Beneath the Wraps

          I have a friend whose husband is a recruiting officer for one of those online schools. He sits at a desk while the automatic dialer spins out call after call of potential students.  If/When one picks up, he introduces himself and states the purpose of his call.            I am certain that over 50% of their “potential students” are not potential at all.  They were victims of online job hunting believing that they were filling out an application for the a job that would hopefully tie them over and entered info on those pop-ups designed to retrieve information to so sucker you into going to their schools.           I know as I have been a victim of this “potential” marketing myself.  I am livid at the method of “solicitation” – if I wanted to go to school, I would search out for the school – I don’t need someone contacting ...

The town I grew up in was not a metropolis.  Or at least it hadn’t started out that way.  But over the time, the city has built itself around that area making it much larger than a town. When I was little, everything had to be driven to – the doctors, the swimming pool, the hospitals, my grandma’s house . . .  not much in the way of walking distance.  My parents even had to drive quite a distance just to get to the freeway. Today access to the freeway is just around the corner from where I grew up.  I used to have picnics with my brother and his friends in a vacant field -which is no longer - as the land was dug up and is now a part of the intrastate freeway. There are at least 20-30 fast food chains and restaurants within walking distance.  The small trailer where we had opened our first savings account broke ground on now houses an actual building that changed hands (bank names) at least three times before transforming into a Subway sandwich...

          When we are children and don’t know any better, we believe that McDonald’s is the greatest thing.  Oh, sure, perhaps we’re too busy at the play center or enjoying the toy that falls apart long before we have finished whatever lame meal was ordered.  What did we know about nutrition?  It wasn’t even in our vocabulary.           Teenagers seemed divided.  It’s fast, it’s cheap, close enough to the high school or jr. high.  Given the right time of the day . . . not that I think of it as a hangout – not in your larger cities anyway.  Not with a playland and 30 screaming kids.           “It’s not where you take a girl on a date,” says Randy.  Although I could picture Tony doing that very thing – and not with a limo and candles (which Randy said was too cheesy – why spend the money on a limo?  Why n...

        Corey showed me this cartoon about five hours after Roland and I had driven to Roland’s work.  He was talking about this very subject – commenting that there’s no such thing as multitasking.  I couldn’t believe he was saying that.  He is amazing at multitasking behind the wheel. And we have known several who fit in the “Molly Mormon” role – each with 8-14 kids.  And it seems the more children they have, the greater they are at multitasking.  Straighting the dress on one while fixing the hair on the other while cooking dinner and doing laundry, and feeding the youngest two and reading a book in order to prepare for the Relief Society lesson which actually isn’t until next month – but multitasker Molly Mormons don’t procrastinate.  They put all scouts to shame as they will never be prepared as much as Molly Mormon. (On a side note: many Molly Mormons actually do teach or at least assist with scouting) I was co...

          I once heard the following about an elderly woman with a very nice garden.  Someone had asked how she maintained without weeds.  She had set a goal to pull 15 a day.  I’m guessing she didn’t have to deal with pigweed.           I actually have two nicknames for the weed that springs back to life the minute it is pulled.  The more offensive name mentioned in the title of this post and “Rapunzel” – though I think it grows much faster than Rapunzel’s hair.  But unlike Rapunzel’s hair, there is absolutely nothing special about it.  It’s a weed.  A multiplying undying weed.           I will pull them up by their roots.  I will have a tremendous pile of these red-rooted pigweeds – more outside of the garden than inside.  It seems for every one I’ve pulled at least four to seven have grown b...

That’s how she described her passion for family history: “like a fly to cowpie”.  She had been raised on a dairy farm – it was a natural analogy – though I could think of better ones: “a duck to water” “a monkey on a cupcake” or Roland’s favorite: “like Godzilla on Tokyo”         I don’t even have a passion for genealogy or family research ( from an earlierpost )  but wouldn’t have compared it to manure.   Family History is a good thing and works for a lot of people.   And there are many aspects of family history that I do enjoy – but research is a far cry from being one of them.           It’s not just family history that gets her fired up.  I believe that it is everything that comes her way.  She greets it with her heart which shines in her smile.  I think she may have an even bigger love for life than my sister-in-law, Sunny, whom I truly admire.  Sunny teach...

          As soon as I hit “publish” on my last post – the very second (I kid you not) I could hear Highness scratching at the door – which made a grand total of 29 minutes and 41 seconds that he had been outside.  Which is 28 minutes and 58 seconds longer than usual.           We haven’t had him for a full year yet.  I think he stayed out longer when the weather was cooler – but not cold.  After the snow melted and the ground softened a bit, Highness started digging.  He escaped too many times.  But he hasn’t managed to sneak past the board that we put up in May.  Too bad we didn’t know about it sooner.           The couple next door has a grandson that visits almost weekly.  He’s a handful.           Truman’s Nana invited my daughter over to play shortly aft...

She came to me the other night. "What is that noise?" "It's the fireworks (all month long)" "I can't sleep." That was in her bed in her room fan going didn't drown out the noise. Tonight she is in a tent in the backyard next door Flashlights going I can hear her friend talking and his Nana asking why don't they all go to sleep. I let Highness outside before I went to bed. He usually returns in less than an entire minute. But he's out there lying down. It's been almost thirty. He must be taking comfort in the voices of Jenna and Trume. Hopefully I will have more details tomorrow about this exciting campout.

          I don’t know if I first noticed the resemblance between Jenna and Tigger (from Disney’s Winnie-the-Pooh) or Frances and Eyore – I’m thinking the latter.  Frances would often wear shirts with logos that were either Tinkerbelle or Eyore.  I once thought “Frances could be Eyore” kind of sluggish, not very pleasant, somewhat of a pessimist – which is sad – because she hadn’t always been like that.            The transformation probably took place within the first couple of years after she received her first period.  And perhaps it was during those times I would happen to see her that she was going through PMS or whatever.  She’d become lazy, had always been careless.  She could easily misplace her tail.  Frances was Eyore.           Jenna has been enthusiastically pouncing for almost six or seven yea...

“What do you like for breakfast?” Said Fox to Chick one day. But Chick was silent and frightened.  He didn’t know what to say. “I like eating vegetables.” Fox continued on. “I like raw ones upon my plate And I eat until they’re gone’ “I like all kinds, but my favorite Are the ones that have a root. I’ll eat legumes to get protein. Don’t care much for meat or fruit.” Still quiet and bewildered, Chick didn’t say a thing The nervous fowl just shuttered Beneath each wing. And then they heard the taunting: “Fox and Chick sitting in a tree . . .” “Are they teasing both of us?” Chick asked. “Or are they only teasing me?” “I’m different,” said the fox, “And so All the other animals make fun. They think I ought to be a certain way. And not the way I’ve done’ “I don’t think the same as most fox do I don’t fit the stereotypical mold But it’s okay.  I’m not like them. Being true to myself I uphold.” Chick under...

          In 1963 Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” was released in movie theatres.  My mom didn’t seem like a thrill seeker, but had gone to see “The Birds” and was quite freaked out about it.           For years there was an apple tree in the backyard of the house where I grew up.  I recall several years when birds would fly overhead or gather into our yard as if it was the designated place for the birds to hold their daily or weekly conferences.  And mom would be freaked.            It seems quite hilarious really – by today’s standard’s I mean.  I remember mom checking out the video perhaps just a few years and decade after its release.  She sat Patrick and me down to show us this “very scary” movie so that we might understand her fears.            Well, ...

We purchase workbooks for Jenna on occasion – mostly for fun on her part.  The last book we got has nine sections – including three parts of math, four parts of English, Science and Social Studies. For the most part, the vocabulary and Language Arts seem too easy for her, while the math (for the most part) is spot on.  And she has breezed through writing and social studies. Page 252 in the social study section shows “The Lady in the Harbor” comic illustration with trivial facts and pointing arrows The crown with seven spikes stands for the seven seas and the seven continents The torch is a light that welcomes travelers to the United States The tablet shows the Roman numerals of the date the Declaration of Independence was signed: July 4, 1776 A foots forward position is a symbol of moving forward into the future The Statue of Liberty stands on an island in New York Harbor.  She is a symbol of freedom and hope. Page 253 invites the c...