Random Thursday: Monday Edition

1. I have the library cards from every place I've ever lived. I still know the barcode from my Las Vegas library card, possibly because we moved there in July and didn't get our household goods until late September. We were hot and bored. The boys finished the summer reading program in less than one month. I learned how to work the system and stay online for longer than my allotted 30 minutes.  It was an educational summer.

I owe my current library thirty bucks. Hence the lack of "Karen's Bedside Table" posts. I'll let you know when I work up the nerve to face my librarians and clear my name.

I lieu of public library access, I have been reading Young Adult fiction from the middle school, where I also hold a card and am able to borrow. I love Young Adult fiction, with the exception of vampires and other characters with creepy supernatural powers. Unfortunately, that is excepting quite a lot of literature. If you have pre- and teenaged readers, please monitor what they're reading. Please don't assume it's safe just because they got it at school.

Good YA lit I've recently read:

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (You should read this if your teen does. It falls under the "we should chat about this" category of YA lit)

Sunrise over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers (Excellent for boys, does contain all the real elements of war.)

Sunset over Fallujah, sent to me by the WH when he was there.

2. For years now, I have told my family members to make sure that nobody ever names a highway, road, or overpass after me. I know these things are meant to be an honor, but seriously, have you ever seen a clean highway, road, or overpass? Noo, thank you. The one exception to this would be the Boulevard Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Luxembourg City, which is Boulevard Roosevelt in its shortened form. I guess you could name that after me, should FDR ever fall out of favor with the Luxembourgers.


No, I'd much prefer to have a library named after me. Or perhaps a bookstore that sells coffee, provided it is not part of an Evil Coffee Empire.

3. I have this watch. It's pretty. It was given to me by someone I love. It has a pink face (which protects it from man-children) and a funky brown watchband. I wear it often. I'm wearing it right now. I glanced at it this morning and noticed that I had forgotten to spring it forward. Daylight Savings began on March 13. When I realized this, I thought, "Oh, well no wonder I'm always late." Then I realized that springing forward made that an invalid argument, as technically, it should make me early. I sat and pondered that for a minute or two. Then I realized I was running late.

4. I used to be Anti-Pink. I refused to wear it. I refused to let my dog wear it. It was borderline ridiculous, but I'm just not very girly and to me, pink is the ultimate Girl Color.

Sometime over the last two years I began to embrace pink. It started in self-defense. Pink cell phone, pink iPod, pink jackets, pink sunglasses. Pink anything a boy might be tempted to borrow, break, or lose, and the pinker the better.

If only food came in pink.

Over time, pink expanded to areas of my life not endangered by boys. It started with a simple pink t-shirt, which, to my great surprise, complimented my pale European complexion. Next came earrings. A pretty fleece. Some funky shoes. Suddenly, I was embracing my girliness, and even rocking it on occasion. Initially, the boys were shocked and disgusted. One called me a traitor. I shrugged. "Don't mess with me, boy. I'm a girl."


6. There are words I never say outloud. Not because they're bad words, but because my tongue cannot pronounce them. Edamame is one. Foliage is another. Friday I added Sudoku to the list. My brain wants to flip the vowels and make it Soduku, or Soduku. Or something like that.

I don't do Sudoku. I blame it on that recessive math gene. Or attention span. Or a wicked combination of the two. Friday, however, I was introduced to Word Sudoku.  I loved it instantly. Go figure.

7. The Wonder Hub and I are substitute Sunday School teachers at our church. We taught 7th graders yesterday. It works like this:

We get the lesson plans, which include scripture, main point of lessons, any secondary lessons, and various ways to broaden and deepen the lesson for the kids.
We read through lesson plans on our own.
We talk about which of the extra activities we will use.
We pray.

From there, as nearly as I can tell, we diverge according to personality, preference, habit. For example: I believe that the lesson is an outline of sorts, from which I am free to deviate in any way I see fit. (read: wing it) I want our time with the kids to be an ongoing conversation, which often means listening to the kids talk about: their newly acquired sunburns, or the really awful and gross thing that happened to them at school, or how they get grounded every single time they take a family road trip, or any of a million other random topics. As you might imagine, that works for me.

The Wonder Hub, on the other hand...

I glanced over at him midway through yesterday's lesson and noticed that he had a list. It looked like this:

Prayer requests
Pray
Review last week's lesson
Read this week's scripture
Do: Activity One
Read: From Another's Point of View
Discuss
Close in prayer

I laughed. A list for Sunday School! I made a mental note to tease him later, which, make no mistake, I will do. At the same time, though, I realize the beauty of the situation is really that we are opposites. I chat with the kids, he reigns me in. I tell a story, he reigns me in. I encourage randomness, he reigns me in. In the end, we have both built relationships with the children, AND completed the lesson.

Genius, I tell you.

Oh, how I love that man.