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. Oxford's Word of the year for 2024 is 'brain rot'. Are you familiar with this term? I am not familiar with that term. Do you suffer from the condition? Ha! This is a term used to 'capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media'. If you were choosing a word to capture 2024 (for the nation/world, not your own life personally) what word would you choose? After reading what Joyce wrote above about the word, it makes total sense. There is so much "junk" out there, so many things we consume that just do nothing for us. I try very hard to not consume garbage or just much trivial things. I am picky about what I pause on or scroll through. Reels can be funny but I don't spend too much time on them. 

2. It's National Polar Bear Plunge Day (January 1)...will you be participating in one of these events (or even your own)? How will you spend the first day of this brand new year? I won't be participating this year, though we did participate with some friends a few years ago, and if we had our cold tub up I'm sure we'd get in it. Do you have a traditional New Year's Day menu? Nope. Though having a traditional meal would be fun. I think I'm going to make a ham and bean soup. 

3. What's something that brings you joy and how will you do more of it in this new year? I could say there are so many things that bring me joy, but one thing that does bring me joy and I don't do it near enough is going out and taking photos with my actual big girl camera. Sure I take quite a few with my phone, but I feel like I want to be more intentional with my other camera. Out in nature, or exploring the cities or towns and finding things to photograph. I'm part of a Sunday Stills challenge and I find more often than not I resort to my old photos instead of going out and finding more.

4. Do you struggle with the January blues? I don't know if I'd call it the blues, but it can certainly get to me...it's so rainy here in the PNW and then getting dark early. It can be tough. What's one thing you can/will do to keep them at bay? I keep the house cozy, turn the fire on, enjoy drinking my coffee, playing uplifting music or podcasts, and just know that at some point the dreariness will end. 

5. Will you choose your own personal word of the year for 2025? I'm not sure. I've chosen them in the past but then find that I'm not really intentional with them. What about a goal, resolution, or maybe even a bucket list? I haven't thought much about it, though I'm sure I will in the next week or so. Elaborate as much or as little as you like. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I took a break from blogging challenges in December. We were so busy at work. I have weekends off, and then Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday I watch the grandkids and Wednesdays are my days to just do whatever I NEED to do or want to do. I ended up working every Wednesday and that just threw a wrench in trying to get any free time to really sit and blog, and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with commenting so I decided to just forgo it and jump back in this month. 

Friday, I broke a tooth at work. So frustrating. I go tomorrow (Thursday) to get a crown. Thankfully they saw me on Monday and I made an appointment for Thursday. It doesn't hurt and isn't sensitive. I'm just not eating on that side. 

We had a good Christmas. The grandkids were so fun. For New Years Eve it was just my hubby and I. He went to bed early and I stayed up by myself. I worked on a puzzle, did some blog commenting. Last Sunday, we had the family up and had crab for lunch. That was fun, and maybe a new tradition. We all sat around the island, ate crab (which takes time so you are forced to "sit" and visit awhile)

Today (New Years) we're just hanging around at home. I need to flavor my Kombucha and plan to make some ham and bean soup. 

Christmas morning was so cozy!!

Fresh cinnamon rolls and bacon on Christmas morning. 

Christmas morning! 

Christmas dinner at my in laws. We had a fun day of playing some games my hubby came up with. Everyone loved them especially winning prizes. 

Here's to a great New Year! 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin