Summertime Summertime Sum Sum Summertime HodgePodge

Today is Wednesday so it is time to link up with Joyce and answer the Hodge Podge Questions.

1. The first day of summer rolls in later this week. What are ten things you'd put on your list of  quintessential summer activities? Will you try to manage all ten this summer?

1. Eat watermelon (have already!)
2. Eat homemade ice cream (may not - have been trying not to eat sugar)
3. Go to a baseball game and stay for the fireworks (I love fireworks - not sure if this will happen or not)
4. Go to the neighborhood pool (this had better happen)
5. Join the summer reading club at the library (do they have this for adults?  I always read the most books when I was a kid.  I'm not competitive or anything :-) )
6. Watch a movie in the park in front of our house (hope so!)
7. Take a vacation to the beach (not going to happen until September but we are going before the first day of all)
8. Go to someone's lake house and soak up tons of sun (yes, I'll wear sunscreen)
9. Shell fresh peas (I don't have freezer space anymore - love "sitting on the porch" memories of shelling peas
10. Enjoy an icy beverage with an umbrella . . .like a pina colada or a strawberry daiquiri. (hopefully)

2. Do you collect seashells when you're at the beach? What do you do with them once you get them home? What's your favorite place to comb for seashells? How many of these 'best beaches for hunting seashells' have you visited? Which one would you most like to visit?

Calvert Cliffs State Park (Maryland), Jeffrey's Bay (South Africa), Sanibel Island (Florida), Shipwreck Beach (Lanai Hawaii), Ocracoke Island (North Carolina), Galveston Island (Texas) and The Bahamas

I do love to pick up seashells.  I found a paper plate full of shells in a drawer the other day!  I may have thrown them away when I was cleaning out that drawer . . . I always think I'll make some wonderful craft with lots of seashells but never get around to it.  I've been to Galveston once many years ago but I can't remember if we even walked on the beach.  I've been to the Bahamas (on our honeymoon!).  I've been to Hawaii but I can't remember if we went to Shipwreck Beach or not!  I would love to go the South Africa . . .actually, you could take me to any beach and I would be happy.

3. At a snail's pace, shell out money, come out of your shell, go back into your shell, drop a bombshell, happy as a clam, clam up...which 'shell' phrase could most recently be applied to some event or circumstance in your life? Explain.
I guess "shell out money" because I went to the dentist on Monday and I have to have a crown replaced - boo!

4. What summer activity do you dislike? Why?
I dislike sweating when I'm dressed in nice clothing.  Living in the deep south in a place with high humidity produces sweat.  I'm perfectly fine sweating if I'm dressed for sweat - shorts and old t-shirt or a bathing suit.  I'm pretty sure this is not the direction I was supposed to go with this answer but it is what popped into my head.

5. What's something you see as quickly becoming obsolete? Does that bother you?
I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal today. I selfishly don't want car ownership to become obsolete because my husband's career depends on the purchase of cars.  I need cars to hang around for a few more years, please and thank you.  (sorry for the blue blob on the picture . . .I needed to cover up something :-) )

6. Insert your own random thought here.
My husband is so handy!  We have a fire pit on our patio but we haven't used it very often.  We especially aren't using it right now.  I found a pallet on the side of the street in our neighborhood (yes, I stopped and asked if we could have it!) and we Mark brought it home.  Mark cut the underside of the pallet into a smaller circle and the top section into a larger circle and made a "table top" for our fire pit.  We are having friends over in a few weeks and this will be a great spot where people can sit and have a place for their plate or drink.  I think I'm going to put a piece of burlap - maybe a square - in the center of the table.  (Thanks Kyle and Lynn - your pallet table inspired this!)