Hodgepodge
1. Fall arrives this week in the northern hemisphere. Does it look/feel like fall where you live?What's something you love to do this time of year that makes you feel its officially fall?
*If you're answering today from the southern hemisphere feel free to sub spring for the word fall.
It doesn't look like fall so much as it feels like fall. It's 61 degrees on Tuesday afternoon!
You know my sense of smell has been diminished ever since 2021, but I can smell certain pungent smells. One of them are bonfires and I feel like smelling them makes me feel like it's officially fall. Granted, one can have a bonfire any time of the year; people around here tend to have them more in the fall so that is what I associate the scent with.
2. What's a small daily task or chore that always seems to fall through the cracks when your schedule gets busy?
I would say any task whose fall through the crack is not overt/obvious at first glance. Take cleaning baseboards for instance. Anytime, they're dusty/dirty, the grime is visible. But, because it's something most people's eyes aren't drawn to, mine included, I don't tend to clean them as soon as I should. When I have plenty of time on my hands, I am more thorough with my eyes- finding tasks that need to be done such as cleaning baseboards. We had invited friends over for a meal on Friday and so, naturally, I looked more closely at the details of the house as I was cleaning. I noticed those baseboards- my, they needed some attention!
3. What's something you're falling for lately?
I've read a few good non- fiction books lately and am in the process of reading one now. While fiction books are generally easier to read and more entertaining, I know that it's better for me as a person to expand my knowledge and understanding of things/the world and so I'm always grateful to have read a good non fiction book.
4. Pumpkin is a popular flavor this time of year. Are you a fan? What's your favorite pumpkin flavored food or beverage?
I am a fan of pumpkin flavor!
I made this pumpkin roll last fall that was pretty good- honestly I think store bought tasted a bit better than mine! I used real pumpkin and as opposed to puree from a can and I think it threw the consistency off.
I made a pumpkin recipe over the weekend that called for pumpkin puree, a boxed cake mix, sugar, eggs, evaporated mix and melted butter. It was really tasty!
And of course, the old stand by of pumpkin pie is hard to beat. I typically make home made ones but store bought are good, too.
5.What's something you wish would never change? Explain.
Spending holidays with our kids/the people we're used to spending major holidays with. I know that if/when our kids marry, holidays will look different due to the married couple needing/wanting to spend time with both sides of the family. It's not that I don't want our kids to get married so that I "get" our kids every holiday, it will just be a little sad when they aren't around for a holiday.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
The pastor of our churches preaches exegetically as opposed to topically. Last week's Bible passages came from 1 Samuel 25 where we learn a woman named Abigail showed wisdom when her husband angered David. David was about to attack and kill Abigail's husband Nabal and likely every male in the household. Abigail made a wise decision by going to David, urging him to not shed blood needlessly, to have on his conscious a vicious revenge attack. She also food and drink for David and his men.
I'd heard/read this account before but hearing a whole message on it was a blessing to me as there are numerous practical applications to the lessons in the story. Also, the pastor mentioned something I had not heard before. You know the column Dear Abby that ran in newspapers for years? Most people know that her real name was not Abby. Apparently she picked the nickname of Abigail, Abby, for her column name due to the wisdom of Abigail in the Bible. I thought that was an interesting piece of information. I used to love reading Dear Abby. Goodness, who could have predicted that which would replace advice columns of print? Namely Reddit, social media, AI, etc!
Linking up with Joyce for the Hodgepodge
Yep, I tend to only notice those baseboards every now and then and then they seem so bad (but no one notices when I clean them)... same could be said with some very light cobwebs that gather around our lights. I can only see them occasionally when the light from outside hits them in a certain way but until I see them I don't think to clean/look for them. Oh your #5 is a good one!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the cobwebs around lights. Sometimes I forget that we share our home with spiders and then I see evidence of them such as, like you said, when the light hits the fixtures in a certain way and I can see their webs. I feel the same way about no one noticing clean baseboards- I guess that's good because hopefully no one notices when they are not clean. I feel like mine are in the latter condition more than the former :).
DeleteI am sitting here reading your blog and I immediately turned around to check out the baseboards haha!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about Dear Abby! Thanks for the fun fact to know and tell!!
I didn't write this in my blog, but after reading yours . ..I do wish we still had Christmas morning with our kids.
The only good thing about cleaning baseboards is that it's pretty easy (at least for me- I just dust them) but it can hurt the ol' back bending down...
DeleteBaseboards are not my favorite cleaning task : ) I always have a non-fiction book going too. I think it helps my brain stay sharp. Grown kids and holidays. Sigh. I still struggle with wanting things to look the way they always have in this area. I continue to be a work in progress here. We do an every other at Christmas time (they're with their in-laws every other), but I do always see my girls even when it's not our year, just not on the day necessarily. Thanksgiving has been a real challenge though as my sons-in-law both are on call for work occasionally, and not always the same weekends or holidays. Plus it just feels harder for them to travel or want to travel at Thanksgiving. I'll have my younger daughter here this year but her sister is with her in-laws because it's our Christmas. I think we'll all be together the day after so we'll share left overs together. And one son-in-law is on call Thanksgiving so he might not even be at dinner. People tend to break bones on holidays and weekends it seems.
ReplyDeleteVery cool fact about Dear Abby and we need more of that for modern issues!
ReplyDeleteYour pumpkin roll looks amazing!
I love the smell of bonfires and even just the smell of striking a match. I am so sorry about your sense of smell.
I need a good baseboard tip!
I like to read non fiction occasionally too.
ReplyDeleteYes, to the smell of fires! We have a fire pit we built but then we got motivated to excavate around it so we could put down a surrounding concrete pad. However, we encounter the mother of all roots hiding down there from a tree we had cut down in 2019. It's sat now for a long time because we just can't get through it. Soon as this weather gets a little cooler, we plan to go at it again.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Bonfires happen more here in the fall too. It is a smell I associate with this time of year.
ReplyDeleteI am the same, I always forget to clean things like the baseboards or behind the sofa until I get around to doing a deep clean.
That pumpkin roll looks delicious!
I can't imagine not spending holidays with my girls but it's going to happen one day. We've had a taster of it with my eldest having to work Christmas day and I didn't like it one bit.