A July Hodgepodge

I always look forward to joining in with Joyce and others for

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Do you find yourself influencing your world, or is it more the other way around? 

I do find that my thoughts are often influenced by what is going on around me in my world and I tend to dwell on those things too much sometimes.  My moods and actions are sometimes temporarily influenced as well depending on the seriousness of a matter.  This being said, I trust that my belief in a Sovereign God and that He is in control would be an influence on the world around me and not the other way around.

2. July 14th is National Tape Measure Day...the device was patented on this date in 1868. When did you last use a tape measure? Do you always know where to find one in your house? Tell us one way in which you feel blessed 'beyond measure'. 

I do not recall the last time I used a tape measure but I do know where to find one or two in our house should it be needed.  I am blessed beyond measure by the family God has given me and that I know I will spend eternity in heaven with my parents, my husband, my children and each of my grandchildren.  That is truly the greatest blessing I could ask for.


3.The Plaza Hotel (Eloise), The Land of Oz (The Wizard of Oz), Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia), The Hundred Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh), Wonderland (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), or Never Never Land (Peter Pan)...which storybook land (on this list!) would you most like to visit and why?

I really don't think any of them, but I will say Narnia only because of the opportunity to personally meet Aslan.

4. Where and when do you get your best ideas?

Some of my best ideas happen during the awake hours in the middle of the night.  I get inspiration from several sources such as the internet, magazines, and things I see in my community.

5.  So what have you been watching on TV this summer? Anything good?

Hubby and I do not enjoy sit-coms so we record the few shows we do like to watch such as the NCIS programs and PBS mysteries.  Recently, we discovered the Hallmark Mystery and Movie channel and I record some of those movies that Hubby calls "lovey shows."

6. 'Don't swim for an hour after you eat', 'Dog days of summer', 'Knee high by the Fourth of July'...choose a summer saying from the list or share one of your own, then tell us what image or memory comes to mind when you hear it spoken.

'Dog days of summer'!  This brings memories of days spent as children in rural, south central Louisiana when summer days were spent outside playing, pretending, picnics, and simply lying in the grass watching the clouds.

7. In a single sentence, sum up one life lesson you've learned.

It is not about ME!

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

 This past Saturday, my two sisters,

  our husbands, and as many of our children and grandchildren as possible, gathered at the lovely home of one of my nephews and his wife in south Louisiana.  We had such a great time together.  We had not all been together since our mother's funeral eleven years ago, some of the great-grandchildren had never met.  We missed those who couldn't be there, but the rest of us had a great time.

Isn't this a beautiful backdrop?  So typical of the natural beauty of South Louisiana.

Our daughter and her family were scattered around the world and unable to attend, but our son and his family from Indiana were there.

We remembered that four of the greats had been in a wedding together several years ago.  It was so much fun to look back at these pictures of then and now and see how the personalities were evident even then.