Wednesday Hodgepodge 13Dec17
Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly hodepodge of questions. This week’s questions piqued my interest.
1. ‘Hurry less, worry less’…what’s your strategy for making that happen this holiday season? How’s it going so far?
This one is easy. Since we don’t celebrate any holidays, there’s no more or no less to do than at any other time of the year. It’s working well, and has for the last 30 years.
2. Do you have a list of to-dos that need accomplishing in order to prepare your home and/or property for the winter season? What are some of the jobs on your list? Are you a do-it-yourself or do you hire someone to accomplish these tasks?
Not to prepare for the winter season, but to prepare for selling our house next year. There’s a list a mile long: strip & paint two bathrooms; replace counter, sinks, toilet; take up the old carpet on the stairs; sand & paint the stairs & lay new runner; clean the barn; and so on and so on. Lots of these I’m doing myself but we’re hiring some help: to trim the trees and carry the brush away; to put a door on the basement stairs; to clean up Bill’s to-do list that just seems to keep growing since he works full-time – including four hours commuting 4 days each week. By weekend, when he also has other responsibilities, he’s toast. I’m so happy to have found someone to clean this up for him.
3. According to dietitians surveyed, the most popular health foods for 2018 will be -turmeric, sprouted foods (bean sprouts, breads with sprouted grains, etc), veggies in place of grains, dairy free milk, and pulses (lentils, chickpeas, etc). What’s the first thought that ran through your head when you read this list? Of the foods listed which one might you add to your regular diet? Also, can milk really be dairy free? Is it still milk?
Thoughts: I’ll have to be sure to use up that turmeric tea in the cupboard; I’ve just collected the equipment for sprouting beans and alfalfa – darn! Does this make ‘trendy’? Yuck!; we already stock almond ‘milk’ for our grandson and I much prefer it for my smoothies; and now I can serve lentil soup and hummus with a ‘clean conscience’.
‘Milk’ is just semantics.
4. The Pantone Color of the Year for 2018 is Ultra Violet. According to the Pantone site ‘Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking pointing us to the future.’ What say you? Do you like the color purple? Did you see the movie or read the book-ha!? Is purple a color you wear often? Describe for us one purple item in your home without using the word purple. If you were in charge of such things what color would you select for 2018?
I like purple, but this ‘Ultra Violet’ is a little too purple for me. I mean, what are we supposed to do with that?
When I was a teen, I decorated my entire bedroom in shades of purple. That’s where the only purple item that I can think of in the house now is from: an old metal Welch’s grape juice can (it’s sold in cardboard now) that I use on my desk. How to describe it? Easy: grapey.
If I was in charge? I really don’t know – maybe a sage green. I think the world needs soothing right now.
5. Favorite book you read this year?
I had a few 5 star books this year, but the one that is most memorable for me is The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. It’s a middle grade book, based on a true story about a gorilla that spent decades alone in a cage in a mall in the southern USA. It’s haunting.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
This is the first time I’ve participated in Wednesday Hodgepodge. I can’t promise I’ll be in every week, but maybe now and then.
I really have to read The One and Only Ivan! I got it for my kids, but haven’t read it yet myself.
Naomi, I read it aloud to my grandsons (ages 3 & 8) as a bedtime story. The eight-year-old liked the humour but I’m not sure he understood the significance of the situation. The three-year-old fell asleep to the sound of my voice every night. :-0
Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! So glad you’ve joined in this week. I’m happy to see lentils on the list because lentil soup is one of my favorites. Good luck with your move preparation. It’s a job! Have a nice weekend!
Joyce, welcome to Exurbanis – and my apologies for the slow ‘approval’. I was without Internet for 5 days – I felt cut off from the world! I might even be back in time to join in this week’s hodgepodge. 🙂
Somehow I always think The One and Only Ivan is one of Kate diCamillo’s books, which I always enjoy. Will have to set that right and find a copy if you enjoyed it this much! I’ve been drinking turmeric with almond milk (!) — and other spices, a variation on the traditional ayurvedia recipe — for years and credit it for helping me avoid a variety of ills. I’m so relieved to know that I am trendy, at last. Good luck with the preparations for the sale.
Aah – Marcie, golden milk! I’ve been meaning to try that. Thanks for the reminder.
I’m going to have to look into Kate diCamillo.
I got sprouts to plant too! I didn’t realize I was being trendy. (it was a group of students at high school for their Entrepreneur class). My 17 year old was a vegetarian last year and we started eating a lot of pulses, and some have stayed in the meal rotation even after she reintroduced meat in her diet.
I call cheaters on ultraviolet – humans can’t see ultraviolet! Bees can see UV and I like keeping bees in mind.
The book looks good – I agree with BiP that it sounds like a Kate deCamillo book, and that is a good thing.
Of course, a science girl like you, raidergirl, would pick up on the ultraviolet error. I didn’t even notice – but thanks for pointing it out. 🙂
Yup, you’re trendy.
I feel I want to answer some of these too – but first, you are selling up? Not returning to the city I hope? Whatever you are doing, I hope it goes smoothly for you.
For q’s 1 and 2, I don’t have many strategies, except to compile to do lists, and to do most things myself/ourselves BUT if I were preparing my house for sale I’d definitely be bringing in help.
For q 3, I don’t like the tone of that one! As someone with a chronic condition managed by avoiding food intolerances I have been following, to various degrees, “the veggies in place of grains, dairy free milk, and pulses (lentils, chickpeas, etc).” for over 30 years. Not a fad here! (I love your response re “milk” being just semantics. I am a bit sceptical about what I would say is a real fad, and that’s the turmeric thing. It may be good for you but these cure-all superfood fads that come and go do make me laugh. Enjoyed your response there too. As for sprouting, well, we were doing that in the seventies and eighties. Still, I’m happy for it to be popular again, though I don’t do it much myself.
For q 4, how does that poem go, “When I am old I shall where purple?” So yes, I wear purple – and always have had some purple in my life. The first sheets and blanket I bought for myself when I left home in the 1970s were, respectively, purple floral and plain purple. I still have the former. And, as one who loves the feminist colours, I am very happy to concur with any sort of green as this year’s colours.
For q 5, I never name one favourite book, but you’ve seen my Reading Highlights.
And, random thought? My New Year’s Resolution – besides read more of that darned TBR, is to get better and better at “choosing kind”.
I hope you keep posting, btw. And sorry I’m only reading this now – as one who does do the holidays, I’ve been struggling to keep up.
We’re NOT returning to the city, Sue, that’s for certain, although we’re not sure just yet exactly where we will end up. It just seems that we’ve been tied to a piece of real estate for far too long (nearly all of our married lives) and it’s time to be free to start a new adventure.
BTW, you could comment on a post that’s months old and I would be thrilled to hear from you. (And I well remember the busyness of doing the holidays. I marvel that any of my blogging friends have a presence at all online during December!)