Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too Wednesday HodgePodge

Link up with Joyce and answer her Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions!

1. ASAP typically stands for 'as soon as possible'. What else could it stand for in your life right now? 

ASAP – as soon as possible fits this week – actually it fits most of the time.  I have to remind myself often to move from the urgent to the important.  I was just reading Joyce’s blog to get today’s questions and I’m one of the bad girls who tends to post a day late on Wednesday’s HodgePodge (so sorry!!). I guess I need to get today's HodgePodge whipped out ASAP.  Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are all really hard days and I sometimes can’t slow down until Thursday morning to write.  (once again, I’m so sorry and will try to do better!!)  Another ASAP would be Always Say a Prayer . . .I need that one all of the time!

2. Are you the last person to speak up in a group or the first to have an idea? Why do you suppose that is? Is it a good thing or no?

I used to be the first person to speak up but then I began facilitating a small group . . .and I learned that silence is often golden.  If those of us who like to speak first would just SHUT UP, someone else might speak and say something truly profound.  

3. What do you remember best about being 12? 

Would I have been in the sixth grade?  If so, that was the year of integration.  I remember hurting for the new girls in our class and thinking how frightened they must be as they were removed from their comfort zone (didn’t know that terminology back then!) and plopped right into a totally different environment. 

I also remember going to the skating rink (roller skating) with our church and hearing the song This Magic Moment!  That is a totally random memory that just popped into my head!!

4. January 18th is National Winnie the Pooh Day. Which character do you relate to the most, and why? If you're stumped go here for inspiration. 

I took the quiz here and I’m Tigger!  Their blurb about Tigger is “You are constantly bright, upbeat, and full of energy and you don’t hesitate to spread your sunny attitude around.”  Just FYI, I’m not very “full of energy” today!!  Even a picture of Tigger makes me smile!!

5. What's an app you use that helps simplify or make life easier for you in some way? 

I love my Amazon app and I love my Shelby Next (work) app!

6. San Francisco (CA), San Diego (CA), San Juan (PR) San Antonio (TX) Sanibel (FL)...you have an all expenses paid long weekend to one of these destinations. Which one do you choose and why?

Please send me to Sanibel in Florida . . .a few days on the beach would be lovely.  I’ve been to San Antonio and I’ve been to San Juan . . .and California is so far away that long travel time would take away too much of the weekend.  I would LOVE to go to California . . .but would need longer than a weekend!!

7. Share with us a song that makes you feel nostalgic? For what? 

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with a song.  I mentioned This Magic Moment earlier and that song takes me waaaaay back.  At the funeral last week, they played How Great Thou Art by Tennessee Ernie Ford and I thought about when I was a little bitty kid and how my parents would play records (an example would be hymns by Tennessee Ernie Ford!).  That memory drew me deeper into thought and I remembered 16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford playing on that same stereo!  I was born in 1958 and that song came out several years before I was born so I must have been really young.  All of those memories made me remember one more . . .I can remember sitting in my daddy’s lap.  I think I might have been sick and I remember sitting by our big old heater . . .it was bigger than this but seems like it looked sort of like this.

I remember sitting by that heater and I remember him singing a song to me.  I’ve used Google a lot for this answer for a picture of the heater and for the names/artists of these songs!!  Ricky Nelson used to sing a song, Get Along Home, Cindy.  I remember my daddy singing that song to me.  Thinking about my daddy makes me wish that I had known my parents as an adult.  My mom died when I was 15 and my dad died when I was 25.  Interesting how thinking about one song led to another and another until I truly feel nostalgic!!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

The young professional group that meets in our home on Tuesday nights is doing a four week study – Adulting 101 led by one of our ministers, Nathan Carden.  We’ve just finished two weeks talking about money – budgets, saving, investing.  Most of these young professionals are so amazing!  They know they need to be budgeting and saving and are eager to learn.  I wish that I had been in a group like this to learn and grow.  When Mark and I were first married, I thought he was trying to punish me by telling me that we needed to order water in a restaurant.  Lo and behold, that is a great way to begin saving on expenses.  Mark is great with money and I AM NOT.  He has ALWAYS insisted that we live below our means and I am so very thankful NOW.  Along the way, I’ve been angry and frustrated and I’ve pitched a million fits . . .but he was wise beyond his years back then.

I would love to hear some great budgeting stories!  Do you keep a budget?  Are you frugal or a spendthrift?  What is your favorite way to save money?