Wednesday Hodgepodge

Have you ever had to wear a uniform? If yes, tell us more. Did you love it or hate it?

Can you say double-knit polyester? When you are a 16 year old fashion guru wannabe of the 80's you do not want to have a job where you have to wear double-knit polyester pants! My first real job was at a restaurant that my grandmother managed at a hotel. Those pants. They were gray, high-wasted, with no pockets on the butt, and flared bottoms. And they had been previously worn by someone else. Ewwww!!!! A short time into that job the zipper broke in those pants. (Thank God!) My grandmother sent me to JC Penney to buy another pair. Darn, they didn't have any in my size (or so I said), so I bought a regular pair of gray cotton pants. I got away with wearing those the rest of my employ there. (fyi .. these pants are so disgusting that I couldn't even find an image to post!)

April 22nd is Earth Day. What is one thing you do personally to be a good steward of planet Earth?

I do two things consistently. I recycle everything I can. I have a separate basket in my kitchen where I put anything recyclable. Thankfully our little town has a recycle pick-up once a week. But even before then I took my recycling to a nearby town to their drop off location. I also compost. I save any scraps I can and put in my compost pile in my garden area. My mom also saves egg shells and coffee grounds for me to put in my compost.

Brown rice, quinoa, or couscous ... your healthy grain of choice? How often are one of the three on your menu at home? Given a chance between white rice, brown rice, wild rice, and fried rice which would you go for?

For healthy eating I eat brown rice, usually about once a week. I do like quinoa okay and will eat it occasionally. But if I got to choose and didn't have to worry about the after effects, I would totally choose white rice every time. It feeds my carb-loving soul. In fact, I could eat stir-fry with white rice every single day of my life.

In your opinion, who has the best job ever?

My husband would expect me to say my job, and he would probably be right. I get the pleasure to be at home (my favorite place to be) to take care of my family all day every day. Sure that includes cleaning up after them, but I wouldn't miss these years experiencing my kids' lives on the front row for anything. Other than that, I would say a travel blogger or writer. Getting to travel and write about the experiences would be amazing! I think I would like to write about how to travel frugally and experience the best of the off-the-beaten path activities.

What's a situation in your life currently requiring patience?

Oh, this child support issue. Next month it will have been in the courts for two years! Over a simple child support issue! Really we just want it over so that area of our life can be put away. It's just a stupid annoyance now, more than anything. I have definitely grown in patience, and have learned who and what are important in my life.

Do you live your life around days of the week? Explain.

Every day is Monday, or is it Friday? I can't remember. Most of my days seems pretty much the same. We do kind of live for the real Friday, though. Then it's the weekend, which we love, of course. Rick is home by Friday afternoon for the weekend. Typically the family is all here together having meals, watching movies, playing video games, destroying my house, having a good time hanging out together.

In a nod to the A to Z Challenge happening around town this month, what 'R word' best describes your April?

Running. Yes, I said it again. But I don't just mean me physically running. I also mean all the running around we are doing getting ready for our ultra-crazy May! The kids and I are working hard to get our schoolwork done for the year so we can take off the month of May. We are working to do some cleaning, purging, simplifying before the City Clean Up Days the first week of May (where we get to dump all our junk). I am scrambling to get our yard in order so that I am ready to plant my garden and flowers and such at the beginning of May. We are preparing for a 5K, a state bowling tournament, a high school graduation, a wedding, a vacation ... all in May. We are running Brynne to and fro to her actual running program and softball practice. We are running non-stop.

Insert your own random thought here.

I am having a love affair ... with coconut. I am obsessed with coconut oil and coconut/almond milk blend. They are so yummy, and healthy.