I’m taking up the challenge to see how many words I can get out of the word ‘Thermostat’ in 2 minutes. My list is below. (And remember: if you’re taking part in the challenge, no fair reading my list until you’ve written your own.)
the
them
most
that
treat
test
tat
sat
set
some
same
tame
tome
hat
haste
taste
mast
rest
Rome
rate
rote
her
home
tea
eat
heat
meat
mate
hate
Tate
~~~
Hey, how about a new kind of writing challenge for the new year? It doesn’t require you to write a whole story, but it does put your brain to work. This challenge will force you to stretch your thinking muscles, be a little creative, and dig down deep into your vocabulary reservoir.
Set a timer for 2 minutes. Then write a list of all the words
you can make from the letters in this word:
THERMOSTAT
When the timer goes off, you MUST stop. If you are in the middle of
writing a word, you can finish the word, but that’s all. You can’t use
any letter more times than you find it in the word. Contractions and proper names are allowed. Abbreviations are NOT allowed. (Once you’ve stopped, if you read over the list and see typos, you may correct them.)
HINT: It may be easier to write them by hand and then type them in once you have the complete list. Because you have to hit the “shift” key and the “return” key at the same time in order to space down just one line in the editor window, it takes more time to type the words into the editor in a list format.
Play fair. Don’t read anyone else’s list until you have written your own.
Post your list on your own blog; then come over here and give us
the link to your post in the “Comments” section below.
TIME FRAME:
The challenge will run through Monday, January 25.
So have your link in the “Comments” section by the stroke
of midnight (in your own time zone) on that day.
I’ll post my list in a separate article and put the link on this page as well.
Have fun
~~~
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
No – wait – that isn’t what you are.
My first-grade teacher set me wise:
That stars are really angel’s eyes
Peeking through holes in pie-crust skies.
So many years have come and gone
Since that odd day when it was done.
When teacher stood before our class
And told that lie. I wanted to ask,
But never would I my teacher sass.
So I kept quiet, but wondered long
About how teachers can be wrong.
Not that she didn’t know the truth;
She did, but relied on our youth
To carry out her unkind spoof.
Thank God that I did not believe;
I’m not so easy to deceive.
For though so young, I had insight:
God’s truth had shed in me its light,
And to that truth I did hold tight.
Now, older, I still ask myself
Why grownups have for ages felt
That, for some reason undefined,
We must plant lies in children’s minds.
When truth would be so much more kind.
We mean no harm, but still it’s lies.
And I have known some children cry
When truth was finally revealed,
And hurt at such betrayal sealed
In little hearts where trust was killed.
Dear grownups, let us stop and think:
These young minds tremble on the brink
Of glorious wonders to be learned.
Their eager minds to us are turned –
In trust – and by truth, trust is earned.
~~~
(First line borrowed from Jane Taylor’s poem “The Star,” published in 1806.)
I haven’t had much time or opportunity to blog since the first of the year, so I’m going to jump into this third week full steam ahead with Cee’s ‘Share Your World’ post. Hop over to her blog and get the details if you’d like to take part in the fun. It’s a great way to get to know some of the other wonderful people in the WordPress family.
Question # 1: What is your favorite piece of art? (It doesn’t have to be famous.)
My favorite piece of art is a marquetry picture my father created for me showing Jesus Christ standing at the front of a boat in the midst of the storm, stilling the storm. Dad used so many different kinds of wood in the piece, and if you’re familiar with marquetry, you know that none of the wood is painted. It is left in its original shading, and it’s the different colors of the wood itself that gives the picture its color.
He made it some 30 plus years ago, and it still hangs in my living room for everyone to see. It has faded a little over the years, but I’d rather have it the way it is than to hide it away to keep it from fading and not share it with others who can be encouraged by it.
Question # 2: What made you smile today?
When I looked out my door at about 5:30 this evening, and saw the clouds with the red sunset reflecting off of them, I immediately smiled and told the Lord He had done a good job again. I didn’t get a picture of those clouds, but I’ll include a picture that I took previously of some other clouds in a similar state.
Question # 3: Which place do you recommend as a “must see”?
Definitely the Smoky Mountains. You can see this beautiful section of the Appalachian mountains from a number of different states in the southeaster U. S. And even a dozen pictures could never do them justice or show you their complete beauty, because every view from every direction at every elevation on every different day is unique.
Question # 4: Finish this sentence: “When I was young, I used to ….”
When I was young — really, really young — I used to think kindergarten was a cemetery. When I was 5 and 6 years old, I was thrilled with the idea of education. I read a lot and I wrote a lot. In fact, I asked my mom and dad to show me cursive letters and taught myself to write in cursive before I started first grade.
But back then kindergarten was a new concept. It was just becoming popular with many school systems, and in our area, people began to talk about it because it was coming to our school. It didn’t get added to our town’s educational system before I started school, though, so I went straight into the first grade.
But I was fascinated by the concept of ‘little’ kids being taught before they got to first grade, and as I listened to people talk, I’d wonder just how it worked. I finally decided that I knew what it was all about. I had been to a very few cemeteries by that time, and I knew what a garden was. So I decided that kindergarten (note the similarity to the word “garden”) was a big place outside with all these stones spaced evenly around the grounds, and the teacher sat on a big stone to teach, while all the kids sat on smaller stones learning their lessons.
I pictured this type of scene many times as I contemplated this new phase of education, and I probably would have continued in my fantasy for a couple more years if it hadn’t been for having a younger sister. Kindergarten finally arrived in our town, and as my little sister prepared to take her place as one of the privileged 5-year-olds who got to enroll in this advanced educational experience, I mentioned to my parents that I understood what kindergarten was.
Well, you can imagine my surprise when they cleared things up. But I was also more than a little disappointed — because I had been pretty proud of myself to think I had figured out what this brand new educational program was all about. Occasionally now, when visiting a cemetery, I’ll think about those years, when I was so young — and so smart — and so hilariously wrong.
Bonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to this week?
I’m very grateful for my wonderful 6′ 7″ friend, Kent. I have two round fluorescent lights on my kitchen ceiling, which is very, very high. They don’t usually go out at the same time, but this week, they did. I had to get them replaced immediately or have a dark kitchen.
My step stool won’t get me high enough, and I used to climb up on my kitchen table and do the job, but my table has a shaky leg right now, and I didn’t have time to wait for it to be repaired. So I called up my friend and asked him if he would come once to take the bulbs down (because I didn’t remember what size they were and had to take them with me to get the right size) and then come back again once I had the new ones.
He readily agreed and managed to come both times in one day to put up my new lights. Now my kitchen and I are bathed in glorious light once more. Even if my friend were not 6′ 7, he would be very tall in my eyes anyway.
This coming week, I am looking forward to getting my book Healing Is For You! onto the Amazon Kindle Store. I know there are so many people who need help from the Lord for their health, and I’m hoping that having my book available in e-book format will make it much easier and less expensive for them to get help through what they learn in the book.
~~~
Ho! The new year is upon me!
Its first poem must be penned.
I have a new beginning,
And I must to it attend.
Oh, I do not take it lightly
That I have another chance
To reach for goals before me,
To learn a brand new dance.
To dream some happy new dreams,
To reach out loving hands
And touch new hearts with my love,
To help my fellow man.
Ho! The new year is upon me!
It’s running swift and free.
So I must ply both heart and soul
To give it all of me.
~~~
~~~
What if on the 12th day of Christmas, some girl’s true love gave her a locket?
And what if she lost it?
Here’s what I hope would happen:
I found a locket nestled 'neath a tree.
It sparkled, and it twinkled, and it surely winked at me.
It looked forlorn, forgotten, skimmed with dew,
And I felt an intruder as I wondered what to do.
At last I reached and plucked it from the grass.
The chain was fragile – I could tell – and had a broken clasp.
A lovey heart, engraved on back and front,
Showed me it was a gift of love that someone still would want.
I opened it with tender, loving care,
And found, all safe and snug inside, a single lock of hair.
The curly tress was of the darkest brown,
And I felt so entranced by this small mystery I'd found.
But I was in a quandary what to do:
How to locate the rightful owner I had not a clue.
Then finally I thought, “I'll advertise,
and if the owner sees my ad, there'll be a nice surprise.”
I tucked it in my pocket, nice and warm,
And, eager to relay my news, I headed quickly home.
I couldn't help but sing a little song,
So happy I could have a part in helping love along.
~~~
As we come to the real close of the Christmas celebration, I hope you and your loved ones have enjoyed a happy, healthy, love-filled holiday season. And may you carry all that happiness, health, and love throughout this new year.
~~~
This video offers Chapter Two of my book Healing Is For You! — read by yours truly.
~~~
12 Days of Christmas Blessings is now at day 10. Today I’m sharing a post from a fellow-blogger, Brad Stanton, who wrote this article about Charles Dickens. Many thousands of people connect Dickens with “A Christmas Carol,” which has become world-famous as the quintessential Christmas story and has been portrayed in a hundred different ways all over the world. But Brad shares another aspect of Charles Dickens’ life in this article and another way in which the author affected the whole world with many other novels that he wrote. I hope you enjoy the post.
If I voted for the best writer of English literature, I would vote for Charles Dickens. His writings about orphans enlightened and changed the way people perceived homeless children and brought about great positive change for them. The photo is Dickens as a boy.
Dickens had to quit school and go to work in a factory after his father went to debtors’ prison. He had very little formal education, but he became one of the greatest writers of English literature. He enjoyed more popularity and fame than any writer of his time.
One reason his writing is so good is that he published novels on installments. That means he published a little each week and eventually the writings made up a complete novel (similar to blogging today). He got feedback regularly and changed his writing accordingly.
Many believe his extreme poverty as a child drove him to succeed even though…
View original post 165 more words
I’m borrowing this powerful post from “Pure Glory” for my 12 Days of Christmas gift to my readers today. This is the 9th day of this holy celebration of Christs’s coming, and I hope you find great blessing in today’s post.
by Apostle Gabriel Cross
You are released, you are cured, you are healed, you are restored, and you will retrieve all. Only In my Presence! Only in My Presence! Only In My Presence, My GLORY, My way of Doing things. Being in my presence begins, not with what you desire from me, but what I desire from you. Go up, lift up to the mountain of the presence of the Lord, for a better scope, a better view of things; a stronger understanding of things; greater vision and new and improved perception from heaven!
© Crown of Glory International Ministries. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission, from this blog’s author and/or owner, is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Crown of Glory International Ministries, with specific direction to the original content at pureglory.net
~~~
For those of you celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas with me, here’s today’s gift.
God rest ye merry, gentlemen.Oh tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy;
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!
~
~~~
~~~
Doing Your Christmas Shopping Online This Year?
Well, I have a great idea for all those friends and family who love to read.
Give them one of my digital books – or better yet – give them one of all of my digital books.
They don’t even have to own a Kindle device. Amazon offers a free Kindle app with a simple download that works on any PC, laptop, iPad, tablet or iPhone. What could be simpler than purchasing a library of inspirational novels and having them delivered postage free right to the recipients devices?
You’ll find all of my books HERE: listed with a link right to their individual ordering pages.
Happy Shopping!
~~~
The Happy Wordcrafter 
