There's No Place Like Home: The Weekly Hodgepodge



Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

On this first official day of spring tell us something (besides the weather) you're looking forward to in this season of the year.

If I mention having a car again, will you be mad?

Anyway...

We had a discussion at work Tuesday about community.  The other girls were rather critical, and sorry to say, a little sanctimonious, about getting off social media to spend more face-to-face time with others.  While I agree to a point, I did bring up the point that when a person's only available form of socialization outside of work is social media, they're doing the best they can.

They don't get it.  I'm not going to keep trying to explain it to them either.

So, I guess the thing I'm looking forward to most is having community outside of work. 

When it comes to spring cleaning would you rather wash windows or wash baseboards? Clean out closets or clean out the garage? Dust ceiling fans or dust bookcases? Wipe down the patio furniture outside or wipe down the light fixtures inside? Any of these tasks recently completed?

I would rather wash windows, clean out closets (I've never had a garage), and dust the ceiling fan.  No, I've not been in my apartment long enough for it to need spring cleaning.  It does, however, need a regular tidying up.

Your favorite thing to make/eat that calls for cream cheese? Sour cream? Whipped cream?

My favorite peanut butter pie recipe calls for cream cheese and whipped cream.  As far as sour cream goes, I have a couple of favorites:  Knorr Spinach dip (I leave out the water chestnuts) and a chicken casserole recipe given to me by my friend Bernice Rochester.

I read here a list of commonly mispronounced words. What is a word that gives you trouble when it comes to pronunciation?

My missteps with words are not usually due to pronunciation (unless I'm really tired, have eaten too much sugar, or just don't care); it's usually spelling.  I'm a very good speller, but some words, I misspell EVERY time I write them.  Here's a small sampling:

• Genius - "Geneous"
• Definitely - I spell it "definately" every. single. time.
• Gamut - I keep wanting to write "gambit."  That's because of someone else's misspeaks over the years.
• Braille - I keep forgetting it has two l's in it.
• Writer - I know, I know, shame on the writer for trying to put two t's in writer.

What's a song you love with the word 'rain' in the title or lyrics?

And, of course, this one...

Insert your own random thought here.

From Dillon Mason's
Facebook Page.  He's a
former student of mine.

First and foremost, many of you may not know, but my hometown, Jacksonville, Alabama ("JackVegas"), was hit by an F-3 tornado Monday night.  Though there were some injuries, thankfully no one was killed.  My family in town were not affected by the storms.  However, several friends have either sustained sizeable damage to or the destruction of their homes plus my alma mater, Jacksonville State, took a huge hit.  Please be in prayer for them, and if you would like, please donate to the assistance fund.  Several churches are assisting those affected, and the town, as usual, is banding together to help.  I've not been homesick the entire time I've been in Colorado.  Now, I wish I could go home for a few days.  I know all I'd do is drive up and down 204 and cry and I'd be of absolutely no use at all, but I wish I could anyway.

Next on the agenda.  I've had my fitness group Working on It up since December and the results are dismal.  Though it now has 15 members, the point of the group somehow is being missed.  I envisioned it to be a place where those whose fitness isn't cookiecutter perfect could come and encourage each other.  That's not happening.  Though I specifically discouraged "lurking"--reading, but not engaging in conversation--it's happening anyway, with everyone.  Maybe my fitness quest is going to have to go back to being a solo venture.  That's not the best way to do it, but what else can I do?  (There's that whole, needing of better community thing again) So, as of this Friday, I'm going to take the site down.

Now, for something good.  Want to see that latest projects from Auntie's Workshop?  Please remember that any project you see can be replicated or customized (within reason) for your color scheme.

"The Four Seasons."  A multi-canvas piece is a new venture for me.
I got the idea from my girl at Paintology 101.  It's done on four 8x10 canvases.

"Southern Comfort."  I took a couple of ideas from other paintings to come up with this one.  It is done on an 11x14 canvas, but can be done on a larger or smaller canvas.