Joining In On The Hodgepodge.

I see a few of my blog friends do a Wednesday Hodgepodge and I love reading them and have always loved doing surveys.  Today I jumped to read the blog from the original creator Joyce and decided to join in as well.  Maybe I can make this a weekly thing, as I'm always trying to find new and fun things to add to this monotonous blog of mine.  So here we go.  Thanks Joyce for putting this on the blogging world and I hope you don't mind me jumping in.  

 

1. What are three words you would use to describe your 2025? 

Content.  Frustrating.  Lazy.  Contentment was my 2025 word for the year and I learned to be content with what I have but I was also lazy and unmotivated.  I was also feeling a lot of frustration for things that were happening in my life and with my family but those days of 2025 are behind me and now I'm moving onto a better, more focused and a more motivated self in 2026.  

2. I ask this question every January, and I always get comments about how we shouldn't be banning words. This is fun and games so just play along : ) 

Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness (go here to read about how the words are chosen). Here's the list for 2026- 

67 • demure • cooked • massive • incentivize • full stop • perfect • gift/gifted  • my bad • reach out 

Which one (if any) do you use most often? I don't use any of these words but I do catch myself saying 6 7 a lot but that's only to explain how annoying kids are these days with that phrase.  

Which one of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why?  I would most definitely say 6 7.  As a school van driver I hear the teens say it every single day.  They even look for things on the road that have 6 7 on a sign or license plate and get hysterical.  I'm told it's a demonic thing and I wish it would go away.  I didn't mind it at first but now I'm like, "Okay, guys, there's really no point to this."  

Is there a word you think should have made the list? There are so many kids say these days that my husband and I don't understand.  I can't think of anything else off the top of my head but I'm sure I'll hear my daughter say something tonight and then I'll let you know.  

3. What are your nightly rituals? Is that different from your 'ideal' nightly ritual? If so what's your ideal? I get a shower and put on my comfy pajamas.  If I haven't done so earlier in the day I'll read my devotional.  My husband and I get comfy in bed and watch a little television before going to sleep.  Sometimes he rubs my feet because he's sweet like that.  Not too much of a ritual person and I'm not sure I have an ideal one.  

4. January 6th is/was National Bean Day. Do you like beans? Which one is your favorite? Last thing you ate made with beans?  I like beans except for chickpeas and lima beans.  I don't make them anymore because they aren't good on my husband's stomach but I do like baked beans, especially in a chili.  

5. Are you easily embarrassed? Elaborate. I'm sure I've been in an embarrassing situation before but aside from peeing my pants in the early years of elementary school I can't really recall any recent moments.  I think because I've learned not to care what others think and if I do something stupid I usually just laugh along with everyone else.  

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I've enjoyed my very first Hodgepodge and hope to do more as the year goes on.  I used to join in another blogger's Happy Homemaker Monday and I should get back into that, too.  It's not only fun to add something consistent to my page but it gives an opportunity to meet other bloggers and I love having new blogs to read.  It's nice being able to read the thoughts of others and see how people from all over the country/world live.  I've met a lot of great people in the blogging community who either share the same lifestyle or live an entirely different way than I do.  

Rest and Reset 2025/26

 And just like that, our Christmas vacation has ended.  It was a wonderful twelve days of not having to wake up early and rush out the door.  It was a time of rest and reflection.  Poor Brianna was sick the entire time and when we finally found an available doctor appointment she was diagnosed with bronchitis and given antibiotics.  

It's the first Monday of the new year but before we get into that let's do a little recap of our time off.  

Wednesday night and Sunday morning church services.  

A visit from Santa

Lots of rest

Craft time

More rest 

Ringing in 2026 in the living room 

More rest

Putting together jigsaw puzzles has always been fun for me and I did manage to get a new one bought and complete  

And after not doing much of anything we took a quick trip south into Maryland to walk around a mall.  Got into a minor fender bender in the parking garage but all is good.  I left the mall with a new calendar to hang in the kitchen and a belly filled with Auntie Anne's pretzels.  

The first book of my reading goal for 2026 was one I picked out online at Amazon and finished it in just a few hours.  It's called After Auschwitz and it's a historical book written by a WWII Holocaust survivor.  Verushka Roth (Yehudit is her Hebrew name) begins to tell the story of her happy childhood in Czechoslovakia until she is taken to Auschwitz at the age of 13.  She is told to lie about her age, which eventually is what saves her life.  She stays beside her mother but is separated from her brother and father.  She talks about the gruesome experiences while at camp and then talks about life after.  The story is filled with so much loss and heartbreak.  If you're into reading historical non-fiction I do recommend this book but make sure you have a box of tissues close by.  

 

And today, the first Monday of the new year and the first day we are back to the grind.  The Christmas decorations have been boxed up and stored back into the attic waiting to make another appearance in 11 months and the house is put back together.  The morning began with the sounding of that dreadful alarm.  After tossing and turning during what felt like a long night, I stepped out of bed and into the kitchen where I made a cup of coffee.  I dressed, woke Bri up to get ready for school, gave hubby a kiss goodbye and off I went.  I had all four boys for their school but my elementary school girl didn't make it because she is sick.  When I arrived home I started some laundry, will continue some housework, figure out menu planning and grocery shopping for the week and squeeze in my Bible reading and work out.  

Winter time should be a time of rest and I plan on making it that way this season.  We could take a lesson from nature.  Certain animals hibernate and all the trees, flowers and plants wither away.  As humans, we should use this time for stillness and reflection.  Of course, our economy requires us to work, and having kids means we always have something to do, but aside from that, I'll be at home cozying up from the bitter weather and relaxing my mind.  New life will come back and bring a busy season in the spring but for now ... rest.  Then, reset.  

Happy New Year

 Happy New Year!  We did it!  I cannot believe we are now in 2026.  The year my son graduates high school and goes off to college.  The year I wish didn't have to come so quickly.  But a year where God will be at the center of every decision and every goal.  If it isn't from Him I don't want it.  

Last night we went to the Wednesday night church service, specially focused on the upcoming year and how we can use this time to ask God to show us what changes we need to make in our lives.  There was also Communion.  I love this church so much, and more importantly than that, I love the closer I've been getting to the Lord.  When we got home my kids turned on the final two-hour episode of Stranger Things, something they had been eagerly waiting for.  My husband made his delicious chicken dip to be devoured with tortilla chips and I made some pigs in a blanket, chicken wings and some other things.  We also had some store bought cup cakes.  It was all unhealthy but that's how we've been ending each year and that's okay with us.  In the last few minutes we tuned in to wait for the ball to drop in New York City, gave my husband the traditional kiss and went to bed.  So long 2025, you were good to me!  

New Year's Day begins a clean slate and a fresh start with better eating, more movement and a continued commitment to serve the Lord.  We also woke up to snow on the ground from an early morning snow squall.  The day began with making the family some cinnamon rolls (okay, maybe not off to such a healthy start), reading day 1 of the Bible in a Year plan on the Bible app (something my son invited us all to join him in doing) and later I'll read a new devotional my husband gifted me with.  It has my name but it's not me.  

I spent 25 minutes on the treadmill which took me to one mile and drank more water than I usually do.  Can I keep this up?  Well, that's the plan.  

I also snuggled up on the couch with the dog and took a little unexpected nap.  

A pork roast sits in the crockpot for dinner, but no sauerkraut because the husband and kids do not like that.  

I set a record of having a total of 82 posts on this blog in 2025.  Can I make it more for 2026?  We'll see.  It's never an intentional number I'm after.  

I'm looking forward to seeing all the Lord has for me this year; the good and the bad.  I also wish many blessings for you, friends.  I'm grateful to those of you who consistently stop by to read my mumblings.  There are more posts to come ... 

Determined

 I don't hear many people talk about what their New Year's resolutions will be for 2026 and maybe that's because we've all reached a point in understanding that the desires we set are most likely going to fade away in a few months anyway.  Even so, I'm feeling determined.  I mean, really determined.  

Determined to set goals and determined to see through to them being accomplished no matter how bored, tired or defeated I may feel.  The years really do go by so fast and it feels like it was just yesterday that the ball dropped on 2025 and now here I am several pounds heavier, nothing completed as planned, and no book yet to be published.  I don't want to feel the same way I do now when 2027 arrives.  I have no excuse for my weight gain other than laziness.  As I work to drop those pounds, it won't be for the sake of vanity but for health (I know, I've said that before, right?).  I also strive to do more with my faith.  Nothing else makes me feel so much joy and peace than when I'm both reading the Bible and praying.  I'm setting goals to do it more.  My son, who is also growing strong in faith, told us he wants to do a family Bible study every week and I think that will be great for all four of us to hold each other accountable.  He also shared a daily devotional on the Bible app that we all will be starting.  Not only do I desire to draw closer to God for myself but this year as a family we will be doing it together.  

I also need to create better organization for my home and purge through all of the things we do not need anymore.  So much is taking up space and I have plans in my head of how to make the house look cleaner, organized and inviting.   

And my book.  Oh, that book!  I have wanted to be a published author for as long as I can remember and here I am at 47 and still scratching the surface of the first draft.  I can blame it on lack of time and lack of motivation.  I can blame it on writer's block.  The needs of my house come first and I cannot even manage through all of that so there's guilt whenever I sit down to write.  But I'm determined.  

And with that being said, I think I just came up with my word for 2026.  

DETERMINED

Every year a word comes to mind that I want to focus on.  In 2025 it was CONTENTMENT and my desire was to find contentment in all that I have in my life.  I may not often show it to others, but in my mind I have learned how to be content with what the Lord has given me but that doesn't mean I have to stop trying to do better.  

My favorite go to chapter in the Bible is Psalm 51 and specifically in the 10th verse:  "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."  Even though this chapter was written by David specifically asking God for forgiveness from his love affair with Bathsheba, I feel it can be used as a reminder for all of us that forgiveness allows us to start over.  That each year that passes can be a perfect time to start over with a clean slate.  Why not?  I don't know about you but I'm determined.  

Happy New Year, my friends!  Thank you for visiting my page and to those of you who leave comments.  I do pray that 2026 brings you and your family an abundance of blessings and that if you set any resolutions/goals that you will find the determination to be consistent with it.  After a special New Years Eve church service I'll be going home and slipping into my pajamas, preparing our traditional junky finger foods and sitting in front of the television waiting for the count down to begin.