Beneath the Wraps

        From the time she was eight years old, Jenna had always asked me for her own personal facebook account.   She enjoyed watching the JibJabs that my brother-in-law will occasionally post and wanted the opportunity to make comments herself instead of having me type "Jenna says . . ."   Over the years, many of her friends started their facebook accounts and she would ask if she could start one.   Each year the request was included on birthday or Christmas lists.   At the end of 2014 I created this post.                   It wasn't until we had moved to Oregon - so far away from our family - that I understood why so many of her friends may have had "illegal accounts" as they all had family members they didn't have many opportunities to spend time with.   We had lived in Oregon for almost a year when I set up an "illegal" facebook account for her.   The objective was to keep ...

        Though I am certain there are many who would not agree with the title of this post, particularly those who have been affected by Irma and Harvey. Even my brother who had planned on taking his husband to see the gardens in Victoria after selling Joh's art in Washington  but took the rain as an opportunity to rest and visit with family rather than spend yet another day driving.   For those of us who have been surrounded by smoke and fires, it has been a desired gift for some time.   Hopefully more fires will be put out, much of the smoke has already cleared.   I know it will help with my breathing, my poor dry skin, and my balance.           I actually hadn't considered my balance before, but have been fighting off ear infections in my right ear.   That would be related to my balance, right?   Sometime after Roland and I had moved to West Valley, I started having issues...

          As I have already mentioned, I had started two classes on Labor Day this month.   One in managerial accounting and the other in financing.   My accounting class seems like a refresher course as there is some familiarity within the topics. It also feels like a prequel to my financing class and I wish I had it BEFORE my financing class and not side-by-side as I tend to get the two mixed up and have actually turned in one assignment for one class into the other.           Fortunately I have really good instructors in both classes who have been able to give me feedback right away instead of waiting until the end of the week as was the case with my last instructor who did announce ahead of time that his grading day is Sunday and that is it.           I am having the hardest time with the subject at hand.   Valuation principals...

            Mom loved to dance, but didn't have many   opportunities to do so as it wasn't one of dad's favorite things.   She told me that she was a brilliant choreographer during her sleep and she would dance the night away.   She said she wished she were as active during the day and that perhaps she could lose some weight.   I think often my mom felt self-conscience about her appearance   and perhaps did not pursue her dreams of dancing as she didn't figure she had the figure for it.            She did seem to lose weight whenever she was involved in a sewing project - usually clothes for me.   I know she made matching shirts for the entire family when Kayla was just a baby.   She did make a couple of matching outfits for me and Kayla.   But as I think about it, I believer most of her projects she made were clothes for me.              I liked wea...

55.     She taught me to take care of my body. 56.     She was a good daughter.                    My maternal grandma lived with mom's youngest brother so that she wouldn't have to be alone in her apartment (that was really too large for just one person).   After Roland and I had been married for about a year, my uncle sent my grandma out to Salt Lake for a visit.   She did get sick   after three or four weeks.   She died in the hospital in Salt Lake.   I know my mom was grateful to have had the opportunity to spend their final moments together. 57.     She worked for the FBI, and that just sounds cool.           Mom started out working for the FBI in San Francisco.   Her goal was to leave an empty desk knowing full well there would be paperwork added to it by the follo...

37.     She's soft-spoken                    Kayla, Mom and I recorded our voices to tape one year. My mom was sitting directly over the tape recorder and   I was across the room.   My voice came in more clear than my mom's;   to this day Corey and I will remember her soft voice while speaking in normal tone and mimicking "I am yelling" though we are obviously not. 38.     She's generous.                    I'm sure it was through her generosity that each of her children felt the need to be generous as best as we can. 39.     She's given me financial support.                    She would often "give" us money to pay back loans or to purchase a...

24.     She has insightful conversations with me. 25.     She spoils me.                                                              I believe mom spoiled us all.     26.     She holds me when I cry.                                      As I was her eldest, and experienced major mood swings, she didn't always know how to handle whatever crises I thought I was having.   One day I came home from school so upset and was really trying to understand, but could not get anything out of me.                               ...

A continuation of list started yesterday 13.    She's a complete technophobe .                             I don't think she did ever learn how to set the VCR 14.    She makes me feel needed.                                                 Each of us was important and she let us know why and what talents we could offer that maybe someone else could not. 15.     She showed me a great example of a successful marriage.                         I had believed that all families were like my family - that the mom and dad loved one another and that the children enjoyed being a part of the family.   I didn't realize that there were many who ha...

               At the time we had mom's party I had not yet started my blog nor do I think I had started reading Corey's.  Perhaps I did and I just don't remember.  He hasn't posted for a while, and so I haven't looked at his blog page much the last year and a half.  I did open his blog page yesterday to see if he had mentioned the event or what he said about it - but I couldn't find anything - not at the time the event took place anyway.  He had his own personal trial he was dealing with.  I don't know if he ever got around to reminiscing the events that took place that summer my mom turned 70.                 He gave mom a copy of the list he had created, but not the stories he had shared at the party as he paid her tribute and entertained those who came; thus I will share his list and my own examples as I can remember them. 70 Things I Love About My Mother 1....

                Roland brought some corn into the house the other day.   He had picked it from our garden.   I took pictures of the produce and went out to the garden to take pictures of each bed and started a post on the progress (or lack thereof) of our garden.   I stopped my thought flow around 2:30 as Jenna gets home from school between 2:30 and 2:45 and wanted to be in the front room to greet her when she returned.             She asked if I could drive her to the youth center which she hasn't gone to for over a year.   I knew   I would have to fill out paperwork as the center requires that the information be updated each year.   It appears that the paperwork packet increases in size each year.   This year felt like a small book.             Roland and ...