Wednesday Hodgepodge 3/1/18

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at

From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

1. It's that time of year again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or genera uselessness) in 2018. You can read more about the decision making process and word meaning here, but this year's top vote getters are-
unpack, dish (as in dish out the latest rumour), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingburger, let that sink in, let me ask you this, impactful, Covfefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated), and gig economy
Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?

Well I’d like to get rid of most of those but especially Covfefe because it isn’t even a word. 
2. What's something you need to get rid of in the New Year?

Where to start?  I still seem to have a lot of clutter despite making an effort to get rid of things.  It’s hard at the moment as our son and daughter-in-law will soon (hopefully) be moving out but before they do they are accumulating things such as a table and chairs, a single bed, a chest of drawers and more.  Part of me knows we need to wait until they move out and then take stock but one thing I have decided to do is go through all my make-up, toiletries etc. and get rid of anything that I haven’t been using or anything that is old.
3. Where do you feel stuck?
Making better use of my time.
4. January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favourite canned soup? Your favourite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter's day?
We had soup on several days after Christmas.  It was homemade using stock made from the turkey carcass and leftovers.  I can’t take the credit because hubby made it but it was delicious.  From a can I would opt for tomato or chicken.  We don’t often make soup from scratch but the turkey broth after Christmas is a tradition.
5. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in 2018.
More grandchildren!  We have 2 more expected in June.  Both my sons are looking forward to becoming Dads for the first time.
6. Insert your own random thought here.

I’ve missed the Hodgepodge but I’m so glad we made the trip to Australia – blog about that coming soon….but here’s a snap to whet your appetite.

 Happy New Year!

#Jusjojan 3rd January 2018 - One Liner Wednesday.

So the prompt for today is One Liner Wednesday:

I'd like to think I'm a work in progress, but that would require moving off this couch!

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in, plus links to all the other participants.

#Jusjojan 2nd January 2018 - Boisterous

Just Jot It January is hosted by Linda H Gill - here's the link to her site where you will find all the rules and the place to leave your link to your own post if you decide to join in plus links to all the other participants.

Your prompt for January 2nd, 2018, brought to you by Dan Antion, is “Boisterous.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Dan at his blog, “No Facilities,” to read his post and say hi! He’s very friendly. Here’s his link:  https://nofacilities.com/   

Well boisterous is not a word that goes with me.  I don't think I've ever fit that description.  I was a quiet goody two shoes growing up.  Our dog was more boisterous than me.  Fortunately my children didn't follow in their Mother's footsteps.  I was lucky enough to make a very good friend just after I had my daughter.  Between us 5 more youngsters followed in quick succession and they were often all together either in my house or hers.  I wouldn't say they were boisterous but they were definitely lively and loved dressing up and making up plays.   Which of course we had to sit through, often struggling to keep straight faces.

Now those lively children are all grown adults and starting to have children of their own and I'm sure there are going to be many more boisterous times to look forward to.

Happy New Year! Let's hope there's no drama.

Yes it's me!  I'm here.  Really.

I know it's been an age.  Over a month of travelling and then arriving back just before Christmas and then doing Christmas & New Year hasn't left a lot of time for blogging.  Or even the inclination to blog.

And now it's 2018!  So the rot stops here.  And hopefully by joining in with the Just Jot it January (#jusjojan) challenge I might not only get my mojo back but keep it going.

You can check out the challenge here on Linda's blog.  The prompt for today is DRAMA

Well there was plenty of that around the world in 2017 but fortunately not too much in my life.  Of course some of the scenery on our Australia trip was pretty dramatic and I will blog about that.  Promise!  Of course it seems a long time ago now.  But the best bit of that trip was that our Grandson Nathan (and his Mummies) came with us!  (Really we tagged along with them but who cares when it meant hubby and I finally did some serious travelling.)

Nathan's arrival was the main drama in our lives this year, arriving early as he did and giving us lots to worry about initially but this is how he looks now:

He's actually 9 months but his corrected age is 6+ months due to his prematurity and he is solid!  But adorable.  Spending so much time with him was lovely even if he doesn't like to sleep much.

I've been catching up on blogs today.  Hopefully I've left most of my readers a comment or two or at least a like.  Apologies to anyone I've missed.  Some of you have had drama in your lives in 2017.  I hope that 2018 will be a better year for us all.

It's definitely an exciting year for us as we have not one but two more Grandchildren on the way!  Hopefully the only drama associated with that will be if they arrive too close together and I have to work out how to be in two places (London and Nottingham) at the same time.  They are both due in June with only 8 days between their due dates!  I don't want to be making any dramatic dashes up and down the M1 so that I can visit both on the day they arrive.

Ok I'm done for today.  I need to organise my photos from Australia so that I can post about the trip.  I'll be back!