Beneath the Wraps

My head is so full that the words are spilling over and I can’t write or type them in as quickly as I think I’m thinking them. Not to mention that Jenna continues to interrupt my every thought.   School starts tomorrow!   I think much better when I am by myself. There was too much I had wanted to respond to as I posted a comment to a blog I had read yesterday.   I certainly didn’t wish for my comment to be larger than the post itself and so tried to sum up everything that was going through my mind.   Didn’t work.   I did a copy paste and deleted my original comment and reposted a few paragraphs – though there still exists an epistle in my mind. I am overwhelmed with ideas for post subjects (though not many titles) and I’ve been brainstorming and adding sentences and moving words around.   Thus far I have at least six different post ideas.   That doesn’t count the fifteen plus ideas that I already have in my files.   So I...

         There is always a risk factor involved with selecting videos I have not previously seen or may have never even heard of before.   For the most part I have read the description, visualize the setting of the story and may check it out.   But most often I have made poor selections as there have been many that I cannot be drawn in due to bad acting or poor dialogue or lame writers or what have you.   I actually haven’t been successful in my gambles.   But on Saturday we checked out a video I rather enjoy and will have to look into reading the award winning novel by Watt Key (as books are generally much much better than the movie)          “Alabama Moon” was great.   I enjoyed watching Moon grow and allow himself to make choices and find strengths in those he associated with.   The story starts off with Moon burying his father, and as he is digging we see ...

       Jenna is loud!  Even when she is quiet for her, she is still loud by definition.  I think that's one reason Biff is gone.        My eldest son, Biff, has a girlfriend in another county.   He says 45 minutes away.   I haven’t driven it. But it is where he current girlfriend lives.   He drives there on Saturday afternoon and doesn’t return home until late Monday night – I would guess at the same time that Jeanie leaves for work . . .          He works on Saturday nights which means he is commuting from Syracuse to Sandy – that’s quite a commute.   And expensive.   Good thing Biff is using his own gas and not mine and Roland’s.   Not that he’d have our permission.   If you’re an avid follower you may recall from this post that Biff is supposed to be out of the house.          Bef...

Jenna has always had a fascination with “secret codes”.   She enjoys translating and sending coded messages.   She has rewritten the alphabet and created characters for each letter.    For a while we were doing picture characters, but drawing an octopus got tiresome after attempting to draw it the last six notes or so. I am okay with stick figures and symbols – but when it comes to drawing, many of my animals end up looking the same.   So I changed some of the characters from the code that Jenna had and wrote a note and told her to translate without using the key.   An early introduction to cryptogram.   More clues.   More puzzles.   How fun! Jenna’s last code was symbols drawn at random – but it’s something I can/could learn. L 7 O € £ ≠ ÷ © ∞ Ω π × " # % + \ [ ^ ] ¦ ¤ ◊ ∂ √ ∆ for example I am so grateful for her enthusiasm and her desire and willingness to learn and create.  

         Jenna and I came out of the library to see a brilliant red ball hanging in the sky.             There’ve been a lot of fires in Utah.   Many in the nation. The smoke makes the sun appear to be red.                   I’m sorry for the many whose homes have been lost.             I enjoyed seeing the sun.

Most people have heard that “pixie music” whenever a fairy waves her wand or sprinkles her dust – or even when a child knows he or she is supposed to turn the page whenever they hear that magical sound.   Imagine that as a ringtone. I don’t remember Kayla’s phone bearing anything that resembled fairies – yet when she turned it over to Roland (who is still without SIM card usage on his once-upon-a-t-mobile phone) all those fairy tones were present – an assorted variety of pixie music.   I don’t think there is a normal ringtone included on the phone.   I believe Roland has checked it. For the most part I am not even aware that his phone is going off. The ringtones are hidden by any other sound that may be going – the air conditioning, the humming from the laptop, Highness snoring . . . sounds that I don’t even notice usually.   They all blend in to our atmosphere.           When I am aware t...

Roland ended up picking Biff up at the airport – which really didn’t do him any favors.   There have been many times that I have told Roland to stop holding his hand, but yet he continues.   Unfortunately Biff has remained clueless and it has been damaging to his persona. Biff has struggled with being short, being slow and being single.   Hard to watch both of his brothers get their driver’s licenses while they were still sophomores and he did not even take drivers ed. until his senior year.   Hard to see them both marry before he even had a girlfriend. He had posted on Facebook that he was in a relationship.   He was referring to Hailey from this post .   But now he is saying he wants to marry Jeanie who is only 45 minutes away instead of 18 hours.      Roland doesn’t want to discourage him, but sat him down yesterday and laid down the facts – although it is still Biff’s decision.   And as Roland told Biff that he wa...

I don’t know how it works in other states or even other counties.   In Salt Lake there is a City Library and several county libraries.   Corey prefers the city library because there is a greater selection of books.   But I don’t enjoy the commute.   I’m also overwhelmed with libraries that have more than one floor.   But I do understand why Corey likes it.   The city does offer a much huger selection than the 18 plus libraries that are a part of the county. I’ve had one library card for each place I’ve lived.   The same one that worked in Midvale worked in Kearns and West Valley.   We’ve also checked out at West Jordan and Taylorsville.   Most of those libraries are just one level.   Some obviously carry more books than others.   What’s nice though is nice to be able to go online and reserve a book – regardless of which library the book may call home.   So if I look online for a certain item, I type in by title or author...

         My most favorite ways of eating vegetables are steamed and smothered with cheese or as a raw salad with dressing – though some vegetables don’t seem to work in salads for me – such as zucchini and other squashes. We learned that eggplant has been planted in the community garden as well.   What’s that all about? Roland and I have tried various recipes for the zucchinis, squash, cucumbers and beets that we have picked.   He found a recipe of using an olive oil base and breading and throwing cheese on top of sliced zucchini. But I am getting so sick of trying to disguise or appreciate my vegetable and continue with what I thought started out as boring in the first place.   I do like zucchini cookies and zucchini bread. But I should be able to eat my vegetables in other ways. My mom had a recipe for glazed carrots.   I don’t know if it will work on squash or zucchini, but am willing to give it a try. ...

The other day I went to see my mom.   There were several senior citizens gathered around the TV ready to watch Harold’s recorded plane ride.   He had ridden on a bi-plane just a couple of years ago.   His ride was filmed from the ground.   The camera man had lost the plane for just a few minutes.   Sometimes the CD itself would freeze.   Harold told us that when the plane was out of view that is when it would be doing its loop-to-loops.   I don’t think so. He also would like to ride a glider and jump out of an airplane.   The jumping will not take place.   His doctor says he’s in good enough health – but Harold is hunched over and if he lands the wrong way it could paralyze him.   So realistically he has decided not to attempt that one.   He would still like to ride on a glider though. I learned that his last name is Mull as Desa (the activities coordinator) kept on calling him Mr. Mull – which I thought was o...

In addition to celebrating the nations birthday in July, Utah also celebrates its roots with “Pioneer Day” or “the Days of ‘47”    On the 24 th of July Salt Lake holds its annual two hour parade in addition to the youth parade that takes place the week prior.   “The Days of ’47” parade is well attended.   There’s several people who will actually camp overnight in order to get the perfect parade watching spots.   I happen to believe that all of these people are crazy – yet at the same time I admire their enthusiasm.   The parade is truly an awesome moment for them and I’m grateful for the enthusiasm.   I really am.   I’m also grateful that the parade is televised and I am able to watch it in my air conditioned home.   I am not a parade person – actually I am not a crowd person.   I could handle the parade in Afton, Wyoming just fine.   I don’t think the entire population of their small town matches the tremendous ...

I cry everytime I hear this song - long before Mom's dementia took her to another demention