Flashing Back with the Hodgepodge

Today I'm linking up with my mom's blog for another edition of the weekly hodgepodge questions. My mom started doing this in 2010! And after looking back to her first post we are flashing back to a few of those early questions. Head on over to her blog if you'd like to join in the fun! 

 1. How did you name your blog and do you now wish you had thought about it maybe another five minutes before hitting publish? Would you change your blog title if it were not a huge pain in the derriere? 

My mom and sister both had blogs up and running by the time I decided to jump on the blog train initially. I had to look back to see exactly when I started my blog but it was the spring of 2014. So I was nearing the end of my first full year of teaching, living on my own, and very much felt like I was at the starting point of adulthood. Being that I was a teacher, when I first started my blog I envisioned it becoming somewhat of a teaching blog and wanted the name to reflect that. There were a million teaching blogs so it was a bit challenging finding some sort of play on the word 'elementary' that wasn't already in use. But I settled on It's Elementary with some help from mom and sister and was pretty pleased. Looking back over my blogging though, it didn't really turn into the teaching blog I envisioned and is much more of a "here's my life" sort of blog. But nevertheless, being a teacher is a big part of who I am so I don't know that  I would change it even if it wasn't a huge pain in the behind. 

2. What bill do you least like to pay? 

Is all of them an option? I would say my least favorite is any bill I can't pay online for whatever reason. I usually set my bills up on autopay so I don't have to worry about them much. Every now and then though, there's a dr bill or the toll bill that came in the mail that requires a phone call or a mailed check and I find that to be much more tedious. 

3. What is your favorite word? Okay okay, calm down. How about one of your favorite words? 

I like a lot of words. I like words in general and I find my favorite words are words with too many syllables or silly meanings. I feel like I also appreciate several words that I never used before moving overseas and those have hung around as some of my favorite like knackered when I'm overly tired and gobsmacked. I'm not sure any other word conveys the same level of shock/ 

4. Is the glass half full or half empty? Elaborate. 

I consider myself glass half full and try very hard to have that outlook even when I don't want to. I think especially in the current world we live in, glass half empty is the easy option. Things seem like they are all a mess and out of control and it can be hard to look on the bright side or believe there is more good than bad. I however, hold myself tightly to the faith I grew up with and lean in to the many promises of good that can be found there. Those promises are not wrong, they aren't late and  they are definitely far from empty.

5. Were you here for that very first Hodgepodge post? If so, were your answers then similar to what they are today? Tell us what was happening in your life in November of 2010? 

I was around during that time, hearing about it from my mom, but was not in the blogosphere at that point yet so my answers are all fresh and new. But in general looking back at Nov. 2010, to Nov 2021 my life is very different. In 2010 I had just turned 20 , I was  a junior in college, I worked as a nanny for a nearby family and my life was all around pretty carefree. Since then, I graduated, then got my masters, adopted my Gemma girl, taught for 6 years, became an aunt once then again, moved to PA, turned 30, taught for a couple more years  got engaged, got married, and now moved to TN. A lot of life happened in those years, our family saw huge loss during that time, we also gained some new members. All of us live somewhere different than we did in 2010 but still love each other like nobody else but your family can. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Hubby and I are going to do a bit of downtown exploring this weekend and  since I am a giant kid at heart my requested first TN adventure is to the aquarium or the zoo. So what do we think...should we hit up the zoo or the aquarium this weekend? The aquarium is apparently pretty impressive and everyone says it's amazing however the zoo, I imagine, wont' have too many more good weekends for seeing the animals outside as it gets colder. Let me know which you would choose! 

Moving South

Well we have moved! Or should I say we are on the move? While we have officially vacated our old home, we can't quite get into the new one yet. So it's been a lot of driving, bopping around to both sides of the family while we made our way south. Which meant we stayed in 5 different spots in 5 different days. It was so wonderful to see family and people we love but it is so nice to know that for the next 6 nights I don't have to load and unload a suitcase from the car. 

We said goodbye to our first home together and while I thought I would feel pretty sad leaving, the bitter cold temperatures we were driving away from made it a little easier. I do feel a sense of sadness that we've closed this chapter since it was our first one together. But the excitement of what's ahead and the whirlwind pace at which we spent the last few days in our house getting things ready meant that by the time we were preparing to get in the car and drive off, we felt ready. 

We're now temporary residents of a hotel near our new house and there are definitely some things about hotel living that I could get used to. For example, no laundry, no dishes, no house chores. However, the other side of that coin is...living out of a suitcase, a lot of eating out, feeling a little stir crazy while my husband is at work and everything else that needs to be done is sort of at a standstill until we're official residents. So what is the first stop to make in a new town? Barnes and Noble of course! 

I found myself accidentally at the mall while on my quest for the nearest Barnes and Noble. An excellent place to kill time, while also finding some new reads to keep me occupied when I eventually make my way back to the hotel. The town we're in has pretty much everything but I am definitely still in the phase of feeling lost every time I get in the car. I wasn't able to come down when my husband went house hunting so yesterday was my first time seeing the new streets, highways, shopping centers etc. And while I  do not consider myself directionally challenged, I am very ready to feel more confident in knowing where I am and where everything else around me is also. 

One thing you will not catch me complaining about here is the weather though...high of 70 today! As I mentioned above it was freezing when we left our PA home. And I don't say freezing in an exaggerating sort of way. It was literally below 32 degrees. Our neighbor let us know there were snow flurries shortly after we left. SNOW! So the sunshine and warm temps were a lovely welcome to our new state. 

Now to decide which book I should start first...