Nom de Hodgepodge

Welcome to the last Hodgepodge in this merry month of May. 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-

1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

I don't have a strong opinion about my name. I don't dislike it, and can't really imagine anything different.  That's who I've always been so yes, I guess I do like it. I'm not named after anyone. 

When we found out we were expecting daughter1 hubs and I immediately settled on her name. We were less sure of a boy's name, but no matter...we were both certain baby was a girl and we were right. We just loved the name, both first and middle, and it suits her. 

There was just one other girl with her same name in her preschool and kindergarten class, but then all the way up through university we didn't know another. Fast forward to present day and we have three in our church besides her so maybe it's more of a SC thing? We still love it. 

Daughter2 has a name that belonged to one of hubs grandmothers and also one of my great grandmothers which is nice. The name definitely suits her. We gave her hubs other grandmother's name as a middle, and I knew and loved that grandmother so was happy to pass it on. 

My grandchildren have a combination of family names and names their parent's loved. They are all more traditional which I love. One has his dad and granddads' first name and then our surname as his middle. One has my dad's name as his middle. One has my mother's maiden name as his middle. Both grandgirls share middle names with their mommas which is sweet. 

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

I'll have the blueberry pie please. That's a favorite and I make at least one every summer. Hubs birthday is early September and I sometimes make him a blueberry pie instead of a cake for his birthday dessert. 

If I were picking something not listed it would be angel food cake topped with strawberries. Red and white. I'll make one of these soon as my daughter1 requests this for her birthday dessert every year and she has one coming up soon. 

Fun fact...she has a son turning the age she is in this photo but we won't time travel down that rabbit hole today. 

3.  What's a job you'd like to try for just one day? 

I'd like to check groceries at the supermarket for a day. I can't really explain why this appeals to me, but it's a job I think I'd enjoy. I like grocery shopping and am nosy about what people have in their carts. I'm also picky about the bagging-just ask my hubs.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

I've put out some patriotic decor because it's a big year for America and I want to celebrate that. I needed new cushions for my upper deck and went with a patriotic theme. I bought hand towels for the guest bath, patriotic soaps, and I've ordered a candle for my coffee table with a patriotic label. 

I mentioned my front door wreath in Monday's post, and I have a patriotic door mat there too. Of course the dock is decked out with a flag and a patriotic wind sock and in general the lake is full of flags flying and people celebrating the freedoms we enjoy. 

I'd post pictures of my new pillows, but it's been raining cats and dogs since Friday so we have the outdoor furniture covered and the pillows tucked away. They'll be out all summer so I'm sure they'll turn up on the blog eventually. 

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

Moved my momma early May

All the blooming beauty added brightness to the month

Yearning for sunshine as we turn the page to June

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'd kind of forgotten I wanted to host another Day In The Life link up for anyone who'd like to join the fun. New season, new routines. 

Unless you're retired then it's same old same old. Ha! I kid. 

Anyway, let's say June 18th. It's a Thursday. Choose a day to keep track of that falls between now and the link up, then hop back here to add your post to the party. If you don't know what I'm talking about here's the 411-

Pick a day and give us the play by play of your life on that day. Some bloggers do their posts by the hour, some by chunks of time, whatever works for you. Most people add photos but that's up to you. If you're like me you need to set the timer on your phone to remind you to take pictures but again, you can do your post in whatever way you like. 

I wrote one back in November you can read if you want an idea of how mine looks-A Day In The Life, Autumn 2025

These posts are fun to read and I feel like they're great connectors. Hope to see you there! 

The Tender Middle

Linking today's post with Talking About It Tuesdays hosted by Joanne

We've recently moved my mom south, out of my sister's home in PA where she's lived for the past six years, and into an assisted living facility. Safety is paramount when you're in your ninth decade and that was the tipping point for all of us in making this hard decision. By all of us I mean myself and my three siblings. We've had a loose plan knowing this might someday become necessary but not going to lie, reality hits harder than you might imagine. 

I'm not going to talk too much about the process because every family has to do what's right for them. I will just say my younger sister did her homework and knew all the questions to ask. We looked at many places in two different states and between the four of us saw each one in person. 

There are so many factors to consider coupled with a lot of emotion, so if a move like this is on your radar start visiting and collecting information now. Just know that nowhere is perfect and settling in takes time. For everyone. 

I have a mishmash of thoughts I want to put into writing but the mishmash is real. Hubs has asked me a number of times this month, 'What are you thinking? I can see the wheels turning." 

Turning but not really getting anywhere. 

So what am I thinking? 

I'm thinking about how difficult it is to reach a point in life where your decisions are not your own. Not where you live or if you drive or sometimes even what you eat. 

I'm thinking about how every member of a family has feelings about how best to meet the needs of an elderly parent and how emotions run high where love, sadness, and exhaustion coexist. I'm thinking about how much grace is required in those moments. Grace given, and also grace accepted. 

How sometimes we have to do hard things we wish we didn't have to do. 

How giving an elderly parent as much independence as they can safely handle is a good thing, but knowing when too much is too much is maybe the more important thing. 

I think about everything our parents once did for us, and how that memory helps us now do for them. 

How often we frustrated them, tested their patience, wanted our own way, didn't want to be told what to do because we were certain we knew best. Suddenly that gets flipped on its head and now you're the one digging deep for patience and a gentle tone. The one trying to give in a little whenever giving in is possible. 

How you learn the parent you've known all your life is still there inside the person who now needs a walker and some help remembering the life they lived. 

There is also, somewhere in the middle of all this thinking, the unsettling realization that one day you might be that person too. The one needing all the things you're now being asked to give. 

How you will likely buck and dig in your heels because you still feel like yourself, an independent capable person who cannot imagine being anything but. 

Except now you kind of can. 

And it's a little bit frightening. 

I think about the term sandwich generation and how apt that moniker is. I'm the filling and sometimes I feel squished. 

And sometimes completely overwhelmed with love for those doing the squishing. 

I think about how I don't have the energy I had even a decade ago, yet I still have opinions and wisdom and things I want to contribute. I still want to matter. Everyone does. 

I think about how time shrinks and expands at the same time and  how I want my children to have big beautiful lives, but not forget mine as it gradually but naturally will grow smaller. 

Mostly I think about how God holds each one of our lives in the palm of His hand. How He knows the number of our days from beginning to end, and how He walks beside us through every season we encounter. 

We are never forgotten. 

Never unseen. 

We are known and loved by the One who made us. 

Rainy Days And Monday (also Friday Saturday Sunday)

Hello friends and happy Memorial Day. I’m especially grateful today for the men and women who've given their lives in service to our country, and the freedoms we enjoy because of them. It's good to pause and remember. 

Our weekend was, in a word, drenched. Wow. It rained here. A lot. The whole weekend in fact. We're in a bit of a drought situation so it's good I think, although not sure we needed it all to come down in a single weekend. Hubs and I just embraced the forced relaxation, because no way were any outdoor projects happening, no fun cookouts, no sunset boat rides. You'd need sun for that. 

We cancelled our Netflix subscription about a year ago, but my daughter2 and I wanted to finish watching the Great British Baking Show we started when I visited her in March, plus I wanted to see Remarkably Bright Creatures, so I resubscribed and we spent the weekend catching up on all the shows we've missed. 

This post is gonna be a little bit 'here's what I watched on TV' the past three days, but whatever. An alternate title might be 'what I didn't cook this weekend' but I'll let you decide. 

Thursday we went out for sushi and I had the spiciest spicy tuna roll ever. We came home and watched the octopus movie which we both enjoyed. I read the book quite a while back but hubs didn't know the story. I appreciate a movie that follows the book plot. 

Friday morning we went out to breakfast at a new-to-us spot. I had their french toast which was delish.  We stopped at Daughter1's house on the way home because she had the new bow ready to go for my front door wreath. These bows are somewhat pricey online, so we buy the ribbon at Hobby Lobby and she works her diy magic to make one that's pretty for half the price. 

She made me one in the fall, then a second I've had up since Valentine's Day, and now a patriotic summer design which I love. 

We wandered through her garden while we were there, and it's thriving. I'm looking forward to her sharing the harvest. 

Friday night we watched The Woman In Cabin 10, another book I'd read a while back that was turned into a movie, and the movie reminded me how annoying I found the book. 

Saturday we woke up to more rain, a ridiculous amount in fact, the kind that spills out of your gutter and causes even the turtles to run for cover.

Hubs had been fighting a cough for a couple of days so I decided to make a pot of chicken soup, which is good for whatever ails you. I don't normally make chicken soup in May, but the gray skies and cooler temps made it sound inviting.  

We started watching Season 3 of The Diplomat, which is so good! We binged a few episodes until we could no longer stay awake, and finished it Sunday afternoon because...it was still raining. 

We went to church Sunday morning and it felt good to leave the house. My son-in-law had taken the two boys to watch the Braves play in Atlanta so hubs and I took daughter1 and her little miss to brunch after church ended. Since you're tracking all the things I didn't cook you should know I had Eggs Benedict. 

Hubs and I finished The Diplomat and since there was a break in the rain (not the gray skies) late afternoon, we decided to take iced coffees down to the dock and see what we could see. There were a few boaters out, but it was breezy and we didn't stay long. 

We had a frozen pizza for dinner. Whoohoo! What a weekend! 

shhh...don't tell anyone but I kinda loved it. 

Linking with Holly (Pink Lady) and Sarah (Sunshine and Books) today for their weekend recap blog hop. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 655

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (May 27th) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

3.  What's a job you'd like to try for just one day? 

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

An Uncomplicated Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions, add your link at the end of my post, then go say hi to your neighbor there. 

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

Perhaps a better question would be what DON'T I complicate? I know there are a number of shortcuts my girls have shown me on the computer/phone that I still do 'the long way' aka the less simple way, because old habits die hard. 

2. What impresses you? 

humility, courage, bold faith, quiet acts of generosity, and the sunrise

on a less serious note-raw musical talent and the Rockettes kick line

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

How picky am I?  I'm a 10. Not picky at all.

There's almost nothing I won't eat. In fact the only thing that comes to mind is liver and I think my dislike of that goes back to my childhood. My mom would occasionally make liver and onions for dinner and I could not handle the smell at all. I do like liver pates which are nothing like liver and onions. 

My girls, their spouses, and my grands are not picky eaters either, which is really nice when it comes to meal planning. 

If I had to eat a meal made entirely of one color I'd probably opt for red-

apples, cherries, strawberries, watermelon, red peppers, red potatoes, tomatoes, red onions, beets, red meat...I think I could cover all the food groups if I chose red, but I'd definitely miss the greens. 

I'd like a Christmas plate please-red and green. 

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel 'balanced'? 

Hmmm...I'm not sure life can be in balance every minute of every day. I think we're always making adjustments both large and small, to keep life on an even keel. For me balance means I have an overall sense of well being (physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally).  Sometimes I need more physical activity to regain my balance, sometimes more quiet space, coffee with a friend, or a good cry. 

Do I currently feel balanced? 

Not exactly, but like I said in my answer to the first part of this question, I'm always tweaking things and this season is no different.  I mean I'm not tipping over but one side of the boat is a bit heavier than it should be and I'm working to level out. 

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

I think I'd start in New Zealand because it's so far from my current location and that's a place I'd like to see. I could work my way this direction without a lot of backtracking. 

Sounds good to me...when do we leave? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

'And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property, I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company...

And I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done, I can rest in peace, I'm one of the chosen ones...

I made it to Arlington...' 

~from Arlington written by Jeremy Spillman and Dave Turnbull 

This weekend we pause to honor and remember those who gave all. 

Let's be grateful. 

A Weekend Recap From The Porch

The weekends go by fast, don't they? We like to say every day is the weekend in retirement, but lately not so much. Hubs and I declared Saturday a no-hurry have fun day and although I had to remind him of the no-hurry bit a couple of times, he eventually relaxed and we had a really nice day. A day date if you will. 

Remember when I was counting those here? I'm still counting, just not posting all of them on the blog. 

Backing up to Friday...

Hubs of course had a dozen projects going so he spent most of the day power washing the dock and bridge. We've hired the staining out this year because that is a back breaking job and some years we pay to have it done. They're supposed to be coming on Monday so he wanted it squeaky clean first. 

Power washing the dock is also back breaking so he earned the rest. 

I took care of some paperwork and cleaned bathrooms, then went to play Mah Jong. Not back breaking, but it can sometimes strain the brain. 

Daughter1's hubs was attending an out of town medical thing last week so she and the kids came over Friday evening for a slumber party. The puppy too, because where they go the puppy goes. He desperately wants to play with the Little Brown Dog, but the LBD is not having any part of it. He lets him know too, but they'll get used to each other. 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous all weekend long, so we sat outside and played and talked, and hubs grilled burgers for dinner. Little Miss went to bed on the early side and the rest of us snuggled on the couch and watched Hook. Nana might have missed the entire middle of the film due to an unplanned nap, but I'd seen it before so no biggie. That's life in the third act. You fall asleep before the six year olds. 

Actually that has always been me, never a night owl. Does staying awake past 8:30 qualify one as a night owl? 

After some early Saturday morning fishing for the Mancub and Pawpaw, the party goers had breakfast then went on their way. Hubs and I jumped in the car for a drive one state over. We had a lunch destination in mind, then planned to piddle around in some of the shops nearby. 

At our wine dinner this month one of the couples we sat with told us they'd been to a great BBQ place in the little town of Dillard Georgia. I live in the Palmetto State, but the GA border is right down the road. 

We don't often go out for BBQ because hubs makes a mean pulled pork here at home, but the pitmaster at the Blue Hound in Dillard won Season 6 (July 2025) of the Bobby Flay BBQ Brawl and we thought we should taste it for ourselves. 

The drive over was just under an hour, and it's my favorite kind of BBQ place. A small building that sits on the literal side of the road beside a gas station, smoke billowing out of the smokehouse, and already a long line at 11:15 AM. 

I got the brisket sandwich with a brocoli salad instead of chips and hubs had the brisket plate with collards and slaw. He meant to order banana pudding, but forgot. We did get two jars of their rubs to try at home. 

We sat at a picnic table outside and enjoyed every bite. Afterwards we browsed a couple of shops just a few hundred yards away, then headed towards Clayton, which is a cute little mountain town we love. 

We passed this shop on the way to the restaurant and the name forced us to make a stop there on the way out-

They actually had some nice pieces of furniture and then the usual assortment of 'stuff', but we just looked before heading on to Clayton. Which was hopping on a sunny Saturday! Once we got parked we walked to a little shop called White Birch Provisions for a coffee. I think I might like to stay in the White Birch Inn sometime as it looks cute. We browsed the shops on the main drag, but didn't buy anything.  

On the way out of Clayton we popped in to the local distillery there so hubs could get a bottle of their bourbon. I hadn't been in the place in a couple of years and they've expanded quite a bit which was nice to see.

We made the hour-ish drive home and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on the lower level porch. I had a small nap (my sleep tank has been fumes the past month) and we listened to music, read, and chatted. Neither of us were very hungry so hubs ate the leftover burger and sides from Friday's dinner and I had a fried egg sandwich.  Sometimes that is exactly what I'm craving. 

Sunday morning kitchen sink view. 

We went to church, then made an exceedingly and unnecessarily long stop at Tractor Supply for a piece of rope for the outdoor shower mirror (the one we had finally broke) and then had lunch on the porch. After lunch hubs trimmed tree branches or some such nonsense and guess where I was? 

If you said the porch you wouldn't be wrong. It's great to be back in almost summer mode. 

Linking today with Holly and Sarah for their regular Monday morning weekend recap party. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 654

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (May 20) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

2. What impresses you? 

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel 'balanced'? 

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

6. Insert your own random thought here.