Warning: Pictures!!!!!!!

I guess the problem posting pictures is with Firefox because Google Chrome loaded them no problem. Well...as easy as loading 4 MB pictures can be. I'm excited because now you can see my November.

First up - the tile. I've mostly blocked out the emotional havoc this floor caused me in the early part of the month, but this picture will serve as a reminder that I was right to complain. No one should have to live with this floor!

Early in the month, I made a blink-of-an-eye trip to SLC to attend the SYTYCD tour. I'm glad I went, but I won't ever make the mistake of buying floor seats again. Heads - in the way - the entire time. I could never see feet, which, you know, is nice to see when you are watching....DANCING!! Fun though. I got to see a couple of old friends and spend some time with my sisters. And, I finally got to go to a Zumba class. Super fun.

Playing on the russian Folk Dance debacle.

Kupono's shorts. See? I don't even need to use words now.

Favorite routine. Just as good, except I prefered Kayla's look without make-up.

Onto the piano recital. Sam was sick but I didn't want him to miss his big moment. After watching his back spasm from trying to hold back his cough and the germs that were undoubtedly spread with the ones he wasn't able to hold back, I probably made the wrong decision.

I played The Arkansas Traveler duet with Seth.

Sam had passed off the most scales AND tied with the most passed off pieces. He earned a fun CD from his teacher.

The following weekend, we headed to New Mexico for the BYU v. New Mexico football game. It wasn't the weekend I envisioned (hanging out with friends and family, gabbing it up at the hotel) but it was fun. I'm almost always up for a road trip, in case you were wondering.

Sam showed Cosmo who had spirit.

My little BYU fans.

I've honestly never been tailgating. The alumni did a great job creating a fun pre-game event for families. Here's Seth doing the ring toss.

Sam does the dart toss from a not-so-challenging distance.

Face painting! (none for me, thanks).
When I first looked at this photo I thought, "Where are my legs? Am I floating?" Then, I realized that Seth isn't that hippy, or curvy, and had a good chuckle. I guess I just have a wide stance!:)
There weren't very many New Mexico fans there and our seats weren't great, but at least we weren't fighting for elbow space.

Thanksgiving 2009: I love this holiday.

Jay begins the day with a sweet Henry on his chest moment. This is such a rare thing, nowadays.

I don't have eight matching plates. I have five. I don't have china. I don't have eight matching glasses. So, we paper plate/paper cupped it. And I'm so glad! I took a picture of the kid table too, but it was pretty much the same, minus a real table cloth (paper!) and I thought I'd save myself the 2 minutes it takes each picture to upload.

Jay's sister, Kelly, and family came for the weekend. We had a ball. I can't believe this is the only picture I have. We love when family comes with cousins to play with.

Who doesn't love to see a man doing the dishes?

Eager for pie, boys?
My mother in law brought me a bunch of tulips for hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't even know you could get tulips in late November. They were lovely.

On one of the break days, I took the boys to the local rec center. Henry is so independent that I didn't even get in a swimsuit, but was still a little nervous so I had him in a life jacket. What can I say? He makes me nervous.

It's dark, but that there is four cousins having a blast together. (Henry, Matt, Derek, Sam)

Henry after his first day of pre-school. Yes, Henry is in school now. He qualifies for state speech therapy because he is significantly delayed in speech/language. He didn't get into the elementary school pre-school program where Seth and Sam attend, and I didn't enroll him anywhere else. About three weeks ago, I got a call from the head of the BOCES program telling me that there was an opening at another elementary school pre-school program. These programs are Head Start programs that run Monday-Thursday from 8:00 to 3:00 pm. At first, I thought I understood that he didn't have to be there the whole day, and that I could pick him up before lunch, but it was then explained, because the BOCES department would be covering his tuition, because of his special need, that the slot needed to be filled by a full-time student.

Jay and I both did some gasping, but decided that we'd try it. Every single one of his speech therapists, including his new private one, and his pediatrician have recommended pre-school as the best push for him to progress. They throw out terms like "peer modeling" to sound official, but, basically, I think they are trying to tell me that I help him too much. Kids are less forgiving and if they don't understand him, well, then, he's going to have to articulate better. It's been hard for me, my pride, to admit that having him be somewhere else for 32 hours a week might be better for him than at home with me. In fact, I just might cry about it right now if I keep on typing. Oh, I'm not going to lie and say there are no perks. Lunch dates/grocery shopping/errands - heck, almost everything I'm supposed to do during the day will be easier without him by my side. But, he's three. And this is very sudden. And, he's barely potty-trained. And, by barely, I mean not really. So that's stressful. But, we're trying it out. If it's not what he needs, then we can pull him out. More details and pictures later.

There! That picture was taken November 30th so I am officially ready to move on to December. Fa la la la la....la la...la....la.

Warning: Text Only

December 1st. Can you believe it? Actually, I can. Ever since daylight savings time ended, the nights are too long. I feel like crawling into bed at 6:00 pm. Only 21 more days until the shortest day of the year and then...they just keep getting longer. That's something to look forward to.

So, I should post. I like posting. I miss it, in fact. There has just been the never-good-for-a-blogger mixture of too little time and not much happening (which seems like an oxymoron, but I assure you, it is possible). Oh, I know, there is always something worth blogging about. It's the little things that make it so much fun. Like, how fun would it be to discuss Kupono's short shorts when I watched the So You Think You Can Dance tour in Salt Lake? Or, how embarrassed I felt after Sam wet coughed all over the piano keys during his piano recital (I know. It makes you want to get out the Lysol, right?) But, those moments have passed and you'd need pictures to recreate the mood.

Which I can't post!

I don't know why. It boggles my mind how technology can just up and ruin a perfectly good thing all by itself. I have changed nothing. Done nothing. Touched nothing. But, when I try to load a picture it says, "You have chosen to open upload-image.do, which is a: DO file from http://www.blogger.com. What should firefox do with this file?" to which there is only one available answer which then leads to the message that the file can't be opened.

Aggravating.

However, I am determined to keep a better record in December - pictures or not. I want to remember exactly when I recovered from the flu (today) and Henry's first day of pre-school (yesterday). I'd like to have this picture thing figured out by Christmas, but, if not, I'll just be like the pioneers and declare, "All is well!"

Consider yourself warned.

Rhyme Thyme

Somebody called me fat yesterday.

At least, I think somebody called me fat yesterday.

I keep trying to reconstruct the sentence into any other possibility, because...well...I just might have heard wrong.  I'd like to think so, anyways. 

Here's what happened according to my not always reliable memory:

A group of us were at a restaurant after watching New Moon at the theater.  Due to the size of the group, we were split into several tables and one of the women sitting at my table was someone I did not know.  We spent the evening enjoying some comfortable banter, mixing the conversation with jokes and the more serious topic of home decorating.  At one point, one of my friends joked that her secret mission was to have Person X become best friends with Person Y.  She followed her happy declaration by telling the woman I had just met sitting next to me something like, "I'll let you know you your best friend should be too." She replied, I think, "I need a fat friend."  And then she pointed at me.

I think.

But, maybe she said flat friend.

Or....cat friend.

But, then she said it again.  And followed it with, "Someone who will make lots of desserts."  Accompanied with another finger stab in my direction.  Mind you, she said this while eating a dressing-less/crouton-less salad. 

Or maybe not.

It happened fast and definitely wasn't the kind of scene where a pin drop could be heard.  Honestly, no one reacted.  No one looked uncomfortable on my behalf and the woman didn't act like she had said something rude or embarrassing.

So, maybe she didn't say it.

She could have said a black friend.  But I'm not sure what that has to do with desserts.

Craft friend?   Some people craft with food, don't they? 

Vat friend?  Referring, possibly, to someone who has a job at the local chocolate factory?  All legitimate possibilities that aren't explained with the accompanying pointing towards me as I'm neither crafty nor do I have access to chocolate vat.

I suppose I could solve the mystery by inviting her over for cake, but, I don't bake.  My fatness comes from a complex mixture of hormones, bad genes, pregnancy weight, years of bad habits and eating desserts I did not make.

So...she got that wrong.

Or not.

Maybe she said phat friend.

That's probably it.

Family Pictures 2009

A month ago, we met an out-of-town photographer up at the local ski resort for a family photo session. The session was the most fun I have ever had taking pictures. It's a husband and wife team and they were goofy and funny and encouraging and never, ever demanding. I figured because we were having so much fun, that the pictures would turn out perfectly.

Well...I don't think they did. Those things that photographers usually tell you to do, like "straighten your head" or "put your hands down" might have helped me love some certain photos better. In each one, there seems to be someone or something out of place. Like, towards the later part of the session, my bangs look horrible! I wished someone would have said, "Did you want your bangs to be split down the middle like that or were you wanting all of them to go straight down?" Because, my favorite picture is tainted by my split bangs. I want to love it because my kids are cute, and my husband is cute and we look happy and snug. But. Those bangs! I just want to get out a comb!

It's also hard to do all the communicating via email. The package came with a 16X20 which is, by far, the largest pictures I have ever had of us. I thought I had made a good decision - choosing a vertical shot because I thought it would look better in a large frame and choosing one that captured the best of most, and not just the best of me.

Well, what I thought were squinty eyes due to smiling on a proof on the computer turned out to be the start of a blink in a 16X20! I will just have to be content that it was the best shot of everyone else. Man, it's like I'm all consumed by me, or something:)

So, here they are. Expect something similar to be coming your way in the next month or so by way of Christmas cards. Act surprised and delighted.

Enjoy, Mom!



What I wished I would have chosen for our 16X20.

What I chose. Click on it. You'll see my squinty/crazy eyes.

Love this picture. I'd have blown this one up had Henry's face been showing.

I would have liked a more close-up of Seth, but this is so totally him right now that I love this shot.

I can't believe this is the best shot of Henry she got. He's really photogenic. I was expecting more.

She got some great ones of Jay and Henry, which is kind of funny since Henry is a total mama's boy. Still...adorable.

Loved the rock shots. Wish Sam's head wasn't resting on Jay like that.

Probably my favorite picture of the bunch.

The best picture with the worst bangs.

What is actually happening in this photo:

Jay - "I think these kinds of pictures always turn out cheesy."

Me - "Humor me. Look in love."

I guess perfect pictures are appropriate for perfect families. These are exactly us.

Lucy! You've got some 'plainin' to do!

I am agog and aghast (just listened to the Les Mis CD) that I left a Halloween post on top of the pile for a week. I am a firm defender of the Halloween-gets-one-day-of-my-life camp (o.k...so it got 3 but I refuse to relinquish the entire month of October to its macabre ways) and I certainly hope I didn't send mixed signals by not moving on sooner to the month that hosts the best holiday of the year - Thanksgiving.

I would have. Believe me. I wanted to.

Except.

I had the worst week ever.

Now, this could be a really long post. I'm not proud of it, but I can be exceptionally verbose when there are things to complain about. I'll try to be brief, but I got to get it out if I'm to survive this next week. Now on to the 'plainin'.

Monday - Tile guy begins what he calls a four day project. Tells me I'd probably have a better day if I weren't around because removing tile is a loud and dusty business. I agree and leave my house by 8:15 am with the goal of not returning until 5:00. Send out an open invitation for anyone to join me for lunch on facebook with no takers. Embarrassing, but Henry was glad for the social snafu because it meant Burger King playland for him. Boring day. I do not live in a town that enables a full-day of loafing. A full day of hiking, skiing, biking, rock climbing, rafting, jeeping? Yes. But you need skills, strength and equipment for all of that. A full day of hanging out without any particular place to go with a three year-old? No. We did our best with a trip to Wal-Mart, the mall, the park, the post office, the car wash, and, as mentioned above, Burger King.

Tuesday - Tile guy has more deconstructing to do and says we are free to stay in the basement part of the house, but there is a layer of dust EVERYWHERE and I don't know about you, but I'm not really at ease when there is just me, my son, and another man in the house. We got in the van and drove an hour south where there is some real shopping (i.e. Target). Come back in time to pick up boys from school and...hang out in town until dinner time because we no longer have a functioning kitchen. Fridge, dishwasher, and stove are now hanging out in dining room. Tile project is behind because tile guy had to drive an hour south(hmmmm....we must have passed each other at some point) to find what he needed as it wasn't available locally. Jay is on call and came home from work feeling lousy so is extra grouchy about the mess and take-out. Good feeling that came from being in Target is quickly gone as I feel guilty about something that is not my fault (this happens a lot. I was sent an extra-sensitive son to help me understand how annoying it is, but it's a habit that is hard to shake).

Wednesday - Tile guy gets there early and says we can't be in the house at all that day because they are laying this tile sub floor that can't be stepped on. Jay is down for the count with the flu and actually calls in sick (like the second time EVER...in his life) and can't even stay in his own bed. He drives out to his parents to crash while I get the boys to school and pick up medicine for him. While I was waiting for the pharmacy to fill the Tamiflu prescription, I succumb to the lure of the Snuggie display nearby and think the cozy fleece might help with Jay's chills. Can't shake the shame that comes from supporting company that charges $20 for a cheap piece of fleece with circles cut out of it and sleeves sewn in. Believe me, the $20 is not for the product. It's to pay for all of those awful commercials. Decide that we'll all just sleep at Jay's folks place and return to the house to gather our things. Tile guy left a few strategically placed tiles down the hall as a trail to hop on, but is one shy to get to my bedroom. Have to scoot one down with my foot and literally leap into my bedroom. Yelled at Seth to come catch clothes as I threw them off the deck because I don't think I can manage the hop back down the hallway with luggage. Slept for about 2 hours total that night with Henry as a bedfellow. He seems to have restless leg syndrome or something. Plus, he fell out of bed twice.

Thursday - Leave early to get boys to school on time as the drive from his parent's house takes an extra twenty minutes. Go back to the house where tile guy says he is even more behind because blah, blah, blah, blah blah (literally can't remember. He started talking tile shop with me and I stopped caring ) but got the message loud and clear that...get ready...I should probably not be in the house today as he'd be starting to lay out tile and it'd be loud (with the cutting) and imperative that Henry not get near it (good luck with that!). So, we go back to his parent's house to clean up. I have a quarterly enrichment activity that involves the entire ward, not just the relief society, so spend the majority of the day prepping for that and making calls. Pick the boys up from school to discover that Sam has the flu. Get home and learn that tile guy has literally tiled us out of our bedrooms.

Breakdown Commences.

Mentally, emotionally and physically, I just can't figure out how to keep all the balls I have going in the air. Jay is on call, Sam is sick, I need to be at the church, we have no home, and I can't figure out how to print something I need without scaling the back deck, which is not something I want to do. I call my sister, Sarah, because I am seriously sobbing and she reasons with me. Much thanks to her, my sister-in-law, Patty, and the RS president for keeping me sane that night. It was a close call.

Friday - I get to leave the mess that is our life (sick kids, house in ruins, dispute with landlord,) with my sick husband for the weekend. They survive. But it's not pretty.

So, I didn't die. Obviously, nothing was MORE than I could bear (debatable) and I'm a little bit rested and definitely restored. The house is a disaster. Kids are still sick. I have....a tickle in my throat but am crossing my fingers. The floor in the hallway and kitchen is done, but not sealed and we still have no appliances or upstairs bathroom. Tile guy thinks it'll be Thursday before everything is finished (What?!?!?!)

Now...aren't you glad you got the condensed version??:)

P.S. We did get a free book light with the snuggie. So...that is something. Just counting my blessings, folks!

Halloween Exhibits

Halloween has come and gone (thank goodness). Here is some proof that my children aren't completely deprived of a fun mom come this much ballyhooed holiday.

Exhibit A. Family Home Evening on Monday night. We carved pumpkins.







If you can't tell it's my fault as I did a lot of the detail work. Essentially, it's a goblin with scary hands next to a bat and a coffin. It wasn't easy!

Sam picked a skull and crossbones pattern and did most of it himself.

Exhibit B. Went to Seth's school's Halloween parade, even though Sam was home sick.

Seth showing off his bump.

Henry literally screaming, "Don't take my picture!!!"

Big brother takes little brother on the parade route. Unfortunately, there was only one other Luigi costume in the entire school and he happened to line up right behind Seth.

Cupcakes in the classroom afterward.

Exhibit C. I took them to our neighborhood Halloween party.

Luigi, Mario and the cow.

Sam (aka Mario) waits his turn for a game.

Seth tosses some beanbags.

Sam pins the nose on the jack-o-lantern.

Exhibit D. I took them to the combined ward trunk or treat.

The elders dress up as secret service agents.

Cousin Derek patiently takes Henry around the parking lot.

Can you recognize Patty? Derek looked great in his old suit with a secret stash of lollipops.

I loved this costume. She took a yellow fleece and hotglued some brown ribbon on it to make a pineapple costume. So warm and cozy!

This is what this cowboy spent most of the night doing. Answering the phone from the hospital.

Yee-haw!

Exhibit E. Trick or treating around the neighborhood and passing out candy to our trick-or-treaters.

Seth handles the door duties with Henry and Sam (not pictured) help. Notice Derek hiding behind the stairs. He jumped out and scared people. Notice Henry no longer in his costume. He threw up all over it. Good times, people. Good times.

Until next year......

Book Review - Classic #4 - Romeo and Juliet

Earlier this year, before my goal to read twenty classics was set, I told myself that 2009 was going to be the year that I tried new things.  One of those things was to read -  not watch, not hear about -  but read a Shakespeare play.

My parents, who have his full works on display on shelves in their living room, suggested I start with Romeo and Juliet, because it's the most familiar and would be the easiest story to get used to his language.  If this is his easiest, then I'm in trouble.

Reading Romeo and Juliet ranks only slightly easier than reading a novel in french.  I have enough background in french to recognize many verbs, most pronouns and my vocabulary is probably that of a 1st or 2nd grader, so a lot of the time, I can get the gist, if not the actual meaning.  Sort of like, "He is ....something.  Or....They went.....somewhere."   O.K.  So I don't read a lot of french (but I wish I could!) 

I understood a lot more than that of Romeo and Juliet, but probably a lot due to the fact that I've seen Baz Luhrmann's movie where they speak the dialogue set in a modern day setting.   Do you remember Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes?  I love that movie!  It's really the only movie I like Leo in.  That scene, right after he kills Tybalt, after Tybalt had killed Mercutio - I loved his raw emotion!  Oh..wait.  I'm reviewing a book.  Hold on.

See, this is what I did while I read.  I'd read, remember the scene and then understand what was going on.   I'm not trying to paint myself as stupid, but without help, whether in visual form or from someone who can give a little background or definition to some of the forgotten or unusual vocabulary, Shakespeare is hard to understand.  The edition I read had footnotes and I used them.  They definitely helped and by play's end, I felt like I had read it.  Not skimmed it, but read and understood it.  Mission accomplished!


In addition to the actual play, which isn't very long, I read a half dozen pre and post essays written by experts in the field of Shakespeare.  Covering topics such as his own biography (men are never as good as I wished they were - even Shakespeare himself), the debate about his authorship,  the source of  Romeo and Juliet, the nature of trajedies and what the stage set-up would have looked like in Shakespeare's day, I felt at the end of all my reading that I had taken a hearty class about Shakespeare.  Of course, I would much prefer the interaction  you find in a class with a teacher, but I proudly admit to being educated by reading this.  I'm better informed and now hold knowledge that I think will benefit me in life.  Shakespeare's plays aren't only entertaining, but the phrases and plot outlines are used and recreated everywhere.  For instance, did you realize The Lion King is an adaptation of Hamlet?   

As helpful as the movie adaptations are (I love Hamlet with Mel Gibson, Much Ado About Nothing with Emma Thompson and Henry V with Kenneth Branagh.   I even like a more modern retelling like 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew)), I think toiling through the language of Shakespeare is worth the effort.  Hard to understand?  Yes.  Lacking the emotion that comes with the intended acting?  Definitely.   But sometimes, you need to put the scripture readers down and pick up the scriptures.  The stories are nice and important, but getting the spirit from the original source, along with all the text, will remind you that even four-hundred years ago, the same prejudices, ignorance, mob mentaility, rivalries, young love and  20/20 hindsight existed.  In Romeo and Juliet, he just used a different  and more extensive vocabulary to describe it all.

I think Shakespeare performed a great service by commemorating 14th and 15th century life through plays.  By doing so, he connected generations of humanity.

How It Should Be

Sam:  We had a lockdown drill at school today.

Me:  Oh.  We never had those when I was in school.  What did you do during your lockdown drill?

Sam:  We just have to move away from the windows and door, into a corner and stay quiet until the principle says over the speakers that we can talk again.

Me:  Huh

Sam:  It's for if there is ever something scary at the school.  Like if a deer got inside.

Oh....if only that were true.

Wouldn't it be great if elementary school could get back to teaching math with an occasional fire drill?

Compensation

If it's going to do this:

I get to do this:

Nothing like hot chocolate, a fire, and candles that smell like pumpkin and nutmeg on a cold, snowy evening.

Book Review - Classic #3 - The Count of Monte Cristo

Well, of course I loved it.  Have you read it?  It's fabulous.

My problem in writing a review is wondering what, if anything, matters.  Did Dumas write this for pure entertainment?   If that is the case, then the novel is an out of the ballpark success.  Drama, intrigue, suspense, revenge and subterfuge all craftily woven together that make every one of its twelve-hundred plus pages worth it.

However.

If this is supposed to be some great lesson in morality, particularly about the existence of God, the effects of vengeance or revenge, or even the great balance between justice and mercy, I think there could be some bones to pick.

Before I pick, I must admit to wondering if reading the book was even necessary.  I am a fan of the James Caviezal as Edmond Dantes movie version and for the first couple hundred pages, felt the few differences between the movie and book were inconsequential.   Of course, as is always the case, there were more details, more depth to the characters, but the set up was the same.  Edmond was a stand-up guy, engaged to his beautiful Mercedes and happy and lucky in love and life.  Then, jealous rivals and a situation of unfortunate coincidence remove him from his simple bliss and he spends the next fourteen years locked up for made-up crimes without any possibility of recourse or explanation.  It nearly drives him insane, until he meets a fellow prisoner who, mistakenly thinking he was digging a tunnel to escape, digs a tunnel between their own two cells.  As the passageway enables them to enjoy each other's company, the elder prisoner spends years passing on his vast knowledge to his eager student, eventually including information about a mammoth undiscovered treasure.    All that is left is for Edmond to find a way to escape, collect his treasure and decide what he wants to do with his freedom and fortune.

All of that happens as the movie explained it to me.  It is clever in the movie and just as clever in the book.  At this point of the story, however, the book becomes a maze of plot development compared to the movie's much simplified stroll-down-a-lighted-main-street approach.  I liked the maze.  I appreciated Dumas thinking I could handle the maze.  Because, let me tell you, it gets a little disorientating throughout the last eight-hundred pages, or so.

Now for the picking - I have heard that this is a great story about revenge.  Certainly, that is true.  It is a great story.   And it is about revenge.  What is unclear to me is if the revenge is great.  I don't think so.  I'm not sure we're supposed to think so.

Something that always bugged me about the movie was how Edmond, or The Count of Monte Cristo, got all of his revenge and then, when everyone was dead or ruined, he had a change of heart and could get back to the business of being a good guy.  Well......yeah!  When everything is going your way, being forgiving and kind and compassionate is not a very hard thing to be.

The book doesn't go quite as far in making everything hunky dory for Edmond in the end, as there are a few unforeseen consequences he didn't count on bothering him when he set out to ruin those who ruined him, but neither book nor movie bothers to really ask the question if Edmond had the right or responsibility to become the Count of Monte Cristo; if he could have received the peace he deserved without spending over a decade playing a covert, and, might I add, one-sided, game of chess.   Of course, had he taken his large fortune and settled into the quiet life of a fisherman, there wouldn't be much of a story:)

The other thing that make the story even more unlikely is that all of the original characters still seem to be connected.  Sons are marrying daughters, everyone lives in the same town, and everyone associates in the same class-level, which happens to correspond nicely with The Count's own unlimited wealth.   Again, I concede that without this set-up, the revenge would have taken even longer to enact.  Having everyone's story interact made the fall-out go down like an intricate design of dominoes.  It took a long time to set-up but once the inital push was made, everything came crashing down.


I'm so glad I read the book.  Instead of scratching my head about whether or not anyone, even someone grossly wronged by evildoers, has the right to seek vengeance, I will simply enjoy the time I spent learning about the unstable french government surrounding Napoleon's reign, the dazzling style that The Count of Monte Cristo infused into everything he did and, yes, some head scratching about who was who.   Here's help. 

Book Review - Pope Joan

This came to me as part of the mail exchange bookclub I've just joined. According to the cover, this is the story of an actual woman in history who rose to become the pope while living in disguise as a man in the 8th century. Never having heard of the book, or the historical figure who was the inspiration behind it, I looked forward to reading something that stretched me.

Almost immediately, I found myself disliking the book. I'm not sure why, but I can't deny the eye rolling or negative comments that found their way from my pen to the page. Things were not looking good. Joan was obnoxiously smart and good and quick to understand and everyone else around her, save a non-religious priest and non-religious midwife, were superstitious, ignorant or, like her own father who was a priest, just plain mean. It's the black and white of it all that drives me crazy. Surely Joan (later to be known as John) had a bad habit. Surely her father had some redeeming quality. It couldn't all be beatings and head shavings, could it? Why, yes it could, according to author Donna Cross.

Whenever I read about the dark ages, I'm frustrated with the lack of...well...humanness portrayed. Were people fundamentally different then? Life obviously wasn't good. No one could read. The catholic church and aristocracy were corrupted and made life miserable and dangerous for anyone not protected within its sphere. All things considered, labeling the time as "dark" is probably better than the centuries deserved.

Still, any existence must make room for some goodness. It's impossible to extinguish entirely, I believe. Its scatterings must have been found in more than a handful of people. All of those people who couldn't write, couldn't leave records - I bet some of them were good. In books like these, however, they are always relegated to the background, chanting, "Witch!" or taking their kids to see the local hanging. I simply can't understand that atmosphere.

Back to the book, Cross more than allows Joan to be good. More accurately, Joan hovers around saint level. She is everything to cheer for and nothing to root against. Which makes me wonder.

I'll try to not ruin anything for future readers, but according to the author, there are historical facts upon which the story is based. While discounted by the catholic church as mere anti-papal legend, Cross asserts there was a pope referred to as John that legitimately shows up in some histories but not in others due to attempts to cover-up the scandal. In the histories that exist, this Pope John was only discovered as a woman when "he" miscarried after falling off a horse on a public street.

From there, there is only conjecture of how this could happen. To become pope, she must have been learned. She must have had an education, which was forbidden for girls during this time. She must have had help infiltrating the male world. Lastly, she must have had sex in order to have a miscarriage.

Cross's Joan is noble and brave, always trying to do the right thing, and only becomes pope because she is so smart and good and the good people put her in position to thwart the bad people from gaining power.

That's one possibility.

I kept going back to the "facts". The woman who would become pope was a known liar. She pretended she was a man. She was also pregnant. Hmmmmmm. Maybe, just maybe she wasn't that...good.

It doesn't really matter, but the characterization of her and her lover, who was equally brave and good, bothered me enough to keep me from liking this book. But, it is not without merits.

Cross does a really good job of placing the reader in the dark ages. It felt like the year 900. The lack of opportunity for women was horrific. The injustice of the courts was maddening. The threat of a viking attack and need for fortification were all aptly defended.

If you love historical fiction, this is probably right up your alley. Pope Joan takes you to a different time and entertains with a complex story. It's just not a road whose view I particularly appreciated.

Book Review - Fablehaven 2 - Rise of the Evening Star

While painful to read a book as slowly as I have been managing to read the Fablehaven series with my older boys (I bought the series last Christmas and we just finished book #2), it is worth the slow pace to discover right along side them the ever increasing complex magical world of Fablehaven.

I liked the first book well enough, but the series really got going for me in this second book. With most of the background story and characters already sketched, a much more interesting story was made possible. New magical creatures, more peril and a deeper cast of supporting characters were all enjoyably introduced. Brandon Hall must be very pleased with the imaginations that are going hogwild in his increcible fantasy world.

Best of all, it's more than just fairies, monsters and magic. Embedded in the fantasy are real-life applications about agency, obedience, trust and courage. Seth and Kendra, while still a tad predictable and flat, are characters that I feel comfortable introducing to my children. Their experiences, behavior and judgment, along with the necessary consequences are good lessons neatly disguised behind lifesize enchanted puppets, greedy satyrs, shrinking potions and traitorous narcoblixes. Sound interesting? It is.