God's love

I'm trying to pace myself with posting my students' funny sentences, but the truth is that they are just too good to keep to myself. The following are laugh-out-louds, head scratchers, or just plain bad:

"David also worked very closely with Robert Moffat, who arrived a few weeks after him. He had a daughter named Mary and they were deeply in love. They got married on January 2, 1945; they had four boys, and a daughter who died on the mission field due to sickness."

Okay, besides the correct use of a semi-colon here, there is not much about this sentence that is good! Of course the daughter died, if the diction is to be trusted! My student commited the unforgivable crime of creating an incestuous relationship for unsuspecting missionary workers!

"These feelings were all about to be reversed in an event that would change his lives."

Hmmm...just for the record, exactly how many lives does this man have?

"According to The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Augustine was raised in a Christian atmospheric home."

Well, if The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy says it, it must be true!

And my personal favorite...

"Anyone can come out of the deepest depths and God's love reaches every corner of every bottom."

Yes, indeed.

Oh, the funny just won't stop

from a student's recent essay on Sojourner Truth...

"Like her mother and many slaves had done, Isabella watched as her children were torn out of her fingerprints and sold to other farms."

First of all...ouch! Second of all...thesaurus much? Ahhhh. I just LOVE this time of the semester.

My friend Timmy

Anyone who can look this adorable this often deserves some web recognition. I miss him...

Here's Timothy Elijah, the cutest little squirt in my entire family.

And here's the handsome little dude after a hair cut.


And here's Yoda trying to impersonate my nephew for Halloween.

And here's how big he was when Scott and I moved to California (3-4 wks old).

Awww, Little T and Auntie KB!

Here's to all out there who miss their loved ones...

arrrrump pa pa pummm

KB’s Christmas (gift) Wishes

1. The Declaration by Gemma Malley (book)
2. Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg (CD)
3. We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz (CD)
4. Season Three House (DVD)
5. Hideaway by The Weepies (CD)
6. Sterling Silver earrings (hoops or studs)
7. lap pillow with a hard top to write on
8. sitting pillow (perhaps something like this?)
9. lip gloss or lip balms that smell like fruit or baked goods
10. lotion or candles that smell like baked goods
11. an empty spice rack
12. a muffin cookbook
13. flavored coffee (especially Candy Cane Peppermint from Day Break Coffee Roasters in Lubbock)
14. bookends
15. soft pajama pants and/or fuzzy socks
16. mints of any kind
17. sparkly bobby pin hairclips
18. colored ink or gel pens
19. flavored hot cocoa
20. wine stoppers

November 13 additions:
21. Die Hard collection
22. Season 3 of 24

These snozberries taste like snozberries!

My husband is my main source of laughter, which is sweet, I know, but what I love the most is that the jokes have not gotten old. In fact, we laugh about the "same old stuff" more and more. I love that his belly button lint and my premarital pink socks continue to be sources of hilarity. And I love that he gets frustrated with the avocado every single time. I love that.

My students--on the other hand--crack me up in other ways. In spelling ways. Here are two examples of laugh-out-louds:

"Unhappy couples get caught in the viscous cycle of divorce."

"Many types of symbolism in Bram Stoker's Dracula are berried in the text."

You see, dear reader, I have a wonderful life. I have a job for which I am paid to laugh, cry, and grit my teeth right alongside the kiddoes (only they don't know why I'm doing it). And that's the best part.

Two households, both alike in Karen Beths

Two households, both alike in Karen Beths, in fair San Gabriel Valley where we lay our scene. Ahhh, if only Shakespeare was alive for that one! Moving is one of the hardest things about life. But even harder than moving is living out of two different residences while the moving is taking place! (Even harder than that? Planning for in-laws in town while the moving is taking place.) But...they actually ended up being a huge help to us.

Scott and I are finally moved all the way into the new place! We started looking about halfway through the summer because we needed more space and more privacy. The apartment we were in was in a great location and came at a reasonable price (if anything in SoCal can be called reasonably priced), but we didn't like the noise from upstairs neighbors, and we didn't like not being able to make our own noise as musicians...

We found the perfect place for us. It's a two-story townhouse in Glendora. We have two bedrooms, so one will be an office/studio for us to do schoolwork and practicing. The other will be our master bedroom. We have three bathrooms for some reason, we're still not sure why, but very excited about it. We have a garage, balconies, a patio, a bigger kitchen than the last place. All in all, as soon as we get more boxes unpacked, we'll be VERY happy and cozy in our brand new place. The best part about it? We don't share any walls! We live in a townhouse community, but our little place stands all on its own. We still rent, but it's progress!!



(note--hey, if you need our new address, just drop me a line by email)

I'm blessed to have a loving husband who only complained a leeeetle bit about carrying my many many many boxes of books up the stairs. In total, we probably had about 600 books to move from one place to another, and it was a huge chore. I don't feel too bad about it since at least 200 of them were his. Still, what a sweet hunk.

School has started again, which makes this whole moving/unpacking process even more stressful. However, I have so many things to be grateful for.

1. A fresh bunch of students with eagerness and expectations written all over their faces.
2. New books!
3. Getting back in touch with good friends.





4. Making new ones.
5. Carpooling with the hubby to school.
6. New classes=New challenges
7. New reasons to try my very hardest.
8. did I mention new books? :)

The freedom of silver

My mom is the most patriotic person I know. I am the 2nd in line. :)

The summer olympic games are memories that I carry with me from my entire childhood. My parents get very excited about the competitions and broadcasts, and I have always carried on the tradition of cheering on my team USA. Now, I know that just about every household at some time or another during this twenty-ninth olympiad will be glued to its television set, holding its collective breaths, and yelling at the screen ("GO MICHAEL, GO GO GO GOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"). I know that I'm not unusual in loving the olympics. This is America, after all. But I believe that I do have more stamina than most for watching as much as possible, and I get really personal about the games. It's a family thing. My mom and sister and I--and daddy when he got home late at night--used to watch every minute of the television coverage. But that's not all. We would decorate the living room with USA paraphernalia, wear our red, white, and blue USA shirts, make olympic-themed meals and desserts, create scrapbooks out of newspaper articles on the athletes (esp. the gymnasts), and it would consume us for 15 entire days, and then many days after.

The '96 olympics in Atlanta, the XXIV Olympiad, were and always will be my favorite. Who can forget the "Magnificent Seven," the USA women gymnasts who won gold in their home country? Kerri Strugg vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot! Coach Bela Karolyi carried the small star up to the medal podium to receive her gold medal, a picture which was probably on the front page of every newspaper in America the next morning. Michael Johnson with his shiny gold tennis shoes won gold in both the 200 and 400 meter races, setting a new world record in the 200 at 19.32 seconds! Amy Van Dyken won four gold medals in swimming, and she was the first American woman ever to do that in one olympics. Andre Agassi (my favorite tennis player of all time) won the gold medal which earned him the always coveted Career Grand Slam (all four major tournaments + olympics). Carl Lewis, who was only surpassed this year by Michael Phelps for the number of medals won in the olympics, won his fourth gold in long jump at age 35. It was the first olympics for softball, beach volleyball (which is about all they show on NBC this year--errr), mountain biking, women's soccer (we won gold!), and lightweight rowing. Muhammad Ali was chosen to light the Olympic torch and was given a replacement gold medal from his 1960 games. Medals were won by a whopping 79 countries, and a record 197 countries participated, including Palestine, which was admitted into the Olympics as a nation for the first time. I LOVED the 1996 Olympics. (Even if it was a two-week non-stop Coca-Cola/ Kodak commercial.)

There were memorable tragedies, though, and I remember how saddened my family was to hear about the bombing during the games in Centennial Olympic Park, which caused two deaths and 111 injuries. The games were also marred by the continual question of doping, which had become more and more prevalent in athletes' drug tests. [sigh]

But, nonetheless, I look back on Atlanta and think of how proud I was of my country--how proud I was of their patriotism, athleticism, and sportsmanship.

Here we are (fast-forward to 2008) in Beijing (well, not me, but my heart and soul...and my secret crush Bob Costas). I see the Chinese being very proud of their nation and their accomplishments. I see them waving their flags and pumping their fists in the air with victory. I see the Great Wall, the ancient relics of dynasties, and the strong people with an even stronger dictator. No viewer doubts that the Chinese are very proud of their Olympics debut.

But at what cost? These "games" are no longer games anymore! They are showcases of fear and hardship. I've heard horrible stories about how children are taken away from their parents at age 3 if the parents are "genetically superior." That's what happened to NBA basketball player Yao Ming. His parents had good (tall and strong) genes, so he was breeded to be a star. Little children are taken to be gymnasts or divers if their parents are small, strong, flexible, and graceful. They are taken to be table tennis champions if the parents have excellent hand and eye coordination. I am not making this stuff up! Chinese toddlers are ripped away from their parents (who, by the way, still are not allowed to have more children even if the government takes theirs) in order to represent their country. They live in sports facilities like dormitories or boarding schools and train from age 3 to be gold medalists; these are places where 2nd place is not acceptable, and 3rd place is unthinkable. I watch these little girls compete on the Chinese gymnastics team with fear in their eyes. It's even worse for the men's team. One missed step, one missed hand hold, and it's all over. The only joy came when they won the gold, and it didn't look like utter and complete happiness. It looked like relief...safety from whatever punishment or embarrassment would have come from winning anything less glitzy than gold.

Personally, I like silver better. If I know that my country's athletes have good lives, love competition and the thrill of doing the best they can, are treated well, have no fear of public shunnings or private beatings when they return home, and can have semi-normal lives when they aren't off being olympians, then I would much rather all of the Americans bring home silvers than golds. Gold isn't worth the cost of freedom and human rights from age 3 on.

[Side note: Of course, I personally am THRILLED that Michael Phelps and the rest of the men's relay team on Sunday night blew the France team's hoity toity opinion of themselves to smithereens. But, for everyone else, second place is plenty high enough if it means that my fellow Americans can compete with true excitement in their hearts instead of fear. WE are team USA (thank you, Bank of America, for inspiring this idea with your incessant commercials), and we love our teammates no matter what.]

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos

When Edith Wharton labels a little book the "great American novel," it's no longer a little book--it's one that deserves notice. I had never read Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or heard of Anita Loos before a few weeks ago. I had heard of the Marilyn Monroe movie, but hadn't seen it. All in all, until last week I was thoroughly deprived of an amazingly funny story that made me snicker, giggle, chortle, laugh uproariously, and probably grin mischievously when nobody was looking.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is the story of Lorelei Lee, along with her friend Dorothy, on a journey across the eastern United States and especially the big hits in Europe (London, Paris, etc.). Lorelei's more pertinent journeys, though, are her attempts to gain upward social mobility, "education" of the mind, and--of course--convincing men to buy her as many sparkly, expensive things as possible. She's hilarious in her honesty (the novel is written as her own diary), just as naive as she is cunning, and possibly the smartest idiot in literature.

The ending was so-so, but the first 90% of the book had already made me fall in love with Loos's writing style and spunk. I recommend this book! I'm not necessarily condoning Lorelei's behavior, p.s. Just loving it between the pages.

Classics Challenge 2008

My good friend Trish from my master's program has posed a reading challenge, and I am very excited because it will be my first online challenge! Trish is a very experienced blogger and book reviewer, and she has met a lot of interesting people online through her different challenges and blogs, which sounds like something I would LOVE to do more of if I weren't knee-deep in coursework right now for my doctorate. That said, however, I think if I do some more snooping around, I will be able to find some interesting challenges that I'm already reading for, whether I know it or not. For now, I'm thrilled to join...

The Classics Challenge July-December 2008! The following are Trish's guidelines:

• Classics: We love them, we hate them, now we are going to challenge ourselves to reading more of them. Because there are so many different types of classics, different genres are acceptable and encouraged--for example, novels, short story collections, non-fiction, poetry, essays--I'm open for other suggestions!RULES (keep reading for the bonus):
• OPTION 1: Read FIVE classics.
• OPTION 2: Read FIVE classics from at least TWO different countries
• OPTION 3: Read FIVE classics with any combination of at least TWO different countries and TWO different genres (see above for genres).
• Cross-posting with other challenges is allowed (and encouraged!); Audiobooks are fine; books must be finished after July 1st to count for the challenge although re-reads are acceptable.
• Lists don't have to be set in stone; you can change your selections at any time.
• Have Fun. Oh ya...there will be a drawing for a prize or two. To be entered you must complete any one of the above options. You do NOT need a blog to participate.
• Am I going to define what a classic is? Nope! There are lots of definitions offered on the Internet, but essentially we all have different opinions so don't stress too much--and see the bonus below.
• BONUS!! (optional)
  As you can see, I'm requiring FIVE classics for six months. For the sixth book, I would like the participants to offer suggestions for books that may not be considered classics but that you think should be or books that you think will be a classic one day. Leave your suggestions in the comments below. I'll compile a list of the suggestions and you choose a book from the list and make that your sixth read. I realize this means you may have to wait to make your list if you choose to participate in the bonus round, but I'm hoping this is a modern twist on the old classics challenge.

Okay, so, I'm working on my reading list, but I'm pretty certain it will resemble closely the syllabus for Dr. Redfield's Nineteenth Century lit course for the Fall. I have a few other ideas, but nothing is solid. YAY BOOKS!!

Catching up since the world won't slow down...

This has been a wild few weeks at the beginning of summer. Scott and I are trying to get back in shape, so we bought tennis rackets and have been playing tennis at a cute little park near the school. Scott’s Wilson racket is red and black, and “endorsed” by Roger Federer, according to the package. Mine is called the Wilson Hope Racket. Every time someone purchases a Wilson Hope racket (that has the pink ribbon symbol on it for breast cancer), Wilson makes a donation to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Since I have lost two precious family members to breast cancer, this meant the world to me. I was glad Scott picked this specific one out for me. I love it. It has a plum-colored floral design on the sides, and a soft, gray grip. I also bought some brand new tennis shoes (more on them later) that complete the look out there on the court. I’m not by any means a good player, but at least I am trying, and that’s half the battle. Maybe next year, for Wimbledon. It might be too late for me this time around. [insert wink here] Scott has been a sweet and patient coach for me (and he’s very handsome all at the same time). Most importantly, we’re doing something together, and we’re having a great time.

Of course, within the first two weeks out on the court, I hurt myself. That’s always how it goes in my life. Every time I try to get back in shape, I somehow hurt myself. It’s not bad—only a strained ankle—but that meant that I was unable to really get any exercise for about the past week while I’ve been letting it heal. I think Scott and I are going to get back out there tomorrow, though. It feels so good to be outside with the fresh air and the Claremont trees and the gentle breezes (as opposed to the dust and 50 mph gusts in the Texas panhandle). For the first time in a long time, I’ve gotten really sweaty doing something other than packing up trucks and moving across the country multiple times. And, boy, it feels good.

Pre-injury, Scott and I were going through a week of detox, which means that we put ourselves on a strict diet to try to repair our livers and get our bodies back in gear. No salt, no sugar, no carbohydrates, no caffeine, no alcohol, no fats except a tiny amount of olive oil on salad. This is a detox we’ve done in the past, and it definitely works for shedding the pounds and making us feel better. We only cheated a tiny bit, and I had lost about five pounds after eight days. I have gained back 2-3 of those pounds since we’ve been eating regular food again, but I think most of that is just the inability to exercise like I was before, since my ankle was in so much pain. So, here’s to shedding the pounds one at a time.

As I mentioned above, we have been wildly busy. We’re now officially 9-5ers, which means that our summer jobs completely bombard our schedules and our hopes of getting very much else done. But, as we just got our first paychecks yesterday, it turns out that we’ll be getting decent wages and good work experience, and we get to spend all day every day side by side at computers, poking each other and making innuendos the whole time. Now, it’s a redundant, exhausting job. Don’t get me wrong. But, I get to be with my husband all the time, and that will be the best part about my summer.

We went to the mall about a week ago to look for some tennis shoes and shorts for me, since we had a $10 off coupon for JCPenney for a father’s day sale, and we certainly had no intention of buying our dads clothes. Get this: we got me a pair of jeans, a pair of Capri pants, a pair of shorts, a pair of snazzy tennis shoes, and 2 pairs of jeans for Scott all for under a hundred dollars. And, I had a coupon! So, all in all, even though we spent money, we spent way less than one would have expected for all of our purchases. And now I have some cute shorts and Capris for summer. I love the shoes, too. They are New Balances, mostly white, with dark pink and silver trim. They make me feel sporty.

I have been reading a ton—every chance I get when I’m not at work or cooking or spending time with Scott. I am reading quite a few books right now, but almost done with several. Expect updates when I finish! I’ll tell you one thing, though. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos is now officially on my list of books I would want with me if I were stranded on a deserted island. I laughed out loud more times than I can count, and I LOVE books that are clever enough to make me laugh. I may not be a gold-digger like Lorelei Lee, but now I know how to bat an eye-lash or two when I need help with the dishes. The book is witty, satiric, and utterly entertaining. Two thumbs (and a strained ankle, you know, to help with the swelling) up.

I am going to be telling you about my upcoming reading challenge soon. I am still formulating my list, but for now I’ll just tell you that I signed up to read (at least) six classics for this challenge between July and December. No sweat for a doctoral student! Plus, one of my very best friends from my master’s program is the challenge maestra, so here’s to catching up with old friends through reading/blogging!

Okay, now I have to go check on Scott. He’s been shouting things at the TV for awhile now, but as far as I know, he’s only watching golf. [Just one of the many things I never experienced in the pre-matrimony days!]