“I’m An American” Hodgepodge

It’s Wednesday so it’s time for the Hodgepodge with thanks to Joyce From This Side of the Pond who delivers the questions.

1. Pantone’s color of the year for 2023 is Viva Magenta. Etsy’s color(s) of the year are indigo and honeycomb. Your thoughts? Would we find any of these three shades in your home or wardrobe? Is there a room in your house that needs painting this year? Will you do it yourself or hire out? 

Yes to these colors in clothing. Maybe on one wall as an accent. I really love indigo on dishes, as in the photo at the top of this post.

There are no rooms in our home that need a total paint job because in the four years we’ve lived here all the walls have been repainted by Dear. He also painted the exterior of our home in 2022. Dear was a house painter in his younger years so we do not hire out. We own all the ladders, etc. needed for any paint job. We just have to buy the paint. He has some trim to still complete in some rooms.

2. Something you had to do recently that could be described ‘as exciting as watching paint dry’? 

My phrase while Dear was in the hospital after his stroke was, “hurry up and wait”. Hours of waiting for a room to open up in the surgical ward, a surgeon to come in and discuss the surgery procedure, someone to bring the discharge paper work, etc. etc. All the waiting was done with no comfortable chairs for a loved one who was advocating to sit in.

3. Who would you most like to sit beside on a 10-hour flight? Tell us why? Have you ever taken a 10-hour flight? 

Not chatty Kathy but someone I could enjoy a meaningful conversation with like my sister-in-law, Mandy, who knows how to purposefully lead a conversation to what matters. That said, on a 10 hour flight it is helpful to be able to sleep for some of the hours.

We have taken 10 hour flights.

4. What’s something you did growing up that would get you into trouble? 

Hiding from my parents when it was time to leave for Russian school on Saturday mornings. When they found me I’d stomp my foot exclaiming, “I’m an American”! In hindsight I wish I would have been more diligent in learning Russian. Below is one of my school books that I still have. My name is written lightly with pencil in Russian.

Родная Речь ~ Native Speech

Book for teaching second level class beginners school

If you know Russian feel free to correct my translation.

5. According to Google the top searches in 2022 were- Wordle, election results, Betty White, Queen Elizabeth, Bob Saget, Ukraine, Mega Millions, Powerball numbers, Anne Heche, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Hmmm…what does this say about us? How many of these words did you search last year? What would you guess was your most ‘googled’ word/phrase/question.

Queen Elizabeth is the only one off that list that I googled and my most googled phrase was probably Colville Weather or WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) conditions on Snoqualmie Pass.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I posted this on Facebook this week and decided to share it here, too.

“Let’s be cheerful! We have no more right to steal the brightness out of the day for our own family than we have to steal the purse of a stranger. Let us be as careful that our homes are furnished with pleasant and happy thoughts as we are that the rugs are the right color and texture and the furniture comfortable and beautiful.”

~~Laura Ingalls Wilder

SeaJack Day #3

I might be sounding like a broken record but we woke up to some more severe weather conditions in Rapid City, South Dakota. When the sun broke through we were brave enough to make a run for it. While we waited for the car to warm up and melt off the ice/snow on the windshield the wind was so strong that our car was rocking. I’m so sad I didn’t get a photo of the snow blowing horizontally. Very little snow accumulated on the ground. It accumulated on signs, windows, one side of the tree trunks, etc.

P1050082These are the welcome and information signs at a rest area stop in South Dakota.

We saw whitecaps on irrigation ponds as we continued east on I-90.

1538676_750416558918_7477388747956774918_nToday we crossed the state of South Dakota heading East from Rapid City. We smiled as we passed an exit that said this was the home town of John Thune, senator from South Dakota. His brother Bob was our pastor for a few years in Huntington Beach, California. Bob Thune is an exceptional teacher of God’s Word. We also passed the exit for the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We waved, Willow! Wish we could have gone out of our way the 50 miles to see it.

We headed South at Sioux Falls, S.D. and finally made it into Iowa.

SeaJack #3 012

SeaJack #3 015The Missouri River in Iowa.

P1050086We traveled in three states again today, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Tonight we are staying south of Omaha, Nebraska.

P1050087

It was a very long travel day today and we didn’t get to our hotel until after 6:00 P.M. Since it was Tuesday our regular day at home to go out for Mexican food we found a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel for our later than usual dinner. We are beat and happy to have been carried along by the prayers of our friends and family today. Bless you all. We have a nice place to lay our heads. We are really looking forward to meeting up with Pam a dear bloggy friend and her daughter in Kansas City tomorrow for lunch.

We have learned that we need to be flexible with our plans when we have to deal with changing weather patterns. We had planned to see Mt. Rushmore today before we hit the road to Nebraska but the weather proved to be too severe to enjoy that extra side trip.

Our hearts go out to all those who have suffered in the path of tornadoes and other severe weather this week.