Beneath the Wraps

Whenever I have watched the Food Network series “Chopped” I think how challenging it would be to make food that is going to please all three judges as they have different opinions about why something is good or bad.   It’s pretty much the same thing with turning in assignments to different instructors.   Some are sticklers for the APA.   Some won’t accept anything written in first person.   Fortunately, I have had many, like me, who prefer the first person to boring textbook narration.           In each class I have had, the instructor has encouraged the students to use the writing center.   Again, there is a huge array of people that have their opinions on what makes for a good assignment and what doesn’t.   Granted, I realize two days work is NOT a lot of time for a proper paper, but I cannot wait until the end of the week for the writing center gets more backed up.   I want to have my paper now. ...

Someone posted this link to facebook yesterday.   Wow. I remember filling sandbags.   I remember standing on state street and looking at the river.   I remember standing there the following year as the Olympic Torch was being passed.   I believe it was Senator Orrin Hatch   running on State Street.   I remember thinking how surreal that was as the path he was on was under water the year prior.   I couldn’t find a picture of the torch being passed on state street, but here is an article that maps out the run.

Our biggest reason for moving to Oregon was so that I could breathe.   I didn’t wish for my family members have to listen to me hack out my lungs or gasp for air – and yet this month has seemed to defeat the purpose.   Yesterday I spent the majority of the day in the emergency room – first the waiting room and then a small section in another room divided by curtains.   I thought Dial-up AOL was the slowest thing ever.   They are speed demons next to Urgent Care.   And Urgent was five times faster than Emergency.   Granted, it was Memorial Day and there was nowhere else to go.   Most of the patients there didn’t seem in bad enough shape to require emergency care.   I heard three or four of them just chatting away as if they were there to socialize.   I clung onto my head so that it wouldn’t roll off or explode.   I suspect I was dehydrated as I had left large evidences of my DNS at different Urgent cares that Google had said were open...

                George Bird passed away the first week of March.   All of his biological children were with him in addition to most of his grandchildren.   I use the word “biological” to set apart those that he physically raised and the countless many who thought of him as a dad or a grandfather as he influenced many and made such a positive impact.           A couple up the street had named their youngest son after him.   The couple’s granddaughter (who lived next door to Birds) refused to believe that George was not her real grandpa.   He had a special bond with many of the neighborhood children.   I, myself, had come to think of him as a second dad.           He and his wife, Peggy (who I will be writing another dash post about) lived across the street from my mom.   They have al...

          It’s been two weeks since I went to the doctor.   I had worked three hours on Thursday which maybe I shouldn’t have.   On Friday I developed a headache that just seemed to get worse with each day of the weekend.   I have never had a hangover before, but I have had brain freeze – which is how I felt when the headache started.   Progressively it got worse and I imagined that is what a hangover must feel like.   Especially yesterday when a sensitive stomach decided to contribute to the pain.           While Roland was delivering his talk in church, I was on our bathroom floor experiencing dry heaves.   Perhaps I was dehydrated.   I gulped some water.   Of course, I threw that up.   I wore myself out throwing up and holding my head and crying because I hurt.   I did manage to make it back to my bed and listen to my deep breathing get softer until I even...

After two weeks of not working, I returned to work yesterday – though it was for only half a day.   I prayed that I would be able to get through the day.   My cough had died down.   Still, I had to change my pants before I had even left the house.          I left the house early to stop by a thrift store as there is a game I would like to get for Jenna – a specific game that I still have not seen and may have to order online.   While there, I looked at dresses and found a light jumper that I thought I could wear.          I had planned on putting keys in my pocket and hooking the walkie-talkie through one of the belt loops but while at the thrift store, I realized that the pants I had changed into did not have pockets.   Frustrating.   I returned home for a lanyard in which I could hang the keys and the walkie-talkie.   Only by the time I returned home, I decided it was war...

I find it interesting that the topic of my last class focused on Medicare and social security.   The topic of my current class has been the brain, stress and this week’s topic on sleep disorders – which I have had my entire life.   Thus I’m making discoveries.   I am also getting the feeling that I need to put my affairs in order and start throwing away mountains of stuff so that Roland and Jenna won’t have to do it in the event I leave this earth.           I’m not saying that death is around the corner.   It just feels like it in some ways.   Perhaps it’s just the side effects of still trying to heal from bronchitis and still coughing and not breathing right.   I was told at the doctor’s office that my breathing was off.   I don’t think it’s the bronchitis that’s to blame.   My breathing has always been off.   I think more off as I age.   My pipes are small and seem to shrink with ...

       I loved creating things.   I would often get kits for gifts and I would go to town making latch punch rugs, polished rocks, turntable paintings, and potholders to name a few.   One of my favorite things was designing bands from really small beads.          I don’t know how old I was when I joined a handcraft club that would send out kits of parts and instructions on how to piece them together.   Usually, I would give them away as gifts.        Now it’s Jenna who likes to keep her hands busy.   She enjoys crafts as I once did.

  Last week I sat with my instructor for the final discussion.  I have been the only student turn out for each live lecture.  I learned a new word I thought I would share this week.   The word is Thanatophobia .  I don’t have it, but I know some people do.  It’s death anxiety.  My instructor said that the older a person is, the less likely he/she will have thanatophobia. I also believe that is true. As I have mentioned before, I hang with a group of friends once a month or so.  Two are in their 70’s.  One is 65 and I am the baby of the group.  Death has been a topic as we have all seen friends pass.  The 65-year-old has a hard time dealing with the idea of death.  She may have thanatophobia.  I will mention it to her the next time we converse about the death subject. 

         Today I took my last of the antibiotic that had been issued Monday.   And I do feel better.   Possibly up to 80%, but I am weak still.   A jaunt out to the mailbox has worn me out.   I have not had much exercise.   Each time I move just an inch (NOT an exaggeration) I end up coughing uncontrollably.   Never in my life have I gone through so many tissues, rolls of toilet paper and bladder pads in such a short time.   I hope to never have to experience this again.             I am grateful that neither Roland nor Jenna has had to endure the same physical pain.   Roland has had a cough and phlegm, but nothing close to where I’ve been.   Jenna has managed to dodge this all together.   Hopefully, it will remain that way.   I think I was sick enough to account for all three of us. I had been scheduled to work four days this week but ended up not working at al...

Question:   What’s the Strangest Thing You’ve Ever Tasted?        When I was on my mission I remember two individuals believing they could outdo each other by eating the grossest thing they could come up with.   Raw egg, entire raw onion, etc.        I can’t remember which one of them succeeded at the onion, but his breath could be detected from across the room.   I remember when he said his good-byes that his breath made a little girl cry.         My companion had suggested to the two of them that there was still yet another test.   Her trainer’s boyfriend had been serving a mission in Australia and had sent her a package for Christmas that included goods native to Australia.   Among those “treasures” was a small jar of something called Vegemite – which evidently is used as a spread similar to how American’s used peanut butter.   She said that she and her companion...

WARNING:   Although I do not provide all the details, some of what I’ve written provides a gross picture       What a glorious Mothers’ Day NOT – on top of the cough and leaky bladder I was having aches and pains all over my body.  I couldn’t get comfortable whereas I could sleep for very long.  I haven’t been restless before when I am sleeping in a reclining position.  At least not that I know of.  Sheets were pulled away from the mattress.  I’d have a pillow fort beneath my feet.  If I had been given the option to die, I would have taken it.             I’d been scheduled to work both yesterday and today, but took myself out of the subbing position and left a message with the school.  Soon after I left my message, I received a call from another aid seeing if I can work her shift.  When I returned her call and she heard my voice introduce myself, she didn’t even...

                                          Before it started to rain in March, I had a dry cough.   A very annoying dry cough as though I had swallowed a hair ball and couldn’t get it out of my system.   Then the rains came and gradually my cough left me.   I was able to go on stage to perform with the choir on Easter.    I had forgotten that the primary had been invited to join us.   The song was “Gethsemane” (see here ). Our primary kids sound like angels whenever that song is performed. My eyes leak whenever they’re performing.   I was too choked up to sing with them.   After Easter my dry cough returned.   Gradually it became a wet cough.   On Tuesday I was sore from head to toe.   Pain in my cheeks  ...

            When Jenna was younger we used to share food.   She would eat parts that I didn’t especially like and vice-versa.   At this moment I forget all of the food except for eggs and cake.   Jenna could eat yolks only when they were scrambled with whites.   She has finally converted to hard boiled yolks.   Of course, they must be surrounded by the white part.   I can eat the whites though they are not my favorite.   I like runny yolks for dipping my toast or pancake.   I am completely grossed out by any of the white part if not completely cooked.   I would rather have an overcooked egg than an undercooked one.             As with most kids, Jenna preferred the frosting to the cake itself.   I like to be in control of just how much frosting is going on my piece of cake.   For the most part (unless the layer is really thin) I will scrap...

        My goals are to finish up my last two classes so that I can graduate on June 1.   I was asked to participate in a Verizon hotspot for Internet service and report the hours that I use for school.   I’m supposed to record three months worth but will have to send it back in two months as that is all the time I have left.   Since it is the school paying for the service, I don’t guess it would do any good to keep it.   I don’t think   I am that great of a candidate as there has been only one time I have been away from the house and needed WiFi for school – that was the last week of February.   I would have not had my laptop in Roseburg but how impressive it would have been if I had been able to get Internet power when it wasn’t available in Myrtle Creek.         So one of my goals is to help out the school by recording what is required.   Doesn’t seem like too bad of a deal to me.  

A role is a position in society or the part that a performer is given for a play.  Role is a homonym to roll which has several meanings. I've come up with 25 sentences though there are only six definitions.  See if you can figure them out. 1.       I may take roll or attendance to find out who is present or absent from a meeting or class. 2.       I may purchase a roll of duct tape which in turn may roll across the floor. 3.       When I eat my spaghetti dinner, I may want a roll to eat with my meal. 4.       I may use the roll as a measure in money, fabric, or toilet paper. 5.       I may roll up a newspaper for an easier toss. 6.       I may roll out the red carpet for a special occasion. 7.       I may teach my dog ho...