It's only ten dollars

I am known as someone who speaks my mind and will talk to anyone, anytime.  I am always ready to share my knowledge with anyone Earlier today we made a small trip to Walmart.  My bill happened to com to $13 and change. So I handed the cashier $23 and change.  She handed me a ten dollar bill back. I as I checked to make sure my change was right. I asked her why she didn't count it back. She said it was only $10 dollars.  Really $10 can be alot.  I suggested she should count back her change in the future. If only to keep her self straight. She seemed dumbfounded.  I guess cashiers are no longer taught to count triple count their change. This may be because they are not held responsible for their own drawers. Imagine. What happens when people are not held accountable for their work or the money they handle.

The Cop, The Lawyer and The Politcian



"The Cop"



Okay, yes I know the tittle of this posting sounds like the beginning of one of those jokes, the sort that starts A cop, a lawyer and a politician walk into a bar. But this is really about my kids. You see my first born is the cop. She is a by the rules sort of person. The rules are the rules and they do NOT change. She might also be called "THE ENFORCER".  Perhaps this is why she makes a great soccer ref.  Soccer rules are cut and dry and not open to interpretation. Which brings us to child number two. She is my "lawyer". She is always looking for the loophole. A way to make the rules work to her advantage. You see she does not break the rules she just bEnds them to suit her needs.  My third child is "the politician". He does not enforce the rules or bend them, he just makes NEW ones and will make it seem like he is doing you a favor.



"The Lawyer" was suppose to wear brown to be a reindeer, somehow she managed to wear a dress and have it pink too.



 









To illustrate the difference between my children like to present this little scenario.We have household rules that dictate that we may only eat in the great room and kitchen.  My oldest at the tender age of about 3, upon seeing her daddy walk into the playroom with a bowl of some food proceeded to tell him in a matter of fact voice that "WE DO NOT eat in the playroom." Upon which my husband told his preschooler that it was HIS house. ( Never argue with a self righteous preschooler, but that is a blog entry for another day).



"The Politician" Always sharped dressed, and has a sports jacket ready.



Flash forward a few more years, enter my middle child - THE LAWYER - is seen heading downstairs to our family room in the walk out basement. When I reminded her that we don't eat downstairs she said oh, mama, I am not eating downstairs, I am eating ON THE STAIRS. 

About four years latter along comes little brother, the baby of the family and the politician. One day I catch him in the kitchen getting into some cookies I have set aside for his big sister to take to school. "J.J.what are you doing?" and he says, I kid you not  "Mom I thought YOU needed a cookie" I did the best to keep a stern face. Then I did the mom thing where I put my hand over my mouth so he could not see me laugh or smile while I scolded him.   Like THAT really works.

Earthquake

Earlier this morning I was working away when I happened to feel the house shake briefly. I thought to myself "oh it is just the wind".  I do happen to currently live in Oklahoma- "Where the wind comes rushing through." Then the house shook again, as I continued to work I kept on waiting for the impending sonic boom. I thought that perhaps the air force was on maneuvers. No BOOM . The dogs, all four of them continued to sleep peacefully. As I continued to work I thought to myself hmm, I will have to google what makes a house shake.  Surely there had to be a reasonable explanation.


 About that time the local weather guy came on the TV screen.  He explained that we had had an earthquake. IN OKLAHOMA. Now this is our third earthquake of some magnitude this year, and possibly the 3 strongest in history. About a 5.2 on the Richter scale, depending on who you talk to. Now I am aware that there is a seismograph station about 20 miles from our house. Turns out we had the biggest quake of the week so far. 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/

Life is a symphony

Earlier today I received an email from a college roomate. She remember that on Oct 8th 25 years ago, our pledge class was initiated.  We all met in spring semester of 1985. For me it was a chance to have sisters I never had. I grew up with brothers, on top of that there were NO, absolutely none, girls near my age in my neighborhood.

We moved into the chapter house in the fall semester and were intiated shortly after Rush, ahem. I believe it is now called Member Recruitment. Our initiated was delayed I remeber by a hurricane. What excitment that was. I remeber going swimming in the ocean the night before the hurricane hit with one of our new sister's to be and the guys we were dating.

Most of us graduated in the alloted 4 years, a couple of us took some extra time. Over the years we attending each others weddings, and other special events. However busy family lives took over for some of us. Others moved away. However thanks to facebook we have mostly all reconnected.  Through the years it is as if we have never been seperated and are still sitting on the ugly (but oh so comfortable) green sectional couch in our Chapter room at the Sorority House.

Diligently

One of my favorte words du jour.  I seem to be using this word a lot lately. Just this morning, I used it when praising my 6 year old for studying so consciencously for his spelling test.  That will be the subject for another posting.  I told him I was proud of his dligent work. He knew exactly what I meant, unlike some of those in my 6th grade class. They said I always use big words and this is true.   As already established I am a fan of using big words. I think they are more precise in meaning and besides that they are just fun to use. Perhaps because I so consistently use big words my 1st grader has a descriptive and receptive vocabulary that is off the charts when they test him. I like to think that my nature and nurture have contributed to that.

Diligently

adjective

1.

constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything: a diligent student.

2.

done or pursued with persevering attention; painstaking: a diligent search of the files.

 

 

I like BIG Words

I like BIG words, this I can not deny. I use them everyday, frequently. I do not believe in dumbing down my speech for others. You see I am a wordy. I have always enjoyed learning about languages, learning languages and learning new words. I devoured books from a young age. One of my favorite books as a kids was an children's encyclopedia that had a Geography section that included 5 basic words in each of the languages of the countries featured. I would read and reread those sections over and over.  I relished studying foreign languages and even took extra ones in High School. I studied French, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese.  I love that so many of our English words come from other languages. I think that when I discovered the field of linguistics I was enamored. I had found my calling, or so I thought. Studying languages and culture and how they affect each other. Etymology of words, Indo-European language families, but I digress.

I love big words. A rich vocabulary gives richness to your speech.  It allows you to read a variety of literature, to understand and appreciate authors such as Shakespeare, Moliere, Dante. I have been lucky enough to read some of the great works of fiction in their original languages. You just can't beat that.

I believe in using my varied vocabulary all day everyday. I use it with my students, parents and the cashier at Wal-Mart. I believe in exposing them to the greatness in of the English Language. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary estimates that there are about 1 million words in the English language.  Having said that the average person uses about a mere fraction of those. I actually looked for studies on this but they are inconsistent and very few and far between.  But really think about the words you use and those around you use. If you were to take a tally you would find many repetitions throughout the day.

Let us do everyone a favor. Learn a new word a day and use it. Today's word is one of my favorites.
aberration n. Deviation from a right, customary, or prescribed course.