Hodgepodge - The Roar of the Ocean, The Crash of a Car

Here is this week's questions from Joyce who I'm sure wrote the first one while she herself was on a beach this weekend.

1. When were you last facing an ocean? Using just ONE word, describe how you felt as you faced that ocean.

I won't count the Gulf of Mexico from Christmas since it isn't an ocean. I could say last summer's cruise from Vancouver to Alaska and then time in Seward but is that part of the ocean or is it the Gulf of Alaska? So I'll go with Christmas 2010 when we went to southern California and we stopped at a beach on our drive to San Diego. They had just had massive rains/flooding so things weren't quite so pretty. But there was the Pacific Ocean.

2. What are three sounds you hate to hear?

Car crashes, the annoying emergency test beep on the tv, and phone calls in the middle of the night. Lucky for me I don't hear any of those very often.

3. This question comes to you courtesy of some real life friends. Hi real life (Joyce's) friends! When you shop for yourself, do you try everything on in the store before buying or do you buy, try on at home, and then return what you don't like or what doesn't fit?

I try on in the store before buying. Last time I went shopping I took about 30 things into the fitting room and bought three tops. Then I go home and show Dan to see if he likes them. Because I could have deluded my brain into thinking something looked good since I was trying on so many things. If he doesn't like it, I'll take it back. But at least I know it fit.

4. February 26th is National Pistachio Day...are you a fan of the little green nut? Do you use them in cooking and baking or prefer to eat them right out of the shell?

I'm not a pistachio fan at all. Only pistachio pudding mix in watergate salad.

5. When did you last have to compromise with someone? Were you happy to reach the compromise or slightly irritated it was necessary?

Compromise is what healthy relationships are built on. I don't remember the last time but it happens.

So this leads us to the unhealthy relationship that Congress has. They don't seem to understand the compromise thing. So our country is about to have the federal budget cut across the board by 10%. Not that the budget couldn't use some trimming but across the board is just wrong.

6. Have you ever written a letter to an elected official? Did you get a response?

I've never written to an elected official.

7. We 'March' into a new month at the end of this week...what's something on your March calendar guaranteed to make you smile?

Whitney will be home for a week for spring break.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I read on Stacy's blog (A Life Lived Well) about a place that alerts you of free and reduced price book downloads. So I went there and now I have 10 books on my ipad for free. You get an email every day with titles matched to the type of books that you like to read. I've read three of the free books and one was pretty good, one was ok and one was bad. But they were free and that would happen with books I bought or got from the library. If you are interested, the site is bookbub.