Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 351

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

1. What are your ingredients for a perfect Saturday?

2. What skill do you wish more people took the time to learn?

3. What's something you ate as a child you can't stand now as an adult?

4. Something parenting has taught you? If you're not a parent tell us one important lesson you learned from your own parents.

5. Share a favorite quote or saying about mothers or motherhood.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It's Not So Elementary

My daughter2 has been teaching school for over five years now. She started her career as a third grade teacher but transferred to kindergarten last year. I've visited every one of her classrooms at least once to help with some sort of special project and to read a book to her students. Shhh! Don't tell, but my real reason for going is to see my girl in her natural habitat. When it comes to teaching she is a natural.

Until yesterday hubs never had the opportunity to see her run her classroom like a boss. Yesterday he spent a couple of hours in her classroom, ate lunch in the cafeteria, and basically tried his best to keep up with the crazy pace and activity level of a room full of five year olds.

Here's his takeaway-

1. His daughter is amazing.

2. Seriously, if he had to do what she does on a daily basis he said he'd likely pull the covers over his head and never come out. It's a steady stream of walking, talking, not sitting, re-directing, suggesting, guiding, consoling, herding, answering, having a Plan B, smiling, encouraging, helping and whew! 

Teaching is not for the faint of heart!!

3. Kindergartners are busy busy busy. There are many moving parts and they ask a lot of questions.

4. A whole lot of questions. Not always about the topic at hand.

5.  Besides a room full of students there were chickens.

6. Baby chickens. Daughter2 had seen a program available to teachers through I think the Cooperative Extension where you could pick up eggs and everything you'd need to hatch chickens in your room including feed, brood box, water bottles, incubator, and instructions. They will also take the new baby chicks back unless someone takes them home.

No she is not taking them home, but don't think for a minute she hasn't considered it-ha!

7. Anyway, one evening after school she trekked down to the Extension Office and picked up all the necessary materials and three weeks later she and her room full of kindergartners watched six baby chicks enter the world right before their eyes. One is still struggling to make his way out so here's hoping today was the day. Her students have recently completed a unit on animals and there's nothing like hatching your own chicks to make it all come to life.

8. Hubs brought her chick-fil-a for lunch. Circle of life?

9. He read a book to the class too. Horton Hatches The Egg because great teachers know how to work a theme.

10. After he read the book Daughter2 told her students they could ask him questions. She told them he knows a lot about a lot of things, for instance snakes. He knows a lot about snakes.

11. He was then asked approximately 546 questions about snakes.

12. This profession is under appreciated on so many levels.

13. And his daughter is completely amazing.

The Hodgepodge of Happiness

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge, our first in the month of May. We're finally enjoying some gorgeous weather here in the southland and I hope spring is springing where you are too. If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger linking before you because that's how we roll here. Let's go-

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Is there a flower you associate with a particular memory? Explain.

When I see a bed of iris I always think of my mama and her green thumb. How she used to grow the most beautiful iris in a big bed at the corner of our property. I wish I had a picture. 

2. Last time you helped someone? Tell us how.

We bought new furniture for our screened in porch and some of it was delivered today (Tuesday). I helped hubs carry the old furniture down to the lower patio. Normally my helping someone doesn't involve manual labor, because I'm not all that helpful in the heavy lifting department. The old furniture was light so I managed. 

Mostly. 

Stairs are tricky y'all. 

3. It's National Salsa Month (the food, not the dance) so tell us, do you like salsa? Hot, medium, or mild? Homemade, store bought, or from your favorite restaurant only?

Yes I do like salsa, medium is my favorite. I like homemade, store bought, or salsa served beside a warm bowl of chips in a Mexican restaurant. I also like salsa on scrambled eggs. If you haven't tried it you should. Yum! 

4. When I was twelve years old...

I was in the seventh grade and I'm gonna be honest and say not my favorite year, school wise anyway. It was my first year in Jr. High which back then was grades 7 and 8 in one building. I rode a bus to school for the first time and mostly I remember it was hard trying to figure out where I belonged. I had super skinny legs and long hair and I did enjoy the fashion. It was the early 70's after all. I had friends and a family who loved me so it wasn't all bad. Just a year of growing and figuring out who I was and who I wanted to be. 

5. It's the first of May so let's run with it-first things first, don't know the first thing about it, first dibs on something, first impression, first rate, first cousin, first string, first come first served, at first light-which phrase can best be applied to something in your life currently or even recently?

Probably 'first things first' as we have a number of things we want to do to the house, and we're trying to prioritize them in order of importance. FYI-most important isn't always equal to most fun. Just sayin'. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We've had a bluebird house ever since we moved in here. Hubs set it up one day and bluebirds declared it home a couple of days later.  (hubs took all these pics)

He whistles on his way down the walkway to feed them in the morning and mom and dad fly around his head and sit on the tree branch above the birdhouse and are not skittish at all. 

There are four noisy babies in the house right now and I hope I'm sitting outside when they take their first flight. I hope the hawk is not. 

Mom and Dad have been a bit bold of late and have started buzzing the covered deck and sitting on the porch railing. 

We really need them to stay on their own property so to speak but we're cutting them a little slack since they're new parents. We definitely don't want them making our porch their vacation home. 

Even if they are beautiful little creatures. 

Opposites Attract

If you're looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions you'll find them one post back. 

We spent the weekend with college friends in Georgia. It was the first weekend in a long long while where the sun shone all day every day and it was De-lightful. Yes with a capital D because everything's better with sunshine, isn't it?

The guys were participating in a clay pigeon shooting competition at a beautiful venue in the Georgia countryside and the plan was we girls would while away the hours while they competed, then meet up with them late afternoon.

So we whiled.

We walked and talked and shopped and talked and tried on clothes and bought this and that and then we talked some more as we sat with a glass of rose on a downtown rooftop. It was perfection.

What did we talk about?

...the wedding (you know which one, right?), how our May calendars are all crazy jam packed and we're not sure how that happened, summer travel, grandchildren, why we're not letting our hair go gray, whether we'll all stay put in our houses or eventually move to a more low maintenance kind of setting, husbands who retire and husbands who don't, complicated relationships, various and sundry health and beauty concerns, exercise, DNRs and who's in charge of our healthcare directives, wills, various bits of advice our financial planners have given us, boating, children, Disney World, Mother's Day, Oregon, books, shoes, food and...

Later that evening I asked hubs if he enjoyed his day at the shoot.

Yes! he said. He loved it! he said.

Well what did you guys talk about all day?

He thought for a minute then said, 'Hmmm....I guess nothing really.'

I could say men are from Mars, but pretty sure someone beat me to it-ha!
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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 350

We've somehow hit volume 350 here today. That feels like something doesn't it? Raise your hand if you've been in the HP since the early days.

We're also flipping the calendar over to May so whoohoo! Our May calendar is busting at the seams, but I'll do my best to keep the Hodgepodge going this month. I may need to insert a break somewhere, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Today though we've got questions. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with the world wide webbers. Here we go-

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Is there a flower you associate with a particular memory? Explain.

2. Last time you helped someone? Tell us how.

3. It's National Salsa Month (the food, not the dance) so tell us, do you like salsa? Hot, medium, or mild? Homemade, store bought, or from your favorite restaurant only?

4. When I was twelve years old...

5. It's the first of May so let's run with it-first things first, don't know the first thing about it, first dibs on something, first impression, first rate, first cousin, first string, first come first served, at first light-which phrase can best be applied to something in your life currently or even recently?

6. Insert your own random thought here.

The Friday Five

I'm not sure The Friday Five is officially a thing, but I'm declaring it officially a thing on my blog today. I'm so out of sync with my blog and know I need to dive back in and write more often because that makes my writing better. Today you'll have to settle for this-

The Friday Five

I hope I've got Five. It might be The Friday Four. Or The Friday Fourteen.
You never know what you're going to get on This Side Of The Pond.

1. When I flip the page to May at a glance in my calendar I feel a little dizzy. There is so much happening here next month beginning with a hair appointment (that's half a day for me), the dentist, the eye doctor, a wine dinner event, cards and gifts to send for nephew and niece birthdays and a nephew's graduation, Mother's Day, lots and lots of company including college sorority sisters, a high school/camp friend, my mom, my mother-in-law, my daughters, son-in-law, and the cutest baby boy in the world.

photo credit: Sincerely Shannon

Seriously he's the cutest.

2. In preparation for his visit I've purchased a few small toys and a highchair. I've borrowed a pack and play from a friend, but bought a mattress to add to it so he'll be more comfortable. They have a full day of flying plus a couple hour car ride from the airport, plus a three hour time change so we want to do everything we can to help him sleep sweetly once he's here.

Also, it's fun to walk through my kitchen and see a highchair. This one is a Graco and was a literal snap to put together. As in you snap the parts in place. It also converts to a booster seat which is a nice feature and one we'll need down the road.

3. Do you jot notes in the Notes feature of your phone as a reminder of things you want to mention on your blog? I do that sometimes and one thing I'd written there was Big Little Lies. Did anyone watch it? What did you think? We don't get HBO here, but Daughter1 has it so we watched Season One when I was out west a couple of weeks ago.

I really enjoyed the way the show was produced and thought the acting was great, but here's my rant. I don't know why they had to use the F word as much as they did. I have a lot of women friends and nobody I know regularly drops that word a whole bunch into everyday casual conversation. It seemed unnatural and distracting.

4. Turning to the world of fashion...I don't get these tops with the super long wide bell sleeves that come down over your hands. I think some of them are so cute, but then when I imagine trying to do anything at all while wearing one the style seems completely crazy.

5. You know what they say...April showers bring May flowers.  Here's hoping! We've had so much rain this spring, three days this week it's just poured and it rained again last night. On the bright side the weekend weather and next week too all look lovely. We have a fun weekend planned with friends we haven't seen in a while and I'm excited for sunshine and warmer weather.

We did manage a boat ride on Wednesday afternoon while hubs mom was in town with some friends. Hubs was not happy about it at all. Ha!

photo credit: Sincerely Shannon

Enjoy your weekend everyone! 

It's The Hodgepodge Calling

Welcome to 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. They say you learn something new every day. What did you learn yesterday?

I reprogrammed the TV.  Not sure I could do it again without the tech walking me through the process, but still I learned I could do it. 

2. Have you ever had a now or never moment? Elaborate.

Never is a big word. I guess in the sense it's used here, more as an expression than a firm never-ever-ever, then my answer would be yes. There are things I've done that required a leap of faith, and that's what I associate with this saying. As in- go for it because this particular opportunity might not roll around again. 

Moving overseas, various professional roles I've filled as well as some volunteer assignments...I'm sure there's more but I'm blanking. 

3.  April 25th is National Telephone Day. Do you still have a land line or have you gone mobile only? When you receive a text message do you respond immediately? Last time you turned your phone off?  In two or three sentences share with us a story/memory/incident from your childhood (or something current if that's too hard) where the telephone is featured.

We are strictly mobile in this house, but I do miss the landline. I don't like carrying my phone around when I'm in the house.  

I think in general I respond to text messages in a timely fashion, but that may not always be the second they're received.  I do try to always text hubs back right away because if I don't he'll call me and say, 'Did you get my text?' "You didn't reply". 

The last time my phone was turned off was during Sunday morning church.  

An incident featuring the phone? Hmmm...well there was that time when my brother was babysitting my sister and I and we accidentally started a smallish fire in the kitchen. This was back in the day when your phone was attached to the wall, but had a ridiculously long chord allowing you to make it somewhat 'mobile'. My brother had the phone cord stretched all the way from the kitchen into the den and was happily chatting away while my sister and I put butter on the stove to melt and promptly went back to our game upstairs. A large amount of panic ensued but thankfully we can all laugh about it now. 

Well most of us can laugh about it now. My mom I'm not so sure. 

4. Close call, at someone's beck and call, call the shots, call a meeting, call it quits, call in sick, call on the carpet, wake up call...which call have you 'heard' recently? Explain.

I'm going with close call. We had a small plumbing issue in our storage room on Monday and fortunately I happened to go in there and see it before it got out of hand. We don't go in that room every day so it could have become a large headache. Thankfully just a close call. 

5. What subject do you wish you'd paid more attention to in school?

French. I wish I were fluent. And I did pay attention, but I didn't practice enough.  

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Who else thinks Princess Kate is adorable? They looked so cute bringing their new baby home. And with her in heels no less! I so admire her poise and patience with the media .