The Wednesday Hodgepodge #35

I hope you are all having a good week? It's Wednesday which means it's time to join in with the Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond! Each week there are 6 questions, we answer and then link up. Simple!

1. What does patriotism mean to you?

For me patriotism isn’t about waving flags or declaring how great Britain is it’s more of a feeling than putting on a show. It’s that pride that show up when I see the country come together for something like the royal celebrations, big sporting events or even a community pulling through a tough time. It’s loving the small, familiar things that make life here feel truly British: the dry humour that gets us through anything, the endless tea breaks that somehow make every crisis feel a bit smaller, the moaning about the weather that unites us all and even complaining about the government as if it’s a national pastime.

Being patriotic to me is about appreciating where I come from with all the quirks and contradictions. It’s feeling proud of our long, messy history and our old traditions but also recognising how we keep evolving as a country while still holding onto that keep calm and carry on attitude.

2. September-October-November...your favorite fall month? Tell us why. If you live in the southern hemisphere use these months but sub spring for the word fall.

I love all the "ber" months for different reasons. September has the whole back to school routine, October has half term, chilly mornings and Halloween and November for me just seems to have it all! I keep saying it but November is my favourite month, it's a busy one and I have a lot to look forward to with the run up to Christmas before things get crazy, good things on the TV, my birthday and the darker evenings where I can shut the curtains and get cosy!

3. A song you love with the word thanks (or some form of that word) in the title or lyrics?

Thank You for Loving Me by Bon Jovi! It is one of my all time favourite songs. It makes me think about the people who’ve stood by me through all the messy, unglamorous moments in my life. My fella Stu and my dad!

"Thank you for loving me. For being my eyes when I couldn't see. For parting my lips when I couldn't breathe. Thank you for loving me. You pick me up when I fall down. You ring the bell before they count me out. If I was drowning you would part the sea. And risk your own life to rescue me."

4. November is National Peanut Butter Month. Are you a fan? What's the last peanut butter bite you had? Fill in the blank: peanut butter and ______. Oh, and you can't say jelly.

I’m definitely a fan of peanut butter, it is hard to resist! Peanut butter sneaks into both sweet and savoury dishes making everything more tasty. It’s one of those ingredients that can turn a simple snack or meal into something a bit special.

Peanut butter and jam/jelly is not my thing, eek! I much prefer it with chocolate, Reese’s peanut butter cups are a weakness of mine and were probably the last thing with peanut butter that I ate but I do like peanut butter in savoury food too, like the Chicken Satay Noodles recipe I recently discovered. I've made it a few times and my family love it.

5. This week's gratitude question - What event from this past year are you most grateful for?

This is a really tough question to answer because this past year has been full of real life ups and downs that I haven’t really shared on my blog. There have been moments that were challenging, stressful and at times exhausting but looking back I’m grateful that we’ve been able to put those difficult things behind us and move forward. Even more than that I’m grateful for what those experiences taught us. The not so great moments weren’t fun while they were happening but they’ve given my family and me important lessons, helped us grow and brought us closer together.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

These photos appeared on my Facebook memories the day I was writing this blog post. They are from November 2013 back when Ellie, my youngest was just six years old. At that age she was completely obsessed with everything pink! It was pink this, pink that, pink everywhere and she absolutely loved anything that sparkled. Little bits of glitter and shimmer were her thing and actually she still has a soft spot for a bit of sparkle even now. It feels like twelve years ago was a lifetime ago! At the time I couldn’t have imagined her ever moving away from that obsession with pink but fast forward to today and she’s fully embraced a totally different look. Now it’s all about the goth/emo look, everything in her wardrobe is black or dark red. Don’t get me wrong she absolutely rocks it and looks amazing but wow, twelve years ago I never would have guessed she’d go in that direction. It’s funny how kids grow up and change in ways you just can’t predict!