Wednesday, March 29, 2023

There Once Was A Hodgepodge On Wednesday

Welcome to another edition of The 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-

From this Side of the Pond

1.Why do you blog? Have your reasons changed over time? 

I've been blogging a little over 14 years now, which sounds like forever. So many world and life changes during that time, and I'm grateful to have recorded my thoughts on those changes, events, and then some, here on the blog. I still enjoy blogging, still enjoy writing, still enjoy interacting with other bloggers. I don't think my reasons for blogging have changed all that much. There are far fewer bloggers now than when I first got started, but my favorite to read are still the blogs that give a glimpse of the everyday ordinary lives people are living. 

2. What's a typical Friday night look like at your house?

It varies. When hubs and I were first 'empty nesters' my rule was no cooking on Friday nights. Now that we're retired and everyday is Saturday (sort of) I don't hold as tightly to that rule. We're very often out on Thursday evenings and if that's been the case then I like to be home on a Friday night. 

3. Do you like donuts? Your favorite kind? How often do you treat yourself to a donut? Have you ever made homemade donuts? 

I like donuts but they're kind of heavy so I have one very rarely. Hubs is something of a donut connoisseur and would happily indulge every week. My favorite is a sour cream donut with jelly being a close second. The kind with granulated sugar on top though, not powdered sugar. I can't handle the mess. 

4. How do you feel about shopping?Are you an online shopper? Catalog shopper? Brick and mortar shopper? Do you order groceries online or prefer to select items with your own two hands? 

We live in a rural area so not a lot of big name shopping out here. Some, but not a lot. If I'm shopping in person I prefer smaller boutique type venues. I get quite a few catalogs, but never order directly from there. If I see something I want in a catalog I always go to the website, read details and reviews, hunt for a coupon, and then order online if I'm ordering at all. 

We don't have grocery delivery here and I honestly prefer to select items with my own two hands. Literally. Hubs says I need to touch every pepper before deciding on just the right one lol. 

5. Next week's Hodgepodge finds us somehow in the month of April, which just so happens to be National Poetry Month. Sum up (or tell us something about) your month of March in the form of a limerick. You can do it!! 

There once was a Nana to four
These children she did so adore
The whole gang was here
Twas a spring break to cheer, 
Til the stomach flu knocked at her door. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My sister was in town for a quick trip Tuesday, doing a college tour with her son, and also accompanying my mom to the Palmetto State so my mom can visit her Southern offspring for a couple of weeks. It was a beautiful day, sunny...perfect for catching up in person. 

We're still us. 


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Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 497

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


1.Why do you blog? Have your reasons changed over time? 

2. What's a typical Friday night look like at your house?

3. Do you like donuts? Your favorite kind? How often do you treat yourself to a donut? Have you ever made homemade donuts? 

4. How do you feel about shopping?Are you an online shopper? Catalog shopper? Brick and mortar shopper? Do you order groceries online or prefer to select items with your own two hands? 

5. Next week's Hodgepodge finds us somehow in the month of April, which just so happens to be National Poetry Month. Sum up (or tell us something about) your month of March in the form of a limerick. You can do it!! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Goofing Off In The Hodgepodge

Welcome to the 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-

From this Side of the Pond

1. Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in some way? If so tell us how. Are you a fan of corned beef? Cabbage? The color green? 

We did celebrate, with a neighborhood get together in our clubhouse. Neighbors take turn hosting these once a month gatherings, everyone brings a dish, and it's a fun way to get to know new neighbors and also catch up with old. We had volunteered to host in March and even though it was a week before St. Patty's we went with a St. Patrick's Day theme. Everyone wore something green and brought an Irish dish to share. The food was so good! 

I made corned beef and cabbage for the event and am a fan of both. I only make corned beef once a year and this is the day. I love the color green, one of my favorites. 

2. March 22nd is National Goof Off Day...will you celebrate? Your favorite way to goof off? Last time you had a whole day to spend 'goofing off'? 

I'm retired so technically I can goof off as much as I want. That being said, I prefer to have some sort of schedule in my week, and am happier with at least a little bit of structure. 

What qualifies as goofing off when your time is really your own? My favorite ways to 'goof off' would be reading a book,  floating on the lake, and sipping iced coffee on the porch with my girls or a friend.

3. Something on your to-do list that has been there more than a month? Will this be the month you finally cross it off? 

There is always a fairly long list of the un-crossed on my ongoing to-do list, and quite a few of those tasks have been there a while. We're nearing the end of the month so not sure if any of the big things will be crossed off before the 31st, but I'm trying to pencil some of the more easy to tackle items into my calendar to be done this spring. Not this month, but this season. 

4. In your opinion, what emotion is the most beneficial? Which one is the least useful? 

Most beneficial-joy. Because it's possible no matter the circumstance or situation. 

Least useful-envy. Contentment is the secret to a happy life. 

5. What was your favorite thing to do as a kid? Elaborate. 

So many things come to mind...riding my bike hands free would be one. Except we didn't say hands free back then, we said 'Hey look! No hands!'. Other favorites were the hours spent playing Barbies, paperdolls, and with our dress ups. My mom kept a big box of dress ups in the basement and we loved to make up plays and also play house wearing those clothes.

There were a lot of kids my age in the neighborhood, plus my sister is just a year younger than me, so always someone to play with. Swinging high on the swings, games of HORSE at our neighbor's basketball hoop, tag in the front yard, roller skating and jumping rope on the driveway. 

Aside from school my childhood was very unscheduled. So many hours to run, dream, and play. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I like to see my grands growing up with imagination in the great outdoors too-


"We could have never loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it."
~George Eliot

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Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 496

The Hodgepodge is back in action this week. Answer  on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there! 


1. Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in some way? If so tell us how. Are you a fan of corned beef? Cabbage? The color green? 

2. March 22nd is National Goof Off Day...will you celebrate? Your favorite way to goof off? Last time you had a whole day to spend 'goofing off'? 

3. Something on your to-do list that has been there more than a month? Will this be the month you finally cross it off? 

4. In your opinion, what emotion is the most beneficial? Which one is the least useful? 

5. What was your favorite thing to do as a kid? Elaborate. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Sunday, March 19, 2023

More Spring Break-Ing

I was right to make this a two-poster. I know me. 

The Sunday after the party it rained. Hubs and my son-in-law managed to get the rented u-haul loaded between cloudbursts, no easy feat.  The rain wasn't so much a problem as getting the furniture that was going up the steep part of the hill it needed to climb was a problem. 

But they made it eventually, and then the big guys took the little guys bowling which they loved. 

When we redid the office we downsized from our big desktop computer set up on a huge mahogany desk to a laptop on a simple table that can be moved around as needed. Daughter1 and her hubs needed a desk so we offered them ours and just had to figure out how to move it from Point A to Point B, with point B six and a half hours away. 

Also I'm sure I have pictures of the desk somewhere because it's been in every single house we've owned, but you're not getting them today. 

I asked for quotes on a site called ShipIt and was overwhelmed with how many responses I received. The cost range was enormous, and everyone I chatted with was very nice, but in the end we decided to just rent a u-haul and take it ourselves. We had better control over the timing this way. Also, my son-in-law needed to leave our house for an out of town work assignment so it made sense for us to drive my daughter and her kiddos back home.  Hubs drove the u-haul and I followed with everyone else in our vehicle. 

A six and a half hour trip is easily eight hours when you have a baby on board. Everyone was so good about the long ride, but babies need to eat and change and eat and it all just adds minutes to an already lengthy trip. 

Question-this desk was one of the first pieces of furniture hubs and I bought in the early years of our marriage. We bought it at the furniture mart in High Point NC in 1986, some 37 years ago. Does that make it an antique? 

Nope. Just old lol. To be considered an antique the item must be at least 100 years old. I like to think someday this desk might sit in one of my great grandchildren's homes and then it really will be an antique. 

Besides the big desk we also had a desk chair and a couple of bins we'd been holding for my daughter and son-in-law since they moved overseas, so this was a good way to get all their belongings back to their rightful owner. 

Maybe not all because I do still have an attic full of American Girl Dolls and furniture. Daughter1 and I rifled through some of that while she was here and she can tell you I basically have a Pleasant Company franchise in my attic. Hubs would not disagree. All the dolls we own were pre-Mattel days, the originals. My momma bought almost all of my inventory for my girls when they were growing up and I look forward to passing them down to Little Miss in a few years. 

On top of all those items we had one more thing to move-

When I was about six years old my parents bought a small desk and chair from an unpainted furniture store to go in my room. My dad sanded it, and painted it white, and it was part of my childhood forever. When Daughter1 was about six years old we took the desk from my parent's house, hubs sanded and painted it white, and it was part of her childhood forever too. When we came back from England the movers wrapped it up and that desk sat in our basement under cover for six years, and until last week sat in my attic here for another six. 

The week before the kids arrived hubs got the desk down from the attic, and sanded and painted it. Navy blue this time to fit in the mancub's room. He's turning six soon and life comes full circle in so many unexpected ways. 

I bought new knobs with military planes on them to go with some of the artwork in his room and it all makes me really happy. Also, this picture is not his room. The desk was in the hall waiting to be moved but then the stomach flu hit and it will get there eventually. 

This desk is over 50 years old so well on it's way to becoming an antique. I know my parents didn't pay a lot for it back in the day, but it has surely had a long and useful life. 

Okay, enough about moving furniture. We made the trip to daughter1's house on Monday and had a happy couple of days playing, driving the boys to school on Tuesday, lunch and shopping in the afternoon, and a long late night conversation with my girl because with three kids now those don't happen as often as we'd like. 

Our plan was to leave Wednesday morning, but the terrible awful no good very bad stomach flu struck me first, at 2 AM. No way we could possibly leave on Wednesday. We were hopeful it was a 24-hour thing (it most definitely was not!) but I hung in to make the long drive home Thursday, where I promptly fell back into the bed. Then hubs fell and then daughter1 texted to say three of the four of them had succumbed (not the baby thankfully!) and oy. Ugh. I do not recommend. 

But! It's a new day, a new week, there are new mercies, and we're over the hump, gently easing back into life. 

Which, all things considered, is still so very very sweet. 

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Press Play

Lots to catch up on but where to begin? We've had a (mostly) fun-filled, busy-busy-busy couple of weeks which have sadly ended with the stomach flu from h-e-double hockey sticks for most of us. 

Let's not start there. 

Let's pretend we're not still living on gatorade and soda crackers here and go back to the days of spring break with babies in the house. 

I think I'll make this two posts. 
Fourteen years of blogging have shown me succinct is not my jam.  

Gonna roll it back nearly two weeks in time, which is when both girls and all the grands landed at the lake house. Daughter1's father-in-law was celebrating a big birthday the following Saturday, and since her boys were on spring break she decided to make a holiday of it. Then she convinced her sister to drive over with her little guy, and since her hubs was traveling she agreed. 


This picture is everything they used to imagine grown up life would be when they were just little girls.  Having babies together. Their littles are just four months apart and I know will be great friends as they grow up together. 

Just like their mommas. 


Little man is crawling now which makes things a bit more interesting (watch the dog bowl!!) and little miss is just as sweet and precious as she can be. 


We all spent a lot of time hanging out on the floor which is what you do when there are babies in the house. Rest assured, we did manage to get out some too. 


Hubs took the big boys for a couple of fun outings because they don't like to let the grass grow under their feet LOL


The weather was mostly nice and they are always happy to play outdoors. 


We went out to lunch one day, and to the playground...


Hubs took just the older two boys to a nearby train museum...


...and to the fire station one day too. 


Firefighters are just the best. If they're not busy they welcome the kids, show them all the bells and whistles, and let them climb up in the truck. 


Very exciting stuff to a three year old especially. 


The mancub is all about a great lego build these days, so one morning he worked on his latest creation and Max accompanied me to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few things I needed. It was special to have some time with just him and I think he enjoyed one on one time with Nana too. The mommas were happy to just stay home with the babies and each other. 


Also, loading four kids in the cars is not for the weak.  Just sayin'. 


We took lots of walks...


read lots of books-


And the mancub and I played a lot of one of our favorite card games-Crazy Eights. In fact I lost count of how many games, but it was a lot. 




Daughter2 left Saturday morning to make the trek home and then hubs and I went to pick up a u-haul we needed for the following week's trip to Tennessee. At noon we all headed into the nearby small big city to celebrate their other granddad's birthday. My son-in-law made it to town for the party and it was a really fun afternoon. 



The week was packed. 
With love, loud, laughter, life. 


This crew is my absolute favorite kind of fun. 

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Breaking Down The Hodgepodge

Welcome to another edition of The 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-

From this Side of the Pond
1. We're in to a season students call 'spring break'. Did you/your family travel over spring breaks when you were growing up?  Tell us something about a 'spring break' you remember (from childhood or adulthood, either one). 

I don't recall my family ever traveling over spring break. When I was a kid families didn't travel the way people do now. Most of my college breaks meant a trip home since I went to school several hundred miles away from my family. I liked going home and didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. 

My senior year in college I went to Florida with friends. There were five of us in one hotel room with two beds so we each took a turn sleeping on the floor. Shudder! It was NOT the Ritz. We didn't have a lot of cash to spend and went to a lot of happy hours because back in the early 80's most places with a happy hour gave you free snacks. 

My favorite spring break memories are probably the ones we spent in Europe when my girls were in high school. We took a trip to Normandy over spring break one year and it was unforgettable. 

2. Last thing you broke? Was it a big deal? 

My elbow this past September. I guess you could say it was a big deal. I was on vacation and waited three days to see the doctor. I recovered without incident AND without surgery so in that sense not a big deal. 

3. March 7th is National Cereal Day...are you a fan? What's your favorite? If not cereal what's your favorite breakfast? Your typical breakfast? 

I like cereal okay. If I'm eating cereal it's usually Special K with Red Berries because it's a good low calorie-low sugar option, but it's not necessarily my favorite. My favorite breakfast is probably a ham and cheese omelet. My typical breakfast is Greek yogurt with berries and a sprinkling of granola. 

4. Break ground, break of dawn, break down, break the bank, break one's stride, break the ice, break a law, break a habit, break bread...choose one of the idioms listed and tell us how it applies to your life currently. 

Break of dawn of course. 

The sunrise is a small obsession of mine. 

5. Where do you go to connect with friends and family? What do you like to do most when you're home alone? 

Where do I go to connect? Quite often it's my own back deck, the dock, or out on the screened porch. Great conversations happen there. 

I'm not home alone very often so when a solo day appears on the calendar I have all kinds of good intentions to accomplish a long list of to-dos. Usually though I end up doing what I love instead-writing, reading, catching up on HGTV.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of spring break...I'm going to declare next week our spring break here, so no Hodgepodge on March 15. The Hodgepodge will return the following week, March 22nd. My grandchildren are all here this week and I'm busy blowing bubbles, snuggling babies, making pancakes, reading books, and lovin' life. 


Happy Wednesday everyone! 

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Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 495

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. We're in to a season students call 'spring break'. Did you/your family travel over spring breaks when you were growing up?  Tell us something about a 'spring break' you remember (from childhood or adulthood, either one). 

2. Last thing you broke? Was it a big deal? 

3. March 7th is National Cereal Day...are you a fan? What's your favorite? If not cereal what's your favorite breakfast? Your typical breakfast? 

4. Break ground, break of dawn, break down, break the bank, break one's stride, break the ice, break a law, break a habit, break bread...choose one of the idioms listed and tell us how it applies to your life currently. 

5. Where do you go to connect with friends and family? What do you like to do most when you're home alone? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Marching To The Beat Of Your Own Hodgepodge

We're 'March'ing today into this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered the questions, add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Here we go-

From this Side of the Pond


1. Hello March! Is it coming in like a lion where you live? How do you feel when it rains? 

No lion here. I'm typing my answers on the last day of February, where it's currently a sunny 78 degrees. 

How do I feel when it rains? Depends on what I'm doing I guess. I love the occasional rainy day where I have nowhere to be and can curl up under a blanket with a book or, my favorite, sit on the porch and listen to it fall. That being said, it feels like we've had a lot of rain this winter which gets tiresome after a while. 

2. What's something you'd like to do differently this week than the last? Explain. 

I was at my daughter's for most of last week and wouldn't change a thing about that. I can't really think of anything about last week that I need to examine for a re-do. Maybe exercise more because that's a common theme for me every week lol. 

3. March 1st is National Sunkist Citrus Day...do you drink orange juice? Orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, grapefruit...what's your favorite citrus fruit? A dish you love with a citrus fruit as one of its key ingredients? 

I love citrus fruits, all of them. I'm not supposed to have grapefruit because weirdly grapefruit can interfere with blood pressure medication, but I do love it and miss it. I honestly can't pick a favorite fruit or dish but some that would make the cut are key lime pie, my mama's lemon bars, chicken piccata, and an orange crush from our local tiki hut on a hot summer's day. 

4. What do you consider to be your culture. Elaborate. 

Our 'culture' includes food, dress, language, and holidays, but also includes values, beliefs, and behavior. I'm going to say 'the south' with a side of Jersey thrown in for good measure. And Jesus people. They're my people too. And America. I claim her, warts and all, God bless her. I think as a nation we've lost a bit of our identity and that makes me sad. 

5. Sum up your February in fifteen words or less. 

It flew. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Who shops at Trader Joe's and what's on your 'must buy' list there? 

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