Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Joan I am a Christian, daughter, granddaughter, sister, cousin, aunt, niece, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, teacher, mentor, writer, thinker, and learner. I am a word-nerd. I love how certain words sound. I enjoy finding the exactly correct word for a situation. I admire those who also value preciseness of language. I object to many "curse words" as much for literary reasons as for moral or religious ones (How inexact can a word be? How lazy can a speaker or writer be?) From the standpoint of word usage, vulgarities are more offensive to me than profanities -- and I find it irritating that most people categorize both as profanities. I love the old rituals and hymns of the church because of the beauty of the language. I often go to sleep mentally replaying part of the old, no-longer-used Methodist communion service ("Ye who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins and are in love and charity with your neighbor, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandment of God, draw near with faith and take this holy sacrament to your comfort and make your confession to almighty God, meekly kneeling upon your knees..." What beautiful language! My childhood memories are almost all very warm and loving and unremarkable -- just sitting in my Daddy's lap or cuddled beside him on the couch; lying outside in the grass with my sisters and friends finding pictures in the clouds; riding in the family station wagon with my 6 siblings and parents (HOW did we all fit in there??!!); washing dishes while talking with Mother and listening to her hum or sing; walking with friends, siblings, and cousins around the town we lived in and in the towns my grandparents lived in. My earliest active and specific memory is of falling out of a swing on the school playground when I was in Kindergarten. I suspect the fall was much less dramatic than I remember it. I taught in 9 different school systems in my teaching career - my husband's career required moves every 5 years or so. It was not always easy to find the right job in a new location, so sometimes I taught part-time or for partial years then began in a different system as a more desirable situation became available. In all those years of teaching, I only one time had the luxury of teaching the same subject/grade level for two years in a row (7th grade Language Arts Fall 1992 through Spring 1994.) Because of this, I learned a lot of different curriculi and worked with many different teaching teammates. My DH says that I am good at problem-solving - seeing all the parts of a situation, evaluating them, and determining alternate courses of action based on the data. I am an organizer. I find clutter (either physical or mental) oppressive. I am probably a little OCD about handwashing. My hands stay dry and chapped all the time because I wash them numerous times a day. I have not listed exactly 13 items in any of my Thursday Thirteens since I began participating in this meme. No one has ever commented about that -- or seemed to be aware of it. This is my first true Thursday Thirteen. Thirteen facts are actually listed. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Here are my commenting visitors from the last few weeks. Why don't you mosey on over and see what these have posted this Thursday? (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) Kimmie - http://kimmyandjacob.blogspot.com/ Stacie - http://www.justmyrambling.blogspot.com/ Lazy Daisy - http://lazydaisylog.grrrlmeetsworld.com/ Yellow Rose’s Garden - http://yellowrosesgarden.blogspot.com/ Kelly - http://nellysdiary.blogspot.com/ Heather Smith - http://heathersrollercoasterlife.blogspot.com/ Karin - http://three-part-harmony.com/heartsongs d. challenger roe - http://www.dcroe.com/blog/ ivoryfrog - http://ivoryfrog.blogspot.com/ mar - http://maremag.blogspot.com/ Frog Legs - http://thoughtsandjots.blogspot.com/ Norma - http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/ Jane - http://www.lathemlunacy.blogspot.com/ Better safe than sorry - http://nomorepics.blogspot.com/ Tanya - http://purplegiraffes.blogspot.com/ Terrell - http://www.aloneonalimb.blogspot.com/ Wystful1 - http://wystful1.blogspot.com/ Ardice - http://www.ardice.net/ Carol - http://themediansib.com/ Fat Skinny Girl - http://gabrielle.blogsome.com

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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(Update comment: I deleted this post because I thought it was responsible for the skewing of the columns of this site. When I saw that the columns remained out of line, I republished the post but lost the 21 comments that had been posted. I believe I got all comments linked before that happened.)