Survival

I survived school today.

B period was chaotic, to say the least.  In one forty-eight minute class, I sent two kids to the "Opportunity Room" (how lame is that name?!) and told six other kids to stay in the learning center after taking their quizzes, just so the rest of the class would settle down.  One of the OR kids was actually walking around the class, bothering people with a feather duster while I was on the phone calling for a campus supervisor.  Another kid, who had been a problem earlier in the day, decided he wanted to skip his scheduled class and come back to mine instead.  I managed to shoo him away, though he couldn't have made this particular class that much worse.  I normally fill one side of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with notes from the day, but today I filled both sides.  That's how bad they were.  I'm glad I'm not their teacher.

Yet, in the midst of it all, I realized they were not bad kids.

They were just very loud and very disrespectful.

But it's the weekend, and I am ready for it.

*busy signal*

Busy.

That is what this semester is going to be.

I'm not looking forward to it, mostly because Amos is going to be busy with work, sleep, school, and church, and I'll miss my best friend.

I suppose I'll survive, though.  Haven't keeled over yet!

A rather sad/depressing post, but that's all for now, folks!

Oh, and I have an interview on Thursday.  Let's hope this one works out!

The Sad Story of the Lame-on Meringue Pie

The Sad Story of the Lame-on Meringue Pie

by Jennica Byers

adapted from the original

Once upon a time there was a girl who liked to cook. She decided to make a lemon meringue pie and share it with her boyfriend.

She collected the ingredients, pulled out the cookbook, and saw -gasp- that she needed lemon extract.  The girl decided to walk to the local market to obtain said extract.  Looking at the shelves, she located the item and nearly fainted dead away when she saw the price.

$5.00!  For only one ounce?!

She called her mother only to find out that $5.00 was in fact expensive for extract, but that lemon meringue pie *could* be made without it, though it might not taste as good.

The girl bought some fish and diced tomatoes and walked home.

She decided not to go to another store but to attempt the pie without the extract.  She looked up instructions on how to make lemon extract, and, ignoring the instructions which called for vodka and weeks of refrigeration, tried to add lemon peel to vanilla extract. Unfortunately quite a bit of vanilla splashed out and this was the lame-on meringue pie's undoing.

The course was set and the curse was cast.

She made the crust and the filling but -oh dear- the crust shrunk down in the pan and the filling did not taste like lemon.

Stretch the sides of the crust back up!  Dump in the extra lemon peel!  Add more lemon juice!  This *has* to work!!!

Unfortunately the filling would *not* taste like lemon!

The girl turned to the meringue and tackled that.  The meringue didn't come out quite right, either, but she put it on the pie and baked the unfortunate pastry anyway!

The meringue toasted quite nicely, and the girl hoped that the extra lemon had lent more flavoring to the filling by now.  She put the pie in the icebox and let it chill.

However, as usual, the girl was impatient. She put the pie in the freezer but soon removed it to cut a piece to give to her boyfriend.  She tasted the filling and -bleah!- it did not taste like lemon.  It tasted like some strange lemon candy thing.  She tried to see if it still tasted good, even if it didn't taste like lemon.

It did not taste good.

This was embarrassing!  She couldn't give the man a weird-faint-lemon-candy-thing lame-on meringue pie with his friends around!  Maybe if he were there with her it wouldn't be so bad to have him taste it. But she couldn't justify bringing him something weird at work, not to mention she would lose her parking spot and have to walk a quarter of a mile back to her house upon her return.

*sigh*

The girl resigned herself to keeping the weird pie to herself and consoled herself with the fact that if worse came to worst, she could always eat the meringue and chuck the rest.


Moral of the story: Buy the extract.  Avoid the curse.

Beloved

I love this song.  I found it on my Pandora internet radio station, and I've played it over ten times today.

When I think of this song, I think of the book of Hosea, one of the many books in which God calls unfaithful Israel to return from her infidelity.  I also think of the Church, which isn't perfect but is the bride of Christ.  Finally I think of myself, who struggles to keep God at the forefront of my mind, who struggles to remember I can't and don't have to be perfect, who struggles to believe and remember that God loves and delights in me.  Sometimes I don't like being a perfectionist.

I am thankful for this song.  The lyrics are below, and if you click on the title, you can listen to this song on YouTube.

Beloved
by Tenth Avenue North

Love of My life
Look deep in My eyes
There you will find what you need
And give Me your life
The lust and the lies
The past you're afraid I might see
You've been running away from Me

You're My beloved
Lover, I'm yours
Death shall not part us
It's you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we'll be
My love, it unites us
And it binds you to Me
It's a mystery

Love of My life
Look deep in My eyes
There you will find what you need
I'm the Giver of life
I'll clothe you in white
My immaculate bride you will be
Oh, come running home to Me

You're My beloved

Lover, I'm yours

Death shall not part us

It's you I died for

For better or worse

Forever we'll be

My love, it unites us

And it binds you to Me

You've been a mistress, My wife

You're chasing lovers that won't satisfy

Won't you let Me make you My bride

You will drink of My lips

And you'll taste new life

You're My beloved

Lover, I'm yours

Death shall not part us

It's you I died for

For better or worse

Forever we'll be

My love, it unites us

And it binds you to Me

It's a mystery

Used

On Saturday Amos and I were going to go down to Sun Valley to turn in his car to a "Cash for Clunkers" type place.  I wanted to go on an adventure and thought of trying to find a used bookstore in Sun Valley, but then told myself that I didn't need to spend money on books right now.

On my way to Amos' house, I stopped by the library to drop off my books because the library system told me I could not renew my books a fourth time. ;)  I walked in the automatic doors, looked to my left, and - what is this!  A library sale!  I took only enough time to drop off my books before I skipped right back into a medium-sized room filled with conference tables covered with boxes of books!

Fiction!  Non-fiction!  Encyclopedia sets!  Paperbacks!  Hardbacks!  Children's books!  Cookbooks!

Ahhhhh, book heaven.

I called Amos and found out that the car place he wanted to go to was already closed for the day.  I left my selected books (as yet unpaid for), picked up Amos, and came back to the library.  I ended up spending $5.50 for five books.  Not bad!  Amos bought some books, too, including an Isaac Asimov trilogy that he's been looking for.

It was a good day.

Grant proposal

The red marks are mine

My tutoring boss called me yesterday about editing this grant proposal for some of his colleagues (I don't think my boss wrote any of this).  I worked from 10:30 pm -12:30 am, 1:00-2:10 am, and 7:45-11:20 am.  God's ways of taking care of me financially are crazy at times, but I'll take their typos if they pay me!

Six hours and forty-five minutes of editing.  Four-ish hours of sleep.

I just might be going back to bed soon...

Twenty-Six

Well, here is my list of the twenty-six books I read this year.  Like most of my readers, I also read parts of other books that I didn't finish; I didn't include those in this post.  For each of these books I made sure to read any and all prefaces/forwards/conclusions/acknowledgments/etc.  What can I say, I'm a perfectionist. ;)

I split the books up into a few categories.  Some books could go in more than one category, but I figured it would be too time-consuming to make some complex schema to show the various potential groupings of all of these books; hence, the few categories.

Most of the books I read for fun or enrichment, though some books were read just because I thought, as an English teacher, they should be read.  In 2011 I intend to read more Christian books and more Middle Eastern books.  As a sidenote, I'm not saying everyone should read these books, though I highly recommend all of the Christian books.  Some of these books have objectionable content and/or language, so read with a discerning eye; I answer for my decisions, and you answer for yours. :)

Key:
* fun
# favorite
+ career reading

Have fun reading!  Here's to more books in 2011!

Jennica-Ayelet's 2010 Reading List

Agatha Christie

#And Then There Were None - Favorite Agatha Christie murder mystery; probably her most famous.  Recommended by my roommate michelle

Funerals Are Fatal

Sleeping Murder

Murder at the Vicarage

Double Sin and other stories

*#Come, Tell Me How You Live - Really funny book about her time in the Middle East with her archaeologist husband

Middle East

#From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas L. Friedman - Long but very interesting book explaining the history of the Middle East as well as the Arab and Israeli mindsets.  One of Friedman's views that I've adopted is that there will be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians only when they decide that they want peace more than other, outside nations want peace; they won't be pressured into it.  Amos bought this for me at Salvation Army.

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi - Interesting book about a university teacher in Iran teaching American literature and applying the worldviews of the literature to her culture.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini - A fictional story of two Afghan women and how their worlds collided then coalesced in the 70s to the present in Afghanistan

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, Suzanne Fisher Staples - Young adult fiction about a family of nomads in Pakistan. Sent to Sherrie

#Crossing Mandelbaum Gate, Kai Bird - An interesting memoir of living in the Middle East first as a diplomat's son and later as a reporter

Sandstorms: Days and Nights in Arabia, Peter Theroux - Insight from a reporter/author living in the Middle East, mainly concerning Saudi Arabia

Christian

Let Me Be a Woman, Elisabeth Elliot - Insight for her daughter Valerie

Quest for Love, Elisabeth Elliot - Thoughts on love and relationships

#Secret Believers, Brother Andrew and Al Janssen - A convicting read on the sacrifices required of believers in the Middle East; prepare to be changed.  Recommended by Amos

Light Force, Brother Andrew and Al Janssen - Insight into the situation of the oft-overlooked Arab believers in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank

#The Prodigal God, Tim Keller - An explanation of the parable in Luke commonly known as the prodigal son.  Keller explains the motivations and reactions of each of the characters in the parable.  I've never heard the parable explained this way, and it was and is very convicting.  I'm sure I'll read it many times in 2011.

Children of the Storm, Natasha Vins - A story of a Christian Russian family who underwent persecution in the USSR

Et Cetera 

+Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson - Didn't really like this one

+Animal Farm, George Orwell - I thought this one was creepy; apparently my dad thought it was funny!

+The Stranger, Albert Camus - Weird; not worth it

Messenger, Lois Lowry - Interesting final book in a trilogy that includes The Giver and Gathering Blue

100 Pounds of Popcorn, Hazel Krantz - Fun, short book one of my siblings got from the library

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson - Funny Christmas story with a good ending. Borrowed from Danielle

#+The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne - Intriguing tale with a surprising twist and a sad ending (I thought Dimmesdale was wimp at the end, but I think it was part of the style of literature)

The Nazi Officer’s Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust, Edith Hahn Beer and Susan Dworkin - Interesting true story of a Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust; it is crazy what she experienced. Borrowed from my roommate Michelle