Happy New Year!

Hey, awesome MIP-stalkers! How are you? I’m a little frightened about 2015, honestly.

In 8 days counseling begins at Compassion Counseling Center and I have many concerns about the “unknown.” But, one thing that I hope you gain from stopping by here is that fear is not a big deal. It’s just a signal that we should plan carefully and pray consistently so that our future steps are thoughtfully carried out and guided by God.

Let’s get this series finished up, okay? My 2nd most favorite post of 2014 is not my favorite because I like how I wrote it, but because it marked a milestone for me. It was my first product review. Some bloggers actually make a living doing this, believe it or not. I doubt that I will ever do so many that I can retire on such posts, but it indicates to me that some of the steps I’m taking to get my blog “out there” are finally taking off. And I want my blog to be helpful and an inspiration to whomever God puts in my path (and I consider you “in my path” if you read this blog!). If you missed this post and care to read it, click here.

Like my product review, I also know, all too well, that many of you only read this blog on Mondays! You have always loved the WOW posts (Word of the Week) and thus, it seems only fitting, that my most favorite 2014 post be a WOW post. Click here to see if you know this WOW!

Friday’s Post: YOUR favorites of 2014…

You Might Also Like: The 12 Days of MIP 2014: 4 and 3; The 12 Days of MIP 2014: 6 and 5; and The 12 Days of MIP 2014: 8 and 7

Book Club Readers: Are you ready to read Songs in the Key of Solomon tomorrow? You do NOT want to miss this one–trust me. Click here for the MIP Suggested Reading Plan.

Happy Monday, WOW Lovers! Last week’s Word of the Week (WOW) was offal and two long-time MIP readers chimed in with two correct definitions! And without knowing it, they submitted their guesses as father and son! I’m going to have to declare the son the winner, though, because he gave the first definition listed in Merriam-Webster, while “Dad” submitted the 2nd most common definition. So, congrats to Bruce for the winning guess and congrats to John on an honorable mention definition guess. I have a sneaky suspicion that there’s going to be some father and son razzing about this in the weeks to come. Here are those correct guesses, along, with a 3rd one as defined by Merriam-Webster Online:

offal: 1. the organs (such as the liver or kidney) of an animal that are used for food 2. the waste or by-product of a process: as trimmings of a hide, the by-products of milling used especially for stock feeds, or the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal removed in dressing 3. rubbish

No matter how you define it, if you ask me, offal sounds awful.

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

preterit: (‘pre-tə-rət) 1. the preparations one makes to tear it up, whatever “it” is. 2. achieving before it’s necessary to achieve it 3. an idiot who can’t spell prefer correctly

What’s your definition guess for preterit? Click here to submit it. Maybe you can outdo Bruce and John this week! 🙂

Wednesday’s Post: The Odd Days of July…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: offal; Word of the Week: shinplaster; Word of the Week: perdure; Word of the Week: eidetic; and Word of the Week: mien

Happy Monday, Word Lovers! (Okay, so fake it ’til you make it, if happy Mondays are not your thing. And yes, I fake it a lot.)

Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was eidetic. This word sounded so familiar to me and I just can’t place it, so this one is just bugging me and I don’t like that! Here’s the Merriam-Webster Online definition so I can put myself out of my misery: marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially of visual images. If this is so, I think we can assume Sherlock Holmes had an eidetic memory and I’m pretty sure so does the darling daughter. When she was growing up, she was always my “go-to” girl for knowing where I left my car keys.

Today’s word is perdure. Submit your guess below or play the “MIP WOW Definition Guess Contest” by submitting the guess in an email to little old me!  Here are my guesses:

perdure: (pər-ˈdu̇r, –ˈdyu̇r) 1. what a person does when eating Perdue chicken 2. the misspelling of my alma mater 3. how one spells perjure on a message board if they can’t find the letter j.

See–I know your guesses will be better than mine!

Wednesday’s Post:  New Anniversaries…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: eidetic; Word of the Week: mien; Word of the Week: risible; Word of the Week: pettifogger; and Word of the Week: hoise

Book Club Lovers: Have you started reading the June MIP Book Club Selection? Beth Moore is so inspiring–I highly encourage you to make it a goal on your summer reading list!

Good morning, WOW lovers! If you watched the national news lately, did you catch the fact that one of the winning words for the National Spelling Bee co-champions was stichomythia??? That should ring a bell, because it’s a former WOW! See–you would win a spelling bee reading the WOW posts every week! Too bad they aren’t willing to give grown-ups $ 30,000 for spelling words correctly, hunh?

Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was mien. According to Merriam-Webster Online mien means air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality as well as appearance or aspect. I hope that my mien indicates that I am a Christian! What do you hope your mien indicates about you?

Today’s WOW is eidetic. Eidetic falls under the category of “MaryAnn has heard this word and should know the meaning, but can’t quite yank it out of her rusty brain.” So, let me give my goofier ideas below and maybe the rust will dissipate enough that I come up with the actual definition. (I’m not holding my breath, though.)

eidetic: 1. a way to say, “I get it.” if you lisp 2. a goose feather down quality 3. the way someone struggling with dyslexia spells dietetic

What’s your definition for eidetic? Is your brain less rusty than mine?

Wednesday’s Post: The Odd Days of June

You might also like: Word of the Week: mien; Word of the Week: risible; Word of the Week: pettifogger; Word of the Week: hoise; and Word of the Week: orotund