Random Thoughts from a Crazy Week

The good news: I'm still alive. The bad news: It's only Saturday morning!

Okay, it's not nearly as bleak as all that. Since Wednesday, I've been spending evenings teaching Vacation Bible School and my class just happens to be 2nd and 3rd graders. The kids are wonderful--and cute beyond belief--but I am exhausted! How do parents of quintuplets do this? Heck, how do teachers do this?

So, VBS and all the work that just landed on me at the office this week have kept me away from the blog, but since I have a free moment I thought I'd post a fleeting account of some of the wackier things that stuck in my head over the week.

The Business of Sleep
This is incredibly timely for me this week--I heard a story on NPR about a very enterprising man in New York City. This man, whose name I do not remember, started a business that filled a particular need. He opened sleeping boutiques. These "boutiques" serve the busy working drone who is, well, tired. They can go into one of these establishments and sleep.

My initial reaction to this was, "What a fabulous idea!" Of course, it was early in the morning and I was still half asleep myself. Once I had gained a bit more consciousness I realized that there was something very wrong with all this. Obviously, Americans are too busy, too burdened. I think we all can agree on this. However, when the need was recognized, it seems America's first thought was a business opportunity and NOT that perhaps there might actually be a problem in society. Could it be, just possibly, that we are overworked? That the drive of capitalism might actually be to our detriment? Of course, this same capitalistic drive is what led to the sleeping boutiques...that and the fact that we're tired.

Topics of conversations--take one
As I said, I spent the bulk of this week with 2nd and 3rd graders--mostly boys. I thought I was prepared. I mean, I don't think anyone can really be prepared for THAT, but I at least thought I knew enough of them to know that they would be obsessed with boogers. Admittedly, boogers were in the top five of favored conversation topics. However, what these boys were really wild about were toilet plungers. I am told this has something to do with a certain Captain Underpants.....

Topics of conversations--take two
A co-worker and I apparently shocked to male co-workers this week. We are, after all, apparently quite foul. Here was the conversation:
Co-Worker: "Cute shoes!"
Me: "Thanks! I got them at....." yada yada yada.
After about 2 minutes of discussing footwear, we noticed the two men about ready to vomit.

Really? Shoes are that bad? I mean, it's not like we were talking about our menstrual cycles or commitment or anything else that the male species finds terrifying! Are shoes now a taboo topic? If so, then men should cease all car talk in the presence of women. Trust me, THAT is only fair!

Mortality
I only received one piece of mail yesterday and it was junk mail. To add insult to injury, it was an add from a cremation service! Is there something about to happen that I should know about?