ZOO Hodgepodge

1. Summer officially rolls in with the Hodgepodge this week, for those of us in the Northern hemisphere anyway. What song says summer 2012 to you?

It's A Celebration!  I just danced to that song at my brother's wedding!!

2. What's your favorite quintessential summer food?

Fruit...fresh fruit...LOTS of it!  Peaches, apricots, cantaloupe, blueberries, mango, etc.  Ooooo...and swiss chard!!  I love swiss chard!!!

3. I've spent a lot of time traipsing up and down the NJ Turnpike in recent weeks. Did you know the rest areas on the turnpike are named after people who lived or worked in NJ? Clara Barton, Walt Whitman, James Fenimore Cooper, Molly Pitcher, Joyce Kilmer, Thomas Edison, and Gover Clevland just to name a few. Of those I listed, who would you most like to have known and why?

Clara Barton...I think I did a report on her in elementary school.  For the time era in particular...she was quite a woman!

4. At what age did you move out of your parent's house and what prompted the move?

When I was 18...I went to college.  I lived at home in the summers while I worked.  When I graduated (~21-22) I had my own little cottage for about year before I got married.  When I got married Mom made sure I took all my stuff out of her house!  HAHA! 

5. What's more satisfying to you-saving time or saving money?

Yes?  Gee...that's a hard one.  Sometimes saving time means spending money and that bothers me.  So, I guess I'll say saving money...since Loverbrains is so busy, I've actually become the frugal one.

6. Name something you think brings out the good in people.

Tragedy...when people are forced to come together...when they wouldn't otherwise.  Think about what you saw immediately following Katrina or 9/11...Not lasting, maybe...but especially in our very patriotic country it bubbles up.

7. This last question comes to you courtesy of Kathy over at Reflections...will you be taking a vacation or a staycation this summer? If so where will you go? If a staycation is on the calendar have you made any special plans to fill the time?

We are taking a Staycation right now...I'm very blessed to live in a large city...We went to the zoo yesterday...to the children's museum today.  We made kites and are going to a park to fly them.  We are going on a vacation later in the summer too...but there is no good fiscal choice for taking all the vacation that Loverbrains has at this point...and that the company will actually let him "go away" for too.  Job security?  They like to keep him close.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Thanks for all your suggestions from last week!  They were great!  I'm thinking that I'm going to make a HUGE list of vacation/staycation ideas for the years ahead!  I am enjoying sleeping in...and the best of both worlds.  We do vacationy things in the morning and then I take the kids to swimming lessons and Loverbrains works on my bookshelves!  He is going to install them Thursday!  I'm so excited!!!  He is putting built in bookshelves (aka floor to ceiling) in the dining room!  My books have been in sterelites awaiting the completion of this plan for MONTHS!  Today, he will take them to swim lessons and I will paint the wall.  We are repainting the whole downstairs...but need to do that wall minimum...cuz it'll show from behind the books.  I love this...funtimes...AND getting stuff done!!