A Heart-y Hodgepodge

Hello loves. It's February so I'm going to use that moniker. The very young bagger at Publix called me love yesterday, and if she can do it so can I. 

If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Bloggers love comments. Here we go-

1. What area of your life feels like you're stuck in a Groundhog's Day loop, doing the same thing over and over? Does it bother you or is that just how life is in this particular season? 

I feel like I'm always emptying the dishwasher and adding clothes to the washer or moving them to the dryer or folding them and putting away. Those two household tasks feel a little bit like a Groundhog's Day loop, but I think that's life in every season. 

2. Something that makes your heart skip a beat? 

This saying can mean either excited or nervous depending on the circumstance. We have a double sided stone fireplace and there have been a few near misses with little ones clamboring around the furniture that sits in front. Definitely makes my heart skip a beat. 

3. Do you wear your heart on your sleeve or are you more of a closed book? Elaborate. 

I looked back at my blog and it seems I've asked this question four times now. Oh well. There are lots of newbies in the Hodgepodge who weren't reading here in 2015. Or 2016. Or 2022. Oops. My answer was similar each time and remains the same still. 

I am not a person with a quick temper or short fuse, but I do cry and blush fairly easily. I think it depends on the 'audience' as to how my emotions play out. I can act like things are fine and don't bother me if need be, but I definitely stew about things behind closed doors. 

4. According to Prevention Magazine, these are 25 of the best foods for heart health-

wild salmon, sardines, liver, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, oatmeal, blueberries, coffee, red wine, green tea, soy milk, dark chocolate, raisins, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, whole grains, apples, oranges, grapefruit, avocado, avocado oil, olive oil 

Which five on the list do you include in your diet most often? Are there any foods on the list you simply cannot abide? 

Almost all of these are a regular part of my diet but I guess the top five would be salmon, blueberries, coffee, apples, and oranges. The only thing on the list I don't eat is liver. I despised it as a child, couldn't even stand the smell of it, and I've never gotten over it. My parents liked liver and onions but blech. Not for me. It's one of the very few foods I don't eat. 

5. What was the last piece of furniture you bought? Is there a piece of furniture you need/want to purchase this year? 

We purchased a lot of outdoor furniture for the patio and new outdoor dining spot, all of which was delivered last week. There are pictures in Monday's post found here-Weekending. We also added a new sofa to the pool table room to coordinate with what's outside. Trying to make these space flow together for entertaining. 

The next thing we'd like to buy (or re-do) is our family room couch. We want to reconfigure the furniture layout and it will all be a lot so not happening this year. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

He's not spoiled at all...

And by he I mean the little brown dog. 

We've had a couple of beautiful days weather wise and we're all soaking up some vitamin D in the hopes it knocks out whatever germs are lingering. 

Tuesday was a s'mores kind of day. True story-I'm not a huge fan of s'mores. 

I like all of the components on their own (especially the toasted marshmallow), but when you put them together they're too much. What about you? Love 'em or no thanks? 

Have a great day everyone! 

Weekending

Good Monday morning friends. We are still fighting germs in our house and it seems when one kiddo gets to feeling better another one goes down for the count. The two oldest grandboys spent the weekend with their other grandparents and I washed all the sheets and towels (again), Lysol-ed the house, cleaned all the bathrooms, then opened up some windows to let the sunshine and fresh air in. 

Hubs, daughter1, little miss, and I hung out at home mostly, with a few little errands thrown into the mix too. I've been doing a lot of cooking with a full house here and was running out of steam by the weekend. You forget how often kids eat. I mean there's breakfast then there's lunch and then of course dinner plus snacks in between. They are not picky eaters at all, but I'm just not used to all.the.meals. 

I made a chicken pot pie on Friday and we had BLT's Saturday which doesn't feel like real cooking and was a nice break. Pictures? Nope. 

How about an outdoor project update because I do have some pictures of that. When last we spoke (about this) we were waiting on furniture to arrive and guess what? It's here! The truck pulled into our driveway Friday morning and the unloading and figuring it all out commenced. Thankfully the designer came with them because it required a bit of finagling. 

It's a large space and we needed large furniture to fill it. Plus we always have people coming and going here so we wanted a lot of seating. It took a while to get the rug in the exact correct precise right spot and then get the furniture centered. Where is the center anyway? Is it between the columns? In line with the sliders? in line with the line that runs through the patio? hmmm...

Hubs needs everything symmetrical to the nth degree, while I'm more of a 'let's eyeball it and see how that looks' kind of gal. These delivery guys were great and super patient. 

Can you move it about four inches to your right? 

Wait, can you move it two inches back to your left? 

Bring it forward just a smidge. 

Too much! Can you back it up a hair? 

Maybe we should try removing one piece? 

Maybe we should add that middle piece to the left side instead? The right side?

Somehow the rug is now off center. Can you slide it over just a tad without 

moving all the heavy furniture we just asked you to set down there?

In short, we're a lot. Daughter1 tried to gently suggest hubs and I go upstairs and let them set it up and then come down and weigh in, but that's not how we roll here.  We have opinions. Especially one of us. Hi hubs! 

The end result though is so pretty! Can't wait to have a party of some kind when the weather warms up for good. 

I love the swivel chairs which sit out a bit from the main seating. You can join the conversation or swivel and look at the lake. 

We've made a cozy outdoor dining space under our screened porch and I love the new table and especially love all those chairs. 

We still need a fan installed in the dining space, along with some twinkle lights or Edison bulbs, and I need some lamps for the serving pieces, and some art and 'stuff' but we're on our way. 

We sat out by the new little fire table that afternoon and it was lovely. 

I have my new soon-to-be favorite napping spot all picked out-

Saturday we loaded up the car and went to see a couple of houses that are on the market. My daughter and her family are house hunting, and she's finally got her land legs after the move, the trip across the pond, the germs!!, so starting the hunt in earnest now. While Saturday's houses were a no-go, I guess it's good to eliminate things too. There's not a ton on the market, but listings generally pick up here in these next couple of months. While they're not in a big rush, I know it's hard not to be itching to get settled into your own space too. One day at a time. 

Saturday night we put little miss to bed, then the three of us watched Back In Action with Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. I thought it was going to be silly, but it was actually pretty cute and we all enjoyed it. 

Sunday hubs took daughter1 to see three more houses and a couple of these might be worth another look once her hubs arrives later this week. I did more cleaning, more laundry, and just some general picking up while they were out and it felt good to get the three inches of dust off my bedroom furniture. Hubs grilled burgers for dinner and then it was early to bed for all the littles. We watched Groundhog Day because it seemed like the thing to do. 

It's an unusual season here...we're trying to hold on to some of our routines, but others we've chucked out the window for the time being.  It's fine. Better than fine. We love having the kids here and I know the other grandparents feel the same. 

I confess I might need to mother my daughter a little less, but it's hard. I mean she's right here in my very own house so it's tempting to weigh in on all sorts of things I don't need to weigh in on. She was going to run an errand the other day and I launched into directions when she reminded me she lives here now and is going to have to learn her way around. Plus it's 2025 and she has gps so I actually never need to launch into directions. 

It's what I do though. Mothers gotta mother.

Think maybe I'll put myself in time out right here. 

Linking with Holly and Sarah for their regular Hello Monday weekend catch up. 

Hello Monday Musings

Good Monday morning everyone. How was your weekend? Ours was cold, really cold for South Carolina. We had snow on Friday which is a rare treat. It's come and gone now, but was so pretty while it lasted.

The temps were freezing and it was a really wet snow, and yes I know wet isn't the best adjective to use here, because isn't all snow wet? This was not the light and fluffy kind, so I didn't get out in it. 

Someone did though, and he loved it. LOVED it!!

He does an army crawl across the grass and it makes us all remember what he was like as a puppy living in the Pacific Northwest. 

There's something about a snowy day that inspires me to cook. Hubs and I started the day with blueberry waffles which are hubs favorite, but not something I make on the regular. I also made a pot of chili for dinner because that's in the snow day bylaws. 

Saturday we had some errands to run and opted for a breakfast date before making a few fun stops like filling up the gas tank and wandering the aisles at CVS. We came home and I finally cleaned out the pantry. I don't know how the pantry periodically ends up so out of order, but I pulled everything out, wiped down all the shelves, got rid of a few things, then put it all back in mostly the same place, but not quite. 

Change is good. 

Also reorganizing the pantry is a satisfying job to have done. 

I put a roast in the crock pot before we left on Saturday and the house smelled so good all day long. Did you come here today to read about what we ate all weekend long? If so you're in luck lol. I made the Mississippi recipe which calls for a packet of ranch dressing, and didn't realize until it was too late that the ranch mix I bought was spicy ranch. I didn't even know Hidden Valley made a spicy ranch mix? 

All's well that ends well though because we like spicy here. It honestly didn't change the flavor too much,  a tad more peppery than usual but very tasty. 

A pretty low key weekend overall...reading, football, watching the snow fall, comfort cooking, and a few small projects crossed off the to-dos. I finally made my winter bucket list, and always refer to my calendar when I  create my list to capture anything eventful I know will be happening. While we don't have any big trips or significant travel on the calendar this winter, the calendar somehow still manages to look awfully full. 

There will be grandkids in the house this winter and I might make a bucket list with them once they're here. I usually do one in the summer when they're visiting, so this would be different and fun I think. In the meantime here's mine-

So how was your winter weekend? Frosty? Fun? Filled with family? Do you have a winter bucket list? 

Linking today with Holly and Sarah for their Hello Monday weekend recap blog hop. 

A Heart's Desire

 Linking this post today with Joanne (Slices of Life) for Talking About It Tuesdays 

2025 is bringing a pretty big and exciting change to our family. I haven't said anything about it on my blog because I've kind of been holding my breath making sure all the pieces would actually come together, but that seems to be happening so it feels okay to talk about it here now. 

Y'all. Don't stop praying for something that is truly your heart's desire. 

When my oldest daughter graduated from high school eighteen years ago (huh???) we were living in the UK. She hopped the pond to attend university in South Carolina and then we moved to NJ and she moved to D.C., and then she got married and moved to Washington State, and then we moved to South Carolina, and then she moved even further away-South Korea, then to a town outside of Nashville, then to Cincinatti, then to England and whew. It's a lot, isn't it? 

All that to say we have not lived geographically near one another since she was eighteen years old. 

I have occasionally referred to this circumstance as the thorn in my side. I have prayed a lot of prayers for my girls in adulthood. Jobs, spouses, married life, childbirth, child-rearing, and yes I still ask God to bring them geographically nearer on a regular basis. Near enough for a cup of tea on a Monday morning or lunch now and then without planes, trains, passports and rental cars being part of the deal because this is my heart's desire. 

My youngest daughter has been living about 3.5 hours from us for the past three years and we consider that very near. We can go by car and it's not too far for a weekend drive which is nice. Hubs and I have spent most of our married life living far away from family so we know how to do this, but still it's not my favorite. Whenever a move is on the horizon for daughter1 I ask God if maybe the next location could be just a little bit closer to me.  

She and her husband just celebrated their ten year wedding anniversary, and in the last ten years my son-in law has completed the final four years of a five year residency, four years of orthopedic surgery, and then another two years in specialized orthopedic fellowships. 

Most recently they've been living in Cambridge (England) while he wraps up his final fellowship. Just before they moved to the UK he accepted a job with an orthopedic practice that will begin once they're back stateside. 

That job is here. 

Where I live. 

They are coming home and where we live is where they will live. 

I don't even know what this looks like, all I know is my daughter and her family will be living within arms reach. We can go to the kids sporting events and programs. We can have dinner together on a random Wednesday.  We can spend one on one time with each little grand since logistics aren't complicated. 

They can come for a swim in the lake, then go home and sleep in their own beds. Or their parents can go home and the kids can have a sleep over at Nana and Pawpaws. My daughter can go to the dentist and get her hair cut without three kids in tow. She can hang out with her sister more often which makes her so happy. 

We live in a small town and I imagine we'll run into one another in the market or Hobby Lobby and other places we'll both frequent. 

They will of course make their own friends here, settle in to their own routines and find their own favorite places, which is as life should be, but to have them near means so much. The in-laws also live nearby and they're as excited as we are for fewer Facetimes, and more actual face time. 

So all these many words to say this... 

I've been praying for many many years for something that I couldn't quite work out how it would ever happen, yet here we are in 2025 and my daughter and I are going to be 'neighbors'. 

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don't forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:6-7 (The Living Bible)

Merry Monday

Hello Monday. It's still Monday right? The days are a blur this time of year and you just have to roll with it. I'm linking with Holly and Sarah for the weekend recap party they host every Monday. Here we go-

We had a fun weekend spent with hubs brother, sister-in-law, and his momma, not counting of course that Tennessee football game, which was possibly the worst game played in the history of ever. Let's speak of happier things. 

It's not a straight line from our house in SC to theirs in TN these days, due to the wrath of Helene. The interstate remains shut down so we have to take the long way around. 

Long but absolutely beautiful I will say. The road that runs across the mountain from NC into Tennessee is one of the prettiest in all of America. Dusted with snow it was just breathtaking. 

As we came in to Tennessee we saw more remnants of the hurricane. Yellow piping is piled high all along the highway from a plastics plant that was destroyed by rushing water. 

Lives were lost here and it's still such an incredible mess. 

We picked up my mother-in-law on our way to the lake where my brother-in-law lives, and got there just in time to see the Clemson-Texas kickoff. We were rooting for our hometown team, but they ended up losing and then things sped rapidly downhill from there. 

That Tennessee game. Whew! It was painful. My sister-in law had ordered Chicago's famous Lou Malnati's pizzas for dinner and that was the highlight of the evening. 'Nuff said. 

Sunday morning we all went to church together. Their church choir performed their cantata which was so lovely. 

We had a charcuterie style lunch, then spent the afternoon chatting, soaking up some Vitamin D on the sunny back porch, and watching the women's volleyball championship on TV. 

Sunday evening we took hubs mom out for a delicious meal at one of our favorite Italian spots-Bella.

Hubs passed a shop window with a prop that goes with his suit and we had to snap a picture. 

This suit brings out the best in everyone. People stop to wish us merry Christmas with a big smile on their face, and to tell us how much they love it. An easy way to spread holiday cheer. 

Monday morning hubs and I headed south about an hour and a half to Daughter2's home near Chattanooga. We take a back road so it's a country drive with pretty farms dotting the landscape along the way. We made a stop at our favorite smokehouse Bentons, home to the world famous Benton's bacon, and still made it to Daughter2s by lunchtime. 

Sweet Baby J literally jumps up and down and claps his hands when he sees us getting out of the car and it is the best thing ever. Truly. Whatever is weighing you down dissolves at the sight of this precious little boy so happy to see you he can't contain it. And baby sister is right behind him, giving us her whole body smile and showing off her newest skill-walking! 

The excitement level is at a ten with littles in the house and we are here for it. 

Merry Christmas Eve Eve everyone!

Decking The Halls

If you're looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions you'll find them here. Today's post is linked with Talking About It Tuesday, hosted by Joanne. 

I like to post a few pictures of our holiday decorations each year a) because it makes me happy, and b) it's a point of reference for next Christmas when I'm wondering where the fat red Santa sat or which ornaments were on my range hood.

We said we were doing less in terms of decorating this year because, while it is our year to have the girls and their families for Christmas, my oldest is still across the pond and my youngest has a baby so we said we'd come to her. 

And I guess we've done less, but we haven't done nothing at all either. Typically we have more than one decorated tree and I've kept it to just one this year. Wait! two...but only one is decorated. The other tree is on the dock and hubs just puts lights on that one which is fun to see from both the water and the house.  

Wait...we have three trees, or maybe 2.5 is more accurate. We always have a little tree on the bar and it does have ornaments on it so I guess that counts but that's it. 

There is also a teeny tiny tree in my powder room but I don't think that counts even though it's cute. 

We did not put a tree on the screened porch like we normally do, nor did we put a big tree in the pool table room so I guess you could say we simplified.  A little. 

I always like to decorate my mantles because they make the house feel Christmasy. Just seven short years ago this was our mantle-

And here we are in 2024-

Love grows y'all. 

My fireplace is two sided and the keeping room mantle is all Santa. Except for the Nutcracker standing guard, but other than that all Santa. 

I like my kitchen to feel festive and we debated whether or not we'd put up the wreaths this year, but in the end we said yes because who doesn't love a kitchen decked out for Christmas? 

It's hard to take pictures in my house. There are so many windows and also I'm not very good at it with my crummy phone camera, but mostly I blame all the glass. 

We have a big piece of furniture in our entry and we put lights and garland on top then hang ribbon down the side to hang any photo Christmas cards we receive. One of my favorite things. 

My king's guard always gets a bow this time of year. I know it's not part of the official uniform, but we make an exception at Christmas. 

I've had my nativity set since our very first married Christmas. The original Joseph broke many years ago and I found a stand in with a slight pituitary problem, but it works. I love getting this out every year. 

Are you sentimental about the ornaments on your tree, or is yours more a 'designer' tree? Mine is definitely heavy on the sentiment, which is how I like it. My favorite British taxi, specially made by the artist for the women's club I was part of when I lived in England. He put our club initials on the license plate. I always hang the taxi near Big Ben which is another favorite. 

The year the Queen passed away I got this one for each of my girls and one for the hubs too. 

This is the kiddie korner...ornaments my girls made in kindergarten-

And now there are ornaments those once-upon-a-time kindergartners own small children have made for us, the grandparents-

I sit in a chair beside the tree in the early morning hours and like to read my Bible there. Seeing all these grouped together reminds me to pray for each precious child, the littles and the bigs. 

Daughter2 gave me this one last year because she knows me. I enjoy choosing a new ornament for everyone each year and that's always part of your Christmas stocking. I try to find something related to that particular year, a favorite hobby, a geographic location that is meaningful, a pet, etc. It's personal in some way and is one of my favorite things to buy each year. 

Wishing you a Christmas that's merry and bright!