Ring in the New Wednesday Hodgepodge

New year, new hodgepodge. What could be better? Check out my answers and then head over to Joyce's blog by clicking the graphic below for a lot more! 

1. Are you ready for new? Is 2016 likely to be very different than 2015? Do you want it to be?

Wow, hard question for my first Hodgepodge in 2016. I am ready for anything God wants to bring into our family, good or bad. I pray this year is a bit easier with medical issues for our kids. I hate seeing them have a hard time in anything. So, for that, I do hope for it to be different than 2015. I would love to have a new passion for God. I never want that to be stagnant. 

2. January 6th is National Technology Day. Currently, what is your single biggest struggle or frustration when it comes to technology?

Right now, honestly, my biggest frustration is that I can't find my iPad cord. Our homeschool plan has a lot of books and I was able to get many of them on Kindle. I can use the kids Kindles but the screen isn't as nice as our iPad. Grr. I just need to find it. 

3. It's that time 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, and general uselessness) in 2016. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-

So (at the start of every single sentence), conversation (as in hotly debated topics where we're invited to 'join the conversation'), problematic, stakeholder, price point, secret sauce, break the Internet, walk it back, presser, manspreading (common in larger cities where some men take up the entire bus or train seat by sitting wide), vape, giving me life (refers to anything that may excite a person or make them laugh), and physicality

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?

Words I would like to banish? The first would be vape. I want it vanished because I would like to see the end of "vaping" in our society. It's unhealthy to those who partake and those who are on the receiving end of their second hand vape. So probably needs to leave. I am horrible about using that word on my posts and am going to try hard to get rid of that habit (because it is just a bad habit). 

Some of those I don't mind and wouldn't care if they stayed. Stakeholder has a certain feeling to it that would be hard to replace with another term. Conversation isn't so bad, either.

The rest I could take or leave. 

4. Share one of your current health related goals.

Weight. Yes, I want to lose weight. But my biggest goal is to be healthy and have a body that can keep up with life's demands. I have already started on this and hopefully it will go well. I am actually going to post about this later this week or next. 

5. Let's talk fifty shades of gray. As in the color. Gray is currently a popular color in home decor, paint, wardrobes, hair, wedding party attire, and more. Are you a fan? Do you have the color in some variation in your home or wardrobe?  Gray hair, the old gray mare, gray matter, gray area...which gray idiom can you most relate to right now?

Gray is a great color. It looks good on me and I like wearing it, especially in the winter. I also have gray in my hair. Honestly, who cares. I don't color it and don't plan on it. It's how God made me and there is no shame in gray hair. If brown, blonde, red, and black hair are beautiful, so is gray. Embrace the gray, ladies. 

I had to stop and think if I had gray in my home. My kids both have gray beds (metal bunks). I think that's the only intentional gray that I have. 

Gray matter is my idiom right now because it describes my life so much. I am always in research mode, reading, learning, ingesting. I have been talking to others about fish oil/omegas (hello, you NEED to take these for your brain - that's another post I will be doing soon). We have been dealing with some neuromuscular issues with our older son. It's just a gray matter situation around here.

6. Certain foods are considered 'lucky' if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Cooked greens to bring economic fortune, black-eyed peas or lentils also symbolize money, pork which symbolizes progress, fish for good luck, and if you're in Spain 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. Did you eat any lucky foods on the first day of the year? Is that a tradition in your home? Of the foods listed, which most appeals to you?

Sleep. I slept. I snoozed. I got 40 winks. I watched the inside of my eyelids. That's my tradition. It's a good one. 

7. What's the single biggest time waster in your life and what, if anything, will you do about it this year?

Ironic that I am on it right now answering a question about it. The internet is a time sucker for many people. I am no different. I am going to slow down my online activity that's not homeschool or medical related. Don't worry folks, I will still be posting. This is my outlet, my journal, if you will.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

If you didn't catch my post on Tuesday, you should check it out if you homeschool or are even thinking about homeschooling. There is a deal you do NOT want to miss. 

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