Beneath the Wraps

The owner of a convenient store in Preston, Idaho was interviewed about his selling the Mega Million tickets for last night’s lottery.   Still a chance to purchase. They don’t have the lottery in Utah, and so one has to go across the border to make purchases.   Over half a billion dollars.   It is mind boggling really.   I think 20,000 would be mind boggling.   Our account has never seen more than 4,000 at a time (and it went quickly.   Always does) So Roland comes home yesterday and recaps the news story and asks what I would do with that much money. “Well, first I would pay off all our bills.   I would buy new cars (or drivable cars rather) for ourselves and for Bill and Kayla (as they are also experiencing the sluggish dying car thing) and move.   Definitely move.   We could purchase a duplex near Jenna’s school.   Bill and Kayla could live on one side and we could live on the other.” “You’ve got half a billion dollar...

What is it that makes each of us happy? For many of us it consists of simple everyday things – intangible at that.   We enjoy freedoms.   We enjoy seeing pleasure or satisfaction displayed on the face of another.   Smiles, clean water, sunshine, rain, playing games or enjoying other activities with close friends or family members.   The associations we have built up for ourselves.   Serving others.           I am not a morning person, but I enjoy hearing Jenna singing in the morning.   It makes me happy to know that she is happy.   And I know that she is happy when she’s singing.           Experiencing joy is different from one’s definition of happiness. Happiness can come from material things – perhaps not permanently, but rather on a temporary scale.   We seek pleasures or feel contentment.   Riding a bike makes Jenna happy.  ...

          Roland and I purchased a playground set for Jenna the year that she turned three.   The set included two swings, a glider, sandbox frame, picnic table, slide and fort.   I must have taken at least a hundred pictures of Roland and our boys putting it together.           Jenna loved her fort.   When we moved, we dissembled it and put it back together about five months after we moved.   We like the yard here so much better than in our first house.   But she doesn’t seem to spend near as much time there as she used to.   I suspect she’s just outgrowing it. Over the years I’ve repainted at least twice.   And the wind has torn away the green nylon roof.   On the lawn itself one can find pieces of board that were initially attached to the play set.   When (if) we ever leave this house and move again, the fort will stay for the new ...

          There are several programs that we know our child has seen at least ten times just this month.  It’s true that many episodes get repeated.  But just as often, many programs just start sounding the same after a while.           I love the laughable things that are said.  Jenna and I can laugh at the same program, but usually at different parts.  And usually whatever is funny to me makes her wonder exactly why I am laughing.           There was one time (before Jenna had started going to preschool for four days a week) when she was in my bedroom watching Sesame Street.  I had just finished folding clothes and was going in and out of different rooms and putting the folded laundry away.  So I wasn’t watching Sesame Street, but was in the room long enough to hear this dialogue between Maria and Telly. ...

        Last year we were pretty much gypped out of a spring.  Jenna’s birthday is in spring.  The park seems the most ideal place to hold it as the majority of her friends live close by – but as the weather changes from day to day (often drastically) and it’s hard to make plans.           I would love the weather to be the temperature it was on March 24-25 weekend.  Even the 22 nd was very beautiful and breathable.  23 rd was a bit windier than I’d like.  Wind seems to cause fatigue and I am so tired of being tired all the time.           This morning the sun was so bright I was almost afraid to drive toward its glare.  The afternoon brought darkness.  Did I just make up this morning.  It’s so gloomy out right now, one might think the sun has already set.            Last ye...

                None of us have been given more time in any given day or week or month or year.  None of us have more than 24 hours to spare in each day or more than seven days in any given week.  Some people have the gift of budgeting their time wisely.  Some people are better at prioritizing.  Some people know how to compromise their time.  Some people haven’t a clue.           Each of us has priorities and circumstances and situations that are unique to our own individual lives.  Often we will include others in the time that we have given.  Often we do things by choice – sometimes by situation or circumstance.  It’s amazing how there are some who can utilize their time to the fullest while others get swallowed up and lost with the short amount of time that they have.           I...

Last week we were cleaning the Church and I was asked to sweep the stage.   I sent Jenna to the room that’s just above the stage.   I’ve heard others refer to it as the ping pong room.   I also learned that three or four plastic Christmas trees live there as well. The room doesn’t get used a whole lot and not all the wards (a geographical boundary of those who attend an assigned LDS Church building) will even think about cleaning up there (there are three wards that meet in our building; one in particular has a not so great reputation as far as cleaning and discipline go – I’m guessing it was someone from that ward who created the mess that Jenna discovered) Popcorn everywhere, broken ping pong paddles, tape . . . what was an adult thinking?   We found a cub scout CD, burp cloth and roll of tape.   Are you kidding me?   I don’t believe it was a scout leader from our ward.   I believe it was a mother absorbed in the infant she must have ha...

We all have gifts and talents that are perhaps unique to other people, perhaps the same, perhaps what sets us apart. Some talents just seem to come naturally while others are mastered or simply given up on.  Unfortunately some talents go unrecognized or are lost due to lack of sharing.           Jenna is really great with math.  I pushed her into believing that it is awesome so that she might understand it on her own.  She starts third grade next year and I’m thinking it may become too complex for my brain.           Math is something I didn’t figure I would ever ask her brothers to assistance for. Math is just NOT their forte.  Actually I am more confident in my own math skills than I would ever be in Biff’s.  His talent lies within animal charmer and puzzle awareness.           Lately Jenna’s math homework has cons...

          I recently assisted at the book fair at Jenna’s school.   Jenna really wanted me to buy her a purple eraser shaped like a lap top.   I knew it would be a waste of money, but she demonstrated great behavior for the two hours we were there and so I wanted to reward her. Scholastic offered a “buy one get one free” on all merchandise.   And so I made a purchase for a much needed pencil sharpener and got the eraser for free.   It broke as she was removing it from the package.   “No problem.” She said as she proceeded to fix it.   After a couple of times of disconnecting and repairing, a piece fell off making it “unrepairable”   You would think her best friend had just been run over by a semi the way she carried on. (At least I would hope she would display the same devastation for an actual human being that she did for that stupid eraser – which actually does NOT erase) So this mo...

Katherine MacGregor played Harriet Oleson on Michael Landon’s “Little House on the Prarie” No character in all of Walnut Grove was as prideful and full of herself as much as Harriet Oleson – though daughter Nellie came close and was replaced by an even nastier Nancy, who may have succeeded in presenting herself as more superior than even Harriet (who had actually softened up somewhat in later episodes) Unfortunately all of us know “Harriet Olesons” We go to Church with them.   We listen to their snideful comments about those they refer to as “sinners” and watch them attempt to put themselves on a pedestal by putting others down.   It seems the harder they try to discriminate and sway others to believe the same way as they do – the less desireable they are at passing off themselves.   Why is it that Harriet Oleson believes she is so superior to every single person?   Does she also feel that she is more superior to God, himself? Because there is no w...

          I can remember when my mom gave each of us a bunch of safety pins for us to use on our socks in order to keep them together when going through the wash.   I can’t even imagine what would happen if I asked Jenna to pin her socks together.   She can barely get them off her feet.   Sometimes they make it to the hamper.   More often they don’t.           Sometimes she will put on socks that DON’T match.   A blue sock with a red sock, a dress sock with a causual sock.   A long sock with a short sock.   She doesn’t care.   Whatever’s convenient.           The other day she left the house with an orange sock and a white sock – but they both had owls on them.   (I think she might be starting a trend, actually) and I spent the day searching for mates.   What a chore.   ...

          Though he is credited for quite immoral behavior and being too lazy to stop with his gambling habits to eat a proper meal, the legend also gives credit to John Montagu (then, the 4 th Earl of Sandwich) for having created the world’s first sandwich.   Not wishing to miss out on continuing with his gambling he ordered his meal to be brought to him between two slices of bread so that he would not have to stop to eat but could continue while holding the cards in one hand and the “sandwich” in the other.   How ingenious! Or so I believe it is.   And I’m not alone.   The sandwich is eaten daily by millions of people.   It’s a wonderful invention!

          Last year Jenna excitedly left the house.  She was dressed in green from head to toe (at least four shades as I recall)  I wish I would have gotten a picture of my very non-Irish looking girl enthusiastically greeting the day.           Yesterday she wore the green shirt that she had received from girl scouts the night before.           There is a parade this morning.  She wasn’t happy about the last parade that she was in.  The elements are different.  The last parade she was in was on July 17. It was hot and unbearable.  The last couple of days have been very windy (actually this entire month, I think) and probably will be today. For this post I will share a bit of my daughter’s fun personality: Jan 23, 2012:           My dad was a math gen...

          Shortly after we moved, and I could sense that Jenna wouldn’t be going anywhere with her new school (where she finished kindergarten) I decided to enroll her in girl scouts.           We’d been invited to attend a meeting for an introduction.  The theme was on culture with an added service project for the food bank.  Eleven booths were set up to represent various countries.  We sampled food from United States, China, France, Mexico, India, Scotland, Austrlia, France, England, South Africa and Switzerland           Jenna enjoyed learning and making crafts such as origami mask and cutting out shapes for the Chinese puzzle.  She also enjoyed decorating boxes for the food bank. By the end of the night she was fired up.  She had earned her first patch and that was awesome!  That alone made her want to join....

          On the day that Roland and I got married, the neighbor from across the street from my mom’s house made us a beautiful quilt done in green with some pinks.           On one side are thirty patches made up of three green prints, one green with rosebuds, and a salmon pink.   On the reverse side there is a rosebud bed outlined by a leafy green frame.   You can always tell which one of us makes the bed by whatever side faces up.           Jenna and I prefer the patchwork side.   When Roland makes the bed the patchwork is facing down.

Today I was looking through some old albums and boxes of photographs.  I remember getting on my mom’s case for having so many pictures in a box and not in an album.  I have come to learn that the box is actually better – or was rather. Remember the magnetic albums that came out in the 70’s?  All that was required was lifting the plastic and setting the photo on page and presto – it was there for life.  Who knew that just twenty years later we would be scolded for ever having considered ruining our photographs by placing them on pages chalk full of acid.  We might as well have put our photos through a shredder. I would say that at least 70% of the pictures could be thrown away.  If not ruined by acid, they just really had no business making it to the album in the first place.  But mom could never bring herself to throw such items away, no matter how blurred or butchered the picture itself turned out.  And by butchered, I mean like the ...