Anguish Languish

This is something I just had to share!! We went to the library today and picked up the Children's Almanac of Words at Play by Willard R. Espy
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Lettuce Pray
When you hear the word anguish, you aren't likely to think it's English. And if you hear the word languish you aren't likely to think it is language. But if you hear someone saying "anguish language" you might think he or she is saying "English language." A man named Howard Chase discovered you can tell whole stories, and have them understood, by replacing most of the words with words that sound a little bit like them but mean something entirely different. Anguish languish was the name he gave to this kind of wordplay. Here is the Lord's Prayer in Anguish languish:

Hour Fodder wart unleavened,
Hottub beehive mane.
Tyke idiom crumb, Tie wilt bean numb,
Inert acid dizzy emblem.
Goofy dismay ordeal Libra head,
Ant reefer keeper dentist.
Leaners snot undo ten patients,
Buddy liverwurt frumpy fill,
Four thigh next seeking dumb,
Deep powwow, auntie chlorine
Fur river. Almond

-Mark Burstein

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P.S. You'll probably have to read it a few times and you actually sound like you are reading it with a transilvanian accent!

Christmas Joy

This Christmas went well, in spite of it being the first Christmas that we have not been with my family in California. It has been the most difficult on the kids. It has been almost a year since we moved to Texas and the change has been a challenge for us all. The kids still ask about going back to Mexico and see our friends and see Grandma and Grandpa in CA. Sigh...Lord willing we will see them soon. Grandpa and Grandma may be coming in the spring.

One of the most precious treasures I had this Christmas, I received Christmas night.....
We took a drive around town that night to look at all the pretty lights that were up in the neighborhood. In between the ooh and aahs, we had a very meaningful conversation with our two eldest children. It went something like this....

As we looked at the big beautiful homes with their elaborate light decorations, I thought out loud..."I wouldn't mind living there, what a beautiful home".

Well my daughter responded with, "Yeah, when I grow up I'd like to have a home like that, but, I probably will never be able to afford it".

This launched us into a conversation about education, jobs and life in general.
I realize as I share this with the blog community that some of you have children and understand that wonderfulness of a opportunity like this. We got to talking about 'what I want to be when I grow up' and 'what I enjoy doing now and how that can become my future job'. You see, what struck me the most are the ages of my two eldest. My daughter is eight and my son is six. Yet he tells me that when he is a teenager he wants to go to college and learn about math and when he gets 'taller', he wants to be a math teacher. It is true...he has a head for math, just like his Daddy. My daughter says she wants to be a designer, either clothes or interior decorating. Hmm..., when I was younger...so did I. She has an eye and nack for detail. We both do, sometimes to a fault...but thats beside the point.

As we drove around I just basked in the wonderfulness of our conversation as we talked about ambitions and being able to do anything you want to do. As long as you set your mind and heart to it. As long as it is something you love and enjoy. And yet it will still take perseverance. There will be extremely hard times and lean times. But if you keep on, keeping on then you will arrive at the goal you aimed for. As I think about it. It is something that my husband and I and our family are working on even at this time. That evening ended with a sense of purpose for the future, for them and for me.

What I love is that we home school and they can do more if they would like or learn about something that interests them whenever they like (not to say that if you don't home school you can't do that). It is a freedom that my husband took advantage of as he asked them on Christmas morning and again the day after Christmas...."Hey, after we have breakfast we'll get ready for school, ok?"....
Without blinking or looking up from what they were doing, they both responded..."Ok".
Well, they do get a break and they are excited about it. But they did confess that they miss school, are my kids abnormal?...nah!

Answers to Holiday Song Quiz

I thought it would be good to give the answers to the Holiday songs before the end of the Holiday Season and beginning of the new year.

starting with number 2....

2...Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

3...Let it Snow

4...Joy to the World

5...Oh, Christmas Tree

6...I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

7...Silver Bells

8...I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

9.Little Drummer Boy

10...Walking in a Winter Wonderland

11...Oh Come All Ye Faithful

12...All I Want for Christmas (Is my Two Front Teeth)

Holiday Song Quiz

I thought these would be fun to try in leu of the Christmas Season. I'll do the first one and let you try at the others. I did not think them up myself, but can any of you think of any others? I have a total of 32..but I think I'll only post some of them....have fun!

What is the real name for the Christmas Song?

1. Colorless Yuletide
-White Christmas

2. Castanea seed Vesticated in a Confligration

3. Frozen Precipitation Commence

4. Delight for this Planet

5. Oh Yuletide Tall Woody Plant

6. I Witnessed Maternal Parent Osculating Bewhiskered Male in Carmine Ensemble

7. Metallic Element AG Cup-Shaped Musical Instruments

8. Hallucinating About an Ivory Yuletide in the First Person Narrative

9. Lilliputian Male Percussionist.

10. Perambulating in a Terrain of Stupefaction From 12/21 to 3/19

11. Loyal Followers Advance

12. Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior-Incisors