Old, New, Borrowed, Blue Hodgepodge!

Thanks to Joyce for the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then link up here to share your answers!

1. When were you last a guest at an event or in someone's home? Tell us about it. Do you enjoy having guests in your own home? I haven't been a guest in anyone's home since January or February pre-covid. I'm not counting family - we've been to our daughter's home and our son's home. We go eat with my mother-in-law every Sunday. These are the people in our bubble. We've been invited to sit on a neighbor's porch and a neighbor's back yard and we did that. Back in February when we were in Israel, we ate dinner in the home of a Palestinian family. We signed up pre-trip and paid the extra $'s. Our tour guide told us to meet up in front of the hotel at a certain time that evening and he told us that we would have a different tour guide. The appointed time arrived and we boarded the bus with a few folks we knew and some folks from another church located in our hometown with our hostess gifts in tow. We drove from Jerusalem to Bethlehem which requires crossing the border at night. The bus LITERALLY PULLED into a parking lot and there were several cars waiting. We were told to go get in the appointed car for our group WITH A TOTAL STRANGER IN ANOTHER COUNTRY. Y'all - I'm going to be honest. It was an unusual feeling. I kept telling myself that the tour company surely knew these people! We made small talk with our driver who took us to his parent's home. He actually lived nearby. We ate "upside down chicken" which is the national food of Palestinian families. I found this blog that describes it. I don't think ours had cauliflower in it. We sat around the table with a grandmother, her granddaughter, and the four of us. The grandfather came in and met us but he chose to eat in another room. She served fresh whole fruit for dessert and Mollie and I both had an orange and we both agree that it was the best orange we have ever eaten. Here we are in their home with the grandmother and daughter. Mollie brought them a t-shirt from our church. That was a memorable and eye opening dinner.

I do love to entertain in our home and this is one of the things I have missed so much during COVID. I love to have people around our dining room table.

2. What has you 'tied up in knots' currently or recently? Are you any good at tying actual knots? Knots are not my thing - ha! My emotions are tied up in knots this week due to the current political situation PLUS my sweet Aunt Faye died of COVID this week. I am so very thankful that she and I spent at least half an hour on the phone just a week and a half ago. She hadn't even been diagnosed at that time.

3. What's something you've been wanting to do and have decided 2021 will be the year you 'take the plunge'? I want to reach my goal weight. I've been doing WW (weight watchers) for several years (3) and have lost a lot of weight but I still need to lose the last 20 pounds. If I would get my butt in gear (actually, I exercise every day so another expression would be better) and eat exactly my points for the day and not any extras . . .I could do it.

4. Something in your home that's old? Something new? Something borrowed? Something blue? We have this really cool bookcase that we bought at a family estate sale back when we were dating. It was old then so it is really old now. Our coolest "old" thing is this door. Mark is refinishing it and will replace the glass panels with screen and the bottom panels with screen and we are going to use it on our screen porch. We know it is over 100 years old. Mark found the skeleton key that fit perfectly in his daddy's stash of stuff with a handwritten tag on it! I want to laminate the tag because his dad has been dead for many years and to have his handwriting is cool.

I shared our cute chair/bed with y'all last week and it is new and blue.

I'm sure I have something that is borrowed but I cannot think of what it might be. In the past, we have borrowed a rocking chair from my mother-in-law for when our youngest granddaughter spends the night but we have returned it.

5. Share a favorite quote, a verse of scripture, and/or a bit of wisdom for couples getting married in this challenging and seemingly unpredictable season we're currently/still experiencing.  Last year, a young couple from our Tuesday night group was to be married and before Lent, they asked their friends to send advice and they planned to discuss during the 40 days of Lent. Here is what I sent (first) and the second part is Mark's addition:

Here are some nuggets of wisdom from the Elliott household. I’m copying Mark on here in case he wants to add any wisdom from his perspective.

Never go to bed angry (really). If you can, at least come to a peaceable place before bed and finish working it out tomorrow.

Never discuss anything important after 9:00 p.m. Wait until daylight.

Get couples counseling when needed (I wish we had done this when we were young – things might have been easier).

Always remember the vows you make to each other and to God – those vows are until death do us part (yes – I know I was married before and divorced . . .but Mark has always been so good to remind me that we are in this for the long haul even when I started packing a suitcase many years ago).

Take care of your own spiritual health. If you need to get away for something like an Emmaus weekend, do it.

Know (in advance) that there are going to be some things that drive you totally nuts about your spouse.  

Find some couples (it is nice if they share your faith because you can always discuss things) that y’all both like and be intentional about hanging out together – do life together. Eat together once a month.

Be intentional about saving money (Mark did this for us and I am so glad because I’m horrible with money).

I’m sure there are a million other things that will come to me as soon as I hit send . . .know this – marriage is NOT easy for most of us but it is so worth it. I truly cannot imagine my life without Mark . .who always makes me laugh (that is important, too – laugh a lot!!)

From Mark

Don’t discuss important thing after 7:00 not 9:00.    If your spouse packs a suitcase tell them that they are not going anywhere because you both were  given a life sentence.  Ha Ha

Don’t call attention to little things you do not agree with but talk out the big things over a couple of beers.

Don’t spend time on social media when you are suppose to be spending time with your spouse.

Listen first and talk second.

I am not saying we do these all the time but it is a good goal to shoot for!!

6. Insert your own random thought here. It is so cold here (cold for Alabama!). Usually, our winters consist of a few cold days and then warm days and then rain and then cool again. We've been in a cold spell pretty much since Christmas. Yesterday, the high was 36. Today the high is 41. This morning we had frozen fog and it looked almost like snow on the ground. It looked like the heaviest frost I've ever seen. The weather man said we have also had graupel today! I borrowed this picture from our favorite local weatherman's facebook page -- this is what "rime ice" from frozen fog looks like!