Joyce From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge of questions for fun and for getting to know each other.

1. Your favorite chocolate treat?

That’s hard to narrow down as I love many things chocolate. Of store-bought chocolates, it would be Lindor Lindt Truffles, especially the milk chocolate ones. Of cake mixes, it would be devil’s food with chocolate fudge icing. Of home-made things, it would be Texas Sheet Cake. Cracker Barrel has a Coca-Cola cake that’s pretty similar to it.

2. What more than anything else makes you feel loved?

That’s a hard question to answer. Of the supposed “love languages” — words of affirmation, gifts, touch, time, acts of service — different ones make me feel loved at different times, but other times not so much. I think what colors each of them is attentiveness, being “tuned in” to me. A gift, for instance, can be an expression of love even if it is not what the recipient wants or likes, but it makes the recipient feel loved when it’s particularly suited to them. But I think overall my main “love language” is acts of service. My husband usually fills up the gas tank if he uses the van and it’s at all low. So when I’m heading out and think, “Oh, yeah, I need to get gas first,” and then notice the tank is full — the thought that he noticed and took care of it makes me feel loved and cared for. Or when the kids go from doing something reluctantly because they have to, to doing it to please Mom.

3. Cherries or blueberries?

Not a big fan of either, but I like blueberry muffins and cherry[flavored slushies. 🙂

4. What is the one trait you most want the leader of your country to possess?

Integrity. I may not agree with his views, but I want to be able to trust that he’s not just wavering with the political wind or out to make a name for himself — I want an underlying character to uphold what he says and does.

5. Are you a saver or a spender?

A spender, to my shame.

6. If you gave a party for all of your friends would they already know each other?

No — I know people from different states where I have lived or different organizations or walks of life who don’t know each other.

7. Are you interested in antiques?

Mildly. I like the idea of an item with a history, and, sadly, we don’t have much that’s been passed down through the family. But I don’t frequent antique stores much. I don’t know enough about antiques to know what’s a good deal. I go more by what appeals to me.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I hate to wade into the sewage of the spam folder of my blog because of the kind of muck that gets caught in there, and I often wonder….don’t these people have anything better to do with their time? But my spam-catcher does sometimes rake in a legitimate comment, so I check it once a day or so. I’ve found that if I scan the addresses rather than the text, that saves my mind from a lot of garbage, but every now and then I catch a hum-dinger. One spam comment recently said: