Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 603

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here on Wednesday (of course), May 21st to share your answers. 

1. May 20th is World Bee Day...what's something that's kept you 'busy as a bee' lately? 

2. Do you like honey? What's something you make or enjoy that calls for honey? 

3. "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." Proverbs 16:24

What's a proverb you love, or one that speaks to you or has helped you in some way? 

The Bible is full of Proverbs, a whole book in fact, if that helps with your answer. The word proverb is defined as 'a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice'. 

4. Tell us about a 'sweet' moment in your life recently that filled you with joy, gratitude, or peace. 

5. When you were a child, what did you want to 'be' when you grew up? How close did you come to that? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A Curious Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then be sure to leave a comment for your neighbor there before running off. Here we go-

1. What's something you're curious about right now? 

It's hard to narrow this down to just one. I think being curious helps keep you young, and I've always enjoyed learning. Here are just a few things on my list right now -

history, the end times, Gen Z, dough making and baking in general, skin care and aging, people and their stories, and the nagging pain in my ankle. 

2. If you could plan the perfect girl's weekend getaway, where would you go and what would be on the agenda? Do you have anything like this on your calendar in the next few months? 

Pretty sure I sound like a broken record, but I'd love a weekend away somewhere fun with both my girls. I suggested it to my oldest and said, 'we could even take the little girls with us (they're 1 and 2.5) and just leave the boys home, and my daughter said, 'well the girls are the feisty ones, so maybe they stay home with the dads too.' It's kind of true lol. 

A fun weekend away would include leisurely meals eaten on pretty patios, sunshine, shopping, matching pjs, and lots of talking about both the deep and the not so deep stuff of life. I think we'd all enjoy some sort of cooking experience along with what I've already mentioned too. 

I do have a fun girls weekend planned in August with some college friends. We were all in the same sorority way back when, and there are four of us who live in the same general area now, so the lake works. I think there will be about ten of us this year. One of the girls also has a lake house here, so we split the sleeping accommodations between the two of us, and do some meals here and some there. Mostly we spend the days floating and laughing. A lot. 

I see the 'locals' for lunch now and then, but I think the last time we had a bigger group get together was the weekend of Meghan Markle's wedding. 

Remember that? We got up at o'dark thirty and sipped Pimms on my screened porch and watched the wedding all together. 

Hubs acted as photographer. We met in uni so he knows and loves these girls too.

3. What's the most unique item in your refrigerator right now? 

I don't know how unique this is, but I keep these eye masks in my frig because they're better cold.

To be honest I kind of forget they're in there, but when I went to look for the answer to this question I put some on. They do feel so good on your skin. 

You'd also find a little bottle of super glue because that supposedly extends its shelf life. 

4. In this season of your life, what do you find most challenging? 

How I want to spend my time. Life isn't prescriptive the way it is with kids in the house, and while you might think there won't be enough to do in your 'retirement years' I'm here to tell you there are almost too many choices. We retired young which is a factor, but still it's not boring. I want to make the days count. 

5. Do you collect anything? If so why that? 

Not really. I do have a bit of a running joke with my daughters related to hedgehogs, so I have acquired a few things with hedgehogs on them, all given to me by my girls (and a couple from the hubs). 

They're the only ones I want doing that though. I feel like sometimes people hear you collect something and suddenly you're the hedgehog lady. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

We had our monthly wine dinner Tuesday night which is always fun. It's a nice group and the food is so good.  Here's a snapshot-

Let's begin at the end with dessert, which doesn't necessarily look special, but I'm here to tell you every single bite was absolutely scrumptious. African Almond cookies crumbled beneath a chocolate coconut sorbet. Yum! 

The salad was a standout too, warm eggplant and butternut squash with baby spinach, roasted peanuts and a tamarind vinaigrette-

There was also a spicy soup, lambchops which are my fave, and this wonderful fish which is a spiced bronzino with crunchy rice, horseradish potato salad and microgreenns. The portions aren't huge which makes for a pleasant meal. 

If I'm being honest, I enjoy the wine but I'm really here for the food. Can you tell? 

Hello Monday Afternoon

I didn't have it in me to blog Sunday night, and then had some things to do here this morning, so going to try to catch up now. I took very few pictures this weekend which is partly why I put off doing my Hello Monday recap. I feel like these posts need pictures. 

Honestly I'm not sure what I did on Friday. The kids spent their first official night sleeping in their own beds in their own house Thursday night so we woke up to a quiet house Friday morning. When they pulled out of the driveway on Thursday hubs was a little sad and my daughter laughed and said, 'see you tomorrow' because that's life now. 

While it's nice to return to our quiet morning coffee routine we are also missing the hugs and chatter and big smiles we've been greeted with first thing every morning since mid-January. We'll get used to it. 

I think hubs and I went out to a little local 'dive bar' for dinner Friday evening. I only know this because I took a picture of one half of my BLT, which hubs thought was funny (as in odd), but I told him that's how I remember things now. Sad, but sort of true. 

Plus it was delicious. This place is tiny and low key but the food is homemade and tastes like your momma made it. 

I do know hubs spent the entire day on Friday cleaning both my car and the boat. And the dock too, because why not? I'm getting new tires put on my car as I type,  and hubs says you can't take a car for new tires without washing it first. 

I mean I could, but he couldn't.  

He came home from washing the car and said he was just going to clean the boat which is a job in itself since it's been covered all winter long, but he cannot ever do just one thing so he went ahead and waxed it too. 

With his sidekick of course. Then,  since he was there and had the power washer going, he also cleaned the dock. 

She's all ready for her first voyage of the season.

Now we just need the weather to get with the program. We have a rainy few days in the forecast, but hopefully later this week we can go for a spin. Ride? Cruise! 

Saturday I picked my daughter up at her house which is 3.7 miles from my house (just sayin'), and we drove a little over an hour to a baby shower for her sister-in-law. 

The shower was in a friend's home and the hostess did a beautiful job with the decorating, the food, and all the little nice touches that make an event feel special. 

It sprinkled on us a little so we ended up opening the presents inside, but it was a lovely event and a fun day. 

The hostess had these sweet little favors which are wildflowers on seed paper. You actually plant the paper and flowers will grow. 

My daughter rode home with her mother-in-law because her hubs was at their house with the kids so they could have an early Mother's Day dinner together on Saturday night. I came home and kind of wanted to flop on the couch, but hubs said he'd been 'lazy' and wanted to go out so we did. 

fyi-my hubs is never lazy. 

We went to a local place for Mexican food and a margarita which was fine. 

Sunday morning we went to church with the kids. We've been going to their church the past few Sundays and I really like the pastor. The messages we've heard have been excellent and they're going through 1 Corinthians one chapter (sometimes less) at a time. So so good. 

We arrived before the kids did and it's so sweet to see them running towards us. The kids come into church for the first part of the service, then go to their own classes before the preaching and Max held hubs hand the whole time. After church we went to breakfast/lunch with the whole crew. I always order breakfast, but the boys had lunch so everyone was happy. 

My daughter brought me the cutest hat as a gift and the sweetest cards. Hedgehogs are a thing for my girls and I so they always try to find me hedgehog cards when they can, and I appreciate it.

I haven't mastered the selfie. Carry on. 

Daughter2 sent her gift earlier in the week, and I knew I'd love it because it's from a company I order from myself-The Rifle Paper Company. They have hand painted designs...stationery and home goods, and I think they even do wallpaper too. The quality is so good. She sent this pretty tray-

And a stationery set (yes, I write notes and letters) in a pretty box-

There's a nice pen, pretty paper, and envelopes with fun seals that I can't wait to use. 

It was a gray rainy day so we came home and I put on my comfy clothes and spent the afternoon reading. Hubs had booked us a table at a nice restaurant in the 'city', but we decided before church to cancel and just go to brunch with the kids instead. We watched a couple of movies that evening and just chilled, all of which made for a very nice Mother's Day.  

And that's pretty much the weekend that was. Hope yours was filled with lots of happy moments too. 

Linking a bit late, but not too late, with Holly and Sarah for their Hello Monday weekend recap party. Have a nice week!

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 602

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (May 14th) to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. What's something you're curious about right now? 

2. If you could plan the perfect girl's weekend getaway, where would you go and what would be on the agenda? Do you have anything like this on your calendar in the next few months? 

3. What's the most unique item in your refrigerator right now? 

4. In this season of your life, what do you find most challenging? 

5. Do you collect anything? If so why that? 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

It May Be The Hodgepodge

Welcome to another week of Wednesday Hodgepodge-ing. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then be sure to say hi to your neighbor there. Here we go... 

1. Let's compare this May to last May. What's changed? What remains very much the same? 

I looked back over my blog from last May and it seems life is not all that different than it was one year ago in terms of the month itself. As far as what has changed in the last year, the biggest would be my oldest daughter's geography. 

She and her hubs and kids were living in Cincy last May, moved to the UK for six months, and are now living literally right down the road from us in SC so that's one big change. 

The grands are all a year older and so are we. 

2. What's something you may do this month? 

I may visit a farmer's market. They're opening up in our area now and that's something I like to do this time of year especially. We have a few weekend happenings on the calendar already, but hoping I can make it to the market some Saturday. 

Our town has a Thursday night music thing, where they close the main road and there's a band and food trucks, and it's just a fun night out. It runs April-October, but we haven't made it to one yet. Hoping to get there in May. 

3. Mother's Day is approaching (in the US of A)...in what way(s) are you like your mother? 

I've always been a lot like my mom. For starters we're both stubborn-ha! I'm gonna own it because it's true. We both love Jesus, books, shoes, beautiful gardens, and time in the kitchen. We see motherhood as a calling, we're independent, and we love our people and also our space. 

My mom will turn 95 on her birthday this year, so not all of these are part of her life now, but they're definitely what I associate with her and how I picture her in my head. 

4. Did you have a favorite book as a child? What was it and why was it a favorite. 

I had several favorites...Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne,  and Crow Boy by Taro Yashima are definitely at the top of my list. My mom read aloud to my younger sister and I all throughout our childhood, well past the point we could have read those same books ourselves. 

Growing up we had a formal living room and a den in our house, and we never played in the living room. That space was for grown up gatherings and holidays, but my mom would read to us there which made the time feel extra special. 

My sister and I would sit on either side of her on the couch and through those books we developed a real and lasting love of reading, as well as a shared language and a closeness with our mom that carries weight. There are several expressions from the books I mentioned that we still use today. They gave us lots of 'scope for the imagination', and if you don't know that expression then you've never met Anne. With an e. 

If you've never read Crow Boy by Taro Yashima, check it out. 

5. Are you more of a tortoise or a hare? Explain. 

I have always been a hare, but these days I'd say I'm 'a little more tortoise. I'm savoring slower mornings and a slower pace in general. Pretty sure people might still say hubs and I are a couple of hares though. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

In honor of Mother's Day I'm linking to a post I wrote back in 2012, a sort of ode to motherhood. You'll find it linked here -K is for The Keepers.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommas reading here today...

...most especially to my own sweet girls who are now mothers themselves, and who continue to teach me so much about so many things.

"For all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you."-Author unknown

Hey Y'all~It's Monday

Good morning friends. I hope your weekend was grand. Ours was busy and delightful. Delightfully busy I guess you could say. Did you watch the Derby? 

On Friday the 'kids' furniture was delivered to their new home. My son-in-law had to be in Charlotte all day for a medical thing (work, not illness) that was scheduled before they knew when the furniture was arriving, but we rally here. 

The in-laws picked up the grands first thing and took them back to their house for the weekend, then I went to my daughter's house to help with the unpacking. Hubs stayed at our house since we had scheduled a whole house clean for that day because...

Saturday we were having 32 people here for a Derby party.

We like it complicated. 

My daughter and I unwrapped at least 100 pieces of glassware, and managed to get most of the kitchen unboxed so the movers could take the empties and filler with them. I went to pick up lunch for everyone and got back to her house in the middle of a crazy hail storm. Insane! I was a little worried about my car but think it survived unscathed. 

My daughter's house is a mere four miles from my own house but hubs said we had all rain, zero hail. The lake can make the weather wonky (er). 

Meanwhile, at my house every nook, cranny, window, and corner was being dusted, mopped, wiped down, wiped off and vacuumed. These girls did the most fabulous job and there is nothing better on a Friday afternoon than walking into a sparkling clean house. We normally do it ourselves but given the timing of the move/party we decided to call in the professionals and it was worth every penny.

Friday night we checked out a newish place for dinner,  a distillery with a charming western vibe (the owners are former rodeo competitors). Hubs and I shared a salad and a pasta and both were delish. The 'kids' joined us as we were finishing up and my daughter and I split a chocolate dessert which was fun. 

For some reason the cake looks ginormous in this picture, but it was just a normal serving. We got home around 9 and hubs cranked up the Big Green Egg to start the BBQ we would be serving the next day. 

We had eighteen pounds of meat (three pork butts he'd seasoned that morning) and knew they would take about 16 hours to cook, cool, and shred. 

It's a whole big process which hubs manages like a boss. I'm just here for moral support and the end result- 

Saturday we were hosting a Derby party and the sky kept us guessing as to whether that would be indoors or out until pretty much the last minute. The plan was for outdoors, but we had some rain in the early part of the afternoon and the forecast wasn't the best. Our dining space is covered and so is the main seating area, but the grilling area is not and neither is the waterfall patio. 

The party was starting at 4:30 and at 4:15 we finally felt like it was safe to uncover the furniture and bring more chairs down to the lower patio. I put a six foot table there too so people could spread out. 

And they did. 

People were everywhere and it was so much fun! 

The new space worked out really well, comfortable and cozy and it felt exactly as we hoped it would feel. 

Hubs made his famous mint juleps and we put some red roses around and I have some fun little picks and table runners and a horse poster to add to the festivities. 

Everyone brought appetizers, salads, or desserts to go with the BBQ, which was one of hubs best...so good! 

The race itself is short but definitely lives up to its billing as the most exciting two minutes in sports. You know what our highlight was? About an hour before the party ended my daughter and her hubs walked in. 

Hubs said his heart leapt when he saw her from across the room, because it was just this unexpected moment we both were able to recognize as our new normal. We have never lived near enough for us to say, 'hey we're having a party, why don't you come?', and now we do. 

On Sunday hubs and I were supposed to drive over to TN to attend the funeral of a college friend. We hadn't been traveling long when we got a call that the service would need to be rescheduled due to a separate family emergency. Such a hard thing for these folks to navigate and I really feel for them. 

We turned around and stopped for breakfast at a place we like, then I changed into comfy clothes and watched movies and napped the afternoon away. Hubs was out getting the leaves off the driveway, moving chairs back where they belong, and carrying a table to the attic, but that's the hubs. 

I took the day off because a day off is sometimes needed, and today was that day.

I hope you had a nice weekend too. Hop over to the Hello Monday link up hosted by Holly and Sarah to add your own recap and see what others are sharing there too.

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 601

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (May 7th) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Let's compare this May to last May. What's changed? What remains very much the same? 

2. What's something you may do this month? 

3. Mother's Day is approaching (in the US of A)...in what way(s) are you like your mother? 

4. Did you have a favorite book as a child? What was it and why was it a favorite. 

5. Are you more of a tortoise or a hare? Explain. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.