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Wednesday, February 19, 2025

1. Many of our earliest presidents created words or expressions widely used today. Teddy Roosevelt is credited with mollycoddle, pack rat, frazzle, and loose cannon…which of those words/phrases currently relates to your life in some way? 

Probably frazzled at the moment. But, most people probably wouldn’t think that about me. Some of it is of my own making. But, I will figure it out.

2. Have you visited many (or any) of the US Presidents homes, monuments, libraries or related sites? If so what’s been your favorite? Are there any you particularly want to see? Here’s a link to presidential sites listed by state which is kind of fun to read-Presidential Places by State. And since several bloggers who participate in the HP each week live outside the US, here’s a link to Presidential Places Outside the US. Have you seen any of those? 

I actually think I have visited a lot of them. My parents took us on so many trips and then Tom and I took our kids to some of the homes in Virginia. We did Colonial Williamsburg and DC trips with our kids. We went to Mount Vernon and Monticello. I made them a t-shirt quilt of all of our trips from the time they were born until they were 14 and we made sure to get a shirt from each trip. Most were road trips where we went to several places on each trip. Age 14 was their first plane trip to Germany!

I definitely appreciated the homes more as an adult.

In my city we have the home of Lucy Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame. She was the sister of William Clark. The home is very close to my house. I love picturing what places were like back in the day.

3. February 20th is National Cherry Pie Day…will you celebrate? Given your choice of cherry pie, cherry cobbler, cheesecake with a cherry topping, or black forest cake which would you choose? 

I did not know this! I probably would never pick cherry over another flavor. I like the flavor but not the skin of the cherries in my dessert. Does that make sense?

4. Last time you worked a puzzle of some kind? Something that had you puzzled recently? 

I hate puzzles. Why is that fun? Also, the box shows you what it is going to look like. What’s the mystery?

Now, solving crimes – yes!

Also, I just got a card signed by someone and I realized it wasn’t that person’s handwriting. I realized whose it was. This sounds very dark, but it really wasn’t. Tom calls me Nancy Drew. I love solving mysteries. Not big mysteries. Just little daily ones like where someone ate lunch that day based on their non-descript take out cup. I think I’m good at noticing little details and then banking that information to be used later.

5. Of the early blooming flowers (January-early March depending on your zone) which one’s your favorite? 

snowdrops, lenten roses, pansies, violets, snapdragons, reticulated iris, crocus, winter jasmine

I have no idea what any of these look like!

Do you have any of these in your own yard/garden? 

No, I don’t. I basically only have one giant periwinkle blue hydrangea.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It’s Girl Scout cookie time. The Ghirardelli square is better than a Thin Mint. Even Tom loved it. He is the biggest Thin Mint fan I know. I heard them recommended by Melanie Shankle or else I never would have picked it on my own. By the way, my copy of Here Be Dragons arrives today. I’m excited to read it but I also think it could be very emotional for me.

Amy

26 thoughts on “Hodgepodge”

  2. I like solving little mysteries, too! I am a pretty good online sleuth! One of my college kids mentioned the first name of an individual who had asked the kid out on a date. Then my kid mentioned an activity that the person had been involved in during high school. One or two quick internet searches later, I asked my kid, “So the person’s last name is X?” and my kid was impressed with how quickly I found out that info!! That’s cool that your parents took you on a lot of road trips to see sights. I didn’t do that much as a kid and we didn’t do a whole lot of that with our kids. That’s neat about the T-shirt quilt!

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  3. Nothing with cherry for me either! LOL. I will eat fresh cherries when they’re in season but can’t stand them in or on baked goods. I do love a good puzzle though. The only two flowers from that list I can picture are crocuses and pansies but up here pansies are definitely a summer thing. We do see crocuses pop up in very early spring (often with snow still on the ground) along with daffodils that weirdly aren’t on the list but I don’t know any of these other flowers off the top of my head either.

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  4. I enjoyed your answers — especially the one about puzzles and solving mysteries!! We don’t work a lot of puzzles around our house either. If I work one, it is a much smaller one with the granddaughters. On another note, Mark nor I like chocolate and mint together.

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  5. I’m a bit of a sleuth when needed too. Is that a woman thing? The internet makes it too easy : ) I’ll look forward to hearing how you like the book. I haven’t read it yet. I think most of my ‘frazzle’ is my own doing too. I need to just buckle down and get it done. I did tick two things off the list yesterday and feel lighter for it. Have a nice day!

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    1. I think it is! it really does. I couldn’t put it down when it arrived. I ordered it because her relationship with her mother was a main theme – not because I needed help with the teen mean girl. My relationship with my mom was difficult. So, I was worried that it would make me more emotional but so far it’s ok.
      It’s been hard for you to get things done with grands around, I’m sure.

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  8. I hope you are feeling less frazzled soon.
    Ahh! I get it, I am not a fan of the skins of cherries either.
    I thought girl scout cookies was just a thing on TV shows and movies! I would love to try the Thin Mint one, I’ve heard so much about them!

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  9. I’m not a fan of cherry skins either, in fact most of the foods I dislike it’s usually due to the texture as much as the flavour. I do love a puzzle though and my go to reads are usually crime stories so usually some mystery involved.

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  11. Goals for this month include trip planning, deep house cleaning and cleaning out clothes in my closet that don’t fit or that I don’t wear. Have you tried the Zachary thin mints from the Dollar Tree thar come in a green box? They are so good!!

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  12. When I make anything with cherries as a topping, I always give them away. I wonder if it’s the skins for me, too. I haven’t visited many Presidential homes, but we love going to Mary Todd Lincoln’s home. Ha!! Nothing is coming up here! The high today won’t break 20!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com

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  13. I just saw a news story that girl scout cookies are made by two different cookie companies/bakers. They showed the two different thin mints and they looked completely different. Apparently, they tasted different too! So the Thin Mints you know and love may be different from what someone in another region knows. And I’m with you on the puzzles.

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  14. I’m glad we’ve taken our kids to quite a few places – both fun and educational. Your thoughts on puzzles 😂😂we went from having 500 boxes of cookies in my basement to almost forgetting to order some this year! Our haul will be here soon. Peanut butter patties are my fave.

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  16. Weird, I was typing and lost everything. So basically you’d be perfect in a cozy mystery. I enjoyed your answers. We have a couple that always buy several boxes of GS cookies for us gals at work. It’s the only time I eat them. I did a puzzle once that did NOT show the photo of the puzzle. You had to read and try to solve a mystery as you did the puzzle.

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