Hodgepodge

I was going to try to catch up a little on all of the happenings that have been happening, but it's Wednesday so instead I'll hodgepodge.

You know the drill-- hop over to Joyce's blog to join in!
Or don't!
But don't say you weren't invited!
Or do!
But you'll be lying!

1. April 22nd is Earth Day. Are you inspired by nature? In what way?
I'm not sure if nature inspires me to do* anything, per se, but I'm definitely amazed by nature, more so now than when I was younger. Seeing the world come to life again each spring, and the beautiful way the leaves turn colors and fall in autumn testifies to the Creator-- the order, the beauty. Sometimes it's too much to take in.

*Fact: There is very little that inspires me to do anything. Unless it is sitting on the couch.

2. Down to earth, four corners of the earth, move heaven and earth, not have an earthly chance, or salt of the earth...which earthly idiom have you most recently encountered? Explain.




 Hmm. I think I'll choose "move heaven and earth" since we are exactly two months away from getting on an airplane and moving away.

Sniffle Sniffle.


Snort.

Full on ugly-cry.

Temper tantrum.

You can't make me, Air Force! I don't wanna! You're not the boss of me!

(Except yes, they can. It don't matter. And they kind of sort of are.)
 


3. Share one piece of advice you might give a newly engaged couple.

Elope.

Ha. I kid. I jest.

Kind of.

Weddings are nice, but they only last a few hours, so I will give a piece of advice for marriage instead. 

Have a lot of sex, they say it's a good workout.

Okay, okay. I'll be serious now:
Have a lot of sex.

Not because it's a good workout, but because when you're connecting physically, it makes it hard to disconnect mentally/emotionally/communicatively (Inventing Words 101).
And with our internet world in which we're in constant communication with everyone else, sometimes it's hard to stay in touch with the person sitting on the other end of the couch.
So put down the computer and the phone, and get busy.

Bam. 





4. When did you last engage someone to perform a job, task, service, home repair, or improvement? On a scale of 1-10 (ten being the best) how would you rate their work and/or your satisfaction with the job or service provided?




We had our sprinklers turned on and adjusted on That House in Idaho. I assume they did the job, because we got the bill. Consider me satisfied. (Insert funny reference to answer #3)


5. When did you last find yourself engaged in small talk? Are you awkward or an expert or somewhere in between?




I chat with the other moms at pickup time after school most afternoons. It's a good opportunity to practice my Spanish and it's been the way I've made a few friends here in Madrid. There is a very high probability that I am awkward and just don't know it, because once I start rattling off, even I don't know what I'm saying.
I'm guessing there's a 75% chance that at some point this past year, I've nodded and smiled when someone told me that they had a death in the family.

Life in another language is complicated. 





6.  What was the last historic place you visited?


We happen to have just returned from a trip to London. We saw all sorts of historical schtuff.
I did not succeed in my mission to locate Prince George and squeeze his cheeks.


7. The world would be a better place if we just__________________________.





 Went back to that time in history where the chubby women were considered the hot ones.

Come on! Art museums are full of paintings of women with actual hips and muffin tops. Why not now?

WHY NOT NOW????

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Last year we didn't let Alex go on her end of year class trip, because she'd only had a few months in school and we didn't think she was ready, language-wise, for an extended (4-night!) trip away from us.
Also, who does that in second grade?!

But we told her that this year she could go.

And so my first baby is going to leave me behind for 5 days and 4 nights, starting on her birthday, no less.

And I was going to spend a lot of time being upset about that, until I saw the price tag and found something else to be upset about.

Also, Derek's class has an end of year trip as well but if you think for a hot second that I'm sending my tiny infant baby boy away for two nights with people who may or may not adequately understand the equation of Peanuts=Death, then you would be wrong. WRONG. He is a baby. BABY.
Who would tuckle him in? Who would snuggle him awake?

Not gonna happen.