Wednesday Hodgepodge - Gratitude Edition

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A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. Are you too hard on yourself or not hard enough? Elaborate.

I use this answer far too often, but . . . it depends! There are some things that I tend to be really tough on myself about, like when I make stupid mistakes (which is often!) or do something clumsy. If I'm embarrassed or uncertain about things, I am hard on myself. But in other situations, I can make excuses for my own poor choices or lack of discipline.

2. What's the role of gratitude in your life?

I was just considering this yesterday morning as I listened to my little devotional (from the app provided by First15.org)  The theme this week is thankfulness, and I thought about this verse in a slightly different way:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ~Philippians 4:6

Praying WITH thanksgiving is different than praying with the expectation that I'll be thankful when God answers my prayer. Praying with thanksgiving means I can express gratitude for who God is and that he hears me, no matter what his answer is or when it comes! Praying with thanksgiving means I can focus on all the blessings I already have even as I lay my requests before God. I'm trying to be more conscious of that now.

3. Where do you get your news these days? How much attention are you giving it currently? 

 I do have a few podcasts I listen to that discuss current events and politics in some way, so that keeps me informed, and I also subscribe to a couple of news aggregate email lists. So I get the headlines with those and then I can decide how much more I need. Sometimes the headlines are misleading - do you find that? Maybe even most of the time the headlines are misleading, especially with so-called mainstream media. That's annoying. I almost never watch news on TV and don't regularly read any newspapers, even online. When I follow up on news stories, I try to check a couple different sources.

4. Do you like potatoes? Last time you prepared potatoes in some way? Which of the following is your favorite . . . baked potato, mashed potato, french fried potato, sweet potato, hash brown potatoes, roasted potatoes, or potato salad? 

 I'm not a huge fan of potatoes, in general. I like them but they aren't a necessity for most meals. On Monday night we had a birthday dinner here for our granddaughter and she had requested cheeseburger sliders, so I made those for her but also fixed a roasted root vegetable dish that included potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. So that was the last time I prepared potatoes. From the list, sweet potatoes are my favorite. I like them baked and loaded with butter and sour cream, and I like sweet potato casseroles, and I love sweet potato fries. I do love french fries if they're in poutine. Hmmm . . . I wonder what would happen if I made poutine with sweet potato fries? I don't know about putting gravy on them, so I'd have to think about that . . .

brisket poutine

5. Are you a veteran? Are there any veterans in your family? Will you do anything special to honor them on Veteran/s Day/Remembrance Day this year?

 

I'm not a veteran, and the only veteran in my family is my uncle who served in the Air Force. At this time we don't have any specific plans for the day, but we usually mark Remembrance Day somehow. Even if it's just wearing poppies and having a moment of silence; and expressing our gratitude to the veterans and their family members that we know.

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Since I named this the Gratitude Edition, my random thought is how grateful I am for the friendships and experience of being part of Scioto Valley Chorus, and for the fun and honor of singing at Sweet Adelines International where we finished seventh in the world!

What are you grateful for these days? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

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