Wednesday Hodgepodge

February 20, 2013 at 6:36 AM (Confessions, Family Life, Friends, From the Heart, Honey, Mr. Linky Things, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy)

Hello People, glad you stopped by! If you would like to join us Hodgepodgers, head over to Joyce’s and link up!

1. When were you last ‘on a mountaintop’?  You may answer in the literal or figurative sense.

Maybe at Mrs. Schmenkman’s house in Virginia? Schmenky lives facing the Blue Ridge mountains, you can see Skyline Drive in the distance from her front porch. We drove up there shortly after she and Mr. C moved there, maybe 13-14 years ago. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know if we went to the top. It sure was purty though! I do remember singing One Week by Barenaked Ladies loudly on the drive though. I goggled it and that song came out in 1998, so 15 years ago. Pretty close!
2.  Do you establish and maintain a strict budget in your household?  What is one piece of financial advice you would offer someone just starting out on their own?

Can you hear Honey laughing? At various times in the last 27 years he has tried to get me to adhere to some sort of budget, mainly in the earlier years. It always seemed so complicated with jars or envelopes and this and that. He would say that I am not trainable. On the other hand, I don’t think I am a spendthrift, I would never purchase a big ticket item without his input and I am not high maintenance. That has to count for something, right?

Honey manages all of the ins and outs of our financial world. He asks what I think sometimes, but I am not very financially savvy. He is a very responsible fellow, not that I’m not, but money stuff is math and I believe I have mentioned that I don’t do math.

I don’t have any serious financial advice, nor would you want any from me, but in the last few years I have changed my habits somewhat. Maybe it is my age, but I don’t seem to feel the need to acquire as much stuff. I ask myself two questions before I buy things. Do I really need it? Does it have a purpose? And surprisingly, it has deterred me many times.
3.  Cherries-yay or nay?  Cherry pie, cherry cola, black forest cake, or a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s Cherries Garcia…pick one.

Only ONE? Come ON Joyce! A big, fat yay for me! How about I pick the one I could do without? Cherry cola.
4.  Should you ever discuss religion or politics with people you don’t know?

It would not be my usual habit, but if the circumstances were right, I would. Not so much with politics, but it has sometimes happened with religion. Well, I will change religion to faith.  Because of our circumstances, many have asked about our faith. I can say with certainty that God used our car accident and The Boy’s chronic illness for His good. We had the opportunity to talk to a lot of doctors, nurses, patients, parents and people from all walks of our life, known and unknown, and let me tell you, faith came UP.
5.  When you take a road trip do you prefer to be the driver or the passenger?  Where were you headed on your last road trip?

I can be either. I guess when I am with Honey I prefer to be a passenger, but I have been the driver lots of times. I would say the last road trip I took was last summer for our annual Ladies CareGroup Getaway to South Haven, Michigan, and I was the driver.
6. If we peeked inside your closet, what color would we say is most prevalent?

I wonder how many answering this question had to get up and take a look in their closet? I did! Several years ago I participated in a clothing thing over at Big Mama’s and I asked Mousey what color she would say represented my wardrobe. She said brown, and that sounded less than exciting, but she was probably right. When I went and looked now, I am happy to report that there was not just one color represented! It was a veritable riot of color in there! Well, riot is probably too strong a word, but certainly more color than there used to be. I was a black and brown kind of girl, and black might still be the most prevalent color represented.
7. Who’s your favorite senior citizen and why are they special?

My favorite senior citizens no longer live on this side of Heaven. My Mom, my Grandmother’s Georgia and Esther, and my Great Aunt Adalene come quickly to mind. Of those living on our side, I will have to choose, as a group, the lovely women in our leaders circle at BSF. Past AND present. I don’t think of them as senior citizens, though they surely are. They are special because I see them living out their faith in the later years of their lives, the years that I have not arrived at yet. Involved with their families, serving in their churches, caring for each other, volunteering in many worthwhile ways, in addition to faithfully shepherding the women in their BSF groups. They live with perseverance, challenges and mostly, good humor. They are showing me how it’s done. They inspire me to finish strong.

I am also pretty fond of my Dad, for obvious reasons!  🙂
8.  Insert your own random thought here.

There comes a point every winter when I wonder why, for the love of all that is good and decent, do we live up here in Michigan? That day was yesterday.

Have a good week.