Hodgepodge

Linking up with Joyce for the Hodgepodge

1.  Are you more life of the party or more party pooper? If your answer is somewhere in the middle which side of the middle do you lean towards more? 

I'd say I'm somewhere in the middle but definitely lean towards party pooper. I don't drink spirits, for one thing, so I don't get "lively" from being inebriated or even buzzed. I'm not super outgoing and I'm not an extrovert. Being around others doesn't energize me (per the personality test trait vernacular) . 

Birthday party, beach party, cocktail party, dinner party, charity fundraiser, surprise party, costume party, garden party, Christmas party, reunion...what's your favorite kind of party? 

I love charity fundraisers. It's been a few years since I've done one live. I participated in one online (an online auction) a couple of years ago but that wasn't nearly as fun as being at the fundraiser in person. 

My kids' preschool used to do a fundraiser that included an online auction. I loved to win prizes that were worth more than I bid (always lookin' for a deal!). Plenty of times I bid more than the value so I'm sure it evened out... We did a few fun family activities from tickets that I "won" via a preschool fundraiser option.

As far as one that I enjoy that I go to regularly, I'd say birthday parties. These are fairly formulaic in that there's a gathering of people who all care about the birthday person, gifts to watch the birthday boy or girl happily open and then cake and ice cream. Win-win-win!

2. Cheese, wine, and balsamic vinegar all improve with age. What would you personally add to the list? 

I think that many authors of multiple books improve with age. Most classic authors' seminal book is not the first one the author wrote. David Copperfield  was Dickens' 14th novel.

Though that doesn't always hold true. Rebecca is Daphne Du Maurier's first book and most people (including me!) think that it's hands down her best. But generally, I think most authors improve with age as they continue to write books. 

3. How do you feel about your birthday? How do you want to be celebrated? Or don't you? 

I'm not crazy about the physical and mental deterioration that accompanies the passage of time. A birthday marks an inexorable march towards loss: loss of physicality, cell loss that can't be replaced, mental acumen, etc. 

On the other hand, another year represents time here on Earth to spend with those we love, to make the world a better place, to point others towards Christ. What a blessing another year is!

I'd say that I'd prefer my birthday to be acknowledged more than celebrated.

I had a low key birthday party for my most recent milestone birthday. It was perfect!

How a normal woman of a certain age poses with her cake:

How this woman of a certain age posed 

4. What remarkable feat, interesting piece of trivia, or historical event occurred on your birth day and month? Not necessarily your same birth year, just the same date/month. 

The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba happened on my birth date and month.

5. Share two good things about your life right now. 

Our youngest is a sophomore in college and living in a sorority house on her campus. Big campus. One of the largest colleges by student enrollment in the country. In one of the largest cities in America (14 largest). The football team is the current number one football team in the nation (gah, am I turning into one of those fans??) 

She rushed a sorority the second semester of last year and moved into the house this year. It's the norm at her school that only sophomore girls live in the sorority house so next year, she'll have to move to an apartment or house near college.

In about the beginning of September, Alyssa told us she had to start thinking about housing for next year. And we were like, it's Sept. 2nd or 3rd do you really need to be thinking of this now? And she told us, yes, she had to think about it now and make a decision about whom to live with and where for next year. Reason being: everyone else was already looking and signing leases. You didn't want to be standing, so to speak, when the music stopped in the musical chair game of where to live in Columbus for your junior year of college. 

There's a shortage of places to live close to campus. The closer you live to campus, the more you pay in rent which makes sense. Additionally, many of the apartment complexes near the campus are luxurious- think rooftop pools, pet spas (eye roll), yogo studios on site, etc.

Houses near the university are cheaper to rent than the nice apartments but they are not cheap by any means. The university is nestled in the city so people besides students have to live in places around the city meaning even more competition for places to rent.

About whom to room with- Alyssa doesn't know many of the sorority girls super well since they didn't rush until last semester and it's just the beginning of the school year (and early Sept. really was the beginning!). That made selecting roommates that early in the school year a bit challenging. Girls in groups of four usually rent a place together but it doesn't have to be that number. Alyssa was kind of stressed about finding a good group to want to live together. 

She found a great group of girls who decided they wanted to rent a place together for the following year and they began to look. But then problems arose not with them personally but with what parents were willing to spend and what parents wanted in terms of amenities and safety features for their daughters. It soon became apparent that this group of girls wouldn't be able to live together due to differing values- one was willing to spend $$$$$ for certain things  that their parents wanted and one was only willing to pay an amount that was less than $$$$$.  Alyssa, without even consulting us, decided to stay with the girls who were pursuing a cheaper option, not a luxury place. (We'd not discussed a limit on what we'd spend- we figured we'd get to all of that when the girls had made some selections.) 

So the new group needed to find new girls to live with and they did. But then one of them said that she would only live in a certain area of campus and it is the opposite of where Alyssa's classes will be. The girls found a house that would work for them except that Alyssa would have a terribly far walk due to where her classes will be and where the house is.

Alyssa was so stressed about it when we were talking to her one day on the phone. We told her that of course we'd prefer to spend less money on rent but the most important thing was that she got in a place that was close to campus and safe. And so she found a place that is expensive, yes, eye popping so. BUT, it's done! And I was so proud of Alyssa that she didn't assume or expect us to pay for a really expensive place. She's always been appreciative of that which she's been given and does not expect that we spend a lot on her. So those are my two things: Housing is squared away for her for next year and Alyssa tried to live in a cheaper place!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm tired. I'm on medication that is messing with me sleep wise. But, it, too shall pass.

Wednesday marks a week that Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I feel like we´ve crossed the Rubicon. Either you´re devastated that he was murdered or you´re celebrating it. That the divide exists is a terrible statement about our fractured society. The non-violent side of the Rubicon is mourning the loss of Charlie´s life and mourning any pretense that we don´t face violence from the other side for our beliefs that are like Charlie´s.  May our faith compel us to pray for those who would persecute and harm us.