Hodgepodge

Ok so it has been a while since I've done one of these. Alright it has been a very long time.  Anyway here are my answers for today's hodgepodge.

1.  Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English.  Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words were chosen).  Here are the words/phrases they'd like to see banished in 2014-

selfie, twerk/twerking, hashtag, Twittersphere, Mr. Mom, T-bone, _______on steroids, the suffixes-ageddon and -pocalypse added to anything and everything, from the world of politics the words-intellectually/morally bankrupt and Obamacare, and from the world of sports the words-adversity and fan base

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?

I'd love to see Mr. Mom gone. It is such an antiquated notion. It belittles the men who stay home and take care of their children. I get it back in the 1980s it was amazing to see a stay at home man. But come on it is 2014 haven't we moved beyond the fascination? I can name at least 5 stay at home male bloggers off the top of my head.

2. What one unfinished project nags at you begging to be

completed in this new year?

Right now that would be to finish writing my book. I'm not having writers block so much as I'm just not writing at the moment. Too much other stuff going on in my life right now.

3. When did you last have a bowl of soup?  What kind? Homemade or from a can? What's your favorite soup?

Last time was monday. Had a horrible stomach virus all last week so I was pretty much just eating soup and apple sauce. Monday I had chicken noodle from  a can. My favorite soup is well I love so many hard to narrow down to one. Love chicken noodle, clam chowder, split pea, lentil, black bean...I could go on and on LOL. 

4. Snowed in, snowed under, snow job...which one most applies to your life in recent days, figuratively speaking?

Hmmmm...snowed under. I have so much housework to catch up. Yesterday was the first time since before Christmas that I was able to do laundry.

5. What's the funniest movie you've ever seen, or at least one of the funniest?

Of course when my brain is fuzzy I now have to think up some movies. Love some of the classics like Court Jester, Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing up Baby. Newer movies I admit I enjoy raunchier ones like Old School, Superbad, Shaun of the Dead, Hangover.

 
6. In general, would you say you're clumsy?

Let's just say that my husband USED to have a Coke glass collection...emphasis on the word USED. I'll let you guess what happened to them.

7. Elvis Presley was born on Hodgepodge Day (January 8th) back in 1935.  Are you an Elvis fan?  What's your favorite Elvis tune?  If that's too hard, which Elvis tune do you dislike the least?  Click here for a list of his songs.

Eh, I'm ok with Elvis. I'm what you would call a radio listener. I know the ones they play on the radio but move beyond that and I don't know them. I don't actively seek out Elvis songs but I don't necessarily change the radio when they come on. I don't have a favorite Elvis song. I like Blue Christmas, Jail House Rock, and Suspicious Minds

8. Insert your own random thought here.

 

Taught my son a lesson on keeping your anger this morning...not that I was intending to. My son had been home the last two day sick with the stomach bug his father and I had last week. Well this morning was to be his first one back. Got him fed and was in the middle of finishing getting him dressed when the bus came. I signaled to the bus driver to wait one minute while we scrambled with shoes, jacket and bookbag. Apparently the driver didn't see us and left just as we were heading outside. Well I came back in steaming mad. I threw my sons bookbag across the room and onto the floor and I stewed and cursed. It is very cold outside and I don't drive which would mean a very cold 15 minute walk to the school. Fortunately hubby works from home so he drove us to the school. As for the lesson well when I threw the bag the juice packet I had packed for my son's snack exploded. After cleaning up the mess I explained to him that mommy shouldn't have gotten mad and that things like this happen when we don't control our anger. 

I'm Back

Photo courtesy of Adi Respati

After a nearly 5 month absence I'm back to blogging. A number of things have happened in the last 5 months that culminated in my absence from blogging. Among them were school problems with my son, 2 serious family emergencies and other such important things that take precedence over blogging.

Over the next few days I will be doing some cleaning and spiffing up of the blog to prepare it for going into 2014. 

                              
In November I participated in National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. For those who have never heard of it NaNoWriMo is all about writing 50,000 words during the month of November. I'm proud to say that I won this year. I had tried the two previous years but had failed spectacularly. Third time was the charm! So, yeah I'm patting myself big time on the back.

That leads me into my plans and goals for my blog going into the New Year.

Number 1: I plan on writing 350,000 words in 2014. I plan on finishing my NaNoWriMo novel which is part of a series of fantasy romance novels. I also have a series of post-apocolyptic new adult romance novels planned. As to publishing said works...well if I ever find that I can edit them into something I think people will want to read then I most likely will go the route of self-publishing. I will be posting on my blog updates my progress

Number 2: I plan on entering a couple of reading challenges this year. Among them is to read 125 picture books, 100 non-picuture books, once a month review of a book and its movie counterpart, and lastly 24 graphic novels/ comic books.

Number 3: In regards to reading my review policy it is changing for right now. At the moment I am NOT accepting review requests. Why? Because I have a tight schedule and I don't want to make promises of posting a review by a certain time when I simply cannot guarentee that I can keep it. That is not to say I will not be reading any ARCs/Review copies. It is just that all ARCs/Review copies will be of books I have personally requested from an author/book tour/netgalley/etc. That doesn't mean I wont take book suggestions I just wont be taking requests. So for the most part my reading is purely pleasure. I apologize to the wonderful authors out there who so readily offer up their books for free reviews. I love you guys and I know how important blogger reviews are to you. I just can't make promises at this time. I will continue to read mainstream and indie books as I always have.

Number 4: I will now be posting movie reviews. A large number will be movies available for streaming from Netflix, some new releases, some oldies, some indies, and of course some foreign. These are purely for fun and I have no set amount that I will post. Hubby and I tend to rent/watch one or two movies on the weekends so

Number 5: Giveaways...ah one of my favorite things in the world is giveaways. There is nothing like that feeling when you get an email that says congratulations. I often enter giveaways when the mood hits me. So you may see posts on here from giveaways I enter. I also plan on hosting a few giveaways this year. Because they are a LOT of work and take a LOT of time I will most likely only be doing blog hop giveaways.

Number 6: I am pledging to blog 3-5 times a week. Some days may have 2 or more others may have only 1 or none. I also will be hooking up more with non-giveaway blog hops. I also am looking to communicate and actively follow more blogs. I miss the friendships I had with others on my old blog. I was always talking with my fellow bloggers and I think that it is important to be able to share you passion (in this case reading) with fellow bloggers.