Day 13 - Presage

I didn't use it!!! I'll try and use it today, as well as my new WotD!

Day 12 - Cajole

I kept thinking all day that this would be an easy word to use, and once I did use it in conversation, it did seem easy, but it was late in the day before I snuck it in! I had a great visit with my friend Mindy (she of the great writing skills that I have always been jealous of since we were little) as well as her parents. It's hard to believe that she will be 40 in one month...and I'm hoping that she will come back here next month to celebrate! After returning home, I started hooking up my new iphone (so exciting!) while watching Sophie mope as she was laying down in one of the 'little' beds that we use for the poms....she's been doing that a lot lately...and she looks so pathetic...she's saying "I want to be the baby...", particularly when she sees Sugar sitting on David's lap, that just seems to kill her.

As she stared at us from across the room with her sad eyes, I said to David, "She's trying to cajole you into letting her up on the couch, you can just see it in her eyes....she's so needy right now."

Day 11 - Surreptitious

I really didn't use this one today...David saw my title before I had used it....so we both said some sentences using the word...but it wasn't a true WotD day...

Day 10 - Expatiate

David and I had a scrumptious dinner at The Met... Chateaubriand for two, mashed potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes....plus artichoke hearts for appetizer and I had a lovely glass of Penfolds Shiraz/Cabernet...YUM! On the way home we had the Christmas station on and David was singing one of the tunes to himself, which made me smile. I looked over at him and told him that he's so cute, and he asked "Why?"and I just said, because you are. He asked me again, and I told him just because, and I didn't want to expatiate on the subject.

Day 9 - Hauteur

I asked David if he thinks that his family thinks I am snooty. He replied "No, do you think they think that?". I said "No, but I worry that they'll mistake my shyness or just my general sense of overwhelming when I'm at their house for hauteur." He said he didn't think they did, so that made me feel better. I always enjoy myself when I go his sister's but when I think about going there it's a bit stressful because they are very busy people!

Day 7 & 8 - Lambent and Embonpoint

Yesterday was Christmas Eve which meant that the majortity of the day would be spent at David's sister's house. Lots of good food, crazy kids, many many gifts to open, and a beautifully decorated home (Lisa's husband, Thom, does a lot of the decorating and he has such a way with Christmas stuff!)

Once the majority of the eating and visiting was over, we all herded into the living room to sit around the tree and begin the unwrapping! As David and I waited for everyone to get into the room, the conversation turned to my WotD and I mentioned that I still hadn't used my word, but as I turned my head towards the top of their stairs I mentioned the lights of the Christmas tree, and the lambent light flickering on the ceiling above us. Of course David rolled his eyes and said "You can't just use it like that you have to actually build it into a conversation." I replied "No I don't, and this blog is actually turning into more of a story of your replies and retorts anyways..." David replied "Are you making sure to get in all of the eye rolls?" "Of course!" The evening continued and it was lovely, we all had a great time and headed home for a frosty drive home.

Today was another beautiful day out, and so cold! We had a fun Christmas morning, Taylor opened her main gift (plus a few others) and finally got to play with her new ITouch. I think she was really happy with this, and she's been pretty much glued to it most of the day. We spent the afternoon at my aunt's house in Mukilteo, and the star of the show there was my cousin Libby's daughter, Chloe. At just over 1 year old, she is the focus of everyone's attention, as she is the only baby in our family (really the first baby since Libby and Neal were babies themselves). It was a really nice afternoon, with more good food and great fun with my family and then we headed home (I know that Taylor couldn't wait to get her hands back on her ipod!). As David and I were talking I mentioned that I hadn't used my WotD yet, in fact I had pretty much forgotten about it and was almost surprised when I checked my email and found the daily message from Dictionary.com with today's word. But today's word is so apropos: "All the eating from today, and yesterday and pretty much from the last two months has given me my embonpoint, and my belly just keeps getting bigger." Diet definitely starts tomorrow.

Day 6 - Clinquant

Oh, I thought I would be able to use this word earlier in the day, especially since it was the day before Christmas Eve, and everything is so beautiful and lit up. But then there's the pronunciation of the word...and that made me nervous: \KLING-Kunt\

So, once again it took me until the end of the day, while I was home, to use this word. I made a comment about our tree, and particularly that I really like our glittery, sparkly ornament. "The tree is clinquant with light, and it looks so pretty." David looked at me. "What was that word again?" "Clinquant" I replied...not quite pronouncing it correctly. "Tlingit?" David asked. "No, Clinquant, it's French for shimmery or glittered with gold and silver." "I think you made that one up", David responded, "And I don't think you know how to pronounce it correctly." I made a face, and told him again that it is a French word and I did not make it up. "Are you always going to make fun of my words?" I asked him. "Probably" was his response.

Day 5 - Collude

Ok, so I didn't write last night like I should have, but at least I'm doing it this morning! Collude was a tough one, and I thought that I would at least use it during the day, particularly when Marnie and I went out and did some shopping during our lunch hour, but no such luck. So, once again, it was David and I in front of the TV (David playing Oblivion on the XBOX, so there was much slaying of wraiths and zombies going on in the background) and I kept 'collude' in the back of my mind for possible conversation openings. Finally, my time came, when David asked me if I was the cause of the smell in the room (you get a sense for the kind of household we have, don't you?) and I said "No, it must have been Sugar or Sophie" (the dogs). A few moments later I added "They must be colluding with each other in order to make it seem like I'm the one making the stink."

The WotD seems to have been lost on David (he was probably holding his breath from the foul odors arising from the doggie) and I didn't continue the conversation.

Day 4- Dolorous

I should have tried harder to use this word, especially since I was at work...but I just never could find an in in any of the conversations I had (not that I had that many today).

When I got home today, and said hi to the dogs and David, David mentioned that Danny had been acting funny. I commented that as Danny was sitting on David's lap, that was already weird (Danny isn't particularly cuddly as a rule). Then as we were eating dinner, we were both noticing that the dogs were all acting a bit 'off'....I thought at first it might be the swings in temperature we've been having here in Seattle lately (it was almost 60 degrees over the weekend and today it's been a windy and chilly 44), since they are often sensitive to the weather. I said "Sophie is acting very dolorous." and thought I would get a reaction from David...but it didn't spark his attention. A few minutes later as I started typing this up I asked him if he'd noticed my WotD, but he hadn't and I explained that dolorous means sad or melancholy (a good descriptor of Sophie lately, and really how she's been ever since we decided to get the Poms). As I looked around our living room and entry way, and into the dining room, I thought something seemed missing from the picture, and then it hit me: the small kennel that we moved upstairs last week so that Sugar wouldn't be sleeping in the basement when it was so cold had been moved back to the basement last night (David's dad crashed on the couch). Danny likes having the kennel as an option during the day, and I realized that's probably why he's been acting so odd. Case closed.

Day 3 - Iota

Today was a relaxing Sunday. Taylor and I did a little bit of shopping (busy out there today since it's the last Sunday before Christmas). David and I were sitting on the couch later in the afternoon after Taylor and I had come home (Taylor was upstairs wrapping gifts) and I told David that there wasn't one iota of me that didn't love him. He did not catch on that that was the word of the day...and later in the evening I told him what the word was and he said that since it was a smaller word it hadn't stood out to him so hadn't caught it. I think some days will be like that, not all of these words are going to be that exotic and some of them might be easier to slip into conversation (which is a good thing).

Day 2 - Capricious

Again, today proved to be a bit difficult as I was home most of the day, and then went out with my girlfriends for our annual holiday event. This year it was dinner at Wild Ginger and then a burlesque 'Nutcracker' performance at the Triple Door theater....absolutely fabulous and I think I may have found my true calling.

Back to the WotD: Capricious. Before we all went to dinner tonight we met at my friend Kari's house and were all chatting and catching up. Tracy was talking about her recent trip to Florida and Walt Disney World and the fact that her boys were back and forth as far as their intentions when it came to going on the rides. I added my story about Taylor and the fact that when she was only 5 she went on some fairly big rides (and liked them) but then when she was 8 she didn't want to go on anything that went upside down...even though she'd done upside down roller coasters when she was 5....which allowed me to add "Well, they're capricious at that age, always changing their minds!" Darla picked up on the 'big word' and commented "that's a good word"...I responded with a 'It's my word of the day!" and left it at that...it wasn't really the right time to talk about my blog, but perhaps I'll share it with them later!

Day 1 - Diaphanous

I got my e-mail first thing this morning, and knew that this would be a challenge: I was home today with a day off from work, so I would be interacting with hardly anyone! After running errands this afternoon and a fabulous annual exam at the doctor's office (fun!) I headed home, wondering how I would use 'diaphanous' in a conversation with David and/or Taylor. Once I was home, and starting to make dinner, I came up with a way to use it...it wasn't particularly interesting, but it did make sense:

I asked Taylor to please look at her curtains sometime this weekend and check for a tag that might have laundering instructions: "Your curtains are still fairly diaphanous, and the light is still coming through them, but because the window was open all summer, lots of dirt and dust came in and the curtains are really dirty."

As soon as I said the word, David is making faces at me behind Taylor's back, and as Taylor offers to go up to her room to check the curtains, David says "Wait a minute....Taylor did you understand anything that Jennifer just said in that paragraph, because I didn't.." (he did understand, but he was trying to point out my desperate attempt to use my word of the day). Taylor hadn't really caught the word so I told her 'Diaphanous' and also explained its meaning and the derivation (and that it is from the same root as in the word 'phantom'). I spilled the beans to Taylor about my blog, and what I was doing, all the while David was chuckling to himself. I retorted that last night he was all for this, and now he is making fun of my attempt. I also told him that I realized one more rule of this blog/challenge:

3. David cannot ask me what the Word of the Day is, he'll have to wait to either be a part of the conversation or I can tell him about it after the fact (I'm sure he'll be waiting with baited breath).

That's the post for today; I am hoping that future posts will be a bit more engaging and entertaining...done.

Day 0-The Concept

I've always wished to be a better writer...I was always jealous of my friend Mindy, her words seemed to flow from her pencil or pen, plus she had perfect penmanship (and this was back when we were in the 4th grade). But, whenever I have had the grand plan to start writing or journaling, it all falls flat. So this idea came to me, and I discussed it with David (my boyfriend and housemate) and he said he would read it...so I thought this just might work.

I have subscribed (again) to the Word of the Day emails from Dictionary.com, and once I have my word each day, I will have to use that word at least once in a real conversation, and then by the end of the day I'll need to write about that conversation. It sounds fairly simple (and kind of boring when I see it in print) but I think it will be a good exercise for me:

1. It will force me to write each day

2. I will expand my vocabulary, and finally learn how to pronounce, spell and properly use some of the more exotic words in the English language

The game is afoot!