Wednesday Hodgepodge

1.  Chinese New Year will be celebrated on February 10th, and 2013 is the year of the snake. When did you last see a snake?  Are you okay around snakes or do they give you the shivers? 

I saw a snake on my vacation this summer.  It was a harmless water snake.  I grew up around snakes--diamondback rattlers whose bite can be very toxic.  I learned early to carry a stick, make noise, and know that they are the boss.  Snakes don't scare me, but they certainly aren't my favorite things.

2. The color red in Chinese culture usually means good luck.  Do you believe in luck? 

Some perceive luck as a matter of random chance. But I believe that all things are controlled by either the will of God, the will of Satan, or the will of man. That leaves no room for luck.

3. Sledding-ice skating-building a snowman...if given a choice, which activity would you choose?  Which of the three have you done most recently?  

I'd build a snowman.  It's been a while since I have been in the snow.  Mostly, I just admire it on TV.

4.  Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited as saying, "The years teach much which the days never knew."  Where have you seen this quote played out in your own life?  

Emerson presents a memorable argument in his essay "Experience" for the idea that experience cannot be reduced to the smallest observable events, then added back up again to constitute a life; that there is, on the contrary, an irreducible whole present in a life and at work through us.

I find that all the seemly unrelated things that I have experienced have laid the ground work for what I have become.  I was in a bad relationship, endured hardship but because of that I have been able to council others and let them know that I survived and they can too; and live a happy fulfilled life.

5. When was the last time you ate a cupcake?  

I had an apple cupcake on Saturday.

6. What's something you can't say no to?  

A plea from one of my grandkids to come and play.

7.  Are you a doodler?  

I do doodle on the church bulletin, on my class notebooks, on cards I make.  Give me a writing instrument and a piece of paper and a doodling I will go.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  

Talking about doodling, reminded me of this morning.  I had to deposit a check at the drive through at the bank, and I couldn't find a pen or pencil in my purse or anywhere in the car so I could endorse the check.  I absolutely had to get that check in the bank, finally I found a lip liner and soon the teller will see this check with a rose signature on the back.