Word of the Day: Exasperate

It is a great day today and I can feel the writing bug kicking in. I wanted to say good morning to all of my lovely readers and get to the word of the day before I dive in and start a little editing on the new book. I’ve been really busy lately with traveling and book shows but it is time to buckle down and get some work done.

So with out any further ado, lets kick this blog off with the new word of the day.

Today’s word comes to us from a very young reader and my very own daughter, Ella Phillips. She has chosen the word exasperating.  Now to fully understand how a small child, only seven years of age, would come up with that word I will need to explain the situation completely.

My daughter is very well read and has been an exceptional speller for some time now. I am lucky because her Grandma Janice comes over to our home and has a snack after school with her every day of the week and during that time they read or spell words. It has really excelled Ella’s learning ability.

When Ella hears a new word, she becomes very interested in it and is always asking for its definition. Usually she can figure it out by the context and sentence for which it was spoken. Yet this time I was walking away from my youngest son a little angry and completely exhausted when I said the words, “You really are exasperating, son.”

Needless to say, my daughter was intrigued. So immediately she asked the question what does that word mean? At the time I was a little off on my good mom behavior and nowhere in the mood to do a lesson in education. So I brushed off my daughters question and moved on to the next issue at hand.

It was later that evening that my daughter brought it up again and I had to admit that I was impressed by her will to learn. Anyhow long story short, she has finally received the answer to her question and I am submitting it as the word of the day for her.

Our definition comes to us from our online source at www.thefreedictionary.com

ex·as·per·ate  (g-zsp-rt)

tr.v. ex·as·per·at·ed, ex·as·per·at·ing, ex·as·per·ates

1. To make very angry or impatient; annoy greatly.

2. To increase the gravity or intensity of

That is going to be it for the day. Just a reminder for those of you who have not submitted a word for the day, you may want to jump on board and get it done. The drawing will be here before you know it for the Kindle reader!

Until next time, remember to Read On!!!

HR Phillips

Word of the Day: Metacognition

Good afternoon all your wonderful readers out there in cyber space. Sorry I’m a little late on posting this morning. It is Monday, after all, and my day has already started out with a huge pile of work waiting for me at my desk. So before I could chat with you wonderful people I needed to take care of a few minor catastrophes that happened over the weekend before I could get to the fun part of my day.

I do hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was filled with travels to Phoenix AZ and really hot weather. They say that you get use to the dry heat of AZ, but for me I just can’t see it. I’ll take the wind and cold of South Dakota anyday. You can always add clothing and blankets to stay warm, but with 110-degree temperatures, you can only take off so many clothes and you can be assured that this mommy of four is never going to wear bikini ever again.

So now that we have established that I like to wear clothes, let’s move on to our word of the day. Today’s word comes to us from Ms Kylie Binion one of our favorite fans and facebook followers. She has chosen the word metacognition.

Our definition comes to us from our ever-ready online source at www.dictionary.reference.com

metacognition  -n

psychol thinking about one’s own mental processes

metacognition -n

awareness and understanding one’s thinking and cognitive processes; thinking about thinking

Well, I don’t know about you folks out there in cyber space, but I can honestly say that I have done this before. Thinking about thinking? It may sound strange to do, but I have thought on several occasions about what I had been thinking during different periods of my life, uch as a bad hair color choice or outfit. I mean really, did I buy that dress on purpose? Hehehehe… Okay, maybe that is not exactly what they mean by their definition, but that is how I am going to take it today…

That’s all for now until next time.  Remember to Read On!!!

HR Phillips