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Words, Words, Words

Looking Forward / Looking Back

January is the month for looking forward, but also looking back (from the Roman god, Janus, who has two faces), so I thought that I would take this opportunity to update previous posts.

More Animal Expressions! (Animal Expressions – BB’s Words and Animal Expressions – Part II – Opening a Can of Worms! – BB’s Words)

  • “Pulling the wool over someone’s eyes”
  • “Chickened” out
  • “Wolfed” down a sandwich
  • Mousy = not assertive, timid
  • Duck-footed / Pigeon-toed
  • “Nit-pick” (avert your eyes for the basis for this expression if you do not like to read about bugs . . .”)
    • A “nit” can refer to the very small egg of a louse (singular for “lice”), often stuck to hair, so in this aspect, to “nit-pick” is to be picky about something small, like a minor criticism

More Food Expressions! (Cliche Corner – Food – BB’s Words)

  • A good egg
  • A bad apple 
  • Easy as pie
  • A piece of cake

More Spelling Sounds! (Spelling Sounds – BB’s Words)

  • “Ahem” – the sound of a person clearing his/her throat, usually to get someone’s attention

Happy 2025!!

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From The Blog

Looking Forward / Looking Back

January 8, 2025
Posted in

January is the month for looking forward, but also looking back (from the Roman god, Janus, who has two faces), so I thought that I…

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Soccer Words

December 22, 2024
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Here is a bonus blog post for the month of December, in honor of Orlando’s professional soccer teams that were highly successful this year. The…

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CAPTCHA

December 3, 2024
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For those of you who might be shopping online this holiday season (might?? haha), you will probably see a CAPTCHA – that “confirm that you…

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Books from RELS Publishing

Mr. Smiles® Stories

(Also available in Spanish)

Title World Tales™

More Great Books

Persuasive Communication™ Training

Do you have a lot of thoughts but can’t seem to put them together? As the “Thought Connector,” Dr. Burke will help you organize your thoughts to best convey your message to your customers or clients.

Upcoming Events

After 2 years of traveling - 2022 for personal trips that had been postponed from 2020 and 2021, and 2023 for business trips for Fidelity Title's national escrow department to give multiple seminars, I decided that 2024 would best be spent writing, not speaking.  So far, so good!

I am glad to say that I finished the 4th and 5th "Mr. Smiles" books (the last of the series).

My first 3 "Title World Tales" (about cyber crime, identity theft, and the financial abuse of older adults) have been written, and I am currently working on the 4th TWT about mortgage frauds. Not just fake borrowers but fake lenders, too! And squatters! So much material!

I'll see you all at the FLTA convention November 11 - 13!

Testimonials

I read the Mr. Smiles books and really liked them! I definitely feel like some of them can help autistic children such as book #1 which focuses on making sense of emotions and how to regulate them, book #3 which talks about social cues, and book #4 which navigates social situations related to bullying (very common thing that autistic kids face).

Jordan Brooks
Autistic Children Counselor

I had a chance to read them, and I loved the life lessons in them. I thought that the intergenerational friendship was very sweet, and that it is important to have a book that teaches children how to deal with feelings and difficult situations. I do think that they will be helpful. I think that I will try to give them as sets to teachers for social/emotional modules, or to give to kids who are going through grief, bullying, etc. Thank you for writing these!

Sally McArthur
Founder and Co-Director, Facilitating Learning for Youth, Inc.