Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 520

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

1. If your life had a theme song for this past year what would it be? 

2. Chocolate cake, chocolate milkshake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate truffle, chocolate mousse, chocolate candy bar or a fudgy chocolate brownie...of the chocolate treats listed, which one is your favorite? Which one have you tasted most recently? Or maybe you don't like chocolate???

3. What has surprised you recently? 

4. September 19th is National Voter Registration Day in the US. Are you registered to vote in whatever state or country you happen to live in right now? If not, why not? Not counting a political race, what's something you've had to vote on recently? 

5. Do you like to hike? If so, when's the last time you went hiking and where'd ya go? If you're not a hiker are you a walker? Is walking (for exercise, etc.) part of your daily/weekly routine? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Had Ourselves a Merry Little Christmas

I suppose it's time to post a little Christmas recap, but to be honest I'm still enjoying Christmas.  I know some of you rip down the decorations and insist any evidence of the day be removed as of December 26th, but that is not me.

I'm still getting up every morning, pouring my coffee in a Christmas mug, grabbing the super soft blankie I won at our neighborhood Christmas party, and sitting for my quiet time by the tree in our sunroom. Favorite thing people. Savoring it. Basking in it. Not quite ready to tuck it away for another year.

My entire family was here for Christmas, and my girls are still home, although Daughter1 heads back to D.C. tonite. Daughter2's boyfriend flew in yesterday to ring in the new year with us so still lots to look forward to here. I guess technically he's here to ring in the new year with Daughter2, and hubs and I are just a bonus, but still...happy new year!

There were 8 of us here for Christmas Eve, and I roasted turkey breast tenderloins with lots of sides.  I wrapped the turkey in bacon and hubs said it might have been the best meal he's ever had. After dinner we went to the candlelight service at church and snow fell, which made it all perfectly perfect.

The girls opened their traditional Christmas Eve present, except my niece's gift was in my brother's car and he wasn't arriving until Christmas morning so oops. She took it well, and posed for the traditional Christmas morning step photo with a smile.

  

Hubs spoiled me rotten on Christmas Day, and the girls surprised us with a fabulous present-

A painted canvas of our sweet pup...it is an absolute perfect likeness, and they were so proud of Daughter1 themselves for keeping it a secret.

I had a couple of fun surprises for my little family this year too, one I'll mention in a later post, and then this one-

That's our England house.
That's my family crying happy tears.

We're all sappy when it comes to unexpected mentions of the small island we once called home.  I had these polymer clay ornaments custom made by Dyane at Garden Art and Moore (an Etsy shop) and they turned out exactly as I'd imagined.  Hubs and the girl's reaction was Hallmark worthy.

The rest of my family (one brother, one sister-in-law, one sister, one brother-in law, one nephew, and one carsick puppy) arrived early afternoon. The dog was bathed, more presents were opened, more memories made.  

Oh, and we ate.
Mercy.

In my defense I was feeding 13 people, so there was a whole lotta food. I did my best to go heavy on the vegetable sides, but there was still a lot of sugar and more carbs on the menu than I've had in three months. 'Tis but a season!

The day after Christmas my big sis celebrated a milestone birthday. She collects pig 'stuff' so Daughter2 baked her a pig cake.  

Absolutely positively too cute for words! She made the pigs out of a light pink marshmallow fondant, her first time trying that, and it was so adorable. The cake itself was a deep rich chocolate with more rich chocolate in the form of ganache on top-super delicious!

My family left Friday, but we've carried on in holiday mode around here, and I intend to keep that up for a few more days. Early in the season I declared this year I absolutely would not let anything steal my joy. No worries...

 ...it's still here.

Makin' A List, Checkin' It Twice

I woke up this morning with a list running through my head, which is pretty typical for me on a Monday. I know some people dread Monday mornings, but I love them. A brand new week lies in front of me, I feel energized to accomplish great things, and I wake up happy to face my coffee and my  calendar.

Course by end of day Wednesday I'm usually forced to look reality in the eye and admit to myself all those to-dos are not gonna get done. But hey! Thursday's practically the weekend, which means another Monday morning is right around the corner.  

Is anyone else a little bit fascinated by the concept of time, or is that just me?

Speaking of lists, and yes I was because Mondays in my house are full of lists-things to do today, a weekly menu plan, groceries, and my favorite-a list filled with all the things I'm going to do before Friday gets here. There is something supremely satisfying about drawing a line through an item on a to do list.  Not nearly as satisfying when done electronically btw, which is why I still have scraps of actual paper scattered across my kitchen counter.

One thing on my list today is 'blog'. I'm reduced to writing write on a list beside return the Redbox rental and pick up a hook for a picture that needs hanging, because if it's on my to-do list it feels legitimate and not frivolous. Is blogging frivolous?

Where in the world is this post going?  How 'bout I recap the weekend which contained a happy surprise in the form of this-

Daughter1 booked a train ticket home to surprise me for my birthday. That's our attempt at a 'selfie' in front of Rita's Italian Ice. I'd dragged her along on a million errands on Friday including the dry cleaners, the pharmacy, the vet, and the supermarket, so Rita's was the least I could do to say thanks. Errands are so much more fun with a daughter in tow.

Friday night hubs made a fire in our outdoor firepit, and we grilled salmon, and then had leftover birthday cake. Hubs knows it's not officially my birthday without this cake-dark chocolate filled with a delicate raspberry mousse, and then the piece de resistance-a rich chocolate ganache topping.

It is every bit as delicious as it sounds. We had a piece on my birthday, and as I was cutting it he said, 'Let's not eat it all, we should save some for Daughter1'. Seriously? Did he really think the two of us could eat an entire cake in a single day?

We couldn't, could we?

Saturday morning we woke up to fall temperatures so hubs re-lit the fire and we had our coffee outdoors, which makes my list of top ten favorite things to do on a weekend.  I rousted Daughter1 out of bed early so she could get in on the fun too.

She didn't mind.
She's used to us.

Later in the day we went over to the ski resort in a nearby town to check out their Oktoberfest celebration.

Vegetarians look away.

We had some fantabulous barbecue, grilled sausage, potato pancakes, and of course that traditional German dessert-cotton candy. What can I say...my girl loves her cotton candy.

Is she too cute for words, or what?

We listened to a little oompah music and then took the requisite ride up the mountain to check out the view. Y'all know this is not my favorite thing, and you can tell by the crazy hair that it was windy. Why is it always windy when I have to ride a cart up a mountain?

There are loads of mountain bike trails cut into the mountain, and we saw lots of bikers out enjoying the pretty weather. The views are gorgeous from up top, plus we had to get a closer look at the zipline course.  Hubs and daughter1 were making plans to come back and do that, and of course hubs started giving me his usual pep talk that runs along the lines of 'You could do that' and 'You'd love it!'.

I gave it a solid maybe.

Daughter1 and I watched Pitch Perfect on Saturday night.  I'd never seen it and thought it was cute, plus I liked the music. Hubs watched too, and by 'watched' I mean he napped on the couch.

We didn't have to trek to the train until Sunday night which was nice. Daughter1 helped me with our Christmas card (whoohoo-it's still September!), and she set up an Ipod speaker we got for Christmas last year that I could not for the life of me figure out how to work.  When I say set up I mean she turned it on.  Really, it was pretty much that simple, except somehow blue tooth is involved and when I hear the words blue tooth I stop listening.

We grilled turkey burgers for dinner, and I'm just gonna go ahead and admit I'm not really a fan.  I want to like them because I know they're better for you than beef, but there is something about ground turkey that gives me the heebie jeebies.  I love roast turkey and turkey sandwiches and turkey soup, but ground turkey?  Shiver.

I always doctor them up to add flavor, and yesterday we marinated the burgers in a soy-ginger-citrus concoction and then topped them with grilled pineapple.  I loved the grilled pineapple, and the burgers didn't taste bad, there's just something about the texture I don't love.  Where's the beef?

Okay, those to-dos are not going to cross themselves off, so I need to get busy.  It's Monday, and Mondays are made for productivity.

Or a good book and a nap on the patio in the afternoon sun.  Maybe I need to put that on my list!

I love it when a plan comes together

A few weeks ago daughter2 celebrated her 21st birthday. You remember this cutie, right?

I had seen what looked like a simple and fun idea online (Pinterest, where else?) and I decided to try to recreate it for her special day. It was definitely fun but the verdict on simple may still be out.

In as few words as I can manage, ahem, here's how it worked-I downloaded this poster template which in essence is actually 25 postcard templates. When these 25 postcards are put together they morph into a poster which reads-'I'm so glad you were born'. Without telling my daughter, I emailed 25 friends and family members, explained what was required, and asked them to email me back if they were in. Tracking down the friends was a little tricky as I had to semi stalk them on facebook. The boyfriend mentioned to her later that his heart started pounding when he saw my name in his inbox. Apparently he was wondering what he'd done to warrant an email from me. Hmmm....I might need to think about that reasoning a little bit more closely when life settles down here.

In a project like this it pays to have a rather large extended family...13/25 postcards were assigned to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Daughter2 has a bazillion friends so narrowing it down to just 12 wasn't easy. I went with a few besties from the high school years who are scattered far and wide, including one across the sea, and then a few friends from the college years, and one special friend who goes all the way back to her toddler days. Mostly I went with friends I felt would remember to mail the cards.

Once I had my 25 names confirmed I assigned a postcard to each one and sent them an email along with instructions and their template. They had to open the attached template, print it out on card stock, write a birthday message along with her address on back, and then put an actual honest to goodness stamp on it. And then mail it of course. I knew that last part would be hard for some of the friends because this generation resists sending snail mail. That requires going to the post office. Bother.

I asked everyone to get their cards in the mail between Aug. 30 and Sept 4 so Daughter 2 would have all of them by her actual birth date. Originally I wasn't going to tell her anything but after I thought about it I decided she might read a postcard and chuck it and I didn't want her to lose any of the pieces. A couple days before the first was due to arrive I told her she'd be getting mail all week long and not to throw it away. She got three cards the first day and knew right away it was some sort of puzzle.

I attempted to photograph the end product while I was in town recently but she was missing one card. She had to track that one down so I was glad I'd kept my list of names and which numbered card they'd been assigned. Naturally its the one in the middle but still really cute-

This was a fun surprise and she absolutely loved it. She loved the birthday wishes and all the love sent her way, she loved the idea of working out the message, and most especially she loved going to her mailbox every day and seeing it jammed with postcards. While they might be resistant to mailing letters college students are big huge fans of receiving letters.

I've tried to white out all the names and addresses but I think you still get the idea.

And my mom wrote her message on the patterned side of the card which we all just love because that is so my mom. It made Daughter2 smile.

The finished product is a collection of happy thoughts and sweet wishes in ink and paper and color on one side with a heartfelt message on the other. I had fun planning this and Daughter2 has a special keepsake to mark a milestone birthday.

In the Words of Gomer Pyle

Sur-prise Sur-prise Sur-prise!

I’m linking up with Flashback Friday today and the word of the week is 'surprise'. Visit Mylestones to read more ‘surprise’ posts today.

I’ve never been given a surprise party but my husband did pull off a nice surprise for my 40^th birthday. Mine is the third of the three September birthdays in our family so by the time it rolls around I’ve usually overdosed on cake and am happy with a nice dinner out. And jewelry. Jewelry is always good.

Anyway, we were living in Annapolis the year of my Big 40 (isn’t that awful-who thought of that anyway?) and it fell on a Sunday. We hadn’t made any serious plans (that I knew of), which was fine. The Friday morning of my birthday weekend I walked with my girls to the bus stop as usual. Just as the bus pulled up daughter2 turned around and very quickly handed me an envelope as she said , “This is for you’” and off she went. I glanced at the envelope and all I really noticed was that it had the words private and confidential stamped across it. 

Keep in mind daughter2 has always kept me on my toes and I will confess my immediate thought was she had gotten into some mischief at school and this was the letter of explanation. I even felt a moment of annoyance…why did she wait until she was hopping on the bus to give me this letter? It must be really bad. For the record daughter2 has never gotten into the kind of mischief that would require a letter from the school but at the time it did not seem outside the realm of possibility.

When I opened the letter I discovered it wasn’t from the school at all (sorry daughter2!)…it was from my husband. The letter said I should pack a bag for the weekend and he would pick me up from work at noon. I called him right away and reminded him I work until 4 but he assured me he had already sorted all that out with my school. What do I pack? Do I need dressy clothes? A bathing suit? What about the kids? Are they going too? You know they have xyz activities this weekend?

Sometimes I’m a killjoy.

He wanted to tell me to take a chill pill I'm pretty sure but instead he let me know that my mom was on her way down from NJ to spend the weekend with the girls. I must say this piece impressed me the most.

September is perhaps my favorite month of the year. Typically the weather is just right and then of course there’s my birthday. Hubs picked me up from work at noon but kept me guessing about the destination.

We crossed the Bay Bridge onto Maryland’s Eastern Shore and eventually made our way to the Brampton Inn, a charming B and B in historic Chestertown. The town sits beside the Chester River and is filled with antique shops, lovely old homes and some nice restaurants.

After breakfast on Saturday we decided to take a bike ride which hubs tricked me into believing assured me would only be a couple of miles but let’s just say it was ten times that. It was hot and that made me slightly cranky but the countryside was so pretty and he was so sweet I couldn’t stay mad. It also happened that my birthday coincided with Chestertown's Historic Homes Candlelight Tour and hubs had even arranged tickets for Saturday night followed by a nice dinner in one of the restaurants near the river.

My husband is always thoughtful and often surprises me with flowers or a Payday candy bar or by doing some job around the house that would normally be ‘mine’ but this was different. I think even more than the weekend I loved the thought that went into the planning of it all…getting my work in on the surprise, arranging for my mom to come down, booking tickets to the home tour…these things all were done in secret and were planned well in advance of the actual weekend and that made me feel special.

Isn’t that always the nicest kind of surprise?

I’ve included this picture because it just makes me smile.

I can overlook the ridiculous expression on my face as I blow out some candles, the sunglasses still perched atop my head, the mess on the kitchen table, the basement door standing wide open.

Instead I see decorations hung by children.

I see daughter2 at age 10, with her great big happy smile.

I see the gentle way daughter1 has her arm across my shoulder.

I hear singing and it is pure sweetness. 

That's not a surprise.