The Hodgepodge Is Coming To Town

Hello Hodgepodgers! I hope you're enjoying all the blessings of this most wonderful time of the year. A reminder there will  not be a Hodgepodge next week (December 25th) since Christmas lands on a Wednesday this year. 

There will be a Hodgepodge link up on January 1st BUT!! I'll post the questions on Sunday (December 29th) to give everyone a couple of extra days to get their answers written.  

December 25-NO Hodgepodge

December 29-questions posted for the first HP of the new year (Volume 583)

January 1-the link goes live

Okay, back to today...here we go-

1. What's one thing you want to get done before the calendar flips to a new year?

Not a big deal, but I do still plan to tackle my pantry clean out and reorg. 

2. What's something that brought a smile to your face this year?

This little ray of sunshine, our newest granddaughter who's dubbed Sugar on my blog because she's pure sweetness and the smiliest baby I know-

3. What do you like on a cracker? Do you have a favorite cracker variety? 

I'll answer the second part of the question first since that's easier. My favorite is a Carr's Water Cracker, the cracked pepper variety especially. What do I like on it? Lots of things. I often have crackers with pimento cheese or chicken salad on top for lunch so how 'bout I don't overthink this one, and just go with that as my answer. 

4. Do you have plans for ringing in the new year in a fun or special way? Are you typically awake at midnight on the last day of the year? 

On a normal day I'm sound asleep at midnight, but I try to stay up to ring in the new year on December 31st. This year some neighbors are having a few of us over for a get together and we'll go to that, which should be fun. Bonus we can walk. I don't like being on the road on New Year's Eve. 

5. What are three words that describe your year? 

Is spendy a word, because I feel like this has been a spendy year. My three words are- 

spendy, tender, full 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

I bought this Williams Sonoma advent baking calendar for my daughter2 this year because she loves to bake. Tanya (The Other Side Of The Road) shared several Advent calendars on her blog in November, and when I saw this one I knew I had to get it for my girl. Thank you Tanya! 

The calendar is so cute and really well-made. A French patisserie where the doors open and you find numbered boxes inside, each one containing some sort of baking tool or accessory. Many of the boxes hold holiday cookie cutters, one had pastry bags, pastry tips, another had the little shaper tools you use to smooth, shape, and texture cakes, etc. 

I took the calendar to my daughter when we went for Thanksgiving and she Marco Polos me every day to let me know what was in that day's box. Most boxes are small, but there's a bigger one close to Christmas we're curious about. This gift was a win. 

I'll be blogging some between now and Christmas, but in case you're signing off the Internet for the holidays I want to wish you much peace and joy as the year winds down. 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 582

Hello Hodgepdogers! I hope you're enjoying this most wonderful time of the year. 

Please note: There will not be a Hodgepodge next week (December 25th) since Christmas lands on a Wednesday this year. 

There will be a Hodgepodge link up on January 1st BUT!! I'll post the questions on Sunday (December 29th) to give everyone a couple of extra days to get their answers written.  

December 25-NO Hodgepodge

December 29-questions posted for the first HP of the new year (Volume 583)

January 1-the link goes live

Now back to today and this week's questions. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with all of Santa's elves. See you there! 

1. What's one thing you want to get done before the calendar flips to a new year?

2. What's something that brought a smile to your face this year?

3. What do you like on a cracker? Do you have a favorite cracker variety? 

4. Do you have plans for ringing in the new year in a fun or special way? Are you typically awake at midnight on the last day of the year? 

5. What are three words that describe your 2024? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

So What's New?

Besides the year I mean? Are you like me where it takes you about ten days in to find your rhythm post-holidays? I made peace with that years ago and honestly don't feel any pressure to have a long list of resolutions ready to go on Day 1. Nor do I feel any urgency to jump back into all the things or even to put up/clean up Christmas. 

Although as it happens, today I did do a bit of de-Christmasing. My plan was just to get all the ornaments off the inside tree, but one thing led to another and both trees are now un-decorated, the main tree is out of the house, Christmas dishes have been swapped out for the everyday ordinary (mostly...there's always a stray or two that hang out in the dishwasher), many many many towels have been washed, dried, and folded, and the furniture we rearranged to make room for our big Christmas crew is back where it resides the other eleven months of the year. 

Hubs and I had a mostly quiet New Year's Eve. We spent a couple of hours catching up with our neighbors, watched a lot of exciting college football, took some walks and some naps and did the tag-team thing we've almost perfected after nearly 40 years of marriage where he vacuums and I strip the beds and then I make him a BLT and he makes me popcorn and we talk about how cute our grandchildren are and how busy and how much we love having everyone here and how we also love just us. 

Yesterday I cleaned out my pantry which had gone totally rogue over the holidays and it makes me so happy to open the doors and see it all nicely organized. I was going to clean out my frig today, but I didn't have the energy for a full 'take it all apart' kind of clean. I settled for emptying all the bits of left overs and running the dishwasher. 

Tomorrow is another day filled with new mercies and enough grace to carry us through. 

I know some people like to charge into a new year as if it's something to be conquered, but I prefer a gentler approach. No big leaps, just do the next thing that needs doing while I contemplate what exactly I want this year to be and how I want to fill my days. 

I need to take some deep breaths at the start of a new year. Carve out time to pray and regroup here at home. I'll likely make a few plans and then remind myself not to hold them too tightly, and I'll let a few or maybe a hundred ideas bounce around my brain to see what sticks. 

Some people declare the first month of the year no-wine January. I'm declaring it no Hodgepodge January. I need some space right now to do all of the above so I'm taking a mini-break from the regularly scheduled random to make room for other kinds of random. The Hodgepodge will be back February 1st, which conveniently lands on a Wednesday. 

Wishing you a new year filled with lots of peace and joy...

 With pinky pink sunrise skies reminding us He's got the whole world in His hands. 

Cheers To The Hodgepodge

Here we are with a new year on the horizon and one more Hodgepodge to close out the year that was. 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. Did you set any goals for the new year this time last year? Did you meet them or miss the mark? Tell us more if you're comfortable sharing. 

I didn't have a long list of things to accomplish/change/improve in 2022, other than write more. Honestly life came at us full throttle this year and I spent a lot more time living it than writing about it. That's okay too. 

Maybe 2023 will be my year. 

2. What are three words that might describe the kind of person you were this past year or describe in some way how your life looked? 

Nana~road tripper~shotgun rider

3. What's something new you ate, saw, heard, or experienced in 2022? What did you think? 

A granddaughter joined our family in 2022-

What did I think? I thought she was perfectly precious.

She still is! 

In a different vein, hubs and I traveled up the coast of California in late September, driving from San Diego to Half Moon Bay just outside of San Francisco. 

Lots of new-to-me sights were seen there, which I wrote about it in excessive great detail beginning with this post-The Golden State. 

4.  Oxford Dictionary has announced it's word of the year for 2022, and it's this-goblin mode. Huh? Have you ever heard this phrase? Used this phrase? 

I hadn't heard the phrase until I read about the choice online and can't imagine I'll ever use it. Still kind of scratching my head, but I'm not trendy in so many ways and I guess this is one I've missed. Most people I asked hadn't heard of it either so I have to wonder how it can possibly be the word of the year? 

It's defined as "a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations." 

This year they allowed the public to choose amongst three finalists. You can read more about that here. 

Who is the public I wonder?

If you were in charge, what word would you declare word of the year for 2022? 

Wordle. Thanks hubs! I surveyed my family because I've had a houseful and still have a houseful and my brain is currently a bit mush. The Wordle trend is definitely more me than goblin mode. 

5. Any special plans for an end of year celebration in your house or town? The travel channel says the world's best New Year's Eve celebrations will happen in Copacabana Beach-Rio de Janerio, the Orlando theme parks in Florida,  London, Sydney, New York's Time Square, Edinburgh Scotland, and Paris. If you could attend any one of these which would you choose? Tell us why? 

No special plans this year, but if I could transport myself to one of the cities listed it would most definitely be London. 

Here's me with my girls in a London black cab, New Years Eve 2008. We were on our way to dinner and then to meet up with friends after. 

Auld lang syne man. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Sometimes I post things here around the holidays so I can look back the next year and recreate a decoration, recipe, craft or in this case...charcuterie tray. 

I made this for a neighborhood get together earlier this month and loved the way it turned out. I got the idea from one of my favorite Insta accounts, Ain't Too Proud To Meg. She does all sorts of beautiful and creative boards.  

Happy new year everyone! Cheers to more kindness, more grace, and more Hodgepodging in 2023!

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Picture Perfect

Happy TuesdaySaturday. This is how we refer to the days of the week in retirement and I think it works for this strange season we're all living in too. If you're looking for the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge you'll find them in the post before this one, or by clicking here.

Now back to your regularly scheduled A-Z Blog Challenge word of the day. This one comes from my brother-in-law who is a talented musician and a smart guy, so of course he chose a word with many meanings.

Day 18-R is for Resolution

When I hear the word I immediately think of a list of things I want to do to change my life for the better. It's a long list of small things and a short list of large to-dos, but I don't think I'll tackle that today. I liked another definition my brother-in-law reminded me of and that's this one-

'the amount of detail available in a picture or situation.' 

Life currently. 

We are plodding along with our masks and our hand sanitizer and our staying at home and everyone is beginning to feel a bit weary. Some people are more than weary. They're anxious, depressed, angry, and a little bit rebellious. 

We all wonder when life will resume some sense of normality and will that new normal look like our old familiar normal? When will we feel comfortable boarding an airplane, celebrating a wedding in a venue filled to capacity, visiting our parents or grandparents and sharing a meal in person? When will we get a clearer picture of what's happening and what's to come? 

We. don't. know. and we hate that most of all. 

All our lives we're told to 'be present' and 'don't be so busy making plans for tomorrow you miss today'. We're reminded 'to enjoy the moment' and 'savor this season you're in because 'time flies and you'll wish it back someday', even if the day-moment-season you're in is completely exhausting. 

We roll our eyes at cliches thrown our way, all the while knowing there's a kernel of truth in there too. When something feels murky we don't want to examine it too closely or pick it apart and figure out what we might be learning about ourselves and the world around us. We want to put unpleasant circumstances behind us and move on into the future and something better.

We want resolution. 

So often we complain about our lack of time, about the hurried pace of the world in which we live, about too much clutter in our heads. Suddenly we're given what we wished for in the gift of plenty of time, a slower pace, and less 'stuff' taking up space in our brains and now we're not sure if  if that's what we really wanted after all.

We're human and we like making plans. We like looking forward to tomorrow-next week-Christmas. We live with the mostly unspoken assumption that there will be plenty of time for relishing today at some point in the future...when life settles down, when this passes, when things are back to normal...

We are not the boss of time. 

When I thought about the meaning of the word resolution I remembered the black and white television set I grew up watching. It had an antenna and often the screen would be grainy, filled with static and wavy lines that made it hard to see the whole picture. You'd have to move the antenna around to improve the resolution, but it was never perfect. 

 I thought too, about a verse I love in the book of Isaiah...

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" 

God is not restricted by time. His presence and power exist outside of time and He alone knows the end from the beginning. While we like to think we're looking at the big picture, we see only in part.

Our screen is grainy, but God sees with complete clarity time in it's entirety.

In times of stress and uncertainty I rest in the knowledge He is the creator and keeper of the clock, and His picture resolution is beyond compare. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 365

Here are this week's questions for the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with the universe. Don't forget to include a link back here so your readers can play along too. Here we go-

1. What's something you resolved to do this year? Have you done it?

2. Where do you go to find quietude?

3. A friend asked this question on her Facebook page and said I could borrow it for the Hodgepodge...you're only allowed to buy 5 things at the grocery store, and all must start with the first letter of your first name. Whatcha' buying?

4. The television show Survivor, the Gloria Gaynor song 'I Will Survive', survival mode, survival of the fittest...pick one and discuss.

5. Share a favorite quote or saying about strength.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Wednesday Blogging AKA The Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Can you believe this time next week we'll be in to the second month of the year? January did not linger. If you've answered the questions here today, add your link at the end of my post. Do your best to drop by and say hi to the blogger who linked before you, because comments make the world go round. The blog world anyway.

Also, I'm wordy today. Some days are like that on From This Side of the Pond.

 

1. Share a winter memory from your childhood.

I remember waking to the magical gift of an unexpected snow day. Of the urgency to hurry through breakfast and put on all those layers in order to get out in it. I remember neighbors up and down the street shoveling sidewalks and drives. I remember building forts made of snow, running from neighbor boys who threw wicked icy fastballs, and sledding with my sister. 

That's me in the blue and my sister in red, standing on a sled. We find something hilarious here, and I wish I knew now what it was. Maybe the notion we were preparing to sled on concrete? Our driveway must have been icy, because I'm not seeing any snow.  I do remember we loved sledding in that saucer.  It was fast and spun like crazy, and all you could do was hold on to the flimsy plastic handles and pray you didn't tip out. It dented easily but you could un-dent it pretty easily too. Do they still make those? 

Also, this picture. Sigh. This is one picture I have of us standing side by side that when I look at it I see my own girls. The unmistakable trace of family around the eyes and nose.  The giggles...the camaraderie...the give and take and push and pull, the deep deep love you feel for that person who grew up beside you.  I see it here. 

2. What was on your blog this time last year? (Besides the Hodgepodge of course!) If you weren't blogging, what in the world were you doing with all that free time?

As it happens I wrote a whole post about this very thing. It was seven years ago this month I started blogging, and I recapped my Januaries here in A Stroll Down Blog Memory Lane.  

Specifically last year though? The wedding of course. 

3.Ellen Goodman is quoted as saying, 'We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.  Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential.'

Do you see more flaws or potential in your life at the start of a new year? Have you done anything specific this month to address either one? Does the new year truly begin for you on January 1, or is there some other month of the year that feels like a fresh start and new beginning?

I think I see potential in my flaws? Does that make sense? I like the word picture she paints of walking through our lives room by room, and I would say this is something I do beginning in December. I see areas that need improvement and come up with a plan to improve. I'm not always successful at following through with the plan, but I get excited about making the next year better in some way. 

For me September has always felt like the fresh start, clean beginning. There's something about the end of summer, a new school year, the shorter days and cooler nights and the year-end within sight, that makes me feel hopeful. Like change is possible and inevitable and should be pondered and planned for so I'm ready come January. 

4.Who's an athlete you admire or respect and why?

I imagine some people will turn their noses up at this question, because honestly all we seem to hear about are the athletes who misbehave, and it might be hard to come up with one to admire. I think there are many, and I love when successful people use their money and their name and give their time for good. I especially love the stories of generosity and kindness, performed away from the camera, which isn't always easy to do. 

Tim Tebow, the Manning brothers, and Phil Mickleson are all on my list. 

5.Do you like cream in your coffee? Whipped cream on your pumpkin pie? Cream cheese on a bagel? Sour cream on a baked potato? Cream of wheat for breakfast? Have you ever had a scone with clotted cream? Of all the creamy foods mentioned, which one sounds most appealing to you right this very minute?

I love cream in my coffee, but just a splash and only the good stuff please. No flavored creams, no artificial creams, just the deliciousness that is half and half. Whipped cream on my pumpkin pie? Yes! In my case it might make more sense to ask if I like pie with my whipped cream.  No to the sour cream on a baked potato, yes to the cream of wheat, and a yes to the scone with clotted cream. While clotted cream doesn't sound all that appetizing, it is so yummy! 

Right this minute I'm sipping my Tuesday morning coffee with a splash of cream and all is right with the world. Morning coffee is one of life's small pleasures. 

6.Where were you last kept waiting for 'hours on end'? Or for what felt like hours on end? How well did you cope?

I can't think of anything recently, but one that used to get on my nerves was the veterinarian's office. I always, always had a ridiculous wait there, longer than at any 'human' doctor's office I visited. Yes, I know there are emergencies, but there's also overbooking and poor scheduling. 

7.Believe it or not, when next week's Hodgepodge rolls around it will be February. Huh?!? Bid adieu here to January in seven words or less.

One month closer to the lake house! 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm participating again this year, in the April A-Z blog challenge and wonder if anyone else here is doing the same? For those of you who aren't familiar with the challenge, it's a writing exercise where you blog every day in the month of April (except Sundays), using one letter of the alphabet as your daily prompt. April 1 is Letter A and April 30 Letter Z, which is perfect because when you remove Sundays in April you're left with 26 days and 26 letters. For more info or to sign up, click the link posted here. 

I will tell you up front, there is everything under the sun in terms of content in the blog world, and you figure that out pretty quickly in this challenge. In the past couple of years the organizers have very helpfully created categories, so when bloggers sign up they can select one to identity their blog genre...humor, photography, travel, book reviews, memoir, zombies... 

Okay I kid on that last one, but only sort of. Who knew there were so many sci fi/gaming/mythology fans out there in the blogosphere?  My blog defies description (ahem) so I opt not to choose a category. And you can write with a theme in mind, or you can fly by the seat of your pants. 

Guess which kind of blogger I am? 

Actually I always have a general theme, but it's not one thought out too deeply or too far in advance. I'm more of what you might call a free-flowing blogger-ha!, and believe it or not I do have an idea floating around in my head for this year. I just need to decide if I can fill 26 posts on this particular subject or if I'll run out of steam by letter G. We shall see. 

I enjoy this challenge a lot, mostly because it rolls around each year right about the time my blog needs an energy drink. It requires discipline and helps me remember why I like to write.  I've met some lovely folks via the hop each year, so I'm in. Let me know if you're participating and I'll look for you there. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 253

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

1. Share a winter memory from your childhood. 

2. What was on your blog this time last year? (Besides the Hodgepodge of course!) If you weren't blogging, what in the world were you doing with all that free time?

3. Ellen Goodman is quoted as saying, 'We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential.' 

Do you see more flaws or more potential in your life at the start of a new year? Have you done anything specific this month to address either one? Does the new year truly begin for you on January 1, or is there some other month of the year that feels like a fresh start and new beginning?

4. Who's an athlete you admire or respect and why?

5. Do you like cream in your coffee? Whipped cream on your pumpkin pie? Cream cheese on a bagel? Sour cream on a baked potato? Cream of wheat for breakfast? Have you ever had a scone with clotted cream? Of all the creamy foods mentioned, which one sounds most appealing to you right this very minute?

6. Where were you last kept waiting for 'hours on end'? Or for what felt like hours on end? How well did you cope?

7. Believe it or not, when next week's Hodgepodge rolls around it will be February. Huh?!? Bid adieu here to January in seven words or less.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 250

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first official Hodgepodge of 2016! Answer the questions on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow (Wednesday) to link answers with the universe. See you there!

1. Are you ready for new? Is 2016 likely to be very different than 2015? Do you want it to be?

2. January 6th is National Technology Day. Currently, what is your single biggest struggle or frustration when it comes to technology?

3. It's that time again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, and general uselessness) in 2016. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-

So (at the start of every single sentence), conversation (as in hotly debated topics where we're invited to 'join the conversation'), problematic, stakeholder, price point, secret sauce, break the Internet, walk it back, presser, manspreading (common in larger cities where some men take up the entire bus or train seat by sitting wide), vape, giving me life (refers to anything that may excite a person or make them laugh), and physicality

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?

4. Share one of your current health related goals.

5. Let's talk fifty shades of gray. As in the color. Gray is currently a popular color in home decor, paint, wardrobes, hair, wedding party attire, and more. Are you a fan? Do you have the color in some variation in your home or wardrobe?  Gray hair, the old gray mare, gray matter, gray area...which gray idiom can you most relate to right now?

6. Certain foods are considered 'lucky' if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Cooked greens to bring economic fortune, black-eyed peas or lentils also symbolize money, pork which symbolizes progress, fish for good luck, and if you're in Spain 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. Did you eat any lucky foods on the first day of the year? Is that a tradition in your home? Of the foods listed, which most appeals to you?

7. What's the single biggest time waster in your life and what, if anything, will you do about it this year?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 203

Happy New Year Hodgepodgers! Welcome to the final edition of 2014. Next time we do this a new year will have rolled around, and speaking of...there will not be any Hodgepodge next week (Jan 6/7) because I will be in full on wedding mode.  The Hodgepodge will be back to it's regular weekly posting the week after-on January 13/14.  

Okay, here we go-

1. Share a favorite moment from your Christmas holiday celebration.

2. What would you say has been the biggest news event during your life so far?

3. The Pantone Color of the Year for 2015 is Marsala. What say you-like or no like? Would I find this color anywhere in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in this shade to either?

4. Would you rather meet your ancestors or your great grandchildren? Explain why.

5. Share one life lesson learned in 2014?

6. What was your best or favorite purchase made in 2014?

7. What is one thing you're looking forward to in the new year?

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 

So Long 2013, Hello Hodgepodge!

Happy New Year!  There's no party like a Hodgepodge party! Add the link to your answers and then be sure to go mingle with the other guests...10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-Happy Hodgepodge!

1. Times Square is the setting for the infamous ball drop signaling the start of a brand new year....when did you last 'drop the ball' on something?

I'm sure there are many little balls dropped on a monthly basis around here, given that my memory is not what it used to be. One thing that came to mind was a big platter of hors d'oeuvres I'd made for a gathering which I never got out of the frig. There was plenty of food without, but ugh! I hate when I do stuff like that.  

2. What is one thing you resolved to do in 2013 that you actually did?

Exercise. It took me a while to find my rhythm, but I am all in now. Shhh...don't tell anyone, but I like boot camp.

3. Jack London is quoted as saying, "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Agree or disagree? Why?

I fall in the middle on this one. 

So often we're inspired by something or someone when we're not necessarily looking to be inspired.  But...there are also seasons in life where inspiration is lacking, and the world feels gray and flat. In those moments I'm all for grabbing a club and hunting it down.

4. What was the best thing you ate in 2013?

Now this is a tough question!  I looked back through my photos to see if anything jumped out, and lots of things did. Lots and lots. I guess I'll go with my tried and true...

Maryland blue crabs steamed, picked, and eaten by the river in Annapolis. Add in some of my favorite people, and voila~perfection!  

Wait...it was about 110 degrees with 99% humidity, so maybe only near perfection. 

5. Share an anti-resolution...that is, something you plan to keep on doing in the new year?

Saying no to the unimportant. I've done a lot of serious thinking these past couple of months, about what my life looks like, trying to identify the stuff that isn't working and to fill my days with more of what will matter in the grand scheme. 

6. The Pantone color of the year for 2014 is radiant orchid. Like or no like? Would I find this color anywhere in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in this shade to either?

eh...not really.  I mean I like it in an actual radiant orchid, but in my house or closet no. I prefer the deeper more vibrant shades of purple if I'm wearing or owning the color.  

7. In three words or less, sum up your 2013.

Jesus never fails. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

We took Daughter2 and her boyfriend into the city on Monday, and guess what? We weren't the only ones-ha! It only took us forty minutes to find a parking space, but it was a good one, so there's that. 

We started out in Bryant Park which always has a gorgeous tree. I like it almost as much as the one in Rockefeller Plaza. 

We ended the evening on Top of the Rock. I think the Empire State Building looks so pretty all decked out in her Christmas colors.

May your 2014 be chock-a-block full of peace, love, and joy!

Hodgepodge Questions Volume Brand New Year

Happy New Year Hodgepodgers!  What better way to get back into some sort of routine than by joining the party here on Wednesdays? Answer the questions on your own blog, then hop back here on the first day of 2014 (which just happens to be a Wednesday) and add your link to the party.

Here we go-

1. Times Square is the setting for the infamous ball drop signaling a brand new year....when did you last 'drop the ball' on something?

2. What is one thing you resolved to do in 2013 that you actually did?

3. Jack London is quoted as saying, "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Agree or disagree? Why? 

4. What was the best thing you ate in 2013?

5.  Share an anti-resolution...that is, something you plan to keep on doing in the new year.

6. The Pantone color of the year for 2014 is radiant orchid.  Like or no like? Would I find this color anywhere in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in this shade to either?

7. In three words or less sum up your 2013.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Happy New Year Hodgepodge Questions

Hello 2013!  Hello Hodgepodgers!  I'm wishing you peace, joy, and lots of words in this new year.  Everyone is invited to join the weekly party on this side of the pond. I post the questions every Tuesday, which you answer on your own blog. Hop back here on Wednesdays to add your link.

Here we go~

1.  How did you ring in the new year?

2.  What is one thing you are looking forward to in 2013?

3.  Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying, "All of us every single year, we're a different person.  I don't think we're the same person all our lives."  What say you?

4. The Pantone color of the year for 2013 is emerald green. Like or dislike? Do you already own something this color?  Will you add something in this shade to your home or wardrobe in 2013?

5.  Speaking of emerald...what's your favorite gemstone?

6. Share a favorite book or movie from 2012.

7.  What is something you want to tell yourself at the start of this brand new year?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Kindness

In the days and even the months leading up to the election it seemed the dialogue in our country took a turn for the mean.  The divide was (and still is) palpable and people were outspoken and cross. It made me weary.

I decided during the month of December to look for ways to be kind 'on purpose'.  I added a button to my blog for anyone who wanted to do the same and thus, The 12 Days of Christmas Kindness was born.  12 Acts of Kindness in the 25 days leading up to Christmas.

I said at the time that I'd post my thoughts when the challenge was nearing an end and today's the day.  I don't know if anyone has a post they'd like to share but I'll add a link to make it easy if you do.

I would like to think kindness comes naturally to us humans, but here's what I've observed in recent weeks~

People are busy, harried, distracted, tired, hurting, broke, and anxious about a multitude of things. All of that keeps us from being kind when, I think deep inside, we really do want to be. I can't tell you how many times during the month I thought of that verse in Romans where Paul says, "For I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Rom. 7:15)

We know when two of us are approaching the door to the post office at almost the same time we should allow that other person to enter first.  Instead we avoid eye contact and quicken our pace because, by golly, we've got stuff to do, and this guy looks like he's not prepared and will ask a million questions and, whyyyy does that clerk move so slowly when the place is jam packed???  We have a little conversation with ourselves in situations such as these, and more often than not, self rears its ugly head...we think  my list, my stuff, my life.

There's a lot I want to take away from this month, but I'll keep it brief and share just three things-

1.  Kindness, like almost everything else we feel, is a choice. We can be kind and patient with the people we encounter throughout the day, or we can let them get under our skin. One thing that really helped me was to think about the other person's story. People have stories that we just can't know in a casual encounter in the supermarket line. There are also people in this world who are nasty for no good reason, but still, I guess that's their story, and probably if we dug deep there would indeed be a reason for why they are the way they are. Regardless,  I have a choice and I decided that my small act of kindness was not going to be dependent on whether or not I thought someone deserved it.  In fact, the people who rile me up, frustrate me, and try my patience are often the very ones in desperate need of a little kindness in their world.

2.  While opportunities spontaneously present themselves in the course of a day, a little planning doesn't hurt either.  At the beginning of the month I thought about some tangible things I could do, and I had a lot of fun doing them. I enjoy baking so I went to town making peppermint popcorn for the clerks in the post office and dry cleaners, home-baked goodies for hubs office and also for the girl who cuts my hair and for hubs barber too, and caramel corn bagged up with a tip for the guys who collect our trash and the lady who delivers our mail.

Besides the edible stuff, I've dropped money in every Salvation Army tin I've come across, wrote two overdue personal notes to folks I wanted to thank for something intangible, and we outrageously over tipped our server one Saturday morning along with a parking valet at a party we attended earlier this month.  We're going in to the city while the girls are home and will take a couple of nice coats we no longer wear to give to someone sitting on the cold New York sidewalk.

I looked for opportunities to be kinder as I went about my day and they were everywhere. For starters, I greeted the people I passed. I made it a point to ask clerks and servers how their day was going, and you know what?  People want to talk and they want someone to listen.  I held doors and packages, let cars out in traffic at difficult intersections, and let the anxious looking businessman, fidgeting in line behind me at the market step in front of me.

Sometimes kindness means letting the little things go. Our supermarket has about six self check out registers all in a row, three down one side and three down the other. They don't have a clearly designated queue but people more or less form one line and go to the first available register. As I stood waiting my turn (next in line) a woman marched right up and went ahead of me. She saw me. She acted like she assumed there were two queues, one for the left side and one for the right side, but she knew better.  So did I, but I let it go.  A small thing I know, but sometimes those small things accumulate during the day and ruin not only our mood, but also our sense of good will with which our day began.

3.  Lastly, I want to be more present when I go about my daily errands and life. One thing I especially noticed is that everyone is on their phone everywhere you go. Nobody is actually completely present in the place they are standing.  The sales clerk is asking for a credit card, but the  customer isn't paying attention so the whole check-out process takes 5x longer than it should. The guy in front of me entering the shop lets the door drop in my face because he's engrossed in conversation with someone miles away. We're not noticing that person who needs a hand or a smile or a dollar because we're all doing something other than the one task we need to accomplish in the place we're in.

I don't want to be that person in 2013.

I'm sharing some of what I did, not to be congratulated, but rather as a way to remember how doing something so very small made me feel.  I want to remember a smile given returned with a smile back.  I want to remember the sight of someone's tense shoulders relaxing at the offer of a helping hand in whatever form that needs to be.  I want to remember the little stories people shared with me, sparked by home made food and treats and the simple question, 'How are you doing today?"

This world is harsh. If there's anything we've been witness to this month it's that people want to be noticed. Acknowledged. Validated. Supported. Encouraged.  In this new year I want to not be so caught up in my own story that I miss yours.

So how about we change the name?
Let's make this The Twelve Months of Christmas Kindness.

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness.  Every act creates a ripple with no logical end."  Scott Adams

101 in 1001

Ever since I saw daughter1's blog post last week with her 101 in 1001 list, I've been mulling over a list of my own. I really love the idea of living intentionally and I'll also admit that I'm a bit of a list junkie. I'm especially a fan of the notes app on my ipad and the notion that I have a never ending supply of legal pads at my fingertips.

Making my list was something of a challenge. I think if you're under 30 it might be less of a brain strain but at almost 52 I know myself well. I know what is possible, but also what is likely. If I had an unlimited bank account to go with my list then no problem, but since I don't I tried to include only those things that fall within the realm of do-able.

I hopped around to a few blog lists and noticed some bloggers have categorized their goals according to genre-home improvement, personal development, spiritual, physical, etc. Mine is more of what might kindly be referred to as 'free flowing'. If you decide to make a list of your own let me know so I can cheer you on, and more importantly, cross off #101.

In no particular order, here's my 101 in 1001~

Start date-8/1/2012

End date-4/28/2015

1. transfer our videos to DVD

2. host an English tea

3. get my hearing checked (completed 11/12/12)

4. crochet something

5. pay for a soldier's meal or coffee (does a beer count? If so, completed 12/18/13)

6. find a small table for the upstairs hall

7. read through the Bible chronologically (completed December 31, 2013-best.thing.ever.)

8. figure out Dish network on my ipad

9. make a trip back to London

10. learn to fly fish

11. volunteer to pack boxes in a packing center for Operation Christmas Child

12. visit Boston (9/27/12-9/30/12)

13. get piano tuned(10/23/12)

14. frame something for the hall bathroom (completed, 2/28/13)

15. Lose 10 pounds (completed, 1/15)

16. buy and complete Rosetta stone-French

17. take a cooking class

18. visit the Statue of Liberty with hubs

19. re-label my blog posts

20. send 36 handwritten notes

21. buy pretty monogrammed or engraved stationery (completed, 9/18/13)

22. see Niagara Falls

23. take an organized NYC walk

24. drink 8 glasses of water a day for at least one week

25. Read 6 non-fiction books (completed, 1/15/15)

26. volunteer at a soup kitchen or food pantry (monthly beginning 1/14/12)

27. get all loose photos in albums, scrapbooks, or photo boxes

28. go out west

29. perform random acts of kindness every day the week of my birthday

30. complete 3 scrapbooks

31. host a wine and cheese evening

32. paint the laundry room (autumn, 2012)

33. frame something for the back bath

34. take the Banff train

35. redo the driveway pillars (10/26/12)

36. make Christmas ornaments for the whole family (completed Christmas, 2013)

37. see a Vol game in Neyland Stadium

38. plan a birthday surprise for hubs

39. read 10 pieces of classic literature

40. have my everyday makeup professionally done

41. figure out wall over the sofa table (completed, August 2013)

42. settle on where we will retire and narrow down housing wants/needs (completed, February 2015)

43 sort out the side hill (10/26/12)

44. send at least 2 random care packages to the girls every year

45. plan a 30th anniversary trip (Portugal, 6/14)

46 see Cirque du Soleil

47. Memorize 30 verses (completed, March 2015)

48. publish something

49. sip Prosecco in Italy

50. read all the Harry Potter books

51. travel to a state I've never visited

52. make a playlist of my 100 favorite songs

53. rent canoes at Waywayanda (10/6/12)

54. attend a sorority reunion (7/26-28/13)

55. dine at Anthony Bourdain's Les Halle's

56. make homemade rolls like my grandma did for a holiday meal

57. pray weekly with my hubs

58. write a letter to someone I admire

59. take a golf lesson

60. visit the NY Botanical Gardens

61. move my blog to my own domain (first, find out what that means) (1/19/13)

62. drink frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity

63. stay in a B & B

64. see all the films on 'Roger Ebert's 102 movies you must see' list (as of Aug 1-26/102)

65. make Thai dishes learned in my UK cooking class

66. go to Governor's Island

67. spend a girls only weekend with my sisters, daughters, and niece

68. replace dining room chandelier

69. add to my Portmerion Christmas dish collection

70. vote in the Presidential election and all eligible primaries and races (done)

71. be disciplined in my quiet time (I got there in 2013, but feel this will always remain a goal)

72. visit a state park I haven't seen (2/2013-Ft. DeSoto Park, Tampa FL)

73. walk across the Brooklyn Bridge-eat pizza at Grimaldi's under the bridge (walked bridge, 5/14)

74. take a piano lesson

75. organize and sync all my contacts, update all address books

76. attend a professional Ballet

77. visit The Cloisters

78. open, sort, repack or give away all the boxes in the basement (completed, April 2015)

79. read 2 works of Shakespeare

80. memorize the US Presidents in order

81. make an Indian curry dinner with hubs

82. give our will info to my sister in law and the kids

83. try at least one new recipe every month

84. visit Hyde Park, NY

85. notice good parenting and then anonymously buy that family dinner

86. go thru saved magazines and clip recipes-file

87. submit a travel piece to a magazine

88. compile emergency preparedness supplies

89. create a flaming dessert

90. send a care package to a soldier I don't know

91. spa day at Crystal Springs followed by dinner at Latour

92. participate in the A-Z blog challenge (04/13)

93. exercise at least 4 days/week

94. eat in a top 10 NYC restaurant

95. visit a French speaking country after completing Rosetta Stone

96. paint the back bedroom (completed, 5/1/13)

97. write our sponsored children once a month

98. find a piece of furniture for family room corner

99. scan family Christmas photo cards/letters into photo books for us/ the girls (completed, Christmas 2013 done in binder format)

100. Blog about 50 or more items on my list

101. Inspire someone to make a list of their own (8/1/12-Sherrie at Food for Thought)

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

If you're looking for this week's Wed. Hodgepodge questions you'll find them here.

Resolution: a firm decision to do or not do something.

After daughter2 and I had finished at the mall on Friday afternoon, we decided to stop at our local Christian book store so I could pick up some cards. As we stood in the check out line waiting to pay, a display just behind us caught our attention. Sitting on the table was an ordinary water bottle.

Or maybe not so ordinary.

The water inside was dirty. Daughter2 picked up the bottle for a closer look. "Is this what they drink, Mom?" "Is it?"

There in a display rack, placed neatly beside the dirty water, were the faces. You know the ones I mean.

Faces of children who live in communities where life's most basic and essential ingredient, clean water, may not exist. Children who are hungry. Children whose mothers somehow eke out a living but not enough of one to properly feed or clothe their babies. Children who live in villages and countries and continents ravaged by disease half a world away. Children whose eyes stare back at you from their picture on a sponsor card. Children who live in poverty so extreme it cannot be fully imagined from the comfort of a suburban shopping center on a sunny autumn afternoon.

Can we walk away from this display?

Can we leave them sitting on a shelf in a bookstore?

I can't.

And I know for certain my idealistic, compassionate, full of hope, 21 year old daughter can't either. I could almost hear the wheels turning as she calculated the cost. She has a weekly babysitting job in college town and as we stood in front of that store display on Friday afternoon she made a resolution. She would sponsor a child.

Hubs and I already sponsor a child...this is not something new in our home, but as I stand in this store I am suddenly weighed down by the sheer number of children who need help. And hope.

I resolve too. Hubs isn't there in the store with us but he gets this. He has a heart for children and we are able. But how do we choose? How do you say, this one and not that one. My heart hurts. I glance over at my daughter who in that moment, seems wiser than her years. A picture of her happy laughing baby self dances through my head. She lifts her face to mine and we share a look. We are thinking the same thought...how we would like to snatch up all the cards in the store and make them ours.

We go back to the faces. The store manager tells us we can also look thru a data base if we have a particular country in mind. We say no thank you....we want one from the table with the dirty water. World Vision has partnered with this particular chain of stores in an attempt to find sponsors for children who may be rotated out of the program unless someone steps forward. We want one of those.

Daughter2 finally makes her selection. A little girl with big dark eyes from a village in Lesotho. Can we even find Lesotho on a map? We'll learn.

I break with tradition. Hubs and I have supported children thru World Vision for many years. Always girls until today. Today an eight year old boy whose eyes look into mine from across the page is the one I choose. His home is a village in India, a country whose poverty my husband has seen first hand. I choose him.

We turn our backs to the display as we complete our paperwork. It's easier not to look at the faces left waiting beside the dirty water.

Saturday evening we trek back to the store. Daughter1 is now in town and she's heard from her sister about the children in the store. My tender hearted first born girl needs to see the pictures and the dirty water too. She is full of resolve. She selects a boy from Kenya whose biography tells us that he has no parents. He has a sponsor now.

We cannot take them all I tell my daughters with the teary eyes and the aching hearts. But we can take these three.

Resolution. A firm decision to do or not do something.

For more information or to sponsor a child please visit World Vision online. This post is part of today's One Word blog carnival...visit Peter Pollack's blog to read more posts on this week's word-resolution.

10 in 11

Happy New Year! We had a quiet evening but still the new year came. Hubs dropped me at the grocery store yesterday morning along with 8167 other shoppers while he went to wash the car and run a couple of errands. Everyone had their carts piled high with party food and drink and the lines were ten deep. It made me a little sad to think that this time last year we were all together welcoming 2010 with friends in Times Square and this year we're home on the couch with one daughter many states away.

But quiet felt right this year. Daughter2 may not agree but she was a good sport. We're tired. And did anyone else feel a little bit old when they saw The Backstreet Boys at age 30+? Once upon a time there were some little girls in my house who loved The Backstreet Boys. How many of you can say you've seen Aaron Carter in concert? At least I think it was a concert. Mostly what I remember is the shrieking and the subsequent hearing loss but my then 10 year old girl and her pals were ecstatic. Aaron wasn't part of the group but was Nick's brother and used that fact to make his own 'career'. Who thinks I know too much Backstreet Boys trivia?

Anyway, we finally made it out of the grocery store and out of the parking lot and off the road that felt like a parking lot. We went to see True Grit yesterday afternoon and again, daughter2 was a good sport because I'm pretty sure this was not on her list of 'must sees'. That being said, we all really liked it. We came home and daughter2 made dinner...it's so nice to have my own personal chef and I'm going to miss that when she goes back to school in another week.

She made a recipe we'd seen on Pioneer Woman's blog for spicy lemon garlic shrimp. Yum! Definitely a keeper...

You must have some really good bread with this dish in order to appreciate all the juices and we added a green salad to counteract the artery cloggy-ness of the butter. That's how it works, right? Besides it was 2010 so we were still in the 'I give up' mode of last year's resolutions and the new ones hadn't technically kicked in.

Speaking of resolutions...I've challenged my girls to join me in setting some goals for the new year. I prefer the term goals as opposed to resolutions because goals feel like something to aim for and resolutions feel like something else. We're calling it 10 in 11...10 things we want to make happen in this brand new year. I'm not posting my list but will share it with my girls so they can
make me do stuff help me stay accountable. I know it must seem like I blab about every last detail of my life but believe it or not there are one or two things I manage to keep to myself.

Happy 2011...I wish you all a new year filled with peace and joy!

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next years words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." T.S. Eliot

You say you want a resolution

Bloggers are linking their New Year's Resolutions for 2010 over on Kelly's Korner today. I thought I'd add mine...

I wrote a little bit here about setting some goals for the new year. Like most people I have a few things on my list relating to healthy habits and organization, projects to complete...typical New Years stuff. I see those projects as a sort of to-do list...things to accomplish in 2010. They will certainly make me a healthier and better organized person so I'll absolutely be working to accomplish those goals but I feel like the word resolution goes a little bit deeper.

I've made just two 'resolutions' to really focus on in this new year-

1. Let the law of kindness reign in my home. The word kindness has been dancing around my brain in recent weeks and when I read the prayer posted here I knew I wanted to adopt 'the law of kindness' as my #1 resolution for 2010. I love the quote by Mother Teresa that says, "Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile." And the 'no one' should include my own family.

2. I've joined in a 31 Day Challenge here, the goal of which is to read the Book of Proverbs during the month of January. 31 Chapters in 31 days so it works out nicely. I've read Proverbs at various times in my life but it seems particularly fitting at the beginning of this new year. I need to know what it is I should be doing with my life. Wow. That sounds huge. And I feel like it is. Because I am at a crossroads of sorts. After an eventful year centered around an International move I'm feeling pretty much at home in our new house and town. I am now longing for purpose and am praying God opens a door for me and makes that purpose clear. I want wisdom in the year 2010.

In the second chapter of Proverbs Solomon says, "...if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments...making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding, yes if you call out for insight...and search for it like hidden treasures ..then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."

Kindness and wisdom in 2010...it would even make a pretty good bumper sticker don't ya think?