A Red, White and Blue Hodgepodge

Hello, and I hope everyone enjoyed a fabulous July 4th holiday!

Jim was working his 5-day stretch so Aaron and Michelle had me over on Monday evening.

I had to share this photo of Aaron's very organized grill...it looks like a summer food wreath!

If you ever saw the inside of his shop, you'd also find it very organized as well...

...a place for everything and everything is in it's place.

He did not learn this skill from his mother, unfortunately. 😒

After we feasted on dogs, burgers, fresh corn and squash and red velvet cake,
the boys presented us with a little fireworks show.
My phone was just about out of juice and this is the only photo I got...oh well.

This is my sparkler...some people never grow up.

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As I write this post, it's Tuesday afternoon and I have spent the day just hanging out with the dogs...

...this kind of dog too.

I rarely eat hot dogs but something happens around the 4th of July and I get a real hankering.

I wasn't going to fire the grill up for a couple of dogs so I did the next best thing.

Hey....it works great!

It was delicious and I plan to have another for supper. 😉

So anyway, let's get on to the Hodgepodge...

...where Joyce asks the questions on her blog and we answer them on ours.

Click on over and join us!

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1. When and where were the best fireworks you've ever seen? The best fireworks display that I ever remember seeing was several years ago in Troy, OH when we were visiting my oldest sister. We sat out in her backyard and had the best seats ever since they live right across from where they were shooting them off. They went on and on and the grand finale went on for even longer...it was AWESOME! Speaking of fireworks...do you know your hot buttons? The things people can say and/do to set you off? I don't really have many...but OK....people driving like idiots would probably be close to the top of my list. And just let me say this...you can mess with me but you better not mess with one of my kids, especially when they were young. Now I'm not saying that they didn't deserve getting messed with...if you get my drift. 😠Then there are those people who are still, after six months, not able to accept the fact that Donald Trump is our president and choose to spew hatred toward him on a daily basis. When was the last time someone pushed one of your hot buttons? Hmmm....don't remember...that's a good thing, right?

2. Have you hosted any outdoor summer parties this year? Nope. Attended any? Yep, last night. What makes for a great outdoor party? Not too hot and no bugs.

3. What does freedom mean to you? It really means everything to me although I would be lying if I said I have never taken my freedom for granted. Oh, unintentionally, for sure, but it's easy to do when we don't have to live in constant fear and just settle into our little comfortable lives. More and more, I am being reminded on a regular basis of just how precious it is. Not only the freedom that I have of living in this country, but the freedom of being able to know and have a personal relationship to The One who sets every captive free.

4. July is National Cell Phone Courtesy month...what annoys you most about people's cell phone habits? I've mentioned this before. For the life of me, I don't know why in the world some people think that perfect strangers want to hear their personal phone calls as they walk the aisles of the stores...or wherever...in the bathroom stall next to you...talking away in voice loud enough to be heard 50 feet away! What is wrong with people??? OR... how about the person you are in a face-to-face conversation with constantly looking down at their phone?

5. What's your current summer anthem? "On the Road Again". We will be heading to Ohio in a couple of weeks for my family reunion. Later this summer, we plan to return to Tennessee to watch the kiddos for a week and hopefully will be able to sneak a beach weekend in before fall.

6.  Insert your own random thought here. If you like fresh lemonade but don't want all of the sugar, you might want to try this....oh, it's SO good! And it makes it taste more like fresh, old-time lemonade by cutting a slice of lemon and adding it to your glass. It only has 15 calories and 2 grams of sugar per 8 ounce glass. 

And while were on the subject of old-timey stuff, have you had any Cracker Jacks lately? I was in the Dollar Tree today and picked up a few boxes. I used to get SO excited when I was kid and Mom would come home from the store with some. Well, the Cracker Jacks might taste the same (although I'm sure the boxes were bigger and so were the kernels back in the day), but the so-called prizes inside leave A LOT to be desired...just look at this....a dumb little sticker of some kind. Where's the "diamond ring"?

So..... that does it for another Independence Day and another Hodgepodge.

Enjoy the rest of your week.😊