2013 Wednesday Hodgepodge #1

Apparently the Hodgepodge went on without me last week.  Oh well; life goes on, right?
Here are the questions for this week:

1. What is ONE thing or area in your home or life you hope to report is completely organized when 2013 draws to a close?  Do you  have a plan to make it happen? 
I really need to go through the bins that are in the basement.  When we moved from SC, we put everything in bins (totes) instead of boxes.  I need to look through all of them and see what can be thrown out.  I have no idea if/when that will happen.  Maybe (fingers crossed!) if we have a few snow days in a row and I get bored it may happen, but don't hold your breath!

2. What's the worst uniform you've ever had to wear for a job?
Since the only uniform I've ever had to wear is an apron I wore when I was a cashier for a grocery store, right after CH & I got married.  I did have to wear a red shirt with khakis when I worked at Target, but that wasn't bad.

3. What was your last kitchen 'mishap'?  This question comes to you courtesy ofBetty who blogs over at A Glimpse Into Midlife...everyone go say hi to Betty!
I don't know if you'd actually call this a 'mishap', but my hand mixer bit the dust the other day.  One of the beaters must've bent, because now they make an awful sound and get stuck.

4. How do you protect yourself from other people's negativity?
I try to just stay away from them.  I've found that's the best thing for me to do.

5. Who in your family do you most resemble (physically)? If you have children, who do people say they favor? Do you agree? 
I have a lot of traits from my daddy's side of the family; probably more from his side than my mom's.  But, I don't really think I look a whole lot like either of them, or maybe a combination of the two.  You tell me:

As for my boys, I think they are all a pretty good mix of both of us.  We used to call YS CH's "mini-me", but his appearance has changed an awful lot in the past couple of years.

6. January 8th is National Bubble Bath Day...will you be celebrating?
I've never taken a bath in our bathtub in our current house.  So, no, I didn't celebrate it.

7.  Some of the 'world's best winter festivals' are - Mardi Gras (New Orleans),Quebec Winter Festival (Canada), Sundance Film Festival (Park City, Utah),  Rio Carnivale (Brazil), Sapporo Snow Festival (Japan), VeniceCarnival (Italy) and the Harbin Ice Festival (Northern China).  Of those listed (and if cost were not a factor) which would you most like to attend and why?
I would probably be most likely to go to Mardi Gras, just because it's closer than the others.  I'd like to give Quebec or Venice a go, though!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Did anybody watch the National Championship Game on Monday?  Why in the world do they have that game on a Monday night?  I was really glad it was a blow-out...I had stayed up on Sunday to watch "Downton Abbey", so I was pretty tired.  I ended up going to bed at halftime, but even that was around 10:30.  I figured it wasn't going to be much of a game:  Notre Dame just hadn't played anybody of any substance, which would explain why their defense (and offense) wasn't effective against Bama.  
I watched "The Bachelor" yesterday afternoon when I got home from work.  I was embarrassed for some of those girls.  I won't even call them "young ladies" or "young women", because some of them acted more like girls.  So now I have to keep watching to see who he ends up with.  

The Keys

In lieu of writing an extremely long post, I made the following movie for your viewing enjoyment:

This was probably our last family vacation, and it was the best.  MS wasn't going to go with us at first because he didn't think our timeline was going to work for him with work and a fraternity leadership conference.  It turned out that the timing was perfect for him, so he was able to go.  Having all of the boys (and OS' girlfriend with us) was the best Christmas present I could've ever received.

Two of the pies you see in the clip are Fried Key Lime Pie.  I didn't know there was such a thing, but there is.  And, they were sooo good!

In one of the night pictures, you can see 4 red lights.  Those are the Radio Free America Towers.  It was so neat to sit there at night and think about the history of that part of the country.

I went snorkeling for the first time, and it was great...right up until I got out of the water and got sick.  Several times.  The waves were about 3 ft. that day, so I think I can blame it on that.  The visibility was amazing.

We met a couple from New Jersey who frequent The Keys, sometimes sailing down.  They were very interesting to talk to, and, she's a blogger!  Bum's Rest

The funniest incident from the trip was something OS' GF told me happened:  They rented a tandem bike for the week, and almost every day they ended up riding over to the beach.  One day, they were riding down the road, and OS saw a car with tags from our county.  He started waving his arms and yelling:  _____ County!  The people in the car finally figured out what he was talking about, and yelled back, "It's a RENTAL"!

I could go on and on about the trip, but I'll spare you!  I hope you enjoyed the clip!

Christmas Wrap-Up

What a Christmas we had!  Honestly, I think I had the best break I've ever had in my whole life.  All of the boys were home.  OS got home a couple of days before, and someone was very happy to see him:

The white blur you see on his knee is Laika's tail.

We always have a big Christmas Eve Dinner around 8:00.  The only thing missing was OS & MS.  Dinner was ready, and they weren't home. CH & I thought they were downstairs, but it turns out they ran out to the store and were held up by an accident.  I didn't get upset; we went ahead and ate our dinner so it wouldn't be cold, then we sat around and talked while OS & MS ate their dinners.

After we ate, it was time for the Christmas Crackers.  This is a tradition that CH had (due to his Danish Mother) that we've carried on with our boys.  And, of course, everyone has to wear their crown:

Another tradition that we've passed on is the finding of the almond in the pudding.  The Danes use a rice pudding, but we've "Southernized" the tradition by using Pistachio Pudding and a pecan.

The prize is usually some sort of chocolate for the winner to share with the others.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that the boys always beg to open a present on Christmas Eve.  Well, this year was no different, except that we ended up opening all of the presents on Christmas Eve.  We thought OS was going to have to drive to get his girlfriend on Christmas Day, so we went ahead and opened the gifts.  The night was capped off by some roasting of marshmallows over my "little red campfire" that CH gave me:

The next morning, my parents came by for Christmas Brunch.

We always (well, except for last year!) have Holiday French Toast Casserole and Maple-Glazed Sausages.
We spent the rest of Christmas Day relaxing and getting ready for our big family vacation.  Come back tomorrow for the post!