objurgate /vt. / to express strong disapproval of, to criticize severely. to reproach or denounce vehemently; upbraid harshly. berate. chide. scold. reprove. admonish sharply. dress down.
objurgate /vt./ 1. Most of the objurgating that goes in in my house goes on in my own head. But these last two weeks I have gone running almost every day, not only exorcizing my exercise demons, but also, surprisingly, clearing my head of my usual self-chastisement about anything and everything. Perhaps CIM is appeased by endorphins.
objurgate /vt./ 2. I am right in the middle of trying to quickly plan a ward youth conference. Our stake youth conference was cancelled recently, but I could hardly bear to watch the date come and go without doing something with my young women. I believe in the power of youth conference. The young men's president and I came up with an idea that we thought would be fabulous, "Le Tour de Vida Eterna" (more details in a couple of weeks) but many others have objurgated almost every aspect of our plans. Despite these objections we are pressing forward and now I'm only nervous that their criticisms will be validated in the end. I've had a hard time figuring out which part is the "opposition in all things" and which part is the real and valuable, good counsel. (Guess I was wrong about definition number 1 after all. Apparently I can still find plenty to beat myself up about.)
objurgate /vt./ 3. David and I took Greg and Becca (David's brother and his wife) and Beckie (David's sister) to dinner at Olive & Ivy on Friday night. Our excuse was to show them the Scottsdale night-life, but my real motivation in going to this particular restaurant was the bruschetta. Of course. There is simply nothing to objurgate about this divine appetizer. I am always tempted to go in there and order about five of these in lieu of my entree. It's embarrassing how much I love this stuff.
objurgate /vt./ 4. I rarely have necessity to really objurgate my children, but tonight as we were about to kneel for family prayers, Olivia made the offhand comment that Savannah probably would not do well on her tests in the morning because she wasn't going to bed early enough. (Savannah's testing week begins tomorrow. Why can't the school just do it all at once and get it over with? We are seriously cracking under the pressure here.) Savannah broke into sobs, completely devastated, and absolutely sure of her inevitable failure on the morrow. I sternly objurgated Olivia, reminded her of her own anxiety only one week ago, and told her how disappointed I was in her complete lack of empathy. Grrr.
I looked up from making dinner on Thursday night to find my girls outside in their towels. Rather than objurgate them for their immodesty I simply pulled out my camera...they said it was an "emergency"...they had forgotten to bring the bunny back in after playing outside with her, and just remembered in the shower. For heavens sake.
objurgate /vt./ 5. Thankfully my girls are usually best friends, kind and accommodating and sweet. They play really well together and usually their only requirement is that it be something "creative." Their latest idea is "stop-motion" movies with their American Girl dolls. Admittedly, I did a bit of objurgating when I found out they were using my camera, but was quickly won over when they showed me their creations. Here is their first movie...entitled "BFF"...yeah Mom, that's "Best Friends Forever." (In case you can't quite follow it, the story line goes: two BFF's are walking their pets, then go to school, exchange BFF notes, which makes them so happy they do the splits and a back-flip. Oh, I love these girls.)
objurgate /vt./ 6. Though I usually do nothing but querulously objurgate when I talk about the monthly Cub Scout pack meeting, this week's (with all of its usual problems) was such a thrill for me as a mother. Caleb received both his Webelos badge and his Arrow of Light. With David's help, Caleb has made great personal progress in his scouting program. I can hardly believe he's almost a full-fledged boy scout, and wonder how I made it through 34 pack meetings already. In this case I am relieved and glad that all good things must come to an end.
