Nurturing the Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge Hodgepodgers!  If you've answered this week's questions add your link to the end of my post. Then go say hi to some of the others who also joined the party today. Here are my answers-

1.What is something you'll never forget about the age you are right now?

Relating to my daughters as young adults. I love their wit, their sense of independence, their huge hearts, and their confidence. There's something completely amazing about watching those tiny creatures you've raised take on the grown up world.  

2. What's a household chore you've never done? How have you managed that???

Changed the filter in the furnace.  
Is it the furnace that has a filter?  
I think so.

I haven't consciously avoided this job, it's just not one that ever crosses my radar.  

I don't wash the cars either (unless we're talking drive it through a professional car wash). This is a job hubs prefers to do himself because apparently my idea of a perfectly clean car doesn't match his idea of a perfectly clean car. 

I'm okay with that. 

3. Does nature shape our personalities more than nurture? Explain.

Ah, the age old question of nature vs. nurture. Here's what I think-

I think its sometimes one, sometimes the other, but most of the time its a combination of the two. I'm sure we all know of children who've gone off the rails in spite of their loving parents and a warm nurturing home life. We can also find plenty of children who've thrived in spite of horrendous circumstances and a significant lack of nurturing. 

I think most children can be trained and nurtured into well adjusted adults, and its a parent's job to do the best they can to make that happen. I've never read any studies on this, but I'd imagine that most (not all, but most) seriously troubled adults were not born that way, nor can they blame their troubles entirely on a lack of nurturing.  

I'll leave it at that, because this answer could quickly become an essay.  

4. Friday (February 28th) is 'Something on a Stick Day'...funny because Zoanna at A Penchant for Pens recently sent me a question for the Hodgepodge relating to this topic.  What's your favorite food eaten on a stick?

A perfectly toasted marshmallow, preferably eaten beside the campfire upon which it was roasted.  A starry sky overhead only makes it better. 

5. Which of your five senses do you treasure most, and why?

It's hard to imagine being without any of the five, but I'll say the one I treasure most is sight. I'm a very visual person, and the idea of never seeing my children's faces, the ocean, the view from a mountaintop...I think that would be so hard.  

6. What's the best music, theatre, or sporting venue you've been to? What made it great?

I've been in a lot of wonderful venues but probably the best would be The Coliseum in Verona. What made it great? 

Uh, Italy.  
Also friends-

Italian opera

and the intoxicating magic of Italian night air.  

7. It's the last week of the month...in five words or less bid adieu to your February.

Loved your big beautiful snowfalls!

p.s.-Note to self, next time I ask something like this make it 10 words or less. Five is not nearly enough!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I received a really nice surprise in the mail last week. Susan, who blogs over at Stew Mama Says, had emailed asking for my address. She said she'd seen something she had to buy for me...that when she saw it she thought of me, my brand, my blog, and my word for this year. That's a lot to squeeze into a gift, so I was really curious.  

The big box arrived on Friday and here's what was inside-

Another big box.  Fun!!
Inside that box was this-

A small globe. 

In my blog colors. 

With my verse written around it.

And a word closely linked to my word for this year on the other side of the world.  

Well, yes I guess she did have to buy it! 

You know, when I started my blog back in 2009 I never imagined that one day someone I'd never met in person would see something that so perfectly fits where I am right now, that they would somehow recognize that, and then would go to the trouble of buying, packing and mailing it to me. As a bonus, the box arrived on a day when I needed a little help remembering these words, so thank you for that Susan!