Wednesday Hodgepodge

 1. At the end of every year (or at least since the mid-1970's) Lake Superior State University posts a list of words they think should be banished from the Queen's English for misuse, overuse, and/or general uselessness. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's list includes-

cringe, game changer, era, dropped, IFKYK (If you know you know), sorry not sorry, skibidi, 100%, utilize, and period. 

Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly or even just every now and then? How many did you have to look up? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you'd like to add? If so do share, then tell us why. 

I don't think I use any of those words regularly, but I have used cringe, game changer, era, 100%, utilize, and period. 

I had to look up skibidi, and now that I know the definition I still don't see me using the word. 

A word that I think deserves to be on the list is unpack. I find it grating, annoying, and something inside me seems to shrivel every time I hear it.

2. Your favorite soup? Do you make this one yourself or is it from a can? 

I actually don't care for any soup from a can. I love the idea, such a simple meal! But every time I try I find them lacking. It's been a number of years now since the last attempt.

I do love soup though and find it hard to choose only one as a favorite. One of them is a Creamy Ravioli Soup

I found the recipe here. I tweaked it a bit though to suit our family. Instead of using ground turkey I use the meat from an entire rotisserie chicken, I omit the spinach, and use four roma tomatoes instead of the canned diced tomatoes.  

We like it so well that it keeps making an appearance on my weekly menus every couple weeks during colder weather.

3. How do you feel about winter? What's one winter activity you look forward to? 

I still love the feeling of leisurely winter evenings filled with books, games, puzzles, and various hobbies. The comforting food, and baking. The preparing of hot chocolate to welcome in those who were braving the snow weather by shoveling it or going sledding. 

But the roads ... having family members who have no choice but being out there on them. It kind of steals the joy of winter away.

I'm looking forward to spring and warmer weather.

4. The Pantone color of the year for 2025 is mocha mousse (sample pictured here). What say you? The website describes it as 'a warming, brown hue imbued with richness. It nourishes us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort'. Is this a color I might find in your home or wardrobe? Is it one you might add in some big or small way in the year ahead? 

I love browns and happily skipped over to the website to check it out, only to be disappointed. I didn't think there's a shade of brown I don't like, but this one isn't doing it for me. Maybe it's my laptop and it would look better in person, but I didn't care for the almost pinkish hue.

In a similar, but not really vein...if I were to offer you a choice right now of either a cup of mocha or a cup of mousse which would you say yes to? 

I think I'd have to go with the cup of mocha.

5. Which of the following winter related idioms can best be applied to your life in some way right now? Choose one, then tell us why you chose it.  

snowed under, on thin ice, tip of the iceberg, chill out, break the ice, snowball effect, get cold feet, the cold shoulder 

I'm going with snowed under. In the literal sense though. We've been getting snow daily which has been making things challenging. It's still snowing this morning. Sharon is in nursing school and it's on a two hour delay this morning. If they don't end up canceling it will be her first day back since Christmas break.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

On Steven's and my latest grocery run we got everything we could at Aldi before heading over to Walmart for the remainder. Somewhere between the two stores I managed to lose my grocery list. We were in one of the aisles talking about what we need, trying not to forget anything. 

"You might want to get a bag of onions," Steven said chuckling a bit. "I think we're down to only one and a half bags."

I had to laugh at his gentle sarcasm.

An old lady was walking past us. "Shhhh!!!! she said shaking her head vigorously. 

We had not been speaking or laughing loudly, and we certainly weren't in a library, so I simply smiled at her and we continued on our way still discussing the things we need to remember to buy.

Currently

Reading ...  In the Bible this morning I read a few chapters in Jeremiah before reading my favorite Psalm.

In other books, yesterday I finished Will the Circle be Unbroken by Sean Dietrich. It's his memoir. I laughed and cried my way through it. Memoirs aren't my top genre of choice, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.

I started A Girl of the Limberlost last evening. It's been close to twenty years since the last time I read it, and as I'm becoming immersed in the story I'm wondering why I waited so long to do a reread.

Writing ... the only writing that has happened recently has been in my journals, planners, and text messages.

Watching ... the squirrels at their feeder. 

Listening ... to the birds at the birdfeeder. The feeder only has room for six, and there are dozens of them trying to have their turn. The finches especially, are being quite vocal about it. 

Then there's the comforting hum of the refrigerator, the wind whistling through the tree branches and around the corners of the house, and Sharon tapping away at her laptop. The weather is bad and her school has been canceled again, so she's doing it online today.

Baking ... I have some butter softening on the kitchen counter for a new recipe I'll be trying later this morning. Hatch Chile Chocolate Chip Cookies.

We love Hatch Chile but living where we do they're impossible to find in local stores. Instead, we order them from a farm in New Mexico. They always arrive frozen, packed in dry ice, but unfortunately each pack contains multiple peppers. So once I thaw a pack I have to make multiple things with them. 

I have four different recipes I'm using with this pack. One of them happens to be the cookies. I've never done a sweet or dessert recipe with them before and I'm eager to see how they'll turn out.

Cooking ... on the menu tonight I'll be doing a Spicy Chicken Risotto, Salad Cups, and biscuits and then the cookies for dessert. If Steven continues with his plan he will be making a fluffy fruit tapioca which will work nicely for those of us who enjoy fruit with cookies. 

Feeling ... happy and hopeful.

Disliking ... I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but here we go. The snow. I still like how it looks. I still enjoy the wintery projects etc. But I don't like that the roads aren't safe and what that means for us. And as a mother having your oldest child out there doing rescue, recovery, and repairs along the interstate it adds another layer or two of dislike to the snow and winter in general.

Loving ... grandbabies! We very happily welcomed another grandson last month.

Playing ... Steven received UNO No Mercy for Christmas from one of his siblings. We've been playing it daily. Multiple times daily. There's something about how merciless the game is that he finds hilarious, and for now it's his go to game.

We also played FickleFish, Stratego, and Dragonwood so far this week.

Cleaning ... I'm hoping to tackle the lazy susans in the kitchen this afternoon. I didn't take care of them in December and it's time. Somehow lazy susans are incredibly hard to keep organized at our house.