Wednesday, May 27, 2026

It’s Hodgepodge with Joyce day!

1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

I used to think “Amy” was too common but now I either just never think about it, or I had more people calling me “mom” or “Señora” than “Amy”. I think it fits me. It’s short which I like, and I think it’s kind of a happy name. It means “beloved”. The verb in Spanish to love is “amar”. My middle name is Elizabeth. My niece Lena was named after me “Lena Elizabeth”.

I was Amy W. growing up and there was another Amy W. who was my friend, Amy Wooden. We had sleepovers, were in the same girl scout troop, were both cheerleaders. She was also my competition. She accidentally won the typing award instead of me because the teacher couldn’t keep us straight. I really wanted that award because I loved typing. I could type 128 words a minute and my fingers would do imaginary typing while I read books. You could say I’m still disgruntled over it.

When I would call home I would say, “Dad, it’s Amy” and he would say “Amy Wooden?” That’s a sweet memory.

I am not named after anyone.

Choosing twin boys names was difficult because we had to choose four names! Also, Tom was opinionated and I had taught so many kids by that time and some names had bad connotations.

We decided on “James Jackson” as James was a family name on both sides and “William Mason” as my maiden name was Williams and Tom’s German grandfather was Wilhelm/William. Mason was a family friend that Tom knew. Tom wanted to call them “Jimmy Jack” and “Willie Mac” but I vetoed that.

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one…which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

I think I would have to go with red velvet. I might pick fruit pizza – crescent roll dough, white frosting, blueberries and strawberries. I bought stuff to make it for Memorial Day but didn’t end up making it.

3.  What’s a job you’d like to try for just one day? 

I would like to be a nail polish color namer for one day.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

I didn’t go search for it for Memorial Day so I will for 4th of July and I will put it up early. I love red, white, and blue all year ’round anyway.

5. It’s the end of May, so let’s exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

I went back to my blog media for May to do this; I had 348 photos in the month of May!

M- Markets (farmer’s), Mah Jong, Mother’s Day, Mad Mabel (favorite book of May)

A – About and Out/Out and About – I went to a new bakery, a new provisions place where I found my new fave pimento cheese, new Mexican restaurant, new little shop, and had a patio lunch with Mason at a relatively new place. One of my April goals was going to new places and I carried that over to May.

Y – Yippee! We took the boat out once before the rains and high river came and I was thrilled that EO did well. We will see if that continues. It could have been beginner’s luck for this season.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

If you rearrange “May” it can be “Amy”. Mind blown? Way to tie up this whole hodgepodge, no?

Amy

14 thoughts on “Hodgepodge”

  1. We struggled to name our kids too since my husband was very opinionated (especially when it came to boys’ names)… and then yeah a lot of the names he’d suggest I’d negatively associate with one of the boys I had in my class at the time and just could not. It was a good thing we had 9 months!

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  2. Your Amy Wooden story reminds me of when Jacob played basketball. Boys had to try out for teams in elementary school and kids got cut (it was a big school…). One day after the teams were posted, a dad noticed his son was not on any of the teams and he went to the director and was like, “there’s no way my son didn’t make one of the teams.” Which was kind of audacious because his was certainly decent but not incredible at basketball. Anyway, it turns out he was right. They’d put a boy’s name on a team whom they’d meant to cut- they meant to put the complaining dad’s boy on the team. The two boys had the same first name and they put the wrong one on the roster! So they added the complaining dad’s boy to the team with the kid who had the same name. It sounds like you didn’t get so lucky with your name mix up – you just didn’t get the reward. That stinks! Your dad asking if it was Amy Wooden is precious!! Have a great day!

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  3. This made me laugh! Where is Amy Wooden now? Have you kept up with her or did you part ways after she stole the typing award?

    Also, Jimmy Jack and Willie Mac – hahahahahaha!

    A nail polish namer for a day? I think you’d do a great job!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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    1. Amy Wooden is a doctor in California! I guess she won! She is married and has two boys, too. I guess she is still married. We talked online several years ago. She doesn’t have family in the hometown anymore and hasn’t been to any reunions.

      They could have been a country duo.

      Thank you! I’d pick some really weird names!

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  4. You win best post wrap up : ) My younger sister is Amy and I’ve always liked the name. My mom loved it and my dad thought it was a little too ‘modern’ but he was overseas when she was born so my mom won the name game lol. My hubs also had opinions too, and being a teacher is definitely a hardship when it comes to naming children. Do parents know how much their little ones influence the way we feel about a name??? I knew I’d never have a Jared! Another rainy day here. I need sun!

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    1. Thank you! Haha! It was a Little Women name so it’s actually an older name but it seems like a vibrant and fun name to me, I guess.
      It really is! I adored a kid named Jeb but Tom wasn’t having that name.
      Haha – poor Jared.
      Oh goodie – we have storms thrown in today, too!

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  5. Yes, That is the best random note to end a blog ! It was the month of Amy! I love that sweet memory with your dad.

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  6. I love your name and it does suit you. I do miss the Senora stories for sure! So cool that Amy and May are really the same- knew I liked you! 🙂

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  7. I like the name Amy, there was quite a few when I was at school. That did make me chuckle about the typing award. Ohh! Naming nail polish would be a fun job and I love what you did for question 5.

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  8. I love your name, and I agree that it fits you. I think Jenn fits me better than my full name, and I feel like it’s short and happier. I loved hearing about your sons’ names as well! Both are great names…do they mind being called by their middle names? I have heard this answered both ways…some don’t mind, others do. And did you always call them those middle names? These are things that fascinate me. I think you had a very full and fun May! You did a great job of being out a lot doing the things that bring you joy. You’re getting the hang of this whole retirement thing!

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