It's Wednesday Q & A Time

After you check my answers to this weeks questions head over to Joyce's page here and join in !!




1. What is one piece of advice you would give a 'just turning' 21- year old adult?

Slow down and learn. You think you know so much, but you don't. You think everything needs to happen now, it doesn't.


2. Besides cooler weather (or warmer weather, depending on your hemisphere) what is one thing you are looking forward to this fall?

I look forward to sweaters & boots. I love boots and luckily for me the English seem to share my obsession with boots because I would say over 75% of women I see have them on nearly all the time.


3. What sound lulls you to sleep?

Falling rain is my favorite but usually it is my husband and dog snoring.


4. September is National Preparedness Month...does your family have an emergency 'kit' and/or disaster plan in place?

Well I am working on 72 hour kits but I always have extra food on hand and I am working on having much more done. Better to be safe than sorry. I found a good site where you gather things slowly. For example in your long term storage maybe you are gathering rice this month and in your short term an extra set of clothes for everyone. I think it helps to break it down and make it simple. If you want to check out the site go here.


5. How has your blog changed since you started blogging? Or has it?

Well I started it on a total lark. I guess it has changed as I know am taking it seriously and I wonder about what I really want to blog about... do I want to use one blog to talk about my adorable family & our trips etc and vent and rant about all the crazy thoughts I have and the chaos of the world? I don't know. I just know I want to write every day even if it is crap.


6. What's something you've recently learned to do on the computer?

Nothing but I plan on taking some classes very soon.


7. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Elaborate.

Hmmm...I think pictures can be soooooo telling and yet there are these pictures that have you longing for the story and words that go with them.


8. Insert your own random here.

I never use to be huge into decorating. I blame this on my mother and sister who LOVE to put things on their walls. My husbands and I's first "real" apartment had nothing on the walls for three years besids a calendar. I had pictures in frames on tables, etc just not on the walls. Now I can not get stuff up fast enough or enough up and we have been here a short time. Funny how we evolve even in simple/random ways.

Random and Surly

I was looking through pictures of a recent jaunt that we went on and found the above picture. It was totally random to find this hand in the gardens and at the particular time I was frustrated with the day. Kind of like today so I thought it was the perfect photo for my mood. I just have a lot of random thoughts running through my cranky mind tonight. I can't believe I have a first grader, an almost kindergardner and almost three year old. I know everyone is saying similiar things with all the back to school happening but sometimes I have to just stop and stare in awe at my children and how grown up they are becoming which is such a blessing and curse at the same time. Sometimes I just stop and stare because they act like crazy howler monkeys. I am frustrated that we have had giant winds all day that are destroying my rose bush outside. I really wanted my company that arrives tomorrow to see it... it is not looking good. I wish I was tech savy but alas I am not and I am really wondering how to do a simple thing like change the stinkin font so I each and every post does not look the same... because it makes me nuts. Also my layout is all wonky and I am to lazy and untalented to figure it out. I could ask Bill for help but I sometimes get angry when he can do stuff in 2 seconds that it would take me a week and 80 tries to do. I wish that I was not a procrastinator because then I would not have been shlepping 4 comforters and two kids around the laundry mat and base today in the howling wind and needle like rain. Heaven forbid I get things done a second before the company actually arrives and I am rested... oh no I like to scramble and be dashing and look like trash when they show up. I LOVE skype, especially when the connection is good but I miss talking on the phone... it is hard for me to sit and talk. I don't do still well. I am wishing we had not been so hasty with things when my mom passed. There was an overwhelming amount of stuff to accomplish in such a short time, we were in a grief fog and now there is stuff I want that is long gone. I wish that my son did not have food allergies so he could eat what everyone else did. While on the subject of cooking I really wish I was an amazing cook, not just one who is acceptable. I wish my dog was less of a nut job. I wish the hubby was here to do the bedtime routine with above mentioned howler monkeys because I am not feelin it. I am reading a great poetry book right now called She Walks in Beauty and I found this one that is so appropriate for my surly mood this week: Grown Up Edna St. Vincent Millay Was it for this I uttered prayers, And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs, That now, domestic as a plate, I should retire at half-past eight?

Volume 42 of the blog saving Hodge Podgeness

1. Do you think the world became a more dangerous place on September 11, 2001 or did we just become more aware of the danger? How has your own life changed as a result of that day?

I think that we did become more acutely aware of dangers but also I think it did become more dangerous. I think there are always dangers out there and many we are generally unaware but I feel like the meanness of the world got turned up a notch or two that day. Maybe it is like a type of ripple affect. x does this to y, y reacts and does this to x and z. z retaliates and then c figures out they there is a whole world of mayhem they had not considered before. Maybe it just seems that way because we were all blissfully ignorant to the majority of evil lurking. Thanks to the media saturation there is no ignorance about the world for the most part these days which is both bad and good to me.

2. Did you think your parents were too strict when you were growing up? How about in hindsight?

I am sure there were times when I felt like they were too strict but I even then I knew that for the most part I had it pretty easy and looking back now I wish they had been stricter in some ways.

3. Share one random but candid fact about yourself.

When I was very young my goal in life was to become an actress and then be on Circus of the Stars as a trapeze artist.

4. Would your nearest and dearest describe you as simple or far too complicated?

I think complicated but I could be wrong.


5. What is your favorite stadium or carnival food?

I don't think I have ever had stadium food so I will go with funnel cake.

6. Tornado, hurricane, earthquake...how many of these natural disasters have you experienced? Which event do you think would be the scariest?

I have been in a hurricane and a slight earthquake. I find them all equally scary and unpleasant at this point.

7. Labor Day weekend is approaching so a work related question seems appropriate. Growing up, did your parents assign you regular chores? Were you paid for doing those chores? If you're a parent do you assign chores to your own children? Why or why not?

I had several chores I suppose growing up but not because they were assigned but because my mother was very ill, my dad was usually gone at work and if something needed to get done I had to do it. I was doing my own laundry by 7.
I do have my children do chores and as they get older I add more. I do not pay them for basic things like making their bed, etc. I feel like they are part of this family and live in this house and help make messes so they need to learn to help clean them up. If they do extra things though like volunteer to help with yard work or sometimes when I spring clean I will have them draw chores out of a jar that they can get paid for.



8. Insert your own random thought here.

I really really wanted to do another post before Hodge Podge so I was posting more than once a week but it did not happen. I could blame it on lots of things, first week back at school, preparing for our first big visit from family, crazy day yesterday etc but I think it boils down to the fact I am getting lazy. I don't like that.


You can join in by linking up at Joyce's page here.

If only Joyce supplied titles with the questions...

So I have not blogged in a bit and now I am getting out two posts in one day. It is like I forget about it and then once I start typing I remember, "oh ya I love to talk and typing is kinda like talking and hey don't you want to be a writer anyway so why aren't you writing everyday" and then I only stop blogging because my kids find it unnecessary for me to spend more than 5 min. on the computer. Of course if they won't to use it heaven forbid I stick with the 30 minutes of playtime rule.

Anywho enough of the mindless rambles let's get to the questions. It's Hodge Podge time!

1. What is something that bothers you if its not done perfectly?

Well everything. I am a bit of a control freak and have a tendency to just do it myself rather than delegate but then I had kids. Three of them who don't allow me to be perfect anymore and while at times I look around and see things "un-perfect" and it drives me nuts I like to think that I have mellowed out and realized that there is more to life.

2. Do you think a 6th sense exists? Explain.

Yes. I think that we do have an "intuition", and whenever I listen to that "still small voice" or go with a feeling I have it helps me and has kept me and my family out of harms way. I think mothers especially have this gift or maybe we just have to hone and use it more.

3. Do you say your goodbyes slowly, quickly, or not at all?

I usually pretend the goodbye is not happening. For example when we just moved I wrote cards to my dear friends, gave them to them and then just said "see ya" and gave them a hug like I would be seeing them in a few days. There are some people that I missed seeing but I have cards here for them which I really need to get mailed. I find it easier to not say "goodbye" but just treat it as "see you later" which hopefully will turn out.
I think one of the worst goodbyes I have ever done was saying goodbye to my sister a few months ago while I sat bawling in her car and then called her a stupid hooker for having a job so she couldn't just come with me. Not one of my finer moments but I was heartbroken and couldn't pretend it wasn't happening when she had been helping me pack up.

4. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being hot hot hot, what level of spice do you like in your food? What is your favorite spicy dish?

I am not huge into super spice. I like a little kick but the emphasis on little. Maybe a 3 or 4...maybe maybe a 5. Pathetic I know. My favorite spicy ... hmm... a good salsa I think.

5. What is one of your all time favorite commercial jingles?

I can't think of a single one which is nuts because I sadly watch a lot of TV.


6. Plane, train, boat or auto...your preferred method of travel?

I like the speed of planes but the freedom traveling by car gives you.

7. What is something you take for granted?

How close my family and best friends were before we left. I wish I would have made a lot more time to spend with them.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

There is a great quote that I love which is: "You can't roll your sleeves up while you wring your hands." I love that. I try and live by that. Terrible things happen, sad things occur but rather than wallow, take your moment and then roll your sleeves up, get to work and move on. Much easier said than done though.

You can join up here at Joyce's page it is great fun!