The Wednesday Hodgepodge #81

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're all having a lovely week so far. It’s time for another round of the Wednesday Hodgepodge hosted by Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond. Joyce gives us six questions, we share our answers and everyone links up! Simple!

1. Marilyn texted me something that inspired this question, so thank you Marilyn! Of the following sayings, typically associated with the (American) southern way of speaking, which do you most relate to right now? Explain.

Bless your heart ~ too big for yer britches ~ madder than a wet hen ~ you're preachin' to the choir ~ knee high to a grasshopper ~ oh my stars.

I love the southern way of speaking and in my head I heard those phrases with that accent! hehehe. Right now I think I would go with "Too big for yer britches". I definitely know a few people who could be described this way. I don't mind someone being confident. In fact, I like people who know their worth and aren't afraid to show it but there's a big difference between being confident and walking around like you're something special. The type who think they're the most important person in the room, have an opinion on everything and manage to make every conversation about themselves. I think it's important to stay grounded and remember where you came from. Just because you've got a fancy job, a bit of money or a nice house, it doesn't mean you're better than everyone else. Nobody likes a show off and there's nothing more embarrassing than someone who thinks they're above everybody else. So if you're getting a bit too big for yer britches, maybe it's time to loosen that waistband, climb down off that high horse and give yourself a little reality check. Bless your cotton socks! Hehehe.

2. The Hodgepodge lands on (US) Veterans Day this year. Are you a veteran? Have a family member who's a veteran? If you answered yes, tell us something about them. Will you do anything to mark the day in some special way?

I'm not a veteran but my grandad served in the Army during World War 2. He was a wonderful man and always made the best dippy eggs and soldiers, he got them perfect every time! I wish I'd had the chance to ask him more questions about his experiences and what life was like for him during the war. When I was younger I didn't think to ask those things.

I'm in England and we had Remembrance Sunday over the weekend a day to remember everyone who has served and lost their lives in conflicts and today is called Armistice Day instead of Veterans Day. I'll be observing the two-minute silence and thinking about my grandad and everyone else who served. I always think it's important to take a moment to remember those who have served, those who are still serving and the families who have supported them. It is a good reminder to stop for a moment and think about the sacrifices people have made.

3. Is breakfast for dinner a stroke of genius or a sign of total household collapse? Is breakfast for dinner a regular thing at your house? Are all family members on board?

I love it! I'm one of those people who could happily eat breakfast at any time of the day. When I think of breakfast for dinner I think of a Full English with sausages, bacon, fried eggs, hash browns, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and a couple of slices of toast. What's not to love?

It doesn't have to be a full English either. Breakfast for dinner covers all sorts. Beans on toast, scrambled eggs, crumpets, pancakes, waffles, bacon sandwiches or even a bowl of cereal if you're having one of those days. I am happy to eat those foods at any time of day and of course my family are all on board with it!

4. How do you see the world?

This one took a lot of thinking about! I think I see the world in a down to earth way. I appreciate the little things, find humour in everyday situations and don't think life has to be perfect to enjoy it.

I notice the ordinary things that make up everyday life. Family moments, funny conversations, traditions and all those little things that don't feel important to anyone else but make life what it is. I think I am practical in my outlook on life. I appreciate people who work hard, make an effort and don't give up when things get difficult. I believe in giving people a chance rather than judging them. I also like to see the funny side of things. Life is far too short to take everything seriously and I don't mind making fun of myself along the way. I know the world isn't perfect and I am at a stage in life where I know what I like, what I don't like and what I'm no longer prepared to put up with. I don't need an fancy lifestyle or exciting plans. Sometimes a nice meal, a good TV show, a laugh with family or simply having a day where everything goes to plan is enough for me.

I suppose I see the world through a mixture of realism, humour and appreciation. I know life isn't always easy but I don't want to spend all my time complaining about it either. I'd rather enjoy what I've got, look after the people who matter to me, laugh whenever I can and make the most of the everyday moments.

5. And this week's gratitude question-what's something about your surroundings (home, neighborhood, city) you're grateful for?

I'm grateful for where I live! It is just a short walk away from my dad and a 10 minute bus ride from my brother and his family. Being close to family is something I never want to take for granted. I also love that we're surrounded by countryside. I like having open spaces, fields and quieter roads nearby. The best thing is that we're not miles away from everything either. We're close enough to town to pop out for shopping or go for a coffee and if we want something a bit different there's a much bigger city not too far away. I think I've got it quite good. I can enjoy the quieter side of life without feeling cut off from everything.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It's my birthday in just over a week and I finally settled on what I am doing to celebrate. I've just booked the train tickets and a hotel. Stu and I are going to a Christmas market. I did think about going back to York but this year we're going somewhere new. Eek! I love my birthday being at this time of year with all the festive things going on.

Share our Lives - How we express gratitude!

It's that time of the month again to share a little bit of my life and join in with the other Share Our Lives bloggers. This month the prompt is: How we express gratitude!

Gratitude is one of those words that seems to get used everywhere these days, it really has become a big thing! When I hear the word gratitude I always picture pretty notebooks, inspirational quotes and someone writing down five things they're grateful for every morning while sitting with a cup of herbal tea while I'm over here being grateful that I managed to put on matching socks this morning. Gratitude is more simple than that for me. It's seeing the little things that make life better, appreciating the people around me, being thankful when someone does something kind and giving myself a little pat on the back for getting through the day without wanting to scream into a cushion!

I definitely say thank you a lot and each time I mean it. To the bus driver, the person who held a door open, the lovely woman in the local cafe who remembers my order before I've even said what I want, the shop assistant who gives me a carrier bag when I'm struggling with far too much shopping, my girls when they do something without me having to ask and sometimes I'll add a little extra to it and say that really made my day or I really appreciate that. It might only take a few seconds but I think it matters.

I make a note every day of at least one thing I'm grateful for, you might have seen my grateful posts, there's one every month. Some days it's big, emotional stuff and other days it's my cup of tea stayed hot and that's enough. Writing it down makes me notice those little moments and the best part is looking back and realising how many good things happened on days I thought were rubbish at the time. There are things that I would have forgotten if I hadn't taken thirty seconds to write them down.

Food is another big one for me. There's something about feeding people that makes them feel looked after and makes me happy. I cook for my girls friends, I try new recipes to make my fella smile and even when they don't quite go to plan and we pretend it was meant to taste like. Sometimes I make myself a little snack just because I fancy it and because I deserve it too. Food is gratitude.

Time is another way I express gratitude. Life is busy, everyone is always tired and there is always something to do so pressing pause it all to give someone all of my attention feels like a big deal these days. Listening to someone even if it's a story I've heard a hundred times before shows them that I care, sitting down for a proper chat when someone needs to vent or listening to the girls talk about their day. That is my way of saying you matter to me and how I show I care.

Being grateful to myself hasn't come naturally. For a long time gratitude was something I showed to other people who deserved it and had earned it. Now I show gratitude to myself by scrolling on my phone without feeling guilty, resting and not feeling bad for not doing something productive and letting myself enjoy an episode of a TV show without needing to justify it first.

So that's how I express gratitude in my corner of the world. How do you express gratitude?

I am linking up with:

Adrienne from Mom Life with Adrienne.

Dara from Not In Jersey.

Jen from Show me & Sweet tea.

Joanne from Slices of Life.

Our weekly meal plan! 9th - 15th November! #MealPlanningMonday

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! We had a good one here. We didn't get up to much which was fine with me. Most of my time over the last few days has been spent listening for the door, bringing parcels in and doing the delivery people's jobs when they keep dropping other peoples parcels here. I have quite a pile of parcels in the corner of the living room, which are mostly Christmas gifts. I really need to find somewhere to put them before somebody comes round and spots something they shouldn't.

Last week's meal plan went well. Of course we ended up moving a few things around but everything was eaten! My favourite meal was from the freezer dive. I found some chicken casserole and Stu and I had that with mashed potato while the girls were out with their people at the fireworks display eating hot dogs and pizza.

I have a few things on this week but the highlight is going to be the afternoon tea which was postponed from a couple of weeks ago. Also, this week I am planning on making a dent on what we have in the freezer. I need to get it emptied and defrosted ready to fill up with food for Christmas. I deliberately didn't get a Gousto box or much for the fridge so we have to eat out of the freezer.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Sausage pasta and garlic bread!

I don't know how but we seem to have a couple of bags of sausages in the freezer and a ton of garlic bread. I'm not complaining because both are things we enjoy and this is a nice easy meal to start the week. Sausage pasta is one of those meals that is always a winner here. It's filling and doesn't take too much effort to make

Tuesday - Pie, mashed potato and veg!

A little while ago my dad brought us quite a few boxes of meat and vegetable pies and chicken and vegetable pies. They've been sitting in the freezer so this week I'm going to get a few of them used up. Using these will free up half a shelf in the tall freezer which is quite exciting when you're trying to make room for Christmas food! We'll have the pies with mashed potato, carrots, peas and of course lots of gravy.

Wednesday - Chinese style pork rib steaks and rice!

We love these Chinese style pork ribs and I actually forgot they were in the freezer. I came across them while having a rummage and decided we need to eat them this week. We'll have them with microwave egg fried rice, which makes it an easy meal. I'll also make some homemade sweet and sour sauce to go with them because my family love it.

Thursday - Honey soy chicken and sweet potato fries!

This is a meal I'm looking forward to trying. I found a couple of bags of chicken in the freezer and thought I'd do something a little different with them rather than making another chicken and potato meal. Honey soy chicken sounds like a great way to add some flavour to the chicken. I have a couple of bags of sweet potato fries in the freezer too and I think they will go with the chicken.

Friday - A takeaway of some sort!

Friday night is an easy night for me. I don't cook and we order takeaway. It could be Chinese or Indian food or even ordering from the fish and chip shop. We will decide on the day what we fancy.

Saturday - Freezer tapas!

Saturday is going to be freezer tapas. We'll be having all the random finger foods that have been taking up space in the freezer. I know there's chicken nuggets, onion rings, spring rolls and some breaded garlic mushrooms. I think there are also mini pizzas hiding in there somewhere. I'll have a proper look through everything and see what else we can find.

Sunday - Minced beef & tatties!

We're finishing the week with a proper comfort food favourite. Minced beef and tatties! This is one of those meals that doesn't need much explaining. Minced beef cooked in gravy with plenty of flavour, served with potatoes. Simple, filling and just what I fancy on a Sunday.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 1st - 7th November Week 45 of #Project365

Happy Sunday!! I hope you are having a great weekend! We're having a good weekend so far. It has been a quiet one, which was just what I needed after last weekend when we were out gallivanting. hehehe It's been another week with little bits and pieces going on and it has been nice.

I said yesterday in my Word of the Week post about Ellie having a job interview. Well, it didn't happen. They emailed just before she was due to leave saying the interview was cancelled as the job position was filled. Ugh! It's a good job she double checked the name of the person she was asking for or else she wouldn't have seen the email. They must have seen something in her CV to give her the interview but then didn't give her a chance to prove herself in person! I thought it was very unfair and I helped Ellie write an email to the hiring people. I understand that things change during recruitment and nobody is entitled to a job just because they've been invited for an interview but I don't think they handled it right. I think candidates deserve a little more consideration than a last minute cancellation by email. A phone call is the least they could have done, especially when someone has been preparing for an interview.

Today we don't have much planned. A bit of housework, nice food and I am thinking about starting to watch Christmas movies. Years ago I used to fit watching all my favourites into December but now there are too many, I need to start earlier!

Now for a photo every day!

305/365 1st November

This drainer beside the sink causes so many arguments in my family. Stu and Becky love it but Ellie and I refuse to use it as we struggle to reach around it and the cutlery sticks far too far out of the front. Ellie and I use the old plastic one which has seen better days. lol Stu washed the dishes on Sunday and as much as I hate to say it, this does look much tidier.

306/365 2nd November

Ellie is cracking on with her English course. She was given a booklet of work that they will all be working through. Some of it homework and some to do in class. She is doing this course because she never got the pass in English from school or the resits in college. Someone, somewhere said to get a good job you have to have GCSE's or equivalent so now a lot of jobs ask for them. All the apprenticeships she sees, that she would love to do need an English pass, so she's working on it.

307/365 3rd November

Looking at the sky, it could have passed for a summer's day but the temperature said different! It sure has got colder over the last week or so. I now have two blankets over me if I am sat in my armchair during the day and there has been a lot of me shouting shut the door to the girls. We have to keep the heat in. lol

308/365 4th November

The washing was all folded as soon as it came out of the dryer! I'm not getting much out on the line to dry now as it has been quite damp and cold. The tumble dryer is getting a lot more use now and at least it warms the kitchen up.

309/365 5th November

I borrowed this photo from Ellie. Becky, her and their people went off to the firework display to celebrate Bonfire Night. I stayed home but they managed to keep warm in front of the huge bonfire. They had a great time with lots of delicious food, fairground rides and seeing the fireworks.

310/365 6th November

Just a month or so ago, the hedge was full of leaves but now it's looking pretty bare apart from the berries. It's amazing how quickly everything changes at this time of year. I do like this stage of autumn, even though it means winter is getting closer.

311/365 7th November

The Christmas gifts I bought online this week are starting to be delivered. Now I just have to find somewhere to put them until I get around to wrapping them. The problem with shopping early is finding somewhere to hide everything.

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