The Cliched Hodgepodge

Okay, someone has commented recently that all I ever post on is the Hodgepodge. So I searched through my archives and discovered--they're right! What can I say, I love the Hodgepodge! It's addictive and I find it kind of like a traffic accident--it's impossible to look away. So join the fun. Click on the link and dive into the world of Hodgepodge. But I'm warning you, it's addictive!

1. Do you like chili? Red or white? Beans or no beans? Spice or no spice? Toppings?

Yes, I do. But I don't necessarily like the thickness in the air after my boys eat chili.

2. Red~Orange~Gold...your favorite fall color?

Yes, as a matter of fact they are my favorites!

3. Who did you idolize when you were growing up?

No idols--I'm Baptist. : )

4. When was the last time you did something 'arts and craftsy'? Share please.

Obviously I don't attempt artsy-craftsy things often. And this is why:  recently I decided to make cupcakes to use as an object lesson in our Patch the Pirate Club with the kids at our church. The lesson called for the children to read different verses from the Bible that talked about benefits when we're saved. Things like a home in heaven and eternal life. I was going to put the Bible references on the cupcakes using decorator frosting. Then the kids were going to have to identify the truth in the verse before taking that cupcake. Only I got cookie decorator frosting instead of cake decorator frosting. It was really runny. And I tend to write big. There wasn't room on the cupcakes for an entire Bible reference. I was getting desperate, especially since we were already at the church and I was in the kitchen trying to decorate them while the kids were having game time in the other room. I finally ended up having to simply write one letter on each cupcake. F or forgiveness, H for heaven, etc. It turned out rather lame and the kids kept staring at me like, "this is it?"

The cupcakes were good.

5. What's a place that makes you really nervous?

The kitchen.

6. Horse back riding...yay or nay (neigh?)

I don't mind it, but I'm not sure the horse is too thrilled.

7. What is your favorite cliche?

In writing, cliches are definite no-no's. I've learned to avoid them like the plague. I'm so attuned to them that I can spot them a mile away. Truly, they stand out like a sore thumb. When I come across one that's worked its way into my writing, I drop it like a hot potato. In fact, once you get out of the habit of using cliches, it's as easy as pie to stop. Oh sure, some people have to make a last ditch effort, but you know it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings, and you can keep trying to weed cliches out of your vocabulary until the cows come home.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

It would be very easy to take the easy way out and wrap things up. But if you keep your fingers crossed and if hope springs eternal, then eventually we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel. I may be grasping at staws, but stick a fork in me 'cause I'm done!

 

The Hodgepodge Where I Can't Get the Picture to Show

For some stupid reason I can't get the Hodgepodge picture to show correctly on my post. And I can't get my signature to show correctly either. After messing with it for quite a while, I decided those two items aren't the most important part of this anyway. You know what to do with the Hodgepodge. So read along and then go to Joyce's blog to play for yourself. But leave a comment first. I'm demanding that way.
1. What do you do at the first sign of a cold? Will you get a flu shot this year?
Wipe someone's nose. I'm not usually the first in the family to get a cold, but my kids have always been generous with their germs.

2. What advice can you give about how to conquer fear?
This is not a good question for me. I'm perfectly content to cower in a closet with a blanket over my head.

3. Share two good things about your life right now.

My daughter is back home! And, my daughter is back home! That's worth two of any other good thing there is!

4. A hot fall fashion trend in 2011 is a return to sixties style...tunics with pants, shift dresses, pencil skirts, cinched waists, bold prints, high necklines and short lengths to name a few. How does this fashion trend fit with your wardrobe and personal sense of style?
When it comes to matching up these trends and my own style (or shape) I have four little words:  I don't think so!

5. Were you involved in scouting as a kid? How about as an adult?
I always try to be prepared. Does that count?

6. Apple, pear, plum, pumpkin...your favorite fall flavor?
I think if we added one more flavor, we could have a substitute that we could sing to the spice song:  "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...". I like apple cinnamon, by the way.

7. What characteristics do you think are essential in a good teacher?

Knowing something about your subject. I'm always amazed by people who try to teach what they don't know. But we don't usually call them teachers. We call them know-it-alls.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Did I mention that my daughter is back home? Can you tell I'm a little excited about that? She left over three years ago, and we've had precious little contact with her since then. But Saturday night she called and said she wanted to come home if we would come get her. We left within the hour and, about 26 hours of driving later, Stephanie is HOME! : )

1. What is one piece of advice you would give a 'just turning' 21- year old adult?
Just because you're old enough to do it doesn't mean you should do it.

2. Besides cooler weather (or warmer weather, depending on your hemisphere) what is one thing you are looking forward to this fall?
Getting my fall cleaning done. Of course, I'm also looking forward to my boys suddenly becoming neat and organized and getting all their schoolwork and chores done on time. Hey, if one miracle can happen, why can't the other?

3. What sound lulls you to sleep?
The rattling of the pills in the Melatonin bottle just before I take them.

4. September is National Preparedness Month...does your family have an emergency 'kit' and/or disaster plan in place?
We're well-prepared for emergencies because we have them all the time. See the last question.

5. How has your blog changed since you started blogging? Or has it?
I write fewer posts, but that's not on purpose. I need to change the look, but I can't decide how I want to go about doing that. And I'm afraid to start because then I'd probably be "under construction" through most of 2012.

6. What's something you've recently learned to do on the computer?
I refuse to learn anything else computer-wise until I get an ipad. I think I'm going to be technologically deficient for quite a while!

7. Is a picture worth a thousand words? Elaborate.
I really don't think I could explain this picture in less than a thousand words. Can you?

8. Insert your own random here.
I'll leave you with pictures from our latest emergency:

Joel needing stitches. (The dog got carried away when they were wrestling.)

Joel with stitches.

Joel five days later. Stitches are out, and he's healing nicely.



Another Hodgepodge

You know what to do, so why are you reading this? Get down to the questions and answers!

1. What is something that bothers you if it's not done perfectly?
Life. What can I say? I have high expectations.

2. Do you think a 6th sense exists? Explain.
It must. How else can I know the very instant my children get into trouble?

3. Do you say your goodbyes slowly, quickly, or not at all?
That depends on how eager I am to leave.

4. On a scale of 1-10, with ten being hot hot hot, what level of spice do you like in your food? What's your favorite 'spicy' dish?
I'm probably a six or a seven. I like a little spice in my food, but I don't like hot just for hot's sake. And as always, my favorite dish is the one someone else makes!

5. What is one of your all time favorite commercial jingles?
It's not actually a jingle, but I like this one.



6. Plane, train, boat or auto...your preferred method of travel?
I don't know, but whatever I travel in I want it to be first class!

7. What is something you take for granted?
That the Hodgepodge will always be there. : )

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I have a lot of apps to organize my time. I think I need an app for organizing my apps.

The 39th Hodgepodge ...

... but who's counting?! I just know it's lots of fun. Click on the link and see everyone's answers to this week's questions--after commenting on mine, of course!

1. If you could work for any one government agency which would you choose and why?
Okay, I read through the entire list of governmental agencies from the link that Joyce provided. And I've come to the conclusion that I want to work for the agency that manages all the agencies. Because there seems to be a lot of redundancy, inefficiency and overlapping in all these various departments, agencies and commissions. I think I could whittle that list down to size.

Getting people to actually complete their list of duties? That's a whole other issue.

2. How difficult is it for you to forgive someone who refuses to apologize?
It's not hard at all! I keep telling them I forgive them, and that eventually gets under their skin so much that they apologize just to get me off their back. : )

3. What is your favorite meatless supper?
I'm sorry! You lost me at "meatless".

4. Wednesday August 10th is National Lazy Day...will you be celebrating? If so, tell us how so we can be lazy too.
I can't celebrate. I was lazy once, earlier this year, and I'm still paying for it.

5. As a child did you have any special back to school traditions and if so, what were they? If you're a parent did you carry on those traditions with your own children?
Early in my grade school career, I panicked through those beginning school days, and eventually ended up trying to run away from school (usually during recess) and head home. The teacher always caught me, and I didn't know the way home anyhow. I didn't pass this tradition on to my children because we homeschool. There's nowhere else to run. : )

6. Write a summer tongue twister.
Sweating, shade-less on the sandy seashore,
I bask in the balmy breeze off the brine.

7. Would you be interested in observing a surgery or do you turn away when the nurse brings out the needle?
That depends on the patient. There are some people that I might enjoy seeing going under the knife.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Indiana read my blog yesterday (something he rarely does) and then went out and bought a bigger trap for our yard invaders. He has declared all out war, especially since the clever rodents spread garbage all over our front lawn before taking their pilfered meal and eating it in the driveway under our van. The boys caught a possum last night, making the count so far Boyds: 2; Clever Scavengers: 1,000.

Boyd vs. Beast

For the past several months, I have been watching a growing battle with a great deal of amusement and some exasperation. And since I enjoy making fun of my life full of guys, I thought I would share this situation with you.

We live in a typical Florida subdivision. By this I mean that we live with rows of houses built way to close because that makes them less vulnerable in hurricanes. And we belong to an HOA, which means we pay money to have total strangers tell us that our garbage cans were left out too long or we have weeds in our cracks. For that kind if information, you'd think they'd at least take us to dinner first, but whatever.

Although we have quite a lot of neighbors around, we do have conservation land behind our house, meaning there's a small area of woods there. And occasionally, we have critters that come out of those woods to pay us a visit.  Critters like this raccoon:

and this possum:

Please note, these pictures are mere representations of the creatures that invaded our yard. The actual creatures were not cooperative about being photographed.

When the boys actually remembered to put our garbage cans in back of the house after trash pick-up, these friendly little visitors would dig through the cans, eat whatever they thought was worthy, and then fling the rest of the garbage all over our backyard.

At first my mighty hunters wanted to open an upstairs window and wait for the marauders. But since that let the air conditioning out and the heat, humidity and bugs in, I squashed that idea. So then my main hunter, Indiana Jones himself, bought a trap to use in catching these little garbage thieves.

This is not the actual trap, because it also refused to cooperate with photographs. But it's a pretty close imitation.

So all of my guys got involved with "baiting" the trap--meaning putting a little good-tasting(?) garbage inside it--and trying to catch the beasts that were invading our garbage.

The first morning they all tore down the stairs and went to see if they had caught anything. The bait was gone, and the trap was twisted and stretched. Apparently they caught something that proceeded to rip the trap apart in its effort to get away. Were we trying to catch a raccoon or a miniature Mighty Joe Young?

Nothing daunted, Indiana repaired the trap and reinforced it to withstand the incredible strength of our creature. To the boys' disappointment, they discovered the next morning that the creature had used the trap as a stepping stool, climbing up on top of it in order to reach into our garbage can.

This was one smart critter.

They moved the trap further away from the garbage can and continued their pursuit. They ended up baiting the trap multiple times a day, and nearly tearing their hair out as they tried to discover how the creature was getting the bait but not springing the trap.

I maintained that they were clearly teaching the critter where to come for his food, and that by now, all his little buddies were hearing about the saps that lived in the corner house as well. In short, I was pretty sure we were probably attracting more creatures than ever before. Not to mention the neighborhood dogs.

No one listened to my nay-saying, and their efforts to catch this clever little bandit redoubled. Finally one night this past week, they sat up in the family room until almost 1:30 in the morning, alternately watching a movie and listening for sounds in the backyard. When they heard the trap, all of them raced to the window like a distorted version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. (I opted for the sensible choice of going to bed over waiting for our friendly neighborhood rodent to make an appearance.)

My hunters were greeted by an amazing sight:  a possum had indeed gone for the bait and sprung the trap. But there was also a raccoon out there. Apparently, the raccoon had opened the trap door and let the possum back out. When my guys appeared, the two crafty burglars took off for the woods.

When I heard about these two escapees from the Wonderful World of Disney, I hinted that perhaps the jig was up and they should quit feeding the wild animals. But with true grace, Indiana acknowledged the intelligence of his foe and observed that this battle was just now getting interesting.

So how did these two scavengers figure out the trap? Obviously, they found the discarded instruction manual in our garbage cans, of course!





Singing the Hodgepodge Praises

You know what day it is. You know what to do. Read. Comment. Click. Repeat. Enjoy!

1. Share a favorite song lyric.
I would never say I can't think of one because I wouldn't want to get an "F", : ) but although I've appreciated many a well-turned musical phrase, I can't currently locate a favorite in the deep recesses of my mind. However, I am a big fan of words, and I do have a favorite phrase to share with you, even though it didn't come from a song. In a book I was reading, a laid-back country boy announced that he was "imminently cognizant of the grammatical parameters." You'd be amazed how often I manage to work that phrase into a conversation!

2. When was the last time someone yelled at you?
I haven't been yelled at, but I have been insulted. At work this week when I offered to take a message, the caller said he'd rather leave the message with a real person, but if none was available he guessed he'd leave it with me. I have promised my co-workers that, in the future, I will try to act more like a real person.

3. Money, fame, happiness...are they mutually exclusive?
Only if you see money and fame as a means of achieving happiness.

4. What is your favorite dish to prepare for family and friends that doesn't require turning on the stove, oven or an outdoor grill?
Ice, of course! (It's my specialty.)

5. The first week of August is National Simplify Your Life Week. What is one thing you could do this week to simplify your life? Hire a maid and a cook. Will you do it? Probably not.

6. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being 100% and 1 being not at all) how tuned in are you to your country's national political scene?
Let's just say I'm more in tune with the political scene than the politicians apparently are with the will of the people. A condition I hope can be rectified during the next election cycle.

7. What are your final parting words to the month of July?
I don't usually speak to months since they never speak to me.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I do, however, occasionally speak to our pets, uncooperative inanimate objects (the copier), and people who obviously flunked drivers' education and yet happen to be operating a vehicle directly in front of me.