Friendly Ponderance

Word of the Day
Today's word is: victual
/vict"ual/ noun
Food; to supply with sustenance, to stock provisions; grain of any kind. Primarily used in the plural, victuals. Mispronounced to form the word "vittles".
Before a long voyage, sailors will victual a ship. Most of the usage of this word I found comes from poets like Shakespeare and Longfellow. This seems to be a poetical description of provisions.
~~~~~~~~~~
I got an award from Jan over at Bold & Free. It is the "I've got a friend in you" award. This is fun for me. Thank you, Jan.

My friend Zipper, my Mom and myself are all the friendly sorts. We do not know strangers, they are all just friends with whom we have not yet become acquainted. When Zipper was tiny, she was so distractible, we couldn't eat out at restaurants. She would wave and say "Hi!" to anyone passing by. She was a serious people-watcher, to the point that she would ignore the food in front of her. Now, I have never been one to ignore food, but I have been the one to request or claim the chair that has the back to the wall, so that I can see everything around me.

I had several things I wanted to say today, but I have been catching up on reading everyone else's blogs, since I have been "unplugged" for two weeks. I will work on a new post sometime this week, complete with stories of our adventures and corresponding pictures.

Stay Tuned!

Click Clack Mem-Moo-Ry

Word of the Post
Today's word is: macropterous
/ma*crop"ter*ous/ adjective
Having long wings or fins.
I like dragons with wings more than the snaky ones with legs; I like my dragons macropterous.
~~~~~~~~~~
60 words

Speed test

I saw this on Overwhelmed with Joy! Hers said she got 56 wpm, and I remember getting about 55 or so in High School. I never did achieve 60. My mom used to be able to type so fast, it would amaze me. She could type numbers on the top of the keyboard just like she could be fast with words. I could use a ten-key, but those numbers at the top are only for passwords, and barely that. She took a test once after about 20 years of not typing often, and still got over 60 wpm. The temp agency she was trying for didn't really appreciate her level of skill. She no longer can type, because of nerve damage from Diabetes. I think that frustrates her. I have actually always typed slower, but more accurately than mom. She said it was because I could spell, and I think it is because I am a perfectionist. I love computers. We can always hit backspace, and use spell check.

Those old manual typewriters frustrated me, but their historical value is intriguing. I recently attended a concert of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. They performed a song that was written to include an old clack typewriter. They had a place for the sound of the slide of the carriage, the clicking of the keys, and even the ding of the bell. The funny part was that they had disabled the actual bell on the actual typewriter, and supplemented with a chime from the percussion section. It was quite amusing. The only things missing were Snoopy and the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Something about me made me take the test three times. First time was 59, second was 56, third was this result of 60. I have to show off. Seriously. I have never typed that fast. However, now that I am not answering to anyone else about my speed, I can type faster. What is that about? I guess I am way more relaxed, now that I don't have "the Man" hovering over my shoulders.

I remember the Jr. High typing class, we had to type rhythms that turned out to be little pictures. Lots of strange characters, lines, and repeated letters. Those were fun, and boring all at once. Does that make sense? I wanted to learn to type, and I wanted to practice. We made cute little pictures, but I didn't want to type useless bits. I wanted to type letters and real documents for the school; they could have had us typing permission notices or ads for the newspaper about events at the school. I passed Jr. High Spanish because I could correct the teacher's papers for the English as a Second Language class he taught at the college. I freely admit that there were things in Spanish class that I could still use today, had I actually learned them. I didn't. I am not the only one responsible for that, but that is water under the bridge, around the bend and over the waterfall.

Thank you for following along with my random keystrokes.

Love To Live On A Mountaintop

Word of the Post
Today's word is: magnanimity
/mag'na*nim"i*ty/ noun
Greatness of mind, elevation or dignity of soul; a character quality allowing one to meet adversity with tranquility, yet firmly; to act in nobility, to disdain injustice.
My mom has been showing her own brand of magnanimity while facing her health issues.
~~~~~~~~~~
I have been busy, and blogging has been the next to last thing on my mind. The reading challenge has been the last thing on my mind. Just so you know. Preparation and cleaning have been up at the top of the list.

Preparation has been for my trip. DH gets three weeks of vacation this year, starting at his anniversary last July. THREE! I have never had a job where I got one whole week, much less three. I casually asked if it were possible to take two of them at once, and I should not have asked. I so very much got what I asked for, and it was totally unexpected. At the end of March, we are going to fly (can I scream yet?) to Farmington, and spend time with Mom and Dad and Brother; and we get my car back. We are also planning a driving trip through the center of Colorado, to visit family and friends. I have already made a few of the arrangements. I still have more to do. I can read on the plane.

The cleaning has been tough. I don't like to clean, and I have never been particularly good at it; in my own house, anyway. I have been doing laundry for two and a half days. My little machines have been working overtime. I have also been shredding personal bits of paper while watching Movies on Demand from our new Digital upgraded cable. I have done days of dishes, swept up the carpet bits that the cats have chewed off of the cat tree and dropped on my hardwood floor, and thrown away five trash bags full of trash and recyclable junk mail. The funny thing is.... I can't really tell a difference. I have not really rearranged anything to SEE the difference. I merely found my kitchen sink and surrounding cabinet.

As another preparation for our trip, we bought a new memory card for our digital camera. If you know some numbers you can do the actual math. We went from a 32 mb card to a 1 gb card. DH said we squared our capacity for holding photos. We also got a little travel kit to hook up and read the card with the laptop. This saves our camera batteries from draining quickly while downloading the pictures directly from the camera. This makes things immensely fast, and pretty handy. We can take the laptop and the camera on the trip, and we can take 1112 pictures when it is in the highest quality level. Then I can download to the computer, and start over again. I am so excited!

I plan to show DH my school from Kindergarten, the church building where I attended as a young child and the surrounding Remembrance Rose Garden, my old house. He gets to finally meet more of Dad's family. So far, he has only met Dad and two cousins. If I get my way, he gets to meet two aunts and an uncle, as well as their spouses, and maybe a cousin or two. He may get to meet people who babysat me when I was too little to remember.

We are hoping to visit many different little hot spots in Colorado. I want to go to Pike's Peak, The Garden of the Gods, Royal Gorge, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Estes Park, the camp where I got baptized; all the places I love. I plan to take him to eat at the Casa Bonita in Denver, because the Tulsa location has closed, and I miss it. I also want to introduce DH to Niki and Benny. I would like to meet Niki's kiddos. I am even hoping to step out of the box, and go to the Journey church where they go. Yep, watching my friend being part of the band at the front of the church is going to stretch me. DH jokingly wondered if they might need an extra drummer?

So, since I have met Sally, now I need to meet Suezque. I really want to plan a bit of visiting. On the drive back home, I am (Lord willing, and the creek don't rise) visiting with LooneyMom Liz. I got griped at for not calling her last time, when I was stranded in her home city. That was fear on my part, and I have regretted not taking the time to make at least a phone call. Meeting people face to face for the first time is scary. I mean, we know so much about what is going on in each other's lives, and we know all the other characters in the play... but we freeze on stage. That cameo appearance is full of the "what if" questions. What if she thinks I'm fake? What if I AM fake? What if I say something stupid (because I know I will!)? I take heart in the fact that the people I visit with on a regular basis out here in the blogosphere are good people; God fearing and sweet and sassy and struggling... just like me. The rest will work itself out.

When we get back from Colorado and New Mexico, we are hoping to buy a new TV stand, and a couple of electronic doodad towers to hold all the fancy gadgets we now have. Our TV will end up about 6 inches higher off the ground, which is a good thing. We are hoping to hook the receiver up to everything, and get a surround-sound system. If we get a good bonus in the summer from DH's work, we plan to use that to buy a new flat, widescreen Digital/HD TV. Which is a little frivolous for us, since our current TV is not even 5 years old. I want to find something good to do with this one, maybe donate it to someone who will actually use it.

This may seem random. It is a little out of place, but I have to get it out of my head while I am thinking about it. I have been sitting here tonight, watching TV with DH. There is a skin clinic here that advertises all sorts of non-surgical remedies to your every wrinkle. The spokes-lady who started the thing is a scary mix of all she can have done to her face. She reminds me of the Muppet that I think was supposed to be a nod to Phyllis Diller (in the later years). She was obviously plastic, and had really pronounced cheekbones and chin, and more makeup than Miss Piggy. She even had her hair in a bun this time! Seriously, Miss I-can-FIX-your-face, you need a new face to front your commercials. Yours does not lead me to desire to be "fixed" if I am going to look like you in the end. I had no idea lasers were so powerful.

I have almost two weeks until we leave, and I am allowing the stress to get to me. I need to nip that right now. I need to focus on the anticipation. "If God doesn't live in Colorado, I bet that's where He spends most of His time." I wonder which mountain holds His cabin? I am going to spend a lot of time with God while in Colorado. He is going to let me visit good friends, treasured family, and His prettiest creations. I am a special child of the King, and we have a week-long Daddy-Daughter Date coming soon.

I can't wait!