A Potential for Flaws Hodgepodge

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1. Share a winter memory from your childhood.

I remember bundling up to go out to play in the snow.  When we came in my mother made us go straight downstairs to the boiler room to hang up our wet clothes (so we didn't drip all over the floor).  It seems like it snowed a lot when I was a kid.  Now when it snows people act surprised.  I don't understand that, I mean what do you expect if it is winter and you are in NY?! 

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?

All I have on my blog for a long while is the Hodgepodge.  I stopped blogging but enjoy the Hodgepodge so stuck with that. 

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?

I start off seeing more potential but it's not long before it changes to flaws.  I realize I don't do most of the things I intended to do in the new year.  No, I haven't done anything to address it.  Yes, for me the new year begins January 1. 

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

No one in particular comes to mind.  I did see a video on the internet of a tennis player who encouraged  his opponent to challenge a call, even though it meant he lost the match.  I don't follow tennis so don't know who he is but that is an athlete deserving respect and admiration. 

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?

Yes, I like cream in my coffee, but can't have it so instead like vanilla almond milk or coconut creamer.  Yes, I like whipped cream on my pumpkin pie, even if it's made from coconut cream.  Love cream cheese on a bagel, sour cream on a baked potato and cream of wheat.  I'm not supposed to have milk so haven't had cream cheese or sour cream in a while.  Plain Greek yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream.  I'm pretty sure I've had a scone with clotted cream while I was in London, having tea at Harrod's.  Right this very minute I could go for a cream cheese bagel. 

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

Probably when I was on the phone waiting for "the next available representative".  I put it on speaker phone and get on with my business. 

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.

Thank you January for lots of snow!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Over the weekend we had a blizzard.  We ended up with about 2 feet of snow.  On Sunday church was cancelled because everyone was digging out.  It was a beautiful sunny day and it sure felt good to be outside looking at all the beautiful, freshly fallen snow.  A couple of days later the kids were in the backyard building a snowman and I was watching from the kitchen window.   I saw about four deer right behind them in the woods.  It was so neat to see.  God's creation is amazing!
~Theresa

Skating, Adjusting and Teaching Hodgepodge

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1.  Speaking of skating...when did you last 'skate on thin ice', 'skate over the details', 'encounter a cheapskate', or just plain skate?

A couple of Fridays ago I went to the ice skating rink, although I didn't skate.  I collected money for 30 + homeschoolers and their friends and family who did skate.  It was a fun time for everyone and I enjoyed watching all of the skaters.  I loved being on the other side of the glass since it is cold in there and I am almost always hot. 

2. What would you say is the biggest problem of people your age?

I don't know, maybe adjusting to the phase in life where your children are growing up and your parents are aging. 

3. What's your favorite accessory? Is it something you wear every day, often, or only on special occasions?

A pair of stud earrings.  I lose earrings very easily so I wear cubic zirconias.  I would be a nervous wreck with real diamonds on my ears, checking every minute to see if they are still there.  I wear them every day and don't feel dressed properly without them.  Of course if the question were what is my favorite piece of jewelry it would be my engagement ring. 

4. January 20th is National Cheese Lover's Day. Are you a lover of cheese? What's your favorite dish made with cheese? Last thing you ate that contained some kind of cheese? 

Yes, I love cheese.  Lasagna is my favorite dish made with cheese.  The last thing I ate with cheese was chicken parmigiana from a great Italian restaurant in town. 

5. What's something guaranteed to make you roll your eyes?

An older woman who dresses like she is a teenager and really shouldn't.  It may not be kind, but I'm being honest.  I just don't get it.  There are ways to still dress nice and look beautiful without trying to look like a teeny bopper. 

6. Your favorite book series? 

I'm going with "Little House On The Prairie".  I know it is a children's book series but I think it is great.   

7. Why did you choose your profession? 

Well, my profession right now is wife, mother and homemaker.  I chose those because of love.  Before that my profession was teaching.  I choose it because I had a few wonderful teachers who inspired me.  In high school I didn't like school and couldn't wait to get out.  But I was forever changed when my Social Studies teacher took an interest in me and got me to volunteer in the Special Education class in our school.  It was one of the best things I ever did.  Mr. Zenie will always hold a special place in my heart, as well as a few other exceptional teachers I had. 

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

Well it looks like winter has finally arrived.  We got a light coating of snow on Sunday, but more is in the forecast for this weekend :)  I hope the storm doesn't move out to sea! 

~Theresa

Wednesday's Hodgepodge

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1. Share one thing that really makes your day.

Someone making me a cup of tea or coffee.  It's the little things, right?

2. Lots of these kinds of lists out there, but one found here says the fifteen most colorful places on earth are:

Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy~Burano, Italy~Havana, Cuba~Rio de Janiero, Brazil~Chefchaouen, Morocco~Balat, Istanbul, Turkey~Menton, France~Jodhpur, India~La Baca, Buenos Aires, Argentina~Guanajuato, Mexico~Capetown, South Africa~Valparaiso, Chile~Wroclaw, Poland~San Francisco, California~and Pelourhino, Salvador, Brazil.  

Of those listed which would you most like to see up close and in person? Of all the places you've seen or traveled in your own life, what would you say was one of the most colorful?

Italy sounds nice, although I am not familiar with the places listed.  One of the most colorful places I've ever visited was The Florida Keys.

3."Everything you want is on the other side of fear." Jack Canfield  In general, would you agree or disagree with that statement? Why?

I disagree.  Fear isn't the only thing that stops us from having everything we want.  While there are certain situations where this statement would be true, I think more times it is untrue.

4. Imagine you're stranded on a desert island and dessert appears...what do you hope it is? Do you ever struggle to remember which spelling is desert and which is dessert?

Ice cream.  I have a trick for remembering the correct spelling for desert and dessert.  I learned it in elementary school.  The one with 2 s's is dessert because you always want more dessert.  (Sorry if s's isn't grammatically correct.  I don't think I've ever written that before ;)

5. What song almost always makes you cry?

"And Can It Be".  Especially the last two verses.  The emotion builds as the hymn is sung and when I sing it at church I get all choked up and teary.

1 And can it be that I should gain
an int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain?
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 

2 'Tis myst'ry all! Th'Immortal dies:
who can explore his strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries to sound
the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
let angel minds inquire no more. [Refrain]

3 He left his Father's throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
humbled himself (so great his love!)
and bled for all his chosen race!
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for, O my God, it found out me! [Refrain]

4 Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin and nature's night;
thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed thee. [Refrain] 

5 No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine!
Alive in him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach th'eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ, my own. [Refrain]

6. January is National Soup Month.  Everything from soup to nuts, in the soup,thick as pea soup, souped up...which saying most recently applies to your life in some way? Explain.

I'll say in the soup since I made two huge pots of chicken soup last week.

7. Write a two word note to your younger self. What does it say?

Remember consequences.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I am slowly taking down my Christmas decorations and trying to put some winter decorations up so it doesn't look so bare.  I  found a few ideas on Pinterest.  Any other recommendations?

~Theresa

It's a Gray, Goal Hodgepodge

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

Yes.  I don't have any plans for 2016 being different than 2015 other than the usual...hope to exercise more, be more Christlike, etc.

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

Oh boy.  I have really fallen behind with technology.  When I was in the classroom we had training and that helped me to keep up.  Things are changing so fast I can't seem to keep up.  I think that is my biggest struggle- trying to keep up.  It seems like the latest version is already out before I've had a chance to learn the "old" one.  I am looking to finally get a smartphone and it has not been easy.  Any upgrades with my current plan involve an increase in my monthly bill, which I was hoping to avoid.  I have a giftcard for Amazon and thought maybe I could find a phone there and then just use it with my current plan.  Somehow I feel like I don't know what I am doing.  Thankfully I live chatted with an AT&T representative this morning and he was very patient in answering my questions.  Sad, but he was way more helpful to me than the live person at the AT& T store.  He was much more interested in flirting with the two pretty girls in the store than helping me.


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?

I haven't heard of some of them but I don't like the sound of manspreading.  That just sounds so ridiculous.  And aside from that it's just plain rude and inconsiderate. 

4. Share one of your current health related goals.

Getting back to eating Paleo.  I feel so much better when I follow a strict Paleo diet and I believe it helped bring my thyroid back into range after being diagnosed with Graves Disease.

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?

Yes, I like gray.  While some women look beautiful with gray hair I am not ready to let my grays take over.  I can't think of anything gray in my home decor but do have lots of gray in my wardrobe.  I have gray dress pants, a gray sweater, gray lounging pants, gray shirts and more.
I can most relate to gray hair since it seems like those pesky grays are coming in faster and faster!

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?

I had some pork on New Year's Day.  Our family tradition is to have Chinese food on New Year's Day.  I had some BBQ spare ribs and pork fried rice.  Right now grapes sound good.

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

Going on my laptop to do "just one thing" and ending up spending way too much time on it.  I think I should be more mindful of how much time I am on and try to do something more productive.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

The last season of American Idol starts tonight.  I hope it's a good one!
~Theresa