The Wednesday Hodgepodge! New For Me!

I have never done the Wednesday Hodgepodge before, but this one sounded interesting to me so I thought I might give it a try!  Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond blog is our hostess, and I've been reading other blogging friends' posts from this weekly meme for a long time, but never got around to joining in until now.  I always thought it was interesting that she writes "From This Side of the Pond", and I live on a pond, albeit a very dry pond at the moment.  So here we go...

 The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 638

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then skate back here on Wednesday (January 28th) to add your link to the party. See you there!


1. I live in the south so we're pretty much only talking about the weather right now. Give us a weather report from where you live. Does the kind of weather you're having today affect your mood in some way?
As I am typing this, here in north central Florida, it is currently 30 degrees.  We will be having freezing temperatures every morning for the next week, and only warming up into the 50's mostly.  This winter has been unusual for us here in Florida already!  As far as affecting my mood? Well, I will be thankful when the freezing temperatures are over and we can get back to our normal kind of winter with cooler days and plenty of sunshine,  although we need rain desperately here on MY side of the pond!  (For those of you who are new to my blog, I live on a small pond that I've named "Still Waters Pond",  and it has been completely dry this past fall and winter due to no rain in our area to speak of for quite a while. So we keep praying for some good rain to fill it back up!)


2. Avocados, kale, cauliflower and cottage cheese have all had their time to shine. 2026 brings us the year of the cabbage. Is this a vegetable you like? If so, what are some of your favorite dishes that call for cabbage?

Yes, I do like cooked cabbage as well as cole slaw made with raw cabbage.  This receipe below is one of our old family favorites, and it's extra good right now during these very cold days! I made a big pot of this last week, and we enjoyed finishing up the leftovers a couple of days ago.  Here's the receipe in case you're wondering what to make for dinner at your house today:

Hobo Stew

Cook a couple of slices of bacon, chopped into smaller pieces, in the bottom of a large soup kettle or dutch oven.

Brown 2 lbs. ground chuck in the pot, and drain off fat.

Add 1 medium chopped onion to the meat and cover and cook until onion is tender

Add 1 can diced stewed tomatoes (I used the ones with green pepper & onion and celery added)

Add approximately 3 cups of water to the pot, cover and let simmer while you chop up the next ingredients:

Add four medium, peeled and cut potatoes

Add four or five peeled and sliced carrots

Add two cups of chopped cabbage.

Add salt and pepper and garlic powder to season.

If needed, add more water, cover and let cook until all vegetables are tender.

(All ingredients can be added according to how much you want to make! This will make a nice dutch oven pot full of stew)

Serve with fresh, hot cornbread. We like to crumble our corn bread onto the stew.

We used to make this in Girl Scouts, and would put all ingredients in a large metal coffee can, cover tightly with foil, and bury under the coals of our campfire and let it cook all day. It would be delicious for supper!

3. Was a Cabbage Patch Doll a part of your childhood? Or maybe your children's childhood? What's a toy trend from your childhood you remember wanting for your own?

I am too old to have had a Cabbage Patch doll in my "first childhood", but I was given one for Christmas one year by my brother in law in my "second childhood".   And I still have her today:

She was one of the "Little Astronauts", and I named her Robin Noel, because she has "red" hair, and I always said if I had a little girl with red hair I would name her Robin Noel. I ended up with three sons, all with brown hair like their daddy, so this is my little red headed girl. LOL. And also, with three boys, I had no good excuse to buy dolls for my children.  

As far as from my own real childhood, I had a Tiny Tears Doll.  And I still have her, although she is quite a bit worse for the wear...but she's over 70 years old, so what do you expect for a rubber baby doll? She was once stored in the attic at my parents' home (in hot Florida), so that is why the rubber on her arms and legs became cracked from the heat.  But I just can't bear to throw her away, since I've had her this long. I'll leave that up to my adults sons someday.

I also had one of the first original Barbie dolls (yes, I'm that old). HERE's a link to a post I wrote about her.

4. Something you've spent a lot of time doing lately?

Chasing around our outdoor cat named Blackie, who is trying his best to become an indoor cat, and we are working at that very gradually, especially with these very cold nights.  He comes inside to sleep in a kennel/crate, and then we let him out in the morning to eat and walk around the house inside until it warms up a bit outside.  However, I must stay it feels a LOT like following a two year old toddler around, watching out for where he goes and what he might decide to get into.

He also likes to play "hide and seek", and he thinks he's hiding from me under this rolling cart in our kitchen! LOL.

And here he is, waiting outside our bedroom doors for my hubby to come out.  Even though hubby is a reluctant participant in this experiment, Blackie is doing his best to win him over. LOL.

5. Somehow it's the last week of January...sum up your month in just three sentences.

We started out the New Year getting over bad colds that interrupted our Christmas holidays, but thankfully we are fine now. It's also been rather expensive due to some dental issues that had to be resolved. We are ending up the month with frigid temperatures and are hoping February will be healthier and warmer and filled with happy blessings.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Yesterday morning, on a chilly ride to the dentist to get my permanent crown put on, (which was another episode all its own), 

I learned something new and wonderful about our new to us car that we bought last year in the summertime...

That little symbol on the dash that looks like this picture below is actually a button for a heated seat!!!  We did not know we  had heated seats in this car, and boy, was that ever a welcome surprise!!!  Here in Florida we've seldom needed such a gadget, but let me tell you, it sure feels wonderful!!!!! Woo Hoo! Now I find myself looking forward to taking a ride just so I can turn that thing on! LOL. 

Okay friends, old and new, this was fun for my first go-round on the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Not sure if I will make it a weekly event, but we shall see how things are going by this time next week.  Until then, take care and stay safe and warm, wherever you are!! Thank you, Joyce, for allowing me the joy of joining up today!

Wednesday Treasures~Baby Me!

Since this is my birthday week (Friday), and it is a major decade year, I thought it would be okay to share a few "treasures" of my babyhood. I hope you won't mind.

Here is my favorite baby picture, because it is one of the rare photos that is in color and shows my red hair. Actually, this picture was from a "slide" that my grandparents took, and it was made into a print later. I was about 10 months old.

This picture was my first birthday, and what I love about it is that my mother used her good crystal water goblets and stemmed dessert dishes for the ice-cream. I wish the picture were clearer to get a better look at the cake. I don't know what kind it was, but I imagine my mother made the boiled white icing for it. There was no such thing as frosting in a can or box back then...or cakes either, for that matter. The cake was made from scratch. Birthdays were always special occasions and a good time to bring out the good dishes and crystal. Even for a baby's first birthday! 

This picture was me at 6 months old. According to the "notes", I had the chicken pox then.  I believe this occasion was on my sister's birthday, because she had the chicken pox for her birthday that year.

I recognize that toy on my high chair tray...It was a "Humpty Dumpty".  Not sure how I remember that. Probably my mother told me that was what it was. I doubt that I can remember my toys from when I was 6 months old. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast today...

I love this picture of me with my Grandma Tedlie. I don't have a lot of pictures of my maternal grandmother with me, and this was special because we were going for a walk in the woods. I was about two years old then.

No, this isn't me, but this is my "Baby Elva" doll that I've told you about before. 

Today Elva is dressed in my original baby dress, and she is holding a doll that my Grandma Tedlie made for me when I was a baby. Her name was "Sandra". Why I chose that name I do not know. I don't recall knowing anyone with that name when I was little, but for some reason that is the name I gave this little doll, and so that is who she is.  She is well loved and worn...well...after all, she is almost as old as I am!

And here below, Baby Elva is modeling my original Baby Bunting outfit.

Since I was born in Pennsylvania where it was very cold, a Baby Bunting was a necessity!

I found this wrapped in a special bag among my mother's treasures when we were cleaning out my parents' home preparing for the estate sale. My sister and I both agreed that it was probably mine, and so I kept it. It fits Baby Elva just fine!

I found a few other things in the same bag with the Baby Bunting, and "Baby Elva" has agreed to continue being our model today:

Baby Elva is wearing a sweet little hand crocheted bib and knitted booties. I don't know if the booties were originally yellow or white. I believe they may have yellowed with age. It is amazing to think that I once had feet small enough to fit in those tiny little booties! A far cry from my size 9 shoe today!

There was also this beautiful knitted baby blanket, again, probably yellowed with age. I don't know if it was hand made or not or any other details except for the fact it was with these other baby things, so we will just assume that baby blanket once covered my tiny little body and kept me warm and cozy!

Upon closer inspection of this sweet little dress Baby Elva is wearing below, it looks a lot like the dress I was wearing in the very first picture up above. I am not sure how that can be, because I was 10 months old in that picture, and this dress seems like it is only for up to about 6 months in size...but if you look at the sleeves, it sure looks the same. Maybe all baby dresses were made like that back then...

Here is another of my favorite treasures from my childhood:

Yes, that is my Tiny Tears doll. She is very old and brittle. Her one rubber arm is cracking and coming apart, so I have to be very careful with her. But oh! How I loved that doll!  Tiny Tears could drink and wet her diaper, and she cried real tears too! My sister also had one just like mine, and we played and played with our baby dolls.  We pretended we were "Lucy and Mary". I was Lucy, because I had red hair, and I loved Lucy!  My sister Doris liked the name Mary better than Ethel, so she was Mary. My baby was "Little Ricky". Not sure what she named hers. We sure had a lot of fun pretending. 

Do children still do that today?

I wanted to mention the blanket. It was embroidered by my Aunt Margie (my mother's oldest sister) for my first baby. So it is also a "treasure".

Oh! Here I am in one of my more angelic moments:

Maybe I should leave it here and quit while I am ahead! LOL.

Well, maybe one more. You have probably seen this picture already because I am sure I must have shared it before, but it's another favorite.

This is my whole family.

My Dad and Mom are on the back, and we four kids are on the front, "The stair-steps"

Russell, Clifford, Doris and yours truly.

Only my brother Clifford, my sister Doris and I still remain. 

The rest are waiting for us in heaven some day!

What a great day of rejoicing that will be!

So, that is my little "Wednesday Treasure" Album for today. 

I hope you enjoyed coming along down memory lane with me.

"But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; 

for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 19:14