Soft Drinks

Last evening among a group of friends the question came up - how old should a child be before being allowed to drink tea?

I had never even stopped to think that children shouldn't be allowed to drink tea, in fact Sailor used to drink unsweetened homegrown peppermint tea in his bottle way back when .... I would still rather have my children drink all sorts of tea instead of a soft drink.

Talking about soft drinks brings a memory to mind.

It was summer of '93 and an unusually hot heat wave was affecting everyone in our area. It was bad enough in our woodworking shop, but the farmers had it even worse having to work in the relentless heat making their hay.

Some kind neighbors decided to treat the one Amish family to some ice cold Mountain Dew. The only problem was that the Amish in Somerset County as a whole are extremely frugal and as such have not had too much experience drinking anything other than water, that they haven't made themselves.

They thanked their neighbors and opened the bottles to take a drink, but were dismayed to find that it "stung" a sure sign that it was spoiled. There was only one thing to do, dump it out before it made someone sick.

As they were talking about it that Sunday after church, they learned that Mountain Dew is supposed to "sting".

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What's left to be done on your Christmas to-do list?

All that's left to do is buy some groceries for our Christmas breakfast. For the first time ever, I got everything done with more than a week to spare. It's a good thing too, because half of our family is sick. I'm at the tail end of this bug, and hopefully by tomorrow I'll be back to normal.
 

2. The Hodgepodge lands on the first day of winter this year. What's your favorite thing about winter? 

I love, love winter. The snow, the cozy heat in the house, the fun winter projects we get to do, the long evenings spent reading and playing games.
 

3. In what area of your life are you immature? Feel free to elaborate or not. 

I don't really know. My children I suppose. They both keep me young and make me old. Usually when I have an immature moment it's around our children.
 

4. What was the most (or one of the most) important lessons you learned in 2016? 

Waiting, patience. A lot about this year included that, and I think I've become better at it.
 

5. It's Fried Shrimp Day...are you a fan? What's your favorite way to eat shrimp? Will there be shrimp somewhere in your holiday feastings? 

I love fried shrimp. One of my favorite ways to eat them is baking them in a lemon butter sauce. So good! We won't be having shrimp for Christmas, but we might for New Year's Eve.
 

6. What sound lulls you to sleep? 

The sound of our waterfall, wind blowing gently through the trees, the tick tock of the alarm clock always puts me to sleep. My favorite though is when it rains.
 

7. What one word best describes your 2016? 

Blessed.
 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Are you more task oriented or people oriented? Elaborate.
A mix of both, I think. I'm not the most people-ish type of person. I usually get quiet and observe things from the sidelines when I'm in a group setting. I'd rather have some task to do, than have to mingle. But on the other hand I really enjoy talking/visiting one on one.

 2. December 15 is National Wear Your Pearls Day...do you own/wear pearls? If you're a man answering the question, does your sweetheart own or wear pearls? Everyone share a 'pearl of wisdom' with us here today.

I don't own any pearls.

Life is short, eternity is long. Keep your focus on what truly matters.

3. Speaking of pearls...oysters? Are you a fan or not a fan? If you answered yes, tell us your favorite way to eat oysters? If you said no, be honest-have you ever tried one or does just the idea of eating an oyster make you gag a little?

I have never even seen an oyster in real life.

I have no intentions of ever trying to eat one. The very idea seems unpleasant to me.

4. Time Magazine has named President-elect Donald Trump Person of the Year. Let's take presidents and presidential candidates out of the mix for a minute. If a political figure had not been chosen who would you name Man or Woman of the Year for 2016?

I would choose my widowed sister-in-law as Woman of the Year. Not only is she an incredibly strong woman, she has a heart of gold. I can't even begin to tell you all the ways she deserves to be recognized and honored.

5. The Pantone Color of the Year for 2017 has been announced, and it's a vibrant green aptly named-greenery. Your thoughts? Is this a color currently in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in this shade for the new year? Click here to see the color.

I have a scarf, that I never wear, in that color. I don't wear greens, not that I don't like the color .... the color doesn't seem to like me. Makes me look ill, which happens to not be a look I'm going for.

6. Today I've had too much________________________.

Today is only beginning and so far I've not had too much of anything.

7. Share a favorite lyric from a favorite Christmas carol.

Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

December is always a really busy month for us. On top of all the Christmas related things that are going on there are a number of birthdays in our family as well. The one we celebrated most recently involved its traditional treasure hunt that Sailor started years ago when he struggled with spelling and his clues were easy to solve. This year's clues were much harder.

For example .... who gets this one?

Safety First

As I was doing my morning Bible reading, in Revelations, I came upon a verse that triggered a memory from way back when I was probably ten or so.

We were on our way home from church, my brothers and I were in the back seat of the buggy, and I was listening to Mom and Daddy discuss that day's sermons and Bible reading. It had been the Sunday for the annual end times sermon and scripture. Revelations 14 had been read between the two sermons. It was the only time the book of Revelations was touched, and the only chapter ever read in church. It wasn't preached on either so as not to add or take away words from the book of Revelations.

For some reason Daddy made the remark that he thinks he'll have to read the entire book of Revelations. I was instantly intrigued, because what had been read had piqued my interest.

That evening I started reading it. I was terrified, horrified, and yet intrigued. I kept reading. I came to the part where a star, Wormwood fell into the water and it became bitter and people died from it.

I don't know why, with everything else that was written in Revelations, that verse really bothered me. How was anyone supposed to know when that happened? I didn't want to risk dying from drinking some bitter star flavored water.

For a long time when ever I needed a drink I would first serve a glass of water to one of my brothers. If they seemed to be okay it was safe for me to drink it as well.

Picture my Week

A dusting of snow finally covered some of the gray and browns we were seeing. To me, it makes the waterfall look a little  colder than usual.

 

I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing the weird concoctions that Sunbeam chows down. This week's stomach churner combination was graham cracker with a liberal amount of crunchy peanut butter, and then sprinkled with chocolate chips and drizzled with mustard.

 

For a day we enjoyed red ornaments on our Christmas tree, before a vote to have a silver and gold year over turned my love of that splash of color.

 

Every year we look forward to receiving a handmade Christmas card from LV's mother. Yesterday it arrived in the mail. The girls, Buddy, and I were almost ready to head out the door to their last dress rehearsal for the homeschool co-op variety show and drama. I propped the fat envelope where LV would see it when he came home and we left. I didn't think of it again as we were caught up in the hustle and bustle of preparing for our evening.

 

When evening arrived LV and Sailor walked in the door. I always have to smile when I see my husband approaching, (Yep, even after all these years he still makes my heart pitter patter.) this time however there was a little something extra ... he sparkled. There were pieces of glitter stuck to his face and when he tried to brush it off a few more pieces got stuck.

 

It wasn't until we got home and I saw the glitter filled Christmas card his mother had made that we put two and two together. Apparently when he opened the envelope glitter spilled onto his clothes and hands. Which means he's not producing glitter after all. 😉

 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Let's talk holiday decorating. On a scale of 1-10 where do you fall? (1=Scrooge and 10= Clark Griswold). What's your favorite corner-room-table-space to decorate? Is it done?

I probably qualify on that scale to come in somewhere around a 2. All I do is put up a tree. That's it as far as decorations go. We usually put it up on the day after Thanksgiving.

2. Is there a nativity scene in your decorating somewhere? Post a picture or, if it's special to you in some way, tell us why. Or do both-it's Christmas!

We don't have any type of nativity scene. I really don't care for them. (Duck and hide.)

3.  Do you live in a social neighborhood? If so are you glad? If not do you wish you did?

We live in a very neighborly neighborhood, and I love it! It's a rare day that we don't see or talk with any of them.

4.  As the saying goes, 'there's no time like the present'. How does that ring true in your life right now?

In my attempts to not procrastinate this is ringing especially true right now. Even though it means dusting more often, writing when I don't necessarily feel like it, and a lot of other things that are easy to push off.

5. Do you dread Mondays? Why or why not?

As much as I love the weekend, I'm always ready for Monday morning to arrive. I like getting back to the usual schedule of things, and get started on everything I have planned for the week.
 

6.  Poinsettia, Christmas Cactus, Amaryllis-which on the list is your favorite holiday plant? Are any of these on display in your home right now?

I have always loved Poinsettias. We used to have Christmas cactus. Those pretty blooms always made me happy. Right now I don't have any house plants.

7. Share a favorite quote from a Christmas movie.

"Aaah! Fra-GEE-leh! It must be Italian!" from The Christmas Story.
I don't even like that movie, but that quote always made me chuckle. We made a family pact to not watch it for a long time.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Winter seems to be a long time in coming. Yesterday we finally got some freezing rain. It's not my favorite, but look how pretty.

Laughter is a Good Medicine

If that's the case I should be in top health!

So there we were yesterday, in church, sitting in the third row from the back. Buddy had his head in my lap almost dozing off. LV had his arm resting along the back of my chair while we were listening to a sermon on peace.

It was all quite peaceful until LV readjusted himself and tried to remove his arm from behind me. In doing so, he accidently bumped my favorite hairclip, which was holding my long hair up in a bun. It went flying out and landed in the lap of the person sitting behind us while my hair cascaded down my back.

I think I might have gasped. I know I lost complete track of what was being preached as my hands flew up to touch what used to be a neat bun. The guy sitting behind us handed my hairclip back and I quickly fixed my hair and then looked at LV.

It was all I could do not to burst out laughing . I managed not to, but we both smiled pretty huge smiles, at which point the people sitting behind us couldn't quite contain their chuckles.

The minute we got to the van after church we burst out laughing, while people in the parking lot, who had not seen what had happened probably wondered what could possibly be so funny.

I do declare, the weirdest things happen to me.