Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Today I am linking up with Jenn for Currently and Joyce for Hodgepodge. Let’s go!

Currently loving…

The season we are in. I am really trying to savor it and enjoy it.

I love a yard full of leaves! We are team “leave them alone for a long time” over here. It warmed up a bit on Monday, and I was able to enjoy the sunshine and the view.

Either Tom or I have been turning on the patio lights with Alexa in the mornings. This is Eddie Otis waiting for Tom to come out the side garage door after returning home from the gym at 6:15. Every morning I think how beautiful it looks.

I’m also loving thoughtful gifts…

Mason gave me this for my birthday along with a headache hat you keep in the freezer:

Jack gave me a replacement bird feeder with squirrel defense to replace my feeder that was 25 years old and broken. Awwww!

Currently looking forward to…

I’m one of those people that doesn’t like to rush the Christmas season. I like to stay in fall and Thanksgiving mode. Sometimes I decorate the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so that – poof – after Thanksgiving it is a Christmas wonderland.

I am looking forward to cozy time at home with my family and some of the aspects of the holiday. I need to work on my holiday bucket list! I stopped my fall list at Thanksgiving.

The holiday open houses literally star now!

Currently smelling…

I love smelling the remnants of a fire and we have a neighbor with an indoor/outdoor fireplace. I usually smell it on the early morning playground walks with EO. Such a good smell!

I’m also smelling my vanilla pumpkin candle right now!

Currently preparing for…

I have already started shopping a bit. I have my ideas written down. I have already bought advent calendars and pajama pants.

Currently thankful for…

So much. I guess most on my mind is that we got an offer on my mom’s house and hopefully the process will go smoothly. The inspection report is due back any time now.

1. Besides Thanksgiving, something on your November calendar you’re looking forward to? 

I am looking forward to a couple of nights out – a dinner, a concert, and I hope to go to all the fun holiday open houses in different shopping centers and neighborhoods.

2. Dictionary.com’s word of the year is ‘6-7’. Huh? 

This may be dumber than “skibidi Ohio” and I am so glad I retired before the kids started saying this in school. It would have been fun to say “seis siete” once maybe. The high school kids might not have been as bad as middle schoolers with saying “6-7”, though.

Is it even a word??? I had to consult the internet to find out it’s meaning because apparently I’m old and this particular slang is not part of my vocabulary. Is it part of yours? According to the article I read, it’s a viral term, more of an inside joke with an unclear meaning driven by social media.

I have lost all respect for dictionaries everywhere that are accepting this. No wonder we are dumbing down society.

What do you think? 

Dictionary. com says it’s selection each year is a ‘linguistic time capsule reflecting social trends and events, but they also admitted to being confused by ‘6-7’. Some say it means so-so and is sometimes accompanied by the up and down hand motion we associate with the phrase so-so.

No. Just no.

What word do you think would have made a better choice? 

Skibidi Ohio.

3. What’s a food, trend, activity, or thing people love but you think is just so-so? 

Top Golf.

Buying yogurt with toppings for $$$.

Going out for ramen. Isn’t it like 50 cents at home?

Lol.

4. Are you a tea drinker? Hot or cold? How do you like yours and at what time of day? Do you like flavored teas or teas billed as calming, energizing, healing, etc? 

I like hot tea in the afternoon because I don’t want to give up my morning coffee habit. I like English breakfast, green, Early Grey, Bengal spice, vanilla chai – I don’t love the more floral notes. I don’t want to drink hot potpourri, you know?

I love iced tea every now and then but I prefer unsweetened and then I doctor it up a bit. Sweet tea is too sweet!

5. The November Hodgepodge has always included a weekly gratitude question. Here’s the question for today-what are three things that make your heart sing? 

Spending time with family and friends.

Being outside in nature.

A good book, a good movie, a good show, and watching talented people do their thing.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I am so happy for the people in warm weather climates to have nice weather now! The Texas and Florida people are so happy!

Amy


29 thoughts on “Currently Hodgepodge”

  1. Don’t get me started on dictionaries! Many of them have gone off the deep end with regard to cultural topics that deny reality. (Many dictionaries are team anti biology and reality with regard to their definition of say, “women.”) So, honestly 6-7 being the word of the year tracks. I hear 6-7 a lot at school and completely ignore it. Your birthday gifts are so nice and thoughtful! Agree that it’s nice this time of year for those in Texas and Florida. I’d also add Arizona to that list as I just read a blog post from someone from there who mentioned how nice it was to spend time outside now! 🙂 Have a great day!

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    1. I had to tell my students that so many Spanish words were cognates but that they didn’t know them because our vocabulary was so weak.
      Like coquettish – coquetear
      I taught them English!
      Thank you – I agree!
      I don’t think I could live in any of those states since I like cool weather the best.

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  2. Such lovely, thoughtful gifts! I’m pretty sure my fall bucket list didn’t include anything Christmas either but I tend to push off thinking about Christmas much until after Thanksgiving. I mean I like to know who we’re buying for and have some tentative plans laid out about who we’ll see when but that’s about it. I absolutely do think we are dumbing down society… my boys never picked up on any of the current slang/saying or even the fads like fidget spinners and specific waterbottle brands and to me that was kind of a bonus of homeschooling. Some of those fad things can get so darn annoying so fast.

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    1. I agree. I don’t like rushing Christmas so I like that. Totally dumbing down society! My kids never were brand conscious and I loved that. That is a real upside to homeschooling. My kids went to public school but were nerds and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Debate team, academic team, musical, choir, etc.

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  3. I agree with you about dumbing us down through our language. I can’t imagine this particular slang lasting. I always order my iced tea half and half and most places are happy to mix sweet and unsweet. I can’t drink it as super sweet as most of it is here. We usually decorate Thanksgiving weekend. We’ll be home so will likely get started then. You got some nice birthday gifts. We don’t have regular bird feeders here due to bears loving them, but we have hummingbird feeders (we just packet them up) and we have a bluebird house that stays busy. The bears don’t bother it for some reason. Have a great day!

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  6. I am loving this season too, we have a good mix of warmer days and then cold, wet days where it’s nice to get cosy at home. Your patio is so pretty!
    What lovely gifts!
    It sounds like you have some great plans for November.
    I feel the same about flowery teas, they just don’t taste good to me.

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  7. I love all the answers to the prompts! I always think of you when the leaves fall; I like them to stay on the ground as well. I like the crunch and the look of them, and I feel like Jonah’s dogs love playing in them! I also agree with you on not drinking hot potpourri…and when I drink tea, I prefer it to be a normal tea and not floral. Speaking of all of this tea, I need to buy some to replace what I finished last year. Happy Wednesday!

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    1. Yes! Oh, that is so cute. EO doesn’t seem to care about the leaves much.
      I recommend Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice since you said you like chai. It’s at regular groceries and like $3 a box. You too!

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  8. I have to admit that I would’ve loved to get your take on the 6 7 thing in high school and your ways of getting creative with the Spanish language- ha! So much to be thankful for- thanks for the little reminders 🙂

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  9. You are so right about all of your things that are ‘so-so”. My family loves Top Golf but I do tend to just watch when I’m there. I was a caddy for my first job when I was 14 and I’ve disliked golf ever since. I also agree with the sentiment on Ramen- I know that is still less than a dollar, and when I was young it was about ten cents lol. And you couldn’t be more right about the yogurt places. When your 12 year old piles two pounds worth of toppings on it and a cup of ice cream is ten dollars-that’s just not right to pay for yogurt and gummy bears!

    I’m also thankful for the reminder of advent calendar! I make one for my kids each year and I need to get to work on that! I hope you have a wonderful November, it was fun reading your post today!

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    1. Thank you! I tried Top Golf one time and that was enough. I will watch and eat and drink if someone wants to go. I guess other people don’t understand me spending $12 on a glass of wine but that is what I enjoy when I can have a happy hour with a friend.
      Oh, you make them! How cool!

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  10. Your number 4 made me laugh! I would prefer the taste of tree bark-cinnamon. We will start Christmas decorating around the 15th. Right now my house is in full autumn mode.

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  11. 100% do not decorate until the week of Thanksgiving. We finally have the most perfect weather in the midwest and I refuse to rush it.

    Those are thoughtful presents from your boys! Good job!

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    1. Same. Also, my decorating is an hour-long affair and not a day’s long affair. I love this time of year so much! I will not stop talking about it!
      Thank you – I was impressed.

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  12. I am soaking up every minute I can outside! Just let me know if you get tired of me talking about the weather…ha, ha! I love that picture of EO in the leaves. We usually decorate for Christmas around Thanksgiving. Hope you’re having a wonderful Wednesday.

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    1. Me too! Never! If the sun is out – I am headed out to read. Mason suggested I use Tom’s heater to be able to read outside longer. I’m such a minimal decorator now that I can do it in about an hour. I like twinkle lights and greenery the most.

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  13. Oh, this is such a good post! I love the smell of leaves, crushed or burning! At our house up north, we had over an acre and it was heavily wooded. It would take us weeks to get all the leaves raked and gone so we honestly could just let them lay. Now, I have five spindly little trees. The leaves literally just blow away. I think I love the scent of fall best of all. I’ve never heard of 6-7…now, I’m going to have to ask my grands! I’ve also never had ramen at a restaurant, but I’d like to try it. I don’t decorate for Christmas until at least the first week of December. I try to leave it up through Epiphany, but I’m usually ready for it to be down before then.

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. Thank you! It’s a great smell! That is huge and I would just let them lay. It’s really good for the ecosysytem to leave them I read.
      I dare you to say 6-7 to your grandkids.
      “Hey guys, would you like 6-7 cookies? “

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