Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Way back when (the Hodgepodge bicentennial to be precise) several of you submitted questions as part of a giveaway I was hosting. I went back to that list for inspiration today and found a question  submitted by Marla, who blogs over at Marla's Musings. Thanks Marla!

She asks-At what age did you feel like a 'grown-up'? What keeps you young now?   
Grown-up?  I still don't feel grown up and I am 40! I feel like I am still learning and trying to keep one step ahead of the game all the time. I guess you want an answer so I think I felt officially grown up when I was 21 and Jeremiah and I got married.  My kiddo's keep me young.

 2. When did you last buy a vehicle? Was this by design or because you had no other option? Was the car/truck purchased for your own personal use or was it bought for someone else to drive? On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being delightful and 1 being 'pass the Excedrin') how would you rate the experience?
The last vehicle we purchased was for Jeremiah.  It was a personal sale and went smoothly.  No issues.  It seems that this question is leaning towards a car dealership sale and that would have been in 2004 when we bought the car that I still drive.  It is a good car even though it has had its fair share of troubles.  Jeremiah and his dad have been able to repair them.  Our experience has been very good at the dealership.  I would rate it high like a 9 or 10.

 3. Corn bread, corn chips, corn pudding, corn on the cob, cornflakes, corn chowder-your favorite of the corn-y foods listed? What needs to be served alongside your selection?
Oh boy this one is a bit hard for me to decide!  I like a lot of them.  I will go with corn bread though since we just had it Sunday.  I like it paired with chili. Wait no, corn chips, I had corn chips last night.  But corn on the cob is delicious; we just ate some of that too!  Corn chowder is good- my uncle makes some of the best! Cornflakes are good also but I don't eat much cereal. I hate to admit it but I never heard of corn pudding.

 4. What's something in your life that regularly requires you to 'put your thinking cap on'?
Wednesday Hodgepodge!  Thank you Joyce for keeping my mind sharp! You probably want a better answer than that right?  I will say when I have to sit down and go over the budget.  That requires a lot of thinking. 

 5. Share a favorite movie set in a school or classroom, or whose theme relates to school days in some way.
The kids watched a movie a while back on Disney called Lemonade Mouth.  I don't watch many movies so it's hard to even come up with a favorite, let alone a favorite school themed movie.

 6. Reading, writing, and 'rithmatic' are commonly referred to as the three R's. What are the three R's in your life right now?
School started for us on Monday so those three R's are pretty prevalent right now. 

 7. What's something you've learned or tried recently you can say was as 'easy as ABC'?
I made peach jam this past weekend.  I will admit that I was nervous about making it.  It was super easy and I am not quite sure why I waited so long to make it.

 8. Insert your own random thought here.
We have been canning, freezing and dehydrating a lot of produce lately. I like having well stocked shelves to choose from during the winter.  We are also trying new recipes and canning things that we haven't canned before.  It has been fun.  Madilynne really likes to can and has been a great help with it.  This is the first year that we have dehydrated any kind of fruit. We did some banana chips that didn't turn out too good and sliced strawberries that will be great in granola or added to cereal.