Here's To The Hodgepodge

Welcome to another week in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, the last one in the month of May. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Comments make the maypole go round! 

1. It's National Wine Day (May 25)...do you like wine? Red or white? Dry or sweet? Do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to California wine country? Or any other wine region? What's a dish you make that calls for wine? 

I do like wine, both red and white (rose too) and especially champagne. I like dry wine, never sweet. Champagne is my favorite but if I'm having white I'll opt for a sauvignon blanc and a red zin if we're having red. I have been to Napa, visited some of Portugal's wine area, and the champagne region of France. That was one of my favorite trips ever...the food, the countryside, the history, the friends we traveled with, and of course the champagne. I wrote about it way back when and you can read those posts here and here. 

I make a chicken dish that calls for wine, capers, artichokes and roasted red peppers and it's yummy.

2. What's something you've whined about lately? 

I know I sound like a broken record but the pollen has taken on a life of its own this year. 

3. Last time you were 'wined and dined'? Tell us about it. 

I feel like I'm wined and dined fairly often as that's something we both enjoy. Hubs and I went with some neighbors a few weeks ago to a lovely seven course dinner and wine pairing in a nearby restaurant. Every single course was delicious and the whole event made for a wonderful fun night out.  

4. Three cheers for_____________________.

Grandboys! 

The ones we know and the one we cannot wait to meet soon!

5. This will be the last Hodgepodge in the month of May. Somehow next Wednesday the calendar rolls into June. Before we go though, sum up your May in twelve words or less. 

Family fun, baby talk, celebrations, road trippin, and a whole lotta love. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Land of the free, because of the brave...

Thankful this Memorial Day and every day for the men and women who gave their very lives for this land I love. May we honor their memory with our words and actions. 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 464

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

1. It's National Wine Day (May 25)...do you like wine? Red or white? Dry or sweet? Do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to California wine country? Or any other wine region? What's a dish you make that calls for wine? 

2. What's something you've whined about lately? 

3. Last time you were 'wined and dined'? Tell us about it. 

4. Three cheers for_____________________.

5. This will be the last Hodgepodge in the month of May. Somehow next Wednesday the calendar rolls into June. Before we go though, sum up your May in twelve words or less. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Everything's Relative In The Hodgepodge

Welcome to another week of Wednesday Hodgepodging. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for your neighbor there. Here we go-

1. What's something that makes you feel stressed? How do you cope? 

Something that makes me feel stressed? Running late. 

How do I cope? I don't lol. I despise being late and am usually careful to plan my travel so as not to be late. If I am late for some reason I remind myself that it's not the norm, that sometimes circumstances arise that are outside my area of control, and I try to call wherever I'm headed to explain. Once I'm there I apologize profusely. 

2. What's a food you eat that evokes a memory? Explain. 

We don't have it very often but homemade ice cream takes me right back to my childhood. My sister and I taking turns sitting on the freezer so it didn't 'walk' while my dad and my brother took turns with the crank. The smell of rock salt, and that first taste we always had as my dad pulled the paddle out of the container. 

We have a new freezer, electric so not the same sort of charm. Not the same amount of work either so there's that, but still...there was something about the process that made the ice cream taste extra good. 

3. This week's Hodgepodge lands on National Visit Your Relatives Day. Will you celebrate by visiting a relative? If so is travel involved? Geographically, who is your nearest relative (not counting those living in your own house)?

As it happens I am going to see Daughter2 today, so yes travel is involved, but just the car kind. My momma is here visiting and we're taking a little road trip to see both girls and the grandboys, which will be fun. Hubs is home minding the fort and the pup. 

Geographically my nearest relative is my older sister who is a little over an hour away. 

4. What's your most frequently used emoji? Do you make more phone calls, send more emails, or mainly text to communicate with friends and family? 

Usually it's the laughing face although lately it might be the blue heart. Every time I text about baby boy I add a blue heart. 

I definitely do more texting and emailing than phone calling but there are times when a phone call is necessary. I used to do a lot of emailing, but these days its mostly texts. 

5. Tell us the story behind a favorite piece of furniture. 

This is our antique Monk's Bench. It's a tabletop set onto a wooden chest in such a way that when the table isn't being used it can be flipped up to form a bench. 

We generally leave ours as a table-

We bought this on a bright blue sky day in the little village of Hungerford while living across the pond. It was a fun day out with friends and is a little piece of England now living in the southland. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A few things-

• I'm so glad we added the Murphy Bed because it's been the extra space we need when we have a full house. 

• We often have a full house.

• My freezer door 'broke' when I had company about three weeks ago. That was fun. My houseguest got to help me empty my overly full freezer and move everything to the garage freezer which was also already overly full so ugh. The repairman managed to get it closed though, I think because I threatened tears saying I had a shower coming up and really needed everything in working order. Today he came back with the ordered part and we're back in business. 

• Hubs drove my car one hour to the dealer this morning to have a part replaced, one they'd ordered and let him know had come in, only to discover after he got there someone had sold the part. Double ugh. The dealer is making it right. 

•  I'm tired. Yay for leftovers! 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 463

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with the rest of the world wide webbers. See you there! 

1. What's something that makes you feel stressed? How do you cope? 

2. What's a food you eat that evokes a memory? Explain. 

3. This week's Hodgepodge lands on National Visit Your Relatives Day. Will you celebrate by visiting a relative? If so is travel involved? Geographically, who is your nearest relative (not counting those living in your own house)?

4. What's your most frequently used emoji? Do you make more phone calls, send more emails, or mainly text to communicate with friends and family? 

5. Tell us the story behind a favorite piece of furniture. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Showered With Love

What a fun, full, fantabulous weekend we've just had, with friends and family here to shower the momma-to-be with love and diapers and lots of baby blue. What a treat to have both my girls and my grandsons in the house all weekend long.

Their husbands were working so it was just the originals for a few days, which is marvelous and rare. The originals plus the grandsons which is also something special. 

The mancub photobombed almost every picture snapped this weekend which was hilarious and precious. Baby Max was having none of it. He was too busy making change and ordering 'cleanup on aisle 4' through the microphone on our Barbie cash register, circa 1990-something. I found it while rifling though some boxes last week and it was a big hit. 

We took a boat ride Thursday afternoon, everyone but the baby momma who at almost nine months pregnant was not up for a cruise. 

The boys took turns playing captain and the mancub did his best to try to talk us into letting him go for a swim. We finally let him put his feet in and he decided for himself to wait for next time. 

Friday we spent the day doing the final prep for our Saturday celebration. Hubs brother and sister-in-law arrived with his mom late afternoon and after an easy pizza dinner we girls got busy wrapping up the food and decor, and laying out the umpteen hundred dishes, serving utensils, tablecloths, bowls, platters, and glassware we were going to haul up to our clubhouse Saturday morning. 

We made twenty two hundred trips to the car to get it all loaded and then another twenty two hundred trips from the car to the clubhouse to get it all unloaded, then did it all again in reverse once the shower wrapped up. Whew! I could not have done this without daughter1 and my sister-in-law who are rock stars when it comes to this sort of thing. 

The shower was darling. I could not have loved this theme more and all the little details came together so sweetly to make a really lovely day. 

the grandmothers

Once I discovered daughter2's wallpaper from the very first house we brought her home to some 30+ years ago I knew I wanted a Peter Rabbit theme. I love the stories and soft colors and the garden setting so that's what we did. 

Daughter1 found the cutest printable on Etsy, a giant book taken from the Tale of Peter Rabbit, but personalized to the mom and dad to be. She ordered a poster sized print, had it professionally mounted on some foam board, and set it on an easel with fresh greenery added both top and bottom. 

We used A Beatrix Potter Treasury as our guest book, and set up a mini-garden, complete with Peter's little blue sweater hanging on a stand my brother-in-law made. 

We used fresh cabbage, radish, a watering can filled with hydrangea, and some marigolds and terra cotta pots to complete the look. 

There was a jar filled with cottontails for everyone to guess the number and lettuce seed packets as favors for our guests. 

Lunch was a 'make your own salad' from Mr. McGregor's garden served on my china, my grandmother's china, and daughter2's mother-in-law's china which all felt extra special. 

We had green salad, pasta salad, chicken salad, fresh fruit salad, and pimento cheese served on a combination of my sister-in-law's beautiful cabbage dishes and my Italian vegetable bowl and platter.

 Guests were also served a cup of carrot-ginger soup and there were yummy cupcakes for dessert. 

We played a fun game and oohed and ahhed over all the cute baby boy clothes and gear she was given. Baby gear has surely come a long long way since I birthed mine and that's a good thing. 

the great-grandmothers

The best part of the weekend was seeing Daughter2 surrounded by so many people who love her so dearly. Friends and family who have supported her, rooted for her, and prayed for this precious little boy she and her hubs are adding to our family. 

We don't know him yet, but we already love him more than words can say.

There Once Was A Hodgepodge On Wednesday

Welcome to another edition of your weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Here we go-

1. What do you never get tired of? 

watermelon, popcorn, small acts of kindness, a bright blue sky, watching the sun rise

2. My mother made the best enchiladas.

3. What machine or appliance in your home aggravates you the most? Why? 

Besides the computer you mean, because that's a given? Of our home appliances I guess I'll say the TV. The remotes still make me crazy, I guess because they are basically mini computers. I try, but operating the tv like a computer does not come naturally to me. 

4. What are three things that brighten up your day when they happen? 

A facetime call with the mancubs
A spontaneous invitation to dinner 
Checking off my to-do list

5. Thursday (May 12) is National Limerick Day...write a limerick about relating to spring weather, spring blooms, or a spring event (five lines, the first two lines rhyme with the fifth line, the third and fourth lines rhyme together).

There once was a bird on a rock
His eyes on a chipmunk were locked
He swept in for the grab
The chipmunk he nabbed
His dinner he ate on the dock. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Who plays Mahjong? I'm learning and it's a lot of fun. I probably don't need any more games to play but this one requires a bit of skill so good for the brain, right? 

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Pass The WD 40 Please

I'm rusty. I feel like we should catch up here, but what exactly have we been doing that you need catching up on? Not a whole lot. 

Actually a whole lot, but nothing really blog worthy. 

We had friends visit two weekends ago and that was a lot of fun. The weather was delightful so we took the boat out, showed them tiny town, hubs was helping with a car show in our neighborhood so we spent some time there, and we visited our local wine bar and the Italian restaurant in town. 

Lots of talking and late nights. 

And pollen. Can't forget the pollen. It won't let us forget. 

We had our deck railings and all the pillars stained and hubs spent today getting all the cushions and plant pots back where they belong. 

Mother's Day happened. No girls or grands in the house, and raise your hand if you thought my kids would live closer and be here for all the holidays and are actually here for none. Life y'all. One is eight months pregnant and one is just a little too far geographically to make two weekend treks in a row so we pick and choose. 

My girls are thoughtful though, and they sent lovely gifts and special cards and hubs and I went to church then brunch after. Then a nap because Sunday naps are my jam. 

Both girls will be in the house this coming weekend with the grandboys, and I cannot wait. We're having a shower for Daughter2 and are so excited to celebrate baby boy coming soon. Not before next Saturday though because we want to have this shower lol. 

On Monday the mancub called us first thing in the morning and when we answered he said, 'I can't wait to see you soon.' Be still my heart. He is so like his momma when it comes to extended family. 

My mom is coming to town for the shower and will stay for several weeks after. We have some fun things planned while she's here including a road trip to Tennessee so she can see where her grandgirls live. Knowing I'll see my girls and the cutest little men on the planet again next week will make saying goodbye to them on Sunday a little easier. 

My older sister lives nearby so we'll share time with my mom which works out well, 'specially if baby boy decides to come early. If he's anything like his momma he'll hang out well past his due date. 

Also, I hope he's exactly like his momma because she's the best. 

And I guess you're all caught up now. 
Mostly caught up. 

There are always things I opt not to write about here in an effort to keep this space peaceful and upbeat. We live in a world where everyone feels the need to comment on every big and little thing, but more and more I am choosing to keep mum about the train that is today's culture flying off the track. 

Which doesn't mean I don't have opinions. I just  prefer sharing mine face to face, and will gladly discuss all manner of the world's ills over a cup of tea on my back porch. 

Remember when social media felt a little bit like inviting people into your living room? 
Now it's more like inviting them into the ring. Or maybe shoving them in? 

No thanks. 

The sky is a cloudless true blue today and the grass is finally green. Flowers are blooming and our bluebirds are nesting and when I step away from the noise of the Internet I remember the world is a beautiful place. 

Happy Spring!