Interred With Their Bones

I am a huge Green Bay Packer fan, which isn't too unusual for someone from Northeastern Wisconsin; it's almost bred into our DNA. I'm one of those Sunday afternoon watchers who yells at the TV and occasionally jumps up and down. Lord help you if you step in front of the screen during a play! I've been feeling crummy the last few weeks, so I haven't watched any games yet this year; AND THEY'RE 4-0! And so to do my part as a fan, I won't be watching any games this year. As much as I would have liked to see Brett Favre's record breaking touchdown yesterday, I'm just superstitious enough to listen to it on the radio instead. If not watching the game is the price I have to pay for them to win, I love them enough to do it.

I've been giving updates on Mia, but today it's Molly's turn. Molly has gone into high school with a new poise. She stands up straighter and smiles more. She won the female lead in the school play (performing Nov 9 & 10 for those of you in the area) and is in vocal jazz choir. She broke up with Ian the first week of school and quickly started flirting with a sophomore football player named Andrew. She asked him to homecoming, where does she get the courage, certainly not from her mother! Now that they are officially a couple, she went out with his family to supper and a movie on Saturday. It's all a little odd to me and lacks the comfort level of a distance of 1500 miles, but he seems very sweet. I've invited him over for supper and a movie later this month. I know it's annoying to get those Christmas letters packed with parents bragging about their children, but I'm truly proud of my girl and the woman she's becoming. Today's pic is her in her homecoming dress.

Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell is the story of the quest for a lost Shakespearean manuscript and the danger that hides around every corner. Kate Stanley is an expert in occult (knowledge hidden within the texts, not supernatural) Shakespeare who is about to direct Hamlet at the newly built Globe Theater in London. But things quickly take a twist for the strange when her mentor, Roz, shows up with a gift and mysterious message for Kate, then turns up dead at the theater, killed in the manner of Hamlet's father. Kate opens the gift to find a brooch and a message alluding to a lost work of Shakespeare. As she traces Roz's steps to find it, she's hunted and betrayed at every turn. I love books like this! Carrell packs in action, suspense, a hint of romance, and a lot of Shakespeare and Elizabethan trivia making the book a joy to read with every turn of the page. Kate can't quite figure out who to trust and neither can the reader as she flies from England to the US to Spain and back. Carrell's love for The Bard shines through on every page while bringing up questions as to the authorship of the works he's been given credit for. She throws in political machinations from Elizabeth's court and a few scandals, and she weaves fact and fiction so cleverly together, it's nearly impossible to sort them out. But God bless her, Carrell also takes the time in length author's notes to separate fact from fiction while still leaving plenty of mystery. The writing and characters are solid. I've read comparisons of this to The DaVinci Code; Dan Brown only wishes his books were this good!

Good news and bad news about being on methotrexate. Good news: the pain is less severe and I'm better able to function through it. Bad news: I feel like I had morning sickness 24/7. I can't eat foods I used to love, sometimes even water is too strong for my stomach. I'm also having dizzy spells. Back to good news: I've dropped over 7 pounds in the last 2-1/2 weeks because of it.