Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Proud to Answer the Wednesday Hodgepodge Vol 67

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge...so glad you're playing along today. Add your link to the bottom of my post and then go check out what everyone else had to say. Here's my .02-


1. February 22nd is National Be Humble Day...what makes you proud? What keeps you humble?

What makes me proud-my children.
What keeps me humble-also my children.

Kids are so honest.
I don't mean that in a bad way.

2. Where is the catch-all (aka dumping ground) in your house?

My hubs is a bit of a neatnik and is not a fan of the catch-all. That being said, he does empty his pockets on the kitchen counter by the garage door but he doesn't leave it there indefinitely. I leave mail on the counter and once he looks thru it I move it to the desk in the office, the shredder, or the trash. I keep my purse at the kitchen desk but always take it upstairs with me at night along with my phone. I also no longer have toddlers or school aged children at home which drastically cuts down on the need for a catch all.

3. Do you make it a point to visit State/National Parks when you travel or even in your own hometown? What's your favorite?

Yes. Wherever we've lived we've always checked out the nearby parks. Weather permitting we spend some time most every weekend hiking in nearby State or National Parks.

My favorite? Yikes! I don't think I can choose. To make it easier I'm going to stay within the geographical confines of the USA. If I let myself cross the Atlantic this post will never end. I think Acadia National Park in Maine might be one of the most beautiful places on earth....


but my heart belongs to the Smokies and East Tennessee which I wrote about yesterday...


4. How would you define honor?

To me honor and integrity go hand in hand. A person with a high degree of integrity is honorable. Having honor means telling the truth, keeping your promises, and doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

5. Angel's food or Devil's food-which cake do you prefer?

Hmmm...cake or cake? I prefer cake. Okay, if I have to choose I will say Angel Food. I'm a huge fan of anything chocolate but I love the lightness of angel food cake. Top it with fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberries and its a heavenly dessert. Appropriately named too.

6. What's the most recent road trip you've taken? Where did you go and how many hours did you spend in the car? Do you like to zoom to your destination without stopping or leisurely wind your way there with stops along the way? What is your car snack of choice?

We took a road trip this past long weekend. I wrote about it here so I will refrain from re-writing. We went from Northern NJ to East Tennessee, a whopping 11 1/2 hours in the car each way.

We mostly zoom to our destinations but we do stop for lunch and/or breakfast. We had our pup with us this time so we had to make a stop or two for her benefit. Ours too if you want to get all technical. When we're traveling south we like to leave before the crack of dawn to avoid a lovely phenomenon in these parts known as rush hour traffic. Or gridlock. Take your pick.

Anyway, this time we left at o'dark thirty and drove for about three hours then stopped for breakfast. Sometime mid afternoon I mentioned that I was kind of hungry. Hubs looked at me and said, 'You're kind of high maintenance this trip.' It was funny but maybe you had to be there.

You know how I said my hubs is a bit of a neatnik? Well that extends to the car too. My snack of choice would be pretzels but they make crumbs so no can do. I settle for twizzlers and clementines.

7. Recent headlines told how a preschool child in NC had their packed lunch from home taken away and a school lunch substituted by a school inspector who deemed the homemade lunch unhealthy. Reportedly the parent was then billed for the school lunch (chicken nugget meal) although an update to the story says the parent was not billed. The inspector was conducting a routine inspection of the classroom-he/she was not there solely to peek in the lunchboxes.
The packed lunch contained a turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple juice box, a bag of chips, and a banana. You can read the story here. Your thoughts?

The details to this story have changed several times since it first broke so I'm not entirely sure what really happened but I have a few thoughts anyway-
  • I thought the packed lunch sounded pretty healthy. It was missing a vegetable but there was no dessert so not too bad and very much like something I might have sent with my own children.
  • Some kids do not eat vegetables unless mama is standing there watching. I rarely packed veggies in my kids lunchboxes...they both ate lots of vegetables but we had salad almost every night and always at least one vegetable for dinner so I never worried about it at lunchtime.
  • I taught school many moons ago and have seen a rambunctious child open their packed lunchbox to find a koolaid drink, a gogurt, chips, and a cookie. This does not a happy kindergarten teacher make.
  • If a parent wants to pack the lunch I just described I might not like it but I do believe it is their right as the parent to pack it.
  • If schools are serving lunches then yes, I do believe they need to be healthy.
  • Are chicken nuggets healthy? I always viewed them as a fast food option.
8. Insert your own random thought here.

Today's photo prompt is 'where you work'. I don't have a job outside my home and while I could post a picture of my office I think it would be more fun to tell you where I'm going later this spring-

Shanghai-Taipei-Hong Kong.

The beans are officially spilled.

36 comments:

  1. Um...can I go with you on your trip? WOW!!! Go you!! I can't wait to see the fantastic pictures you're going to take with that brand spanking new camera you got for Christmas!

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  2. Yay for Taipei! Oh, the high maintenance comment cracked me up. I can so imagine my hubby saying that to me, who happens to get hungry at the very mention of a road trip regardless what time it starts.

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  3. My husband is the exact opposite of yours as far as the neat freak goes! He is starting to come around and help as the White Tornado is going through. He likes what he sees! :)

    But, I don't think I could travel without my pretzels!

    Unfortunately, the schools don't seem to have a clue how to serve nutritious lunches. I used to pack baby carrots when I did lunches for my nieces. But t6hey liked roasted garlic at three too. LOL

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  4. Angel Food making a "heavenly dessert" go hand in hand. LOL As for the child's lunch, my first thought was if the school district took away her lunch and 'forced' her to eat the school menu...what would've happened if the child had allergies and she went into a coma?---possible y'know!! Oh, and the upcoming trip>---------sounds fantastic.

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  5. What a great vacation you have planned! I'm so happy for you. Sounds so exciting!

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  6. You're going to Hong Kong?!!! Wow...talk about the trip of a lifetime! So much to see and experience! How long will you be there? I agree...you cam't beat the Great Smoky Mountains!

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  7. Oh wow...I did not think about Acadia...I have been there and yes, it is gorgeous. I got the Smokey Mtns. I love that place. I agree with you on the lunch issue....we have pizza )baked) served with corn and rice. Hummmm....let me see...we have starch in pizza, starch/sugar in corn, and starch in rice. That parent lunch did not sound so bad after that.

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  8. Oh, I love Acadia National Park! I grew up in Nova Scotia, just up the coast a bit (well, several hours!), and it's so gorgeous.

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  9. Would love to travel with you!!! I also enjoy the Smokey Mountains-hub and I tried to purchase a cabin there last years, but plans didn't go our way.

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  10. I'm a Gatlinburg gal myself... have visited there every year since I was a kid.

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  11. Hong Kong? So exciting!

    Acadia National Park is definitely on our list of must-see places (if we can just pull ourselves away from Hilton Head - ha!).

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  12. Oh how I have missed participating in this, Joyce. Your choice of Acadia National Park is a great one. It is spectacular and I've heard it is the place where the sun rises first in the Northern Hemisphere (need to verify that). I simply must get current on the lunch inspector article--it didn't make news here in Germany, ha, ha. I have lived in Shanghai, been to both Hong Kong and Taiwan many times. You will have a very memorable trip. If you need any recommendations, let me know. Enjoy!

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  13. Twizzlers are a great road trip item. Those pics are gorgeous!

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  14. Shanghai-Taipei-Hong Kong. WOW! Hope you have an awesome trip and take lots of pictures for us to see!!

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  15. I forgot to write Acadia on my list of Parks. It is gorgeous, isn't it?

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  16. Our cars have never been a place to eat in. Twizzlers are a great choice for the car. I just love stopping for breakfast on a trip however Mark likes to get to the destination in a hurry. I always say "We have all day, what is the rush?" Since you write the questions I always enjoy reading your answers. I look forward to reading your post on your recent trip. I am a few days behind in catching up. Enjoy your day!

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  17. That will be some trip--and think of the blogging material it will make, too!

    Thanks for another "Hodgepodge"--and you still hosted even though you'd just been gone for several days...Amazing :)

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  18. I'd love to have a cabin in the mountains, but it's just too far from town. Your brother or did you say BIL's cabin is beautiful. I love your pictures of the mountains. We're only 45-minutes from the park enterance. I'm getting anxious to go, but the weather has been crazy and we have too much on our plate. So, maybe this spring we'll find time to escape for the day. Thanks for hosting today's hodgepodge!

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  19. I can't wait to hear about your trip. I'm going to China in 2013 for work and am excited and nervous at the same time.

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  20. I am glad your husband found you and did not marry someone like me. He would be insane inside of a week!

    That being said, if my husband were a neat freak I would probably make a monumental effort to clean my numerous catch alls if he were taking me places like Hong Kong. :)

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  21. I think the school lunch story was a bit ridiculous. I did not realize schools would do that!

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  22. Oh, your Hubs and I would get along great - I'm a neat freak too. :o) My Hubby is somewhere inbetween, so it works well for us.

    Hong Kong - wow! you really are a world traveler. That should make for all kinds of blog fodder.

    Happy Wednesday!

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  23. Fruits and Vegetables are in the same food group...and the lunch contained two with the juice and banana..the chips were a downside but I like chips with a sandwich so I would have included them.
    Congrats on the on the vacation plans.
    Thanks for hosting.
    Mama Bear

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  24. Amen on #7! And as you know, #1 was identical to mine! LOL

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  25. I wondered if you were going to Asia! How exciting! : )

    I found it quite funny that we had the same first answer.

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  26. *The whole school lunch things really annoys me!
    *It has been just ages since I've been to the Smokey Mountains. I think we might need a road trip. What is the best time of year to go that has the most pleasant temperatures? (Not too hot, not too cold, not a ton of humidity...) (Not too picky am I?)
    *I'm very high maintenance on a trip. My poor husband.
    *You spilled the beans?!? Gasp!

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  27. Wow Hong Kong, already looking forward to your travel log and pictures! And the Acadia park in ME looks beautiful. I would love to go up on the East coast, that is on my bucket list. I need to see some lighthouses...lol Thanks again for hosting this. You do a great job!
    until next time...nel

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  28. Thanks for doing the Hodgepodge so faithfully. Thanks also for commenting on my blog. These questions were relatively easy to answer this week. Some weeks have been hard for me to answer. Great questions though. I was thinking of the honor question from the totally opposite point of view... who should we honor. I must have been really tired this morning when I answered the questions. Oh, well. I'm not changing my answer. The school lunch thing is just one more reason to be glad to be homeschooling my kids. And, last but not least Hong Kong!! Wow!! That is exciting.

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  29. Your trip sounds wonderful! I also enjoy traveling. Hope you have a splendid trip!

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  30. Hi Joyce,
    Thanks for the visit and comment. If I ever get my act together, I will come by and join your hop! Your questions are fun and thought provoking, I enjoy reading the answers. I would need the questions 2 weeks in advance to complete this task!! LOL

    Take care!

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  31. Yay for Hong Kong! I think. :) I'm assuming it's with the Hubby who is quite experienced so I'm sure it will be an amazing trip!
    Can't wait for the pictures!

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  32. We always zoom to our destination. No breakfast, no nothing. We buy the food and eat while driving. NOT fun.
    I miss HP and will be back soon!

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  33. I've been following the news abt the pre-schooler and her lunch.
    I totally agree with you.
    We don't need the government in our kid's lunch sack.
    I would never have believed this situation
    couild arise in our "free" country.

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  34. Silly me. I should have mentioned the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC- I LOVE it up there! And Cape Hatteras. You know those devil's food cookies? Oh man! I LOVE those things! Even though we don't eat processed foods or refined sugar anymore, it those cookies came into this house- I would eat every single one in the box!

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  35. I love the Blue Ridge Parkway..and Smokey Mountains. I agree with you on the pre-schooler and her lunch!!!

    thanks for hosting

    Gina

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