Book Club: I’m right where I should be in Twirl by Patsy Clairmont. How far have you read?

Fast 5 Update: The offspring knew that Onesimus was a runaway slave of Philemon’s when they were children. Find out why on Wednesday.

My Favorite Things: Find out what else makes life easier for me this coming Friday!

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Last week’s Word of the Week (WOW) was hegira. Merriam-Webster Online says that hegira means: a journey especially when undertaken to escape from a dangerous or undesirable situation. Since we’re celebrating thankfulness in November, I am thankful that I don’t usually have to take hegiras these days!

This week’s WOW is knackered. I get my list of WOW words from Merriam-Webster Online by looking at their list of past Words of the Day.

Book Lovers: Do you have your copy of Beating Goliath? If not, now’s the time to download it on your e-reader. Go here for all of the details.

Have you missed a few sessions of Children of the Day? Read all of my Wednesday posts to catch up. Go here for the first one!

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Happy Monday, Word Lovers! Last week’s Word of the Week (WOW) was inkhorn. The hubby said an inkhorn was an inkwell for a quill pen and he was right! I knew I married a smart man!

This week’s WOW is bonnyclabber. And yes, I do sometimes pick WOWs that are just too much fun to play around with and bonnyclabber certainly fits that description! My guesses are as follows:

MIP Book Club Lovers: The August MIP Book Club Selection might just change your life…Do you have your copy? If not, go here for details.

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Good morning, Word Lovers! Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was bricolage. Merriam-Webster Online says that bricolage means:  construction achieved by using whatever comes to hand. Does this mean that MacGyver did a lot of bricolage? 

Today’s WOW is toxophilite. My definition guesses are:

toxophilite (täk-ˈsä-fə-ˌlīt) 1. having a toxic reaction to the music of the Chi Lites (Half of you just googled Chi Lites, right?) 2. the toxicity that results when Phil lights a cigarette 3. a current resident of Philadelphia (who is actually a native of France) who believes that taxes are too high (Okay…so that one was really reaching…do you have better suggestions?)

What’s your definition guess for toxophilite? Send me an email here.

Wednesday’s Post: Lessons Learned from Buying 3 Homes…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: bricolage; Word of the Week: spume; Word of the Week: kickshaw; Word of the Week: preterit; and Word of the Week: offal

Last week’s WOW was written while flying to our family reunion vacation in Estes Park, CO. I think it’s safe to say that a fun time was had by all and it went by too fast! Believe it or not, the meaning of kickshaw was actually discussed while preparing dinner at our vacation home there! So, just to allow my extended family to relax about such an important issue (Yeah, right.), here is Merriam-Webster Online’s definition for kickshaw: a fancy dish.

This just blows my mind because we tried a little experiment while in Estes Park. Each family selected a night and made a homemade dinner of their choice. Some of my family members may disagree, but it was positively awesome to see what each family decided to make for all of us and then enjoy that meal together. If you ask me, every night featured kickshaws!

This week’s WOW (Word of the Week) is spume. Here’s what I’m guessing for definitions of spume and today I just feel like giving you 4, instead of the usual 3:

spume: (ˈspyüm) 1. a fuming spoon 2. the splash a Six Flags log flume makes at the bottom of that last “dip” 3. to supposedly assume 4. a speaker’s volume

What are your guesses for spume? Send your guess here.

Wednesday’s Post: Shopping List for a Destination Family Reunion Vacation for 24 people…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: kickshaw; Word of the Week: preterit; Word of the Week: offal; Word of the Week: shinplaster; and Word of the Week: perdure

This week the WOW (Word of the Week) comes to you mid-air as I jet to a family reunion vacation with my hubby’s family. More about that later on in the week!

Last week’s WOW was preterit. Just as a side note: I pick my WOWs from the Merriam-Webster “Word of the Day” feature. And while I adore Merriam-Webster Online most days, there are occasions where I’m a little perturbed with it. That would be today’s sentiment, because the m-w.com definition of preterit is bygone or former and that’s the archaic definition. Are there any modern definitions? Nope. So, why is Merriam-Webster Online making it a Word of the Day? Please. Someone tell me! Grr.

This week’s WOW is kickshaw. Let’s hope there’s a modern definition for this one!  Here are my definition guesses for it:

kickshaw (ˈkik-ˌshȯ)   1. what happens to Mr. Shaw when he’s mean to a Texas woman 2. how a stutterer says rickshaw (I just irritated my daughter, the SLPA, with that one.) 3. an Asian disco dance What’s your guess for kickshaw?  Either submit your guess below in the Comment section or send me an email here.

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

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

Howdy, Word Lovers! It’s time for a new Word of the Week (WOW). Last week’s WOW was perdure and Merriam-Webster Online says that perdure means to continue to exist. Sounds very much like endure, hunh? But, I suppose endure carries with it the connotation that one continues to exist through pain or adversity and perdure does not. Thus, we could say that blue jeans perdure while my bottom endures their tight, low-waisted, non-flattering fit most days. 

This week’s WOW is shinplaster. This was just too fun a word to ignore, so here are my guesses for shinplaster: shinplaster:

(ˈshin-ˌplas-tər) 1. a permanent state of anyone who plasters for a living 2. how an arthritic shin feels on any given Monday 3. the shaky nature of a drunkard’s legs after a party weekend So, what is your guess for shinplaster? Be sure to let me know!

Wednesday’s Post: Spam Themes That MIP Seems to Attract

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

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

Last week’s WOW (Word of the Week) was pettifogger. Merriam-Webster Online says that pettifogger is: a lawyer whose methods are petty, underhanded, or disreputable or one given to quibbling over trifles. Ouch. I think that last part could apply to me when I’m insisting my kids keep their elbows off the dinner table!

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

risible: (ˈri-zə-bəl) 1. the ability for bread to rise 2. the ability of a woman to be Stockard Channing in Grease 3. the factor for developing Reye’s Syndrome after taking pain relievers

What’s your guess? Remember that the most accurate guess gets 5 points. The most creative guess gets 3 points and the second most accurate guess gets 1 point. Use this page to submit your guess. Those with the most points at the end of the year gets an MIP one-of-a-kind t-shirt! You know you need yet another t-shirt!

Wednesday’s Post: The Odd Days of May…

You Might Also Like: Word of the Week: pettifogger; Word of the Week: hoise; Word of the Week: orotund; and Word of the Week: stichomythia