Quote(s) of the Week

At job #1:

Daisy:  I like your earrings, Ms. Gayle!
Me:  Thank you!
Christopher:  Don't ever by cheap earrings, 'cause my sister bought cheap earrings and she got an infection in her ear.  (Short pause)  Are those cheap earrings?
Three quizzical faces turn in anticipation of my response.
Me, taking a moment to determine how I can spin the truth that they are, indeed, cheap earrings, but not wanting to admit it to 3 seven-yr-olds:  Well . . . they're from England!
Three incredulous faces turn towards each other and exclaim, almost in unison:  WOW!  Ms. Gayle is soooo cool!



At job #2:

Karli:  Ms. Deborah--wait, is it Ms. or Mrs.?
Me:  It's Ms.
Karli, a bit bewildered:  Wait.  You're not married???
Me:  Nope.
Karli, completely astonished:  Buy, WHY???  You're soooo pretty!





Moments like these remind me how much I love my jobs!

I was 10 minutes late to work this morning . . .

. . . because of this amazing interview:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

First, watch the video and then come back and let's talk about how amazing it is!








Did ya watch it? Can you believe it???
What amazing faith does that man have! He waited on the Lord, heard His voice, and went out and found the girl who was LOST in the swamp for FOUR DAYS! Not only was that man's faith strong enough to believe God would lead him to Nadia, his faith held out despite the odds -- even though dozens of professionals had been searching for four, going on five days; even though there were doubts she was even still alive; even though it took him 2 hours of searching before he heard her response to his calls. His faith didn't waiver and God used him to show the world that His sheep hear His voice and that miracles still happen today!

Hearing this story reminds me of I Corinthians 1:18 & 28:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God . . . . God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

What's more foolish to our society today than someone claiming that God told him where to go? And what's more weak than one man on his own accomplishing what dozens and dozens of others were incapable of?

All things really are possible through Christ.

Night Night . . .

Ok, I need sleep. I'd love to stay up reading all night, but I'm fading fast. I'll keep reading until I drift off to sleep, but I just wanted to post an official end of read-a-thon post 'cause I'll prob fall asleep soon!

I'll report back tomorrow with what I read these final hours and how much total reading I got done. Although it wasn't as much as I would've liked, it was definitely more than I would have otherwise read. So that's an accomplishment, eh?

Good night, all. Happy reading to those of you still going at it -- y'all are rockstars!

FINALLY!!!

Good grief, can't believe that took nearly all day!!! But I definitely have the sense of accomplishment I always feel when I finish a book.

I began reading Lewis Carroll's tales of Alice's adventures over six months ago and picked it up here and there from time to time. The main reason I decided to finally read it is because it's probably the only major work of literature the bf had read and I had not. To be honest, I was not too concerned with reading it before because the Disney movie kind of freaked me out when I was a kid! So, no way was I going to willing read that thing!!! And the reason I was dragging my feet with finishing it is because after reading my friend Amy's tumblr post I realized Carroll just may have possibly had pedo tendencies! So every reference to Carroll's fondness for children, esp little girls, made me cringe. And how are people not more freaked out that he wrote these stories because of his obsession with a 7-year-old he was not directly related to?? And how do all these parents let their children go off with him and allow him to photograph them??? I don't know . . . perhaps the world was a different place back then . . .

Anywho, I did enjoy all the banter towards the end of the book. For example,

Here the Red Queen began again, Can you answer useful questions?" she said. "How is bread made?"

I know that!" Alice cried eagerly. "You take some flour--"

"Where do you pick the flower?" the White Queen asked. In a garden or in the hedges?"

"Well, it isn't picked at all," Alice explained: "it's ground--"

"How many acres of ground?" said the White Queen. "You mustn't leave out so many things."

Poor Alice!

Ok, onward I go. I need a break from the children's literature . . . I'm thinking I'll read a bit of Your Jesus Is Too Safe by Jared C. Wilson. I bought it back in July and have been picking at ever since (minus the 3 months I was out of the country, that is). I prob won't finish it tonight 'cause I need time to digest nonfiction. But I'll let you know how it goes!

Break #2

I braved the pollen and ventured outside in the sun to read a bit.

My snack of choice for this round:

Yup, water and left over Easter malt eggs! Yum!!!

I was only out there about an hour and 15 min and managed to read 30 pages. I would've kept on reading but it's time to Skype w/ the bf (he doesn't have a comp, so our online "dates" are far and few between). I'll hit the books again as soon as we finish, and I'm thinking I can totally stay up later than midnight reading -- at least til 2 if not later. Late at night is when I get most of my reading done anyway, so I should knock a lot of pages out in the wee small hours of the morning.

Ok, I'll update when I'm back at it! Thanks so much for all the encouragement so far!!!

******

Update: 8:35 p.m.

Holy cow! How the heck is it already so late???? We experienced some technical difficulties, so I just now finished my Skype date and am ready to dive back in. I have the popcorn and Pepsi One ready to get me through this next leg, so here it goes!

Break #1

I've been "reading" for about 2 hours, although I use that term lightly seeing as how I had many distractions and interruptions the first hour (phone calls, noisy yard work outside, an uncooperative camera, a daydreaming mind, etc). So I only got about 45 pages read and have about 60 more to go before finishing Through The Looking Glass.

It's not a difficult read, but I keep flipping back and forth from the text to the notes in the back, back to the text and then to the beginning diagram of the chessboard (which makes NO sense to me since I'm NOT a chess person) and back to the text. Stupid editor's notes and stupid English major habits that make it feel like it's a sin not to read the editor's notes! Thankfully, I still have some cherry limeade left to keep me going, even though all the crushed ice has sadly melted away . . .

Ok, off to check a few blogs and harvest my grapes on Farmville (yeah, I'm addicted to that as well!). I'll get back to reading soon . . .

Update: 4:10 p.m.

Well, I started reading again at 3:40, but then my grandma called 5 min later, so now I'm just barely getting back to it! Yikes! I was hoping to be on book #2 by now! Oh well, I guess that's life, eh?

Update: 4:15 p.m.

OK, as soon as I clicked Publish Post the house alarm low-battery indicator started going off and I had to run down to turn it off. Seriously? Am I ever going to finish this book??? Lol!

Ready . . . Set . . . GO!!!

Ok, just got home from work and am finishing lunch while I jump into Through The Looking Glass. I'll see ya in a few hours . . .

Let's Get Reading!

HELLO OUT THERE!

So, I finally decided to brush off the dust and clean up the cobwebs of my blog and figured participating in this read-a-thon is just the thing to help me do it! This way, I'm forced to update, if just for 24 hours.

I only just found out about the event through a link my virtual friend Leann posted on FB. I clicked over and decided I'd like to participate in the festivities, and 24 hours later, here I am! I have no game plan (i.e. what hours I'll be reading, how many breaks I'll take, what snacks I'll consume, etc), and I have no strategy for reading. I don't even know how many hours of the 24 I'll actually be participating in! All I know is that I spend waaaayyyyyy too much time on FB or watching TV during my down time and far too little time reading. Hopefully this will steer me back to reading a bit more than I have been.

So, without further ado, here's my stack of books:



From top to bottom:
*Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

*A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'engle

*Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

*The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner

*Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

*Your Jesus Is Too Safe by Jared Wilson

*Dollar Store Crossword and Sudoku puzzles for breaks

*Blink Of An Eye by Ted Dekker

Not photographed is my Bible, which I'll read a little of as well. And I have other books that may replace some of the ones listed above. I've read Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, which is half of the above book, but haven't finished Through The Looking Glass. I'm fairly confident I'll finish that one at least. Not sure about the others . . .

No, I won't read ALL of these books, but I know how I am and if I get bored of one book I wanted to have plenty of options of what to read next.

I work from 9:30-11:30, so won't be able to start seriously reading til after noon, central time. I'll update regularly and be sure to keep track of just how long I read and how many pages. I'll also post about the individual books I'm reading and perhaps include fav quotes . . . or not . . . it depends how the day shapes up! I have tentative plans to meet up with some friends at Miller Outdoor Theatre to see Cats, but that hasn't been confirmed. If so, then I'll only be reading 'til 6:30. If not, I hope to keep it up 'til midnight at least.

Alrighty then, guess it's time to get ready for tomorrow! Hope to see ya then!