Saying Goodbye To May With Another Hodgepodge…

It’s hard to believe the month of May has come and almost gone.  It seems like just yesterday this month was beginning!  All that being said, it’s the last day of May, it’s Wednesday, and it’s time for another Hodgepodge.  As always, thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce, for keeping the fun alive.

1. What makes you feel accomplished? Explain.

My family–all eleven of them!

While growing up, all I ever really wanted to do was become a good wife and mother.  I pray I’ve been successful in both endeavors. Ed and I will celebrate 45 years of marriage, next month.

Together, we’ve raised three children, who have grown up to be adults we are very proud of, and enjoy spending time with.  They, in turn, are doing a great job of taking care of their spouses, and raising children of their own.  At the end of each day, I feel accomplished and very blessed.

2. If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? Tell us why.

I honestly have no idea who the last two guests might be, but my first choice would be Dr. Charles Stanley.  This man has a wealth of Christian knowledge and experience, and I’d love to talk with him about it at length.

3. Do you have a great burger recipe? What’s in it? What do you like on a hamburger and where is your favorite spot to order one out?

My usual burger recipe consists of ground beef, bread crumbs, an egg, salt, and pepper.  However, recently, we’ve discovered these great beef/pork mix hamburger patties in the meat section of Wal-mart. To these patties we just add some Grill Mates hamburger seasoning, and we grill them.  They are fantastic!

I like ketchup, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and pickles on my burgers, and my favorite burger place is Burger King.

4. What’s the biggest anxiety producing thing you do on a regular basis?

Taking care of these chickens–and trying to keep them off the front porch and out of my flowers!  But it’s okay, I love them anyway 🙂

5. This is the last Hodgepodge of May. Tell us about your summer plans.

Ed and I have no big summer plans.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to finish harvesting what’s left of our garden, make some jelly, and simply enjoy each other’s company.  Of course, we’ll also spend some time with family, and, hopefully, we’ll take a few day trips to St. Simon’s Island. When our harvesting is through, I’d also like to go for an overnight visit to see my brother, in Florida.

Random:

When I posted, last Wednesday, we were in the middle of a downpour of rain.  When all was said and done, we received over 9 inches of rain within two days.  Sadly, all of our green bean bushes and an entire row of tomatoes [in our garden] drowned as a result of the downpour.

the green beans

The bushes were loaded with  beans, and the tomato vines were loaded with tomatoes.  It is a sickening sight to see our hard work ruined.

 row of drowned tomatoes

However, all was not lost!  We were able to salvage 13 quarts of beans off the dying bushes, and a kind man from church gave us 18 tomato plants to replace the ones we lost.  Our second row of our tomatoes is still trying to hang on, as are the beans, peas, and our corn…but more rain is in the forecast for this week.  If this happens, I’m not sure the rest of the garden will survive.  For once, I hope the weather man turns out to be WRONG!

A Stereotypical Hodgepodge…

Hello there!  I’m back with another edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge.  I don’t know about where you live, but it’s wet here!  We’ve received over 8 inches of rain in the past 24 hours, and there’s still more rain in the forecast!  Meanwhile, our gracious hostess, Joyce, has prepared another great set of questions for us, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a rainy day, so here I go…

1. What color is prominent in your home? Are you glad about that or wishing you could cover it up or remove it?

All of the walls and ceilings of our home are lightly stained and sealed wood, so I guess that would fall under the color brown.  There was a reason for doing this–we like the ‘all-natural’ look, we were on a tight budget, and we also hate to paint!  Overall, I’ve been fairly happy with the ‘all-natural’ look, even on the ceilings, but the color of our wood is darkening a little, over time, and I’m not especially happy about that!

2. What’s something you’ll NEVER do again?

I will absolutely, positively NEVER jump off of anything again!  Two different times in my life, I’ve jumped off of high things and, both times, I thought my feet and ankles were broken!  I’ve finally figured out that I don’t know how to properly flex my knees upon landing, which helps absorb the impact.

3. Tell us a couple of ways you fit the stereotypes associated with your gender, and a couple of ways you don’t.

(1)I enjoy staying home and taking care of my family and household more than working outside of the home.  (2)I enjoy cooking, sewing, and other crafts, but I’m not mechanical.

(1)I’m the more talkative of the two of us, and will usually speak out before Ed does.  (2) I have a stubborn, independent streak, so being submissive doesn’t come naturally.

4. May is Motorcycle Awareness Month. Have you ever owned a motorcycle? Ever ridden a motorcycle? If the opportunity presented itself would you hop on a motorcycle and go for a ride?

Ed and I have owned three different motorcycles during our marriage.  We owned the first two during the early years of our marriage, before we had children.

Us, riding Ed’s 750 Honda

 

Yes, I rode with him and it was fun, but never really felt safe or at ease.  I worried too much about us having an accident. Ed bought a third motorcycle when he was in his 50’s, but I never would ride it with him. I declared my motorcycle riding days were over! After a while, he finally sold it, thank goodness.

5. If someone wanted to understand you, what should they read, watch, and listen to?

They should probably read a few Nicholas Sparks novels, or some celebrities’ autobiographies, and the Bible.  They should watch Hallmark movies, or television dramas (crime or medical shows are my favorites).  As far as music, they should listen to the country music of the 90’s, the pop music of the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s, and some timeless good ole’ southern gospel.

Random:

To put it mildly, the 2017 gardening season has been challenging!  Our unseasonably warm temperatures, combined with a lack of rainfall has made it difficult.  Ed has moved the sprinkler, around in our garden, at least a couple of hundred times, over the past few weeks.  He has to move the sprinkler at least 12 times in order to water the entire garden, one time.

Ed working in the garden

Finally, early harvesting of our garden began.  Thank goodness, we were able to get our onions and potatoes harvested, along with some garden peas and squash.  Our yield has been below average, but, at least we’ve grown enough to share, so that’s good.

digging the potatoes, a family affair

Then the rain started on Monday night! Eight inches and counting, so far.  I’m not sure what all of this rain will mean for the future of our garden.  Only time will tell.  Like I said, gardening this year has been challenging!

 

 

Hodgepodge # 307…

 

I hope all of you had a Happy Mother’s Day.  I know I sure did!  This year, my daughter took over the hosting duties, so I was able to sit back and just be a guest at her house.  It was a nice change, and I enjoyed it very much.

Speaking of  nice things, it’s time for The Wednesday Hodgepodge!  As always, our hostess, Joyce, has done a great job of providing us with great questions and a place to link up.  Thanks, Joyce, for all you do!

Now, here are today’s questions:

1. May 17th is National Pack Rat Day. Sidebar-should we be celebrating this? Hmmm…

No, we probably shouldn’t be celebrating this. Ha! Ha!

Are you a pack rat? Even if you’re not a full fledged pack rat, most people have one thing or another they struggle to part with. Tell us what’s yours.

Yes, unfortunately, I’m a pack rat.  I’m not a hoarder by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like to hang onto my things!  Sometimes, I also like to hang onto other people’s things, too, such as my now grown children’s toys or my late mother-in-law’s dishes.  What can I say?  Once it’s gone, it’s gone, and you can’t get it back, so I think about it for a long time before letting it go…

2. What are two things you know you should know how to do, but you don’t?

I don’t know how to put air in the tires of the car, and I don’t know how to drive our zero turn lawn mower.  I should learn how, but have no interest.

3. Do you crave sugar?  Yes, sometimes I do find myself craving something sweet, usually at night, when I certainly don’t need it!

Do you add sugar to your coffee and/or tea?  I don’t drink coffee at all, but I do drink diluted sweetened tea. (half tea and half water)

Do you use artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes?  I have used them in the past, but I don’t any more.

When dining out is dessert a given?  No. I have to watch my sugar intake, so desserts are usually limited.

Are you someone who has slain the sugar dragon, and if so tell us how you did it.  About four years ago, right before Christmas, I was forced to give up all sugar for several months, due to a chronic yeast problem.  I went “cold turkey” and  it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do!  (Some form of sugar is in almost everything!) I felt lousy (for weeks) and even got a little depressed.  However my yeast problem improved, and I even lost several pounds.  Eventually, when I was able to slowly add some sugar back into my diet, I discovered everything tasted much too sweet, at first.  These days, my yeast problem is much better, but I still have to use moderation regarding sugar.

4. What’s a trend it took a while for you to come round to, but now you can’t imagine living without? I don’t know if it’s a trend anymore,  because it’s more a way of life, these days, but I’ll say using the internet.

5. What’s a song that reminds you of a specific incident in your life? Please elaborate.

  Leaving On a Jet Plane by Peter, Paul and Mary reminds me of when I rode with Ed’s parents to take him to the airport to get on a “jet plane”.  (I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again…Kiss me and smile for me, tell me you’ll wait for me… Oh, babe I hate to go…)

It was August of 1970. I’d just turned 16, Ed was just about to turn 21, and we’d recently become engaged.  Ed was in the army, and was headed to Okinawa for his 18 month tour of duty, which actually turned into a 20 1/2 month tour, after all was said and done.  That trip to the airport was hard, but the trip back home, without Ed, was even worse!  Ed’s mama and I cried most of the way home, while Ed’s daddy tried to cheer us both up.

However,  all’s well that ends well, and it was a different story (and song) 20 1/2 months later when we all went back to that same airport to pick Ed up!  Oh, Happy Day!  Ed and I were married just 3 weeks later, and will soon celebrate our 45th anniversary.

Random:

A “Trouble” and the Man With the Can update

It’s been a while since I’ve written an update about “Trouble”, the cat, and the man with the can, who happens to be my husband, Ed.  For those who may not be familiar with “Trouble”, she’s the cat who’s been living at Ed’s parents’ house, alone, for almost five years.

“Trouble” is no spring chicken, she’s been around quite a while.  You see, we got her [as a kitten] from Ed’s parents when our youngest son was about 15, and he’s about to turn 32.  If you do the math, it comes out to about 17 years!

“Trouble” lived with us until around 2005, when she left  because she didn’t like all of the other cats I’d adopted from the local animal shelter.  She ended up back at Ed’s parents’ home, which is nearby, where she has remained even though the last occupants of the house moved away, around 5 years ago.  All this time, my husband, Ed, has faithfully gone to the house to feed “Trouble” every day–until about two or three weeks ago, when she didn’t show up one day.

It turns out that, after all of this time, “Trouble” has decided to move in with our oldest son and his family, who happen to live nearby, as well! (All of our homes are located on the family farm)  At first we thought “Trouble” had gone to our son’s house because he was borrowing our old car, which is usually  kept parked at Ed’s parents’ house (to discourage intruders).  However, our son returned the car, and “Trouble”  has continued to stay at their house–and I’m glad!  It made me sad to think of her living all alone at Ed’s parents’ house.  It’s good that “Trouble” has a family again–unless she decides to leave, which she’s prone to do.

“Trouble” is really showing her age, now.  Ed, who’s faithful to the end, still goes to our son’s house to feed “Trouble”, every day at five o’clock.  He does this because he knows what kind of food she likes, what time she expects to be fed, and I think he  just likes to check in on her.  The saga of “Trouble” and the man with the can continues…

 

A Pre-Mother’s Day Hodgepodge…

Happy Hump Day!  The week is half over, and it’s time for another edition of Hodgepodge.  It’s also almost Mother’s Day, so I’m going to take this opportunity to wish all of my blog friends a “Happy Mother’s Day”.  Today happens to be our oldest son, Brett’s birthday, so I’m going to take this opportunity to wish him “Happy Birthday”, as well.  Brett was my Mother’s Day baby, and so he made Mother’s Day of 1982 quite memorable!  He was born 4 hours, 7  minutes after the day had ended at midnight! Happy Birthday, son.  I love you!

1. Share a favorite memory of your mother or share a favorite something from your own life as a mother.

Most of my favorite memories, as a mother, center around holidays or the children’s birthdays.  I always took great joy in planning for their birthdays, Easter, and Christmas.  I’d start planning well in advance, and usually went over-board in the gift giving department, but it was fun!  I wanted my own children to have better childhood memories than I have, and I think they do.  I wasn’t a perfect mother, but I gave it everything I had!

If you’re a mother (or stepmom) tell us how your experience as a mom differs from your own mother’s experience.

For most of my childhood and adult life, my mother wasn’t a very stable person.  I didn’t know it at the time, but she was bipolar, which meant lots of ‘ups and downs’.  She [and my father] struggled with alcohol, as well.  There were some good times, but, as you can imagine, there were a lot of not-so-good ones.

I was bound and determined to give my children the kind of stable, happy home life I never had, and I think Ed and I were successful in that.  We both tried to set good examples for our children, and I hope they have lots of good childhood [and adult] memories.

2. In May we celebrate teachers (May 9) and nurses (May 6) both. Most every family has at least one in their midst, so tell us something (or a few things) you appreciate about the teacher or nurse on your family tree.

Ed’s mama worked as an office nurse for many years.  She loved her job very much, and worked long hours!  She was quite dedicated, and worked until she was in her 70’s.  She’s passed away now, but we have another nurse in our family, these days.  Our youngest son, Brad, is married to a nurse!  Our DIL, Jennifer, is currently working for an orthopedist.  She, too, is quite dedicated and works long hours.  Anyone who has ever worked beside Jennifer will quickly tell  you she goes above and beyond duty.  We love and appreciate her for the difficult work she’s chosen to do.

3. Chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad…which would you go for if all three were on the menu?  That’s a tough choice because I like all three, but I’ll go with tuna salad.

On bread or a bed of lettuce?  I prefer tuna salad on a bed of lettuce, but we usually just eat it on bread.

If you answered bread, what kind of bread would make it the perfect sandwich? Honey wheat.

4. Do you have a desk?  Yes, we have an old computer desk, but we no longer use it.

Is it organized? No, not really.  It has little spaces for organizing things, but there always seemed to be clutter on top of the desk.

If you don’t have a desk, where in your home do you take care of family paperwork and business?  These days I usually sit in my favorite chair (in the living room) and use the laptop.  Occasionally, if I have a lot of things to take care of at once, I’ll move to the kitchen table.

Where do you normally sit to blog?

I sit in my favorite chair.

5. When I was nine years old…. my parents lived across the street from the elementary school, for a short time.  I walked home for lunch each day, then walked back to school, afterward.  After school, I often walked back over to the school and played on the school playground.  Good memories!

Random:

Those of you who read my blog regularly probably know that Ed and I often visit a local assisted living facility (Alzheimer’s unit), for church services on Sundays.  We’ve had some interesting experiences while there, and last Sunday we had another one.

We’d just finished the song service, and our son was preparing to read some scripture and preach. A new resident, Barbara, who was still holding the song book, suddenly asked what page he was reading from.  He explained to her that he was now reading from the Bible.  She didn’t have a Bible of her own, and there weren’t any available, so I offered Barbara my Bible to follow along with.

Now, before I go any further, let me explain that I’m very attached to my Bible.  It’s a Creative [journaling] Bible that Ed gave me last Christmas.  It’s already filled with all kinds of notes I’ve taken, it has beautiful illustrations for coloring, and I just love it!

Well, things were rolling right along, our son was reading and preaching out of the book of Romans, and I was sharing Ed’s Bible with him…  About that time, the lady with my Bible got up and left the room–and she took my Bible with her!!!  Oh, no, I thought!

I couldn’t decide what to do, without causing a disruption, so I did nothing…and she never came back!  As soon as the service was over, and we’d said our goodbyes to those attending, I took off on a search for my beloved Bible!

As it turned out, during the service, the lady had been summoned for a phone call, but I didn’t realize this.  In fact, she was still talking on the phone when we found her–and there lay my Bible on the dining table.  Whew!  That was a close one!  However, I think I’ll make sure I carry a spare Bible from now on:)

‘May I’ Interest You In A Wednesday Hodgepodge?

Wow, it’s a new week and a new month!  Can you believe it?  It’s also time for The Hodgepodge, again.  As always, thanks to Joyce for providing another great set of questions. Time’s a wastin’, so let’s get started:

1. Can you tell I’m embracing a Cinco de Mayo theme here this week? Yes, I can 🙂

Do you like Mexican food?  I can take it or leave it.  I usually choose to leave it.

What’s your favorite dish? Tacos

How about on the side-black beans, pinto beans, refried beans, rice?  I don’t really care for any of them.  I’ll eat pinto beans or black beans, but only in taco soup.  I don’t eat refried beans at all.

What about heat-mild, medium, hot?  Mild.

Will you celebrate with Mexican food and drink on May 5th aka Cinco de Mayo?  No.

2. Ever been to Mexico?  No.

For work or holiday? Neither

Love it or no?  Don’t know.

If you haven’t been is this a place you’d like to visit?  No, I don’t care to visit, even though the beaches do look beautiful in pictures.

Can you speak Spanish? I can only remember a few words that I learned in high school.

3. What’s one thing you may accomplish this month?

Hopefully, we’ll be canning green beans by the end of May.

4. If you were mayor of your village, city, or town, what’s one thing you’d like to see changed, done away with, revamped, or accomplished?  I’d really like to see a store like Wal-mart come to our little town! There’s nowhere to shop here, other than a couple of small dollar stores.  Other random stores (and there aren’t many of those) charge ‘an arm and a leg’ for anything they sell.  Ed and I travel 35 miles, one way, to do our shopping every week!

Is serving in public office something you’ve ever seriously considered? Um, no.

5. What’s something that may be popular, but that you just don’t get?  This may not still be popular, but I’m going to say the “whip and nae nae” song and dance.  To me, it’s just ridiculous!

6. Can’t let this week slip by without mentioning Thursday May 4th is Star Wars Day. As in ‘May the 4th be with you’ ahem. Are you a fan of the Star Wars series?   I watched all of the original movies, but never considered myself a die-hard fan.  I waited until the movies were released on video before watching them.

Exactly how much of a fan are you? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being ‘I’ve seen every film, own the action figures, might have dressed as Darth Vader for Halloween one year’, and 1 being, ‘what’s a Vader?’ -where do you land?  I’d say I’m a 3/4. I enjoyed the movies, and remember the original characters, but that’s about as far as my interest goes.  I don’t have any desire to watch the newer versions of Star Wars.

7. Scroll back through your blog posts and in three sentences or less tell us the general theme of your fourth blog post.  My fourth blog post was entitled Did I Tell You? and it was a collection of tales of incidents that happened to me when I was a teenager.  Tales I hadn’t previously mentioned in the first three posts I’d written, and what I learned.  In the beginning, the underlying theme of my blog was “If only I’d known, then, what I know now”.

Does it still ring true today?  No, not so much.  Eventually, I ran out of past stories to write about.  I’ve been blogging for eight years.

Is it a topic you re-visit on your blog from time to time?  Perhaps I will revisit this theme, at some point.  As I mentioned, I’ve been blogging since April of 2009.  Perhaps I should reflect a bit, and discover what I’ve learned from life during the past eight years.  A lot of things have certainly changed–I became a grandmother three more times, we learned how to grow a garden, Ed retired, Ed had a heart attack and recovered, I had back surgery and recovered (sort of), we changed churches three times…  I could go on and on!

Random:

Ed and I both had our six month check ups, yesterday.  I’m happy to report that we both got good reports.  Both of us had been dreading the day, fearing our test results might show something amiss.  I also received my coveted letter, this week, telling me my mammogram results are normal.  If you’ve ever had a “questionable” mammogram, then you understand how excruciating the wait for results can be. Praise the Lord for all of the good news!

This-N-That On Monday…

I’ve missed blogging, so I’ll make an attempt to do a little catching up today.  Who knows, maybe I’ll get inspired to start back blogging on a more regular basis, one of these days.  We’ll see.

Our weekends have been very busy for the past couple of months.  Ed’s been helping our son-in-law put our daughter’s kitchen back together after their flooding mishap, back in October of 2016.  They finally finished the kitchen project a week or so ago.  Their new kitchen looks great, so all’s well that ends well.

Gardening season has begun in earnest, and we have twenty rows planted.  That’s a lot of rows to pick and hoe!  I hope Ed’s up to the task.  Everything seems to be growing, in spite of our ridiculously hot and dry weather, thanks to our trusty water sprinkler.  We should be eating fresh potatoes, soon, and the squash are just about to start blooming.

In other news, we lost one of our younger hens a couple of weeks ago.  She’d been sick for a while.  Even though I’d isolated her and treated her with medication, she didn’t improve.  Now there are eight…but those eight hens still keep us in more eggs than we can use, so we share with family and friends.

Ed and I, along with our daughter and granddaughter, managed to take another little trip to St. Simon’s Island, last week.  I needed to return some things to J C Penny, and there’s one located in Brunswick.  We decided to combine business with pleasure, once again.  However, once we got to St. Simon’s, the wind was blowing so hard, sitting outside wasn’t really enjoyable.  We toughed it out for a while, then went shopping, instead.

Ed and I threw caution to the wind and went to play Bingo, on Friday night.  Let me tell you, there are some serious Bingo players out there!  We joined about twenty other folks for an evening of Bingo, a church program that helps keep their food pantry filled. (must bring canned food [for the pantry] and a wrapped prize [for Bingo], in order to play) We played two cards at once, and the caller went fast!  Ed won two games, and I won one.  Let me tell you, I was tired, afterward, but we had fun–and I liked the prizes Ed won!

I can’t believe it’s May 1.  Time just keeps rolling on by.  I still have Easter decorations all over the house, but I suppose it’s  about time to put those away.  Did I mention that we’re still finding missing eggs out in the yard?  We’ve found them all except for one.

Our local elementary school had a little mishap, on Friday, when one of their air conditioning units caught on fire.  There were no injuries, and everyone made it out, safely, but I’m sure that was a scary time.  I never liked the practice fire drills when I worked there, so I can only imagine what it was like during the real thing.  The school is closed today, so smoke damage can be addressed.

Satan was busy at work, yesterday.  Ed and I went to church, only to discover there was no pastor for the service.  The deacon in charge of lining up ‘supply pastors’ mistakenly thought he had somebody lined up to preach, when he didn’t.  Things didn’t go a whole lot better for the evening service, which was supposed to be a 5th Sunday night ‘sing’.  One of the musicians got sick, immediately before the sing began, and another one never showed up at all.  However, the show went on, as planned.  One elderly lady, in a wheelchair, just blew us away with her gospel tunes on the harmonica!  Another elderly gentleman, blew us away again playing “How Great Thou Art” on the piano.  Several other folks sang, and it was an enjoyable evening, in spite of the ‘snafu’.

As I mentioned, earlier, time is rolling on by, so I guess I’ll get up out of this chair and do some laundry, or some other equally exciting household task 😦  Until next time…