Hodgepodge

Linking up with Joyce for the Hodgepodge

1. Do you make an effort to see/hear live music? Last time you went somewhere for the live music? 

No, I don´t make any effort to see or hear live music. I don´t mind seeing or hearing live music but when I do see or hear live music it´s because someone has asked me to go with him or her to see the event. I don´t initiate going to see live music events.  

Over the summer, my husband and I went to several tribute band concert events. They were fun, free, and festive community events and I´m glad that we went :). One we didn´t care for much so we left at intermission. Nothing lost, really except about an hour of our time. 

Last August (2024) we saw Sammy Hagar live in Indianapolis

Here we are cleaned up a bit more to see a Christmas concert that Donnie´s dad got us tickets for in mid December of last year.

The girls went with us...

The concert was the Collingsworth Family- they are super talented and it was a joy to hear them. That said, the concert was a bit long. I can become restless easily especially when in I´m an assigned (small) space.

2.According to HGTV the colors of the year for 2026 are mostly decided. Top paint companies declare a color of the year, and decorators will incorporate that into their new year home and room designs. Here's what's on tap in terms of paint trends for 2026 (check out the link here to see photos)

• Sherwin Williams-universal khaki (inspired by heavy canvas and outdoor gear)
• Behr-hidden gem (a confident shade of teal)
• Valspar-warm eucylyptus (a warm sliver tinted green)
• Dutch Boy-melodious ivory (a honey tinted beige)
• Glidden-warm mahogany (a classic brick red)
• Krylon-matte coffee bean
• Clark and Kensington -Hazelnut Crunch (warm reddish-brown)
• Graham and Brown-Divine Damson (cherry red with a subtle violet undertone)
• Dunn and Edwards-midnight garden (the green that works everywhere) 

First question-did you know there were so many different paint manufacturers? Which color on the list most appeals to you in terms of your own decorating style? Do you have plans to do any painting in your home in the coming year, and if so might you choose a color from this list? 

No, I didn´t know there were so many paint manufacturers. I had heard of all of them except the last three. I wonder if they´re listed in order of sales?

Universal Khaki appeals to me because it´s basic/neutral. 

We may redo our master bathroom. If we do that, we will paint. I doubt we´d chose anything from this list just because there are seemingly hundreds if not thousands of paint color options and it´s unlikely that out of all of them, we´d pick one from these nine.

Now, forget painting walls, which color name appeals to you most? 

I like the sound of ¨divine damson.¨ Mainly due to alliteration and also due to a process of elimination: I don´t care for any of the other names.

3. What's something in your life you have to do-watch-or participate in that's about as exciting as 'watching paint dry'? 

When I sub and students are assigned to take a test. Of course I walk around for a portion of their test taking time to make sure no one is cheating and to verify that everyone is working on the test. For the remainder of the time, I sit and watch the students. It´s pretty boring.

4 . Tuesday, October 14th is/was National Dessert day...did you/will you celebrate? Tell us how? What's your absolute favorite dessert. Yes, just one. I know!! 

I did not celebrate it on Tuesday. I did, inadvertently, celebrate it on Monday so we´ll go with that :). My brother and I were in Cleveland and decided to get Crumbl cookies after we ate. I was a bit disappointed in the cookies. They weren´t bad by any means but they weren´t fantastic either. 

The two on the left are shortbread with caramel and chocolate on top. How did they make that NOT fantastic? Same with the other cookies that are peanut butter cookies with both chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. 

Just one, what?? Ok, I would say my favorite dessert would be homemade chocolate cake with layers and in between the layers, thick (I mean THICK) homemade chocolate frosting. Maybe a small dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side? (To cut the chocolate and to provide some coolness :))

5. Perhaps today is the day I will __ Not be irritated by the antics and language of those who dislike America and wish to see violent criminals receive light sentences (if any), who praise those who kill innocent people, who advocate for the murder of those who disagree with them politically, who promote lawlessness to encourage chaos and disorder. ____________. 

Conclusion: nope, I listened to a political podcast on the drive home from Cleveland. I failed to not become irritated...

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of the podcast and subbing, something the podcaster said that I listened to on the drive home from Cleveland kind of cracked me up. I was listening to Matt Walsh and he was describing the rather languid/sapless response from the Cincinnati police chief to the latest round of violence to impact downtown Cincinnati recently.

The police chief, a woman (who not long ago  infamously seemed to blame the victims of a violent attack instead of the assailants) said something to the effect that people shouldn´t come downtown if they don´t know how to behave. She said that everyone needs to ¨learn how to behave in our city...¨ This was in response to deadly shootings that took place downtown over the weekend. Matt had lots to say but this cracked me up. He said that her response sounded like an overwhelmed substitute teacher in a six grade math class. The kicker- I´d been asked to sub in a sixth grade math class that day but had to turn it down since I was out of town. Hopefully I wouldn´t have been overwhelmed had I subbed in sixth grade but there´s definitely the possibility that I would have been!! If I had been overwhelmed, I´m pretty sure my response would have been more impassioned than hers was about the murders in Cincinnati.