The Wednesday Hodgepodge #38

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! It's been a while since I last joined in and I have missed it! Each week there are 6 questions, we answer and then link up. Simple!

1. What kind of winter person are you-snow lover, fireplace snuggler, winter adventurer, or indoor hibernator? Elaborate.

I’m 100% an indoor hibernator! Winter is something I like to admire from a safe distance, preferably through a window with the heating on and a hot drink in my hand! I love how winter looks, it's pretty with the snow falling and icy mornings but I am that person who refuses to step outside unless I really have to because it’s just too cold! Being a hibernator isn’t lazy, it’s smart. I’m conserving energy and mentally preparing myself for spring when suddenly I’ll feel the urge to clean everything, go outside and pretend I’m an outdoorsy person again but for now I will stay inside where my blanket is!

2. The Pantone color of the year is cloud dancer, described as a gentle, billowy off white shade. The color symbolizes 'peace, clarity, quiet reflection, renewal, and a soft reset'. Of the terms just listed which do you need most in your life this winter?

Peace. Definitely peace! I am not even after the unrealistic kind where nothing goes wrong and everyone behaves perfectly but the calm, everyday peace that makes life feel a bit easier. I want peace in my head most of all. Less overthinking, fewer spirals that start with one tiny thought and somehow end up with me questioning my entire life. I also need to stop carrying everyone else’s worries around like they’re mine to sort out. Somewhere along the way I seem to have picked up the role of emotional storage unit and I’m done with that now. Other people are allowed to have problems that don’t require my attention. I need to accept that not everything needs fixing right now. Some things can wait, some things will work themselves out and some things are simply not my responsibility.

3. Every cloud has a silver lining, on cloud nine, head in the clouds, storm clouds gathering, or cloud of suspicion...which 'cloud' idiom do you most relate to currently? Explain.

I would choose Every cloud has a silver lining. Not because everything is amazing all the time, far from it but because I’ve got better at spotting the good bits hiding in the annoying, not so great moments. Like last week, we got a bus and it turns out it went the long way around which I was annoyed with at first but the silver lining was that we weren't sat in the cold bus station waiting for a later bus which was quicker and we got to where we were going at the perfect time instead of being too early. Even in the smaller, everyday stuff I find silver linings. It's freezing out which isn't fun but the silver lining is that no one judges anyone for staying inside where it's warm.

4. Coconut, cauliflower, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, onions, ranch dressing...of the white foods listed, which would be the hardest for you to give up? Do you like all or any of the foods on the list?

I think the ones I’d really struggle to give up would be mayonnaise or onions. Mayonnaise is just one of those things that sneaks into meals and makes it better. Sandwiches feel naked without it, wraps taste dry and it makes salads enjoyable. I eat a lot of onions and they might seem basic but they add so much flavour to everything. In soups, casseroles, on burgers, in stir fries, salads or even raw in sandwiches. Giving them up would make my cooking feel boring!

I’d be okay without coconut, cauliflower, cottage cheese and ranch dressing. Coconut is lovely in desserts or a curry but it’s not something I eat a lot of. I don't like cauliflower at all and only eat cottage cheese with pineapple in it. I don’t really eat ranch dressing because it’s not a big thing over here in the UK. You rarely see it stocked in shops and it’s definitely not a go-to like mayo or salad cream.

5. Thomas Wentworth Higginson is credited with this quote -

"How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year."

Agree or disagree? Tell us why.

I agree with this one. Winter makes me notice things I'd normally ignore, like the way the sun glints on frosty grass or how amazing a hot drink tastes when I'm freezing. It’s like, without winter we’d just take all the nice, cosy stuff for granted. It can be grim sometimes with dark mornings, frozen toes and all that but that’s what makes the good bits feel so much better. Spring and summer would be boring without winter making us appreciate them so much.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It is Sunday morning and I had hoped to have a long lie-in but it didn't happen. I was up just after 9am which might seem late to some but I was aiming for at least half past ten! I'm not even sorry, we had no plans for the day and it's raining outside. I remember in my younger years, before my girls were born I could quite easily sleep until lunchtime, having a full 12 hours or even more but as I have got older I find myself sleeping less. I suppose it is a good thing, I can fit more into my day like writing this blog post and for the rest of the day I have nothing planned apart from seeing how many of the Twilight movies I can watch. Hehehe