This morning  I read an article about procrastinators not being lazy people. Quite the opposite, according to some experts of human behavior. That’s good to now. Procrastination, I know it well. Today, for instance, I didn’t get around to writing what I planned to share with this week’s Thursday 13 , but I did sew a pocket on a putter-around-the-house shirt, as well as turn its long sleeves into short ones. That, according to those experts is a common ploy with procrastinators, to distract oneself with a different task or project.  Here are 13 synonyms for procrastinate from Merriam-Webster: dawdle poke plod shilly-shally  fool around delay slow up mope dilly dally tarry loll decelerate filibuster That last synonym was a surprise. The shoe does fit for a certain party in the Senate. Okay, off to  Thursday 13   I go to check out more lists of 13. Come join me.  

Irregardless. Literally. Irregardless, literally. Literally irregardless. Irregardlessly. Literally. Literally irregardlessment? Dis-irregardlessously. Literally! Literally pre-irregardlessness. Post-irregardless! Literally. Literally re-irregardlessment! Regardless. Literally? Figuratively. Ahhhh, I needed to work through a bit of snarkiness. Thank you for listening. I'm back to feeling like a Barefoot Susie. Happy Holiday Season to you!  :-) P.S. I'm heading over to Thursday 13 . Come along.

The White Rabbit said he was late. What was he late for? The tea party? Curious minds, such as mine, want to know. Oh my. The Husband is doubl y smart. Initially I wrote "Curious minds, such as me, want to know." That seemed off. Should it be "such as I"?  Still didn't sound right, thus I asked the Husband. Neither appealed to him either. Ever the good grammar student back in the schooldays, the Husband asked, "Is it an object or a subject? My eyes crossed. "Read it again," he said. "Curious minds, such as me, want to know." "Mine." "Mind," I repeated. "Mine." "Mine?" "It's curious minds that want to know." My eyes uncrossed. I'm giving an example of a curious mind. Awwww. The Husband is a genius. Alas, he didn't know either what the important date was the White Rabbit needed to make.   HOPPING BACK TO INITIAL THOUGHT I brought up the White Rabbit ...

The word journey comes from journeé (old French) that means a day's travel or a day's work. In the 12th century, people used the word solely as a noun. Two centuries later, the word was also used as a verb, meaning to travel from place to place. There you go, trivia information for Jeopardy. I'm linking my J post over to ABC Wednesday . Click here to check out the meme and J stories by other participants.

Will she or won't she follow the instructions? Molly the Cat investigates the facts about the orange thing, inferring that it: idles insinuates insults inflicts idolizes invents (as in makes up) impairs immobilizes ignores incites imposes intimidates impersonates  Missy Girl's conclusion: Impeach and incarcerate.  Time for some ABC Wednesday (the letter I ) and Thursday 13 . Take a look! Thank you sweet hosts.

Good gosh Goodness gracious Gee whiz Great Caesar’s ghost Good gravy My gosh Oh my goodness Good grief Gadzooks Gaw Geeminy By gum By golly, Ms. Molly There. Thirteen things I can say whenever I get riled up about that guy who thought he could buy Greenland.   It's time for some ABC Wednesday and Thursday 13 . Come check out these weekly memes with me.

Because of the bogus leader sitting in our nation's executive office, I searched for words to fill me back to the brim with positivity. Brave Big-hearted Beneficial Brightness Benign Bounce back Brain Beauty Breakthrough Befriend Beloved Blossom Breathtaking That helped. Today's memes are ABC Wednesday and Thursday Thirteen . Please join me in checking out the other participants. :-)

The Husband and I held a joint discussion (1) over the stool that was painted today: What's the best way to detach the cracked masterpiece of a seat? The painting of the stool, though, was not a joint effort (2); however, the Husband and I are joint authors (3) of four titles about various careers. Did my voice sound disjointed (4) in the previous paragraphs? Didactic, possibly also pedantic? That how I sounded when I wrote educational materials once-upon-a-time, except I wrote concepts in simple sentences, straightforward without any editorial commentary or unneeded adjectives, at a third grade reading level. I have digressed. Hope that astray didn't get anyone's toes out of joint (5). Jeeez, Jeeves, this joint (6) is jumping! Fats Waller had me dancing. My knee joints (7) are fine, as long as I don't do something silly like the splits or the Charleston. Until two years, when I consulted a joint specialist (8) I had no idea my legs are jointed ...

I don't recall whether Apo Dios refers to God or to the sun. Maybe I didn't ever know. Ilocano was the parents primary language. I understood Ilocano but couldn't wrap my Americanized tongue around Ilocano words to speak it. So, yeah, we were one of those families in which immigrant parents talked to their American-born children in their native language and the children responded in English. Think of interpreters translating in real time. The term Apo Dios is a combination of two languages. Apo in Ilocano means father or grandfather. So, I've always thought. An online Ilocano-English dictionary says otherwise. It says Apo means God. Dios is a Spanish word that means God. Spain colonized the Philippines for over 300 years so of course Spanish is going to seep into the native languages there. That same Ilocano-English dictionary defines Apo Dios as God. Usually, my parents addressed Dios when life was going fine, such as "Hi, God, how are you doing? We'...

Back in March , I mentioned that a poem of mine was accepted for an anthology of hay(na)ku. "Bad News" is the poem. Now that the anthology is released, I am sharing the poem with you.  Hay(na)ku poems are composed of six words in three lines. What cracks me up is that my brief bio in the book is 10 times longer. Over 100 poets from around the world are featured in HAY(NA)KU 15:A Commemorative 15th Year Anniversary Anthology . Published by Paloma Press, it's edited by Eileen R. Tabios , the creator of the hay(na)ku form.

I have been randomly reading A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler that has been sitting on my reference bookshelf since 1994, when I purchased it new for a buck, but did not ever crack open until a few months ago. All these years I missed out on the amusing dry wit of Fowler, along with possibly learning when to use some words appropriately sooner. More than likely I bought this book because it was on a list of must-have reference books for writers. Who knows how many times I've thought about selling Fowler's book or donating it to a thrift shop.  I'm glad I didn't. This morning I read the entry for flurried , flustered , and fluttered . The word fluttered is usually used to describe a timid person who suddenly must deal with a crisis. Fowler did not seem to have much confidence with fluttered individuals. As for the word flustered , Fowler stated that a person so overwhelmed with multiple emotions she can't begin to express herself is best depic...

A party has been going on in my head, and it has been rather rowdy at times. We all do need to be rowdy once in a while, but within reason. Within reason.  Who coined that phrase? How long did it take for others to start saying it? Before it was explained in a dictionary? In a grammar book? Is this phrase an idiom? Are idioms even taught anymore? Pshew! See what I mean? A party is going on in my head! Some of you may have thought that my idea of rowdy is making loud and happy noises, and possibly doing a silly prank or two on the Husband. That, of course. Sure. Maybe. Not telling. Giggle.   Rowdy to me is also playing with words and sentences, and thoughts and concepts. Once upon a time 11 years ago I jumped out of a plane. That was not hard at all. If you freeze, like I think I did, your instructor (the professional skydiver to whom you're hooked), merely pushes you over as he falls forward. Me jumping out of the plane (from 18,000 feet up in the air, too, mind y...

Zetabetical. Cool word, huh? I learned it this morning in the novel I'm currently reading, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.  Zetabetical. Google coughed up 39 results of the word, its earliest use in 2003. In the novel, the protagonist, Eleanor,  organized the tins on her kitchen shelf in zetabetical oder. Tins? The novel is set in Glasgow. Zetabetical. From the statement, I take the word to mean alphabetical in reverse order. You know, starting with Z. It wasn't easy for me going backwards, as you can tell in my picture. Giggle. Today marks the last day for the current ABC Wednesday team. Thank you Roger, Leslie, Joyce, Gattina, Di, Melody, Pheno, and Troy! Next week, a new round begins under Melody, the new ABCW administer, and her team at a new address . For the next ABCW round, I shall go through the alphabet writing about movies I've seen. Yup. I've almost forgot. Click here to check out more Z themed posts.