Hodgepodge Wednesday!!

Whew - some deep questions this week!

1. Labor Day weekend (in the US of A) is approaching...what's something you've labored over this year?  Psalm 128:2  You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.  Since I still work full time, I labor over my job, which is 85% accounting and very detail oriented. But it is a labor of love.

2. What is one word to describe your 'job' or career?  Numbers.

3. What was your worst or least favorite job ever?  Why?  As the oldest child of four, I had a lot of responsibility at a young age, because both of my parents worked. I had to babysit after school, and looking back now I know how unfair it was for me to put myself in that position. Not that I minded the ‘work’ but my youngest sister – to this day – says she remembers me as more of a mom figure, than a sister figure (9 years between us).  I don’t fault my parents, they did what they needed to do, but I shouldn't have had to discipline my siblings and worry about keeping track of them.  I was too young to deal with that much responsibility – and I did feel responsible. I also had to get dinner started, with what mom had planned, and I had to clean the house once a week. I got an allowance of $4.00 a week for doing all of that!  I learned a lot.  Mom did get help once I got into high school and had after-school activities (and the kids were older, then, too). I didn't have to sacrifice high school activities as I got older. I wasn't tortured – I agreed to help, and I agreed to the ‘wage’.  It was my decision, but looking back I know it wasn't necessarily a good one.  So, babysitting siblings was my least favorite job.

4. How do you measure contentment?  Blessings - happiness with my job, my husband, my home; I am happy and very content with where I am, and who I am.  A little more money for retirement would be nice, but I count my blessings daily, and they are numerous.

5. Pickles-like or dislike? What is something you eat that requires a pickle? Dill, bread and butter, sweet gherkins...what's your favorite kind of pickle?  I like pickles of all kinds, but especially sweet gherkins.  I have happy memories of my mom’s home-canned bread & butter slices, but she is gone and so is the last jar of her wonderful pickles.  When she made chili for dinner, we HAD to have her pickles on buttered saltines.  We also had to have her green tomato relish with beef roast. Yum.

6. In your current house-town-state, what is it you like living close to?  We love being close to the beautiful Florida Gulf Coast beaches!  We are close to Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, Busch Gardens and Legoland, too!  Lakeland is a great Florida location.

7. What is one thing on your 'want-to-do' list before summer draws to an official close?  There is nothing on my ‘want-to-do’ list for summer.  In Florida, we stay inside where it is cool during the soupy summer months.  September, October and November are the best months to get out and enjoy Florida!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  My answer about my least favorite job makes it sound like I had a horrid childhood. It really wasn't.  We didn't have a lot of extras, but we had everything we needed and lots of faith, love and support.  When I was old enough, I had “real” summer jobs, and I can’t say I disliked any of them. I always had fun and learned. Two years, during high school, I worked as a waitress in an ice cream parlor, and for another two years, I worked as a maid at a local motel.  I guess, now that I see all of this in writing, that my ‘experience’ at home gave me a head start on those two summer jobs!  It’s all good.  God puts us where we are supposed to be. I believe there is a reason for everything and we just have to follow the path He puts before us. I am where I am supposed to be, because of all that has gone before. Today, I have great relationships with my two sisters, and did with my brother until we lost him to cancer. Life. Contentment. Blessings. Yes.