Welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Grab your ruby slippers and join the party...here are my answers to this week's questions-
1. May is National Blood Pressure Month...what sends yours soaring, either literally or figuratively? What calms you down? When did you last have your bp checked?
I've written more or less the same answer to this question multiple times, trying different wording each time, but in the end deleting it altogether because it felt like I might be raising a topic that would make your blood pressure soar. You're welcome.
Let's go with the general answer of politics and leave it at that.
What calms me down?
Simple-turn it off. The news, the television, the car radio, the multiple social media outlets. Do something else. I might go for a walk, cook, read, listen to music, watch a movie...anything really. Hey, I might even vacuum.
I have my bp checked several times a year, because once you've cruised past your 45th birthday people, its all just fun and games.
2. You found $1-what do you spend it on? $10 $100?
1$-I'd probably stick it in my wallet. Can you actually buy anything with a buck?
10$-lunch at Paneras
100$-something fun to wear or something fun for the house
3. Mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food has been proposed, but not yet enacted in the US. How much attention do you give food labels before you buy? Are you in favor of labeling if it means higher prices? Is this an issue you've been following and feel strongly about, or is this the first you've heard of the controversy?
I pay a fair amount of attention to labels because we obsess over carbs, sodium, and sugar these days. I buy organic when I can and straight from the farmer whenever that's possible. I live in the NJ countryside so around here that is very often possible.
I've read quite a bit about the GE foods and while my instinct is to say absolutely slap a label on everything, it's not quite that black and white. For instance there is debate about what technology would require labeling, what percentage of GE must be present to require labeling, how is it regulated, etc.
Cost is definitely a factor for most people when purchasing groceries. I often stagger out of the market in a daze, receipt in hand, trying to mentally figure out how what I just purchased cost as much as it did. I feel for families regularly trying to feed growing children on a budget.
4. May 15th marks the birth date of Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz. At this point in time are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain.
I have some personal goals I'm attempting to meet so I'm going with courage. They're not extraordinary, but they do require me to be a little bit brave and a lot disciplined.
5. "There's no place like home" is an oft repeated line from Baum's book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement?
Every time I return from a trip out of town, which if you read here you know is pretty often. I love to travel, love to visit family and friends and foreign cities, but I also love to come home. No matter where it is, there is no place like it.
6. Steak-yes please or no thank you? What cut do you prefer and how do you like yours cooked? Sauce or no sauce? Besides your own kitchen where's a place you like to go to get a great steak?
Yes please, just not too often. I like a petit fillet if we're dining out, and a cowboy cut Ribeye we get from someone here if hubs is grilling. We call it the Fred Flintstone steak because it reminds us of those ginormous steaks Fred used to eat that tipped his car on its side.
Definitely no sauce. Just the steak, charred on the outside and medium rare on the inside. Sorry all you vegetarians reading here. Just writing that description of a great steak confirms for me why I'll never be a vegan.
There are any number of fabulous places to get a great steak, but I especially love Sparks Steak House in the city.
7. When was the last time you were in a genuine hurry?
I needed to be somewhere at 10 am on Monday morning. Hubs was working from home until he needed to leave for the airport, and just as I was getting ready to walk out the door he asked me to print his boarding pass. There was some sort of mix up that required phone calls and waiting on hold, and then more waiting on hold before it was all sorted, so I ended up running a little late.
Running late makes my blood pressure soar.
I could have just said that for #1, because I hate to be late.
I wasn't really late, more like right on time.
Which is the same thing as late in my book.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
Who's a fan of the show 24? Fox TV announced this week they're bringing it back, summer 2014, and Keifer Sutherland will once again remind us that our own day wasn't so bad after all.
24 was some of the most intense programming I've ever seen, and Jack Bauer is still one of my all time favorite fictional heroes. To this day when we see Dennis Haysbert in anything we refer to him as President Palmer.
Thinking about that show takes me back to some chilly UK
If you're a fan of the show you know it's impossible to watch 'just one more'.
Hmmm...I think my girls are gonna need to plan for some marathon viewing here at home once the new season is released on DVD. We never ever watched it in real time. I mean, who could stand to wait a week to find out what happens in the next hour?
