Beneath the Wraps

                August is near its end.   September creeping in.              We’ve had fires this late before.    Smoke billows from the south over the hills.                   It’s hazy.                                      It’s hot.    Please let it rain.

  I don’t know where Richard came up with the idea that I LOVE doing thousand piece puzzles.   I do not.   I have learned that I especially do not like the type that offer casse-tete pieces! According to several online dictionaries the French word(s) casse - tête  translates to puzzle, challenging or complicated puzzle pieces, and headache.   I agree with the last definition.   So I have mentioned that Richard seems to be gung-ho about gluing all puzzles that we have done – though I have vetoed the idea with those that I really would like to put together again.   But definitey not the last one with its one thousand casse-tete headaches.   The three hundred piece circle was much easier than the thousand piece cats and birds.

          It has been several months since the missionaries had been teaching the Gospel Essential Class.  I thought it would be cool if they had started that up again rather than have the new member interest attending the Gospel Doctrine class.  But that was just my opinion.  I obviously do not have the authority to change that.  I did however remind Richard that it had been a thing.  He is Sunday School president and brought it up in the leader ’ s meeting that takes place before church.         Last week Richard taught the gospel essentials and had invited those members who have recently been baptized and those who are seeking, the missionaries, and a few supporters – including candidates for teaching the class. It is a class that I had attended during my time as a counselor in the Relief Society.   Even though I continue to serve in the RS presidency, I am in a different position (secretary)...

          Today in Sacrament meeting one of the speakers talked about reading scriptures as a youth and striving to meet a goal.  It reminded me of Biff ’ s reaction to Pres. Hinckley ’ s challenge in August of 2005 to completely read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year (see here ).  Biff is not the fastest reader in the world as it takes him longer to process information.        I can ’ t remember where in the Book of Mormon he was as December 31 came near its end – but had a ways to go before he would be able to complete.  He seemed to feel somewhat defeated and I suggested that we read the captions of each chapter. With only four hours left until Midnight I read with him from where he left off. We continued reading each caption until we got to the end.   We finished between 11:30 and midnight if I remember correctly.  He was not satisfied and stayed up until wee hours of the morning to complete his...

   Who performs more random acts of kindness than anyone else you know?           Jaime is always thoughtful of others.   The other day we went to Subway and she left a very generous tip.   She said she could tell at least one of the staff members was being trained and there were three splitting tips instead of just two.   She wanted them to each have the same amount.         That is just one example.   There are more.   Lots more.         It ’ s a quality I ’ m guessing she got from her dad.   He is often doing random acts of kindness – like sending out Labor Day Cards.   Who does that?

  Are you a penny-pincher or a big spender?   I am more of a penny-pincher because for so many years I did not have the option of spending money on more than basic essentials.   I know that problems may arise (the car stops working, the pipes break, things have to be replaced . . . ) that I would like to afford at the time it happens and not take out a loan so that I end up paying two to three times as much.   Once in a while I will splurge for something, but it ’ s rare.

           A couple of months ago the light between the closets had gone out.   Richard changed the bulb to a brand new bulb that would blink on occasion until finally it went out leaving us to believe that it had something to do with the wiring.   Finding those that repair (such as electricians, plumbers, etc) is like pulling teeth.   Even before the gas price increase, it seemed a difficult task to find someone committed enough to come.             After two months Richard climbed up the latter to check what might be the source of the problem.   He had me turn off all the electricity.   Apparently it was the bulb.   How blessed were are that it was something simple.           Next problem.   We were no longer receiving hot water through our taps.   How can that be?   Well the house is over 20 years old and the hot...