Wednesday Hodgepodge

I was drawing a mental block for a post today - even "What I'm Loving Wednesday" wasn't bringing anything new to the table, I think my list would look the exact same as last week, and mostly would've been about Harvey, which I rambled about yesterday - so I decided to answer the Wednesday Hodpodge questions!

1. What does retirement mean to you? Are you planning for it, not thinking about it, looking forward to it, or dreading it?

Retirement isn't something I think about much, even though I love the idea of it.  I mean, it's fun to daydream, but I'm only 32, and I know I have many years of work ahead of me.  Thinking about it would only make me sad that it's still so far away.  And until I get smart about saving money and planning seriously for retirement, I'm not even sure it's something I should daydream about.  No point in getting excited about it.

2. It’s International Guitar Month…do you play? Does anyone in your family play? What’s a song you especially like to hear played on the guitar or a favorite song featuring the guitar?

I do play guitar!  Well, I don't pick it up very often anymore, which is sad, but I can play, somewhat.  We have a few guitar players in the family.  I always loved it when my dad played, which was a rare and special occasion. My cousin Troy was the one who inspired me to pick it up; I idolized him when it came to playing guitar and singing.  I don't even hold a candle to how good he was.  (He passed away the summer of 2010.)  I'd give anything to hear Troy play "Free Fallin'" again. Or hear Dad sing "The Green Green Grass of Home".

3. What’s your comfort food?

I have a lot of comfort foods. lol  One of the main ones is macaroni, tomato soup & cheez whiz.  When I want to feel cozy and comforted, I will make it.  It's a warm reminder of childhood.  And any kind of pasta-type, cheesey casserole is comfort to me, really.

4. What’s one activity or area of your life where you absolutely never procrastinate?

I guess I would have to agree with incognitus scriptor's answer and say that I don't procrastinate on getting somewhere when I'm supposed to.  I don't like being late.  If anything, I try to be early.  Even if it's for something I'm not excited about.  Everything else... well, I'm a procrastinator, so while I do like to stick to my routine, sometimes things just don't happen when they're supposed to!

5. Who does the grocery shopping in your house? Does your local store bag the groceries for you or is it a do-it-yourself kind of place? Do you like someone packing your groceries?

I live alone, so I do all my own grocery shopping obviously.  The grocery stores I go to in our area usually do bag them for me.  Sometimes, if they're busy, I'll help.  And I do also try to sort things out on the conveyor belt in the order I want them to be packed in.

6. What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen in nature?

Hmm... I have to give this some thought!  The only thing I can think of at the moment was back in December, right before the holidays- it was unseasonably (and depressingly) warm here, and just a few days before Christmas, I saw a frog hopping down the road near my workplace when I went for my walk at noon. My jaw literally dropped and I stopped to watch him.  Wished I had my camera.  Frogs are usually long gone by December...

7. Share a favorite quote about home.

I looked up some quotes, but the first thought that came to mind were the lyrics to Bon Jovi's "Who Says You Can't Go Home", so I'll go with that - and yes, I changed it to "girl" so that it applies to me!!:

With every step I take I know that I'm not alone.
You take the home from the girl, but not the girl from her home.
These are my streets, the only life I've ever known.
Who says you can't go home?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

My Keurig decided to go wackadoodle on me this morning, and it did not make me happy.  My Keurig rarely causes me any kind of trouble, but I think this morning I had a faulty K-Cup.  My travel mug is too big to fit into the machine, so I filled a regular coffee cup, then poured it into the travel mug, and discovered a thick sludge of coffee grounds had come out.  Blech.  And the machine showed it was "Brewing" long after it had stopped.  I had to shut the machine off, turn it back on, run a cycle of water through it, before finally getting my cup of joe.  Such a pain.  And my morning schedule is set right to the minute, so this little set-back held me up about five minutes.  I made a decision not to let it set the tone for my day, though.  Sometimes when hiccups like that happen, they can ruin a whole day, but I'm not letting that happen!!