Hodgle Podgle

This could be my penultimate Hodgepodge in Madrid. Or maybe the ultimate if I'm lazy while in the hotel. So, join in Hodgepodgelings!


1. I've read several posts and status updates recently describing end of year school field trips. Do you remember taking school field trips as a kid? Where did you go and do you recall a favorite? For any parents responding today, have you ever chaperoned a school field trip, and if so where?

I remember a zoo trip in second grade, my first overnight trip in 5th grade, and then starting in junior high we would go to Black Rock Retreat in Pennsylvania for three-night camps each year.

The most vivid memory I have of those trips is sitting in the back row of a big van going to Black Rock for the first time and a classmate next to me accidentally turned and elbowed me hard in the chest. I was just starting to grow my boobies and it hurt so bad I thought I was going to die.

I did not.

Aaaaaand you're welcome for that little memory gem.

Parent chaperones are unheard of here in Spain-- we asked and they looked at us as if we might be mentally impaired.
Then again, we asked in Spanish. Maybe we asked if we could take a shower in the bidet or something. Who knows?


 2. What's something you're tired of seeing online?

How long do you have?

The Facebook Braggarts: The hidden brag, the humble brag, the blatant brag. Just shut up already, nobody cares that Penelope is doing calculus in kindergarten. I've got you beat-- my kid can armpit fart in his sleep.

Everyone who is sure that All The Foods are killing them, based on extensive internet research.

Anything that starts with "Dear ______" which is not actually written to that person. That company is not your facebook friend. And that intro to a rant is so 2012.

People who you cannot disassociate with Their Cause, since they cannot go a day without a post about it. Thanks, Jane Doe, now you've made me hate breastfeeding. And I used to like it.

People who ask for advice by saying, for example, "Best Restaurant near Central Park, Go!" as if everyone in their internet circle is just sitting around dying to give them advice.

Comment sections on any article ever written.

I think I should stop before I get carried away...


 3. June is the month for roses. Which of the following expressions would you say has most recently applied to your life-'everything's coming up roses', 'there's no rose without a thorn', 'came out smelling like a rose', or 'wearing rose-colored glasses'? 
There's no rose without a thorn-- We've had a great run here the last couple of years with incredible locations and experiences and the thorn is having to say goodbye.


 4. When grilling outdoors do you prefer gas or charcoal? Who does the grilling at your house? What's the last thing you ate that was cooked on a grill?
I guess gas, because it's faster. Josh usually does the grilling, but it's been a looooooong time. We don't have a grill here, and we didn't bother to fill the propane tank in California either. And he was in Afghanistan for the 6 months before California...

Looking forward to some grilling this summer!

 5. Are you afraid of the dark?
Nope.

 6. Share a favorite song with a number in it's title.

February Seven by the Avett Brothers.


7. "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."(C.G. Jung). Do you agree? Why or why not?

When I think of everything that irritates me about others, I come to the understanding that I am very easily irritated.

Stop bothering me, world!

 8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Our super-sporty Corolla passed her inspection today and has been taken away to be sent across the Atlantic. She is quite the jet-setter. Her 13 years have seen a lot of the world. I know, because we had to clean all the thirteen years of dirt and grime off of her to send her back.

And by "we" I mean the people we hired to do it.

It was a relief to get that checked off the list, which now only has about 99 things on it.

I got 99 problems, but the car aint one. Maybe that should have been my song with a number.