ANTOINETTE - A.K.A. TONI

It was one year ago today that Mom died.

ANTOINETTE
A/K/A "TONI"

"Antoinette. . . Why don’t you ever use your real name?” I asked Mom, whispering the word into the air, listening to the syllables float around the room like the warm, sugary, scent of cotton candy at a fair. I loved to roll it around on the tip of my tongue--tasting the sweetness, like a lollipop.

“Because,” she’d smile, giving me a sideways wink, “it doesn’t suit me. Toni is simple—like me.”

And, maybe Antoinette was a common name in Paris during the early years of the twentieth century, but people weren't named Antoinette back in 1932, at least not in Portland, Oregon.

“It’s French?” I laughed looking around our rundown house. “Your name came all the way from France?”

It sounded so European, important, and unique to a ten year old.

Grandma used to say, “We came from money”, as if she wanted us to know because we’d fallen so far.

See, Mom's Dad was the Vice President of a large oil company when he died, leaving my grandmother a wealthy woman. And, Mom made one mistake. At 16 she secretly married her first husband, Douglas. And, although he came from a wealthy family, he wasn't a good husband or father so she divorced him. Something Grandma never accepted.

Mom's second marriage wasn't considered "a good match" by her mother.

Dad was a poor pig farmer from Weiser, Idaho. And his Dad was born on an Indian Reservation in Oklahoma. Nothing to be proud of back then.

Maybe that's why Mom cared nothing for "things". Her joy came from spending time with people. And, Mom was the kindest person I've ever met. I never heard her say a negative thing about anyone--not ever. I know, it sounds hard to believe but it's true.

In some ways, it seems like just yesterday but, in other ways, it seems like forever ago that Mom died.

It always feels so odd not to be able to call her up whenever I have a question or something I'm worried about. She always had the answers.

Now, whenever I have something exciting I want to share, I think, "Oh I'll call Mom. . . "

Then I remember.

WORD TIPS

SIMPLE WORD TIPS

(By holding down the Ctrl button and the additional key listed, you will have the following results)
Ctrl+O Opens a previously saved document
Ctrl+W Closes the current window without exiting Word
Ctrl+N Opens a new Word document
Ctrl+S Saves the current document with its existing file name
Ctrl+P Prints the current file
Ctrl+A Blocks all the text and graphics in the document you are in
Ctrl+C Copies the blocked text, Copies the blocked text, Copies the blocked text
Ctrl+V Pastes the copied text
Ctrl+Z Undoes the last change you made
Ctrl+Y Is a “Redo” button, if you’ve cut text and want to put it immediately back Ctrl+Y is the answer
Ctrl+X Cuts and removes the text you’ve blocked (hint: you can use this with Ctrl V)
Ctrl+F Find button – you can search for particular text using this button
Ctrl+U Underlines selected text
Ctrl+I Italic button – for all highlighted material
Ctrl+B Bold
Alt+F4 Exits Word
MORE WORD TIPS
Ctrl+End Moves cursor to the end of the document
Ctrl+Home Moves cursor to the beginning of a document
Ctrl+E Centers highlighted text
Ctrl+J Justifies a paragraph
Ctrl+L Aligns the text to the Left
Ctrl+R Right aligns text
Ctrl+Shift+W Underlines words but not spaces
Ctrl+Shift+D Double Underlines text
Ctrl+Shift+> Increases blocked text two points
Shift+F3 CHANGES CASE OF TEXT
Ctrl+T Creates a hanging indent
Ctrl+M Indents a paragraph from the left
Shift+Enter Inserts a line break
Ctrl+Delete Deletes one work to the right
Ctrl+backspace Deletes one work to the left
Ctrl+2 Double spaces blocked text or text in paragraph you’re in
Ctrl+1 Single spaces blocked text or paragraph you are in
Ctrl+5 Makes line spacing 1.5 in text
Shift+enter Inserts a line break (or inserts a hard page return) whichever you want to call it
Ctrl+[space bar] Removes all formatting from selected text

(Repeat)

EARTH FRIENDLY FRIDAY

Here is a fun How Green is Your Garden quiz that might even teach you a thing or two. Check it out here, thanks to Brenda.

Calling All Grammarians

Info thanks to John Potter

Subject-Verb Agreement

each: Traditional English grammar holds that the subject of a sentence beginning with each be considered singular: Each of the stores has a manager. When each follows a plural subject, the construction is plural: The stores each have managers.

either/or: When singular subjects are linked by or, either . . . or, or neither . . . nor, the verb is singular as well: Either a psychiatrist or a phrenologist can explain her lastest outbreak. Where one subject is singular and one is plural, the verb agrees with the subject closer to the verb: The chief or the directors have the authority. The directors or the chief has the authority.

herself/himself/myself/yourself: Called reflexive or intensive pronouns, words such as herself, himself, myself, yourself and so forth are used as objects and must be accompanied by subjects: Nancy, herself, took the initiative [intensive]; Erik was talking to himself [reflexive]. Avoid using a reflexive pronoun as a subject: Ms. Jones and I [not myself] took the deposition.


Pluralizing Proper Nouns and Acronyms

Use traditional English pluralization rules for proper nouns: Todd and Jenna Jones become the Joneses; Hoffmann to the Hoffmanns; Becker to the Beckers; Edward and Charles to the Edwards and Charleses. When proper names have non-English forms that result in awkward plural forms, it is best to rewrite the sentence to avoid plural formations. Acronyms are made plural by adding -s: DVDs, SOSs, IOUs, SOJs, BPs, CPAs, and so on.


Pluralizing Compound Nouns

Pluralize hyphenated and open compound nouns by adding the -s to the element that is "subject to the change in number": mothers-in-law, attorneys general, doctors of philosophy, courts-martial, deeds of trust, attorneys-at-law, for a sampling.

Possessives

Tradition has it that singular common and proper nouns and acronyms show possession with an apostrophe and -s: Becky's birthday celebration is today. Mr. Jones's humor fell flat. EMS's profits are in the tank. The exception to this rule has been not to triple the -s sound: Mr. Jones' success is in doubt. For plural nouns, just add the apostrophe: The Joneses' party is tonight. The sailors' keelhauling extravaganza will begin sharply at 1800 hours. The men's and women's categories are listed on the sign-up sheet. Note: as the "men's and women's" have separate and distinct "categories," each noun takes an aposptrophe and -s. For joint ownership, only one apostrophe and -s is needed: Sarah, Karla, and Nicole's joint venture has been quite profitable.

Quotations

Generally speaking, quotations must duplicate the original material in spelling, capitalization, and formatting. Commas and periods are always placed inside the quotation marks; colons, semicolons, and other punctuation marks are placed outside unless they appear in the original. Quotations of 50 or more words should be placed in block form, single-spaced and indented. Quotations of less than 50 words can be placed in block form for emphasis.

Ellipsis points can take one of two forms: ". . . ." or "* * *." Note: Each point has one space of separation from its neighbor, including the following comma or period; exception: No space between the final asterisk and its closing comma or period.


Seasons of the Year

The seasons spring, summer, fall, and winter are generally lowercased, unless personified: It's Winter for my 401(k).


Some Preferred Spelling: Foreign Words and Phrases

a priori; ab initio; de minimis; dictum; e.g.; et al.; et seq.; e.g.; ex parte; ibid.; id.; i.e.; in limine; inter alia; per se; pro se; quantum meruit; res ipsa loquitur; res judicata; respondeat superior; sine qua non; stare decisis; sua sponte; viz.; voir dire

[Note: Some writers prefer these words without italics, and their preference should be respected].

ANSWER TO WORD FOR WEDNESDAY

ANSWER: Importune is to demand with urgency. To read more about it, click here.

WORD FOR WEDNESDAY

WORD: Importune

Come on out and play.

Check back around three to see if you guessed right.

The Impotence of Proofreading

Thanks to Rachelle Gardner