A "Taxing" Hodgepodge

Hello dear friends.  It is another gorgeous Spring day here.  I hope that you are not spending hours in line at the USPO mailing your tax forms.

If it's Wednesday, it is time for Hodgepodge.

1.  Speaking of April 15th... what's the most "taxing" thing you've done recently?

The most taxing chore that I have had these days is keeping this guy in the house while the painters and brick layers are working on the outside of the house.  Chowdah is constantly causing havoc with our very patient workers.  His favorite activity is sneaking up on them and stealing their work gloves and paint rollers and just about anything else and hiding them in one of his favorite mud holes.       

He stares at me with his big brown eyes and tries to convince me that the guys want him to help them outside.

2.  When did you last take a taxi somewhere and where was that somewhere?

I think I bored you with my impression of mentioned Istanbul in last week's Hodgepodge.  When we departed the ship in Istanbul, my Sista's family and my family caught cabs next to each other.  We told the drivers that we wanted to go to the market.  Sista's cab took off in one direction; ours in another.  We eventually did find each other after paying an exorbitant amount of moulah which felt more like a ransom than a cab fare.   

3.  What's something you can do today that you couldn't do a year ago?

I just joined Instagram during the past year because I read on someone's blog that it is important to use all the social media in promoting your blog.  I don't know if it has helped my blog or not, but I do enjoy the instant gratification of Instagram.  

I have a twitter account thanks to my girls, but I haven't figured that whole thing out and frankly, I don't think that it's quite as much fun. 
  

4.  How often is chicken (in some form or fashion) on you menu at home.  Which of the following would you most like to see on your table tonight... a chicken salad sandwich, your mom's fried chicken, a Chick-fil-A meal, Cracker Barrel's chicken and dumplings, a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings, or 'hold the chicken, I'm a vegetarian...?'

We eat a lot of chicken at home.  I positively adore a roast chicken with crispy skin.  I actually love the skin more than the meat, I am ashamed to say.  I know it is incredibly fattening , but it's worth every greasy calorie.

5.  What was your favorite program when you were a kid?  What characters do you remember the most?

When I was about nine years old, my mother and I would watch The Farmer's Daughter every week.  My Mom would ask me if I wanted to play "T-R-I-C-K"  which meant that I would go to bed at the appointed time with my Sista, who was a few years younger, wait until she fell asleep, and then I would sneak in to watch this show with my Mom. 

Sista still hasn't gotten over the fact that we did this.  I tried to explain to her nicely that that's what happens when you are your Mom's favorite child.

The premise of the show centered around a U.S. Congressman who just happened to be a very handsome widower and his beautiful housekeeper/nanny.  Inger Stevens played the lead and I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.  I wanted to be her.

The congressman's mother rode up and down the stairs on a automated chair lift.  I put "chair lift" on my Christmas list that year.

6.  What's the last piece of 'art' you made?

The last time that I did anything artistic was a few years ago when my #2 and I spent some time at a paint your own pottery place.  It was her last day of summer vacation and she was bound for freshman year in college within days.  We made each other coffee cups with a surprise message on the bottom.

I will cherish that cup and thoughts of that bittersweet day in my heart forever.

7.  What frustrates you most about the Internet?

For being a blogger, I am incredibly tech challenged.  This drives my assistants family crazy.  When I come across a problem while I am working my fingers to the bone on my blog, and I call them to beg for help, and promise them the family jewels, I am most often faced with their recordings.   

I have a sneaking suspicion that they ignore my calls a lot of the times...    

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I knew I would get your attention with this picture.  Even if you skimmed all my mediocre answers, I bet you just stopped to read  this one.

I have added Rob Lowe's Love Life to my repertoire of audio books that I listen to on my walk.  I positively adored his first book and this one promises to be just as good.

The worst part of listening to an audible book is that you don't get to drool on stare at the cover all the time.


Until next time...

This little cutie pie is "Boston" who likes to read my blog every morning with his Mom, Dianne.

You've got great taste, Boston!