Book Club Update: The MIP April 2015 Book Club Selection is up. Go here for all the details.

Compassion Update: Today is the quarterly meeting for the Compassion Board. As of this writing, we have completed 65 hours of counseling with 20 hours already scheduled for this coming week. We have counseled 35 people to date. We have 6 people signed up for the premarital counseling group beginning in mid-April. Two other groups may start in the next few months as well. The average cost per counseling session is $ 13.83. 🙂 Thank you for your prayers and contributions to Compassion, a nonprofit counseling center!

Good morning, Word Lovers! Last week’s WOW was nonage. Merriam-Webster Online defines nonage as minority or a period of youth or a lack of maturity. Nonage pretty much describes me every day. Maturity is optional, right?

Today’s WOW is chatoyant. Here are my definition guesses for chatoyant:

chatoyant (shə-ˈtȯi-ənt) 1. a person who chats about toys 2. a person obsessed with cat toys 3. a person who can see chateaus before they’re built

What’s your guess for chatoyant? Go here to submit a guess.

Wednesday’s Post: Your guess is as good as mine!

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: nonage; Word of the Week: chinoiserie; Word of the Week: plastron; and Word of the Week: mimesis

Book Club: I’m starting the Early to Rise Experience, aka MaryAnn’s worst nightmare. Want to find out why she’s squirming? Go here.

Howdy, Word Nerds! Last week’s WOW was mimesis. Merriam-Webster Online says that mimesis means imitation or mimicry. That makes sense since the word mime is a part of the word!

This week’s WOW is plastron. Here are my guesses for plastron:

plastron (ˈplas-trən) 1. a superhero made of plastic (Can he be in the next Fantastic Four movie? Maybe the Fantastic Five? 2. a plasma electron 3. a protoplasm computer game

What’s your guess for plastron? Go here to submit your guess.

Wednesday’s Post: Double Nickels…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: mimesis; Word of the Week: abecedarian; Word of the Week: zeitgeber; and Word of the Week: solatium

Book Club Update: I read the first page of Jon Acuff’s Start and burst out laughing for a full minute. I don’t do that often. Have you started laughing yet? If not, go here to, of course, Start! 

Compassion Counseling Center Update: We now have 9 clients, but I would love for us to have even more clients, so please keep praying that we will find the people who need our help. We have dealt with abuse, self-injury, relationship difficulties, and new school adjustment issues just to name a few. We are also about to offer our first group for premarital counseling!

Good morning, Word Lovers! Last week’s WOW was crepitate. Merriam-Webster says that the definition of crepitate is to make a crackling sound. If that’s the case, then my joints crepitate all the time. (This WOW may become a new regular in my vocabulary!)

This week’s WOW is solatium. Here are my guesses for it:

Book Club Update: Have you ordered your copy of Start? No? Go here to get your copy now!

Compassion Counseling Center Update: We have reached the 200 mark on “Likes” on our Facebook page! We could still use some more clients, though, so that all of our counselors-in-training have the needed hours to graduate on time. Please continue to pray that hurting people in our area will find us quickly! Thanks!

Last week’s WOW was deracinate. The Merriam-Webster Online definition is: uproot or to remove or separate from a native environment or culture; especially to remove the racial or ethnic characteristics or influences from something. The hubby had a pretty close guess for this one! How is it that everyone in my family is smarter than me??? Oh. Wait. It’s my family.

Today’s WOW is crepitate. I feel like I should know this word, but it has escaped my brain (probably from that face plant a few weeks ago!). So here are my guesses for crepitate:

Book Club: Did you know that some Jews do not agree with Zionism? I didn’t! If you, like me, didn’t know this, you might want to go here to read more about it.

Compassion Counseling Center: We opened; had a great Ribbon-Cutting and have now completed 4 counseling appointments with more scheduled for this week! It’s a start. Please pray that we will get to the point where we have about 24 appointments each week–that will give our counselors-in-training the hours they need to graduate on time.

Last week’s WOW was anodyne. No one seemed to know this one, but this is how Merriam-Webster defines it as: not likely to offend or upset anyone; serving to alleviate pain; not likely to offend or arouse tensions; or innocuous. My face plant last week was anything but an anodyne!

This week’s WOW is deracinate. Here are my guesses for the definition of deracinate:

deracinate: (dē-ˈra-sə-ˌnāt) 1. to decelerate 2. to remove the rack of an oven 3. to avoid Racine

Book Club: Did you know that a rabbi in Israel who lived in this century said He had a vision of the Messiah? Go here to read the book about this rabbi.

Compassion Update: We have 3 appointments scheduled! Yay! Do you want to schedule a free/reduced-rate counseling appointment? Go here to do that 24/7/365. Our Ribbon-Cutting will be this Wednesday at 4:30 pm at Oakdale United Methodist Church, 2675 Overhill Drive, Stephenville, TX 76401.  Go to this Facebook page to RSVP for this public event. We open this Thursday, January 15th, 2015 at 9 am!

Today is the DD’s 25th birthday! Difficult to believe that she is a quarter-century old, but alas, she is. She will spend most of her day working with kids, which has been a favorite pastime for her since she was 2 years old. Have a wonderful day, Sweetie!

Last week’s WOW was regnant. Both my niece and DD had a pretty good idea about this one! Merriam-Webster Online says that the definition of regnant is: exercising rule or having the chief power or  of common or widespread occurrence. The aforementioned smart chicks felt it had to do with being regal royalty and they were right!

This week’s WOW is anodyne. Here are my ridiculous attempts at this one:

anodyne (ˈa-nə-ˌdīn): 1. annotating a dynamic sign 2. a sign indicating “No Dining” (which means I’d never see the sign, because I believe in dining everywhere) 3. the diode of anode

What’s your definition for anodyne? Go here to tell me.

Wednesday’s Post: # 8 and # 7 …

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: regnant; Word of the Week: parvenu; Word of the Week: meed; and Word of the Week: soigne

Book Club: What does an 108 year old rabbi say about the Messiah? Go here to find out.

Compassion Counseling Center Update: We officially start on 1/15/2014! Thanks to a “tribute gift” of $ 1000, Compassion begins counseling in 16 days! A tribute gift is a donation made in honor of, or in memory of, someone special to the donor. Go here to see the beginning of the Tribute Gift Page and go here to honor or memorialize someone special to you! Since Compassion is a 501(c)(3) charity, all donations are tax-deductible.

Also, Compassion will have a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 4:30 pm at Oakdale United Methodist Church, 2675 Overhill Drive, Stephenville, TX 76401. YOU are invited! We will have refreshments and tours for all those attending. If you would like to attend, please go here to let me know. Yes, family and friends are welcome! I just need a “head count” for the sake of ensuring enough refreshments for everyone attending.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas, MIP readers! Thank you for “tuning in” here to read my posts. I know you have plenty of to occupy your time during the holidays without reading blog posts!

My 10th most favorite blog post of the year is probably one of your favorites, too. At least I get the most unsolicited comments for this MIP feature: Word of the Week. As most of you know, I go to the Word of the Day list at Merriam-Webster Online and create a list of words I don’t know. Then, I write the Word of the Week post on Mondays and offer silly guesses about what the definition for that word might be. The WOW feature is often a good way for this writer to remain humble–most of you know these words and I quite obviously don’t! See what I mean here.

While the WOW feature has been a part of MIP since it began, this feature is new this year: My Favorite Things. I pick out the favorite products, sites, and services in my life and in my home and tell why I like them. Most of you agreed that one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century has to be the evolution of Amazon.com and particularly their wish list feature. Go here to see why my holiday shopping is so much easier with Amazon.com on the job.

Friday’s Post: #8 and # 7!

You Might Also Like: The 12 Days of MIP 2014: 12 & 11; The 12 Days of MIP: 12 & 11; The 12 Days of MIP: 10 & 9; and The 12 Days of MIP: 8 & 7

Book Club: Are you willing to take a walk on the wild side with me in January 2015? Yes? Terrific! Go here for all the details.

Compassion Counseling Center Update: We have an approved budget of $ 21,130 for 2015! That’s the good news. The bad news? There’s only $ 614 in our bank account right now. Care to forego a latte to help us get started in 23 days? Go to the ad to the right of this post to donate online!  Care to write a check instead of donating online? Send to: Compassion Counseling Center, 2675 Overhill Drive, Stephenville, TX 76401. We can post memorial/honorary gifts at the web site to remember/honor your loved one and we can list organizations as our partners for a donation of $ 500 or more. And please share our web site with family and friends: http://www.compassioncounselingcenter.com. Thanks for thinking of us and please pray that we will have a “full docket” of clients on January 15th!

Twelve Days of MIP continues this week. Go here to see the first post from last Wednesday!

Good morning, Word Lovers! Last week’s WOW was soigne and Merriam-Webster Online says that soigne is: well-groomed, sleek, elegantly maintained or designed. If that is the case, then I’m seldom soigne, even on a good day.

This week’s WOW is meed. Not mead, which I already know, but meed. I have a feeling about 10 of you are about to tell me how clueless I am on this one:

meed (ˈmēd) 1. The way 90% of Americans spell mead *le sigh* 2. my seed 3. when I feed me

What’s your definition guess for meed? Go here to educate me!

Wednesday’s Post: My 9th and 10th most favorite posts of 2014…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: soigne; Word of the Week: refulgence; and Word of the Week: malversation

Book Club: Today is the first day to begin reading Unstoppable by Christine Caine. Have you started to read it? Go here to get Unstoppable. 

Compassion Counseling Center Update: Only 45 days until Compassion Counseling Center begins receiving clients! Also, this Saturday (December 6th) we will have our first fundraiser and Open House from 10 am to 4 pm at Oakdale United Methodist Church, Stephenville, TX. Have your Pampered Chef gifts shipped directly to your gift recipient in time for Christmas and try out Pampered Chef products! Tour the rooms that will be set up as counseling rooms and hear from Compassion staff members! Free childcare and cooking demonstrations! A portion of the proceeds go to benefit Compassion! Click here to shop online!

Last week’s Word of the Week was adscititious. My daughter attempted guesses, based on the prefixes and suffixes of this interesting word, but quickly admitted she had no clue, just like me. Thankfully, we can consult Merriam-Webster Online which tells us that adscititious means: derived or acquired from something extrinsic. Yeah. That was helpful.

Maybe we should just move on to this week’s WOW (Word of the Week) which is malversation. Here are my guesses for malversation:

malversation (mal-vər-ˈsā-shən) 1. a bad conversation 2. a conversation with Mallory 3. a description of discussions between Congress and President Obama

What’s your guess for the definition of malversation? Go here to let me know what you think.

Wednesday’s Post: The Return of Fast 5!

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: adscititious; Word of the Week: infix; Word of the Week: opusculum; Word of the Week: knackered; and Word of the Week: hegira