A Hodgepodge Kind of Post

1. Share a winter memory from your childhood.

The backyard of the house in which I grew up, where my dad still lives, backs up to a church parking lot. We got a lot of snow in Canton, OH, and the plowing of the parking lot meant a playground of gigantic snow piles. My siblings, our neighbors, and I dug tunnels and "rooms" throughout them, creating a warm fort inside the snow. We climbed the mountains, hopped across the tops, and slid down the sides into heaps at the bottom. So many hours of my childhood winters were spent on the mountain range surrounding the parking lot.

2. What was on your blog this time last year? 

On this day one year ago, I also did a link-up post. I participated in the Tuesday Ten and wrote about ten things I would rather not live without.

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 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 don't use a specific date to say, I need to change some things! Whenever I see something I need to work on, I work on it. 

But the image of drawing up a to-do list as I walk through the rooms is actually what I do. The list is in my brain, but it's there. This old house still needs a whole lot of work to be done, and winter is a great time to start tackling the list. Only 3 kids are in sports this time of year, and no one wants to be out in the cold, so stripping wallpaper, painting, and other indoor projects happen. 

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

While I don't know any famous athletes personally, so I can't really know their character, it seems that Peyton Manning, the Bronco's quarterback (who used to be the Colt's quarterback), is one stand-up guy. He has had some major health issues (which is why the Colt's cut him, much to our chagrin), but he fought back and has led a team to the Super Bowl yet again. He seems to be a wonderful family man, and he does a lot for sick children and their families.

5. Do you like cream in your coffee? Whipped cream on your pumpkin pie? Cream cheese on your 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 minute?

Hands down, I would choose the scones with clotted cream. I have had that deliciousness exactly one time in my life, and I have craved it ever since. Lizzi made some for me when I stopped in to visit her while I was in England. 

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

I was at home, waiting for our Christmas tree to be delivered. It was supposed to be within 3 hours of when we bought it, but didn't end up getting here until almost 24 hours after we bought it. I wouldn't have minded terribly if they would have called and told me of the delay, but they didn't. I called them. Two different times. With each call, I got a new time of delivery, and none of them were right. Plans were canceled and errands postponed more than once, and by the end I was just plain ticked. I didn't yell at them, but I won't be buying trees there ever again.

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.

My face hasn't frozen off. Thanks.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Our youngest is on a roll these days, keeping us on our exhausted toes. I shared on the Facebook page the following incident:

Bryan sent the little boys upstairs to start getting ready for bed. A few minutes later...

6 year old: "IT'S OVERFLOWING! HELP! HURRY!"
Bryan, running at full speed out of the kitchen: I'M COMING!
6 year old: HURRY! IT'S OVERFLOWING!!!!
Bryan, halfway up the stairs, realizing the 6 year old wasn't in the bathroom: In your bedroom??
6 year old, grinning: Yes. It's my laundry basket. It's overflowing.
Bryan silently turned on his heel and headed back downstairs

Yesterday, I got an email from a fellow kindergarten parent. It read, in part, 

"I volunteered in class today, and thoroughly enjoyed your son. First of all, he introduced himself as Steve - hilarious!"

Steve. That's not his name, yet it's what he's calling himself. I hear it is the default name on the character in Minecraft. He likes the name. He's writing it on his school papers and everything. I don't mind. It's way better than what he was calling himself last week.

Last week he was Boooooooooooom.

Have a lovely day!