Prioritizing The Hodgepodge

Welcome to the last Wednesday Hodgepodge in the month of June. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then hop over and leave a comment for the blogger before you. Everybody loves company...at least in the blogosphere they do. Here we go-

 

1. What do you think has remained the same about you your whole life? How has your perception of yourself changed over time? 

I think I've always been a helper, introspective, sensitive, and stubborn. Hubs will testify to that last one-ha! My faith and my family have always been important to me and all of these things remain true today. 

As far as changing over time...hopefully I've grown, matured, learned to recognize what's important and will matter for eternity and what to let fall by the wayside. Course there's still plenty of growing to do. We're all a work in progress, but I do think I'm able to give myself more grace in this stage of life than in prior seasons.  

2. What was the first thing you learned how to cook? Do you prefer to cook or bake? 

That's going back a long way but I guess the first thing I remember learning to make in the kitchen is salad dressing. Which technically isn't cooking but it felt like I was contributing to the dinner by making the dressing. We had a tossed salad pretty much every night so my sister and I were in charge of that from a fairly early age. I learned to cook by watching my mom and helping in the kitchen. 

The next thing would be cookies. All the cookies because my mama has always been the queen of cookie baking, and this was true long before cookie baking became a 'thing'. Every Christmas my mama made dozens of different types of cookies, I'm going to say something like thirty different varieties, not exaggerating. And every December she gave away big trays to lots of different people including her mechanic, my brother's co-workers, neighbors, strangers, and of course we had cookies for dessert every night during the month of December, sometimes into January, because y'all there were so.many.cookies.

My hubs could not believe his eyes the first year he came home with me for Christmas and saw the wall of tins, Tupperware and assorted containers lined up floor to ceiling in the big walk in closet in our family room and a freezer filled with more of the same. He knew right then he was happy he married me. 

My sister and I at some point joined in the baking. We love it still and while there's never the number my mom made, my sisters, daughters and I all carry on baking many of those same recipes. 

3. What are some of your current priorities in this season of life? Elaborate. 

Health for one. Good health feels less like a given and more like something I need to pay attention to in terms of food, movement, and not skipping routine medical checks. 

Family, specifically my grandchildren. I want them to know Jesus and to see Jesus in me. I want to have fun with them, listen to them, encourage them, and pray for them. I want to be their biggest cheerleader as they each walk the path God has set before them.  

Faith. Always a priority for me, but the world is particularly bonkers and slightly scary these days, and I want to be grounded in God's word so I can live with gratitude and hope, not anger and fear. 

Peace. I'm at an age where I don't want to deal with a lot of conflict and negativity. I mean I've never enjoyed that, but for sure I don't want it occupying my heart and mind now. I know sometimes we have no choice, but then again, oftentimes we do. 

4. How much time do you spend on your hair each day or, put another way, what's your hair care routine? Do you get it cut regularly or just whenever the mood strikes? Do you go to the same stylist every time? Do you tell your stylist everything? Any other beauty treatments you indulge in throughout the year? 

Well it is summer and I live on a lake so a pony tail under a baseball cap, or tucked under my 'lake hat'  is pretty standard if we're spending any time at all in the water or on the boat. I'm here to tell you that you' cannot have great hair on a fast moving boat. As the saying goes, 'Boat hair, don't care'.   

I see my stylist about every 6-8 weeks so she can make my hair look sun kissed. Sometimes I forget I'm a natural born brunette-ha! I have blue eyes and as I've gotten older I like a bit of brightness around my face. 

Do I tell my stylist everything? Pretty much. She's a good listener and we have a lot of similar feelings about the world at large. She's the same age as my daughters so that's fun. 

I love a good facial and also get the occasional, but not weekly mani/pedi. 

5. What is the most awe-inspiring place you've visited? 

Oh my. How in the world do I answer this one? I've been to so many places around the world that inspire awe. I might be able to make a top ten, but even that would be tough. When I hear awe I think of places that are not only beautiful, but that also move me and cause me to feel something deeply. Here's a handful that would make my list-

Pretty Place, Cleveland SC, USA 

The California Redwoods

Mt. Rainier, Washington, USA 

Arlington National Cemetery-Arlington VA, USA 

The Daniel Boardman State Scenic Corridor-Oregon, USA

The Auguille du Midi-Chamonix, France

Canterbury Cathedral, UK

The beaches at Normandy, France 

Mont-Saint-Michel, France 

The American Cemetery at Colleville-Sur-Mer, France 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

There were some thought provoking questions in the HP today and I feel like some deserved more attention than I had to give. Here's the short version-I'm with my daughter2 and her two littles for a few days and it's hotter than blazes as my dad used to say and her a.c. was giving us fits and we left for swimming lessons and were talking so she went the wrong way on the interstate and we had to go something like nine exits to get turned around the right way and while we were doing that the swim place called and said their pool chemicals were wonky so they were cancelling and then just before bedtime the two year old had his first bee sting. 

In spite of all of the above this was still a really fun day, it just did not leave a lot of room for deep. I hope you're all staying cool, thinking clearly, and using a scoop as opposed to your bare hands when you need to remove a bumble bee from your water table. 

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