Wednesday Hodgepodge - Volume 219

1. What's a phrase your mother often said to you? If you're a parent, is this something you now say to your own children?

If I said "I'll die if I don't get something to eat" (when I wanted a snack and dinner time was imminent) and Mum would say (in her poshest British accent) "I rather doubt that, Pamela, or at least it would take some time".  Yes, exaggeration fell totally flat with Mum.

2. What is a scent you associate with your mother or your childhood home?

Fresh baked bread.  Mum was always making a loaf or buns of some sort and the smell of yeasty goodness was intoxicating.

3. What's an activity you remember always doing with your mother (or someone who was a mother figure in your life)?

We used to go on a lot of outings - much as I do with my family now.  During the six years we lived in Belgium, we had a caravan at the beach from April to October and we were always taking off on a field trip - a drive down to Calais to take the hovercraft over to Ramsgate to stock up on English goodies, or a trip into Ostend on Saturday morning for the market or to go to a movie if the weather was grim.  We drove up the Belgian coast, stopping at all of the little towns.

4. Flared jeans, maxi dresses, and jumpsuits are 70's fashion trends back this spring. Are you on board? Which trend would you be most inclined to try? For the men...flared corduroys, wide-collared shirts, and floral prints...what say you?

I have a pair of slightly flared jeans but I don't think they are very flattering.  No to the maxi dress as I'm short and they don't work for me at all and a definite no to a jumpsuit.  When we came back to the States from England in 1978, I brought with me the in-fashion trend of wearing a skirt with a petticoat underneath (usually a broderie anglaise-type petticoat) and the bottom inch or two of the petticoat hung down below the skirt hem.  I can remember walking in the mall and people staring at me - I think they thought that my petticoat was slipping down and would soon be around my ankles!  

I couldn't find a picture but the petticoat looked like this so imagine an inch or two hanging down below a skirt hem and you'll have the idea

5. May 6th is Teacher Appreciation Day and also Nurse Appreciation Day. Is there a nurse or teacher  you have especially appreciated along the way? Tell us why?

I've had a lot of wonderful teachers over the years but the one who really stands out in my mind is my English teacher when I was in school in England.  She chastized me for what she called "my dreadful Americanisms" when I went through a period of adding -wise to a number of terms.  She was right, it was dreadful!  I remember her kindness when I was applying for a job and she wrote me a reference.   She said I was "selective in my friendships".  I haven't been around a lot of nurses but Raewyn, the nurse who conducted our childbirth classes was wonderful.  After all her hard work, I don't think there was a single woman in our entire class who had a natural delivery.  She stopped by after Sophia was born and asked if she could hold Sophia up on the other side of the window in the nursery to show her current class (who were taking a tour that afternoon) what a beautiful newborn looked like.

6. If I came by your house, what would I find on your frig door?

Whole 30 guidelines and pantry list, trash pick-up schedules and recyclables guidelines, magnetic photo frames with pictures from Walt Disney World, a few magnets from England, magnetic business cards for local vet and the Naval base important numbers, and the social calendar for our current command.

7. Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana made her royal entrance on Saturday, May 2nd. On a scale of 1-10, how much attention did you give to all the news coverage? 1=Who's Charlotte? 10=sat glued to the telly, cuppa in hand.

Because of the time difference, I went to bed just as I got a news alert that the Duchess of Cambridge was in labor and on her way to the hospital so I woke up to the news that the new Princess had been born.  I was definitely a 10 in the morning, devouring every piece of news I could find on the Internet.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I'm still busy submitting job applications - eleven in total so far.  Good grief, the Federal Government is a labyrinth when it comes to the employment process.  Hoping to hear something soon.