Aloha! Hodgepodge

Seriously, I'm addicted.  There I was, a week ago, surrounded by palm trees and 80 degree sunshine, snorkeling with my hubby and my awesome bro/sis-in-laws in Kauai... and I missed this, my weekly Hodgepodge!  But I had made a "No Facebook While on Vacation" pledge. and I somehow thought the same with my hodgepodge... but I'm back!  Tanned (not that you can tell, since it is 20 degrees outside and I'm now drowning in sweats) and relaxed (not that you can tell, with the family drama that awaited my return), but oh, what a week we had!   God is SO good...

Anyway, on to the Hodgepodge!  :-)

1. Who taught you how to cook?

I really don't know how my husband and I survived the first couple of years of marriage.  I didn't know how to cook. At all.  Our first dinner guests actually asked to put their chicken in the microwave to cook it completely.  Oh dear.  (And we are still friends to this day, imagine!  Although they haven't let me live that dinner down... sigh...)  But when we had been married a few years I joined the local MOPS group and they had the most amazing cookbook they were selling, called "Beyond Macaroni and Cheese"  (actually, the MOPS coordinator was my friend who was our first dinner guest... perhaps this was her original intent!)  Anyway, this cookbook revolutionized my cooking - all really good recipes containing ingredients already in my pantry, and they were YUMMY!  I've been married 17 years now, and I'm in my 3rd copy of this cookbook... it is because of it that I can cook at all now and have since ventured to Southern Living and Joy of Cooking cookbooks, and am a pretty darn good cook if I do say so myself!

2. Have you been told you think too much? Are too much of a perfectionist? Are too sensitive? Were they right?

Yes, Yes, Yes, and probably Yes!  'Nuff said... sigh...

3. As a child did you have a favorite blanket or toy? Tell about it.

I had the most beautiful sweet doll that I named Jane.  I got her when I was in the 4th grade, right on the cusp of little girl/pre-teen girlhood... I had asked for the "Baby Feels So Real" doll for Christmas, but then the doll broke, on Christmas Eve, and my parents went to several different stores, on Christmas Eve, to try and replace her.  But to no avail.  When I woke up Christmas morning, Baby Feels So Real was there, but she was all goopy and broken... when i started to cry, my mom confessed the truth about Santa.  And then she went out and bought me Jane instead, and I loved her!  She fit in my arms just right, and was so cuddly.  And then she got lost.  I have no idea where... but I was oh so sad when she went missing... and I still wonder what happened to her. Guess I wasn't ready to grow up yet.

4. What 'institution' do you have the most faith in?

I have to believe in marriage.  No matter what the studies say, or what the statistics say, or what whoesi-whatsits-in-Hollywood say... true marriage, true commitment, the kind that lasts even when you think your spouse isn't understanding you or when you are unsure of yourself or you just want to take the next flight to Figi and forget it all... the marriage that sticks together through it all is SO worth it, and is real.  And good.  And true.  And honorable.

5. Chrysanthemums-pansies-burning bush-ornamental cabbage...your favorite in an autumn garden?

Pansies!!!

6. What superpower do the kids in your neighborhood seem to posses?

Umm, since my kids ARE the kids in the neighborhood, I'll say that they possess the insane ability to know the EXACT time I get on the phone with a REALLY important call and then choose that time to run into the house because Little C is chasing Middle C around with an aluminum baseball bat and Eldest C is screaming that HE was not at ALL involved at ALL and that they are ALL LYING if they say that HE started the whole thing.     

I may or may not be directly quoting my household from 5:20 until 5:27 this evening... I'm just saying...

7. Are you a fan of the cranberry?

Yep, love it!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

It has been a long day.  (See #6 above)  Oy.  So, I'm going to go to my happy place... where my hubs and I were a week ago... come along with me!  Aloha!  And Mahalo for joining me in paradise!