Brought to you by the letter "C"

My good friend and old neighbor Pam tagged me today with a word game. Here's how it works. Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter (Pam gave me the letter C). Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along. So here goes:

1. commissary: the military grocery store. Prices are cheaper there, especially for things like cereal and meat. Since we are fairly far from one here, I try to go about every month to 6 weeks. Then we totally fill 2 carts and usually spend about $500. Yikes!

2. control: well, I think we all know what that word means! I struggle with wanting control of everything--my kids, my life--everything! I'm working on trusting the Lord and letting Him have total control, knowing that He only wants what is best for me, just as I only want what is best for my children.

3. contumacious: obstinately resisting authority; insubordinate; disobedient. Okay, I confess that I found this one in the dictionary! But now that I have found it, I'm sure it will be a regular part of my vocabulary, as in "Jonathan was contumacious tonight when he wouldn't take off his shoes by himself when my hands were full, and thus eventually had an accident in his pants because he never went potty."

4. consistency: holding always to the same principles or practices. I went to a Christian high school, and they always gave out character awards at sports banquets, graduation, etc. Mine was frequently "consistency". Never a fun quality like "spontaneity" or "creativity". Ah well, you can't win what you don't have! LOL!

5. contraction: the shortening and thickening of a muscle in action, esp. of the uterus during labor. Obviously this word has a special place in my life! I wonder how many contractions I've had total?! Mine feel like bad menstrual cramps until late transition time. Then they feel more, hmm, bone-grinding, I guess you'd say.

6. classical music: my music of choice. My favorites? Well, I always birth to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Bach's Air (from Overture No. 3 in D major) is my all-time short piece--so beautiful and relaxing. I like Brahms a lot. We all really enjoy the Beethoven's Wig series, and I just found out that #3 has been released! It's already on our Amazon wish list.

7. conjugation: a schematic arrangement of the intellectual forms of a verb. I used to think that I knew all ab0ut conjugating--I love, you love, he loves, etc. But now that we are learning Latin, we are taking conjugation to a whole new level (amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant . . . etc., etc., etc.) There are 4 conjugations in Latin, and we've only learned the first.

8: contraception: well, I had to look this one up too--kidding! Just kidding! LOL!!

9. clarinet: I played this instrument for 8 years in middle and high school, and then for another year while we were stationed at the Air Force Academy (which was about 10 years later!). The chapel there had a little instrumental group. It was fun to play again--I was really pretty good in high school (I was a "consistent" practicer, LOL). But I must say I haven't picked it up again since we PCSed from there Jan. 2001.

10. couch: we have a big Lazyboy sectional in our family room. We got it back in Ohio, when we wanted a couch where we could all easily fit. It's really comfy, and it has a chaise on one end where I love to sit (and nap). It is great for nursing too. We do a lot of our schoolwork on the couch, and after school is done, I love to see it full of boys reading, all sprawled out every which way!