Seriously, I am tired, and just so you don’t think Pollyanna is writing this blog, I did lose it last night with Drama. Even DH commented, asking me what was up. I was tired of pouring out, pouring out, pouring out. I was angry and I was empty, and I just wanted them all to go to bed and leave me alone, for crying out loud! And then I remembered something almost magical–those same kids who drain me also fill me up. I was so tired I had forgotten to let them refuel me. I met their needs and then got up to do something else, instead of allowing them to meet mine. So I pushed my work aside (yeah, I really need to get to that still), and I picked Drama up and we rocked; snuggled up in that comfy chair, we rocked. And I forgot how long he day had been, and I forgot how tired I was, and I forgot how she was supposed to be sleeping, and I just soaked up that good baby lovin’.

Here’s hoping I remember that lesson before I get waspish and ornery again.

Anyway, posting will be light to non existent until I am back home early next week. Ya’ll be good, now, ya hear?

All that said, there is a place for the enjoyment of fiction, just because it is well done, and that was the case for me and this book. I opened it prepared to dislike it, and found myself hooked before the end of the first chapter. The novel begins in modern day Rome, and on the second page, we are suddenly in Ancient Rome, and as a student of history that was it for me; my fight with the book was over right there on page 2. Setting alone: +10.

The writing is masterful, and Rose moves the story along at a satisfactory pace. Not so fast that important details are lost, and never slow enough for boredom and complacency to set in. The ending is quite surprising, and this novel met my one test for “great”. The day after I finished reading it, it was still on my mind, and I was drawing conclusions from it, still fitting the pieces together in my mind. I read maybe one book a year that sticks with me that way. In fact, with my minuscule amount of free time, the simple fact that I stuck with this book to the end is testimony of the author’s story-spinning skill. I know longer have the time and leisure to waste on books that are not top-notch, and I now start many more books than I finish.

This is a family oriented blog, so I have to mention this following bit as a caution. The book is clean except for a few expletives. No, one expletive. Rose uses the f-bomb several times. The first occurrence isn’t until page 162, and it was so oddly placed that I …checked the page number. There is no cussing in scenes where you would expect them to appear, and then when you least expect it, there it is. And only that one, no others at all. It’s almost as if they were sprinkled in as an after-thought in order to move the book up to “adult reading” category, much as some movies do it in order to get a tougher rating, hoping to draw in more interest. I think all told, less than a handful of times, and those were the only parts of the book that didn’t mesh.

I understand that there will be more novels, that this is the first in a series of at least four. I’m looking forward to reading the others.

And while I am kvetching about noise, what’s with turning on the kitchen radio and then walking out of the kitchen? Into the livingroom? And plopping down in front of the too-loud television? Hell-Oh? Ding, ding, ding. This is the captain mother speaking: turn it down and turn it off.

Hmm, I am aware that I should have a menu plan here today, but alas, I do not. I seem to have slipped a gear where my memes are concerned. I’ll try to do better.

AND! I found out this weekend that my 5 year old does not know the alphabet song! We used to sing it everyday in school, and then all the students learned it, so we stopped. We’ll be starting up again so Batman and Drama can learn it, and then we’ll stop again or awhile. The summer of math is going well. I think we’ll be done with the book by the end of August. I should probably order the new one sometime this week.

I was blessed this week with a couple of epiphanies, detailed here and here. I was also incredibly blessed by my girls this week as we shopped together. It was a fun time for all of us.