How Is It Still January?

Hi. Happy Monday. Let's catch up. On what I don't know because it's been pretty quiet round here, but I'll think of something. 

For starters...drumroll please....It's a BOY!!!

Daughter 2 and her hubs found out their baby's gender a little over a week ago, and it's all boy all the time in this household. Building our own football team one little man at a time. 

You can read her update in the link here-It's Elementary

God's design for families is completely amazing. I never imagined I'd be Nana to a houseful of boys but here we are. And I love it. LOVE it!!! I also love that these cousins will be close in age because cousins who are friends are such a blessing. I look forward to more noise, more chaos, more giggles, and lots more little boy hugs and smooches, which are my favorite thing on my list of favorite things. 

What else? 

The drive from my house to Daughter2's house is spectacular. As long as I'm the one driving I mean, because its a windy-curvy-bendy road that whips around a guardrail-less mountaintop, then hugs the Ocoee River for 20-something miles. The ride along the river is truly something special to see.  

In other news, I just finished this month's book club selection-Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan, and I really enjoyed it. The story is a fictional account (emphasis on fiction) of the love affair between C.S. Lewis and the woman who became his wife, Joy Davidman. Mostly though it was the description of Oxford and the English countryside and seeing it all for the first time that really won me over. Be still my heart. 

Quick topic change because hey, it's Monday...I know I was going to post the end result of our home improvement project, but y'all it is literally the project that never ends...it just goes on and on my friends...name that tune? If you were raising littles in the early 90's you know it as well as you know your own name, but I digress...our projects...almost there but not quite there. Closer but not closed. 

My builder's wife is a decorator and she's been an enormous help. She and her hubs are coming out this Friday to bring the brand new window treatments we had made for the office, a definite step up from the sheet that's hanging there now. And she's bringing a lamp she thinks will work in the room and maybe a small table to set the lamp on, so whew. Almost. We are almost there. 

I also need pillows for the Murphy bed and a chair for the worktable and I also need to decide if this worktable is right for the room, to which I say yes it will be fine once everything is in place and I have a chair to go with, but hubs is iffy. 

Hubs is so often right about these things, which is annoying but also helpful. We will see what the decorator thinks when she's here. And they're staying for dinner because we still like our builder, which is not something everyone who builds can say. 

The wood in the stairwell is also an 'almost done' kind of thing. Still no electrician, so while the wood is a beauty we need lights installed and the switch plate attached. Almost. Close. 

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, isn't that how the saying goes? 

I promise I will post pictures and details one day in the not too too distant future. Daughter1 and her family, along with some friends of theirs, will all be here mid-February. My aim is to have the office completely finished by then. Or at least more almost finished than it is currently. ahem. 

Christmas feels like eons ago and almost every day I speak as if it's already February, yet somehow it's still January. January is kind of forced down time for us and we need that I think. We're like bears who rest in the winter months storing up energy for a busy spring and summer. 

Happy Monday everyone! 

Opposite Sides Of The Hodgepodge Fence

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. 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. January 25th is National Opposites Day. 'They' say opposites attract...do you agree, and if so is that a good thing? Or do you subscribe more to a 'birds of a feather' philosophy? 

I think there are pros and cons to both sides of the coin here. Studies have shown we're more often attracted to someone similar, at least in attitudes, personality traits, outside interests and values. In life's most important matters I definitely think you need to be more birds of a feather.  Not carbon copies of one another, but complimentary for sure. 

In life's less important matters your opposite can stretch you, pull you out of your comfort zone so to speak, allowing (or forcing-ha!) you to experience things you might not experience otherwise. That's fine when it comes to trying new foods or a vacation activity etc, but it's less fine if we're talking how to raise children or spend money. 

2. Something you're glad to have behind you? Something you're glad is ahead of you? 

Behind me? Dating. Ahead of me? More grandchildren.

3. Your favorite hot food? Cold food? Are you a fan of breakfast for dinner? 

My favorite hot food? Hmmm....that's a toughie. Because of the season we're currently in I'm going to say a bowl of homemade soup. If it were the middle of summer I'd probably have a different answer. As far as cold foods go, give me a slice of red ripe watermelon any day of the year. 

I love breakfast for dinner. When we've been traveling or we've had a very busy few days hubs will make omelettes for dinner, and we both enjoy that meal. 

4. Are you someone who always arrives to appointments/events early or do you tend to run late? Last thing you were late for? 

I despise being late for anything and it rarely happens. I can't remember the last thing I was late for because I make it a point to be on time for whatever is happening. Thankfully hubs is also an 'on-time' guy so we're birds of a feather in that regard lol. 

5. "What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?" John Steinbeck....Your thoughts? 

I do think we can appreciate something without necessarily experiencing it's opposite, but I also think some things are enjoyed more when you've been without for a while. True of warm/cool weather, the changing seasons, missing the people we love and then celebrating their return, and more. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of opposites...look who's sitting opposite me answering today's Hodgepodge questions on her own blog-

I've been enjoying the past few days with my girl in her lovely Tennessee home, and since we now know baby's gender we have had the most fun buying all the adorable things. I'll let her spill the beans when she's ready though. 

Also she and I are birds of a feather if ever there were birds of a feather. Just sayin'. 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 449

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there!

 

1. January 25th is National Opposites Day. 'They' say opposites attract...do you agree, and if so is that a good thing? Or do you subscribe more to a 'birds of a feather' philosophy? 

2. Something you're glad to have behind you? Something you're glad is ahead of you? 

3. Your favorite hot food? Cold food? Are you a fan of breakfast for dinner? 

4. Are you someone who always arrives to appointments/events early or do you tend to run late? Last thing you were late for? 

5. "What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?" John Steinbeck....Your thoughts? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

About That Snow Day

HopeWriters hosted a five day writing challenge this week, providing a one word prompt each day (slow-rest-renew-spark-possibility). I wasn't going to participate because I felt like these prompts all flowed in a very similar vein, and I wasn't sure I could muster up five separate entries to meet the challenge. 

And then it snowed. 

Snow in our neck of the woods is rare, and while I know its not popular to say here in the southland, I miss it sometimes. While I'm grateful we no longer spend six months of the year worrying about ice damming our gutters or dodging seven foot icicles dropping from the roof like daggers, there are some things about a snowfall that I really do miss. 

I miss the hush that falls over our too-noisy world whenever snow begins to fall. The quiet stillness that hangs in the air reminding us hurry up humans to slow down. There are rhythms in nature and also in life and rest is one of those rhythms.

I miss pulling on my favorite pair of boots for a ramble through a winter wonderland. Trekking across a snowy path energizes me, recharging batteries drained of power by too many Christmas cookies and not enough exercise. 

I miss watching sunlight turn dead brown leaves to diamonds that shine with a million points of light. 

The colors of a winter day against the bright blue canvas of a January sky. Allowing nature to spark creativity through the vastness of her beauty and her silence. 

I miss rosy cheeked children and pups running wild with delight at the freedom found in freshly fallen snow. 

I miss the unique sense of possibility born when a whole day's plans are cancelled...

...and in their place you discover enough white space to think and breathe and dream. 

Linking today with Five Minute Friday and #hopewriterlife

Flurries Of Hodgepodge Fun

Welcome to another week in The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, and then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Here we go-

 

1. It's National Popcorn Day-my favorite! Are you a fan? Sweet or salty? A good or great movie you've seen recently (at home or in a theater, either one)? 

Popcorn is one of my favorite foods. When hubs traveled a lot I'd sometimes eat popcorn for dinner. I like mine with just salt but we occasionally will add butter too. Last Christmas hubs bought me a big popcorn popper which we keep in the pool room. We love it...

...we’re not the only ones lol. 

A good movie I've seen recently? Well it will definitely be something I've watched at home because I couldn't tell you the last time I was in a theatre. We watched an older movie recently called The November Man with Pierce Brosnan and we both thought that was good. I think it came out in 2014. 

2. What's something you didn't realize was going to take so much of your time as an adult? 

meal planning, laundry, emptying the dishwasher

3. Your favorite yellow something? 

The sun, roses, and lemon anything, including a big ol' bowl of lemons sitting on the kitchen counter 

4. Why do you write? 

Because all these words in my head have to go somewhere. Writing helps me process life and reminds me to notice the little things. I enjoy reading back on what I've written and seeing God's hand in the details of my life. 

5. Share a favorite memory involving snow. 

My girls know I'm going to say the blizzard of '96. It was probably a highlight of their childhood-ha! We were living in a sweet little cul-de-sac in Maryland at the time, and while we did get snow now and then this particular year we had an honest to goodness blizzard. 

School was closed for more than a week and the snowplow driver pushed all the cul-de sac snow into a ginormous pile, a small mountain of sorts. The kids spent the whole week sledding down that hill and the adults hung out by a bonfire we made in the middle of the street. Hubs and I had someone finishing our basement at the time, and he'd left a bunch of metal pieces we used as a base so as not to set the street on fire.  We brought our lawn chairs and one neighbor made us all gluhwein, and we had a mid-winter party right there in the middle of the court. It was great fun! I think someone from the news or the newspaper came out and did a little story too. Good times!

And somewhere I have pictures but I cannot put my hands on them right now. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Winter skies y'all. 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 448

It's that time again. 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. It's National Popcorn Day-my favorite! Are you a fan? Sweet or salty? A good or great movie you've seen recently (at home or in a theater, either one)? 

2. What's something you didn't realize was going to take so much of your time as an adult? 

3. Your favorite yellow something? 

4. Why do you write? 

5. Share a favorite memory associated with snow.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Five Minutes Of Determine

Trying my hand at Five Minute Friday today, a weekly link up hosted by Kate Motaung. She posts a one word prompt and we write for five minutes flat, no editing or overthinking, ahem. 

Today's prompt-determine

I was thinking about my dad this week, specifically about the year he died. Hubs and I were living about two hours north of my parents back then and our girls were toddlers. I was in a Bible Study that year, with a group of women from my church, and I had so many questions about the particular book we were using as one of our resources. 

My dad wasn't a big talker but I would call home every week and ask his take on the theology presented in whatever chapter had been discussed that Tuesday morning. Was it right or off base? Does it line up with what I've always believed and if not help me understand. Explain it to me. Tell me what you think it means. 

A small sweet memory that stays mostly tucked into the corner of my head and heart. 

My dad died young, only a few years older than I am right now. When I saw today's word I thought of the verse in Job (14:5) that says, -"A person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." 

Or as the Living Translation puts it-""You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer." 

God determines my days. He decides. A lot or a little. The amount doesn't always make sense to my human mind, but I know He doesn't make mistakes. That His ways are higher than mine. That while He's given me some number of days, I determine how they're filled. 

Nearly 30 years have come and gone since we last hung up the phone. The world has grown and groaned and turned into something he probably wouldn't recognize in 2022. I've grown too, partly due to the wisdom that comes with aging, but also in large part due to study. Years and years of reading and asking questions and holding everything up next to God's word to see if it fits. 

How I'd love an icy cold Birch Beer and a chat with my dad today, about the deep and mysterious workings of God.