HodgePodge Wednesday - last week of January (finally!)

1. I live in the south so we're pretty much only talking about the weather right now. Give us a weather report from where you live. Does the kind of weather you're having today affect your mood in some way? 

The weather ALWAYS affects my mood.  Always.  I need sunshine more than I need food I think.  Anyway, it's COLD here and the kids have been out of school for a couple days for a smattering of ice. . .we did not get the predicted snowfall/freezing rain over the weekend that many other parts of the state did get. . .I'm not sure if they are back in school today or not.  I'm incredibly thankful that I am no longer dependent on the schools to live my life or educate my children.  Anyway, back to the question. . .can't WAIT for spring to roll around.  We were supposed to go to Florida this weekend to see my aunt and hopefully catch up with my brother but my aunt was so "about the weather" and how awful the forecast is for the gulf coast that we canceled the trip.  Now we'll just be cold in Knoxville instead of Florida ;)

2.  Avocados, kale, cauliflower and cottage cheese have all had their time to shine. 2026 brings us the year of the cabbage. Is this a vegetable you like? If so, what are some of your favorite dishes that call for cabbage?  

Cabbage??  Really??  Ummmm. . .I don't have an opinion.  I don't love the smell of cooked cabbage, Tom has always liked cabbage rolls but I only ever made them once (I feel like they are a '70's food?) - I used to make a crock pot meal with ham and onions and cabbage I think?  I have a GREAT taco bowl recipe with cabbage that the entire family eats - the cabbage is not boiled but rather heated up on the stove in the dish at the end so still has some of it's "crunchiness". I like coleslaw as long as it's not swimming in dressing. . .I guess we'll see where else it pops up in 2026?

3. Was a Cabbage Patch Doll a part of your childhood? Or maybe your children's childhood? What's a toy trend from your childhood you remember wanting for your own? 

I think I may have just "missed" Cabbage Patch kids but I remember them.  This would not have been something my parents could have spent money on anyway.  I remember having a Barbie or two and "building" houses for her out of shoeboxes - ha!  Have you read Let's Call Her Barbie?  I thought it was a great read - learned a lot about toy making and how that doll as well as other toys of that era came about.

4. Something you've spent a lot of time doing lately? 

I've actually spent a lot of time at work lately!  It's the beginning of the year and there are LOTS of training needs for the year as well as some new initiatives so that keeps me busy.  I just received a license for some authoring software that I'm learning - I love learning something new.  At home I've spent some time planning a few of our bigger trips coming up this year. . .I actually don't enjoy that as much, but love getting to go places and have new experiences with friends and family and am good at organizing/lining stuff up so it makes sense that I work on that in my free time.

5. Somehow it's the last week of January...sum up your month in just three sentences. 

It's been a long, cold (but sunshine-y) month.  It's gone faster than January's in the past for some reason, which is good.  Not a bad start to the year :)

A few COLD walks at the park with the dogs.

Trip to Chatt to celebrate a December birthday in January

Long-awaited MJ show downtown

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I've got NOTHING - hard to believe, right?  Amy wrote a great post yesterday on having fun - I do think that sometimes you need to plan for it and know what your idea of "fun" is :). "Fun" for me is doing a project, learning something new, having a deep conversation about a topic I'm interested in, laying in the sun near the water with a good book.  NO ONE in my family would say any of that is "fun" to them - ha!  Playing tennis is so.much.fun for me - I wish I could do it every day!!!  My older daughter's idea of "fun" is a 3-day hike and tent camping, no matter the temperature - that would NEVER be fun for me :). So I guess we all need to identify what "fun" is for us and fit it in when we can.  We have a big trip planned at the end of the summer that I would never choose on my own but I'm excited about it because this IS a "dream vacation" for so many people in our family. Because I love my family and want to be with them, I'm coming up with how to make it "fun" for me too - I like exploring new places, watching people I love (even participating with them) what they consider "fun", time away from "day-to-day". . .it will be "fun" for reasons other than the location and planned activities - or, maybe, that's what will make it the MOST fun :)

Thank you, Amy, for suggesting we think about this for ourselves :)

Please link up with Joyce if you participated today - or just hop on over to her blog to find other bloggers that are linking up.  

Happy Wednesday!

Love,

Jenni