Beneath the Wraps

As I mentioned in a previous post, Roland enjoys watching “Chopped” (or at least he used to) on the Food Network.   I think we were living in West Valley when we’d see the advertisements for the new upcoming show “Sweet Genius” hosted by Ron Ben-Israel a renowned chef and cake artist extraordinaire.   I allowed the ads to lead me to believe that the show would be similar to “Chopped” but with just desserts.   Roland watched it maybe twice, but would not take it seriously.   It was a squirrely show in his opinion.   He didn’t like the second surprise ingredient being introduced while in the process of trying to create something with the first one. He didn’t like the fact that the chefs need an “inspirational” theme.   But mostly I think he just doesn’t care for Chef Ron.   There is just such a bizarreness about him.          Just on his appearance alone, he seems to fi...

         I really did not know my Grandpa James.   I was told that he was the black sheep in his family.   His biological mother died only a week after he was born.   He grew up having made quite a few errors.   He enjoyed smoking, drinking and older woman.   I’m not certain how he and grandma met as he was from Ogden and she was from Panguitch.   I think he may have had family living in Panguitch.   I don’t know.           I would think he hadn’t joined the navy until after he married my grandma as they lived in Utah for almost four years.   My mom was two when the navy took them from Utah to San Francisco          My maternal grandparent’s divorced after my mom had turned thirteen.   But I believe they were still married when my grandfather planted an early seed to discourage my mom from wanting to smoke or drink. Perhaps it wa...

I had worked for Franklin Covey on assignment from one of the temp places I had worked for.   I worked on the conveyer belt adding my one item to each box that would slide by. NOT a tough job by any means.   Periodically the staff would take a small break and shoot baskets or watch – part of an incentive program that I didn’t understand.   Nor did I make the connection that Steven L. Covey is related and had set up a 7 habit program within the working environment before Sean Covey brought it to a more youthful level and the program has now been introduced to various schools.          I had gone to a “Back to School” night when my three boys were in junior high and then an orientation with Jenna just before she started kindergarten.   Other than that I don’t remember hearing anything more about back to school except for those two times. Before Mrs. Randolf (best principal in the world) made the a...

         Actually, I don’t know why women leak.   We just do.   Perhaps not all women, but many of us. Whenever we feel sadness or sorrow, compassion or joy, empathy or misconduct, our eyes tear up and flood our face. Whenever our child (or children) is hurting, we feel their pain.   Whenever we see a movie or read a book that reaches into our hearts and connects to our tear ducts.   Whenever our hormones happen to be on overdrive (or overload?) Whenever we feel misunderstood. I have cried at the end of Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, and E.T . (to name a few) I wept through Alabama Moon and The Odd Life of Timothy Green.   I need an entire box of tissues each time I watch “Up” and I refuse to watch “The Notebook” ever again.   I’ve cried when reading Children’s books such as “The Robot and The Bluebird” by David Lucas or “You are Mine” by Max Lucado.   I cried during parts ...

 In June 2009 we celebrated my mom's 70th birthday.  Sunny had made arrangements to invite friends and family members to a "surprise" birthday party for my mom. I don't recall how many came, but there was a lot.  Many from the ward, a few from work, and family members - Bill and Kayla had taken several pictures.  I would guess there were 50 - 70 people in all. Corey gave a tribute and several sat in folded chairs that Sunny must have borrowed from the Church.  Mom was definitely surprised and she looked so happy.  She had already been diagnosed with dementia, but it was just the early stages.  She was well aware of what was going on.  And she knew everybody there. Last November - before we put mom into assisted living - she was overwhelmed by the tremendous amount of people at our Thanksgiving dinner - all 18 of us.  So I thought she'd really freak when we took her to the ward Christmas dinner one month later because there were ove...

I attended Ricks College for one year.  Rexburg was over 200 miles away from my home and so I lived in the dorms near the campus. Believe it or not, I really did have three roommates with the same or similar names – though each spelled differently.  Christy Ann Howardson, Christie Lee Hill and Kristaleigh Phelps.  The girls who lived in the same dorm as we did would see me coming and would say, “Hi Christi-“ in which I would respond, “No, I’m the other one” thus earning my new nickname, “the other one” We couldn’t refer to the Christie(y)s with just the last initial because they both started with the same letter.  And although Christie was willing to go by Christie Lee it was just too confusing for Kristaleigh.  And Christy refused to go by Christy Ann.  So sometimes I called her Howard – or Howardine – just to get a rile out of her. It was actually kind of fun. As roommates go, we all had our peculiarities, our strengths and our weaknesses, et...

Tori and Grace were friends with one another – at one time.   Grace and her daughter both worked – or perhaps it was something else that kept them away from raising Natasha, Grace’s granddaughter.   Tori agreed to watch Natasha to assist both Grace and her daughter, but developed an attachment you might say. Things might not have ended up so ugly if Grace hadn’t tried taking advantage of Tori to begin with.   Natasha’s mom abused Natasha and was later sent to prison for it, leaving Grace to tend to her granddaughter – but it appeared that Grace had abusive issues of her own. That’s how it was explained to me and that is what I believe.   I don’t know all the details.   I had just heard that after Grace moved, she would lock Natasha in the closet and fed her only one meal a day. Tori is not the most educated, but she has a good heart.   In addition to caring for Natasha, she also allowed her ex-husband to move back in.   What a sap he i...

Roland likes a hearty spaghetti sauce Full of large pieces of meat and vegetables I like a little more sauce. Roland likes LOTS of onions I’m happy with just a piece of the onion It has to be finely chopped . Roland likes hard ginger snap cookies I like cookies that are soft – Preferably chocolate chip None of that peppery strength that Jenna and I taste with the ginger snap. Roland likes Italian meats.  He likes the meat lovers pizza or At least a combination I like Hawaiian or Vegetarian or Just something different – Something with Alfredo or Pesto Roland says Chicken does NOT belong on a pizza. Roland likes his bagels with butter or Cream cheese and jelly I like bagels with cream cheese.  Sometimes cream cheese and a Fresh tomato. We both prefer our bagels toasted. Roland insists on having a drink with his meal But rarely ever finishes drinking it. I doubt he drinks more than 20 ounces in a given day I drink ...

Black and White: Tale of Two Cars We have two cars – each manufactured the same year.  One is a white Buick and the other is a black Saturn. The electronics have gone on the Buick – the ones that communicate anyway.  The ones on the dashboard which tell us we need our oil checked or engine serviced or what have you.  We can’t even read the counter to know how many miles we’ve gone or always know if our tank is full. According to the dashboard it’s always full.    Driving the Buick can be scary as we cannot see what gear we’re in but have to feel our way.  The back door on the passenger side has a huge dent from being in an accident. The window on that door doesn’t roll down.  I fully believed that our 2011 license renewal would be the last one.  And here it’s held up for nearly two years longer than I thought it would.  We truly have been blessed.  It does get me where I need to go.  I say a lot of prayers before an...