Beneath the Wraps

         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 ...

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 ...

She had just finished eating when I arrive. I don’t bother to ask if she has checked her blood. We go for a walk. I point to a house where a family had lived Many years ago. I asked if she remembers. She says that she does.  That’s good. She didn’t have a clue on Saturday. I take her to my house to eat lunch. I put her at the computer while I prepare the food. She enjoys viewing the pictures that Kayla had taken And had posted to facebook. I make some suggestions on how to complete the day I ask if there is anywhere in particular where she would like to go. She says she wants to go home. Just home. Her mother was a homebody, too. I take her back home with a reminder that I will have to leave again. I have to go pick Jenna up from school.  I’d like her to go with me. She doesn’t want to go. Just as I’m about to leave, I decide I will call Nate and ask if he could pick up Jenna. Nate married my niece.  They live in mom’s basement. ...

          Communication is SO important – whether it is the working place, or homes, our churches, our communities . . . and it’s important that we all stay on the same page.  We need consistency.            I recall one work place that made egg salad sandwiches.  Some of the workers would put pickles into the mixture, while others refused because they thought it was gross.  I don’t care if the egg salad has pickles or not.  When I am in a working environment I would expect to make the egg salad according to what the customer orders from the menu and expects – not to my own personal preference.  I think when a customer expects a certain product, he or she should receive the same product or courtesy or satisfaction that kept him or her coming back to begin with.           I know different cooks have their own ...

          On Feb 14 I created this post .  My sister-in-law’s visits with my mom were positive and full of conversation.  My visits were not so uplifting.  And then mom became Mr. Hyde for each of us.  But now she’s seemed to take on this happy drunkard personality with a desire to travel – and in her mind she has.  In her mind she has done a number of things that she would have never even considered just five years ago – such as sky diving.           I have actually never experienced a conversation of where she’s been and what she’s been up to – but apparently she has told my niece and nephew-in-law countless stories about having gone to Russia, Hong Kong, China, and South Africa – all within the last ten years (she has been out of the state, but not out of the country – unless it was with a tour group in the early 2000’s)       ...

              Sit coms often come from real life situations.  We laugh at deception.  The sitcom characters put on a show for one played by a guest star.  They try to pass themselves off as rich, married, successful, high-ranking or whatever.   Their dishonesty snowballs into more lies and further deception until they realize they just can’t continue with the charade any longer. And yet we laugh.  If they just told the truth in the first place, there would be no show or else it would be a rather boring episode. There are many real life people who continue to put up fronts and play charades with certain people from their past.  I don’t get it.  If you’re not close enough to this person that he or she really knows who you are, why would you care what he or she thinks?           If anyone from my past is interested, I am NOT wealthy.  ...

          Roland and his boss purchased some property years ago – the idea was to flip the house, make money – but the location of it all became a great nightmare for all of us.  I referred to the project as “The Nightmare on Oak Street”           At the time I referred to Roland as the Big Red Hen because of his attempts to involve our three boys in his house fixing project.  Meanwhile, I was attempting to get them to help me around the house that we actually lived in.  I was not as aggressive as Roland and had a toddler who wore me out.           Though the sharing this story with the boys did not produce the results we were hoping for, Jenna is totally amused with hearing it today – and thought I should share it on my blog.  So here goes: The story of the Big Red Hen and the Tired Blue Cat “Who will ...