Earnin' her keep!

Mom is volunteering in the library today!

Wearin' her badge, workin' on documents...

...visiting with Hannah when her class came in for database reminders...

...and enjoying that well-earned coffee break with her LIBRARY VOLUNTEER mug!!

We have the best-lookin' volunteer in all of TEXAS!!!

Chinese MAGIC!

Bethany has promised that she will soon get all of her China photos & videos posted on her Shutterfly site at http://betheeespics.shutterfly.com , but I just couldn't wait to share the DELICIOUSLY EDIBLE pictures from her Chinese photography shoot!

LOVE it!

One of Bethany's friends said this could be a Chinese Snuggies ad...

Oooh...DOUBLY good!

You should hear Bethany tell the story about the photographer demonstrated how a girl should hold a fan...as opposed to what SHE was doing. Needless to say, hilarity ensued.

"Happy New Year!" (said in my best Danville accent)

Fairy of flowers. No doubt.

Wearing her NASA Space Shawl.

Bethany calls this one, "More Mouth, Please."

And the sweetest one...posing with the un-Texas-sized hair & makeup artists!

These are WA-A-AY more fun than the requisite Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors photos every tourist snaps. Whatever she paid this photographer was not enough...they have provided me with two weeks of giggles and delight. (Didn't even post them all--just my faves.)

Glad she's home, safe and sound (and far too skinny!),
The Mama Who Can Dial Her Worry Down to Level Blue ("Guarded")

Didja' miss the NPR puzzle this morning?

No worries, my babies! Kristy was up all night, sick as a dog...but *still* managed to type up the NPR puzzle for her fellow Word Nerds. (When Karen heard me croak in my newly-acquired bass voice, she joked it was "nice to have a man around the house." Ha, ha.)

Check out the puzzle, puzzle people!

***

Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
with Liane Hansen & Will Shortz
2010-02-07


Liane asked Will if he had been hit by the "Snowpocalypse" that knocked out Washington, D.C., but he replied that the storm had followed a path south of his New York home and “you’re the one who got smacked.” Liane admitted that they’d been having pajama parties at NPR for the past couple of days.


The Current Challenge, given 20100131), from:
http://bit.ly/aVdrFR

"Take four words: Croquet; Lunette; Renoir; Turnstile. They are all two-syllable words, but aside from that, they all have something unusual in common: a property that virtually no other words have. What property is it? Hint: Think phonetically."


The property is that all 4 words have first syllables that are homophones of types of birds (crow, loon, wren, and tern).


Liane reported more than 1,000 entries.


The on-air player, randomly drawn from among the correct submissions, was Michael Coyne of Boston, who has been playing on and off for about ten years and submitting entries for the last four years; Mr. Coyne is a web site writer & editor for Children's Hospital of Boston. It didn't take him long to solve this week's puzzle after writing down the phonetic pronunciations of all four syllables. He and Liane laughed after he professed himself "a Word Nerd." He listens to the puzzle each week on WBUR in Boston.

(He may also be the same Michael Coyne who won a BOATLOAD OF COIN and a trip to London on Wheel of Fortune back in 2008, according to the Game Show Kingdom blog at:
http://bit.ly/aVrFja
The blogger, Bobby McBride, spelled his name "Michael Coin"...pretty fitting since his winnings were valued at more than $43,000.)


THIS WEEK’S ON-AIR PUZZLE: In honor of tonight's Super Bowl, every answer is a word used in football. Will provides three words, and Mr. Coyne is to come up with a football term that could follow all three of Will's clues. For example, if Will said "year," "tag," and "dead," the answer would be "end" (as in "year end," "tag end," and "dead end").


CLUES (answers at the end of this synopsis):

1. STUMBLING, BUILDING, & WRITER'S


2. GOLD, BUM'S, & MAD


3. CATTLE, HARD, & FOUR-WHEEL


4. CORN, LEFT, & ELECTROMAGNETIC


5. FOUL, CHILD'S, & WORD


6. SHOPPING, DEAD, & DAYCARE


7. PRISON, NATIONAL, & REAR


8. BOUNCE, STAND, & TALK


9. MOUNTAIN, BOARDING & BUS


10. BROKEN, DUMB, & THUMBS


11. PUNCH, DUST, & CEREAL


12. NEWSPAPER, COUPON, & TOENAIL



Martha Stewart read Mr. Coyne the list of "good things" he scored for playing the puzzle on the air which led Will to remember an anecdote from his appearance on Martha Stewart's show a few years ago. Apparently, Ms. Stewart told Will that she works on the _New York Times_ crossword puzzle in the back of her chauffeur-driven automobile as she commutes to work, and when she gets stuck, she asks her chauffeur for assistance. (I hope you couldn't hear my eyes roll all the way from Texas just now.)


NEXT WEEK’S CHALLENGE comes listener Dave Talby (phonetic) of Eugene, Oregon. The nickname of a well-known queen is an anagram of the name of a well-known king. What are their names?


Answers must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday.
One entry per person. NPR no longer accepts entries by e-mail. Be
sure to include a telephone number where you can be reached if you
are selected as the winner. Entries may be made at the web page:
http://www.npr.org/templates/contact/index.php?columnId=4473090
(Puzzle enthusiasts can navigate there easily from:
http://www.npr.org/puzzle )


* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Editorial notes:

Puzzles & contents of Weekend Edition/Sunday puzzle segment
are copyrighted by Will Shortz and NPR.


Puzzle transcribers use the following schedule, with the occasional switch-up to accommodate travel schedules:

1st week of each month--Kristy
2nd week--Richard
3rd week--Joe
4th week--Jerry
5th week (when there is one)--Richard


So please send email for next week's synopsis to Richard Renner:
<>.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *


Guest editor’s notes from Kristy:

See Jimmy Kimmel & Lil Kim take on the 2009 National School Scrabble champs, two 11 year-olds named Erik Salgado and Andy Hoang here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b42aNY2LSSQ


Tired of the much-hyped Super Bowl? Don't forget about Puppy Bowl VI!!
http://bit.ly/9DP6Hc


Snowpocalypse Now. Snowmageddon. (Whatever you call it, it was fun.)
http://bit.ly/cPXuOm
http://bit.ly/bQ8djU

As always, please excuse formatting errors. Whether I use Word or Notepad, glitches occur when I paste into email.


* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

From this week's (FULL!) mailbag:

*snip the mailbag*

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *


Editor’s notes from Richard Renner (email: rrenner AT igc DOT org ):

I distribute these free weekly synopses of the NPR puzzle segment, with the help of a crack team of substitutes. You can read more about this free distribution at:
http://groups.google.com/group/nprpuzzle/topics
You can subscribe from this page, too.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to:
nprpuzzle-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at:
http://groups.google.com/group/nprpuzzle?hl=en

*snip*

Follow Liane on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/nprLiane

Links of interest!
World Scrabble Championship:
http://www.wscgames.com
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Feb. 19-21 in Brooklyn!):
http://www.crosswordtournament.com/
Merl Reagle’s article on constructing crossword puzzles, available at:
http://www.crosswordtournament.com/articles/inq031697.htm
World Puzzle Federation:
http://www.worldpuzzle.org
Register for the 2010 USA team at:
http://wpc.puzzles.com/register/index.htm
More of Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at:
http://www.mathpuzzle.com
To learn more about this July's National Puzzlers’ League convention in Seattle:
http://www.puzzlers.org
Kristy Fowler & Joe Wander both highly recommend:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad
You can join Kathie Schneider's email list for accessible word and logic puzzles. To subscribe, send a blank email to:
blind-puzzlers-subscribe@googlegroups.com
For the results of 2009’s World Sudoku Puzzle Championship, see:
www.worldpuzzle.org/championships/sudoku_2009/index.html


Richard Renner
Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP
3233 P St., NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-342-6980
202-342-6984 FAX
330-224-0359 cell

rrenner AT igc DOT org
rr AT kkc DOT com

www.whistleblowersblog.org


* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

CLUES and ANSWERS:


1. STUMBLING, BUILDING, & WRITER'S: block


2. GOLD, BUM'S, & MAD: rush


3. CATTLE, HARD, & FOUR-WHEEL: drive


4. CORN, LEFT, & ELECTROMAGNETIC: field


5. FOUL, CHILD'S, & WORD: play


6. SHOPPING, DEAD, & DAYCARE: center


7. PRISON, NATIONAL, & REAR: guard (I admit giggling at Mr. Coyne's "rear end" suggestion)


8. BOUNCE, STAND, & TALK: back


9. MOUNTAIN, BOARDING & BUS: pass


10. BROKEN, DUMB, & THUMBS: down


11. PUNCH, DUST, & CEREAL: bowl


12. NEWSPAPER, COUPON, & TOENAIL: clipping


End of NPR puzzle synopsis.

Okay, okay, I'll wear my seatbelt...

...even in the backseat.