Christa Allan

   To the unsuspecting Kansas public, Sally Bradley is a wife and mom who chauffeurs kids to school, food to her husband, and laundry to the washing machine. But from the comfort of her recliner, she writes fiction and runs Affordable Novel Critique Service, feeding her appetite for words.  

Q: What made you decide to work with [...]

Look in the COMMENTS section of the Word Game post.

 I, for one, will saunter into slumberland tonight and sleep ever so soundly, like many ofmy students are apt to do during one of my riveting lessons on essential versus nonessential present participial phrases.
On what or whom should praise be showered, you inquire, for this gift, this magnanimous ticket into the Super Bowl of snoozing?  Starbucks reopened [...]

Word Challenge: Doublets

Doublets is a game which was invented by Lewis Carroll, who described it in these words: ‘Two words are proposed, of the same length; and the puzzle consists in linking these together by interposing other words, each of which shall differ from the next word in one letter only. . . . As an [...]

“The Wild Rose”
Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart.
Suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,
and once again I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before.
-by Wendell Berry, for [...]

““Beauty has no obvious use, but civilization can’t do without it.” Freud
Hmmm. No one examining American society from the outside would buy into beauty not having an obvious use.We’ve sacrificed time, money, and even lives on the altar of the beautiful. The message for most is: ugly is ugly.
Cosmetic surgery, injections to suck out or [...]

Of all the mind types, yours is the most idealistic. 
You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself. 
Take the What Color is Your Mind quiz. 

 I’m rereading John Ortberg’s God Is Closer Than You Think:This Can Be the Greatest Moment of Your Life Because This Moment Is The Place Where You Can Meet GodAnd here are some passages from the book I’d like to share under the subtitle (my own): ‘Nuff Said:
1. God can directly guide our thoughts. He can speak [...]

Before Danielle married at the age of 17, she wanted to be a nun.
 Go figure. ME TOO!  So, in 71 more books, I can be just like her again!  

 
Sorry, something just came up (from the amazing INDEXED by Jessica Hagy…for added fun, visit her website.)
 

Something’s always scummy

What do the following have in common?
1. Other. Everyone has his or her own worst earworm.
2. Chili’s “Baby Back Ribs” jingle.
3. “Who Let the Dogs Out”
4. “We Will Rock You”
5. Kit-Kat candy-bar jingle (”Gimme a Break …”)
6. “Mission Impossible” theme
7. “YMCA”
8. “Whoomp, There It Is
“9. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
10. “It’s a Small World After All” 
Read [...]

SEE COMMENTS UNDER THE WORD GAME FOR THE ANSWERS.

Overheard: “I have Mrs. Allan. We don’t learn anything in that class.”
Well, if you learned you didn’t learn anything, wasn’t that learning?
Too many students measure learning using the following formula: student + worksheet = work of consequence. Sad. How did that happen?
Recently, one of my students, writhing in her desk, alternately moaning and whining said, [...]

OXFORD WORD CHALLENGE: Fiendishly Difficult Word Game
Anagrammed Places

Rearrange the letters of these words to make the names of countries, towns, or cities.Example: Diagnose Answer: San Diego.

1. Ancestral.
2. Launder.
3. Retches.
4. Blarneys. 
5. Throwing. 
6. Dominates. 
7. Gartered. 
8. Pairs. 
9. Solo. 
10. Stoned. 
11. Ordeal.  
12. Loiters. 
13. Hasten.

14. Salvages.
15. Oration.
16. Erect.
17. Hordes.
18. Solemn.
19. Laity.
20. Also.
21. Chain.
22. Serial.
23. Penalties.
24. Regalia.
25. Ignorant.

ANSWERS TOMORROW!

“The holy goes on, no matter how many balls you fling at it.”   Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
I suppose living to the age of a highway speed limit has caused me to redefine holy. In my youth, now defined as any age a neighborhood speed limit ago, I’d define holy in strictly religious terms…you know, [...]

I was cruising Natalie Jost’s blog, Standards for Life, and found this quirky meme, so I’m tagging a few people to join in the fun…   
123 Meme —
The rules are simple.

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
Find page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

The nearest book [...]

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their [...]

FREE SCREEN CLEANER

On Away with Words, which is now called Fritinancy, I found this:   which can be ordered HERE.Fritinancy thanks Verbatim  for The Chocolate Scrabble find.  Cruising Verbatim, a cool site to bookmark, I found a link to this site, Indexed.           
 Indexed is freelance copywriter Jessica Hagy’s clever, clever site of charts and Venn diagrams that break life down into its humorous parts.  You have [...]

Happy V Day

I came home from a meeting after school today to find a Valentine’s Day card from the cats. They must have traveled quite a distance because they’d also been to Target to buy me a pound of Tiramisi coffee and a pound of Mocha coffee. 
  
That I am so excited to be gifted with [...]