Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's time for Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce, who blogs at From This Side of The Pond.  Each week she'll pose some questions for us to answer. What a great way to journal life.

1. How did you meet your significant other? We met at Bible College (and no I didn't go to find a husband, though many did)...I was all prepared to head back home. I knew him the two years I was there, but we didn't start dating until I was leaving. He asked me to the end of the year banquet, then we did some other things with friends right before leaving and decided to see where things would go. So most of our relationship was long distance, and once a month visits. If you don't have a significant other, tell us how you met your best friend. 

1991ish I think...end of year banquet. Everyone loved that we matched. 

He proposed up in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia. He wanted to ask me sooner, but he was the school president and they didn't want him distracted....lol! Also, my ring hadn't come so some of the girls at school convinced him to just get me a fun plastic ring (they knew I'd love it)...so he did...I wish I still had it. I think I lost it. 

32 years later....we just celebrated our Anniversary on October 10th. 

2. It's Department Store Day (October 16)...do you still shop in department stores? I actually had to look up what was considered a department store. Years ago I would have said stores like Sears..but not there is such a variety that I wasn't sure. According to my google search, some major ones are JC Penney, Kohls, Nordstrom. I suppose a department store would be a store that contains many departments, BUT not food? I do shop at Kohls and Penneys sometimes. I used shop at Maceys and Meier and Frank...they had great sales.  If not do you miss that kind of shopping experience?  Do you have a favorite department store? I don't think I have a favorite, though I really liked Meier and Frank in college because they had the sales. I do like Kohls. Any fun memories of department store shopping when you were a child?  Not that I could remember. 

3. Something you're currently nuts about? Hmmm...honestly, not much at the moment...though I'm sure one of you will have posted something that will resonate with me...I'm going to go with the changing fall colors. And I am still nuts about my kitchen. On the negative side, I'm probably going to go nuts because last night our dryer died after we're thinking over 20 years...now I have to go in search of a new one and we might as well replace the washer too because we've had it almost as long. 

4. What's your favorite nut and is there a favorite recipe where this nut is used?I LOVE nuts. I'm not sure there's one I don't like. I would say macadamia nut and cashews are faves, but I also love walnuts. I wouldn't say I have a fave recipe where it is used, but I have used cashews creatively in making dairy free cheese sauce and curry. So good!! Macadamia nuts are so spendy I rarely bake with them. I do use walnuts often in banana breads or cookies.  

5. On Wednesday we officially reach the '70 days until Christmas' mark. Have you purchased any gifts? I actually just purchased some stocking stuffers at Fred Meyers. They had these small bottles of hot sauce for $1 each. I thought it was 2 for $1 but they didn't ring up that way.  If you don't celebrate Christmas then how about Hanukkah presents? 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I'm almost done decorating for fall. I'm keeping it on the simple side, and I really don't have a lot of fall decor. I'll share photos next week when I'm all done. I'm actually wondering if I have another tub somewhere that I didn't find. That's okay though, I'm not going to go hunting for it. Our colors are finally starting to change and the rain is starting to arrive though there have been some warmer afternoons. 

Last weekend I didn't work at the Pumpkin Patch but went there with my oldest daughter and grandkids and we met my MIL and my nephew, his wife and their son. We took a hay ride and went through the corn maze. It was VERY busy!! I almost felt guilty for not helping, but I had to let that go. It wasn't my fault it was busy or that they happened to be short handed. It really wasn't their fault either. It is a VERY popular patch. I will be there the next few weekends. 

The last week my youngest daughter, my son in law and a group from their church were in Brazil for a missions trip. My oldest daughter and the grandkids spent several nights here off and on and I helped out while she had soccer practices and games. It's been fun having them here and I'm glad she feels like she can come and also knows that she has a community of people around her. 

Today (now Wednesday) I have a lot of catching up to do..I feel like there are just a lot of little fires I need to put out, so since it's raining, I'll work on those things. I had originally planned to head to the city to go to a few thrift stores and a book store, but that can wait. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin