Anna Maria Junus

No, the Stratemeyer Syndicate was not a mafia. I know it sounds like one, but it wasn't. It was a company that produced series books for children, started by Edward Stratemeyer. You've probably read some. Some of the most famous series come from this company. The first book was published in 1899. Stratemeyer developed a formula for writing the books quickly. He created series and pseudonyms for each series and soon realized he couldn't do it all, so he hired ghostwriters to

(from my upcoming book Fruits of the Spirit: Joy) Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing. Joy. We use it as a noun. The thing we’re supposed to feel. The thing we’re supposed to express. The thing we’re supposed to strive for. The thing we all hope for. But here, “He will joy over thee with singing,” it is used as a verb. Something that God d

Today is the LAST DAY of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. For those who have no idea because you happened to wander here somehow and was struck by how interesting I am, it was a challenge to blog EVERY SINGLE DAY during the month of July. And I did it. EVERY SINGLE DAY. And not once did I cheat and pretend that I blogged a day by blogging the next day twice to make up for it. Sure, some were later than others, but I always made my midnight deadline. So what did I learn? 1. It

I promised you the second part of a story I posted a few days back. You can find that story here. Throwback Thursday on Saturday: Blowout So on to the next part of that trip, which was experienced and written back in 2005. It does not feel like over 20 years ago. I am getting so old. No Room At the Inn By Anna Maria Junus Do not travel through Montana and Idaho during the month of August. I'm not the type of person who books things. If I'm traveling by car, I'm often not s

The prompt for today was "start thinking about where you want to go with your website. Have you made plans or set goals for where you want to be? Take some time today and map out where you would like to be in 90 days." Here's my answer. I DON'T KNOW!!!! Here's the reality. I've had this blog for several years and some blogs before that. They all seem to be exercises in futility and self-importance: "Hey, look at me pretending that people care what I think." Now, admitted

I spent hours on a post; it was about what I would want in a house and decorating and stuff like that...and while I was still writing it, it, it, - it DISAPPEARED! Just up and left. When I was practically done! Oh, believe me, I looked. I looked in the drafts, in the trash, in the scheduled and the preview. The thing just disappeared into oblivion. Snatched away by the demons that live in technology. I don't want to rewrite it right now. It's too traumatic. So instead I'm

I've been watching Relic Hunter. No surprise there because of my title. For those who don't know, which is probably most of you, Relic Hunter was a TV show running from 1999-2002. It starred Tia Carrera as a female Indiana Jones named Sydney Fox. She is even an archaeology professor at a college. She rarely teaches anything, never sees students, and goes on wild adventures along with her trusty assistant Nigel, an English guy who speaks a dozen languages and has several degr

This is from my book, "The Fruits of the Spirit: Love" Day 1: God Is Love John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life. And Life was the Light of Men. And the Light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. 1 John 4:16 God is love. And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God a

During the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I get a prompt every day to blog about. I don't always use the prompts, but today I am. The prompt was to write about a trip taken. Well, this sent me down memory lane as I read over my old columns. So here you go, published in 2005. Turns out there's a second part, which I will post on Thursday. Oh, update: news on the Roses & Daisies book mentioned. You can purchase an e-copy on Amazon, but I'm re-editing it and publishing it in paperba

The refrigerator - probably the most important appliance in the house. So important that some people have a spare one in the garage and one just for drinks on the patio. You can find appliances to replace the stove, or just not cook, but you can't do much without a place to store your ice cream, ice, or microwavable dinners. Seems to me that innovation stopped in the 1970's. Because this is from the 1950's or 60's. Someone was thinking when they made this. I bet a woman had