Duke’s Mixture 03.04.2022

Ladybugs, it’s the first of the month, which means it’s time for Duke’s Mixture 03.04.2022.  In this edition, I am joining my friend Anne at In Residence again for her monthly Currently link-up.  Today we are chatting about the March currentlies – collecting, craving, picturing and playing.  And I’m combining Currently with a little Hodgepodge and some gratitude from Thankful Thursday.  I hope these posts are as much fun to read as they are to write!!

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Currently 03.2022

 

collecting:  

scrapbook supplies to take to Kentucky when I visit Mom later this month.  My sister, Valerie, will be there, too and we so enjoy scrapbooking together.  We are going to be working on scrapping pictures from our trip last summer to South Padre Island.  I placed an order through Scrapbook.com for some beachy-flavored papers.  We will use our Kiwi Lane templates and some embellishments we create with our Cricuts to decorate our pages.  It is especially fun when we use the same photos and scrap them together.

craving:  

peace.  Not so much the personal peace I was longing for in February.  Grateful to have had a few personally peaceful days recently.  But craving peace for Ukraine.  Struggling to tear myself away from the devastating news coming out of that country.  And worried where the world is headed.  The French President, Macron, having spoken with Putin on the phone, is quoted as saying “the worst is yet to come” [source].

picturing:

our pool once it is repaired.  We are going on 5 years since the pool was built and this nightmare began.  Two lawyers and 5 inspections later and it looks like we might finally get some help in getting things fixed.  Not holding my breath. But daydreaming about walking into our backyard and seeing the oasis we had hoped to create instead of all the issues.

playing:

Wordle.  Both versions.  Thought I was playing the ‘right’ version when I started playing this one.  Then I was talking to Valerie and she talked about having 6 guesses in Wordle and getting some of the words in fewer guesses than that.  When that didn’t match up with the game I was playing, I discovered this game hosted by the “NY Times.”  Hoping that by spending a few minutes playing these games I’m feeding my brain.

Also playing my keyboard.  My mother-in-law May has sent me some simple music to practice and I pulled out my easy keyboarding book this morning.  Look out Liberace.

wishing:

that the poppies would bloom this spring.  I know that we probably haven’t had enough rain.  And that we would be pressing our luck to have a bountiful poppy season this year after having a bumper crop last year and the year before.  But I wish we would have enough for pictures in the poppies while Brennyn is here.  Just a small patch, maybe?

Make plans to join Anne and everyone for next month’s Currently on 04.06.2022 – my birthday!!  We’ll be chatting about what we’re currently getting, going, planning, posting, and thinking.

 

HodgePodge

 

Every Tuesday my friend Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond poses 5 thoughtful questions for her readers to consider and respond to on the following day.  Her questions are fun to ponder and always make me stop for a moment to reflect.  Here are the hodgepodge questions for this week and my responses.

 

 

March Madness

1. Somehow, it’s March? Is it coming in like a lion where you live? Tell us one fun thing on your March calendar.  March is one of the windiest months of the year in El Paso.  So far, however, our March has been less like a lion and more like Bo-Peep’s favorite pet.  Granted we are just 3 days into the month.  But our weather has made a liar out of Punxsutawney Phil with his prognostication of 6 more weeks of winter.

Something on my March calendar.  Brennyn’s visit.  Lucia’s birthday.  My trip to visit Mom.  Going to be a busy month.

Little Drummer Girl

2. In what way(s) do you ‘march to the beat of your own drum’?  Tough one, Joyce.  Not sure I do.  Maybe as a blogger, I am not interested in trying to influence anyone.  Which is probably a good thing.  Pretty sure I couldn’t if I tried!!  Not worried about making money with my blog.  I do use affiliate links but truly only earn pennies, if that.  I don’t spend a lot of money on expensive clothes, makeup, having my hair done (obviously) or getting manicures and pedicures.  And I am pretty much a loner.  Except for family.

Green Eggs and Ham

3. The Hodgepodge lands on Dr. Seuss Day (March 2nd). Do you like eggs? How about ham? Share a favorite quote from one of his books.  Yes, I do like eggs.  Hard boiled, scrambled or fried hard.  None of that sticky runny yolk for me, thank you.  I also like ham.  We don’t eat it often.  On the holidays or diced and tossed into potato soup.

Used to love teaching the babies at school about Seuss.  The children had trouble remembering how to spell his last name.  So, I told them to look for the word US in the middle.  If they spelled his name correctly (S-e-u-s-s and not S-u-e-s-s) they would find the word US in the middle.  And Dr. Seuss wrote books for US.  The kids were always interested to know he also wrote books under a form of his real name, which was Theodor Geisel Seuss.  A few of his books were written under the pen name Theo. LeSeig which is Geisel spelled backward.

Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” ~ Dr. Seuss

 

Here’s Lucia dressed as Cindy Lou Who for Dr. Seuss Week.

Alice and Lewis, Louisa and Jo

4. Have you read Little Women? How about Alice in Wonderland? Did you love them, like them, feel just eh about them? Why is this question in the Hodgepodge today?  I have read both.  For a long time, I considered Alice in Wonderland my favorite book.  And it is still in my top 10.  My father gave me his copy of the book when I was a little girl.  I read from that copy with Lauren when she was a little girl.  Then she borrowed it and had it for a few years.  When they moved from Houston to Albuquerque, Lauren panicked because she couldn’t find the box of books that contained our volume of Alice.  I found the exact edition on eBay, down to the original illustrations and yellow cover.  Bought it and then Lauren found the missing box at the top of a closet with our family copy of Alice.  So now she has one and I have the other.

When I was a little girl, my parents took us to Walden Pond and Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott’s home.  My father felt a real connection to Henry David Thoreau.  I dreamed of being an author like Alcott.  Maybe someday?

Why is this a question for today’s hodgepodge?  Because this is March.  March is the last name of the family in Little Women.  And Alice follows a March hare down the rabbit hole.

Figuring out Food

5. How do you meal plan? How often do you shop for groceries? One homemade meal that was on your menu last week or is on your menu this week?  My meal planning is done when I make my grocery list.  I use this Master Grocery List.

Over breakfast, the day before grocery shopping day. I will look over recipes on Pinterest, old favorites I have printed off, in cookbooks – yeah, really!!  Figure out what we are hungry for, any special occasions we might be having.  Then I make my list.  Checking my pantry, fridge and freezer to see what I do and don’t have.  I do one big grocery shopping trip to the commissary at the first of each month.  Then pick up things at Walmart or prepare an order for pick up.  In fact, I wrote about my grocery shopping routine in a post, here, long ago.

One homemade meal…chicken pot pie with rice; shrimp and sausage gumbo with cornbread; homemade pizza.

Last Thoughts

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I say it all the time but it is true.  My days never go as planned.  Which makes planning almost a waste of time.  Was called to sub yesterday and today but turned down the jobs because I wanted to finish cleaning my closet and drawers, and start my spring cleaning.  But then Lauren called.  Pumpkin (the dog) was having diarrhea all over.  Camila was sick.  Lauren had meetings all day with work.  Francisco’s new car was being delivered and she had to inspect and accept it because he was at work.  She needed help.  And I wound up taking Cami for the day.

You may remember my word of the year is flow.  Really trying to go with the flow.  I know the closets and drawers will wait.  And I enjoyed being with my darling Cami.  You can tell baby girl isn’t feeling good; so glassy-eyed.

 

Thankful Thursday

 

STRAIGHT FROM MY GRATITUDE JOURNAL

For my Thankful Thursday posts, I usually share the ‘gratefuls’ I’ve listed in my gratitude journal over the week or month, whatever length of time has elapsed since my last Thankful Thursday post. Always lots of things to be thankful for even if I don’t get around to writing a post about them all.

So thankful for:

• signs and sounds of spring
• sleeping well (without melatonin)
• being able to get Fluffy, the stray, inside on 2 chilly evenings
• walks outside in the sunshine
• Valerie found someone to visit with Mom several times a week for companionship
• Lauren’s abscess beginning to heal
• seeing Lucia on the Nanit camera in her room and tucking her in
• Mom and Jeri, Mom’s new companion, hitting it off
• Kevin cleaning Mom’s hands…long story
• brunch on the patio of Grove
• getting back to church for a great message
• having lunch with Cia and Cami
• a message from Cady while she was in Indiana

And

• Facetiming with Brennyn and Declan regularly
• giggling while playing virtual reality mini golf with PC
• the nurse who found Mom passed out on the floor and got EMS there right away
• Kevin postponing his trip to be with Mom at the hospital
• Mom being released from the hospital that same day
• having an afternoon with Lauren
• opportunities to sub
• the safety of our home while those in Ukraine are being bombed by Russia
• an evening soak in the hot tub
• a slow morning
• walking up McKelligon Canyon with PC and enjoying good conversation
• Paul’s birth and our life together
• Brennyn and Mustafa’s emergency fund when their refrigerator went out
• Mom qualifying for physical and occupational therapy again…hallelujah

 

Your Turn

 

Not sure I know where the week went.  Well, yes, I do.  I spent most of every day sitting in front of the TV (folding clothes, cleaning drawers, purging my closet), watching the situation in Ukraine unravel and escalate.  Worked on Monday, PC was home half a day on Tuesday, helped with the babies on Wednesday.  And played catch up all day Thursday.

How would you respond to this month’s currentlies and hodgepodge questions?  What are you thankful for this week?  Link up your thankful Thursday post or share in a comment below.

Oh, girls.  I am drained.  Going to call it a day, a week.  And go up to bed.  Trying hard to get around to visit my blogging buddies when I get a minute to sit down.  Have a quiet, peaceful weekend.

Hugs and kisses,