Wednesday Chat/Hodgepodge Questions

Everyone begins to feel a little more relaxed when they learn it’s Wednesday…hump day! The rest of the work week is downhill until the weekend rolls in. Yeah, I remember that feeling when I worked outside the home, but even SAHM get that giddy sorta feeling knowing a there’s possibility of fun and excitement added to her routine with the family. Yep, that’s me!

With a few more days to go before said “fun” is a possibility, then we can all have fun chit-chatting on Patrice’s farmhouse porch at Everyday Ruralty.

This week, we’re discussing these questions….

1. What was your biggest fear as a child? I think the biggest fear I had a child was of drowning. When I was very little, I don’t even recall how old I was, but I think I had to be somewhere between 6-9 years of age my best friend’s family had gotten an above ground pool. I would think it could not have been any deeper than 3 feet, but for a small child the water level came up to my chest. Anyhow, one day I was standing around the pool with some of the other kids and we began talking about swimming. For some reason, I announced I knew how to swim and I didn’t. What possessed me to say this is beyond my comprehension even today. An argument erupted between an older boy and myself about whether I could swim when suddenly he tossed me into the pool head first. To this day, I don’t know how he did it cause it happened so fast. I remember being in the way. I was actually stunned. I couldn’t tell which was up or down. For what seemed like an eternity I floated in the way. I could see the blue sky above me, but I didn’t know what to do and I thought I was going to die. Somehow in all the chaos, I got to the side of the pool and out of the water. From that moment on I was very scared of deep. By the time I was in upper elementary school, I did actually learn (self-taught) how to swim with the help of my best friend. I even got so brave to jump off the diving board. My swimming skills at best have much room for improvement, but I think if I need to save myself from falling into a pool of water then I can do it. Deep within I have an underlying fear of water, but it doesn’t paralyze me or anything. I just try to avoid being around it when possible. I think this is one reason I want to take swimming lessons.
2. Who taught you to cook? I helped my mom in the kitchen, but not enough to suit a young girl’s curiosity. Mom worked outside the home, so preparing meals was a push to get done leaving little time for me. The things I learned from her, I learned mostly by watching. My best girlfriend did a lot of cooking. Her mother didn’t work and was able to nurture her properly in this department.  7th grade requirements included Home Economics for all girls. We did some cooking. I learned how to make chocolate chip cookies in Home Ec. That was such fun and every time I make a batch of chocolate chip cookies I subconsciously think about my early cooking experiences in junior high.
3. Do you have a lot of books in your home? We have a lot of books, mostly children’s literature to early adult titles. In fact, I’m trying clear our bookcase of the juvenile and early adult titles now that the kiddos have moved past these. If you’re interested in picking up some used books in excellent condition, then check out Books! More Books for Sale!
4. Wendell wants to know, “Do you like carrot cake? If so, what kind of frosting do you like best? I do like carrot cake, Wendell. You may find this surprising, but I can only think of two times I’ve had it and I’ve NEVER made one. That I need to correct. The only way I’ve had carrot cake is with cream cheese frosting, which was quite yummy. Is there any other type of frosting used?
5. What’s did the last funny t-shirt you read say? (It doesn’t have to reflect your personal feeling about the topic, just be funny and family friendly.) “You can’t scare me. I have two daughters!” This one really is true. lol

Over at Joyce’s From This Side Of The Pond, she’s got these questions for us to answer….

1. I included this quote (attributed to William H. Danforth) in Joyce’s Monday post… “The best cure for a sluggish mind is to disturb it’s routine.” When was the last time you ‘disturbed your routine’ and how’d you do it? The last time I disturbed my routine wasn’t really by choice, but out of necessity.  Our computer hard drive crashed a week ago this past Saturday, which forced me to investigate why our system couldn’t find the hard drive. Our 2-year old computer should NOT have done this and yet it did, but I’m hanging on to hope the data can be retrieved. More on this another time….

2. What’s your favorite fried food indulgence? Oh! This one is easy – french fries is my favorite! I do not dine out often and eating fast food is definitely not a regular thing. This is something we reserve doing one or twice a year. Partly because we did so much of this when we were first married (burn out), partly because it’s expensive, and partly….really the biggest part is it’s so inconvenient. But, when we do go out to eat on those rare occasions I’ll splurge on an order of french fries. These really are horrible for your health, but they are so darn tasty!

3. Did you have an allowance as a kid? What did you do with it? Do you give your own kids an allowance? What’s an allowance? Does this answer your question? lol My folks didn’t have much to give us and what little they did give us covered our school lunches. On a few rare occasions they may have given me a little pocket-money for birthday or Christmas, but I couldn’t tell you what I used it on. We never gave our kiddos allowance, instead we rewarded them with things they wanted every so often. I have mixed feelings about giving a child an allowance.

4. What’s something you wish you knew more about? I think I would have to say the human body. It fascinates me how one person’s body is different from another. Why is one person can metabolize calories better than another? What causes allergies to screw up a person’s digestive tract? Why doesn’t my body channel water properly? If I knew some of these answers then I know I would be a happier person. Everything I do know comes from trial & error experience, but at least I’m learning.

5. Is there anything you feel too old to do anymore? If so, what? Not that I can’t do these things, but let’s just say self-injury would come into play but a cart-wheel, a split, a handstand, …you get the picture I’m sure. When our daughters were young, I showed them how to do a cart-wheel. I would have been in my mid-30s by this point and I remember how I felt the strain on my wrists. It’s strange, my weight was the same as when I was a teenager so why would this hurt so much? And yet, it did!

6. What’s a song you think has a great first line? Close to You.…Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?

7. Who are you writing to/for when you create a blog post? In other words…as you write, who is the audience in your head?You, you, and you – my friends in Blogville. My family as far as I know doesn’t read my blog contents, so when I create post it’s usually with you in mind.

8. Insert your own random thought here.  

A few months ago, I began watching the old TV series Dark Shadows on Netflix while I ride my bicycle. I thought it had at least 360-something episodes, but the other day at after watching episode 162 I discovered that was it! I’m only a few episodes in where Victoria Winters goes back in time to the 1890s. What a disappointment! I loved this TV series as a kid, but couldn’t remember a lot about the program. I’m ready to see more and now I can’t. What does this all mean?Will Netflix get more episodes to stream? According to Wikipedia there are 1,225 episodes. This means I have a lot more to see. Oh, pooh!

Good news, I’m beginning to see things turn around in my diet/exercise program. In the last four weeks, I’ve lost 4-pounds. This doesn’t seem like a lot, but given the fact I’ve struggled with the yo-you effect then this is a positive change. What am I doing different, you ask. The bottom line is this, I’ve been eating strictly Smart Ones by Weight Watchers (you buy this at your grocery store) prepared meals and am keeping my caloric in-take between 1000-1200 daily. There is no guessing on my part. I know precisely how much I’m eating, which is perfect for me right now. I’m continuing to ride my bike 2-hours at least 4-5 times per/week. The only other thing I’ve changed in the past 3-weeks is I’ve used Testosterone gel (very low dose) my GYN prescribed. The later may or may not have any bearing on my progress, but I’ve read with menopausal women the lack of Testosterone increases belly fat and trust me this is one issue I’ve struggled with for years EVEN when I weighted 102. I can’t say with any certainty yet how this (the prescription) is going to work out for me, but you can bank on more future updates/progress.

Thanks for stopping by today, but before I go let me tell you right now I’m hosting a costume giveaway for US & Canada residents. If you want to enter, then please check out the details HERE (removed link something happened to the post). However, you can read my Anytime Costume: Greek/Roman Costume Review.  Also, before you skip off, let me invite you to join the weekly meme I co-host called, Wayback Wednesdays. Participation is really low and I’d love to see this sky-rocket.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save