I've Had the Time of My Life Hodgepodge

It is Wednesday, so it must be time for the Hodgepodge -- thanks to Joyce for our weekly questions!! Answer on your own blog, then join the group to add your link to the party. If you don't want to answer all of the questions, feel free to answer a few in the comments!

1.What was the best (or one of the best) summers of your life? Tell us why. As soon as I read the question, these song lyrics popped into my head . . ."I've had the time of my life" from the song in Dirty Dancing. I've had the tune running around in my head all day! We've had some great summers over the years and I remember some fun times when I was in high school and as a young adult. Some of my favorite memories are family vacations at the beach when we rented three condos and all of Mark's family and sometimes my sister and my sister-in-law's sister joined us. I also loved going on choir tour as a chaperone when my kids were in middle and high school.

Above is a photo of a photo -- our kids were high school age. Grace, who is getting married next year is the little one in the middle in Gmom's lap.

My daughter made a scrapbook for me as a birthday gift after this trip. 

That is me -- front row - second from left. This was 2003 or 2004 (I think). The sweet friends who sent flowers after Harvey died are in the boat with me . . .how fitting that I came across this picture just a few days later. They are still in the boat with me.

That is me in the middle with the bear.

I think this was that same summer so we continued the family fun over the fourth. That is Mark on the waverunner (middle) with our youngest nephew . . .who is out of college and living and working in Houston. Time marches on.

That was a really good summer.

2. When you have a trip coming up do you make a list and check it twice to ensure you don't forget anything? Or are you a 'throw whatever you can think of into the suitcase at the last minute' kind of packer? When returning from a trip do you unpack immediately or leave the suitcase right where it lands? I am a professional list maker. Ask my husband! I love a good list. I actually have several packing lists stored in my computer and print them off as needed and check off as I pack!! I try to think ahead about my clothes, especially when we are going out of the country or on a week long trip to the beach. If we are just running down to spend a night with our daughter and her family, I might grab a couple of random things and put them in a plastic grocery bag!! Regarding the unpacking -- it depends on what time of day or night we get back home. Mark always unpacks immediately (unless it is the middle of the night). Sometimes I unpack immediately . . .or wait a few hours. A few years ago, we got him in the middle of the night after traveling almost 24 hours (counting lay-overs all the way home from Tel Aviv). For some unknown reason, I felt the need to open my suitcase in the middle of the living room floor. One of our fellow travelers couldn't fit all of her souvenirs into her own suitcase and Mark crammed some Dead Sea Bath Salts into MY suitcase. The bag had burst in flight . . .unbeknownst to us . . .and when I opened the suitcase . . . bathsalts went everywhere. We had to clean it up before we fell into the bed. Mark was so annoyed with me. We always unpack within 24 hours and start the washing machine.

3. What's your favorite food or beverage made with lemons? Is that a flavor you enjoy? I love the flavor of fresh lemons. We tried (and enjoyed) Lemoncello for the first time on our trip to Italy in 2022. It is yummy, but has a lot of sugar!!

Our dessert baker for Tuesday night Young Professionals
sent lemon bars as part of the dessert last night!
How appropriate since we were answering this
question!

4. When was the last time you had to make lemonade out of lemons, figuratively speaking I mean? I feel like I've uttered those words recently. Sometimes we don't like what is happening, but we just have to roll with it.

5. Did you like school growing up? Why or why not? I LOVED school. I was the teacher's pet quite often, though I did get in trouble for always talking too much. I was a good student and learning was easy for me. I loved, and still love, new school supplies -- new pencils and fresh notebooks and new books to read.

6. Insert your own random thought here. Mark and his sister have been cleaning out their mother's house. Every week we have to shop and take a few treasures. There was a rolled-up paper and when we unrolled it, I said I wanted it. I took it to be framed and this is the final product. It turned out great. The copyright date is 1897. This is in one of the upstairs guest bathrooms.