Hodgepodge: Songs, Sentiment, and Scratch

Joyce's Wednesday Hodgepodge just celebrated its first birthday three weeks ago (or anniversary?). I think this is about my 40th week participating. Crazy, huh? I thought so, too. Bon anniversaire! (That's French for "happy birthday" but it looks like "something anniversary" in English, so we'll hodgepodge the languages today, how about that?

1. What song reminds you of a specific time in your life and what is it about that song that makes you remember?

"The Old Rugged Cross" is the first hymn I remember truly understanding with appreciation for Jesus. I was probably four years old, sitting on my daddy's lap during Sunday night service at Harford Baptist Church in Baltimore. The song leader usually asked for special requests, and the idea was to call out the page number. I was a bold child (I know, hard to believe, right?) and piped up every.single.week with "Number 92!" I loved to lean against Daddy's chest and feel the vibrations of the music within him. Sometimes I got a kick out of watching his Adam's apple jiggle when he sang.

But mostly I thought about the words "on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. For 'twas on that old cross where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, when my trophies at last I'll lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown."

I grew up on the hymns and feel blessed by the richness of their doctrine, theology , and poetry. I relish the feelings associated with them, of the closeness of my earthly "abba" (Daddy) and the sweetness of being in his lap week after week, and never feeling as if that little, curly-headed, anything-but-shy girl requesting Number 92 should choose some other hymn for a change. No, there was always that sense of patience and love and belonging and tenderness between my earthly father and me, which made it quite easy to feel that my Heavenly Father loves to hold me close and sing over me as I cherish the old rugged cross.

2. What's something you've given up on?

Being a size 10 again.

3. What's something you'll never give up on?

My family.

4. If you had to cook something from scratch in the next hour what would it be?

An omelet. But what WAS the last thing I made from scratch? Peanut butter cookies. Was the first batch successful? No. Why not? Because the recipe (which I had used before with enormous applause) had only four ingredients listed in the ingredients section, and those didn't include flour. There was a paragraph of directions that followed, however, which DID include flour, soda, and salt, but I somehow overlooked the five little letters that spelled "flour." So imagine my curiosity at this yummy pumpkin fluff/dip-type batter. I even reread the directions, and STILL missed the word "flour." (Age spurt, Joyce?) My daughter said, "Maybe it's one of the flourless kind of cookie," but she didn't read the recipe, either. So I baked them and ended up with a blob of pumpkin dippy doo yucky poo on the pan. Then I read the recipe word for word for word for word and...well, lo and

behold, whaddya know? There's supposed to flour in them thar cookies. Batch 2 was the redeemed batch.

The last FIRST successful scratch thing I made was this spicy chicken minestrone I made up as I went along. Complete with Texas Pete Hot Sauce, nutmeg, corn, a pack of mixed-veggies-with-butter sauce, some black beans, a hot pepper, cute spiral pasta, and a pinch of this 'n that from my spice rack.

5. Have you started Christmas shopping? Decorating? Listening to Christmas music?

Shopping, yes, but not for gifts. Every year our church has a Ladies' Christmas Breakfast on the first Saturday of December, and there are about 28 tables with 8 guests per table. Each table is decorated by a different woman with her own dishes and creative flair, and many hostesses (table decorators) place a giftie at each setting. I have my theme and about 3/4 of my tableware (I need 8 white mugs that actually match my bright white plates, but I don't want to spend a lot --or any--money on them). I have giftie ideas in my head, but that's it thus far. The Christmas music I don't pull out till after Thanksgiving, but I have heard it in stores since when? The 5th of July??? How about some Thanksgiving music, people? How about we give thanks for what we already have instead of dwelling on what we have to get?

6. What do you know about your parents' wedding?

Well, they got engaged just three WEEKS after their first date (which was my dad's sister's wedding in which he sang, and my mom loved his voice). Their own wedding took place in October of 1961 in Lawrence, Kansas. Mama carried mums. Her dress cost 80 dollars off-the-rack and had beautiful buttons all the way down the back. She wore those crazy cat-eye glasses that were all the rage, and my dad had those mad scientist glasses that were equally stylish. Oh, my. Her father wore a suit and it was the same suit he was buried in 28 years later. (As a farmer, he seldom had occasion for such a wardrobe selection.)

Mama didn't have much say in her wedding plans; her mother and aunts dominated the decision-making, so when it came time for my wedding, my mom didn't want to repeat that heavy-handedness on me. Instead, she gave me X dollars and said, "Plan it your way. We'll be here for help, but I want the wedding to be YOUR wedding." I also remember that she said they threw rice at her face, very hard, and that stung. And one more bit of unplanned tradition--her baby brother was only 7 years old at the time, the same age my baby sister was when I got married.

7. I can't believe I ... slept the entire night through, from 11:30 to 6:44. It's probably been 10 years since I had a great night, and I was on the couch, too! No potty breaks, no bad dream, no aches or pains. Nothing, just solid sleep. (The boy had fallen asleep in my bed around 9, after a backrub from his dad, and I didn't want to set off his coughing jag by making him move, so I went downstairs.) I feel completely rested. It reminds me of the days I was nursing babies and that first night the baby slept through. and I realized "Wow! Five uninterrupted hours! I feel like a new woman!" But this was seven hours!!!!!! I can't believe it!!!!! Thank You, Jesus!!!!!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I have an eye doctor who is working for his money to get my contact prescription just right. I have a combo of nearsightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism. (That sounds similar to my spiritual eyesight as well.) I certainly hope this second trial pair is a winner, because I do like to shed the glasses from time to time and still be able to function normally. It's been 20 years since I've worn them regularly. But at least my glasses don't look like this. (I painted this horsey a couple years ago and decided I wanted him in a stall so I put him in the little bathroom.) He had no say in the matter, but it's easier to paint glasses on a horse than to fit one with contacts. That much I'm sure of.