Making My Way Back To The Hodgepodge…

After a two month hiatus, I’ve finally made my way back to blogging!  Sometimes, a person needs to just take a step back, so that’s what I did.  Before I knew it, one week had turned into two, then a month, and so forth. I’m back blogging, for now, and there’s no place I’d rather start than with The Hodgepodge.  As always, thanks to our hostess, Joyce, for keeping this fun meme going!

1. What title would you give this current chapter of your life?

One Day At A Time

Just like the title of that old song I love.  The lyrics of this song seem to fit my life, these days.

2. December 6 is National Microwave Oven Day. Who knew? Besides popcorn and coffee reheats, what’s the most common thing you microwave? Could you get along without a microwave?

The things I use my microwave most often for are baking potatoes or defrosting ground beef.  Yes, I could get along without it, and I did for many years, but a microwave sure makes life [in the kitchen] easier.

3. If you could insert yourself into any Christmas carol and experience the lyrics in real life, which Christmas carol lyric would you choose and why?

I’m going to choose Sleigh Ride.

I’ve never been on an actual sleigh ride, but it looks like so much fun in those Hallmark movies!  I imagine myself snuggled under a blanket, holding Ed’s hand, while a horse (or two) pulls us through the snow in a sleigh…  There’s a scene like that near the end of one of my favorite Hallmark movies entitled The Christmas Card.  Has anybody else seen it?

4. Describe the most beautiful drive you’ve ever taken.

The most beautiful drive I’ve ever taken was through the Great Smokey Mountains.  It was beautiful, but also a little bit scary, with its steep mountains and sharp curves!

5. What’s something on your Christmas list this year? (an actual list or figuratively speaking, either one)

I’ve been so blessed, I can’t  think of a thing that I truly want or need, this Christmas.  Our family drew names, this year, and I had a hard time even thinking of some “hints” to put on my list.  So…

The main thing on my Christmas list, this year, is going to be staying focused on the real reason for the season–celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  It’s easy to get caught up in all the ‘hoopla’ of Christmas, and forget what’s really important.  I don’t want to be guilty of that!

Random:

Ed and I haven’t been idle during my blogging hiatus.

As of November 5, we changed churches (again).  Sadly, it became painfully apparent that things weren’t going to work out in the church we’d been attending for the past nine months.  We had to leave some great new friends behind, but ended up going back to worship with some great old friends at a previous church we’d attended.  I hope and pray this will be our last move!

Ed celebrated his 68th birthday on November 13, with family and a birthday cake.  I didn’t bake his German Chocolate cake until the day before Thanksgiving, though.  It took us that long to finish off his birthday cake!

Ed with two of our grandchildren

In November, I bought a Christmas comforter set, and wanted some window treatments to match.  So, what did I do?  I bought a couple of matching shower curtains and turned them into valances!  I even made a matching throw pillow for the bed, and a pair of curtains for the bathroom, too!

Christmas comforter and matching valances

Thanksgiving came and went.  Our family spent Thanksgiving at our daughter’s house, this year, which was nice for a change, plus it gave me a break.  The only glitch was our grandson, Evan, got sick, so he and his family weren’t able to be with us for Thanksgiving.  After lunch, the girls did some browsing on the internet while the guys watched football.

On the day after Thanksgiving Ed and I pulled out the boxes of Christmas decorations!  We’ve been decorating, outside and inside, ever since.  As of Monday evening we are ‘officially’ finished and all boxes are put away…and it only took eleven days!!!  Whew, this task gets more difficult every year!

a not-so-great picture of our living room tree

Would you believe, after almost six years of raising chickens, we’ve suddenly been plagued by several visits from two different chicken hawks?!  I’d often wondered if a chicken hawk could actually kill a grown chicken, and I recently learned they can–they start with the head.  We’re now down to seven very nervous hens, who are wondering who’s next.

“Trouble”, the cat, is still living at Ed’s parents’ house.  I swear this cat has nine lives…  Ed feeds her twice daily and still closes her up in the freezer room at the end of each day.  Since the time change, we have to time our outings so we can be home by 4, to put the cat to bed each evening!  I tell you, it’s like having children again.

It will be late this evening or tomorrow, before I get around to visiting everyone’s blogs.  Ed and I will be accompanying our daughter into the city, today.  She has a doctor’s appointment and we’re planning to do a little Christmas shopping, as well.  See y’all when we get back!