Summer reflecting...

Hey y'all!  So, I'm going to try to blog more... not just Hodgepodge, though I do enjoy the weekly "appointment" with all of you... but I'm wanting to write more, work on my book, get my thoughts and inspirations out there... hmmm... so we shall see how that actually comes through.  In the meantime, it's Hodgepodge time!  

1.  What's something you wanted to do this summer that you never got around to actually doing?

I knew this summer was going to be different, since it was the first year that the kids were at home while I worked every day.  So for that, my "regret" this summer is more for my Little C, who wanted a sleep-over with a friend of his, and it just didn't happen... I can make all sorts of excuses, but when push comes to shove, I simply allowed myself to be distracted and busy and didn't make it the priority I should have.  I will make it happen in the next month, I promise.

2. Share a favorite memory of your own back -to-school days as a child.

I honestly don't remember much of the back-to-school stuff from when i was a kid... but there's NOTHING better than the smell of a new box of Crayola crayons.  And yes, they have to be Crayola.  And a bunch of newly sharpened #2 pencils.

A fun memory from my kids, though, if you will indulge me - when my Middle C was starting kindergarten, I had gone to our local NEX (that's the department store on base) and saw that they had all kinds of adorable matched shorts/shirts, and skirts/shirts sets to choose from.  So I thought I would take her and let her choose her own special outfit for her first day of kindergarten - Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, Preppy, etc.  Whatever she wanted.

What did she choose?

Leopard print.  Yes, my sweet little girl... in a leopard print skirt with a pink top with leopard print heart, and matching leopard print headband.  I had to laugh... never one to go with convention or just wear what I would buy for her... she's always had her own sense of style, that one!


3.  What's one chore or daily task you prefer doing 'old-school' ?

Washing my outside windows - it's just not as good if you don't do them by hand!

4.  Share something you've learned in life through the 'school of hard knocks'.

Oh gosh - this could be an entire 5 page blog by itself!  Mostly, i've learned to never, never, never give up faith and hope... that God will bring me out of whatever I am going through stronger than before, stretching me in ways I must have needed to be stretched!  And, to smile... even when I don't feel like it... smile.

5.  As a child, did you mostly bring or buy your lunch for school? What was your favorite thing to find in your lunchbox?

I almost always brought my lunch to school - in my Little House on the Prairie lunchbox.  i remember when all of my girlfriends had plastic lunch boxes that were personalized with their names on them - and I was so jealous!  Silly, the things we look back on... because knowing those girls, and the area I lived in, I'm sure those lunch boxes were outrageously expensive, and my family didn't have money for things like that... but still....  My favorite thing to find would be a sweet of some kind, because we didn't have many sweets around the house or money to get things like that for school lunches.

6. Football season is upon us which has me wondering... how big of a sports fan are you (not just football) ? On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being 'I scream at the players through my television screen' and 1 being 'is knitting a sport?' where do you fall in fandom? 

Honestly I'm not much of a sports fan - but if there is a game on i will watch, and will pick a team to root for, just for the fun of it.  On a scale of 1-10, I'd definitely be a 5.  

7. Share a favorite quote you think might inspire students of all ages at the start of a new school year. 

"Nevah, Nevah, Nevah Give up!" - Winston Churchill, addressing the student body of an alma mater that had, at one time, said he would never amount to anything!