Heart to Heart with the Hodgepodge

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.  What area of your life feels like you're stuck in a Groundhog's Day loop, doing the same thing over and over? Does it bother you or is that just how life is in this particular season?

 

Work feels like that. Sometimes when I'm walking through the building I have to puzzle over what day of the week it is, and I can't stop myself from pondering whether this is how I want to spend the next seven or so years of my life. The days all feel the same, which can be a drag sometimes, and I guess it just makes me a bit sad that I'm doing the daily work grind at this stage in my life, because it's not what I had expected. Overall I like my job, and I'm not dissatisfied . . . it's just different from how I thought my life would be. Some days it feels like a long time until we retire, and other days I have the sense of, "Wow, it's getting pretty close!"

 

2. Something that makes your heart skip a beat?

 

In a bad way . . . having to drive beside a vehicle much larger than mine, or having to make a lane change on a busy highway. That guy that came within a couple inches of sideswiping me a couple weeks ago has made me antsy about that.

In a good way . . . being complimented by someone whose opinion I greatly respect. 

 3. Do you wear your heart on your sleeve or are you more of a closed book? Elaborate.

 I feel like it depends on who you'd ask, and on the setting, but I think I'm more of a closed book when it comes to expressing what I'm feeling or thinking, especially if it's on the sad and needy part of my emotional spectrum. I try not to be dramatic, and I'm guarded about opening up when I'm hurting or struggling. The circle of people I trust with those emotions is small. A few years ago, I made it a habit to close phone conversations with family members with "Love you!" and that "Love you!" was a feature of the good-bye whenever family or guests left our home, or we took our leave from family. I don't talk about feelings a lot, and the talking doesn't come naturally, but I think that my family knows how much I love each of them. And hopefully my close friends and my "auxiliary family" know too, since I've pretty much always tried to accept my kids' friends as if they were my own and wanted them to feel like my house was a home for them too. 

4. According to Prevention Magazine, these are 25 of the best food for heart health -

wild salmon, sardines, liver, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, oatmeal, blueberries, coffee, red wine, green tea, soy milk, dark chocolate, raisins, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, whole grains, apples, oranges, grapefruit, avocado, avocado oil, olive oil  - Which five do you include in your diet most often? Are there any foods on the list you simply cannot abide?    

 The ones I have most often are coffee (I mean, obviously!), dark chocolate, whole grains, olive oil, almonds, sweet potatoes, raisins. Oh, that's more than five. Other than avocado, I like all those fruits, and I like oatmeal and chia seeds, but don't regularly eat those. I enjoy the occasional glass of red wine, but it's not my preferred. Oh yes, there are foods on the list I won't touch: sardines, liver, soy milk, and Brussels sprouts are all an absolute hard no. Broccoli, cauliflower and avocados are to be avoided as much as possible, in my opinion, but I can bring myself to tolerate them for the sake of politeness if I need to. 

5.  What was the last piece of furniture you bought? Is there a piece of furniture you need/want to purchase this year?

 

 The last thing I purchased that could be considered furniture is this little end table that I got for the spare room. I bought it from Amazon in the fall but it hasn't seen a lot of use yet. I don't know that there's anything specific I'm looking to buy in the near future, but we're going to be looking at whether we can move into a slightly larger place so if that happens, it's likely that I'll add some things to my wishlist.

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It is time for Wednesday Quotes again! The current topic is Love Inspires Us, so if you're so inclined, stop by sometime over the next two weeks and link up at: WQ - Love Inspires. 

 

On a different inspirational note, I found this little anecdote and thought it was really neat:

I am late posting this, and I said I was going to make sure I paid some visits and left some comments tonight instead of leaving it until tomorrow, but I am about to fall asleep sitting here so I'm going to have to ask for some grace and I'll do my best tomorrow evening. 

What's on your heart this week? 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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