Wednesday Hodgepodge-December 30th Edition

This is the final Hodgepodge of 2015. Joyce has the questions and we supply the answers and then link up on her blog From This Side of the Pond! It's fun!

 1. Share a favorite memory/moment from the week of Christmas.

My favorite memory of Christmas was playing Mexican Train Dominoes with Justin and the kids both on Friday and Saturday nights. It is fun to see how competitive they are (especially Harley who won both nights) and how they strategize.


 2.  If someone wrote a book about your life based on the past year, what genre would it fall under? What would the title be?

If someone wrote a book about my life in 2015 it would be a biography and it would be boring. I would title it The Year I Quit Living!


 3. What made you feel patriotic this year?

What made me feel patriotic this year was reading books about other countries that do not have the freedoms that I have as an American citizen. I read books about Kabul, Hitler's Germany, Japan during World War II. We are a fortunate lot of people here in the USA and I don't think we know or appreciate it enough. I found the following words on The Foundation for Economic Education Website:



"Patriotism is not love of country, if by “country” you mean scenery—amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesty, and the like. Almost every country has pretty collections of rocks, water, and stuff that people grow and eat. If that’s what patriotism is all about, then Americans have precious little for which we can claim any special or unique love. And surely, patriotism cannot mean giving one’s life for a river or a mountain range.
Patriotism is not blind trust in anything our leaders tell us or do. That just replaces some lofty concepts with mindless goose-stepping.
Patriotism is not simply showing up to vote. You need to know a lot more about what motivates a voter before you judge his patriotism. He might be casting a ballot because he just wants something at someone else’s expense. Maybe he doesn’t much care where the politician he’s hiring gets it. Remember Dr. Johnson’s wisdom: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Waving the flag can be an outward sign of patriotism, but let’s not cheapen the term by ever suggesting that it’s anything more than a sign. And while it’s always fitting to mourn those who lost their lives simply because they resided on American soil, that too does not define patriotism."


 4. What experience from this past year would you like to do all over again?

I would repeat every single experience again. The year passed by so fast that I wouldn't have any problem repeating it all!


 5. What song lyric sums up or is a reflection of your 2015?





Hey you, where did the time go
Never saw it passin' by me
You knew how to occupy me
Hey darlin'
Where did the time go
Never let a moment linger
Wrapped me up around your finger

Fools say anyone who ever loved
someone like you and me
Anyone who ever loves becomes too blind
to see the time go by
And I'm tellin' you that I'm searchin'

Where did the time go
Ev'ry day became about you
Till I couldn't do without you
Where did our lives go
Slipped away without me knowing
Sure knew how to keep me goin'



 6. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate 2015?  (10=stellar) Why?

I would give 2015 a "5". It wasn't a stellar year at all. It was only average. Now, 2016 is going to be stellar!!




 7. What part of the upcoming year are you most excited about?

I am just happy to put this past year of mourning behind me. I am going to start moving forward. I am going to live!


 8. Insert your own random thought here.

Do you chose a 'word of the year?' I have the past two years. My word in 2014 was Hope! And in 2015 it was Change! When I chose my words I was going through a lot. I wanted and needed to have Hope in 2014. I did for a bit of the year and then in July Richard died. That kind of took the wind out of the sails of Hope. So I chose Change as my word for 2015. I knew that I was going to see change whether I wanted it or not. But it really didn't impact my life the way that I wanted it to. So this year my word is going to help me move forward and live again!! How about you? What is your word for 2016.