The ABC's Of April

ABC...easy as 1-2-3...

Good morning Readers. I've decided (pretty much last minute) to jump in to the April A-Z blog Challenge this year. If you're relatively new here you should know that last minute is how I almost always jump in to this particular challenge so not to worry. I know there are bloggers participating who have a month's worth of posts written and scheduled, but that's not me. I'm a bit of an overthinker and blogging under pressure forces me to 'just do it'. 

You can read more about the challenge on the host blog (linked here), but basically it's a month long writing exercise where you blog your way through the alphabet during the month of April. One post a day, every day but Sundays. 

April 1st is the letter A, April 2nd is the letter B, and so on until you reach the letter Z, which should land on April 30th.  

I've done the A-Z many times over the course of it's 15 year history, and I've always had a theme of sorts. A last minute theme to be sure, but a theme nonetheless. Here's the 411 on years past for anyone who might be interested-

2011-one post a day detailing places we've traveled and loved (starting with A My Name Is Anna) 

Also, lest you're confused, my name is not Anna...the jingle just worked with my theme

2012-I managed to make the recap of our nearly three week trip to Shanghai-Taipei-and Hong Kong last longer than the trip itself (starting with No Foolin'-A is For Adventure)

2013-the year I organized a brown bag of random photos using the alphabet as my guide. Really fun, tender, and productive too (starting with  A Is For Assorted Stuff) 

2014-my theme was 'married with children' True story- I knew my daughter's engagement was happening that month and this was my not so sneaky way of dishing out words of wisdom to the soon-to-be marrieds (starting with A Is For All In)

2015-the theme was change and we had plenty of it that year, from a daughter getting married, to hubs retirement, then a move south late summer to build a house (starting with ABC. Easy as 1.2.3)

2016-all about the home build which took fourteen months to make happen, and a full 26 posts to describe the process from start to finish (starting with A Is For Architect) 

2017, 2018-a hiatus from the A-Z 

2019-my theme went hand in hand with my word of the year which was 'delight'. It took me until the middle of May to get to letter Z, but April of 2019 was quite the month for our family, and I gave myself a lot of grace and space to get it done (starting with No Foolin') 

2020-maybe my favorite year of the challenge in spite of this being the year of Covid, or maybe because of it. I sent 26 of my friends/family a letter of the alphabet and asked them to send me a word of their choosing, beginning with that letter. So much fun! (starting with Alphabet Soup) 

2021-Life is grand... posts about grandparenting, grandchildren, and then a few random things I think are pretty grand (starting with A Is For Ain't Life Grand)

2022-this was the last time I participated, and in the words of Maria von Trapp...'these are a few of my favorite things' was my theme (starting with Raindrops On Roses) 

And now it's 2025. Is there anything I haven't talked about? 

I like to say my blog is a little slice of mid-life, but am I still in mid-life?  When does mid-life end and that last third begin? I can do the math, and I'm definitely past the halfway point in terms of candles on the cake, but that's just a number. We all know some young 60-somethings and a few 'old' 40-somethings, don't we? 

What defines mid-life, figuratively speaking?  

Let's take inventory.  

My theme for the 2025 A-Z Blog Challenge...26 Life Lessons Learned.

And we're off...

Springing

Spring has sprung which means it's time to check in on the winter bucket list, and add some new to-do's for spring. Out with the old and all that jazz. 

Let's review. My winter bucket list looked like this-

1. Spend a day crafting each month. Nope. Nada. Zilch. Did not happen. Not enough hours in the day, too much going on, not inspired to pull out my crafting bits and bobs when there are already lots of extra bits and bobs out right now. 

2. Try a new soup recipe. I give myself an A+ on this one because the recipe I tried was so good and definitely a keeper. Everyone, kids and adults alike, loved this Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup-

3. Organize the laundry room cabinets. Didn't even try. There were a lot of things happening here this winter that were not on my list so something had to give. A whole house clean will be happening soon, so this chore can be a part of that.

4. Hike a new to us trail. We didn't hike any new trails, but did revisit one of our favorites that we hadn't been to in a while, and we enjoyed that a lot. 

.5. Read a classic. Done. I read one in January (The Good Earth), one in February (Wuthering Heights) and I'm wrapping up my March classic now (Pride and Prejudice). I've enjoyed these books so much, and am in awe of the language. I plan to read a classic each month this year and so far I'm on track. 

6. Clean out the kitchen drawers. Giving myself a B- on this one. I got to some, but not all of the drawers but since it's a relatively quick chore I'll finish it up in the next couple of weeks. 

7. Celebrate Sugar's first birthday. Of course this happened and we had the best day celebrating our little sweetheart. I wrote a whole post about it here (My Tuesday Version of Hello Monday). And I always write my grands a blog letter on their big day and this is hers-Sugar Sugar

8. Buy something pink. Yes. I bought a pink sweater to wear to Sugar's sweetheart themed party. It was a little on the warm side that day (it was supposed to be cool and cloudy, not warm and sunny), but I wore it anyway because it was on point with the party theme. 

This is the sweater, but this is not Sugar. I don't have a single picture from her birthday where I'm in the sweater, but I promise you I was. All the pics I have with me in them were taken before I changed. Whatever, here is the sweater and this is Little Miss. Pink everything is her favorite so she is a fan of my sweater too. 

9. Choose Valentine treats for the grands. This one also happened. We were in charge of the grands the weekend of Valentine's Day as my daughter and son-in-law went to an out of town wedding. I bought some fun little things for them to have including magnifying glasses, sunglasses, little boxes of conversation hearts...that sort of thing. 

10. Write a love letter. Hmmm. This was a nice idea but I never sat down and made the time to do it. Love is in the air in the springtime too though, right? I think I'll add this one back in to my spring list. 

11. Stay on track reading the Bible through the year. Check. Hubs and I started the Bible Recap reading program Jan 1st, and so far so good. There have been one or two misses which meant reading double duty a couple of days, but we don't let ourselves miss more than that. We're on track and it's been really good. 

12. Bake the Southern Living cake of the month in Jan-Feb-March. I baked both the January and February cakes and have plans to make the March recipe this weekend-a Lemon Meringue cake. It looks to be a little more involved than the January/February recipes but I'm committed. Plus I have a houseful and somebody's gotta eat what I bake besides me. 

In summary I completed 7.5/12 so just over 60%, which would be a failing grade if this were a test. 

Except it's not, so I'm not mad about it. The first three months of the year have been uncharacteristically busy with many other to-do's that needed doing, and I wanted to roll with it. Here's to spring daydreams, fresh starts, and a brand new list-

Happy Spring! 

Home Sweet Hodgepodge

Hi Peeps! Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions, add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Here we go-

1. Spring has officially sprung (in the northern hemisphere anyway)...did she roll in more like a lion or more like a lamb in your neck of the woods? What needs more of your attention in terms of a good spring clean this year-your house or your garden/yard? 

More like a lamb. A lamb who rolled around in the grass and is now completely covered in yellow pollen. Hubs took the blower to the grill deck this morning to get rid of some of the pollen and I snapped this picture just a few hours later...

The struggle is real y'all. 

As far as what needs the most attention I'm going to say the house. Without question. Normally it's just the hubs and I living here, and hubs is neat as a pin so the house is almost always tidy and dusted. We've had our daughter, son-in-law, and their three littles living with us since mid-January so there's more 'stuff' out than there normally would be. We pick up regularly and embrace the chaos. 

Mostly. Sometimes hubs looks around and twitches a little lol. 

2. What's put a spring in your step lately? 

We're very excited for the new home my daughter and her hubs are in the process of purchasing. I'm not saying too much about it now, because nothing in real estate is a done deal until the keys are handed over and of course the money too.  So far the process has been smooth, and everyone is eager to settle in. 

3. When you were a kid, what was the best snack to find in your lunchbox? If you didn't do the lunchbox thing, tell us what was your favorite after school snack. 

We walked home for lunch when I was in elementary school so no lunchboxes during those early years. My mom always had lunch waiting for us though, and I would be most excited to find she'd made egg salad sandwiches which are still one of my favorites. 

I took lunch to school in a brown bag in junior high and sometimes high school, and my favorite treat to find there would be a Drake's Ring Ding. Does anyone remember those? Do they still make them? The cake-cream-icing proportion was exactly right. 

And yes, they do still make them (I had to check). I wonder if they taste the same? 

4. In what area of your life are you planting seeds? 

I think if you're a parent you're always planting seeds, no matter your child's age. Grandparenting is also an opportunity to plant seeds and I hope I'm a good gardener. Kindness, fun, a gentle tone, time to spend, lots of prayer. 

5. Why do you live where you do? Would you consider living somewhere else? Why or why not? 

our lake lot pre-build, 2015

We live here on purpose. Some people end up retiring or living in the place they last worked, but our last work assignment was North Jersey, and we knew we needed to get away from the crazy taxes and the equally crazy winters. 

clearing brambles from the newly purchased lot-2015

moving dirt, October 2015

We chose this lake and this lot specifically, and then retired and built our home here. 

From the earliest days of our marriage we agreed that someday we'd live on a lake. 

dock construction October 2015

dock in place-October, 2015...way before the house was completed 

Hubs grew up on lakes and I'm all about a great view so we were totally simpatico in that department. My daughters both went to uni in the nearby town, which is how we discovered this little bit of paradise. 

home sweet home

It used to be something of a well kept secret, but word's out now so it's busier than when we arrived in 2015. Still beautiful though! 

Would I consider living somewhere else? I guess. I mean never say never. I imagine someday we'll move into something that requires less maintenance, but we'd probably stay nearby. Particularly now that we have a daughter and some of our grandchildren living in our same town. Our other daughter and grands are just a three hour drive from here, so this area makes sense. 

Plus it's beautiful. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

There are four Hodgepodges (counting today) between now and Easter so I think I'll post some throwback pics in my random space every Wednesday between now and then. 

Cheers to spring when little girls wore brand new coats that were a smidge too big or maybe just oversized on purpose? (hey, it was the 90's) and also completely precious...

Happy Wednesday and happy spring everyone! 

---

1. Sunshine & Books	2. Memorable Moments and Modest Missives
3. Wednesday Hodgepodge-Spring has Sprung	4. Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa
5. Lisa's Musings	6. Memphis Bridges: Wednesday Hodgepodge
7. Scriptor	8. Life As Kim.
9. TryingtoBloomWhereIamPlanted	10. ellen b. The Happy Wonderer
11. Carla from The River	12. Springing into the Hodgepodge
13. Kym @ A Fresh Cup of Coffee	14. Raindrops & Rainbows
15. Debby@ JustBreathe	16. Myra at Respice Prospice
17. Hodgepodge before I forget	18. Wendy's Waffle
19. Kirstin @ Loving Life Blog	20. Gattina
21. Always A Kansas Girl	22. Your Friend From Florida
23. Rachel @ Sunny Side

You are next... Click here to enter
This list will close in 3 days, 6 hrs, 20 min (4/1/2025 11:59 PM North America - Eastern Standard Time)

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

Weekend Chatter

Good Monday morning. I hope you had a nice weekend...here's how ours looked-

 

I spent most of Friday getting food prepped for a Saturday brunch with my sister and niece. I made a sausage and egg casserole and a new recipe that jumped out at me when I was scrolling the endless black hole known as the internet-Orange Cream Cheese Loaf. 

I'd say it's more cake than bread, but it was light, fresh, and tasty. I squeezed the orange for the juice which I think gave it that extra brightness. 

Did I take a picture of the loaf before I cut it?

No I did not. I was pretty slack in general in the photo department this weekend. I mean it was sunny and busy and I had family here and I don't always think about snapping a picture in the middle of living life. 

Also,  I'm gonna go ahead and say here that I'm cooked out right now. We had an easy taco dinner Friday night because one of the grands had T-ball practice and tacos seemed like something we could make and eat beforehand. I also stated for the record on Friday that I would not be cooking dinner on Saturday or Sunday. 

My sister and niece live a little over an hour from me but they hadn't had a chance to see Daughter1 and my son-in-law since they returned from their UK stint. Between the sickness and the travel and everyone's schedules and already full calendars it took a while to get a date on the calendar. 

I invited them for brunch and hubs made his famous hand crafted Bloody Marys and the sun shone and the kids were sweet. Pretty much a perfect afternoon. 

They stayed and visited for a while and we sat outside chatting and soaking up the sun.  After they left we watched basketball (Go VOLS!) and relaxed. There's a Korean restaurant in our tiny town that we hadn't tried yet, and who better to go to a Korean restaurant with than people who know and love the food? 

My middle grandson will tell you mandu is his favorite food and they order their beef bulgogi like the dining pros they are which is super cute. 

Hubs and I try to walk everyday in the neighborhood and I love the flowering trees whispering spring is here. 

Spring finds a way, right? 

Ans of course blooming things mean pollen and it's basically a cloud of yellow everywhere you turn, and we're not even to the worst of it yet. We press on. 

The boys all went to watch the Clemson baseball game on Sunday afternoon and my daughter and I settled in to watch the Ruby Franke story on Hulu (Devil In The Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke). Have you seen this? I never followed her online but millions did.  Several million actually. What a sad, strange story of our times. What a nightmare these children experienced and continue to live with. It's only three episodes so not a huge investment of time.

The guys had great seats for the baseball game and were on TV every other minute which was fun to see. Hubs texted and asked us to try to take a picture and I had to tell him we changed the channel because we were deep into the Ruby saga. 

The boys came in chattering (even the grown up boys) because it was probably the most exciting college baseball game ever with the hometown team pulling off a win at the last minute after being behind most of the game. 

More importantly I kept my promise and didn't cook dinner. Daughter1 threw together some pasta with tomatoes, garlic, basil, and Parmesan cheese and we had a small bowl of that which was just right. 

And that's the weekend in a nutshell. Or fourteen paragraphs. Whatever. It was nice and I hope yours was too! 

Linking today like I do every Monday, with Holly and Sarah for their weekend recap blog hop. Feel free to join the party! 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 595

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here on Wednesday (of course), March 26th. See you there! 

1. Spring has officially sprung (in the northern hemisphere anyway)...did she roll in more like a lion or more like a lamb in your neck of the woods? What needs more of your attention in terms of a good spring clean this year-your house or your garden/yard? 

2. What's put a spring in your step lately? 

3. When you were a kid, what was the best snack to find in your lunchbox? If you didn't do the lunchbox thing, tell us what was your favorite after school snack. 

4. In what area of your life are you planting seeds ? 

5. Why do you live where you do? Would you consider living somewhere else? Why or why not? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Lucky You! It's The Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post then leave a comment for the lucky blogger beside you there. Here we go...

1. I write the Hodgepodge questions so they'll post on Sunday, which sometimes throws me off in terms of what day it is. St. Patrick's Day will be celebrated on Monday, March 17th. Did you mark the day in some way? Wear green? Make a special meal? Watch or participate in a parade? 

We didn't watch or take part in any parades on Monday, but we did have a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage. I add carrot and red potatoes to mine and everyone here loves it. A once a year treat for sure. Did I wear green? Of course...

My 5-year old grandson wanted to snap our picture and he did a pretty good job. I literally handed him my phone and a nanosecond later he handed it back. Done. Not bad. 

2. Do you think luck plays a part in your life? Explain. 

Mostly I think we make our own luck in the form of setting goals and working hard to bring them to fruition. If we're talking cards or Mah Jong or a board game of some kind then I'd say yes, luck does indeed play a part. 

3. Of the 15 green foods listed, which one is your favorite and how do you like it prepared? Any on the list that are a hard no for you? In general do you like fruits and veggies? As a kid did you eat them willingly or did you hide peas in your napkin hoping your momma wouldn't see? 

Asparagus, avocado, broccoli, celery, cucumber, grape, green bean, kale, kiwi, lettuce, lime, 

pear, peas, pistachios, spinach

I like everything on that list, although kale is not my favorite. I prefer it in salads as opposed to cooked, but I'll eat it so nothing is a hard no.  

Not sure I can pick a favorite, but if I must I'll say green beans. I like them any way you want to fix them. Sauteed with some garlic, wrapped in bacon, cooked all day on the stovetop, or the Blue Lake variety straight out of a can...it's all good. 

Cucumbers are probably my second favorite on the list. I love a summertime cucumber-tomato salad and can't wait for summer produce in general.  I've always loved fruit of every kind, even as a child, but vegetables were a different story. Growing up I liked corn, green beans, and salad but not much else in terms of veg. Definitely no asparagus or spinach, both of which I love now. As an adult there aren't any vegetables I won't eat. 

4. What's something that makes you 'turn green'? (with envy or with illness... whichever way you want to take it)

Pretty much all forms of transportation can turn me green. Planes, boats, cars on curvy roads. Hubs likes to say there is no mode of transportation we've been on together where I haven't been green around the gills at some point. Ferries are the worst and I never go anywhere without Dramamine. 

Yes we have a boat. I'm good on the boat, especially if we're moving or anchored in a cove. I don't want to sit on 'the big water' and bob unless it's absolutely completely still. And as much as I love to travel you won't find me vacationing on a cruise ship. For a few reasons, but mostly it's the potential to be miserable from the motion. 

5. Did you spend a lot of time outdoors as a child? Doing what? Do you spend a lot of time outdoors now? Doing what? 

I feel like my sister and I were always outside. We would often take our indoor toys outside, Barbies especially, where we'd set up elaborate homes for them under a huge tree in the back yard. We also did lots of bike riding, jump roping, swinging as high as we could swing, and games of HORSE at our neighbor's basketball goal. We'd bring our crayons outside and sit and color on the porch, and we also  liked to lay in the grass and watch the clouds go by, make clover necklaces, and daydream. 

There was sledding, building snow forts, big snowball fights, and ice skating on the neighborhood duck pond in winter. Summertime found us at the pool every day and in the evenings all the neighborhood kids would gather in the middle of our street and play huge games of kick the can and hide and seek. 

I still enjoy being outdoors, swimming, hiking, walking, kayaking, and my favorite-porch sitting. Just keeping it completely real-ha! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Having the grands with us has meant exploring some of the local playgrounds. We went to one in a nearby park on Monday morning, and it was so pretty. There are Pickleball courts at the entrance to this particular park, which is as far as I'd ever been, but the playground area further back is nice and shady and sits right beside the water.

Hubs and I walked out on the dock there to watch the heron, who seemed unbothered by our presence...

Until he wasn't...

The park is huge and has an area for camping too. There's a great little camp store beside the playground  that was fun to browse, and we'll definitely come back and bring a picnic lunch next time. #lovewhereyoulive

Happy Wednesday everyone! 

---

1. Adventures In Websterland-Wednesday Hodgepodge	2. Memorable Moments and Modest Missives
3. Life As Kim.	4. Wednesday Hodgepodge
5. Lisa's Musings	6. Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa
7. the Wednesday Hodgepodge	8. Memphis Bridges: Wednesday Hodgepodge
9. Hodgepodge- March	10. Just Simply Linda
11. HodgePodge Wednesday - 3/19/2025	12. Not In Jersey
13. ellen b. The Happy Wonderer	14. Scriptor
15. Debby@ JustBreathe	16. Carla from The River
17. Tanya @ The Other Side of the Road	18. My Shasta Home
19. Cathy @ TCKK	20. Mrs. T at Across my Kitchen Table
21. Rachel @ Sunny Side	22. Raindrops & Rainbows
23. Kym @ A Fresh Cup of Coffee	24. A green hodgepodge
25. Gattina	26. Kirstin @ Loving Life Blog

This linky list is now closed.

Linky Tools  |  Linky Blog 2013

Top O' The Mornin' To Ya

Happy St. Patty's Day friends. Are you dressed appropriately? Everyone's a little bit Irish today, right? 

'May the grace of God's protection

and His great love abide

Within your home and within the hearts

of all who dwell inside'...an Irish blessing 

I do have some Irish in me and wore my green sweatshirt yesterday. The sleeves have big hearts at the elbow. Hubs and I have matching T's we'll wear today. He might not know we're gonna match, but we are. We have a call with our financial planner this afternoon and when we booked the time slot his admin reminded me to wear green. It's just a fun little tradition that's easy to do. 

My daughter bought a box of Lucky Charms for the kids to have for breakfast today, which is definitely a treat. Nana might have to indulge too. I'll be making my traditional once a year corned beef dinner with cabbage and red potatoes that we all enjoy, hubs will likely have a Guiness, and that's about the extent of our celebration this year. 

Let's talk weekend. Plus a day or two extra because I'm all over the place on my blog these days. 

Wednesday hubs and I had an appointment with our attorney in the nearby small big city. We've redone our wills and trust and needed to make it all official with our signatures, so we made a day date of it. Nothing says romance like signing your will, but it's good to have it done. 

It was a gorgeous day so we went to lunch at one of my favorite places right after. This little restaurant sits at the edge of a park and we asked for a table outside so we could soak up the sun.  

I had a yummy tomato basil soup with crusty bread and a lightly dressed salad. Hubs had a croque monsieur. The menu is French, and dining here makes me feel a little bit like I'm sitting in a European cafe. 

We walked through the park after lunch and stopped at a little dessert spot for a cup of gelato. It was breezy...

I had a mix of half strawberry-half marscapone, which essentially tasted like strawberries and cream and was super deliziosa. 

How many countries can I reference in a single post? 

Thursday we had a real estate errand to run and that took most of the morning, but at least it was a fun real estate errand. Stay tuned. 

Also, we're not moving. Carry on. 

Ain't no procrastination like tax procrastination, but I finally sent our organizer off to the accountant. Even mailing it was a headache. I drove to the post office that's a little further away because I wanted to stop at Publix on the way home and that was the direction I needed to go. I arrived at the post office and stood in line for fifteen minutes, only to finally get to the counter and discover I did not have my wallet. Bother. 

My daughter asked why I didn't just use Apple Pay, but technology is never my first thought and I was silently a little bit panicked wondering where in the world my wallet might be. I flew out of there and raced home. 

Which is where I'd left my wallet, but ugh. I had to go back  to the post office and stand in yet another line and I never made it to Publix. Once I got home we all loaded up in the car to take the birthday boy for his celebratory cone. 

I told the grands he would probably eat the whole thing in a single bite, two at most, but nope. He licked that cone like it was his last meal, and savored every bite. 

In other news, the little boy grands are playing baseball and you forget how completely inconvenient kids sport practice times are. Let me remind you...dinner time is when they are. And two different teams with zero overlap in the days and times so meal planning and execution has become a little more challenging. Thursday night hubs grilled two pork tenderloins so we would have leftovers for Friday night and that worked out well. 

The weather was fabulous and he made us pork fried rice on the griddle with the leftover meat, which was so good. 

He loves the view from his grill station. 

Saturday we did some chores around the house, watched some Tennessee basketball, and then hubs and I went over to our friend's house for dinner. He's Italian and made his family's recipe for braciole, which I'd never tried. He sent us home with some of the secret sauce and I need to figure out how to duplicate it. I think the sauce is key. 

We were supposed to have storms here overnight on Saturday into Sunday, but they mostly missed us. We did get some rain, which I'm happy about because rain this time of year helps bring the pollen down. We're entering prime pollen season here, and it's not my favorite. 

So what were you up to this weekend? Anything fun or productive? 

I'm linking this post today with Holly and Sarah and their weekly Hello Monday blog party. Hop over to share your own recap and read what other bloggers have to say. Sláinte!