Let's Unpack the Hodgepodge

Q:  How many men does it take to tend a fire?


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A quick word here to once again thank Joyce for her dedication to the weekly Hodgepodge. We all appreciate it, Joyce. A very happy new year to you and to all the Hodgepodgers out there!

1. It's that time of year again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or genera uselessness) in 2018. You can read more about the decision making process and word meaning here, but this year's top vote getters are-

unpack, dish (as in dish out the latest rumor), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingburger, let that sink in, let me ask you this, impactful, Cofefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated), and gig economy

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?

UNPACK. I am so incredibly sick of the word 'unpack,' and I'm not referring to the act of taking the clothes out of my carry-on and either washing them or putting them back into the closet. Did preachers/teachers/lecturers all 'get the memo' (another bad one) to continue to overuse that term in 2017? Let's get rid of both of them, please.

 Grandpa getting popcorn ready
Toesies thawing by an open fire (think Mel Torme')
Tommy enjoying all the affection
Joe and boys playing with dominoes
THE FIRE (okay, so it's not open)

2. What's something you need to get rid of in the new year?

I've already started, although I fell off the wagon a bit during Christmas and New Years, but getting rid of all sugar (including fruit, except berries) and sugar substitutes, even those that are natural. That, along with eating more salt, has made a big impact on how I feel (for the better). And yes, you read that right, eating more salt. Oddly enough, many of us don't get enough salt in our diets. You can Google it.

No idea.

But they needed my kitchen counter to play it

because the little kids had the table occupied.

3. Where do you feel stuck?

I don't feel stuck (bearing in mind that this is only January 2 as I write this) in any area, I guess, except maybe in finding ways to get through the long winter ahead. However, I am much more optimistic about this winter than I probably have been in the past several winters. What I read, what I think, how I worship, is immensely influential over those feelings. And January, although it can be (and currently is) bitterly cold in NW Wisconsin in January, it is usually very bright and sunny - which helps a lot. So, a new year, a new calendar, and a bright sunny day helps me to be full of optimism. 

What Tommy and Smokey do best...

4. January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter's day?

The last bowl of soup/stew I ate was at our son's house in Minnesota when we returned from Arizona. Our daughter-in-law had made it, it was delicious and hit the spot! It was from scratch.

I don't have a favorite canned soup. I haven't met one that isn't poisonous. I do have a go-to, from-scratch soup recipe for chicken/black bean/tomato/vegetable, which I often make and let simmer on the stove all afternoon. With a string of days that start out at MINUS-20-or-colder-something degrees Fahrenheit, it's probably a good idea to get one of those going again this week. We're definitely keeping both wood-burning stoves stoked up.

Two dozen piping hot popovers

and every last one gone.

I love it when that happens.

5. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in 2018.

I'm looking forward to visiting our son in Arizona again, to possibly accompanying our daughter to Italy sometime this year, and always looking forward to having the family gather here, as we did this past weekend. Also, a couple other things, possibly better not to mention.

The most delicious, melt-in-your-mouth carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! was sent to us by a sweet friend in Oregon, in memory of his dear wife Bonnie, who made a ton of these every Christmas to give away. It was delicious, Tom, and it went so fast it basically evaporated! Thank you. (The second one is in the freezer, waiting until some time in mid January, when we'll take it out as a special treat.)

Fall of 2012

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Most of the photos in this post were taken this past weekend, when the family gathered here for New Year's. 

Did you realize that the game Clue Jr. is more complicated than the original??

 Me too, Oliver.


Happy New Year, everyone!

And a thought as we all enter this new year of 2018:

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him,  rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily..." - Colossians 2:6-9

Thanks to all of you who have read my very intermittent blog over the past year. I do appreciate your nice comments.

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

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