Springing into the Hodgepodge

 It is Wednesday . . . so it must be time for Hodgepodge! Thanks to Joyce for the questions.

1. Spring is officially upon us, no matter what the weather may be in your neck of the woods. Is there any 'spring cleaning' on your to-do list? What's your most dreaded task? We have been back in our house for 8 months. Everything was new BUT construction dust still lingered everywhere. I think we have just about found all of that dust . . .except for the dust that found dust bunnies to marry! hahaha! We have kept it pretty clean since -- we have a wonderful housekeeper who comes every two weeks and Mark and I do things in between her cleaning. Mark just cleaned the outside of the downstairs windows because we had a group of folks from our neighborhood over for dinner on Saturday night. I straightened up the pantry last week. Mark still needs to use the pressure washer to clean our outdoor rug on the patio. I need to make some new cushions for our wrought iron furniture. They are odd sizes that you can't buy!! We do need to do some more work on out attic but I don't know when that is going to happen. 

My most dreaded task is one that has to happen often, not just in the spring. I hate cleaning the bathrooms!

2. What's something many people seem to love, but to you feels like 'watching the grass grow'? I don't know if many people love this, but I don't think I could watch golf on TV for more than a few minutes. It seems so boring to me!! Mark LOVES to fish. I like to catch and if I just have to sit and sit and sit, I definitely think that would be like "watching the grass grow"! I can't wait to read other's answer because I truly don't have a good answer!

3. Mint grows in abundance during the spring season. Are you a fan? What's your favorite food with a 'minty' flavor? I'm not that big of a fan of mint. I'm definitely NOT a fan of chocolate and mint together. I don't think I have a favorite food that has a minty flavor.

4. It's been said, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.' Agree or disagree? Explain. I think there is a little truth in both directions. Sometimes absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. I'm always so happy to see Mark when he has been to Alaska fishing or out of town for a couple of days. I also think that sometimes when we don't see someone for a while, and then get to spend an extended period of time together, it then makes it harder to part. Does that make sense?

5. Are there any festive spring events in your city or town? If so, will you take advantage of them? American Village is about 30 minutes away and they have a big tulip festival. I want to go one year but it didn't happen this year. I'm pretty sure there are strawberry festivals in Alabama because it is ALMOST strawberry season here. I'm looking forward to eating some but I don't think I'll be attending a celebration.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I have a research paper that is due on Thursday. It is much harder to write what someone else wants me to write PLUS remember to cite everything and type it in MLA format. I prefer writing a stream of thought and I might include . . .some ellipses or some weird quotation marks, etc. etc. etc. I will say that I enjoyed reading Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville. 

Sunday Stealing

I am joining up with Bev and friends for Sunday Stealing. I should be working on my paper that is due Thursday, but my brain needs a break.

 

1. What ONE thing would you change about your life? How would your life be different? I'm answering with a "not very deep" response -- I would love to be at my ideal weight. It seems like no matter how hard I work at it; I can't quite get there. I have kept over 50 pounds of my 2017 weight loss off but would love to lose at least 25 more. My life wouldn't be drastically different - I could wear cuter clothes! This is a very shallow answer but sometimes I just can't put into words the things that I really think!

 

2.  What is the hardest thing you have ever done? Why was it hard for you? What did you learn? I gave birth to twins at 34 weeks 37 years ago. My parents were no longer living, and my father-in-law died four days before their first birthday. That was a very tough year. I had to do many things on my own while Mark was tied up with work and his family. Looking back, I can see that I learned that I can do hard things. The most recent challenging thing is living through our home being struck by lightning and subsequently catching on fire. Y'all have heard that story a million times.

 

3. Write about the most glorious moment in your life so far. I definitely think that when our twins were born was pretty glorious but also scary and hard. The moment that I met both of our granddaughters following their births was pretty spectacular!

 

4. Write about a moment you felt brave. I don't think of myself as brave but I'm sure I have been at various times in my life.

 

5. What made you happy today? We went to our oldest granddaughter's 8th birthday party. It was a very joyous and happy occasion.

 

6. What did you dislike most about growing up? My mom was sick for quite a few years and died when I was 15. That was tough.

 

7. Write about five activities you love the most and why you love them. I love spending time with our close friends. We can just be ourselves when we are together. I love Tuesday nights with our young adult group. I love being with our children and grandchildren. I love to read. I love to travel the world. All these things bring me joy.

 

8. Do you have an embarrassing moment that still makes you cringe? Yes. I have one that I will not talk about here or probably anywhere else. It definitely still makes me cringe. 

 

9. What has been your best trip so far? I really like Israel. I've been there four times. I think one of my favorites was Ireland. It is so beautiful. We also had a great time when just the two of us went to St. Martin. Italy, Austria, and Germany were pretty cool, too. I've told y'all that I'm horrible at favorites.

 

10. What traits (physical or personal) do people notice when they meet you for the first time? I've been told that I have a great smile. Of course, I always think they notice the negatives first but maybe that is just my crazy mind playing tricks on me.

 

11.  Is social media a blessing or a curse? It can be both. I love seeing what everyone is doing these days and I've learned some cool cleaning and cooking tricks from various folks. I do think that no matter our age, social media can also be a curse. It is very addictive PLUS sometimes I think I might be the only person in the whole world who isn't getting to do fun things! FOMO is real!

 

12. What is your greatest hope for your future? What steps can you take to make it happen? I would love to live a long and healthy and active life filled with love, joy, peace, and happiness. I can eat healthy foods and drink water and exercise and surround myself with people I love! After I typed that answer, I'm now wondering if that if a question about the future for everyone? If so, I wish we could find honest politicians to run our country (and the world). I would hope that every person could be treated fairly, and no one would go hungry.

 

13.  What did you struggle most with today? I've been struggling with this paper I have to write. I just need to get started. Why is the "getting started" part often the hardest? 

 

14.  Name the biggest priority in your life right now: Praying that our daughter can carry her baby a little longer and that her blood pressure can be controlled. In reality, that isn't my priority because I can't do much about it BUT I can definitely pray about it.

 

15. What are 5 things you wish others knew about you. Sometimes in a large group, I become introverted. Sometimes I dance around my kitchen when I'm home alone and I've been known to use a whisk as a pretend microphone (yes, as an adult!). There are a lot of apologies built up inside of me for things I did when I was younger. I should probably write a blanket apology and name some of the things and post on social media. I can be VERY insecure. If you need someone to keep a confidence for you, I'm your person. Tell me something is confidential and I will take it to the grave.

Find Your People Hodgepodge

I can't believe we are halfway through another week. I'm joining up with Joyce and friends for the Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. Thursday is National Pi Day...are you good at math? What was the last thing you had to calculate? Did you use your head or technology? Last slice of pie you ate? My math skills are ok. I can do what I need to do. I always made A's in Math when I was growing up. I feel like Mark and I have calculated a lot lately - how much a trip is going to cost and how much would the "over and aboves" cost on our house. I also keep a running total on my grade point average. Mark is a CPA by education and was a CFO for years and years so he has always done far more math than I do! I do a lot of "scribble" math but sometimes I use the calculator on my phone. When I was taking BIO 102 last semester, I learned to use the square root function on my phone calculator and that came in very handy!! I haven't had a piece of dessert pie in several years BUT I recently made Chicken Pot Pie and I had a piece (not slice) of it!

2. What makes a house a home?  I could write a lot on this one. A home is made sometimes by those with whom you share the house. Even if you live alone, friends and family can visit. Laughter makes a home. Love for all makes a home. In our house, having Christ in our lives and in our home makes it a home. Using our house for things bigger than us (like Tuesday nights) makes it a home. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's answers for this question!

3. Your current favorite green thing? I just wrote a post yesterday about 10 green things. You can check it out here. I started my favorite green things list with money but someone reminded me that we rarely have cash these days!

4. How do you define achievement? How does your personal definition look similar to, or different than, society's definition? What's something you think is worth achieving in life? I'm going to answer these questions in a different way and I'm lumping them all together. Erma Bombeck wrote, "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - WOW - What A Ride! That is achievement - living life to the fullest. Doing all the good we can for all the people we can. John Wesley said that among other things and that is achievement. I think the world defines achievement as the most successful . . .the ones at the top. I do have to put a disclaimer in here. I have ALWAYS wanted the top grade in any class I have taken so I guess that sometimes I do look at achievement with worldly eyes.

5. What song is a good soundtrack for your life right now? One of the guys in our group of friends shared a song by Drew Holcombe with all of us after sharing with us that we were his people. This song is not my normal type of music, but I have listened to that song on repeat so I'm going with it! You can listen to it here. We have found our people and feel very blessed.

6. Insert your own random thought here. Prayers would be appreciated. Our daughter, Laura, is 34 weeks pregnant today and she was admitted to the hospital via the Emergency Room on Sunday night. She has pre-eclampsia and will be in the hospital until baby Lucy arrives. The doctor would love to get her to at least 36 weeks. They have given her two steroid shots to help Lucy's lungs develop. I had Laura and her twin brother, Glenn, at 34 weeks and they turned out ok so I think that has helped her mentally. Thank goodness they live in the same neighborhood as her in-laws. They have our 4 1/2 year old granddaughter with them. Mark is headed down to spend a day and night today and I will head down tomorrow and stay until Friday. I will probably go back on Sunday afternoon for a while and then Mark and I will probably do the same shifts next week.

Ten on the 10th . . .oops! Ten on the 11th

 I'm joining up with the ten on the tenth gang . . .but I'm running a day behind. Our prompt is to talk about our favorite green things -- ten green things. Some of these are true and some of these are just fun answers. They are not in order of any kind.

1. Money . . . we always call it green but as I was taking that photo I realized that dollars aren't very green! The money has a green seal and some green numbers but the rest is sort of gray!

2. I have several green dresses. Green looks good with my "coloring." 

3. Speaking of "coloring," I like my eyes - they are green and become more green when I wear green.

4. I love a lot of green vegetables.- broccoli, roasted asparagus, roasted brussel sprouts, green peas, green beans, lettuce, cabbage. My husband and son and granddaughter do not like broccoli.

5. I've always loved Kermit the frog, too!

photo from the internet
creator John E Barrett

6. I love a good margarita! I even love 100 calorie margaritas.

photo from the Target website

7. Mark and I both love Ireland and it truly is green.

8. I love avocados and I make the best guacamole!

9.  I like Peter Pan . . .and I saw his costume just last week!

10. I love Christmas trees . . .and the tiny leaves on plants right now in Alabama.

What about you? What are some green things you enjoy/love/maybe even hate?

A few of my favorite things . . .not necessarily!

 I am not good at favorites. I have a hard time picking one thing over another. I'll give Sunday Stealing a go . . .

1) What is your favorite thing about winter? I want to say that I don't like winter. It is not my favorite season. I do love cozying up by our fireplace! I love the holiday decorations - technically Thanksgiving isn't in winter or Halloween but we get a fun run of holidays from Halloween through Easter.

 

2) What is your favorite winter sport? It doesn't get cold enough here in Alabama for winter sports. Actually, there is one place in northern Alabama where we have a ski slope but it usually has fake snow. I guess that place is still there. I haven't heard anyone talk about it in years.

 

3) What is the best winter treat? A great big glass mug of Irish Coffee

 

4) What is the earliest time in the year it ever snowed where you live? We only have a huge snow about once every 20 years. One time we did have snowflakes on Halloween. If it snows here, it normally makes the ground white for a few hours and then melts and we move on. We didn't have any snow this winter. One of our "what we call a blizzard," which is snow enough to shut us down for several days was very near April Fool's Day. I think our weatherman calls those "generational snowstorms" or something like that . . .because we get so few.

 

5) What is the best way to stay warm in the winter? I love to wear a hooded pull-over soft sweatshirt. I really don't like long sleeves nor coats so it is a good thing I live in Alabama. As I mentioned earlier, I love sitting in front of our fireplace.

 

6) What are your favorite things that are paper? Money is my first answer! Seriously, I do love good paper - writing paper, drawing paper, crafting paper - you can tell the difference when you use good paper.

 

7) What are your favorite things that are cotton? 100% cotton t-shirts are always the softest.

 

8) What are your favorite things that are leather? I have some leather boots that are really pretty.

 

9) What are your favorite things that are floral? For some reason, I thought we were doing favorite winter things and it just dawned on me, that this is broader! I love when the forsythia starts blooming here. I love spring tulips. I carried rubrum lilies when we got married and they are beautiful.

 

10) What are your favorite things that are wood? Trees? Actually, trees and I aren't friends right now because they are causing havoc with my sinuses. I have a friend who says that during this time of year, "the trees are having sex." Yes, yes they are.

 

11) If you think your house is haunted, what should you do? I'll have to answer this one with more questions. Pray over it? Ask the hauntees to leave? Hire a priest to do an exorcism?

12) When should you investigate a strange noise in your basement? NEVER! hahaha! Seriously, in this house we don't have a basement.

 

13) How do you know if an abandoned building is safe to visit? I'm assuming the only way I would be visiting an abandoned building would be if a real estate agent or some other professional was with me and surely they would know whether it was safe. Actually, I just can't even see myself going into an abandoned building!

 

14) How do you decide whether to solve a problem as a team, or split up and go it alone? I like to try solving it alone first and THEN if I can't solve it, I ask for help (go team!).

 

15) Where do you store your knives and where would you look if one was missing? They are stored in a drawer in the kitchen. If one was missing, I would love in my office at work. There is actually one on my desk. I've been eating a Cara Cara orange every day and I left one of my smaller knives at work for easier access to the deliciousness.

Marching into the hodgepodge

I'm connecting with the other Hodgepodge friends. Thank you to Joyce for the questions!! 

1. Has March come in like a lion where you live? If not a lion then what animal would you use to describe the weather in your area this first week of March? Does the weather affect your emotions? When did you last feel 'under the weather'? Over the weekend, it did get cool enough for us to use our fireplace and turn on the heat. From now through the first week or so of May, weather in Alabama is very unpredictable. Monday the high was 77. Tuesday afternoon called for rain. In Alabama, it is not unusual to have a frost in April or early May even though we’ve already had temps approaching 80. All of those words lead me to say that March did not come in like a lion. Maybe it came in like a llama? 

I really have no idea, I just love this picture of a llama (or is it an alpaca?) from Lilymoore farms on Instagram. The weather does affect my emotions. Rainy days make me feel “grey and a tad sad.” I’m not sure when I last felt “under the weather.” I guess it was last summer when we were moving back into our house and the construction dust caused a major asthma attack which turned into a touch of pneumonia.

2. Do you know what your name means? Does the meaning of your name fit with your personality? Do you like your name? If you have children did you consider the meaning of their names before choosing them? Lisa means “oath from God” or “devoted to God” or “my God is bountiful.” I definitely feel blessed by God and we try to live our lives for His glory. I like my name ok. I think my name seems to fit me, as in I feel like a Lisa. I don’t remember looking up the meanings for our kid’s names but maybe we did. Since we were expecting twins, we had to come up with four names which really means 8 (first and middle for each). We chose names that have been in our family. Our son is named after both of our fathers. Our daughter is named after a distant relative and my sister.

3. It's National Sauce Month...what's your favorite sauce? Last thing you ate that used a sauce? Y’all know I don’t do well with favorites. I love queso. Does that count as a sauce? It does if poured over whatever I’m eating, right? I love gravy. That isn’t really a sauce, or is it? But . . . I do love lemon sauce over gingerbread. I haven’t eaten it in years since I don’t eat sweets anymore, but it is so wonderful. Here is a blog post about the lemon sauce and the recipe.

4. Something you've seen, tasted, done lately that you'd describe as 'awesome sauce'? I don’t use the words “awesome sauce” often . . .but over the weekend, our church had our yearly Discovery weekend which is for middle school students. The small groups are led by the high school students and there are talks, fun, food, fellowship, prayer, and more throughout the weekend. We had over 450 students plus all of the other folks who helped in various ways throughout the weekend. We had the first Discovery weekend at our church back when our kids were in middle school and it is a life-changing weekend.

5. What kinds of things do you love to collect? I don’t know that I collect anything. I know that I’m going to think of something in the middle of the night! I don't have a collection but I do love to "collect" seasonal decorations.

6. Insert your own random thought here. Instead of a random thought . . .how about a random photo?

My mother-in-law never would allow
the milk carton on the table. When our kids
spent the night, she always put the milk
in this pitcher. Our daughter loves this
pitcher so it came home with Mark this week.
You may remember that my mother-in-law will
be 99 in July and still lives in her home (with
24 hour care).

How can it be March - Sunday Stealing

 

1. What (if anything) are you doing to celebrate St Patrick's Day? I imagine I wear green that day. In the evening, I might make us a cup of Irish coffee!

I made this Irish Coffee

2. What is your least favorite color (to wear, to craft with or to decorate with)? Chartreuse was my first answer but when I looked it up to verify spelling, I read that Chartreuse combines the vitality of green with the optimism of yellow. I love that so I guess I’m going to pick another color. I don’t particularly like purple – lavender is ok and our daughter’s bedroom was painted that color many years ago (her pick). I don’t think I’ve ever decorated with purple before except for Mardi Gras or maybe Lent??

3. At a yellow light - do you speed up or slow down?? Nine times out of ten, I speed up!

4. How many pairs of scissors are in your craft room? I would guestimate that I have at least 20 pairs of scissors.

5. What are the first three items you have 'saved for later' on Amazon? I don’t think I have anything saved for later on Amazon right now. This morning I ordered Airborne. I have a tendency to just buy rather than save for later.

6. Did you plant any springs bulbs in your garden and if so, have any of them come up yet? At this house we do not have any spring bulbs planted BUT right now, in Alabama, spring bulbs are blooming – tulips, etc.

7. What book, if any, are you reading right now? I am reading Last Night by Luanne Rice. I just finished reading Swamp Spies by Jana Deleon (her newest in the series).

8. Do you prefer ball point pens, gel pens, or thin tip markers to write with? I love a good pen. I use a particular one at work and I always keep a couple of boxes because my boss likes them, too. I cannot remember which brand.

9. What is your favorite crafting item - the craft item thing you use the most or can't live without? (Exclude basic items like scissors and glue). I love good paper! I try to keep a good selection. I have a Silhouette and love it (when I have more time). Our granddaughters both love to craft, too. I should have bought stock in Scotch tape – they can go through a roll in about ten minutes.

10. What are the first 3 items on your grocery list and what is your favorite grocery store? Diet Pepsi in cans, Diet Pepsi in bottles, Diet Canada Dry Ginger Ale are usually my first three things. Since covid, I use Shipt A LOT and I usually use Target because there is no extra mark-up. I also like Publix and The Pig (Piggly Wiggly).

11. What unfinished craft projects are you working on (or not:) at the moment? Last weekend, granddaughter #1 and I made these cute paper ducks and I have the supplies for the rabbit. Below are screen shots from Instagram. I forgot to take a picture of her finished duck last week.

12. What was the last item you pinned on Pinterest? Or hearted on Instagram – I actually just logged on to Pinterest to see! Last year, I pinned a ton of things for the house. Here is something I pinned and here is how it turned out.

pinned this one

Here are ours

13. What is the biggest tourist attraction where you live? We are a foodie town with some good breweries so people sometimes come to eat and drink. We have a decent baseball stadium and team and so people might come to see a game. The SEC baseball championship will be played here again this year so people will come for that. The permanent thing is Vulcan. I wrote about him here. (The picture of me was 50+ pounds ago. I get discouraged that I still have weight to lose and then I see an old photo and realize how much weight I have lost!)

14. What color is your favorite sweater? I don’t like sweaters and rarely wear them. I have several favorite sweatshirts – a dark green one is my current fav.

15. How does your family react when you get a big pile of mail? I’m the one that would react. I love mail. 😊