Hodgepodge for Wednesday--#200!

This is the 200th edition of the Hodgepodge.  I haven't participated in that many, but it's cool that it has lasted that long.  Now on to the questions:

1. What is something in your life right now that feels a little 'hodgepodge'? Our routine.  Turbo is getting involved in atcivities at school--he is a tween and those things start coming up about that age. I have been low on motivation and the dark and cold are just making me want to curl up and snuggle in and read.  Not so conducive to getting things done. I feel I have been phoning it in recently.

2. What does 'peace on earth, goodwill to men' mean to you? If you ahve goodwill toward men, there will be peace on earth.  Sadly, the goodwill is hard to have toward everybody.  People personalities are so diverse that some people, you just can't get along with.

3. Which edible treat you are most looking forward to sampling this December? Dark Chocolate Turtles.  I love them and they are a treat that I know I get for Christmas, it's a tradition!

4. It's that most wonderful time of the year...do you agree, and if so why is it so wonderful?  If not, what would you say is the most wonderful time of the year? I find that this time of year is pretty good.  We get two weeks off for Christmas--the perk of working at a university. I'm looking forward to skiing and working on the boys' rooms and not having to get up at o'dark thirty.

5. What was the last word you looked up in a dictionary (actual or online) and why? I can't remeber the last word I looked up, but I know it was to figure out how to spell it, not so much for the meaning.  I read a lot, so I have a pretty good grasp on vocabulary.  Nick is always asking me for spelling and meanings.

6. Besides a Christmas tree, what is your favorite thing to decorate this time of year? I like putting up decorations in our front window.  Nick puts lights up out side and I help, but we keep the decorations low key.  Nick's dad is the one for huge decorating displays ala Christmas Vacation.

7. Share one thing you've learned (about yourself, people, or anything at all) in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, or through blogging in general. I have a far better time "meeting" people online than in person.  I an introvert and this medium lets me meet without the uncomfortable face to face stuff I don't do so well.

8.  Insert your own random thought here. With this being the 200th edition of the Hodgepodge, I went and looked up the first time I participated in the Hodgepodge.  Come to find out it was way back when it first started up in November of 2010.  I had been blogging for a year and found this fun meme and since I liked answering questions, I joined in.  Left for a while and now I'm back.  So nice to have this for the middle of the week.

Tuesday Randomness

Trying to get back in the swing of things.  After a holiday off it's hard to get back in the mode.  But here we are at Tuesday and time to random:

• Just three short weeks until our Christmas vacation.  Two whole weeks off at home with the kids.  Not scary at all.  With luck there will be snow and we can go skiing or sledding.
• We also have project boys bedroom shift that we are hoping to complete by New years.  For one boy at least, most probably both.  My crafty/scrapbook room may take a bit longer.
• I discovered what I want for Christmas:

• Hopefully we can get our Christmas tree this weekend. I did get the countdown calendar down yesterday morning.  The boys are quite excited about that.
• In honor of the season:

• If only it were that easy...

Have a great week.
Random it up with Stacy.

Whoa, December!

Blink.  I missed October.  Blink, there goes November.  I swear I'm not blinking away December. It seems to be whizzing by so fast. But we did have a great Thanksgiving. Lots of laughing, great food, and good times.
For us, it all started Wednesday.  We do a light meal Wednesday night of cheese, summer sausage adn cracker with a veggie tray with dip.  Keeps it light and easy with all the traditional stuff to come the next day.
We spent the day with our family by choice.  Some good friends adn family that are good friends made up our family for the holiday.  Ultimately, there were seven adults, seven kids and 10 dogs running around the house.

We did do something else with our long weekend.  We started work on the attic bedroom for Turbo.  Turbo helped to texture the walls, and then they painted and we got carpet down.

Once we get trim up, a heater and then the furniture up there, he will have a pretty cool bedroom.
We will hopefully have it done by New years. 

And now on to MMMM.  Christmas theme for the month and here we go:
LAdy Antebellum with Baby, It's Cold Outside:

Brad Paisley with Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy

Kenny Chesney with All I Want For Christmas Is a Real Good Tan:

Enjoy the holidays!

Tuesday Like Friday

Whoop whoop!  It's my Friday!  I'm home with the kiddos tomorrow and totally looking forward to it! Now let's get on with the random:

• This week is going to be such fun, but I'm afraid it's going to go by so fast. Fun stuff always goes by too fast.
• I'm all about turkey wrestling and brining tomorrow.  Wrestling, because no matter how long I let the turkey thaw in the fridge, I still end up with ice in the middle and thta's where they stick the neck and giblets.  Those have to come out so I wrestle.  At least the result of the match is never in doubt, I always win.
• I am also getting the boys hair cuts tomorrow.  Bruiser asked for one and Turbo wants a trim.  So we will get them haircuts. Make presentable kids out of them, mostly.
• Loved this:

•  And this:

•  And in honor of doing the laundry this last weekend:

• I really hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Ours looks to be full of friends, good times and fun. 

Have a great week people!
Random it up with Stacy.

Monday/Thursday Kind of Day and MMMM

Yeah, so this week is very short.  Today is Monday, but also my Thursday since I'm taking off Wednesday through the rest of the week.
This weekend was fairly low key.  I accomplished laundry and vacuuming.  ANd then I went to our cousin's house and we made cinnamon rolls:

7 pans of cinnamon rolls.  They look awesome and taste better. Breakfast for the masses--or the 14 people that will be hanging around for Thanksgiving.
On a slightly down note, we got Turbo's progress report for the last 12 weeks.  He's not doing so great in Math and Language arts.  Taught by the same teacher. There is some fault on Turbo's side.  He takes the suggestion to redo things as just that a suggestion and that means he doesn't need to do it.  However, he does need to do, so we are going to be far more proactive in communicating with his teacher and getting him to do his work and redo his work. No one said this kind of stuff would be so tough to navigate.
Bruiser on the other hand seems to be learning by leaps and bounds. It's an interesting contrast between the two of them.  They do keep us on our toes.

And now on to MMMM.  Freebie week but hey, it's Thanksgiving time and therefore I will try to keep a thanksgiving theme for my post today:

Darius Rucker with This:

Tim McGraw with Live Like You Were Dying:

And an oldie but still great: Bing Crosby with Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)

Have a wonderful week!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Friday 5--Busy, Busy, Busy

5 thoughts:

1. Where exactly has November gone? I think I blinked and it practically Thanksgiving.  That's it, no more blinking or I'll miss Christmas. Our thanksgiving prep starts this weekend with the baking of tons of cinnamon rolls. Looking forward to the fun and goodtimes.
2. Turbo has taken to the skiing and really enjoys it.  Today, since the snow is a bit scarce here still, they will be doing yoga for practice.  He's looking forward to trying yoga out.
3. Bruiser finished up swim lessons for the year.  He is oh so very close to moving up a level--just a bit more practice on one maneuver and he will be moving up.  Next session he'll have it.
4. Yesterday, Thullee decided that chewing up Bruiser's library book would be fun. We were far less impressed. We really don't want to put him back in the crate, so I guess he needs a bit more to do.  It's hard when it's cold though.  The dog has no thick fur and he gets cold fast. We aren't putting him in a coat for bathroom trips outside, so he just doesn't stay out long.  I think he's gets bored.  We are going to have to figure out something before we get a Christmas tree.  We can't have the dog eating the tree again.
5. I really am glad that this weekend is my laundry weekend.  Makes next weekend, when we have friends in town, a free weekend.  However, I really need to be all domestic and clean not only the laundry, but the bathrooms, and vacuum, and all that jazz.  It really is too bad that housework is never ending.

5 Pictures:

Yeah, not my photos, but good for a laugh!  Have a great Thanksgiving!

Spin Cycle--Thanks!

This week the Spin Cycle is a freebie.  So I wanted to take a moment and give thanks.  I've already done a thanks post for the people in my life so now I want to give thanks for some of the other things that I have.

I am thankful for my job.  I don't tend to talk about it much here, mostly to keep things separate.  I work in a sort of public place.  I am a research Scientist, geologist, and database specialist.  The work is interesting and varied. I really love the flexible hours we have and the leeway they give both Nick and I to take care of the kiddos.  Oh, yeah, did I mention Nick and I work at the same place?  Just another perk of the job.
I am thankful that currently all the appliances in our house are working as they should.  This year has been rough on us.  New stove, new dish washer, new water heater.  Everything else should continue to work, nothing is all that old in our house. So, again, thankful for working appliances.
I am thankful for the animals in our lives.  Thullee is a bundle of energy and always, always greet us at the door with abundant enthusiasm. That is the best way to come home.  It awesome to have someone so excited to see you.  Even if you were only gone 5 minutes, or six hours, he's still over the moon excited to see us.
Guinness is the old man of the house.  He's almost 14 and still chugging along.  He tolerates Thullee, loves going for rides in the truck, and still barks at people he deems to close to the house. He is a grand old dog and we love him.
And then there's Piper.  The princess.  My cat.  She is a cuddler and loves attention, but on her terms.  She is 16 and still going strong. She rules the house and the dogs get out of her way.  She can trap Thullee in the basement by sitting on the steps.  She is enjoying the new furniture we got for the living room--it has lots of good napping spots. She really is the princess of the house. I love having her insist on being loved and it's nice to have her next to me when I'm reading.
We have so much to be thankful for.  It is nice to stop and think about all we have instead of worrying about all we don't.  I hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving!

Hodgepodge

Question?  Why yes:

1. What's something you take for granted, that when you stop and think about it you feel truly grateful for? Being healthy.  Right now I have no major issues, and that is nice.  You tend to not think about health until it goes bad, but being healthy is truly great.

2. The color brown-love it or no? What's your favorite shade of brown? Most loved something in your home or closet in a shade of brown? I like brown.  It's the color of chocolate and chocolate is wonderful. We have a really nice brown sectional in our basement--it's traditional looking and fits just right in the space. As for favorite shade of brown--the color of chocolate of course!

3. What's something you're looking forward to today? Going home time.  I like work, but going home and being cozy and warm and relaxed after work is worth looking forward to. Also, I can read then...

4. The word 'feminism' is not new, but it has been generating all kinds of headlines in recent days and months. What do you think/feel when you hear the word? If you're a woman, do you want to be described as a feminist? Why or why not? I think that the word feminism has been hijacked in a way. It has become to mean almost militantly standing for women being just like men without acknowledging that women can be equal to men but are definitely different from men.  Equality is a good thing, but absolute equal treatment of everyone is not achievable. I want to be acknowledged for my abilities and achievements but I don't expect certain treatment nor blame certain treatment on my gender.

5. What's something you personally can't eat without making a mess? A Popsicle. my teeth are sensitive to cold and I can never eat a Popsicle without it melting all over me.

6. When did you last surprise someone with a little gift or when were you last surprised by someone with a little gift? What was it? My mother surprised me with a vegetable slicer mandolin thing just before Halloween.  I need to learn how to use it, but I think I could really like it if I gave it a chance.

7. Share a favorite quote, saying, song lyric or scripture relating to gratitude.

8.  Insert your own random thought here. Turbo has suddenly become busy.  He started with the cross country ski team that the junior high has and is just finishing up swim lessons.  this will most likely be his last run through swim lessons. Next year he will be able to go out for the junior high swim team. This spring he will try track.  He growing up so fast.  Quite literally.  He's grown half an inch since August. I know this is only the start of it, but wow, it happens so fast.

We have had moments of tween attitude and frustration, but we've dealt with them fairly well so far. We are learning as much as he is. Parenting tweens is no picnic.  As long as the result is a mature functioning adult like person, I will call it a success.  I love that kid so much, he's fun, funky and smart.

Randomish Tuesday

Whelp, one day closer to Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to the holiday this year. But we still have to get through this week first.  On with the random:

• Winter came and hit us all at once.  We will hit a whopping 42 degrees on Thursday. And then it gets cold again. I wouldn't mind more snow. Just not next Wednesday. People be traveling then and snow is not cool for travel.
• Turbo had fun at his practice last night.  If he makes ten practices, he can go to a meet.  He's looking forward to that. I hope he continues to enjoy skiing.  He certainly has the look: long hair, funky hat, colorful coat.  He's all set.
• This is so me:

• Meet Silver Thorn the Watcher of the Future:

• And just because it is thanks giving and not yet time to really think about Christmas:

May your week be awesome and trouble free and remember, Thanksgiving is coming, which reminds me I must get the turkey out of the freezer and into the fridge in the next couple days.  Got to give the darn thing time to thaw so we can get it brined before smoking it for the big day.
Have a great week and random it up with Stacy.

Weekend Recharge and MMMM

So, those that are here for MMMM just head down and check out the music.  THat part of the post will follow the Brevity Challenge rules.  However, since I like to put a weekend recap with my MMMM, I'm not following the rules strictly.
Now for a quick recap of the weekend.  Friday night was laid back and relaxed for us after a long week.  We did have a meeting that ran long for work so it was late when we got home. Saturday was a run to the store in the snow, getting the stuff put away when we got home and then we tackled the attic.
We needed to get started on moving things around so we can finish it so Turbo can move up there this spring and then Bruiser gets Turbo's old room.  It's a pretty major shift going on but in the end I get a space that I will be able to scrap book in and Bruiser gets a room with a window. Turbo gets a room in the attic he can escape to as teens like to do and there will still be a play space in the attic for boys to hang out in.
Saturday night we took the boys out for dinner to a local place that makes burgers and wings.  The boys loved it and can't wait to go back.
Sunday was mostly a laze about the house day. I did make Pumpkin pie bread and that was the extent of my efforts.  Nick cleaned his garage. He feels pretty good about what he accomplished.
Today Turbo starts the Ski team.  They have their first practice tonight.  Probably not skiing, not quite enough snow just yet.  Turbo is excited, but a bit nervous, it is new for him.


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Now for MMMM.
Carrie Underwood with Undo It:

Enjoy!