Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Hello Hodgepodge, My Old Friend...

100 random points to whoever gets my title today. Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Please don't link today unless you've participated in the HP.  I'm sure your blog is fabulous, but Wednesdays round here are strictly Hodgepodge. Thanks for understanding. 

I'd love for you to play along though, and newcomers are always welcome. Answer the questions before adding your link at the end of my post. Then hop over and say hello to the blogger who linked before you, because that's what good neighbors do.

Also, if you're visiting here from the Write 31 Challenge, you'll find my thoughts on today's prompt by scrolling all the way down to #8.

Here we go-


1. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favorite place to find silence/be silent?

I'm very comfortable with silence. Unless of course it's an uncomfortable silence, then not so much-ha! I tend to fill uncomfortable silences with excessive chatter, but silence for the sake of being quiet? Definitely.   

Hubs likes background noise, but if I'm home alone the house is generally quiet. Until recently my favorite place to find quiet space was the sun room in my NJ house. The room was all windows, with a super comfy couch, and I could see the woods around me, watch our mama fox tending her babies, the leaves changing color...so much quiet beauty right outside my window. It was such a cozy room and that's where I liked to take my coffee and my Bible and start my day. 

Finding silence in this space is a bit more challenging. There's only so many places I can go in the apartment, and if the TV is on or hubs is on the phone I can hear it, even if I'm down the hall. Probably the thing I'm most looking forward to in our new home are all the outdoor spaces. There will be no shortage of places to find a quiet corner. 

In the meantime, I love to walk in the mornings. I do some of my best thinking and most of my heavy-duty praying there. I like the silence of the great outdoors anytime really..sitting by the water, on a mountaintop, hiking a woody path through the forest. I actually wrote about this topic on Monday (click here) and a reader mentioned he finds silence in a snowfall. I feel the same. 

2. October 28th is National Chocolate Day. Can't let that go by without a mention now, can we? Will you celebrate? How? Let's say you can have one of the following right this very minute...a cup of hot chocolate, a strawberry dipped in chocolate, a bowl of plain chocolate ice cream, or a slice of chocolate pie...what's  your pleasure?

I think you have to celebrate, right? Isn't that the law? If I had to choose one of the chocolate treats listed to consume right this very minute I'd probably choose a cup of cocoa. With marshmallows please!

3. How do you feel about blue jeans? Favorite thing in the world to wear or nope, don't own a single pair? How often do you wear blue jeans in a typical week? Do you own a blue jean jacket?

Blue jeans are my love language and they're one of my favorite things in the world to wear. I can go the opposite way too, and say I love fancy dress and wearing a great pair of heels, but that's not an everyday thing. 

If I'm at home I'm usually wearing blue jeans, which means I wear them several times a week. I do own a jean jacket that I purchased at Kohl's several years ago for the bargain price of $10. It was one of those items that had been marked down about eight times, then I had a coupon, and they were having a promo, and how does Kohl's make money again? Whatever, it was a great purchase. I still love the jacket, and still wear it pretty often. 

4. Are you superstitious? If so, in what way?

I don't think I am superstitious. I tried to think of something, and came up with nothing. Chain letters, Friday the 13th, walking under ladders...none of that worries me. As a leftover habit from childhood I sometimes refrain from stepping on the sidewalk cracks, but I don't expect trouble if I hit one now and then. 

5. If you had to come up with a costume using only things you have on hand right now, what could you come up with?

Everything we own, including the costume box, is in storage right now, except for our clothing and just a few personal items. How about a fisherman? We have a couple of fishing poles here and a tackle box. I could wear hubs fishing shirt and my rubber boots. It wouldn't win any prizes, but would work in a pinch. 

6. What scares you a little? What do you do when you feel scared?

Just a little? Building a house. 

What do I do when I feel scared? I pray a lot. I listen to praise music. I move...go for a walk, run the vacuum, empty the dishwasher, bake, do something physical to get me out of my own head. 

7. Perhaps today will be the day I _____________________.

Finish the great closet switch I began last weekend. Not my favorite task. Obviously. 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Using this space today for my Write 31 Challenge one-word prompt. 

Day 28-hope

I almost skipped today's prompt, because the word  felt a little deep for the Hodgepodge. By the time I come up with the questions and then answer them and then live life I'm pretty much running on fumes. But that's why I signed up for the Challenge. To make me think, and nudge me to write when I'd rather be napping. 

I started thinking about what I'm hoping for right now. Today. Quite a lot actually, and if I were to put it in list form it would run the gamut from unimportant in the grand scheme of things to quite important in the grand scheme of things. I mean I hope it quits raining so work on our build can continue, but I also hope the babies in South Sudan had food for their bellies this morning. 

Hope has become one of those words we use perhaps more casually than we should. 

The dictionary defines hope as a feeling of expectation and a desire for a certain thing to happen. I'm a hopeful person. I live with a feeling of expectation that tomorrow will be better than today. That an hour from now something can happen to change circumstances that are currently not great. 

I'm often told I see life through rose colored glasses, and I guess there are times that's true. But not all my hopes are simply wishful thinking. My greatest hopes, my heart's desire, the hopes nestled into the deepest recesses of my being are based on something far more powerful, more real, than wishful thinking. 

They're based on what I know about God, and what I know He can do. 

Anything. That's what. He can move mountains and calm the seas. God can make a way when I can't see a way. He can do immeasurably more than I ask or imagine so yes, I hope. Not baseless, unfounded, pie-in-the-sky hope, but real hope. Hope based in the knowledge that God knows and cares about my hearts desires. 

Live expecting friends because He.is.able. 




31 comments:

  1. Aren't those marshmallows a hot chocolate requirement? :) I have three closets you can have a go at when you finish yours. Haha

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  2. Can the title be from The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel??
    I woke up at 4 the other morning and decided to be productive and switched my clothes THEN! All done by 6 a.m.!
    Loved your hope thoughts, ditto!
    Have a good weekend!

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  3. I love hot chocolate as well, with lots of mini marshmallows that come in those shaker cans.

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  4. Good luck with the closet. I always start mine with the best intentions, then lose interest. Great post on hope. Have a good week.

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  5. I always schedule my hodgepodge to post at 6 am, so what a fun surprise to wake up and find the title of your post! Great minds...and all that! And I have a feeling that you better get used to that fisherman costume. Lol

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  6. I see someone beat me to the connection to your post title. ;-) Obviously I don't have enough clothes that I have to switch closets. Ha!

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  7. Mmm, hot chocolate with marshmallows. I am drooling a little right now, but that might be because I chose today to start eating healthier. Yeah, that wasn't well thought out.

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  8. I hear you on the closets! I usually try to take everything out and put it somewhere I really need to have clear--like the bed ;) Good luck!

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  9. Blue jeans are your love language? Now that's a new one but I like it and can say it's pretty much true for me as well.

    I so look forward (with you) to the completion of your new lake home. The adventure of the building process is very interesting.

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  10. I think hope is one of the most important things a person can hold onto in life.

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  11. You just reminded me that I need to work on my closet, too. It's raining here in GA. and I'm more than ready for sunny skies, again. I completely agree with your random thought, as you will read in mine.

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  12. Hi,
    I am with you about the silence of nature. I also love a peaceful snowfall. I xc ski, my favorite time to ski is during a gentle snowfall. Just me, the woods, and snow. :-) I also love to talk to God during these times. It just seems so special of a time. I love it.!

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  13. Love your random thoughts especially. Thanks for your answers to the HP.

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  14. True, sometimes at Kohl's you get out paying next to nothing for an item. Fisherman....great idea! I've never done a closet switch, even when we lived in Chicago. I guess my mom never did it so I never picked up on it.

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    1. Well we're living in an apt so very limited closet space. I didn't do a lot of switching when I had my house because there was room for more. Coats are an issue here because no coat closet, so we're doing a little seasonal shuffling : )

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  15. I now have the Simon and Garfunkel song invading my solitude. :-)

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  16. I love this linky party, and your Q and As are awesome this time.

    Thanks for hosting! : - )

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  17. Oh, for the first time in my married life I actually have room for all my clothes in my closet. Love, love it and am so happy that I can actually see everything I own, clothes wise, in one space. Hiring the closet designer was some of the best money we spent as far as I'm concerned. Yes, building a house can be a bit scary but it was also a whole lot of fun. Scary in that every little thing is so blooming clostly. My goodness! So enjoyed your random thought.

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  18. Simon and Garfunkel is on my mind! Hope was my word of the year in 2013. That year I needed to have hope!! I am so glad that God can see a way when I can't. Sometimes we just need to lean on him!!

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  19. Hubby recently taught a SS lesson from Romans that dealt with "hope". In the scripture it is defined as a sure certainty, unlike our "hoping" it doesn't rain. So, I could not agree more with what you wrote today. He is indeed able and we as Believers live in that hope. Thank you for expressing it so well.

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  20. I love the way you think and express yourself. Number one said it all beautifully. I would love having a totally quiet outdoors place, but I take what I have and also enjoying walking early morning and praying. There is traffic noise in our neighborhood and although we have a trail by the lake, I'm more comfortable walking the neighborhood. Wonder if I'm scared?

    Quiet snowfalls ...love them. And yes, I got your title, however, this morning I was busy trying to get ready for BSF and getting the house ready for the cleaning lady.

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  21. I'm so thankful we got home from the hospital in time to get my post up today! Ed had a heart attack on Sunday night, and we've been in the hospital since then. You just never know what life is going to throw our way next!

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  22. Ah, Simon and Garfunkel. When we sorted through my dad's old LPs we found several albums by them.
    I'm avoiding the closet shuffle here. We should have had lunch to avoid to together. Ha. Maybe I'll get to it yet today....

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  23. Beautiful reflection on HOPE, Joyce. Another very fun Hodgepodge and thank you for keeping us entertained on Wednesdays. Thank you.

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  24. The reference is "Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. I'm with you on the world series. I prefer KC wins only because they are an American League team like my beloved Red Sox. The Mets are a NY team and are Mets because they're not good enough to be Yankees who I'm not fond of either! Just saying!

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  25. Well I'm a day late due to a rather important event that took place on Sunday :) so I've missed out on the points. Great questions and answers as usual Joyce and love the piece on hope. I assume you are switching closets to cope with seasonal changes. Our weather can be so unpredictable you always need clothes for all seasons!

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  26. I loved what you shared about hope - I'm with you!!

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  27. "Just a little? Building a house." Best answer ever.

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  28. Thanks for the great questions/topics this week! I love the fisherman costume idea! Your random thoughts on Hope, is so true!

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