Where do I begin?

It just feels like one of those days, that I just can’t seem to keep my thoughts straight. There are just so many things to blog about and so little time. I wanted to begin by sharing some insights from our sunbeam class. Some weeks it feels like whatever we teach just bounces off of them. While other weeks they seem quite engaged in our lessons. I’m not going to lie; some of the lesson material has been a bit difficult. We’ve had to get creative, very creative. For example, we had a series of lessons that were titled, “I am thankful for birds,” “I am thankful for fish,” and “I am thankful for animals.” I would have thought you could combine those but apparently each deserved one whole 45 minute lesson. Now, we are on the series of how thankful we are for various body parts. Once again, I am not sure why we can’t just be thankful for our whole body and all of its parts in one lesson. ANYWAY, we taught the lesson “I am thankful for my eyes” on Sunday. We started off by telling the Bible story about the blind man who came to Jesus to be healed. Jesus put clay on his eyes and told him to wash his eyes in the River Jordan. Well, it took us a few moments to get past the clay part. They didn’t know what clay was. So we described it in various different ways we could think of but it just didn’t seem to make sense to one girl. So I finally said it was like play dough but made of dirt. I am worried if she retells the story to her family and what they will think when she says Jesus put play dough on the man. Oh well, maybe they won’t let us teach anymore. Anyway, then we got to the River Jordan part and another girl very seriously asked if the river had sharks. We very quickly said "nope, no sharks." But then another girl asked if it had fish and we were like, "yeah the river probably had fish." Then, she about died because how could that man wash his face in a river that had icky fish? We just decided to move on with something else at that point.

In other news, I am currently reading a very interesting book. It is a monk murder mystery. Seriously, it takes place in the 1600’s in an abbey where monks are getting killed off daily and another monk must solve the crimes. It has taken me a bit to get into it. It is a little confusing with all of the monk talk and then the Greek/Latin/Italian phrases that are randomly thrown in. My ancient language skills just aren’t what they use to be…. However, it has picked up and I think it will be a good one.

Finally, it has been rough recovering from the holiday weekend. People just seem extra hostile today. Within 15 minutes of being at work this morning I had two people blame me for all of their problems and wished horrible things upon me. Well, not quite that bad but when I was just trying to get my bearing for the day and to get those kind of calls so early just doesn’t make the start of a great day. Is it Friday yet?

Deep Thought Tuesday

I took a short break from my current book to read These is my Words by Nancy Turner. I thought it was an amazing book. In fact, I knew it would be amazing as soon as I read the dedication at the very beginning of the book, “For everyone who has ever stood alone on a hill in a storm.” Wow. That was just one of those quotes that gives me chills. I don’t particularly know why that touched me as much as it did but it just sounds beautiful.

From that same book I thought this was deep too,"Wisdom is not a path, it is a tree."

I was going to expound why I thought those quotes were so meaningful to me but then I realized I didn't want to taint it for you. Maybe they aren't inspiring at all but maybe they are. I just thought I would share some deep thoughts this Tuesday.

Cool....Taco Salad

I thought by now nothing would cease to amaze me. I deal with some of the strangest people out there. I thought I had heard it all. But I'm glad I haven't. I needed a good giggle. So for the past few months I have had to deal with a particularly interesting woman that surely has my number on speed dial. She calls me all the time with one bizarre question after another. She is so nice but obviously needs someone else to talk to. Her phone calls never last under 10 minutes and are usually around the 20 minute mark. She has detailed her health problems more than I would ever want or need to know. She is one of those people if I had caller ID, she would go straight to voice mail.

Anyway, she called this morning with another interesting request. I said I would look into it. She then proceeded to thank me for all the work I've done to help her and she then said she would have to buy me a taco salad. Now, I love taco salad but most people offer me chocolate, flowers, or money. Well, not money but I wish. I just thought it was a little random. It doesn't help that she lives in another state, so I don't think I will ever get my taco salad. But, it is the thought that counts, right? So I feel pretty awesome that someone thought about giving me a taco salad!

P.S. I can't believe I just wrote a post about taco salad.

Progress Report

I am about 26 pages from finishing The Woman in White and I am happy to report that it is everything I hoped it would be without even having read the ending. It is very Count of Monte Cristoesque, which I love. It has all the elements of a great book including mystery, intrigue, murder plots, scheming and revenge.

I already have my next book in hand. It is The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. This one fits into my historical fiction category. I can already tell it will be an interesting book just from flipping through it. I also have this awful tendency to ruin endings of books and flip to the end. I hate ruining the endings but I just can’t help it.

So far I have read from several of my categories this year so I feel great about my progress. I've already read two "I'm trying to educate myself" books. I've also read a few "guilty pleasure" books. I have on hold a book in the "It came highly recommended" category. I am about to read a book in the "A fabulous book mixed with history" category. Perhaps, I will need to add a few more categories, though. Just to change things up. Any suggestions?