Grab Your Mug...It's The Hodgepodge

Welcome to our mid-July random aka 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. Or all your neighbors if you've got the time. Here we go-

1. What's a characteristic you admire in others? Elaborate. 

There are many, but one of the biggest is selflessness. I so admire people who think of others first. Humility and integrity are other traits I greatly admire and they often go hand in hand with selflessness.

2. Do you have a favorite mug? Let's see it. Why is this one your favorite? 

This is my favorite-

And it has somehow disappeared. It may have broken and no one told me because they knew it was my favorite? It's also possible I set it down somewhere and it's still sitting there waiting for me to re-discover it's whereabouts. Too bad it's not linked to my watch the way my phone is. Bother. 

Daughter1 gave it to me because she knows how much I love the verse in my blog header and the mug design reminded her of that verse. Now I'm going on the hunt for it, because I'm wondering if I stashed it somewhere when I made room for the Christmas mugs. Do you need to know this? Carry on. 

I have other favorite mugs in terms of size, both the width and the depth and especially the handle. I'm particular about the handle. I have a couple of others that are favorites in terms of the giver and the meaning behind them. You know I have a hedgehog mug because of course I do. 

3. July 15th is/was National Give Something Away Day...will you (or did you, depending on what day you answer these questions) give something away? If so what? Do you regularly give away or do you 'accumulate'? 

I didn't give anything away on the 15th, but I keep a bag in my closet that once filled will be donated. We pretty regularly get rid of clothing we no longer wear. Hubs thinks our attic is full of things we could give away, but I disagree. We'll see once we get up there for the great clean out, which will not happen until the temperature drops about twenty degrees and I can walk without a boot. 

4. You're planning a trip. Do you prefer exploring big cities or smaller, more off the grid towns? World Atlas lists these 12 'off the grid' towns to see in 2025. How many on the list have you seen? Of those listed which one would you most like to visit? Tell us why? 

Boothbay Harbor Maine, Middlebury Vermont, New Hope Pennsylvania, Rehoboth Beach Delaware, Brevard North Carolina, Saugatuck Michigan, Medora North Dakota, Ouray Colorado, Lamoille Nevada, Neah Bay Washington, Hood River Oregon, or Cambria California

*You can read more about each destination by clicking the link above. 

I can get on board with a trip to a big city or a small town, as both appeal to me in different ways. I live in a small town, and I've been to a few of the small towns that made this list-New Hope PA (really cute!), Rehoboth Beach Delaware (we vacationed in neighboring Bethany Beach several summers) Brevard NC (not far from where I live so an easy day trip for us), and Cambria California-

California is such a beautiful state, one of the prettiest I think, but between the cost of living and the crazy politics there I would never want to call it home. 

It's hard to choose just one, but if I must I'm going with Medora North Dakota. Why? Because I've never been to that particular state and it's in a part of the country I'd like to explore.  Also my hubs has read several books about Theodore Roosevelt who is a really interesting man, so I know he would enjoy making the trip with me. 

5. Have you ever...ridden a motorcycle? been to a Disney park? met a celebrity? won a contest? Tell us something about whatever you answered yes to on this list. 

I had a brief ride on a motorcycle when I was young, about ten I think. My cousin gave my sister and I both, plus another cousin, a short ride around the neighborhood on his bike, and he went super slow. Still it was exciting to my ten year old self. That being said, my son-in-law is an orthopedic surgeon and not a fan of motorcycles. He's worked in ER Trauma and has seen too much, which kind of puts me off motorcycles. 

I've been to Disney World in Orlando three different times, and Disneyland Paris once. 

I've never been to the California Disney park. And I've never won a contest, but I have met a handful of celebrities. Here are two that stand out-

When we lived in the UK I was invited to a small luncheon in The House of Lords with David Cameron. I think there were about a dozen guests at the table.  He wasn't Prime Minister at the time, but became Prime Minister a couple of years later.  The club I was president of did a lot of fundraising for a charity very close to his heart and I was invited to the luncheon as a representative of our group. I sat next to Felicity Dahl who was Roald Dahl's second wife. It was a completely surreal experience for me. 

Closer to home-I met George Clooney in a NYC hotel when hubs and I were there with a group of his co-workers for an event. Meeting George now wouldn't be as exciting as it was then because I'm completely over celebrity culture in general, but especially celebs who bring politics into every situation. Still it was a fun night. 

The blogger  who hosted the random dozen which was the precursor to the Wednesday Hodgepodge sometimes mentioned George on her blog in a humorous way, and when I told her I'd met him once she demanded an explanation lol. I've linked the post with all the details here for anyone who's curious- George Clooney...here's the 411. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

So who here has joined the Mah Jong craze? I learned to play towards the end of the Covid 'era', and I still play almost every week in my neighborhood. When I was growing up Mah Jong was a game Jewish grandmas played and that's kind of what I associated it with. That and China which is where the game originated. Who knew it was so much fun? It's surging in popularity now with lots of young moms playing too. So who here plays?  

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 611

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then pop back here on Wednesday (July 16th) to share answers with the universe. See you there! 

1. What's a characteristic you admire in others? Elaborate. 

2. Do you have a favorite mug? Let's see it. Why is this one your favorite? 

3. July 15th is/was National Give Something Away Day...will you (or did you, depending on what day you answer these questions) give something away? If so what? Do you regularly give away or do you tend to  'accumulate'? 

4. You're planning a trip. Do you prefer exploring big cities or smaller, more off the grid towns? World Atlas lists these 12 'off the grid' towns to see in 2025. How many on the list have you seen? Of those listed which one would you most like to visit? Tell us why? 

Boothbay Harbor Maine, Middlebury Vermont, New Hope Pennsylvania, Rehoboth Beach Delaware, Brevard North Carolina, Saugatuck Michigan, Medora North Dakota, Ouray Colorado, Lamoille Nevada, Neah Bay Washington, Hood River Oregon, or Cambria California

*You can read more about each destination by clicking the link above. 

5. Have you ever...ridden a motorcycle? been to a Disney park? met a celebrity? won a contest? Tell us something about whatever you answered yes to on this list. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

And The Hodgepodge It Goes Round And Round

Welcome to the last Hodgepodge in July. Summer is a-flyin'! 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. July 25th is National Merry-Go-Round Day. Do you call it a merry-go-round or a carousel? When was the last time you rode one? Did you enjoy that? Metaphorically speaking what feels like a merry go round you're on right now? 

I've used both terms, but probably use merry-go-round more often (although neither are said a lot!).  I haven't ridden a merry-go-round in years. I think the last time might have been September, 2007 on a weekend trip to Disney Paris with hubs and our girls. I'm not a fan of spinning anything, but as long as the ride doesn't last too long or spin too fast it's okay. I did enjoy this ride and everything else about that weekend. 

As far as what feels like stepping on to a merry-go-round...maybe home ownership? You tackle one project and turn around only to discover three more have been added to the list. 

2. What word do you have a hard time pronouncing? What word do you have a hard time spelling? What's your favorite word in another language? 

Pronouncing? Anemone, which fortunately doesn't come up in conversation too often. 

Spelling? Lately that would be Cincinatti. I have to think about it every single time. Necessity is another. 

Favorite word in another language? I love the phrases c'est la vie, carpe diem, and chin chin. 

3. What's a phrase or cliche you use pretty often and find to be true?

'Every little thing's gonna be alright.' 

I said this often to my girls when they were growing up, and I say it to myself sometimes still. 

4. When it comes to grocery shopping what is your most dreaded chore-menu planning, the actual shopping, or the unloading/putting away? How often do you shop? Do you use any of the pick up and/or delivery services?

Unloading and putting them away. Ugh. My energy is generally pretty high in the meal planning stage and even with the actual shopping, but it dips about the time I pull into the garage and think about putting it all away. I shopped on Monday and it took me almost an hour to get everything unloaded and 'dealt with'.

I bought a watermelon and like to cut that into cubes to go in the frig right away. And of course it's too much for one container which means a trip downstairs to put the second container in my other frig. I also bought a rotisserie chicken to use in a dish I was making for dinner so that had to be cut up too. Then between the rind of the melon and the carcass of the chicken I had a lot of rubbish which meant a trip up to the curb to get it in the can before the rubbish was collected. I think I got at least 1000 steps in just putting away groceries. 

I shop about every 4-5 days. I like fresh produce and it starts to get wilty beyond that.  I usually meal plan enough dinners for a full week -ten days. We don't have a delivery option out here in the country, and I don't use pick up. 

Is all this more than you wanted to know about my shopping habits lol? 

5. Something you need or want to do before July comes to a close? 

Organize a little crafty project I have in mind for my daughter's birthday, complete some lingering paperwork for our financial planner, and read the books on my nightstand that need to be returned to the library. I'm halfway there in terms of the books. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Curious to know if you've seen, or have plans to see, any of the new movies out right now-Barbie? Oppenheimer? Mission Impossible? The Sound of Freedom? If so what did you think? 

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The Happiest Hodgepodge On Earth

Welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then go say howdy to your neighbor. Here we go-

 

1. It's Mickey Mouse's birthday (November 18)...happy birthday Mickey! He reads here, right? Have you ever been to Disney, any of the parks at all? Are you a Disney superfan or something less than that? They're open right now so tell us, would you go if you had the time/money/a free trip?

I've been to Disney World and Disneyland Paris, but never Disneyland California. It's been a number of years since I've been to any of the parks, but hopefully when my grandsons are a bit older I'll have a chance to see the magic again through their eyes. I shared some of our Disney memories in a post linked here, and reading it back just now made me wish the world was normal, my grandkids weren't an ocean away, and a trip to Disney World was on the calendar. 

I enjoy the parks, but am not a superfan. I'm not someone who wants to go every year, but for sure wouldn't turn down a free trip either. And I soak it all up when I'm there. 

2. Your favorite place to go when you want to be quiet as a church mouse? Would those who know you well describe you as more churchmouse or perhaps more like mighty mouse? 

When I'm looking for quiet I head to one of our porches. This time of year especially the lake is quiet and I love the view, a fire in the fireplace or in the fire table, a blanket on my lap, and a good book. Or a good nap. Or both. 

As far as which mouse? I think I'm a bit of both. 

3. The day before Mickey's birthday happens to be National Homemade Bread Day. Did/will you celebrate? Do you bake your own bread? Last time you had hot out-of-the-oven homemade bread? What's your favorite kind of bread? 

I used to bake bread on a pretty regular basis, but not so much these days. I try not to eat a lot of bread. I had homemade hot-out-of-the-oven bread a little over a week ago. My neighbor brought me a loaf of her sourdough and it was scrumptious. I took half the loaf to my sister and brother-in-law because momma of the bride does not need to eat an entire loaf of homemade bread. ahem. 

My neighbor is going to bring me some starter and I'm excited to make my own sourdough loaves. I plan to wrap them up and share with friends and neighbors though because see paragraph above.  

It's hard to choose a favorite bread, but I do love a sandwich on rye. I might say my absolute favorite bread is homemade cinnamon, lightly toasted please.   

4. What's something you might say is 'the greatest thing since sliced bread'? 

Not to be a broken record here, but Facetime is pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread. Maybe even better than sliced bread. 

5. Let's keep the gratitude theme we started last week rolling on through November. Share with us five little things you're grateful for today. Small blessings. One catch-they all must start with the letter T. Gotta keep us thinking, right? 

turning leaves

Thanksgiving memories

tiny handprints

afternoon tea 

a warning instead of a ticket

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Who's watching the newest season of The Crown? Your thoughts so far? I think the program is so well done, but I do wonder if the royals watch? And I wonder how accurate some of the Diana storyline is? If it's even close to accurate it's awfully sad. 

Also I miss England. 

Carry on.

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 395

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

1. It's Mickey Mouse's birthday (November 18)...happy birthday Mickey! He reads here, right? Have you ever been to Disney, any of the parks at all? Are you a Disney superfan or something less than that? They're open right now so tell us, would you go if you had the time/money/a free trip?

2. Your favorite place to go when you want to be quiet as a church mouse? Would those who know you well describe you as more churchmouse or perhaps more like mighty mouse? 

3. The day before Mickey's birthday happens to be National Homemade Bread Day. Did/will you celebrate? Do you bake your own bread? Last time you had hot out-of-the-oven homemade bread? What's your favorite kind of bread? 

4. What's something you might say is 'the greatest thing since sliced bread'? 

5. Let's keep the gratitude theme we started last week rolling on through November. Share with us five little things you're grateful for today. Small blessings. One catch-they all must start with the letter T. Gotta keep us thinking, right? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Some weeks you get a clever title and some weeks you get just a title. On this last Wednesday in May I'm going with option B for the win. If you've answered today's questions be sure to add your link at the end of my post before you run say hi to your neighbor. Here we go-

1.  How should success be measured? Using that as your standard, who is the most successful person you know? (or one of the most successful?)

This is one of those words people define in different ways. I think of success as the achievement of a goal, and as such I know many successful people. As I thought about this question I decided if someone has a goal and is working their hardest to attain that goal, then I see them as successful whether they actually attain their goal or not. Success comes from knowing your purpose, believing you can achieve it, and then pursuing it for all it's worth. 

2. Have you ever been to a hot air balloon launch/fest/party? Ever taken a ride in a hot air balloon? Is that on your bucket list? According to Frommers the ten best hot air balloon adventures in the world are-

Loire Valley (France), the Serengeti (Tanzania), Napa Valley (California), Lake Champlain (Vermont), Cappadoicia (Turkey), Istria (Croatia), Gstaad (Switzerland), Varra Valley (Australia), Muelle (Costa Rica), and Albuquerque (New Mexico)

Which one on the list would you most like to experience? 

I've never been in a hot air balloon, nor have I attended any sort of balloon festival. It's not on my bucket list mostly because I feel like there's the potential for a lot of motion in a hot air ballloon. Do you feel a lot of motion up there? I can handle heights, just not swaying and dipping heights. I suppose I might be talked into a hot air balloon ride under the exact right circumstances. 

Perfect weather would top my list of exact right circumstances.  

Of the rides listed I'm going with Tanzania because a friend of mine did this and said it was absolutely incredible. A safari is on my bucket list. 

3. May 25th is National Brown-Bag It Day. Did you/will you pack a lunch today? When did you last pack a lunch for someone and what are your go-to ingredients for a brown bag lunch? 

I did not pack a lunch for anyone today. I can't remember the last time I packed a lunch but my go-to ingredients back when I was packing lunch included a sandwich and some fruit and, because it was the 90's/00's, usually a cookie or maybe some goldfish. The food police were not out in force a couple of decades ago. 

I wasn't very creative in the brown bag department. If Pinterest is anything to go by, lunch box ingredients and options have come a long way since my girls were brown bagging it. 

4. What's one of your favorite dance scenes from a movie or television show?

How to choose??! One of my favorites is definitely Anna's dance with the King in The King and I starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. That dress! 

I also really love the scene in The Sound of Music when Captain Von Trapp dances in the garden with Maria. So swoony! 

5. John F. Kennedy made famous the line, "...Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." So what can you do for your country?

Respect the flag. Support the men and women who make up the armed forces. Vote. Lend a helping hand to lift up my community or state in some way. Treat people with kindness.  Get out and see this place I call home, appreciate the beauty that is everywhere. 

6. Weekends are made for________________________.

Less scheduled everything. 

7. On this last Wednesday of the month bid farewell to the month of May in seven words or less. 

Time flies when you're having fun! 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Question #2 reminded me I have pics of hubs and Daughter1 in a hot air balloon over Disneyland Paris. 

It was tethered, but still a little scary, or so they said. I wouldn't know since I was safely on the ground with Daughter2. 

Why was the center of the basket open? Shouldn't there be a floor there?

Just in case she steered clear of center...

...and stuck close to Dad instead! 

The Happiest Place on Earth

Heigh-ho, Heigh- ho, its on (and on and on) with the A-Z blog challenge we go...

O is for Orlando

More specifically, Walt Disney World, but I'm attempting to meet the challenge requirements here so you're going to need to work with me. What would 26 travel posts thru the alphabet be without including Walt in at least one? And that picture up above is from Disneyland Paris but stay with me...

The problem with a post on WDW is this-what can I say about WDW that has not been said in the literally hundreds, if not thousands, maybe even millions, of posts already out there in the land of the internet? Probably not a lot, so I'm just going to record a few memories for my blog. Technically our last trip to Disney was Disneyland Paris and not Orlando but I'm including that here because its my blog and I can.

O is also for outside the USA.

Like I said, use your imagination...it is Disney after all.

I've made five trips to Disney however I will not be discussing visit number 4 when I helped chaperon a group of middle school show choir students on a trip I can still barely talk about. And yes, it has been ten years but let me just say that trip put me off Disney for a while. It wasn't Disney's fault that just the idea of going back to the park made my insides churn. 

Some day I might write about that week but not today. Suffice it to say when my co-chaperon and I landed in the Baltimore airport and saw our husbands waiting for us we both burst into tears. Keeping tabs on middle schoolers who are not your own can be a fun and rewarding endeavor. It can also be something else altogether.

My first trip to Disney was in 1993. The daughters were 5 and 3 years old and my dad had passed away the year before so we invited my mom to come along too. I was looking thru my pics from that trip and I think I was so caught up in the magic myself that I really didn't take many...mostly I just soaked up the experience sans camera. These three photos pretty much sum up the whole week-

Scrumptious.

I could eat their little blonde headed pony tailed selves up with a spoon.

I know some people say they want to wait until their kids are older to go to Disney but there is nothing quite like the pure joy and abandon with which a just turned three year old will fling herself at every familiar character she sees.

Here's the third picture-

This child exhausted every single solitary ounce of energy she possessed (which was a lot by the way) and left the park every night passed out cold. She woke up every morning crying because she'd missed the monorail and we'd have to explain that she snoozed thru the ride home. The monorail was almost as exciting as the park rides.

And yes, my just turned three year old had her paci on that trip.She's almost 21 years old now and extremely well adjusted so please no haters.She might not be so well adjusted had I removed that paci at age 2. This child needed her paci.

So did this child's mother.

We returned to Disney in 1997. The daughters were now ages 7 and 9 which are fabulous ages for the park. This trip we made with friends who also have two girls and we had an absolute ball. We took a bajillion pictures but I've chosen just a few-

At the Hunchback of Notre Dame show they chose a child from the audience to be the announcer. Daughter2 was frantically waving her arms and legs hoping to be picked but the emcee didn't think she could read all the big words. Ha. Not a problem! She received a certificate which was very exciting stuff for a seven year old.

We ate lunch at the Sci-Fi diner one day. You sit in a car and watch sci-fi flicks as if you're at a drive in movie theater. Do you think hubs knew this was shades of things to come?

Speaking of shades of things to come...

...here we are in 'England'. Well the Epcot version anyway. Oh the things we don't know that we don't know.

In every country in Epcot the girls posed in hats~

Epcot also gave out passports to be stamped and there was a craft in every country...painting in France was a favorite~

My future art student who one day, in the not so distant future, really would get to France.

We returned to Disney in 1999.Hubs had a meeting in Orlando so we met him there as did our friends from the prior trip. The daughters were now 9 and 11. Animal Kingdom had recently opened so that was something new to see and Epcot gave out yardsticks that year with each country adding something to the stick.

Making your own mask was a big hit.

Disney (and the rest of the world) was getting ready to welcome a new millennium in a couple of months and they had a giant 2000 over the Epcot ball. We needed to squeeze in as much fun as we could before Y2k hit. That was pretty much a non event but do you know what did happen?

My girls got older. They were into fast cars on Disney's brand new test track, the Rock n' Roller coaster (not me!) which was also new, stunt shows and more big kid stuff.

Flash forward 8 years. September, 2007 and the daughters are seventeen and nineteen. It was hubs birthday weekend and that next week Daughter1 would be leaving the UK to return to the US for her second year of uni. Daughter2 had just started her senior year of high school.

Where did those little girl years go, anyway?

I told them we were going to do something Daddy wanted to do for his birthday and that was 'see a castle'. We had them convinced we would be spending the day at Leeds Castle which is lovely but does not exactly scream FUN when you're almost twenty.

We picked Daughter2 up early from school and they tried to put on their best happy faces so Daddy would not feel bad for dragging them 'somewhere educational' and headed on down the motorway. As we zipped past the exit for Leeds Castle they wondered if we knew we'd missed the turn. Strains of Disney songs began to fill the car and we finally let them know the castle we'd actually be seeing belonged to Cinderella.

Disneyland Paris.

You can get excited about a weekend at Disney even when you're seventeen and nineteen. And forty-seven. Even if it's all in French.

Disney's magic is pretty universal.

And of course nothing says welcome like armed guards.

Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore, so to speak.

When we saw Main Street USA we all felt a teeny tiny twinge of homesickness.It was that whole taste of home in a foreign country I think I've mentioned a time or ten.

Disneyland Paris was celebrating its 15th birthday in 2007~

Hubs had a pretty good birthday himself.

He was way older than fifteen but here's the thing about Disney....

You're never too young...

or too old....

to feel the magic.