It's a Keeping Your Cool Hodgepodge Wednesday!

Thanks to Joyce for this week's Hodgepodge!!

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 163

Guess what's in our forecast today? Ka-razy!  Here are the questions for our Hodgepodge...answer on your own blog, then slide back over HERE tomorrow to link answers with all your friends and neighbors.  The more the merrier, so come join the party!

1. What's the biggest change since your childhood in the way people think or act?  When I was a kid, we played outside (weekends & summer) from right after breakfast, until we were made to come in for dinner. We didn't even break for lunch, though someone usually had homemade cookies to share.  Kids today seem to spend way too much time inside, in front of the TV or on the computer, playing games.  Now, I LOVE my computer and know I spend too much time on it, but the kids are really missing out on some special times with friends, learning skills that help with team work and how to be a leader, etc., etc.  Technology is the biggest change since my childhood.

2. The Olympic Biathlon involves cross country skiing broken up with either two or four rounds of target shooting. Which part of that would stress you out more? Or would you love them both equally?  The skiing part would stress me out! The shooting would be fun, but me on skis is no fun at all!!

3. February is National Canned Food Month...what is your most often purchased canned food item?  What was in the last can you opened?  We prefer frozen veggies, but I do buy canned green beans. The last can I opened was tomato sauce, to make spaghetti sauce. I actually opened sauce, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. We use a lot of tomato sauce.  Canned spaghetti sauce is not allowed in my pantry. I have to make the "gravy" from scratch (though I draw the line at starting with the whole tomato!).

4. What river (anywhere in the world) would you most like to cruise?  I have had a life-long dream of taking a cruise down the Mississippi River, on one of those luxurious paddle wheel boats. I would board in Cincinnati, Ohio, and take it all the way to the Gulf of Mexico (if possible!).  It is more expensive than a trip to Europe, though, so unless we win the lottery, it will continue to just be a dream.

5. It's the middle of the night and you can't sleep...what do you do? Count sheep? Toss and turn? Watch television? Or do you get up and do something productive?  I turn on my Kindle and read.

6. How important is keeping your cool?  It is extremely important for me to keep my cool.  I need to keep my "Irish" blood below boiling!! LOL  (Then there is the stubborn Scottish blood, and the German blood to also deal with!)

7. I've got white stuff on the brain so why not run with it? White lie, wave the white flag, white knuckle it, white wash a situation, or white as a sheet...which phrase could most recently apply to your own life in some way?  Wave the white flag!! I had to surrender to having our house in a mess for a month. Rather than let it make me too crazy, I had to surrender and see the light at the end of the tunnel. And we made it!!

8. Insert your own random thought here.  Having our sons and grandson here, all of us together, is such a blessing! I can't help but think about how fast time goes, and all the trials and joy we have experienced in my almost 29 years as a D'Orsaneo.  So blessed. So very blessed. It would be perfect if granddaughter Lauren could be here too!!  I cooked dinner for us last night, even though they all wanted to go out so I wouldn't have to cook. Yellow rice and chicken, with black beans, a nice salad, and apple pie (not homemade) for dessert. Then Joey, Darlene and Tristan cleared the table, and Jeff did all the dishes. Wow. I felt very spoiled. I think they want to go out for Chinese tonight. I baked a chocolate cake on Sunday. It was gone when I got home last night, so they had gone out to get a few groceries and got the apple pie.  I may have to bake another cake, though. Happy days!!!