Beneath the Wraps

          I saw this sign in a math class at school yesterday.  It made me laugh.   I have observed many students now and find that people in general are either math people or English people.   There are some who excel in both.   And there are those who don’t get either.           Jenna prefers math.   Although there may be different ways of getting the same answer – the answer is consistent.   It won’t ever change.   There is only correct answer.   No exceptions.   English, on the other hand, is full of exceptions.   It’s a wonder that anyone is able to learn it at all!   I would think learning it as a second language would be even more challenging than it is as a first language – but I can’t say for certain as it is my native language – but still confusing at that.          Math NEVER ends.  S...

           There are five students in the seminary class which Jenna attends.   Each of them has an opportunity to present a devotional.   Jenna’s assigned day is on Wednesday morning.   This week she passed out this card: She challenged each member of her class to carry the Book of Mormon on his or her person (she is in actuality the only female student, but the female instructor had been challenged as well) and has been carrying the Book of Mormon with her ever since.   She not only reads it at school, but writes down her thoughts, searches for pictures to insert into her book to help her remember the focus of certain chapters, and will discuss her thoughts with whoever will listen.           I have been so blessed to have such an awesome daughter.

           There are five schools in the district – which I may have mentioned before.   Two elementary schools are from K-5 (I think both offer Pre-K.   I know that one does for sure), a middle school from 6-8, high school 9-12 and the Canyonville School ages K-8.   I will accept assignments for three of the schools.   I have worked at all the schools accept for the high school.   Currently I will fill in for aides at either the elementary school closest to the middle school, the middle school or Canyonville.   Four of the schools are about equal distance from my house (the two I accept assignments for are to my east and the other two are in Tri City to the west) but it takes more than twice as long to get to Canyonville as the others.                     I think the high school and other elementary are fairly new in comparison to t...

“Johnny Depp is great, but the fact that he is not Joey Fatone bothers me.” - Jenna on January 5. The quote made me laugh when Jenna said it, and then I had her repeat what she said so I could get the right quote, but still might not have it exact. Allow me to explain:   When Jenna was three Roland had purchased a copy of Red Riding Hood ( here )   which she has loved and watched often.   Joey Fatone plays the wolf.   In Disney’s version of Into the Woods   ( here ) , the Wolf is played by Johnny Depp.   You may not find this as amusing as I did.   But her quote did strike me funny enough that I thought I’d share.

Yesterday I was watching a movie on Hallmark.    The movie title is one I have seen before – but with a different description.    I enjoyed the 2019 version of “Christmas Town” starring Candace Cameron Bure ( here ).              The movie starts out with the focus on a man and his little girl.    He is struggling with some health issues.    The tree has been put up and decorated and he somehow loses his balance causing the angel to fall and breaks off a wing.    He promises that he will send it off to have it fixed.    If he had just used a form of Elmer’s or Gorilla glue, we might not have the story that takes place roughly twenty years later. Lauren has recently accepted a teaching position in Springfield, Mass. and is anxious to leave behind her life in Boston. We learn that she has a boyfriend and a promised relationship, but her wants and his wants are not the same.   ...

Jenna loves to make people happy.   She likes giving little gifts for birthdays.   Before the year started she asked us if we could take her and one of her friends to the roller skating rink for his birthday.   I have taken Jenna roller skating a few times during her lifetime.   It has always taken her longer to get her shoes off and skates on or vice-versa than the time she spends going around the rink.   She has never mastered the roller skate however.   I, on the other hand, spent many hours on roller skates in the past.   I am no longer confident about stepping on wheels.   Yesterday we took her and her friend up to the Big City of Roseburg and purchased passes for each of them.   Her friend had gone around the rink a few times without her.   She struggled, but did eventually get better at it – or so it appeared.   She didn’t seem to notice that she had gotten better as she still felt unsteady on her feet.   Her f...

          I had always believed that New Year’s Day was for taking down the Christmas decorations and putting them away as that is the day my mom had always done that.   I had tried carrying it over to the family I am with right now.   Sometimes it works, but not always.   Roland always seems anxious to take it down right after Christmas.                     We did not wait until New Year’s for the outside decorations but removed the lights and ornaments, electric cords and so forth from the yard.   We started at 10:00 Tuesday morning before the fog had completely lifted.   Roland announced that it was going to rain.   He was right.   It poured.   I can’t remember what time it started pouring, but it was still light outside.   I don’t think the pouring stopped until after midnight.       ...

          Roland had tweaked  a recipe found in this book:              The reason being is because we did not have all the required ingredients, but it was good.   A little dry.   The next day I decided I would go to the store and purchase some queso to add to it as Roland made enough for 12 people and we didn’t have that many eating.              I was just going to go to Ray’s or Dollar General and come right back.   But Roland asked could I pick up this and that and oh, how about some shrimp . . .?   I wasn’t planning on going to Roseburg.   Dollar General doesn’t have shrimp and I doubt Rip Off Rays would have it either.   And if they did . . . really?   Was I willing to max my debit card for the assortment of items?           Jenna had just barely cleared the t...

          Shortly after we moved to Oregon, Jenna and I had gone to a second hand store in search for some game cards – or puzzle cards – something that we could cover to create our own version of.  We ended up purchasing a child’s alphabet learning game including four boards and 28 cards.  this is not the exact game we had purchased, but one similar We covered the backs of the cards with clip art pictures we had printed off the computer.   shows a small piece of the board that we made   We didn’t have a use for the boards but continued to hang onto them until earlier this month.   We decided that we would send them to our youngest granddaughter for Christmas and spent a family home evening painting letters so place on the boards.                        For our oldest granddaughter I had purchase a bead kit which re...

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful . . . “ My sister recently posted this picture on her facebook page. retrieved from facebook My comment was that even though we live further up north than she does, the residents in Douglas County are more inclined to be like the first picture than the second. I DON’T miss snow.   I don’t miss driving in it.   I don’t miss waiting in the cold snowbanks and blizzards.   I don’t miss the horrible traffic.   I don’t miss this: retrieved from KSL NOVEMBER 27, 2019 AT 5:14 AM   Retrieved from Salt Lake Tribune  NOVEMBER 27, 2019  retrieved from NBC news December 8, 2019   The weather was quite beautiful on Christmas morning and continued into the next day.   Jenna put on her Elf costume and we went to Millsite park ao she could pass out candy canes. I had to take another picture after we returned home so that the socks could be seen (as t...

I always associate this song with my dad as I remember him singing it each year.  I would like to share this rendition which combines the voice of Kenneth Cope with the art work of Liz Lemon Swindle: