Hodgepodging for a Vacation Break...

I have several more vacation days to tell you about but I thought I'd take a brief break and do a little Hodgepodging with my bloggy friend Joyce from "From This Side of the Pond"! 

It's all "mother" themed to get us into the mood for this weekend! 

1. Share something you appreciate (or something you appreciated as you were growing up) about your mother.
She always welcomed people into our home and as a kid I was always allowed to have my friends over at any time... They were even welcome if we were going away for a weekend... I learned hospitality from her...

2.  A quote most commonly ascribed to Plato reads "Necessity is the mother of invention." When did this last play out in your own experience?
I don't now if this counts but (embarrassing story alert*) I forgot to pack bras for our vacation and only had the one I traveled in... If I had forgotten anything else I could have just bought them, but I am very hard to fit and finding more that worked for me could have been an all day affair so I just bought a travel size woolite rinsed it out daily then hung it to dry... The thing is most mornings it wasn't fully dry so I used the hairdryer in the hotels to finish drying it most mornings.

3. Share one of the earliest memories you have from childhood.
I was about two years old and my foot had fallen asleep and I didn't understand what had happened to it so I went over to my dad who was sitting in a big black leather recliner and he put me on his lap and started rubbing it and told me if I just stomped it on the floor it would wake back up... This is the only memory I have from before my parent's divorced less then a year later and for years I never shared it with anyone for fear it wasn't a real memory and I didn't want to know that... You see, none of our family photo albums showed the chair I remembered... A few years ago one of the girlies asked what my earliest memory was at dinner and I shared that and my mother said "Oh I HATED that chair... I can't believe you remember it! I purposely never took any photos with it in the background so I could forget it existed since it didn't match anything else we owned! Your father had it when we married and refused to get rid of it." It was such a relief to know this was an actual memory!

4. When did you last 'hit the mother lode'? What was it?
When I was checking out at Staples one day a few weeks back they had these four boxes of Tully's Italian Roast coffee pods by the register marked $1.50 each!!! If you use a Keurig you know what a deal this was! I bought all four!

5. What is/was your favorite dish mom made? Do you make that dish for your family/friends now that you're all grown up?
I thought my mother was a great cook growing up (don't we all?) but as I matured I realized she was a vary plain, simple cook... Every night we had a protein, a starch and a vegetable all were plainly made (Ex.: Baked chicken, boiled potato, steamed veg.) and she had four "spices" she primarily used, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and bell's poultry seasoning (mostly sage tasting). She never added salt to anything EVER and boiled or baked the life out of most things... It took me years to become more adventurous in the kitchen and expand my palliate since she had me terrified of anything "spicy" and suspicious of all sauces! My poor husband in those early years! I think I can say with all honesty I do not cook anything the way she did.

6. Mother May I? was at one time a popular children's game. It required no equipment or parts to play. What was your favorite childhood game where you could just turn up and play-no gear needed?
I loved those kinds of games like "mother-may-I" and "red-light green-light" and have fond memories playing them but it seemed like my favorite childhood game I played with all my friends was "house"... It was basically just pretending either we were in one family together and each assuming a "grown up" role or we would dived the space we were in and we would each pretend to have our own family... Dolls were usually the children and we all wanted to be the mom so the second was mostly what we did... I even played "house" alone for hours and hours, totally lost in the make-believe of it... ( I know dolls are technically "gear" but we didn't need them to play so this is my answer and I'm sticking with it!)

7. Which TV mom (past or present) is your favorite, and why?
I had to think on this for awhile but I think Olivia Walton from "The Walton's"
I haven't watched that show in YEARS but I was always struck by how she was a strong woman but never tried to usurp her husband's role... She dealt with every hardship with a grace and dignity I can only wish to have. Oh and her hair was ALWAYS in a perfect french twist!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Allison & I are leaving on the 14th to spend about a week in Montana touring the campus and familarizing herself with Bozeman before she is there full time in August. Oh, did I tell you she is going to Montana State in the fall? I need to do an Allison update post! Anyhow, between that, planning the grand baby's 1st birthday for June, another trip in July, taking Allie to college in August, AND working,  I am SUPER busy these days! I feel like I am caught in a whirl wind but since these are such special days I am trying to savior each moment... Aghhh... Can the world slow down for just a moment!?!?!

Thanks for listening,