Turkey With A Side Of Hodgepodge

Welcome to The Wednesday Hodgepodge. I'm always grateful for those who join in here each week. And if you're here just occasionally I'm grateful for you too! If you've answered today's questions, add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for your neighbor there. Here we go-

1. Do you feel like you have a 'full plate' at the moment? In what way? 

In a word, yes. Don't most people feel that way this time of year? I sat down yesterday and organized my 'to-buy' list which helped, and then I went ahead and did some online shopping and shipping. Many items were already marked with Black Friday pricing and it felt good to get some of this done. 

We have a lot of fun things on the December calendar and I want to enjoy each day as it comes. I make lists and put everything on the calendar including when I'll bake, when I'll wrap, when I'll write cards, etc. It makes the proverbial plate feel a little less full. 

2. How did you learn to cook? If you have children did you teach or encourage them to cook? Do you like to follow a recipe or is your cooking style more 'let's wing it'.  

I learned to cook by watching and helping my momma, a truly wonderful cook. She made everything from scratch, served balanced meals, set the table, and baked a ridiculous, but much loved and appreciated, number of Christmas cookies every year. 

Both of my girls also enjoy cooking and baking and I think would say they learned the same way I did. That is, by watching and helping me in the kitchen. Still one of my favorite places to be with them, especially at the holidays. So many great conversations are held while chopping and stirring. 

As far as cookbooks vs. winging it I'd say I'm a little bit of both. I'll follow a recipe, particularly in baking where measurements and proportion matter. I love cookbooks, but I can also come up with something on the fly from my pantry in a crunch. I guess I'll say that while I can 'wing it' I rarely do. 

3. Last time you bit off more than you could chew? Elaborate. 

I can't really think of the last time I might have said yes when I should have said no. I try not to do that in this season of life. I used to excel at juggling many many things, but these days I'm happier without quite  so many plates in the air.  

4. When did you last say 'the more the merrier' and mean it? 

I became part of (a witness really) to an extremely awkward conversation at an event we attended recently. I was chatting with a woman and her husband when their Thanksgiving host came over and rescinded their invitation because several other anticipated guests had cancelled and she didn't think she wanted to cook for 'just them'. Yikes. 

I wanted to slink away and pretend I didn't hear, but instead I spontaneously invited them to my daughter's house for dinner. I told my daughter the words were out of my mouth before I could actually check with her and see if it was fine.  It was fine. 

Thanksgiving is a time to be generous and I think is made for a 'the more the merrier' kind of attitude. As it turned out, the couple's original host ended up adding more guests to her dinner table, so their invite was back on. It all worked out. 

5. Write an acrostic using the word T-H-A-N-K-S. 

Giving T-H-A-N-K-S today for...

Traditions kept alive

Home

Acts of kindness done without fanfare

New mercies every morning

Kids, the ones fully grown and the ones still growing

Sunshiny days and life's simple pleasures 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

This handsome fella had his nails trimmed yesterday. 

He's not a fan. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 630

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (November 26th) to share answers and count your blessings. See you there! 

1. Do you feel like you have a 'full plate' at the moment? In what way? 

2. How did you learn to cook? If you have children did you teach or encourage them to cook? Do you like to follow a recipe or is your cooking style more 'let's wing it'.  

3. Last time you bit off more than you could chew? Elaborate. 

4. When did you last say 'the more the merrier' and mean it? 

5. Write an acrostic using the word T-H-A-N-K-S. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Monthly Musings-November

'Twas the week before Thanksgiving... 

Time for November's monthly musings hosted by Holly (Pink Lady) and Patty (Good Better Best Life). They're asking this month's questions a week earlier than normal because next week we'll be giving thanks around the table for all our many blessings. 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It feels like it can be enjoyed for what it is as opposed to what we'd like it to be, which sometimes happens with Christmas. Family, food, and gratitude rule the day, and I for one am thankful for the pause this day brings before December bells start ringing. I'm going to throw in a few Thanksgiving throwbacks here too just because I can. 

How many times can I post this picture on my blog? 

Many it seems, but I love it. 

1. Favorite Thanksgiving dishes? 

In my opinion Thanksgiving is one of those meals that should not be messed with or changed too much from year to year in any big way. It's comforting familiarity is one of the things that makes it special and I want the same tastes and aromas that have filled this day for as long as I can remember. 

My favorite dishes are all of them, but dressing is tops, there must be cranberry sauce, homemade or canned either one, or better yet both, and my momma's fruit salad with homemade whipped cream on the dessert table. 

2. Stuffing or dressing? 

I sometimes call it stuffing, but I don't actually stuff the turkey. My mom used to stuff the turkey and have a separate dish of dressing on the side so we used the terms interchangeably. We have cornbread stuffing made with cornbread baked the night before so it dries out a little, a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix added to it along with turkey stock and lots of onion, celery, and seasonings. 

3. Are you hosting any of the holidays this year? Please share any tips. 

I'm not hosting this year, although we will have an early Christmas here with our girls and their families the weekend prior to Christmas. My tips for hosting are pretty simple-

• make ahead what you can make ahead
• people want your presence more than a perfect meal, home, or place setting. 
• take time to look around the table, whether there are two or twenty seated there, and count your blessings 

4. Turkey trot or football game? 

I'm going with football game and by that I mean watching, not playing. I enjoy spending the whole morning in the kitchen as we tend to eat late afternoon, so a turkey trot messes with my meal prep.

Also, I don't like to run and I don't like to be cold so there's that. 

5. If you decorate for Christmas do you decorate before or after Thanksgiving? 

Team after all the way. 

6. Are your holidays sit down meals or more casual affairs? 

Ours are sit down. I like to use my china on Thanksgiving and my Christmas dishes in December and fancy napkins and pretty glasses and the gravy boat and big platter that only come out for holidays.

If I'm invited to your house for a meal you do you. I actually like a casual get together if we're talking parties, but for the dinners themselves, both Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, at my house I want sit down. 

7. Pumpkin or apple pie? Or another dessert? 

My daughter is making an apple pie this year and I like it better than pumpkin so am good with that. Growing up we always had a simple fruit salad as a dessert option too, topped with whipped cream. Lots of years I'd skip the pie and just have fruit. 

The meal is filling and sometimes a bowl of fruit is just the right thing. The salad is made with chopped apples, chopped oranges, and halved and pitted purple grapes, all topped with a can of crushed pineapple. It doesn't sound like much, but it's refreshing and delicious. 

8. Are you traveling for Thanksgiving or staying closer to home?

Staying closer to home this year. 

9. Do you Black Friday shop? 

In person? No never. Online? Maybe. I mean Black Friday has turned into a whole month now hasn't it, and most places offer deals for more than just a day. I'm not mad about it. 

10. Thing you are most looking forward to this holiday season? 

Time spent with family, both my family of origin and the one I birthed. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Home Is Where The Hodgepodge Is

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 hop over and leave a comment for your neighbor there. Everyone is thankful for comments. Here we go-

1. Let's do our gratitude question first this week...what's the best thing about your home, and have you taken time to enjoy it lately? 

Best thing about my home? The view. 

Have I taken time to enjoy it lately? Absolutely. Every single day. There is never a day I walk out of my bedroom in the morning, see the lake, and feel anything less than a lot of gratitude for the beauty of what's right outside my window. 

2. Do you like squash? Of the varieties listed, which one's your favorite and how do you like it prepared? Is squash of some sort on your Thanksgiving menu?? 

acorn, butternut, delicata, spaghetti, zucchini, crookneck (yellow squash), patty pan

I do like squash, all varieties really. My favorite is probably yellow squash in the form of a squash casserole. I make this one when I have squash on hand and sometimes add zucchini too. It's easy and delicious (Mrs. Hopkin's Boarding House Squash). I also love butternut squash roasted or as a soup. 

I'm not hosting Thanksgiving this year, but I am bringing a vegetable and think I'll make it squash. 

3. Last time you were 'squashed in' somewhere, or felt squashed? 

Not exactly squashed but...hubs and I had sushi on Friday evening and we sat at the bar to eat. There was an empty seat between my chair and three gentleman who were talking business. On the other side of hubs there was one empty seat and then on the other end of the bar there were two or three empties, maybe more. A man came in and asked hubs if he'd mind if he squeezed another seat in next to him? Huh? Why? 

It was so odd. He jammed this bar stool in where there clearly wasn't enough room to sit without being right on top of hubs when there were empty seats on the other side of the bar. We were getting ready to pay, so we just rolled with it, but it was odd and I wouldn't have wanted to eat my dinner that way. I was trying to decide if he was on a date with someone he hadn't met before, because it kind of felt that way. I mean we were all squashed in together so it was hard not to hear.  I wanted to tell him this wasn't the best way to begin his evening, but I refrained. 

4. Have you ever played squash? What about other 'racquet sports' such as racquetball, tennis, pickleball, badminton, table tennis (ping pong)? Are these sports something you enjoy? 

I've never played squash and only played racquetball a couple of times in college. I have played all of the racquet sports at some point in my life, but none seriously. Except maybe ping pong. I'm competitive at ping pong. 

Hubs and I played pickleball some when the craze began, but then I broke my elbow (unrelated to pickleball) and we never picked it back up. The injury count is particularly high in this sport (just ask my son-in-law the orthopedist) so I don't think I'll go back to it. 

5. Something in today's society or culture that feels like a 'racket' to you? If you don't like that one, tell us about a place you've been recently where there was a lot of 'racket'. 

Personal property taxes. I own the car. I've paid for the car. I paid taxes on the car when purchased. Why do we have to continue to pay 'personal property taxes' on a movable asset we own outright? Real estate I sort of understand because you live in the community where schools and other services you require benefit from them, but vehicles and boats are something entirely different and I burn a little every year when I have to pay that particular tax. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

I've been running all day so am light on random thoughts at the moment. Who's cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year? What's on the menu? 

Day Dating Episode Six

 Linking today with Talking About It Tuesdays hosted by Joanne

Welcome to Episode Six of The Dating Game. Hmmm...I like that. To catch you up, hubs and I are aiming for 52 dates in 52 weeks, and we're already a week behind because we had his momma here and leaving her home alone while we went out didn't feel right. 

We'll tack a week on at the end so all's well that end's well.  There will likely be a few more misses here and there, but if it's 52 dates in 55 weeks or 60 weeks that's okay too. It's not a test. 

If you read Monday's post then you already know we've had a lot going on here. Friday afternoon was our window and as both girls were leaving the house hubs looked at me and said, 'a nap would be nice'. Agreed. 

But the weather was glorious and we decided we'd feel better if we went out and we're both glad we did. Such a nice day! 

Daughter1 and her family had been to a nearby North Georgia town recently and seen a spectacular waterfall and a really cool museum, and we wanted to see it too, so that's where we headed. 

We left about noon and made the slightly less than one hour drive to a little town called Toccoa. Have you watched Band of Brothers? Toccoa is where Easy Company, 2nd batallion, 506th parachute infantry regiment of the 101st airborne had their basic training prior to D-Day. They're the focus of the series and their training at 'Camp Toccoa' included rigorous hikes up Currahee Mountain. It's where these soldiers became a literal band of brothers. The phrase Currahee became their motto and meant 'stand alone'. 

Hubs and I are watching the series start to finish now. The series came out in 2001, but I was unaware of the local connection until my son-in-law told us about it. 

Before going to the museum though, we had to see that waterfall. Toccoa Falls is oddly located on a small college campus. It's a 186 foot free falling waterfall, one of the tallest east of the Mississippi and it is positively stunning. The photos do not do it justice...this fall is actually higher than Niagara, but obviously not as wide or impressive. 

Still a beauty though! You drive on to the campus, park at the gift shop and pay a small entry fee, then take the short walk out to the falls. 

And there they are-

Just beautiful. 

We stood for a while, then drove into town to visit the museum (Currahee Military Museum).  I've been in a lot of WW2 related museums and this one, while small, is jam packed with so much. 

It's located at the site of the old train depot, which is where soldiers arrived before making the five mile hike to Camp Toccoa. The museum tells the story of trainees who went on to become some of the most physically fit soldiers in the army. More than 18,000 paratroopers trained here prior to and after D-Day. 

One of the best parts of the museum is an actual stable from Adlbourne England that housed paratroopers during the war. The story of how they brought it here is told too and it's really something. 

We had plans to get sushi for an early dinner back at the lake so we had about an hour to fill before heading home. We had seen a sign as we were driving around earlier for a winery and decided to check it out. Once we found it that is...GPS struggled and we went around in circles a couple of times, but eventually we got there. 

The sun was shining so we ordered a glass of wine, sat outside, and soaked it in. 

We left there and made our way back to laketown and a sushi dinner-

'Twas a great day. 

About Last Week And Maybe The Week Before Too

Hello friends. It has been non-stop party party party here for the past couple of weeks leaving little time to blog. I will hopefully not feel the need to tell you absolutely everything here today, but I make no promises. 

Two weeks ago hubs trekked over to Tennessee and brought his momma back to the lake to spend the week. While she was here we had a minor repair to the flashing and shingles around the chimney which meant a lot of hammering and banging. The actual work made a bit of a mess, but the roofers did a great job, tidied up before they left, and it's done now which is what matters to me. 

While this was happening we also had our front door refinished. It takes a beating from the sun, and we've been in this house nine years now so it was time. The job was supposed to take just a couple of days but ended up taking the whole week (minus the day the roofers were here). 

That's because they had to remove the door, seal the opening with plastic, sand the door, restain it, then tone down the stain on the interior because hubs thought it was too shiny and amp up the stain on the outside because hubs thought it was too matte, then seal the whole thing, and re-hang. It looks like a brand new door so a job well done. 

This is interesting, isn't it?

Hubs mom and I got out every day to do something fun, and she got to spend time with the greats which made her so happy. They all came here for dinner one night and it was the right kind of weather for a fire so we made s'mores. 

That Friday our neighborhood social committee hosted a Veteran's Day event and she enjoyed that too. They do a really nice job with this evening and everyone brings an appetizer or dessert to share. My mother-in-law and I had gone to a flea market on Wednesday and I bought some beautiful tomatoes there.  I made a Caprese style flag that turned out really pretty. 

The 'stars' are black olives. 

Hubs and I took his momma back to Tennessee Sunday after church. We spent the night at hubs brother's house, then drove home on Monday morning because we had our monthly wine dinner that night. 

Let's pause for a moment and give this cake its due. So delicious! It's a Portokalopita aka Greek orange phyllo cake. I will be tracking down a recipe online to recreate. 

Tuesday I had book club and Mah Jong, oh and daughter2 and her littles arrived to spend a few days. She stayed over at her sister's this time which was fun for everyone. The cousins had a great time together and so did the sisters. 

Cousins...

Be still my heart. 

Wednesday everyone came over here in the afternoon and I gave the kids their Christmas pajamas so we could take the most adorable photos ever! and also have dinner together. I'm not posting any of the pics as I'll use one in our Christmas card. 

Congratulating myself for not overthinking the pajamas, for buying as soon as I saw them, for remembering to take a picture of the grands all matchy matchy. I got the LAKE pjs, holly jolly for the boys and sugar plum dreams for the girls. I've never bought any of their kid wear, but their women's pajamas are really comfy. 

Hubs snapped this photo of the night sky-

Thursday the boys had school but the rest of us met for breakfast at a local spot we love. 

Hubs went on to the office for a bit and the girls and I (plus the three littlest littles) went to Hobby Lobby and Belks. Here's my haul-

The bedding was from Belks. I've been wanting to add Christmas linens to the bedrooms and decided this was the year to get started.  As we were leaving the restaurant hubs snapped this picture-

It's one of those pictures that plays tricks on your mind. You see moms walking their little ones to the car. I see teenage girls who dreamed of raising babies together living their dream. 

Hubs and I had plans to meet up with friends later that afternoon to talk about a potential trip in 2026. It sounds exciting so hopefully it all works out. My daughter invited us to come for dinner, but we were tired (ya think?!) and said we'd just eat leftovers at home and let them have sister time that evening. 

Friday morning everyone came to us after breakfast so the girls could divvy up my Snow Village. I've had the Snow village for decades and I love seeing it all set up around Christmastime. I don't have a great place for it in this house, and honestly the set up and take down was starting to bring me more stress than joy. Recently Daughter1 said she wished she had a snow village in her new house, and I told her I'd happily hand mine over. Half anyway, and half to her sister. 

So we pulled out the boxes and they took turns choosing who got what and in the end I think everyone was happy. I'll enjoy seeing the village in their homes and am glad they're excited about setting it up. 

Still here? 

Daughter2 got on the road back to Tennessee about noon, Daughter1 took her gang to the library and hubs and I had a day date. I'll save that for tomorrow. You're welcome. 

Saturday Daughter1 and her hubs had a day date of their own, and we were in charge of the three grands. They were excited for a sleepover at Nana and Pawpaws and we were excited too. They were dropped off here about one and we started the afternoon with ice cream sundaes. Or Saturday 'sundae's as Max likes to say. 

The weather was beautiful so we went to the park for a while. I played a little soccer and y'all it's been a minute. Hubs helpfully yelled from the sideline, 'don't hurt yourself' and you'll be relieved to know I did not. I called for a sub and hubs played the rest of the afternoon and I pushed Little Miss on the swing which felt less risky. 

We came home and everyone played here before dinner. We watched some football which the boys also enjoy and played some games then had dinner, Mississippi roast and mashed potatoes which everyone loves. After dinner it was baths and showers and then movie time. Hubs made popcorn and we watched The Incredibles and then everyone went to bed with nary a complaint. 

Sunday morning we went to church and met the parents there for the switch. After the service hubs and I stopped and got Mexican food for lunch and then it was home for some afternoon r & r, which translates to blogging on the couch for me, and football at a friends house for hubs. Watching, not playing just in case that wasn't clear. 

And I think that brings us up to speed. 

Mostly. 

So, what's new with you? 

This post is linked with Hello Monday hosted by Holly (Pink Lady) and Sarah (Sunshine and Books). 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 629

Here are the questions for this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (November 19th) to share answers with the blog world. See you there! 

1. Let's do our gratitude question first this week...what's the best thing about your home, and have you taken time to enjoy it lately? 

2. Do you like squash? Of the varieties listed, which one's your favorite and how do you like it prepared? Is squash of some sort on your Thanksgiving menu?? 

acorn, butternut, delicata, spaghetti, zucchini, crookneck (yellow squash), patty pan

3. Last time you were 'squashed in' somewhere, or felt squashed? 

4. Have you ever played squash? What about other 'racquet sports' such as racquetball, tennis, pickleball, badminton, table tennis (ping pong)? Are these sports something you enjoy? 

5. Something in today's society or culture that feels like a 'racket' to you? If you don't like that one, tell us about a place you've been recently where there was a lot of 'racket'. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.