Good morning friends!  Thanks for stopping by for the weekly hodgepodge!  And a HUGE shout-out to all of you who took part in the give-away last week, and congrats to Laura who won the beautiful Murano necklace!  


Lets "spring" into our Hodgepodge questions for the week!  


1. The first day of spring is here...do you enjoy working in the yard? Weeding, raking, mowing, planting-your favorite springtime garden chore? How about your least favorite?

Oh, I love planting!  Especially in my hanging planters (learned the hard way last year to use the moisture-control soil... used the cheap stuff and struggled to keep those poor things alive!)  And I'm all about instant gratification, so I don't plant from seeds... I love buying the small seedlings and instantly seeing color in my garden!  I do love planting bulbs in the fall, though, and getting that surprise in the spring when I've forgotten what I planted!

I also love plants that I can stick in the ground and don't require much maintenance other than dead-heading.  My mom loves roses - like, seriously loves roses, and can wax rhapsodical about the different varieties, temperments, and requirements of different roses.  And while I love the end result of roses - the big beautiful blooms - and I can certainly appreciate them, they are a little too high-maintenance for me, at least right now.  When we lived in Florida she bought me a new variety of rose that was drought resistant, bug resistance, black spot resistant, and required almost no extra care other than pruning occasionally (which my mom was kind enough to call and nag remind me to do!)

Definitely don't like weeding.

2. What puts a spring in your step?

Any number of things... flowers blooming, the scent of honeysuckle coming from our gazebo, a warm breeze, being able to open the windows to air out the house and hear the birds chirping outside...

3. Describe a time when you had to spring into action?

Oh my... with three kids and a military spouse who is often away, there are tons of examples... but the latest one was when my dear friend Martha called me because her car was dead in the garage and her daughter was late to school and her hubs (who is military like mine, and was away at the time, like mine) had just "cheerfully" called with a schedule change to their upcoming move and... life was just crashing down.  So I took off, drove her little one to school, then waited with her while the tow truck company was called and came to take care of the car and then her husband called back, duly alarmed of course at the 17 missed calls he had on his phone from her!  Just one of those mornings... but I love being able to help my friends in times like that, because they have certainly all been there for me!  :-)

4. We're having carrots for dinner...would you prefer yours raw or cooked?

Cooked. In a cake.

Just sayin...

5. Do you take the shampoos and other sundries from your hotel room when its time to check out?

I will take the lotions, because they are SO handy to have in the car and such - and occasionally I will take the shampoos and things and then donate them to homeless shelters or put them in the bags I carry in the car to hand out to homeless people on the street corners.  But I generally don't use the shampoo/conditioner myself, because they always seem to dry out my hair horribly.

6. What's the most enjoyable team or club you've belonged to and what was it that made it so?

Back in high school I was a part of the Arcadia High marching band - truly one of the best in Southern California. And we were a family - traveled together all over California and even to Australia my senior year (my first airplane ride - what a doozy!)  But the friends I had in band are still friends I have today, and the discipline and standards of perfection are lessons I hold dear even now.  (Oh, you don't want to watch the Rose Parade with me - all I do is critique the bands' marching lines and diagonals!)  :-)

Here is a short clip of a documentary that is being made on that band - truly incredible, and it brings tears to my eyes just watching it!

7. Is cloning a sign of progress?

I really don't know how to answer this one.  On one hand, yes of course, it is a true scientific leap that cloning can be done.  And in the case of, say, saving someone's life by "cloning" his/her internal organs, or something like that, then yes... definitely a miracle.

However, I can see way too many negatives with the idea of cloning to endorse it completely.  Pretty sure it's not Biblical either... and just because we CAN do something doesn't mean that we SHOULD.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I am so excited for our spring break coming up!  We will be taking a much-needed family vacation (other than a quick weekend away to the mountains in October, we haven't had a family vacation since the summer of '10)  We will be visiting friends in Washington and then spending a few days in Seattle... can't wait!