one character in, and just could not roll the right number to send the other in.

I thought this game was fun, except I didn’t like the initial set up. It took forever as you had to punch out every card and token. I don’t mind doing some, but for the price you are paying for this game it would have been nice if the cards were already done and the tokens were the only ones you needed to punch out.

I thought this game was a lot of fun, except unlike Marrying Mr. Darcy, it can only be played by people who like and know Pride and Prejudice. The trivia questions weren’t too difficult but you need at least a basic knowledge of the story to play.

The game moved a bit slow in the beginning, but once you have the tokens and are close to getting everything, it picks up.

I would recommend this for Pride and Prejudice fans who have friends or family that equally love it and are willing to play it with you.

This definitely would be great for a Jane Austen book club or to play at a Jane Austen tea party (although it is only for four people). I do wish they had two more couples you could play, I know the Gardiners, Hursts, and Bennets are already married but they could have included them; or Kitty, Mary, and Georgiana. But otherwise this was an interesting game and a great way to test your Pride and Prejudice trivia.

For more Pride and Prejudice games, go to Marrying Mr. Darcy: The Pride and Prejudice Card Game

For more Jane Austen games, go to Jane Austen Birthday Party: Jane Austen Trivia

For more Jane Austen products review, go to Jane Austen Runs My Life Spooky Collaboration with Madsen Creations!

For more Pride and Prejudice, go to You Ever Notice That Harry Potter is Kind of Like Elizabeth Bennet in the Way He Treats Snape and She Treats Mr. Darcy?

My Week With Jane

When I was in elementary school, my brother was in the army and stationed in Hawaii. We took a trip to visit him, but problems with the plane arose and the flight was delayed for a few hours. This was two years after 9/11 so we didn’t want to leave the airport and instead had to wait.

While we were waiting I noticed a lady across the way waiting with a big paper something. Of course being a curious child, I moved closer to look and saw it was a paper boy. Not a cardboard cutout, but like someone traced a boy and decorated it. I was trying to figure it out, when the lady noticed me looking and told me that it was Flat Stanley. A group of teachers had been reading Flat Stanley and passing him around taking pictures and when one had a friend going to Hawaii she asked if she could take him with her.

Wow!

I thought that was the coolest thing. For those of you who don’t know Flat Stanley is a book in which a boy, Stanley, is flattened by a bulletin board, becoming flat, and goes on a series of adventures. One of them is visiting his pen pal by being mailed in a giant envelope.

All I could think was what a great idea and how cool and fun to be a part of something like that.

Well…

Fast forward to Summer of 2020, everyone is glum about restrictions and most of us are not having fun.

When I saw that the Jane Austen Society of North America: East Washington and North Idaho (JASNA EWANID) was doing a Flat Jane.

Look at that!

After all:

They decided for the summer they would be sending Flat Jane about, she staying with the person who signed up for a week and then moving them onto the next home to visit. They then asked people on instagram if they wanted to sign up and I was like, yes please!

This actually became so popular they made several of them. My turn arrived and I was so excited and couldn’t wait to take her out on adventures.

Tea first!

Day 1) Sunday, January 3rd

What a Jane of a day! Today my friend gave me the Jane Austen adaption, Jane in Love by Rachel Givney, and then when I got home I checked my mail and inside was Flat Jane. I am so excited to start all our adventures.

It was great reading the Jane Austen Travel Log and getting to see all the adventures and things people had done. I couldn’t wait to add my own. Sunday I had my niece so I didn’t get a chance to do anything with Jane until later that day.

That night my sister and I did our usual #perioddramasaturdays It was my sister’s turn to pick and she chose Outlander, which I had read the first book but had not seen the TV show. For the occasion I made Blueberry Oat Scones (I’ll share the recipe later), that I had adapted from Plum Deluxe and we had Lavender Flowering Tea.

Flat Jane joined us for tea but declined watching Outlander. She was tired from her long journey from East to West and retired early. She espechially liked seeing the flower created from the tea leaves.

Day 2) Monday, January 4th

Ever since COVID19 Monday night has become Game Night! Jane and I played my new Pride and Prejudice game that I had received for Christmas. She won as I just couldn’t get the exact number to make my remaining half of the couple get to the church. I kept rolling over or under. I was planning to try playing Marrying Mr. Darcy with her, but I didn’t end up getting a chance to. I do plan to review this Pride and Prejudice game soon.

Afterwards, we played a singing board game with my sister, a sort of creating a song to a tune like in Who’s Line is it Anyway? When my turn came up I felt a lot like when Lady Catherine demanded Elizabeth play, as I don’t sing.

It was a fun game and hilarious as the game came with “lyrics” that were just too goofy.

Day 3) Tuesday, January 5th

Tuesday night Jane and I had pizza and watched Strong Woman Bong Soon, a K-Drama I recommend for any Jane Austen fan as it has elements that make me think of Jane Austen’s works.

Sooooo Mrs. Bennet

Jane loved the pizza (she definitely wishes they had that back in Regency England) and I think I swayed her to my line of thinking about the K-Drama…but she might have been humoring me.

Well…

Day 4) Wednesday, January 5th

Flat Jane joined us for our weekly Tea Party/Book Club/Bible Study on The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think she enjoyed it, although it was unlike any bible study she has ever been a part of.

For these chapters we visited the beavers and had: Chami Winter Apple Spice Tea, a loaf of Dutch Crust Bread, trout, chicken (for the non-seafood eaters [me]), boiled potatoes, and marmalade rolls. Of course I had to explain to her the joke about boiled potatoes.

I will be sharing the recipes as soon as I catch up with The Magician’s Nephew posts. 

Day 5) Thursday, January 6th

After the Book Club/Tea Party/Bible Study I thought Jane would be interested in going to a regular bible study. She enjoyed it and marveled at my cat pen, amazed at how it looked and wishing they had such easy things to use when she was writing her novels. I plan to show her an Austen adaption tonight, but am still trying to decide which one…should I show her one I love or one I hate so we can both make fun of it? Decisions, decisions…

Hmmm…

I finally decided to show her one I hate, Austentatious (2015)

This is the worst Jane Austen adaption I have ever seen. We started with the first one and then she caught up to me with the second to last episode. After we watched the whole thing she was very confused about the whole thing and how it even matched up with what she wrote. Same Jane, same. If interested, you can watch it on tubi or you can read my past reviews: We Are Family: Austentatious, Episode 1 (2015), Big Girls Don’t Cry: Austentatious, Episode 2 (2015), I’ll Be Watching You: Austentatious, Episode 3 (2015), Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Austentatious, Episode 4 (2015), Call Me, Maybe: Austentatious, Episode 5 (2015), Drive Me Crazy: Austentatious, Episode 6 (2015), Make Me a Match: Austentatious, Episode 7 (2015), Take a Chance on Me: Austentatious, Episode 8 (2015), and Achy Breaky Heart: Austentatious Episode 9 (2015). 

After we watched the series, we had a cup of tea before bed. I had purchased two Jane Austen inspired teas from NovelTea Tins, Pride and Peppermint and Sense and Senchability. I had run out of Pride and Peppermint as I had used the last of it in the tea advent calendar swap I made for a friend, so we drank Sense and Senchability. Jane loved it and was amazed at all the different Jane Austen inspired products that we can purchase today.

Day 6) Friday, January 7th

Today was a shopping day as Jane went with me to visit a local Vintage/resale shop as I was on the hunt for a purple teacup for my friend’s birthday this month. I found this adorable claw-footed one under $10.

We then stopped off at the grocery store to pick up a few items and Jane was amazed at all the food for purchase and the prices! Plus we came upon many things she had never heard of before protein powder, lactose free milk, Greek yogurt, every kind of chocolate you could imagine, and more.

Day 7) Saturday, January 8th

Saturday turned out to be a shopping day as well, as my sister needed to visit Jo-Anns and Hobby Lobby in the next city over (we have a small Jo-Anns and we do not have a Hobby Lobby). I agreed as long as we stop at one of my favorite restaurants, the Tea Bar and Fusion Cafe. They have the best foods and teas. Jane loved the HoneyTea Latte I bought for her.

Afterwards we went to Hobby Lobby where we looked for fabric for a book sleeve I’m having made.

I was looking for a dark fabric, but Jane spotted this beautiful china blue vase printed one that I just couldn’t say no to.

We only visited a quarter of the store and Jane was amazed at everything they had there.

Afterwards we went to Jo-Anns and looked around the different fabrics and of course I had to show Jane all the muslin they had.

Mr. Tilney mentions purchasing muslin for 5 shillings a yard in Northanger Abbey and that was a good deal, but Jane was amazed that today she could purchase muslin for half the price he paid (converting how much 1800s shillings would be worth in our money).

Day 8) Sunday, January 9th

It was time to say goodbye to Flat Jane as I had her for the week and she is about to journey on to stay with another friend. I helped her pack up and will drop her off tomorrow for her journey to the East Coast.

As Jane is going to visit another Jane Austen fan I couldn’t resist sending one of my Quill Ink Jane Austen Inspired Magazine Cover Cards. If you are interested in getting some for yourself check out her Etsy shop.

If interested in having Flat Jane visit you then contact JASNA EWANID to signup. I recommend it as it is a lot of fun.

For more Jane Austen, go to Is Emma Jane Austen’s Only Mystery?