Wednesday Hodgepodge- Getting Older

Here are the questions to this week’s Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here on Wednesday (July 8th) to share answers with the universe. See you there!

1. What’s something you enjoy now that your younger self would never have appreciated? 

Time alone! I am an extrovert and gain energy from being around people. I went to boarding school from 6th grade on, and loved living with my friends. I never remember desiring to be alone haha. But since becoming a Mom and being around people 24/7, I have truly learned to appreciate alone time.

2. What was peaceful about today? 

This week my three older kids went to camp for the first time – EVER! I still have one little guy at home, but I am soaking up the quiet(er) moments and really thankful for a week of a little bit more peace in my world.

3. It’s National Blueberry Day (July 8). Will you celebrate?  You can have one of the following right now-a slice of blueberry pie, a warm blueberry muffin, or a stack of blueberry pancakes…which do you choose?

This is crazy…I’m actually not a big fruit person. I like apples and bananas, oranges and grapefruits, but I don’t like many of the berry family. Blueberries are a nope- I cannot stand how they pop in your mouth. And I especially dislike cooked fruit, especially if it’s warm. If I had to eat one of those, I would pick a blueberry muffin.

This or that-blueberries or raspberries? blueberries or strawberries? 

Raspberries//Neither

4. Do you need a break? From what? 

This is a loaded question for me. Sorry to get deep and vulnerable here, but you asked the question, and I’m just answering! One of my goals for this year was to work on not telling myself or my family that I need a break all the time. Do I feel like I need a break? Yes. Parenting, working, homeschooling, homesteading…it’s all exhausting. I would love a break from putting little people to bed, answering 45000 questions a day, cooking dinner every night, washing dishes 3x a day, doing so much laundry, tidying up the house on repeat, driving people to and fro, etc.

BUT, if I spend a lot of time repeating to myself that I need a break, or I deserve a break…it just leads me to have a bad attitude when I don’t get one. Instead, I’m trying to change my mindset and teach myself to not keep coming back to that thought. I want to ENJOY the stage that my kids are in, I want to see the messes and the needs and the questions as a vibrant, abundant, wonderful time to connect and love them.

Sorry for going deep there. Let’s answer the question in a more surface-level way:

I would love a break from having to mentally plan dinner each day. The cooking itself isn’t my greatest challenge, it’s deciding what to make and making sure that I’m not repeating the same thing every 2 days and that all my kids will actually eat it.

(Also, my kids do chores, don’t worry. I don’t do ALL those things listed above all the time…but I am the manager of them all, you know?)

5. What has surprised you most about getting older? 

This is a silly answer, but when we turned on the World Cup and they said “Messi” and “Ronaldo”, I turned to my husband and said “surely that isn’t the same Messi and Ronaldo that were popular when we were teens?!?!” But, alas, it is. Wild how the soccer icons of my teens are now the soccer ancient icons of teens these days.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of the World Cup, please tell me you are watching?!? We cannot get enough. My favorite game so far has been the Argentina vs. Cape Verde game. If you haven’t followed the World Cup- Argentina is like a giant of the soccer world. No one would be surprised is they win. Cape Verde is a tiny island off the coast of West Africa. This is the first time they have ever been in the World Cup. No one even knows who they are. Well, the game started and you can tell Argentina is feeling all cocky and ready to kill them and send them home. But Cape Verde not only held them off but almost beat them all the way into overtime. It was INCREDIBLE. Argentina did end up winning, but they weren’t even celebrating because they knew that they had just been shown up by this tiny little team that no one even knew. It was like watching a real life David and Goliath situation. I only wish that they had actually won and sent Argentina home! They deserved to win!