Belated Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What's your best piece of advice for a newly married couple? I'm asking for a friend.

Marital advice? from me? I suppose it would be to always be honest and communicate. 

2. Before we're too far into the new year I wanted to post a question Teresa submitted during the December giveaway. Teresa blogs over at Being Refined as Silver, so everyone go say hi.

Teresa asks, "What were you doing on December 31st, 1999?" and " Did you or your family make preparations for Y2K?"

This was the new year before I took up my post as a volunteer teacher in Africa, and I probably wasn't too worried about Y2K, I would be lucky if I had electricity let alone a computer. 

3. According to Global Language Monitor, the most used word of 2014 isn't a word. It's the heart emoji. Huh? How can something that's not a word be the most used word, but I digress. What do you think was your most used word in 2014?

Wow! That surprises me because I can't recall a time when I have ever used the heart emoji but it shouldnt be included as its not a word. My most used word in 2014 was probably 'annoying'. I spent the latter half being constantly annoyed that my body had turned against me and was slowly turning me into a zombie, who could barely walk or do anything. People would ask how I was, and I would say 'fine, its just so annoying'.

4. Speaking of words, it's that time again. Time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, and general uselessness) in 2015. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-

bae (before anyone else), polar vortex, hack, skill set, swag, foodie, curate/curated, friend-raising, enhanced interrogation, cra-cra (as in crazy), takeaway, and -nation (a suffering sports suffix)

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?

bae? well I had wondered what that meant and now I know, i'm just ....annoyed! hehehe I am not a huge fan of abbreviation and so will say bae, and I would like to do so ...you know...bae! :o

5. January is National Hot Tea Month? Are you a fan? Do you like flavored teas? How do you take your tea? Have a favorite cup or teapot? How many cups of tea do you consume in a given day?

I never drink cold tea, thats not such a thing here, its available but I would never choose it. I'm a traditional english woman and everything, I mean EVERYTHING, can be solved once you've had a nice cup of tea. I am, however, not a fan of flavoured teas.

I like to take my tea in a cup, with milk and one level tea spoon of sugar, but the cup has to be large (1/2 pint). I like to have tea from a pot but when its just one person it is too much washing up. My favourite cup is from Disneyland Paris and has Pluto on the side. I LOVE PLUTO! Sorry, I got a little excited, I must calm down and have a cup of tea.

I have about 1-2 cups of tea a day but it does depend if I am having coffee too, if not, the number can be anywhere between 2-5.

6. Whatever happened to__________________________________?

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I have a temperamental memory which currently has me recalling nothing! So maybe it should be, whatever happened to my memory?

7. What is one book on your must-read list this winter?

I have read a handful of books this year, and I have nothing left on my must read list, if anything I would love some recommendations as I am about to go into hospital and will have about 4-6 weeks afterwards going stir crazy - and will need some good books! I shall check out the other hodgepodgers number sevenses.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Isn't life crazy? Within five days I had learnt that my cat has a heart murmur, that I need a major op as soon as possible and that how awful it must be for elderly people who are not in contact with their families (when their spouse dies).

The last one is prompted by something that happened on Monday. It left me feeling very emotional and anxious for a complete stranger.

I was at work (I start at 6.30ish) and for a Monday morning I was in a pretty jolly mood. I sat down at my desk and noticed the little red light flashing that indicated I had a voicemail, and once I had opened my email I could see it was left at 4am, I though it was odd, pressed play and heard the following message:

Hello, its Dad, its about 3am or nearly 4, i'm afraid I have some bad news. We've lost your mum. The paramedics and doctor and ambulance people are all here. They tried what they could but she was already gone. I don't think I need to go to the hospital. You finish your sleeping and call me back. But don't worry about me, I'm ok.

This message took the wind from my sails, and I felt almost as if I was sharing in his grief, it also worried me a lot that he had dialled a wrong number and what if he sat up waiting for his daughter to call back and she didnt because she didnt have the message. Fortunately, I was able to guess a the number he had been trying to call and I rang it, and was pleased to hear that he had tried calling them again and gotten through the next time. But it did shake me up.

It made me think that there are many elderly people whose children do not stay in touch, whether they fall out with one another, or drift apart. I can't imagine what it would feel like for someone to have no-one to turn to at such a time and that makes me sad.

So let me finish on a happy note! My friend and I, believe from the bottom of our hearts that we need our own awards show, called 'The Golden Bulbs', and all nominees would be from film/tv that we had watched in the past year!  I thought we could have categories like...the onion bulb - movie/tv show that made you cry the most?

What 'bulb' category would you have?