Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Are you ready for new? Is 2016 likely to be very different than 2015? Do you want it to be?
I am ready for new everyday.  I think we can start out fresh whenever we want. It can be February, June or September. If you need to start fresh- do it- regardless of the date on the calendar!  I liked 2015 but hope that 2016 is just as great or better.  We experienced lost loved ones and gained some new loved ones through birth, marriage or new friends every year.  I think it is how we handle the losses and gains that makes us.  We remember those who are gone but rejoice in the births and those who have joined our family. I pray that we have another wonderful year in 2016.

2. January 6th is National Technology Day. Currently, what is your single biggest struggle or frustration when it comes to technology?
I think that our biggest struggle with technology is our dependence on it.  Many people today have no idea how to function without the help of technology.  It seems to me that instead of using our own brains to come up with solutions  to problems, decorations for our dinner table or the lyrics to a childhood song we all jump on the internet (Pinterest) to copy someone else. I don't think we exercise our brains enough to search for solutions.  Now, having said that I am guilty of looking things up online myself after I try to figure it out on my own.  Technology definitely is a benefit and I won't deny that but I still think that we don't try to figure stuff out on our own first.  Ok, enough said, right?

3. It's that time again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, and general uselessness) in 2016. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-

So (at the start of every single sentence), conversation (as in hotly debated topics where we're invited to 'join the conversation'), problematic, stakeholder, price point, secret sauce, break the Internet, walk it back, presser, manspreading (common in larger cities where some men take up the entire bus or train seat by sitting wide), vape, giving me life (refers to anything that may excite a person or make them laugh), and physicality

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?
Nothing on this list bothers me...  I haven't even heard of several of these phrases/words so that probably helps. 

4. Share one of your current health related goals.
I think that my current goals are the same ones I have been trying to achieve for a long time. I try to avoid processed food as much as possible.  It just doesn't seem to agree with me. It's usually not healthy so it should be avoided anyhow. There are also many ingredients listed that are not easy to pronounce so I figure if I struggle to say it or spell it...I shouldn't eat it! It's not a real food.

5. Let's talk fifty shades of gray. As in the color. Gray is currently a popular color in home decor, paint, wardrobes, hair, wedding party attire, and more. Are you a fan? Do you have the color in some variation in your home or wardrobe?  Gray hair, the old gray mare, gray matter, gray area...which gray idiom can you most relate to right now?
Well the first sentence is just nasty.  I don't care to ever hear that phrase again or have that subject brought back up...  but....   to answer the question:  I do not have any gray in my wardrobe.  I am not opposed to the color though.  It just isn't going to be an attractive color on me.  Our bathroom is currently gray but since Jeremiah did some remodeling over the Christmas holiday; it is going to need to be repainted another color. I guess the idiom that is closest to me right now would be gray hair but I refuse to say that, ever!  I have silver strands in my hair- never gray!-ever!   LOL

6. Certain foods are considered 'lucky' if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Cooked greens to bring economic fortune, black-eyed peas or lentils also symbolize money, pork which symbolizes progress, fish for good luck, and if you're in Spain 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. Did you eat any lucky foods on the first day of the year? Is that a tradition in your home? Of the foods listed, which most appeals to you?
I didn't eat any of these foods on January 1.  My extended family usually eats pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes on New Year's Day. We didn't but my mother-in-law did bring hotdogs and sauerkraut to our house on New Year's Eve and I had a krautdog!

7. What's the single biggest time waster in your life and what, if anything, will you do about it this year?
My email- I probably won't do anything about it either.  It has just become a part of life.  I check it and filter through what I want to read and what is trash. I am not worried about the time I spend checking it because it really isn't that long!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Today we will be taking down our Christmas decorations.  It's not a fun job but it is easier to take down than put up. It also helps to make the house not feel so cluttered which is something that I am currently working on.  I am challenging myself to throw away, give away or put away a lot of stuff (about 35 items per day) for the next 2 weeks.  We are a blessed family but I need to get a handle on the "stuff"! It will be a big challenge for us!  I hope to succeed!