1. What’s something that makes you feel stressed? How do you cope?

I talked about this yesterday: money. You’d think I would have figured it out by now but I keep rearranging my work stuff so there’s lulls in pay. I have two new jobs now but have to get them going, pay-wise, so the stress is: will I have enough to pay the next credit card bill? (We pay it off at the end of every month; use it for everything.) I cope by calculating my bills and knowing what I will and will not be paying and then, being frugal about purchases when I start to feel the crunch.

2. What’s a food you eat that evokes a memory? Explain. 

I don’t eat this often but I make it for my daughter: grits and eggs. And it reminds me of two things: of how my mom always made this for me as a kid so it’s more of the feeling of my childhood that it evokes but also, I remember it being December 31st, 1999 and I was home from college and everyone was panicking that Y2K was going to wreck the world but I woke on the first feeling absolutely normal and I ate that breakfast, thinking how thankful I was that it was, indeed, just another normal day.

3. This week’s Hodgepodge lands on National Visit Your Relatives Day. Will you celebrate by visiting a relative? If so is travel involved? Geographically, who is your nearest relative (not counting those living in your own house)?

Not any time super soon. We’ve seen my parents a lot recently, who are indeed the closest in Pensacola so yes, we have to drive about 2 hours 45 minutes. My Uncle in Alabama is closer but we never visit.

4. What’s your most frequently used emoji? Do you make more phone calls, send more emails, or mainly text to communicate with friends and family? 

By far, it’s the thumbs-up emoji. Maybe closely followed by the happy face or winky one. I send a lot of emails but I probably text more than anything: I have to talk to my husband and boys a lot and I have group chats for friends and my mom and sister.

5. Tell us the story behind a favorite piece of furniture. 

I don’t have any that are super interesting; I have a little side table near my recliner and the story is that I wanted something tall and thin to sit in this space so I could put my coffee and a few journals, that’s it. I looked for months and finally found one at Goodwill. Value!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

You know what I should probably do while I have this free time at the start of this new job? Write more often. I keep saying I’ll finally write a book but I never finish anything. Maybe now is the time!

I am not acclimated to this schedule at all so going to work, even if it is only 4-5 hours, feels tiring. Yesterday was exceedingly exhausting because things were all wonky; I had two summer courses for my prison job but one got canceled so that was frustrating. I was just unhappy so, as tends to happen when I get this way, I threw myself headlong into cleaning and house stuff. I helped my daughter clean her disaster area of a room, mowed part of the back yard and cut down this dumb shrub that was crowding out my Douglas Iris. I swept my bedroom floor; I got my kids to take out trash (that’s their Tuesday job anyway) and to tidy their bathroom. It was productive! My husband works on Youtube videos on Tuesdays so I went into another room and read for a bit then watched videos until I drifted off to sleep.

I’m feeling super motivated today and I even got to work early so I could begin on things for other jobs. Feeling good and happy Wednesday everybody!