Yes, I will keep using this photo!

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

It’s Wednesday and Hodgepodge day with Joyce!

My sisters and I doing a “skit” in the 90s

1. What do you like most about your family? 

We love to laugh and there are some really funny people in my family! Did you catch my kids’ funny things post last week? My Dad loved to laugh and joke, and my sisters and I laugh together so much. I think we value humor quite a bit. Tom and I laugh together, and we think we produced some funny kids. I have some funny nieces and nephews, too. We are either laughing at you or with you! That causes problems sometimes, too, if you are the butt of the joke.

I also have some very creative people in my family, and I have always valued creativity, too.

2. What’s something nice that’s happened to you recently? 

I got to retire! Ha!

I had fun on the first day of school in my district!

It’s still so weird! I am on an emotional rollercoaster most days flipping between feeling so free and lucky to questioning my life’s purpose and how I got to this age/stage so quickly.

3. Do you like the color orange? Besides a pumpkin and an actual orange, what’s something orange you love?

I love the color orange! I have a few orange pieces of clothing, I love an orange sky, I like orange in decor sometimes. I like orange candy! I like orange mimosas a lot! I like aperol spritzes! Orange is a happy color to me.

At my friend Erica’s birthday, I wore an orange/salmon dress and it matched my orange aperol spritz.

4.  What’s something you have now you couldn’t have imagined having five years ago? How does that make you feel? What’s possible now because of it? 

Time. I have more time. It is a gift to have more time at home now. It makes me feel a bit unanchored at times. I remember reading blogs of people who didn’t work or didn’t work full time and just feeling so envious. I am figuring it out and trying to give myself grace. I am a stay-at-home dog mom right now. I am a trophy wife. Ha! But seriously, I have always had to be so organized with me time and now I can slow down. What’s a First-Born Type A to do?

5. Let’s wrap this one up with an October this or that…

  • pumpkin bread or apple cider donut – I just picked the bread, but I don’t think I have had a really good cider donut.
  • cozy sweater or cozy hoodie – I am not a big hood person.
  • apple picking or pumpkin picking – Neither. How about wine picking in a vineyard?
  • scary movie or Hallmark movie – Hallmark movie – My job was scary enough.
  • hay ride or corn maze – Hay ride. I have gotten lost in a corn maze. It’s terrifying. Have you seen Children of the Corn? I’m from Indiana. Enough said.
  • twinkle lights or candles – I like both but fire over electricity, you know?
  • autumn hike or autumn bonfire – I like both, but I love sitting by a fire. I love the smell of fire on the crisp fall air.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It’s so exciting that it is feeling like fall! I tried to take an aesthetically pleasing photo in my new boots and my new burgundy Old Navy skirt!

I have not bought any more pumpkins (just have the two snowball baby pumpkins) or mums. I am enjoying seeing the fall displays around town but maybe I am ok with not buying and killing mums this year. Lol. I do so love watching the squirrels eat the pumpkins, though.

Amy

28 thoughts on “Hodgepodge”

  1. I haven’t bought any mums or pumpkins this year either. I’m enjoying seeing everyone else’s but also not having to worry about frost and keeping them watered has been nice. I have gotten lost in a corn maze a time or two also and some of them are SO large! Now I mostly *cheat* as I take a photo of the map and pretty much always know where I am inside.

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  2. I can see how you feel a bit unanchored at times but I´m sure that overall it´s a huge blessing to be retired! I like being semi employed/semi retired! I ¨get¨ to work sometimes and when I choose. It´s the best of both worlds though the paychecks are small, lol. Have a great day!

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    1. Yes! You have the perfect set up! I feel like it’s too soon to sub in my school and that is the only place I could see myself subbing. But, I also think I could be swept back into the drama.

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  4. It would be a big adjustment going from your scheduled day to having all the time! It seems like you’re doing great though and I bet before long you’ll find some things to fill at least some of the time. I think busy people keep busy!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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  5. Yes to Orange! It is a happy color for me too 🙂 Love your pic of you “not going back to school.” Such a special time which I am sure feels so bittersweet!

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  6. That really made me smile that your family is full of laughs and jokes.
    It must be so strange having all that extra time now that you have retired, it sounds like you are enjoying it though.
    Ohh! Wine picking in a vineyard sounds much more fun that picking apples or pumpkins! hehehe

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  7. I loved your answers! The gift of time is truly a gift. I miss the time I used to have sometimes, but I also don’t dwell on what was…or at least I try not to do that. I love that aesthetically pleasing photo! I have no live pumpkins this year and no plants on my porch. I never even got around to painting my front door or changing my porch to fall. Who am I? I’ll do this soon, though, because Christmas is going up early, early in November!!

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  8. My mums are still with me. Usually they’re burnt up by this point, but we’ve had the right weather (and remembered to water every day) so they’re still pretty. Time management can be a challenge in retirement when you’re used to efficiency and schedules and check lists. I still need a bit of a schedule as I hate feeling unmoored all the time. Have a great day!

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    1. That’s great! It has been the right weather for mums this year and I didn’t get any – go figure!
      Yes! I am finding a weekly rhythm, but it does take time.

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  10. Hosted a wedding shower for my niece this weekend and we had mimosas. So good! I do have to say I miss old fashioned punch that everyone used to make for showers. The gift of time is a great answer!! So glad you have it now!

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  11. I retired in 2015 from teaching after 33 years. Hub and I had plans to travel. Life threw me a couple of horrible snowballs…hub passed away from colon cancer and a year later daughter (who was a pharmacist) passed away; she had a heart defect. I was going stir crazy and I mean CRAZY! To my surprise, a principal from another school , but in the same district called and asked if I would be interested in a part-time teaching job. Without hesitation I said, YES!!! I only teach Monday-Wednesday.

    I, too, like the color orange.

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  12. Time at home really is a gift. I know some may find it boring, but I can always find something to do whether that is a productive task or a fun hobby for myself. Enjoy!

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  14. love your boots. Congrats on retiring. My aunt and uncle own a vineyard and wine tasting room in Ohio (though they just decided to close it and retire), but I went out one October and helped pick the harvest and process the grapes. Such a cool experience. I enjoyed your answers.

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