Words I Don't Know: 'O'

From the pages of my pocket-edition Webster's Dictionary:




obdurate: stubborn, unyielding

obfuscate: confuse, obscure (I know this one, but I think it's such a great word, I had to share)
obloquy: abusively detractive language, discredit, disgrace
obverse: facing observer, side of coin with design
obviate: to prevent by making uneccessary

Friday Fun Day (Word Puzzles and List)

Hello, Avid Readers and Picture Puzzlers. I am happy to report that today's Word Puzzle is a group effort. Ideas supplied by a trained staff of professional puzzlers; that would be my boyfriend and myself.

And you're off!

PUZZLE ONE:

















PUZZLE TWO:













































And an easy one for my Lethargic Participants:




































LIST:

1. What Famous Person in History did you write a report in in school and why?
2. Color you are most attracted to?
3. What do you think of the mullet?

Mourning Doves Fill the Air

Judging by the list of recent keywords below that have led people to my blog, mourning doves around the US are getting busy and moving into plenty of people's windows!

gestation period for dove eggs

mourning dove eggs more

morning dove egg gestation

dove gestation period

mourning dove gestation period

mourning dove egg gestation

Searches coming from servers in Canada, West Virginia, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and California! Way to go birds! : ) As to the actual length of their gestation period, Wikipedia seems to think it's 14-18 days.

Ambiguity

Thank you to AO who made me this lovely Ambigram, inspired by last week's post. Ambigrams can be read upside down or upside right. They are truly, truly fun little critters! *runs off to create one for herself*

You can make a quick ambigram for yourself here.

SFS

Get this new office supply: A Staple-Free Stapler! Looks like a great way to conserve on staples, reduce cost of supplies and keep Tara out of trouble!

Super cool!

Favorite Pillow?

What is your favorite pillow? What's it made of? Why is it your favorite? Do you covet a different type of pillow? If so, what kind?

I guess I really should talk about my own...

Pillows and I have a love/hate relationship. I either want a ton of them or I don't want any at all. I'd rather have a thin, little flat pillow than a huge puffy one, but then I roll the flat one up into a tube and stick it under my cheek (sleeping on the side). Or a larger pillow is nice just on top of my forehead (sleeping on the back) to keep my head from falling over and giving me a place to put my arms. Now, I am very curious to try this particular pillow as it looks terribly fascinating! I wonder if it's actually any good or one of those things you pay a heap for only to leave on the bed a week and then banish to a closet unused.

As to pillow ingredients, since I do not suffer from any tricky allergies (other than dust and cats) I can sleep on just about everything, but down pillows drive me nuts, they never seem to sink into a stable position.

Concerto!

Singing and dancing will be had tomorrow night and Yours Truly is the main attraction. Yes, Folks, I am announcing my first-ever HEADLINE GIG! (Superstar!) Please no shoving, spitting, or flash photography.

The concert is in Toledo, Ohio, so I have a bit of a drive ahead of me tonight.

I might have CD's of the concert available for purchase at a later date. I'll keep you posted. MEANTIME, wish me luck. I'm a bit nervous!

Wrapped in Mystery

One of my favorite concepts; the ambigram. I once made one for my first name. Don't have it anymore, but these are just as good (ok, maybe a lot gooder) and you can brush up on your spanish! Click the enigma to see the website...

Maroon and Orange

I am wearing both today.

Standing in support of the Virginia Tech survivors and families.

Friday Fun Day (puzzles 'n' more)

Thanks to Steve, who furnished me with two perfectly wonderful picture puzzles this week!

PUZZLE 1:






























PUZZLE 2:





















And for the rest of you who don't want to play word association games:
Pick a Flower!
Sing a Song!
or just
Find Out Who's Doing All Those Movie Trailers

LIST:
1) Did you ever dream of becoming an athlete? If so, what sport did you want to pursue?
2) Highest honor or award you have ever received?
3) What is your current favorite article of clothing and why?

An Eye for Annai

So darn cute I had to post it...

Most Contagious Site of the Day

I have no idea what's actually written on this site because it's in Swedish or something, but this is one of the funnest sites EVER! You click on a kid and add them to the mix. WeeHaw! Seriously adorable...

from a distance...

God bless you!

Art Wall (Group Project)

Found a neat little site (or a messy little site, depending on how you look at it) that lets a group of people create their own art work. One person begins a project, passes it on to the next person, who passes it on, etc, ad naseum, infinitum.

If you wish to participate, send me an email address and I'll send a little art work your way...

Or if you'd like to start one, send it to me at ksrasra AT gmail DOT com. And I'll keep the art wall moving along!

If you feel that you have added the finishing touches to any art, pass the link on to an anno or send me the jpeg and I'll post it.

Here's to artwork that nobody controls! (My bet says it'll look hideous, but it'll make us all happy. =P)

Busy?

I attacked the mountain of work on my desk full force this morning only to be greeted at steady intervals throughout the day with crises and panick-stricken people. It's been a long Monday.

 

So I checked my email at 4:00 pm to see if I had any friendly notes or 'hellos.'

 

Just 81 spam messages. All lovingly wrapped in garbled text and useless promises.

 

On the up side, it looks like we have at least three more days with the threat of snow!

 

How's your Monday?

Friday Fun Day (Puzzle, List & WotD)

No one else sent me a puzzle for this Friday, so this puzzle comes straight from my own little grey cells (as Hercule Poirot would say). It should be easy.





























LIST:
1) Who was your favorite TV character as a child?
2) Name one place/site/region of the world you would most like to float over in a hot air balloon.
3) How many sneezes do you usually sneeze in a row when you sneeze?
4) Have you ever been in life-threatening danger? How did you respond?
5) What myth is currently circulating about you?

Word of the Day which I cannot pronounce: paraskavedekatriaphobia (which means "Fear of Friday the 13th")

Kurt Gone-evut

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. Kurt Vonnegut

People don't come to church for preachments, of course, but to daydream about God. Kurt Vonnegut

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country. Kurt Vonnegut

What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured. Kurt Vonnegut

The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest. Kurt Vonnegut

Pancake Picasso's

Made a good flapjack lately? Not just delicious, but poured into the pan a little fried work of art? Then you'll want to show off your creation at the Pancake Art Pool on Flickr.

Mmmm, edible artwork!

Pet Cartoon

Some apartments have rules about these things...




Even though this is a security question for many websites, I'm still gonna ask; what was your first pet? Mine was a pair of cats. One gray striped and one black. Named them Puzzle and Smudge. Somebody else got to have them when we moved. *sniff* And then I became alergic to cats. So, whatever.

A Formal Complaint

Cleveland, you stink! Not only do you smell bad in the literal sense (especially during Summer), but you also stink as a town that offers care and comfort to its inhabitants.

Case in point. It is Spring. The calendar says so. In fact, it's been Spring for almost three weeks now. Last Tuesday you graced us with a record high of 80 degrees. We rejoiced. We wore shorts. We packed our Winter clothes. We basked in the returning sunshine. And now this. WHAT IS YOUR DEAL? Two feet of snow and still falling? Are you crazy? This is Easter! My nephews had to hunt for eggs inside this year, because you just had to inflict us with your crazy weather patterns. (Is this global warming? Then why isn't it warm?) We missed four Indians games because of you (although, it probably just saves us the embarassement of losing.) and now we have to crawl into work on a Monday morning in SPRING! wearing the coats and boots we moth-balled when you teased us with warm weather.

It's just sickening.

And to think, I was about to take my Christmas tree down!

Friday Fun Day! (Word Puzzle and List)

Here's a very Happy Friday Word Puzzle that I made up while walking through the snowstorm in April that is so typical of Cleveland weather:

And here's a short Bollywood Film to cheer you up if, like me, you are walking into the bitter winds of disappointment filled with the driving snow of resentment.


LIST:

1) Favorite deli sandwich?
2) Biggest word you know?
3) Why can't anyone solve last week's three puzzles?

Higher Education Musical

What happens when you have a college class with too much musical ambition and attention deficit disorder? REACH!

(NOT) A Contest...

Smile Awhile

My boyfriend sent me a card about smiling yesterday and it prompted me to a) smile and b) blog about it.

Here are the top ten things to learn about smiles today:

A smile is a universal expression of happiness and recognised as such by all cultures

A smile is the most frequently used facial expression. It takes as few as five pairs of facial muscles and as many as all 53 to smile

Smiling releases endorphins and makes us feel better

Even 'faking' a smile can lead to feeling happier

People are born with the ability to smile (even blind babies smile)

Babies reserve special smiles (Duchennes smiles of joy and happiness) for their loved ones

A newborn shows a preference for a smiling face over a non-smiling face

There are 18 different kinds of smile used in a variety of social situations

Human beings can differentiate between the 'felt' smile and the social smile – 'it's in the eyes' (literally)

A person who studies laughter is called a 'gelotologist'