Cultivating the Hodgepodge

Happy Hump Day!

It's been a couple of weeks since I have hodgepodged and I must say I've missed it.
Welcome back, Joyce...I hope you had a relaxing holiday weekend.
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So what's been going on around here?
Well, let's see....my little container garden seems to be coming right along...mostly.
And I am learning some new things...

...like why, after my zucchini put out such gorgeous sunny yellow blooms,
are they now completely falling off at the stem?

So it seems that the expert gardener that I am, (ahem) did not know that this is kind of normal.
I learned that usually the first blooms to appear are those of the male persuasion...
...and we all know that boys can't have babies, right?
After they shrivel up and fall off, the female blooms come along and bear the "children".
What a novel idea!
So we'll see how many little baby golden zucchinis I wind up with.
And below is my one and only (so far) eggplant in the making.

I was stunned by the beauty of the bloom...

...and of course, only God would think to make it purple!

The tomatoes are tomato-ing right along as they should...

...but I will be surprised if I get any sweet red bell peppers off of my poor, sorry looking plant.
It is losing leaves right and left and every bloom just falls off leaving nothing behind.
Evidently, I have done something wrong...oh well...so it goes...
...you win some and lose some but it's not over until it's over so we will see!
~
Anyways, let's get on over to the Hodgepodge, shall we?

It's where Joyce asks the questions on her blog and we answer them on ours.
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1. Describe your 30's in one sentence. If you're not yet 30 tell us one thing you hope to accomplish once you hit that particular decade.

It was a time of transition and transformation...a time when negative circumstances brought about positive changes...the year was 1989, I was 35 and Jesus became my Savior.

2. Is it harder for you to exercise or eat healthy?

Well, since you asked, I must say the older that I get, it seems to be easier to make better choices... not that I always do but I am getting so much better at it! When you are a young minded person (that would be me) and faced with the fact that your body is beginning to fail you in some areas, it can really be an eye opener. Starting to have a few health issues may have been a blessing in disguise for me. I am proud to tell you that I am keeping up with my rebounding exercises (mini-tramp) and adding to my steps weekly. I'm up to over 3 miles a day and have a new goal every week. That may not sound like much but it's HUGE for me! I broke a spring on my old rebounder over the weekend and a new and better one is on it's way from Amazon. I'm still using it...oh-so-very-carefully until the new one arrives. Sometimes I crave pizza and chocolate and I'll eat it...but more times than not, I crave vegetables and I eat them...and that is also HUGE!

3. June 7th is National VCR Day. Huh? Anyway this reminded me of something I saw on Facebook listing household items we no longer have and the VCR was on it. I couldn't put my hands on that list, but found another list here of 21 items we all had ten years ago, but which are now obsolete-

bookshelves (WHAT!!???), drip coffee makers, alarm clocks, file cabinets, desktop computers, printers, printed phone books, answering machines, fax machines, paper shredders, a Rolodex, CD racks, CD burners, china cabinets, home phones, entertainment consoles, DVD players, calculators, takeout menus, incandescent light bulbs, and cable TV

Your thoughts? How many on the list do you still have? Still use?

Obsolete, really...just who are these folks who make up these lists, anyway? They, no doubt, are the same ones who tell us how to decorate our homes or what we should and should not wear. Of the items listed, here is what we still have AND use: bookshelves (DUH!), drip coffee maker with a twist...ours actually is a hybrid that uses filters and a pot OR K-cups. Jim likes to make a pot but when it's just me, I'm a K-cupper. Hubby still likes his alarm, we still have file cabinets, my old desktop PC is connected to my printer and even though I don't use it a lot, it still keeps plugging along...there are no phone books unless I find one stashed in a drawer (and I throw it in the trash before Jim finds it), no answering machine for many years since we haven't had a landline for many years, never had a fax or paper shredder at home but still do so at work, no Rolodex or CD racks, CD burner is built into laptop, china cabinet...are you kidding me? Where in the world would I put my teacups and dishes? Do they think we eat off paper plates all the time? (well, maybe I do most of the time), yes to the entertainment console/TV stand with shelves...our isn't hanging on the wall and there is a DVD player attached. Jim still likes his old calculator (no smart phone) and his take-out menus, and I will buy incandescent light bulbs until I can't any longer....AND finally, we have Direct TV, not cable. Whew!

4. What's something you see disappearing in the next ten years?

I'd say that it's going to be hard to get your hands on a working dumb phone, for sure. I have already warned Jim and he seems pretty resigned to that truth....but there are going to be folks who will hold onto what they like, no matter what it is for however long they can. And I highly doubt china cabinets and book shelves will be one of them.

5. How did you celebrate your birthday this past year? Is that typical?

I didn't really remember at all what I did to celebrate my birthday last year so I got on Facebook and went back to September 15, 2017. This was my post...

Debby Ray

September 15, 2017 · 

Just tryin' to obey the rules....

Is that typical? To tell you the truth, I usually don't like to make a big deal out of my birthday...well, except for that one time.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

And speaking of good thoughts, I am getting really excited!
We will be leaving at o'dark thirty on Friday morning for West Virginia.
By noon, we'll be taking that train ride to the top of the world.
Stay tuned!