Beneath the Wraps

           I have posted only two of six thoughts on the personality quiz that I took.  Thus I have four to go but will wait before posting the next as today is Jai ’ s birthday.  We had her spring break.  It was good to have her home.  We played a few games with one another.  Sadly not with the entire family as our house is in disarray and has been for the entire year due to water damage and contractor delays (which really is another post within itself) and thus lack of room.  Jaime had actually had to resort to sleeping in a bed rather than on the floor which she seems to prefer. No floor space in the room that started out as the office but houses Ally ’ s possessions.   Jaime will need her own room come summer and it doesn ’ t appear that the others will be leaving anytime soon. Jaime spent her last weekend with some friends at a lake house near Reedsport.   She did not return until after three.   Richard ...

  Jaime said she would not have classes today or tomorrow and could I come get her? but she would need to return on Saturday as she has tickets to see a play. An hour and a half is not that far But gas prices are outrageous. Perhaps I could just spend a  few nights in Ashland. Richard said it was okay.   We prayed about our decision. John Mayer did not reveal a promising forecast - though  yesterday did seem more driveable than it is currently. I went and got my hair done yesterday and was talking to my hair dresser who also advised against driving down with all those mountain passes to go through. What mountains?   I'm from Utah.   Those are just hills. Snow is/was in the hills. It melts pretty quickly. Too cold to snow. But not too cold to freeze. And it has rained. I could slip on ice. Or another car could slip into me. So many drivers seem to be in a hurry. I wouldn't be in a hurry. I would be hitting every rest stop between here and Ashl...

I was searching through various posts in search for specific memories of Universal Studios.   I was floored when I came across one labeled L abor Day Weekend  in which the first line reads Roland said he wanted to take Jenna to Universal this weekend The date read September 1 – that is when we left the house this year – when did I write that?   Apparently it was a thought that had existed in 2019 which became a reality this year – only it wasn’t on a Sunday that we left.   It was on a Thursday.   We drove to Modesto, California – which I had believed was a halfway point to Monterey Park.   It wasn’t.   It was so out of the way that it proved my point about why I don’t like making reservations.   We should have just looked for something in Sacramento.   Modesto was such a waste of driving and the pool was closed.   VERY contaminated pool We continued our drive to LA – another gamble in industrial area that didn’t appear to be a safe part ...

  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-11/-no- vacancy-signs-are-vanishing-from-america-s-highways              I may not remember every detail of every family vacation I took with my parents and sibs, but I do remember looking at hotel signs from the freeway and taking the ramp to find lodging.  We had not made reservations as there was a time it didn’t seem pertinent to do so.  We would look for signs that said “Vacancy” and preferred lodging with a pool and later cable seemed to be a priority.  I don’t recall having had any problems with finding lodging that way.  I suppose it is still possible to do it that way in some areas but have learned that as the decades pass and more apps and technology are introduced – a reservation will at least secure where you may want to go.   I still would rather throw caution to the wind and find something along the way instead of booking in an area I’m really not familiar w...

          During the pandemic it has been up to each state government to lay down the law of mandating mask, social distancing, reopening, etc.   It wasn ’ t long before facebook became flooded with this message: “ Having some states lock down and others not lock down is like having a peeing section in the swimming pool ”.  Yet there are some companies that seem to be encourage traveling?   “ Hey, come and pee in my state!   We don ’ t have enough of it? ”   I am a guilty party as I traveled with my family to New York last June.   Did we bring some pee with us?   Not intentionally.  Did we bring it back to Oregon? Possibly. But not from New York. It had been our flight from Detroit and our stop at Salt Lake airport that felt the most concerning.          Roland had asked for some time off the end of this month as we have arranged to have our floors done (i...

                Quite recently I found this link on friend’s facebook post.   “Oh, great!” I thought.   Guess which airline carrier we used? We were supposed to come back by way of Atlanta, but Delta isn’t even flying into Atlanta right now.   We stopped in Detroit both coming and going.           We left the house between 3:30 and 4:00 three weeks ago on Wednesday morning.   I don’t know what time we arrived at Medford.   Roland dropped Jenna and I off while he went and parked.   We sat down in a chair and waited as I thought he would have   to be present when we checked in the luggage.   Too bad.   There was no line when we had initially gone in.   When Roland walked through the doors a line had formed.   Where had all the people come from?   And why had they picked that time to get on a plane?   Perhaps they hadn’t chosen that earl...

       I believe it was just before Thanksgiving when Roland decided to tell me and the boys that we would come to visit them in Salt Lake this Christmas.   We are still in a financial bind, and Roland had changed his mind before I mailed out the packages and told the boys that we weren’t coming after all.   But something kept nagging at him.   He took out a loan and we were back on.      Randy, our youngest, had said we could stay with him.  But we didn’t wish to appear we were playing favorites – although it would have been more practical.  He and Carrie recently purchased a house much larger than they need in an area about 45 minutes (without construction) from where we ended up staying.  Instead of visiting each boy individually, we would make them come to us.      In all honesty, neither Jenna nor I were looking forward to the drive or the changes that we had known occurred during our absence –...

            We have tried saving up for a Disneyland vacation for the last three years - asking each of our children and my siblings to please save for October this year.   Each year we have dipped into our funds - not that we ever had enough to get us there.   Last year we had gone back to Utah for Jeanie's funeral.   Next year will be returning for a wedding between Biff and Clair.   I really would like to meet her and support Biff again.   But truth be known, I HATE weddings.   I'd much rather go to Disneyland.             We used this year's tax refund to pay off bills, replenish our food storage and an excursion to Enchanted Forrest - though the latter was not necessary.   After struggling from paycheck to paycheck every month, sometimes you just feel that you need to do something so as not to go insane.   So after Jeanie's ...

                It took us just under two hours drive when we had gone to the Enchanted Forrest in March - not that it was our destination yesterday - but we did not even pass the sign until almost three hours later.   Our destination was another twenty-five minutes north.               The online school had sent an announcement of two upcoming open house/conventions - one in Boise and one in Salem. We sent an RSVP for Salem.   The convention was to start at 7:00 p.m.             I have a cousin who lives in Salem.   Though I have lived in Oregon for three years now, we have never been able to get together until now.   We made arrangements to visit with him and his wife at 5:00.   I called Zach at 4:45 as we were still on the road in non-moving congestion - which...

          I've been going over some notes, or suggestions rather, on how to make for an interesting PowerPoint: no more than 20 minutes for entire presentation and no more than 10 slides.   Hey, instructors, I guess this doesn't apply to you then, does it?   It should.           I changed my slide show.   Kept half with clips and the others were boring but included the premises and conclusions . . . blah, blah, blah . . . "What is Daylight Saving Time and why do we have it?   This country started practicing DST during Ward War I to conserve on energy. This helped to cut down the cost of coal for heating and candlelight (History, 2012).   But what has happened to us over a century later?   Many people have a problem with changing their sleep patterns.   "Researchers have found several people complaining of headaches.   One study found a 10% increa...