A Throwback Kind of Hodgepodge

Here are the questions to this week’s Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (October 21st) to share your answers. See you there!

Wow! Today’s questions take us way down memory lane. I hope you are ready for some throwback pictures! 🙂

1. This week’s Hodgepodge lands on ‘Back To The Future Day’. October 21, 2015 was the date the movie characters (Marty McFly, Doc, and Jennifer Parker) traveled to in the future in the 1989 film Back To The Future Part 2. 

Did you see the movie? Tell us a something about what was happening in your life in the fall of 2015. 

I think I have seen the movie, but…I don’t remember much about it. Movies tend to go in one ear eye and out the other, so I usually forget what they are all about.

The fall of 2015…wow, this was quite a walk down memory lane:

Tera turned 1 in August of 2015, and on September 1st “Little Miss” Abigail was born. We didn’t get the call about her until September 15th, and we brought her home from the NICU by September 21st. So, fall of 2015 was BUSY. I had two kids 13 months apart- a 13 month old, and a newborn. One that I had only a 2 week warning of her existence before I became her (foster) mother. She struggled a lot (pretty extreme drug withdrawal) and cried and cried and cried for about 6 months, so it’s safe to say that I was just trying to get my footing! Life pretty much looked like this:

And enjoy this montage of the girls (this was Spring 2016, but whatever, they all blur together now):

And by February, I was also pregnant with Kiah!

For those who haven’t been here since the beginning, we fostered sweet Abigail for 9 months before she was adopted by family. We still keep in touch and she is a happy, healthy and thriving 11 year old! We also fostered an 11 year old girl who we fostered for 13 months. I don’t have as much contact with her, but the last I heard she was graduating from high school and adopted into a safe and loving home.

2. Which -ber month is your favorite? (September, October, November, December). Explain why. 

September for sure! It’s still hanging on to summer, but there is a little nip in the air. I can still wear my shorts and go running outside and be outdoors almost all day long.

3. Red, yellow, orange, bronze…your favorite fall color to wear? To eat? To see in nature? 

Can I go with maroon? I love a good, deep maroon or purple sweater.

To see in nature is definitely the red and yellow and blazing orange on the trees! I am hoping to do a day trip to Hocking Hills and see the peak colors…hopefully we won’t have some big wind or rain storm that will knock all the leaves off in one fell swoop.

4. What do you miss most about being 20? 

Probably the reckless abandon and hope that I had for the future. I was going places! I was changing the world! I was so optimistic and had lots of energy. I was also engaged at 20 and being so young and in love was a great feeling, too. Although I think I might actually prefer the steady love that we have now to the fluttery love that we had then!

5. We’re roughly three quarters of the way through the year. What’s one goal, habit, or mindset you want to purposely carry into the final weeks of the year? Elaborate. 

I was doing great with a workout routine in the summer. I was lifting weights and running consistently, and was feeling and seeing a difference. Then when school started I struggled to fit workouts into my routine. It’s not that I don’t have time for them, it’s that the time I usually do them wasn’t working, and then the time that I tried to do them also wasn’t working and then I just gave up for a bit there. Plus it got dark earlier and later and that was a whole factor. So, anyways, I’m going to jump back on that wagon with more consistency and try to wake up in early and get my workouts in at the gym. I would like to go into the last quarter of the year feeling solid in that area instead of putting it off until the new year!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Phew! It’s been a week. Last week my Dad had surgery and we have spent most of this week rallying around him to help him in his recovery. It hasn’t been easy! We also celebrated Kiah’s 10th birthday, which was a big to-do. For his party, he wanted to “play sports in the dark”…think streetlight vibes. I’m not a “party Mom”, but I am a “have as many friends as you want over and let them run around outside to their hearts content” Mom. And that is exactly what they did. They played sports for 3 hours and it was indeed dark- and very cold. The decibel level was HIGH. And a blast was had. I probably spent $45 on food a pack of paper plates and that was the extent of the party. Kids always come up to me months later and tell me how fun parties at my house are. Honestly, they just want to be kids! They just want to have some fun, and I’m so happy to facilitate that.