It’s time for Wednesday Hodgepodge and the Season of Lent. Head over to Joyce’s blog to join in the fun.
1. What do you find is the most boring part of your life at the moment?
Right now there is nothing exciting on the calendar until our granddaughter’s birthday in early Spring. Our meals at home are probably the most boring thing at the moment. Tuesday was Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day so we joined in with a pancake meal, maybe that will take the boring out of our main meal for a day at least.
2. February 22nd is George Washington’s birthday. You’ll find his face on the US $1 bill. What’s the last thing you bought for roughly $1.00? (.94 €/ .83 £)
Greeting cards at the Dollar Store. Certain section of the cards are 2 for a dollar and another section they are a dollar each not like the rest of the dollar store that is now $1.25.
3. Is it ever okay to tell a ‘little white lie’? Explain.
I don’t think it’s wise to tell lies little or big but there are times when I would tell a lie.
If I was protecting someone like Rahab did in the Bible or like many people did during the Nazi regime. I would lie if asked to reveal where people were hiding to worship God together and study the Bible together as some people have to do in China and some even had to do in Canada in recent years.
In general I find the truth a lot easier to deal with and justify then having to explain why I lied.
4. What’s the last thing you ‘chopped’?
I chopped chicken for a stuffed shell recipe I made for an event at church last Saturday. I also chopped some ice patches on the driveway with a shovel so the sections would melt easier.
Cherry pie, chocolate covered cherries, a bowl of cherries, cherry vanilla ice cream, maraschino cherries, a cherry lifesaver…your favorite cherry flavored something?
Chocolate covered cherries or a bowl of cherries in season.
Speaking of lying, when I was in elementary school I stole money from the kitchen cupboard and stopped at the liquor store on the way to school to buy a box of cherry flavored cough drops (Smith Brothers) and then proceeded to tell the teacher I needed to have them in class for my throat. A sinner saved by Grace am I. 🙂 She didn’t buy my story. To walk to our elementary school we crossed Whittier Boulevard, a busy thoroughfare, and continued a couple more blocks to Fremont Elementary. I checked google maps and Sam’s liquor store is still at 3rd and Whittier Boulevard in Montebello.
This is a picture of me in the 4th or 5th grade, my thieving years…
5. Describe yourself with three words using your first, middle, and last initials.
I do not have a middle name on my birth certificate. It is my parents’ Russian custom to give their children their father’s name as the middle name. That way when you are introduced to someone it will be clear who’s child you are. This is helpful in communities where the first names are common. Example: I have a sister named Vera and two first cousins named Vera and more Veras in the churches we attended. It was clarifying to say Vera, Moisi’s daughter, when introducing her.
My description using my E and my B: Eternity Bound
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Our Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras meal.
Buttermilk Pancakes, Beef Kielbasa, a poached egg, sour cream and real maple syrup. Yes, we do put sour cream on our pancakes instead of butter.
We don’t observe Lent but we do prepare our hearts and minds for Easter and all that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection means for sinners like us who repent, believe and are saved. We ponder this all year long not just during this time of year.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
We have often had pancakes and eggs for dinner, yum! Cute student photo of you. Take care, have a great day!
…your thieving years?
Well you were a cute little crook, Ellen. Those Smith cherry cough drops were so tempting. I gave in to that one day when my little classmate was still at bathroom break. So embarrassing! I have never forgotten and should send him some cough drops. He’d wonder about that.
Sour cream on pancakes…that’s so odd to me that I should try it. I might love it.
Eternity Bound! That’s great. I didn’t do this Hodge Podge because that question completely stumped me.
A great week and weekend ahead to you and yours…
Love,
Vee
Vee, we’ve converted a lot of people to sour cream on pancakes, even several Marines!
Your Eternity Bound description for a little thieving 3rd grader tells the story of redemption for sure. That was such a cute story and who of us hasn’t done something similar. So interesting about the middle name custom, and sour cream on pancakes. I’m going to have to take your word on that one. I will not be experimenting. I personally prefer pancakes with my butter and syrup.
Hi Libby, aren’t we a blessed people to be redeemed?!
Interesting…I’ve never heard of putting sour cream on pancakes…I’m going to have to try that. Love your initial words…Eternity Bound…me too!
Cathy, it’s a good destination for sure. See you there…
Eternity Bound! What a great description. Me, too.
I hadn’t thought of Smith Brothers cherry cough drops in years. I didn’t need to steal them … they were available in the vending machine at my high school. The candy machine, now that I think about it, which makes a lot of sense!
I laughed at your ‘thieving years’!!! 😉
I will come to your house for Fat Tuesday Dinner.. YUM!
Great questions to ponder! And I love the childhood photo of you – so sweet!
I’m wondering . . . when did people in Canada have to hide to worship God together and study the Bible together?
During Covid, Grace Life Church pastored by James Coates in Edmonton who was arrested for holding services. The church kept meeting at different locations because the government put fences around their church and they couldn’t meet in their own building. Those services were underground and the locations were not publicized.
I understand that some churches made unwise and risky decisions. I am happy that in Canada, we have a wealth of moral and ethical medical/scientific personnel – many of whom are Bible-believing Christians – who gave us good insight into the nature of the pandemic and the necessary precautions. Most Christian churches knowledgeably and willingly followed their advice and abstained from gathering in large groups – in which case it is NOT an infringement of our freedoms.
We worshipped in our homes in family groups, and as soon as conditions allowed, we gathered outdoors, in parking lots, and later in our buildings, socially distanced.
We did this freely and openly – never did we hide. While none of us liked restricting our gatherings, we felt morally and conscientiously obliged to do so in the interests of the well-being of our fellow human beings.
I have given some thought to what our Lord would have done in our pandemic circumstances. I think we all know that He placed the interests of the sick, the infirm, the weak far above those of the ardent church-goers (Pharisees perhaps?). The entire law of Christ is fulfilled in a single decree: Love your neighbour as yourself. That may mean sacrificing your “right” to gather. Many of us who love the church do not condone the self-interested and narrow-minded actions of groups like Grace Life.
Dear Ellen, I’m sure you did not wish your lovely blog to become the platform for this type of debate, but I thought your characterization of Canada was incorrect and I did not want to leave it unchallenged.
Aislyn, Thank you for your comments.
I want to make it clear I was not disparaging the people of Canada. I did say ‘some’, which is true. I didn’t vilify anyone. For a pastor and a church focused on honoring Christ and His commandments found in Scripture, it was the determination of this body of believers and others to follow scripture and obey Christ as found in Hebrews 10:25. Also, according to Jesus Christ, the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37
I’m glad people are meeting together again in their local assemblies.
I don’t have a middle name either!! 🙂
I like your E B
Good job on the initials description! My dad does not have a middle name either – it was the custom of their families to give the sons the initial of the mother’s maiden name. It served the same purpose since there were so many families with the same last name. You could identify which family a particular young man came from. My dad’s middle name is K – just the letter!
You were quite the cute little thief and liar. I was a cheater. Saved by grace.
Great price for those greeting cards. I love your story about the cough drops. Oh wow…. that last picture looks delicious.
Enjoyed very much! Your photo shows you were an adorable little girl. Your pancakes look yummy!
Ellen – oh, the things we get up to when we are young. I disobeyed my parents and crossed a major road to buy candy at the drug store. I still don’t know how they knew!!! My husband does not have a middle name – it was not common in England at the time he was born (and for the generations before that). Love the look of your Tuesday meal!
Great answers….I have never thought of sour cream on pancakes. Last week we had our grandkids here and my hubby introduced my grandson to ice cream (dairy free for him) on waffles…haha. He loved it. My hubby had a host family one year who did this and he was hooked. I don’t like it, but my daughters do. I might have to try teh sour cream thing.
Oh that thieving story is hilarious! Your pancakes look so yummy. I haven’t had a pancake in a long long time. I make waffles occasionally but rarely pancakes.