Reading List

Someone posted a link on Facebook entitled "26 Books That Should Be Taught in Today's Classroom" or something like that. I was intrigued, since I teach books in my class, so I clicked, thinking as I did that I had probably read most of them.

And I had read eight. EIGHT, PEOPLE!

So, this is my new list. (I am crossing off Water for Elephants even though I didn't finish it because I just couldn't do it. I did give it a good try.) Someone recently asked me how I determine which one I read next. EASY - which ever one is available at the library if I'm stopping there soon or cheapest on Amazon if I'm lying in bed (which I normally am when I am reading). A Prayer for Owen Meany was $1.99 with my Amazon book cred. Perf.

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini

Audiobook: The Infinite Sea

THE Infinite Sea

by Rick Yancy

Length: 8 hrs, 13 min
Format: CDs

Price: free from library

How I heard about it: sequel to The 5th Wave, which I read and heard about at my YAL conference

Basic Premise: After surviving the 5th wave, Cassie, Ben, Sam, and Ringer are understandably unsure whom to trust. Matters become complicated when they discover the newest tactic of the enemy - human bombs.

My Take: 5 out of 10 (scale here) 
This was NOT the sequel I was hoping for. However, in fairness to this book, I must say that I listened to it while I drove to Oklahoma with my son. So I wasn't entirely focused on it and must have missed a few key parts, because by the time I got home picked up the book to read the remaining 100 or so pages, there were a few holes. I had to flip back. Even so, I can safely say this book was nowhere near as riveting as its predecessor. There were multiple narrators (and a few times I was glad for the audio book so I could tell who was talking) and at times the story felt disjointed and jerky. And the ending was VERY abrupt. You know the plot map you learned as a child? This one:

There was NO falling action or conclusion. The action just kept rising. Not that surprising, considering the book is one of a series, but aggravating all the same.

So...ehh. It was okay.

Get Financially Fit: Jr Edition

A year and a half ago, we took Dave Ramsey's financial peace class at church. One of the many, many, many things we learned from this class is that being financially responsible is not inherent. It must be learned and practiced. One of Dave's tips in teaching your children how to manage money well is to pay them, not an allowance, but a "commission" for extra work done. I wrestled with this initially. I want my son to help around the house because he's a benefiting member of the household. He should be a contributor. But Dave does make a distinction between HOUSEHOLD chores, such as keeping your room clean, putting away your laundry, and helping clear the dinner dishes, and EXTRA chores - those that are not a part of the child's daily routine.

We decided to try this at our house. Our son is five, and he is old enough, big enough, and strong enough to help with many things, actually. I was surprised at the number of things he could do once we got the ball rolling on this. The way we got the ball rolling was:

1. We talk to him about money. Just like every kid, when we go to the store, he asks for things. My response is always the same. "No Charlie, that costs extra money." And because my child asks 5 million questions about everything, he's been told many times that one of the reasons Mommy and Daddy go to work is so that we can earn money to pay for things like our house, our cars, our food, his bed, his blankets, his clothes - everything cost money.

2. He does the transactions. When we go to a store, or a restaurant, Charlie talks to the clerk or waitress and we have him handle the money. We give him the correct amount, but he makes the transaction and receives the change. Often, we will give him the coins for his own "money collection."

So by the time he was ready to start doing chores and making commissions, he had a working understanding of money. Dad and I decided ahead of time that we would invite Charlie to help us with our chores at a rate of $.25 per chore. Charlie loves to stop by the donut store on the way to school, so I explained that in order to buy one doughnut, he would have to do three chores to have enough. We started a few weeks ago, and here are some of the chores he's been doing to make his quarter:

-sorting laundry

-putting laundry in the machine/taking laundry out

-putting laundry that isn't his away

-helping empty the dishwasher

-helping load the dishwasher and starting the dishwasher

-helping get gas at the pump

-helping clean out the car

-helping Dad in the yard

-taking out the trash

So far, every time I've suggested he do an extra chore, he's jumped at it. He's even brought along a little stuffed animal to help him a few times. Last night, we decided to total up all the money in his money collection. I saw a used coin sorter for three dollars online, so Rick picked it up and we went about transferring the coins from his baby piggy bank to his big boy piggy bank.

He had quite a bit to begin with… it had $10 in it when he received it, and we have added change here and there. It took quite a long time to sort it all! When I was said and done, his total was:

Not bad at all. And the boy was excited. And Mom and Dad were a little bit excited too.

15 Years

Mmmm...I started this post back in January and just realized I didn't finish it. So...it's almost two months late because life has been SO STINKING BUSY lately. But better late than never, right?

January 25, 2015 marked the 15 year anniversary of my first date with this guy:

And recently, on Facebook, I came across the following survey, which I did back when surveys were cool on Facebook. It was back before we had kids (which feels a lifetime ago...), so in honor of year 15, I am posting it. If the answers have changed, they are in boldface next to it. I definitely had fun reading it, though I don't know if you will!

♥ How long have you been together?
Together? Just over 9 years. Married? It will be 5 years in June. 15 years together, 11 married

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We probably met in the nursery at church when we were two, but we became hang-out-with-each-other friends in early high school and started dating when we were sophomores.

♥ Who asked who out?
(I'd just like to point out that this question is grammatically incorrect...in place of the second who, there should be a "whom" because we are referring to the object of the sentence, not the subject. The subject of the sentence is the first "who" which is, in fact, correct. And if he's reading this, I just put my husband to sleep.) Well he emailed me to say he was interested, but I was the one who finally brought it up in conversation. He did take that opportunity to actually ask me out, though, so I suppose credit must be given to him.

♥ How old are each of you?
He's 25 and I will be 25 in April 31/30

♥ Whose family do you see the most?
Um...probably his side My side

♥ Do you have any children together?
Not yet Two

♥ What about pets? Names?
No, no

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Currently? Having only one income

♥ Did you go to the same school?
Different elementary schools, but same middle and high school, and same college for a few years.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
Yes

♥ Who is the smartest?
Well, I used to think me by virtue of the fact that I scored one point higher on my ACT. I have since come to the somewhat difficult realization that he is more intelligent by leaps and bounds, though he never makes me feel that way.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
Depends on what we're talking about...but generally me. Me 9 times out of 10.

♥ Where is your shared favorite restaurant:
Encore, probably Blind Tiger, but only because we don't live in Lawrence anymore

♥ Who has the craziest exes?
We started dating when we were 15, so we really don't have exes.

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Neither of us have tempers, but I guess I would say me. Rick has been angry exactly 6 times in the 9 years we've been together. 7 times

♥ Who does the cooking?
We both do. Me

♥ Who is more social?
Who talks more? Me. Who wants to go out and be with people more? Rick. Preach.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Used to be me, but it's gotten pretty equal. He's more of a neat-freak than me.

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
I win, hands down True dat.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Neither

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
That's funny... He does now!

♥ Where was your first date?
Chili's on his 16th birthday. It was pretty sweet...he came and picked me up, since he could drive without an adult in the car. I ate chicken fingers with ketchup, as always, and Rick told me it was weird, which he has repeated every time I've eaten chicken and ketchup together in his presence since that day.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
Um...me.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
No, but not getting them often makes getting them much more special.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
We usually try to split up time between his family and mine.

♥ Who is more jealous?
Jealous? Of what??

♥ Who eats more?
This is a weird question. I think we eat about the same, though I have a tendency to eat more frequently than he.

♥ Who does the laundry?
I would say me, but that would be a lie. I always start a load and forget about it...so he's pretty much taken over the laundry. I hang it up and stuff, though... I only do it if I have to. Laundry is his thing.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
He's better with hardware stuff, you know like cords and printers and stuff, but I'm better with software programs, like Excel and PowerPoint. He is way better at both.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Until about a year ago, I drove my car and he drove his car, I think because that's the way we did it when we were dating. A year ago, we purchased our first vehicle together, and now he usually drives. He always drives. He has a complex.

What? No question about how awesome my spouse is? Okay...I'll just add it in. He is my hero. He's the fuel that keeps me going, and knowing that he is happy makes me happy, even (and perhaps especially) in moments of unhappiness. He is the best there is. Pretty much.