Wednesday Hodgepodge 2/13/13

1.  This week marks the beginning of Lent...will you be giving something up or adding anything to your life during this season of the year?
 I always go back and forth on giving up something and/or taking on something for Lent.  When I was little, my family and I would always give up something.  I don't think I am going to do it this year. God and I have had lots of conversations about the transformation occurring in me thanks to grief. I'm going to focus on that this year.

2. The day before Lent is Shrove Tuesday... tradition states you eat pancakes on this day. In some parts of the world Shrove Tuesday is actually known as 'pancake day'. How do you like your pancakes? Or don't you? 
I don't eat pancakes very often, but when I do, I love mine with chocolate chips....and maybe some whipped cream and a cherry :)....Yeah, maybe I am five years old.
 
3.  I'm sure there are many, but what's one love song you really love?  "When a man loves a woman" or "At last".  I love those two.  I can't pick just one!
 
4.  What are some things you do to let others know you love them? 

call them, send them cards, spend time with them....I try to stay away from technology with those I really love.

5.  Roses...red, pink, or do you prefer another color? Can you recall the last time someone gave you flowers? Given your choice would you like to open the door and see a dozen red roses, a dozen purple tulips, or a dozen pink peonies?
I love red roses.  The last time I received those was when Dude sent them to me as a get well gift after my surgery in October 2011.  The last time I received flowers was when three of my friends graciously brought me some floral beauties during my surgery in October 2012.  I'm hoping October 2013 is surgery free, but I'll take the flowers regardless :)

6.  President's Day will be celebrated in America next Monday. Does US Presidential history and trivia interest you?  Many Presidential homes are open to the public and offer guided tours...Monticello (Jefferson's home), Mount Vernon (Washington's home), Montpelier (James Madison's home), Hyde Park (FD Roosevelt's home) and The White House (home to the sitting President) to name just a few. Of those listed which would you be most interested in touring?  Why?



I think I have been to all of these, although, I don't recall Hyde Park.  So, maybe I should visit that one again.  I want to live in the White House one day!  Does that count?

7.  Are you good at keeping secrets?
 Lately, I've had to keep lots of secrets.  Most of them have to do with my friends telling me they are pregnant before they make the news public!  I get so excited for them that it is really tough to keep a secret, but I do because that is their news to share, not mine.   I have to put a lot of effort into keeping secrets, but I do keep them.

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 
 I am getting so excited for my upcoming mini and week-long vacays!

Wednesday Hodgepodge 10/31/12

1. What creeps you out?

Snakes. I am so afraid of snakes. Dead bodies, too. I am always so nervous when I go to a wake or funeral and the casket is open. I hate the way the person looks all made up, don't want to remember them that way, and think that you should have a closed casket or be cremated.

2. What's your least favorite candy?

Tootsie rolls. Yuck! I am a fan of Tootsie Roll Pops, especially the raspberry ones, but the actual tootsie rolls, gross! The weird part is that when I am eating a Tootsie Roll Pop, three licks and I am biting into the center! The center is a tootsie roll, my least favorite candy. I can't explain it. I think it has to do with my lack of patience!

3. Are you a fan of scary movies?  What's the scariest movie you've ever seen?

Absolutely not! I probably should not admit this, but I am afraid of the movie "ET". My parents assure me it is not scary, but I was scared of it when I was little and refuse to watch it to this day. One of my high school friends also said that the back of my parents' house looks exactly like the house used in the "Scream" movies, so that was the end of attempting to watch those. Right after my surgery, my parents and I went on a big outing to the movies. "Alex Cross" is what we saw. One of the actors cuts a woman's fingers off!! I was done! I am totally fascinated and love being scared by haunted houses, but scary movies, I'll pass.

4. What part of life confuses you the most?

Ugh, really, do I have to answer this? I don't. It's my blog, but I will. My dating life has always been so confusing. I don't know whether to tell people about my disability if I am online dating. I don't like online dating. I have trouble meeting men to date, in general. I do have some good stories, but I don't want a good story. I want a teammate. A champion (Eat, Pray, Love...I love the champion idea). God will work it out, but it will be confusing until that happens. And, of course,  Mike's death will always be confusing.

5. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy...what's your favorite seed?

Poppy but I always get nervous eating those because we are subject to random drug tests at work.


6. Imagine your life ten years from today...what's changed?

The last 6 months has taught me that life isn't always how you imagine it. But if I am dreaming, in ten years, I will be a lawyer, happily married, with 2 or 3 adorable kids. We will be living somewhere that feels like home and we have a dog or two. My friends will have 10 or 12 year old kids, but my kids will probably only be 5 years old or younger. I also hope that I continue to travel, am generously giving to those less fortunate whether in time or money and will have started my foundation. Lastly, I hope my faith is strengthened and I am still excited about serving the Lord. That's a lot for 10 years! Oh, and it would be spectacular if the Redskins won the Super Bowl!


7.  What do you a) love the most and b) like the least about the Hodgepodge?

a)  I love the questions and that they give me a unique way to chronicle my life and get my thinking.

b) I dislike that I don't participate enough because sometimes I don't know how to answer the questions or don't feel like my answers are good enough. I started this blog for myself, so that really shouldn't matter.


8.  Insert your own random thought here.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by Sandy.  I am thankful that everyone I know is safe and didn't suffer much hardship or damage, but that is certainly not the case for the majority of people affected.

Hodge Podge 11/16/11

1. What song reminds you of a specific time in your life and what is it about that song that makes you remember? 

"I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan is the song a group of us sang at my graduation from high school. Every time I hear this song since then, I think of graduation. I also always wonder what possessed us to choose that song. It sounds like a funeral song. While it was sad to leave my classmates, it wasn't THAT sad!

2. What's something you've given up on?

 

Being artistic. I am just not. I never have been and never will be. I have other talents. I also have lots of artistic friends, so when I need something to look pretty, I enlist them to help.

3. What's something you'll never give up on?

 I will never give up on trying to find a way to ensure physically able people view people with disabilities as handi-capable instead of handicapped. We so desperately want you to see us for who we are and what we can do, not what we can't.

4. If you had to cook something from scratch in the next hour what would it be?

The real question is "Do I know how to cook anything from scratch?"

5. Have you started Christmas shopping? Decorating? Listening to Christmas music?

I bought one thing for my mom yesterday. I've also started making my Christmas list. I won't start the decorating or listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving no matter how hard it is to resist the temptation to do so before the feast!

6. What do you know about your parent's wedding?

My dad says he knew the moment he met my mom that he was going to marry her, but he had so much trouble asking her. After 3 years of dating, she told him if he didn't marry her she was moving on because she was getting older (32). He said he had to think about it and came back a day later and asked her over the phone. Actually, he didn't really ask her. She didn't get a ring (She's made up for that now!). They just looked at their calendars and figured out what weekend was open for both of them.  January 6, 1979, they got married in our house, in the living room, in front of the fireplace. My dad never gets sick, but that day he got laryngitis and it was difficult to hear him say his vows. He said them, though, and they have been married for almost 33 years. Dad's never been the most romantic man!

7. I can't believe I am going to be 30 this year...but I am so excited about it!

8. Insert your own random thought here.
 
My colleagues always make me laugh.

Wednesday Hodge Podge 11/9

1. Of all the tools and gadgets you own which do you most enjoy using?

I refused to get the iPhone for quite some time. Then, one day, my Samsung Fascinate just went wacky and stopped working. I was going on a trip the next day, so I went into the Verizon store and told them to just give me the iPhone. And they did. Everyone who knows me knows I love to talk, so I have always loved phones. But, I find myself hardly talking on this phone. I am fascinated by all of its capabilities! I can take photos, listen to music, have my texts written out for me, play Words with Friends, not lose my sense of direction which is awesome because I am navigationally challenged, find a new place to eat, check email and Facebook....and Facebook again...and again. The list goes on and on. There are so many things to do other than talk on this phone. Dare I say this gadget might have the ability to make me mute? ;-)

2. When (if ever) is impatience a virtue? 

 

I really wish impatience was a virtue. I have been impatient my whole life. I was born 3.5 months early. See, I don't even have enough patience to stay in the womb! But, I'd like to think that most of my impatience comes when I am excited or want to get a jump start on something. I make an effort to be patient with people. 

God knows patience is hard for me so He makes me practice it a lot. As I type this, I am sitting in the same chair I have been sitting in for the last 3 weeks with at least 3 more weeks to go. My right leg is in a cast and I am not able to walk or do anything for myself. This recovery is certainly humbling and an act of patience and reliance on God. Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit. So, while I would love impatience to be a virtue, in my life, that's a negative.

3. What temperature do you keep your thermostat set to in winter? Do you have another way to heat your house besides a furnace of some type? 

This is a battle my parents and I have had since I can remember. My mom and I are always cold while my dad feels like he is basking in the sun on a tropical island in his own house! An agreeable temperature is 71. At my condo, the thermostat goes up and down like a roller coaster until I get the heating bill! Yikes! I think I might stick with 71 from now on.

4. Do/did you have a close relationship with any of your grandparents?

My closest relationship was with my maternal grandma.  She and her husband Austin, who I called "Grandpa", lived in Houston, TX but would come to visit my family every summer.  We would celebrate my half-birthday, go shopping, go out to eat and chase after bunnies and bugs when I was little. She nick-named me "Killer Jessica" because I loved to kill the bugs that would end up inside the screened in porch. Don't judge! When Grandpa died she moved to Virginia to be close to us. That was a lot of fun because I got to see her almost every day. Grandma loved the color pink and spaghetti. She hated things to be untidy and dirty. She was also the most fashionable and beautiful elderly woman I knew.  We had a lot of fun together!

5. When did you last have a family portrait taken?

I love family portraits, but my parents and I do not share the same sentiments. Our last family portrait was taken in 2000, right after I graduated from high school. I had begged my parents to take a portrait before I went off to school. It just so happens they won a portrait session at my school's auction! So, voila! A "pre-college portrait session" was a must! I've kept my mouth shut about how it has been 11 years since our last official family portrait! (Hear that, Mom!)  I do love looking at my friends' family portraits and dream of many portraits sessions with my own little family in the future. 

We don't take professional portraits, but we are close- knit and take lots of photos together. This will have to do for now:

6. What does the word patriotism mean to you?

This is a tough one. Not because I don't know how to answer it, but because it means SO much. My dad worked for the Federal Government for 40 years. I feared I may have lost him in the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11. Praise the Lord he is still here and was not harmed at all. I now work for the Government. I live just outside of Washington, DC and DC is one of my favorite cities in the whole world. I think about patriotism everyday. The daily view of the Capitol never gets old. I love all of the monuments. I tear up at the National Anthem and sing it proudly ever time I hear it. Oh, random question, is the US the only country that places their hand over their heart when the anthem is being played? I love America. I hate that the city I hold so dear is a terrorist target. Patriotism to me is pride in your country and what we stand for. I see palpable and visual demonstrations of this every anniversary of 9/11. I only pray that it wouldn't be reserved for holidays and the anniversary of such a tragedy, but everyday.

7. Do you like to play cards and if so, what's your favorite card game? 

My grandpa loved to play cards. The summers that he came to visit we would play every night. He was a card shark and poker was his favorite. I never quite grasped poker, but I can play a mean hand of Blackjack or Gin Rummy. I also really like to play Uno. Sadly, I haven't played any of these games in so long, I am rusty at best.  Card games do bring back fun summer memories, though.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

I love cupcakes!