Bonjour! It Is a HodgePodge Kind of Day!

I am joining up the for the weekly Hodgepodge. Thank you to Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for our questions!!

1. The Olympics kick off this coming weekend. Will you be watching? If you could watch just one event in person, which one would you choose? I hope to watch some of the Olympics. If I could be there in person, I would want to watch it all - Shooting and Swimming and Artistic Swimming and more! 

2. Have you ever been to Paris? Is this a city you'd like to visit? What's your favorite 'French thing'? I have “flown through” Paris. I have actually run through the airport. My plan was to take a picture from the window so I could pretend I had been there, but I’m not kidding when I say we ran. I had packed some powder in my carry-on. Very important advice from me to you - don’t pack powder in your carry-on. I knew better. I would love to actually visit there.What is my favorite "French thing"? I'm laughing as I type this -- French fries! I know they aren't really from France. I also think French baguettes are yummy. I think a French manicure looks lovely on other people, not on me. 

3. Macaron, creme brulee, chocolate soufle, mille feuille, or an eclair...your favorite French patisserie from the ones listed? I think macarons are so pretty!! I don’t eat dessert but all sound yummy! See those macarons by the cake??

4. July 24th is National Cousins Day...do you have many cousins? Are you close to them? Will you see any of your cousins on July 24th? I will not see any of my cousins. On my mom’s side of the family, I have at least three first cousins. I think I’m next to oldest on that side. On my dad’s side, I was the baby of the first cousins. Counting my sisters, there were six of us. Now there are four of us still living and 3 of the four are my siblings and me. 

5.  Last time you went somewhere that felt like 'everyone and his cousin' was there? About a week or so ago, we went to dinner before a concert and the restaurant was very crowded and we saw a lot of people we knew.

6. Insert your own random thought here. We are finally watching Yellowstone. Oh my goodness. Don't tell me anything about it. No spoilers, please! I will say that the one we watched last night was the one where Tate has disappeared from the ranch. Don't tell me . . . but we are assuming the Beck brothers have him. I wanted to watch another episode last night but Mark didn't. I will be chomping at the bit (no pun intended but it does work with ranch/horses!!) until I find out if he is ok. I get so emotionally invested with characters in a show!

Sunday Stealing

I'm joining up with Bev at Sunday Stealing for this week's questions. She stole these from League of Extraordinary Penpals.

1.  What would you put in a time capsule? I think I would put a copy of the magazine showcasing our house and photos of Mark and me as kids plus photos of our two children at different stages of life. I am not sure what else we should include. If it is representative of 2024, we would need an I-phone and a laptop or I-pad so that those in the future could see our technology and laugh! I can't wait to read everyone's answers for this one.

2.  What’s something you’re really good at? I'm a good cook. I can type really fast. I can laugh louder than just about anyone!

3.  What part of society would you like to change? I'm not sure if this is the answer anyone is looking for but the conversation we had last night as we were driving home from dinner is immediately where my thoughts went. In the U.S. we have two poor candidates for President. We are a big country with lots of well educated people. It seems we could raise up some better candidates for President. I don't know how I would change it except to hopefully find some good candidates. 

4.  What have you eaten in the past 24 hours? I'm sure I have eaten too much! I'm typing this on Saturday morning. We went to Taco Mama for dinner last night and I had a burrito bowl and a margarita. I only ate a few chips. I had a cup of black beans and rice for lunch yesterday and some 100 calorie oatmeal for breakfast yesterday. I had a built bar as a snack and we had some watermelon.

5.  What is an unusual fact about you? I was living with identical twin roommates when I met Mark, who is an identical twin. When we got married, Kaye and Faye were in the wedding as well as Mark's brother, George. We had two sets of identical twins in the wedding. My daddy had twin sisters and I was the youngest grandchild on that side of the family and I always said I would have twins. Well, I did. We have fraternal boy/girl twins who will be 38 in November. Did you know that identical twins aren't hereditary? They just happen. Fraternal twins are hereditary.

6.  Do you collect anything? Do dust bunnies count? hahaha! For a short time when I was younger, I collected thimbles. I have none of them now. We have some antique fishing gear in a shadow box, but we don't add to it. Neither of us like clutter and sometimes collections, even though the collection might be loved, add to clutter. 

7.  Have you played sports? When I was growing up, I loved to play kickball. There were 17 kids in our neighborhood and we played outside a lot. As a young mom, I took tennis lessons for a year or so but wasn't good enough to continue (my opinion). When I was a young adult, I played raquet ball for a while. I was an ok player.

8.  What is your favorite blog? Should I say my own? I love so many blogs -- I like Respice, Prospice and Mix and Match Mama and Sunday Stealing and From This Side of the Pond. I enjoy The Plastic Mancunian because I love reading about life in other countries plus their viewpoint on things going on in the U.S. There are so many others I enjoy -- Your friend from Florida and Country Dew are good, too! I know I am forgetting some important ones and as soon as I publish this . . .I will remember. If I didn't name your blog, it isn't because I don't love visiting with you. I'm just experiencing a momentary brain blip.

9.  Ketchup vs. mustard? I like both. I wouldn't put ketchup on a turkey sandwich -- that would be gross, in my opinion. On that sandwich, mustard would be my favorite, but I prefer ketchup with my fries.

10.  Do you believe in ghosts or aliens? I've never experienced either.

11.  The last movie you saw in a theater. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

12.  The silliest thing you have done this week. I cannot think of a single silly thing. I've baked two pies and made two batches of cheese straws and worked 40 hours and participated in my online class. . . surely I've done something silly.

13.  Have you ever done anything illegal? Yes, when I was very young.

14.  What would you wish for right now? Peace on earth?

15.  What shoes do you wear the most of? I wear Birkenstocks and tennis shoes more than any other shoes.

It's a mid-July Hodgepodge!

I am joining up with Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. What is an adult problem nobody prepared you for? This is not a problem per se. . .but I had NO idea that I would still worry about my “children” so much even when they are almost 38 years old and both parents themselves.

2. Without mentioning any tech, what's your most prized possession? We truly learned how unimportant “things/possessions” are back in 2022. We, of course, still have possessions and have things we love. I love my engagement ring. I love my Wolf appliances. I love my baby quilt and hope we find it in a box in the attic that we’ve still not unpacked. My mother’s mother made it and it is the only thing I have that came from Granny George. I only have a few things from my parents and I have my grandfather’s glasses and his Fa-so-la (Sacred Harp/Shaped Note) songbook -- it made it through the fire!! Mark and his sister have been working on cleaning out their mom’s house. She had at least 58 years of possessions in that house because they moved there when Mark and George were 12. She also had the possessions of relatives who had died – there are some books from the late 1800’s and some other cool things. Most of the things are just possessions though. They meant something to her or to the people before her. Some of those possession mean something to her kids and grandkids and daughter-in-laws (including me) and son-in-law . . .but they are still just possessions.

3. It's National Peach Ice Cream Day (July 17th). Will you be celebrating? Do you like peaches? Given a choice would you prefer peach ice cream, peach pie, peach cobbler, or just hand me a peach? Do you own anything that is peach in color? I will not be celebrating but homemade peach ice cream is hard to beat! I love peaches and I haven’t had a single local peach this year. What is wrong with me?? I think I prefer the fresh peach first and then maybe the ice cream (if I still ate ice cream).

4. What makes a friendship successful? There are several things that make a friendship successful. I think honesty and a sense of humor and complete confidentiality are all very important. How about love? I think it is important!! It also helps if you have some shared interests but I don’t know if that is necessary, or not. Do you think it is necessary?

5. Let's give our brains a rest and do a little summertime this or that...beach or pool? ice cream or snowcone? amusement park or camping? burger or hot dog? watermelon or strawberries? get up early or sleep in late? sunrise or sunset? I’m horrible at these. I love the beach and pool. I’ll choose a snowcone! I definitely would choose amusement park over camping. I love both a good burger and a good hotdog. I love both watermelon and strawberries. I always get up early. I love both a good sunrise and a good sunset.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I have no random thoughts today, but I love a cat meme -- so here you go!

Whew! I Need a Weekend to Recover From Our Weekend!

Does this happen to you? Sometimes we have NOTHING fun planned for a weekend or two and then EVERY. SINGLE. THING. is scheduled over the course of just three short days?

Thursday night was the calm before the crazy! I made an Heirloom Tomato and Feta (and a little extra) tart for dinner on Thursday night. Mark doesn't like tomatoes but loves Heirloom tomatoes!!

I had a hair appointment on Friday morning at 9:00 and you might remember I mentioned she has moved 40 minutes south of us . . .basically, to a small town nestled by lots of land.

This photo was taken through the car window as I was driving (shhh! don't tell!)

I worked on my project in the afternoon until time to go to dinner with our neighbors. We had a specialty pizza -- Conecuh Sausage and Alabama Peaches -- so divine. The restaurant was crowded and they didn't have enough staff and we still had to drive downtown, park, and walk because we were going to see

Black Jacket Symphony

as they performed Jimmy Buffet

There were beach balls - lots of regular sized and one

GINORMOUS one that were bounced all over

the place. We had tons of fun BUT we got home later

than our normal bedtime and then had to get up early the next morning.

We headed south to our daughter's house because this middle granddaughter was celebrating

her 5th birthday!

We let her open her gift from Aunt Susie and Uncle Bob and the one from us

while we were still at her house.

Her favorite color is purple sparkly and Gran and Pops gave her a purple sparkly lunchbox and backpack from Pottery Barn.

We got to hang out with our youngest granddaughter, too, and she had changed so much in just three weeks!! She is so much more content than she was.

The party was at the home of the other grandparents and they have a pool!

Our son and granddaughter #1 drove down for the day.

This baby is so cute! He is the youngest child of one of Laura's closest friends.

This was a “Surf’s Up” party so these were for the cake!

The other Grandpa was floating as the “lifeguard” … in the flamingo float!!

Granddaughter #1 loved jumping into the pool!!

Mark and our son, Glenn, were sitting outside.

One of the lunchroom ladies made this cake. It was so pretty!!

We sang happy birthday!

There were so many cute kids. 

We then drove back to town, changed clothes, grabbed our stuff, and headed out again to help host a couple’s shower for our sweet relative.

Everything was just perfect!

We fell into our bed …exhausted. . . And the alarm went off at 5:00 am because I had to be at work at 7:00.

I came home after work and Sunday School and worked on my project. MLA citations are a killer to me so I was looking back at examples.

Today was the beginning of our VBS - 500 kids between 4 years old and 8 years old; 100 youth helpers; 200 adults . . .Wow! I was a greeter welcoming folks to Trinity and VBS! What a great theme -- Super Heroes!

 

Sunday Stealing

Where are all of the Sunday morning Sunday Stealing Thieves today?? Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks to Bev for our questions which she steals every week for us!

1. What is the hottest temperature you've seen this summer so far? The heat index has been 105 . . .Yesterday, when I cranked my car  . . . .thermometer said 108. My car was parked in the sun and I know that car thermometers are not the most accurate.

2. What is your favorite summer beverage? My favorite all time beverage is Diet Pepsi. I do find myself drinking more water in the summer because I'm actually thirsty.

3. Have you seen any fireflies/lightning bugs yet? Cicadas? I have seen fireflies, which we call Lightning Bugs. As a kid, we would catch them and put them in a jar. There would be holes in the lid so they could breathe. I remember they had the funniest scent. Our son was telling us about the cicadas at their lake house -- he said they were so loud, they drowned out the sound of everything else.

4. What are the last 3 things you bought online? Let's see . . .I bought plastic tablecloths for something at work, and a case of Zatarain's Black Beans and Rice (6 or 8 boxes). I also bought a cool plastic tray with a lid. It has a separate compartment underneath the tray where you can put ice.

5. Where do locals go to cool off? In our neighborhood, folks go to the neighborhood pool! In the south, most people go inside where it is air conditioned!!

6. Where did you buy your last postcard and what was on the pc? I don't remember! We actually received a postcard this week from Costa Rica from some of the young adults who were on a mission trip.

7. What's your favorite summertime scent? The smell of a fresh cut Chilton County peach or a ripe watermelon is divine.

8. What kind of a/c do you have - central, room, fans only, chillers, none and what temperature do you set it to? We definitely have central air and we need it here in Alabama.

9. Do you have a summer vacation planned and if so, where are you really going?? We do not have an actual vacation planned until October. I am going to see my daughter and her family for a couple of days later this month.

10. What are your favorite summer activities? One of my favorite summer activities has always been to be in the pool or by a lake or beach soaking up the rays. On Wednesday of this week, I will have a basal cell carcinoma removed from my ear and I imagine it is from years of sun exposure.

11.  What's your favorite summertime food? I love fresh tomatoes and ripe watermelon -- all of the summer fruits and veggies would be favs.

12. Did you ever go to summer school? I went to summer school between my junior and senior year, or maybe it was between sophomore and junior year? We could take Government/Econ in the summer and not deal with it during the school year. The last three summers, I have been in school and I am looking forward to taking next summer off from school!!

13. What's your favorite summertime memory? I remember playing outside with the neighborhood kids and we would stay until dark. Sometimes we would go out after dark to catch lightning bugs. I remember hanging out at the pool with friends and summer vacations with my birth family and then with Mark and our kids and his family.

14. Do you like fireworks? I LOVE them. I really love them!!

15. How do you feel about the longer days of summer? Could we keep these long days of light for longer than the summer, please? I love waking up at 5:00 a.m. to light. I noticed this morning that it was closer to 5:30 so the days are getting shorter already!!! No! Please stop it! It is still light until about 8:00 p.m. and I love that, too. In the winter, it is almost dark at 4:30 and definitely dark at 5:00 p.m. 

Hot as H.E. double hockey sticks Hodgepodge

 I'm joining up with Joyce and the other Hodgepodgers for this week's questions.

1. Do you feel older or younger than your age? Elaborate. 99% of the time I feel much younger than my age. On Tuesday nights, we hang out with young adults. They keep us young! Most of my co-workers are younger than me and I forget that I’m not their age. I will say that when I am tired, I feel every day of my age. Sometimes I’m surprised when I see a photo of myself and realize that I’m old haha!

2. What's one thing you should toss right now, but just can't? There are some things in the veggie drawer of the refrigerator that I need to toss!! There are some things in our attic that we should toss. We cleaned out a lot when we moved to this house 10 years ago. We also cleaned out even more when we moved back in after the fire (the fire was two years ago this week and we weren’t back in the house yet last summer), we cleaned out more.

3. Have you visited many of the 63 National Parks in the US of A? You'll find a list here. Do you have a favorite? What National Park that you haven't seen do you most want to see? I was thinking that I had never been to any of the National Parks, but after looking at the list I realized I have been to a couple –I’ve been to the Smokey Mountains National Park several times and I’ve been to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I would love to go to Joshua Tree and I would love to go to Kings Canyon and see the Sequoias.

4. How often do you get take out? What's your favorite? I get take out for lunch a couple of times a month. We get take out for dinner about the same – a couple of times a month. We much prefer to go to a restaurant with friends. We try to go out with friends at least 2 or 3 times a month. My favorite take out . . .We both enjoy Chick Fil A salads. I picked up hamburgers at a restaurant near us a week or so ago. We don't have a great Chinese place around us or I would probably get take out there more often. Sometimes I grab a salad with grilled shrimp from Tazikis. There is a salad I love at Green House in Homewood.

5. Do you have many (or any) subscriptions? Not necessarily magazines, but thinking more along the lines of boxes or products that companies offer, and you can sign up to receive on a regular basis. Could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, even daily. Tell us about them. I subscribe to a couple of cleaning products and beauty/bathroom products on Amazon. I also subscribe to Built Bar and get a shipment every few weeks. We subscribe to Garden and Gun Magazine and love it. I get some weird magazine that took the place of some other magazine that I used to receive. For six months or so, I did Stitch Fix and it was fun to get a box of clothes and jewelry.

6. Insert your own random thought here. Whew! It has been HOT here in Alabama. I took a church member on a tour of our prayer garden/columbarium on Tuesday morning (funeral planning). It was 9:00 a.m. and the minute we walked outside, we started sweating. Just in case H.E. double hockey sticks doesn't make sense to you . . .that would be H E L L (see those double hockey sticks??).

Favorite Sunday Stealing

Let me say this . . .I am horrible at favorites! I never can decide whether something is really my "favorite" or not . . .or either I have several favorites. With that said, I'm joining up with the Sunday Stealing gang!

Stolen from SwapBot

 

1. What's your favorite animal? I do love our Harvey so I guess I'm going to say that cats - especially big cats are my favorite.

2. What's your favorite book? My favorite book is usually whatever I'm reading at the moment!!

3. What's your favorite color? I have several favorite colors - I love bright blue, pink, fuschia, and red.

4. What's your favorite dessert? I don't eat dessert anymore but I love icing/frosting! Yum! My overall favorite would be a tie between our homemade German Chocolate cake and cheesecake.

5. What's your favorite drink? I actually do have a favorite and if you've ever read my blog, you probably know that my favorite drink is Diet Pepsi. I also love a good Moscow Mule or a Margarita or a Cosmopolitan.

6. What's your favorite food? One of my favorite foods is french fries. Yum! Yum! I make them in the air fryer to hold off the craving for the real things.

7. What's your favorite hobby? I love to read. Since January of 2022 I have been back in school so I've not had much time for hobbies!!

8. What's your favorite movie? We rarely watch movies so I don't have a favorite. I do love Hocus Pocus and watch it every year.

9. What's your favorite restaurant? I live in a foodie city! We have so many wonderful places to eat. We recently ate at Helen and it was so good! We also love Blueprint on Third and I love Hot and Hot.

10. What's your favorite sandwich? Does a cheeseburger count as a sandwich? If so, that is my favorite. In the summertime, I also love a BLT with a homegrown tomato. I like a simple grilled cheese sandwich, too. There used to be a restaurant near the church that served a turkey sandwich on raisin bread with pepper jelly. OH MY GOODNESS - that was a good sandwich.

11. What's your favorite season? I love fall decorations. To be honest, I like all of the seasons except winter and thank goodness, our winters are usually fairly mild and short.

12. What's your favorite series? Series of what? A TV show? I loved Ted Lasso - maybe my all-time favorite. 

13. What's your favorite snack? I love salty snacks. My most recent favorite snack is the Premium Minis Saltine Crackers.

14. What's your favorite sport to watch? SEC football -- especially Auburn football.

15. What's your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Breakfast is not my favorite meal and I eat weird things for breakfast. I do make a "sheet pancake" that I really enjoy and we make Kodiak waffles sometimes. I enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich some mornings . . .or a turkey sandwich. I rarely allow myself to eat one . . .but I do love a good biscuit. I enjoy bacon and sausage.

I did better on these questions than I normally do on "favorites." I can't wait to read everyone else's answers!!

This and That

On the Sunday after we had Mark's mom's memorial service, a friend of mine was in charge of the altar flowers. She had saved the flowers from the Memorial Service and reworked them into the altar arrangement plus a wreath for the baptismal font. Mark's mom was the original chairperson of the Flower Guild and the flowers were in her honor. The arrangements were gorgeous!!

On the last Tuesday in June, our young professionals did some mission projects for our Hub. They tied tags on reusable shopping bags and they made baggies of goodies for the children whose parents attend the ESOL classes on Monday nights.

Mark and his sister, Susie, have begun to clean out their mother's house. It will take months to bring it to completion. She brought this windmill back from Germany and our daughter, Laura, asked for it. It smells VERY MUSTY. I've sprayed it with Febreeze and I've had it sitting on the screen porch for over a week. Any other ideas on getting that smell out of the wood?

I'm still waiting on the results . . .but I had a biopsy on a place on my ear. The dermatologist thinks it is basal cell carcinoma. If it is, I will have another bandange because he will have to remove more.

I got to have some Gran time with our 8 year old granddaughter (granddaughter #1) last week. She loves Claire's so we spent a long time in the store.

We looked at the crafts and toys in Walmart and then

we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

She had her bunny in her purse and the bunny sat on her head

at lunch!

We hosted supper club at our house on Saturday night. In an earlier post, I included a picture of the duck that Mark smoked on the Pit Barrel Cooker. We also had Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts from Burgers Smokehouse. I made cheese grits to go with the meat.

I love our dining room.

Another thing Mark and Susie found in a closest at Gmom's house -- 2 bonnets. I'm going to take those to Laura and she will give to the theater teacher at her school.

On Tuesday night, the 3rd, we met our Young Adults at Moss Rock Tacos. On Tuesday nights they offer $2 tacos (a selection of 3 kinds) and $2.50 Mexican beers. They also offer margaritas at regular price :-)

This is an amazing find and it is going to Laura, too -- The copyright date is in the 1800's and again in 1906 (I think that is correct). It is a beautiful book.

Since my birthday is on Flag Day, I have a few cute patriotic decorations and Snoopy was a gift from a cousin last year. He looks so cute hanging on the oven door.

On Wednesday, the third, our friends treated us to dinner as a late birthday present. The young man working the front desk was NOT PLEASANT. Our server was great but they need to put someone else at the front door.

On the night of the 4th, we went to eat at Mark's sister's house with her and her husband. She has several chairs covered in this gorgeous fabric. She loves to paint and this fabric looks like art!

When we were driving home, the sky was crazy!

We''ve had two big thunderstorms today with HUGE thunder. Harvey and I both have PTSD. I may have yelled a word that begins with Sh and ends with T when a bolt was right beside our house. I may have then worn a path in the hardwood floor while praying out loud!!! Harvey was hiding under the bed and if I would have fit, I would have been under there with him! The lightning hit behind the houses across from us.

The firetruck came and actually checked out several houses. I don't think anyone had any structural damage.

BUT our neighbors had a gas leak!! I don't know if it came from the lightning strike or not. Spire came out after the firefighters left. They just left around 9:00 p.m. It looked like they had to dig up part of the street.

We've had another thunderstorm this evening. 

I've been studying for my mid-term which is Monday. I received my grade on my paper -- 95. I was pleased.