Triggers That Make Me Smile

          Yes, it is unusual to see a bubbled syringe under the title "Smile" as there are so many children who view this as a torturing device.  They run and hide, fidget, scream . . . and why would a mother look upon this reminder of such dramatic uncooperativeness as something that would put a smile on her face?  She wouldn't.  But I was blessed with a child who was more than cooperative.  Jenna enjoyed the bubbled syringe.  Unlike most children, Jenna was amused by this devise.  It must have tickled her nose when I attempted to suck out the snot.  She also laughs about Vick's vapor rub because "it smells funny" - and not "funny" as in questioning the expiration date of a product.  Whenever I try to rub it on her she does squirm - but only because she is laughing so hard claiming that it tickles her.  Weird.  But awesome.  I don't know of any other mother who has shared this same experience.

From Where I Stand

          I try to keep the room cool so I can fall asleep more easily.  Last night it was cold.  I still managed to sleep.  But I felt overly warm at 3:30 this morning.  When the heat kicked on I moved into the bathroom and stood by the window until the heat shut off.  I then wrote the following:

From where I stand

I can hear the traffic

moving over I5

but I cannot see it

Even if the fog wasn't there

From where I stand

I cannot see Old Pacific Highway

I can barely see the street

where I live

From where I stand

I can hear the trains

I know the tracks were not

completely abandoned

But had never seen a train

in Myrtle Creek

until the other day

when I went to meet my friends

for coffee.

I parked between Good Dogs and

the park and I saw the train

passing the tracks where Jenna

and I have explored and

taken several pictures.

From where I stand

I somehow seem to always hear

more than I can see

Journal Entry

          Before school was back in session I had accepted two job assignments - one was for yesterday.  I had worked with the person I was replacing, but had never worked in her place.  Meanwhile, I had received a call from an aide at one of the other schools.  In a way I prefer her schedule over the one I had lined up for myself yesterday. She primarily works with the middle schoolers and does not have an assigned recess.  She is there for breakfast duty but doesn't have lunch duty.  I like that.

         

          After I returned home, I turned on the computer to view at least one missing lecture.  Both had been posted - but once again,  the accounting instructor just read through each slide and problem.  There was no mention of discussion, assignment and so forth.  Like I'm going to purposely sit through that.  The other did go over the expectations, and fortunately there was a read-along, because I was bothered with trying to listen to the recording without going insane as the volume kept fading in and out - which to me is worse than a distorted picture.

          I have not checked the possible work assignments for today, but think I will stay home to work on my assignments so that I can have them turned in by tomorrow morning and not have to worry about either class until next week.  Finals, for the most part, don't seem to require as much time as the other three weeks.  It is a short day.  I am confident that each school will be able to function without my being there today.

Dash HH #4

Home and Health #4:  "In childhood, did you share a bedroom with siblings or have a room to yourself?" 

          I believe it was in 1961 when my parents purchased the three bedroom house in Midvale.  I joined them a year later and had my own room.  I'm certain that I must have started my life in our new house in my parents' bedroom sleeping in a white bassinet.  I don't know how old I was when I was given my own room or why I ended up where I did.  My room was the furthest from mom and dad's room.  I think they put me in there as I was a light sleeper and heard every sound.  That is the first room I remember being mine.

          I don't know how old I was when I requested that my room be painted pink, but I remember I had to take down my posters.  I had three of girls with big eyes.  I don't even remember what each was doing or holding.  I just remember there were three backgrounds: one blue, one yellow and one pink.  

this is a scrapbook page that I created
The pictures are approximations and not actual.

          After my dad had finished painting my room, he took down the masking tape covered in pink paint.  When I went to retrieve my posters I could find two - the yellow and blue backgrounds.  I did not see the "big eyes" with the pink background.  Instead I saw a pile of masking tape surrounded by pink color.  I started crying because I thought it was my missing poster.

          Mom had painted a chair and desktop white with brass colored decals to match my white headboard. 

These aren't exact.  The center shows  the color. 
The bottom design is closest to some that were used

She had also made curtains from a fabric of white background and animals like bears and zebras dressed in pink and blue clothes - I think.  It's been quite a while and so probably not accurate.

The curtains are not the same, but the colors are close

          I was in the fourth grade when Corey was born.  When mom put the crib in my room, I had moved in Patrick's bedroom which was between my room and my mom and dad's room.  I don't know why there were two beds in his room.  The frames weren't always lined up with the mattress and sometimes someone would bump into the frame and hurt shins and below.  I remember one time Patrick was teasing me and dad was about to rescue from his taunting torture when he became a victim of the bed frame.  He left the room just as quickly as he had entered. 

          Neither Patrick nor I understood what had happened until after the fact.  Daddy's foot swelled up and the color made it appear as though he stamped grapes for a living. 

This picture represents one that has stomped
grapes and not my dad's foot.

The most amazing thing about what had taken place was dad's spiritual attitude.  He had been really angry when he had entered the room - angry enough to hurt Patrick (which was rare as my dad was a very mild-mannered man who would never hurt anyone) and considered the "frame bite" a blessing that prevented him from destroying Patrick.  What awesome faith!

          By the time Kayla came along, my parents had hired someone to refinish the basement - or at least half of it.  It was a bitter-sweet moment.  I had spent a many of hours roller skating in our basement.  I used to fasten Dawn dolls to my roller skates and pretend they were driving cars. 

we don't have an actual photo; I had
to improvise to create a illustration

Bitter as I would no longer be able to roller skate in the basement.  Sweet that I'd be getting a brand new room.  Once again I chose pink for my walls.  My curtains were gingham blue and my carpet was green.  Sounds ghastly, but it looked great with the wallpaper.  I had made this and the above page for the scrapbook that Jenna and I started here.  

Just for the record, I do not care for pink.  

Especially pastel.  

I  lived in that same house up until that I got married.  The house was not sold until after my mom needs had changed and we visiting her at assisted living.

It Felt Rushed

          It is the first Sunday of the year and the year of change as we have dropped an hour.  There will now be two Sunday schools per month, two RS (YM/YW, Priesthood) per month.  Apparently all the organizations except for the primary will meet together on the 5th Sunday.  Primary is still its own separate thing.  Whereas, two hours of primary seemed way too long at times, this one hour deal is like blinking your eyes.  At least that is how it felt today.

         

          On the first Sunday last year there were 15 children the valiant class alone.  I don't know how many were in the others.  This year we have only two classes: CTRs and Valiants.  There are no Sunbeams this year, and only three Valiants.  Two instructors are definitely needed in CTRs this year - what a wide assortment of ages.  Perhaps only 20 minutes of lesson time has improved that?  I don't know.  I was with the three.  And there's one who does not attend every week, so mostly it will be just two and two.  That seems weird.  But whatever.

          We have a new chorister recently called to primary - though she had served in the presidency before.  She always has illustrations to go with each song and made a game for one today.  We learned the song and had time for only two more songs to sing after that.  I think she was over prepared - though it was fun.  It seemed that more time was needed.

          We then went to class.  Two of our children took turn being leaders and we each followed them down the hall around the primary doors and back to the classroom - which this year is one that we have never met in before.  Initially when we had gone to our room, we learned that we had been locked out and so that in itself took away time from a 20 minute lesson.

          Danny had prepared a match game after the children had guessed all the letters to "Ways to Follow Christ" - match games can go quickly or drag on.  This may have dragged at a normal level, but as we were running out of time, Danny started matching pairs with numbers the children had not picked - though I believe they still had fun.

          It's funny how different people can look at the same set of guidance and still be on two different paths.  For instance, I did not get the primary outline but had searched for it on the web but felt frustration in not finding a primary outline that seemed to work with our individual outline - which I believed was that entire point of this new program.  Danny said it confused her, too.   She said that is why she taught the lesson from the individual guide rather than the primary outline.  She did?  Wow.  Her understanding of the lesson had been so much different from my own.  The message I got from my individual and family study was on forgiveness and prayer.

          It's great that we are encouraged to share with one another our own perspectives as we do all have different ideas and are able to grow at we feed one another and stay in tune with what the Spirit needs each of us to learn - Roland said his instruction was on "Giving All that We Have"  Wow.  And all of these are valid and teach us values that we need to understand.  I'm grateful for member and family support.

Ghost and Midnight

I have seen two different cats hanging around our house.  Jenna has named the three that she has seen and Roland says he's seen four. None of them appear to be scroungy or "homeless" and I have wondered what it is that attracts them to our yard in the first place.  Perhaps it was when Roland put up the bird feeder - though we haven't seen too many birds this winter.  

I'm pretty sure that the black cat is a tom.  He wants nothing to do with people.  He runs away if we open the door - and he always dashes off as if he is trying to escape whatever he's guilty of.  Jenna calls him Midnight.

I don't recall ever having seen Ghost before we came home from our Christmas vacation.  She is really friendly, well kept.  We're certain that she belongs to somebody, but we don't know who.  She likes attention.  She wants to cuddle.  She has very soft fur.  Jenna loves her.

I took several pictures of Ghost.  These are the ones which turned out the best.

This is Jenna's favorite

I do not have any pictures of Midnight.

Bi-weekly word: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Well, I was going to save this for next week, but might as well post this right now as I have learned one of my assignments for next week is quite time consuming and I'm wondering if I will be able to post at all.  Only two and a half accounting classes to go.  June will be here in no time.

The word " Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" has 15 syllables.  15!  It's a real word that rolls of Jenna's tongue the way "sunset" or "syllable" might roll off my own tongue.  The word "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" means "the fear of long words".  Well, that is just rude to saddle on one who has said phobia.  The origin and breaking apart of the 15 syllable word are found in this post by Jacob Oleson.

Jenna LOVES long words.  The more syllables it contains, the better the word, in her opinion.  Oh, she is not an avid speller of words, not even phonetically (which Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia appears to be for the most part.  Spelling has never been her thing.  But saying words and understanding their definitions.  Hey, if the word contains more than four syllables, she's all over it. It isn't just a recent thing either.  She has always had a fascination for big words.  

When she was two, she would say the words "Hippopotamus" and "Rhinoceros" as though it was perfect acceptable for a two-year-old to adapt 4 and 5 syllable words into their vocabulary.  I told her she could say "Hippo" and "Rhino" in order to shorten and make them easier to say.  She looked at me as though that was such a foreign concept.  Why would anyone ever replace such beautiful words containing four and five syllables with a shortened nickname that was not as fun to say?

Needless to say, I don't understand where Jenna finds her vocabulary words.  My vocabulary goes to 3 and 4 syllable words like: "purify" and "geriatric" but nothing six to eight syllables.  I think doctors have many syllable words in their vocabulary.  They're always sputing off, "it looks like you have a case of nasopharyngitis or rhinopharyngitis"  Say what?  Oh, that's just fancy talk for "You have a common cold" but the words they use leave you believing that it's something more serious. , I wouldn't have even believed a 15 syllable word existed if Jenna hadn't told me. But then again, many a phobea has many syllables.  I had just never heard of 15 before.

Light Yellow

When Jenna was younger, we 
would sometimes watch shows on demand.  
I cannot remember the name of the program we 
watched geared toward young children on development.  

I thought it was called "Baby Genius" but 
am unable to find a series under that name.  
There are only two episodes I remember more 
detail than others.  One was a special during 
the Christmas holidays on how candy canes 
are made.   

Another I remember teaching colors.  I remember 
yellow specifically.  An egg was cracked open.  
The yolk was identified as "yellow".  And then the
egg was whisked, and milk was added to it for 
"light yellow" 

I think the yolk appears to be more orange than yellow.

I haven't thought about that show for years until 
the last two times I have been beating the eggs
I've made for breakfast.  I watch the yolk mixed 
with the white and add milk and watch as the 
mixture lightens.  

It seems like a weird memory.  But it's the a 
memory that makes me smile when I think about
the early seeds that were planted in Jenna's 
brain development.

Define Your Dash #1

     

            In September I created this post about "Dashes" and how they're to be defined by each of us as we write our memories that spell out our life.  One of my goals this year was to answer one of the dash questions once a week until I got through all 52 of them.  But there are actually more than 52.  Twelve topics provide twelve questions each here though only 52 are highlighted here.  5 each from 6 topics and 4 each of the remaining 6.  

            Some I have already answered without the intent of answering - they just all happen to be subjects that I've posted about.  So I will "define my dash" with some dash questions and some others that I picked up from journal jars or Relief Society handouts (assigning random numbers to the ones not suggested on Family Search.  Mix them up a little.  No order to what I pick - I suppose most of what I've already posted defines my dash.)  But once a week, I will do it consciously.

            I would also like to add a poem or a thought on a particular word (or words) as I did in these two posts (here and here).  The word goal is for twice a month. Those are the goals I have for my blog posts for this year.  

Still Drivable - at least for Roland.

        Highway 140 had its challenges and slowdowns, but Roland didn't seem too concerned.  I think he was more annoyed with the snowplow and log truck that slowed us down.  Here are some pictures both Jenna and I had taken on the return home:

Volcanic ash is used to melt the ice rather than salt

our car is dirty from dust and drive

      We're home safe and sound and found our house and belongings in the same condition as when we left.  We are truly blessed!

Christmas Day

        Before we had dropped Jenna off, I mentioned that I had brought her sock and she could take it and open her gifts on Christmas morning, or she could wait for our return and open one gift each 45 minutes or so.  She opted to wait and decided to open a gift each time we stopped the car to get out.
        I woke up early and put on my bathing suit.  I would have liked for Jenna to have one last swim - which she has never done on Christmas, but I really believed she'd enjoy being at her cousins better.  Maybe not.  I think there may have been pros and cons with each.

        As I sat in the spa, not even remotely in the Christmas Spirit of activities one thinks of on Christmas day,  I found myself pondering upon the reason why we have this day - well, not December the 25th, but the reminder of Christ's birth which did not in reality take place in December (see here, here and here).  Though we had announced to the boys that this will be our last road trip to Utah, I realized that my traveling complaints were out of ignorance (and lack of sleep) and there are others who have or have had worse than I.

        I can't even imagine having to return to the land of my forefathers to pay taxes.  How would that even work?  Would Roland and I have to return to New Jersey where he was born?  or to Puerto Rico where his father was born?  How would they even force that kind of census today?  How many days did it take Mary and Joseph to go a shorter distance than what we were able to in just one day?  Weren't the wise men (or kings) traveling for at least two years before they arrived?  The Messiah came to us as a babe.  I enjoyed the tranquility of water and allowing myself to relax and be grateful.

        It was Roland who felt depressed - not his spunky optimistic self.  He hadn't slept well either.  After we had breakfast we went back to the room, he wanted to unwind by watching something on TV.  I decided to get pictures of the hotel - which I didn't think I would do - but found myself smiling as I took snapshots of the elevator which the kids enjoyed riding.  I took photos of the tables where we had played games and enjoyed a meal.  I took pictures of the dining area, the pool, the spa, the mitten that was left on the door of our hotel room.  A gift from the hotel.  I knew Jenna would be impressed.  

        Some may think we were not wise with our money.  I feel bad with the cost as Bill is now out of a job and Tony and his family have to move.  Nobody knows what we paid or if there were discounts involved.  True, our money could have been spent more wisely, but when I think about it, I was able to breathe in the hotel.  I coughed when I swallowed the air outside, but inside I did not have to fight my breathing in addition to sleep.  I did not have to use a humidifier.  I could breathe.  I wouldn't have felt that same sensation around dog hair.  That right there made it worth it.

        We went out to Kayla's to get our Jenna.  They opened the gift which we had brought for them and I opened the gift they had for us.  

The new figures that we gave them, our used ones we had purchased 3 years ago

I need to retake this picture as it reflects the room where it is hung.

Randy dropped by to drop off Bill's laptop and Tony's coat which had both been left at his house.  We took Tony's coat to him and visited for a wee bit before getting back on the road - this time on I-80 and through Nevada as the forecast had said it was dry.  The road itself was.  

We pulled into Winnemucca about 5:30.  It felt later than that.  I told Roland to go ahead and get us a room as we still had 4 hour stretch ahead of us until the next town.  Only two places were open.  I chose the motel off the beaten path. 

       I don't believe Jenna had opened even half of her sock gifts when we arrived at the motel.  I noticed an indoor pool and hot tub displayed on their sign - but it was still closed for the winter.  As I wasn't really expecting to find another lodging that offered the pool or spa, I wasn't totally disappointed.   Jenna was. 
      She decided to dump the contents of her stocking and open all that was left.  The room itself was dated, but it was clean.  How blessed we were that Tony and Rochelle had provided us with crackers and sausages amongst all the cookies and candies we had received.  As nothing else was open, we made a simple dinner for ourselves with the sausage and crackers.

Christmas Eve

        We had breakfast at the hotel.  It was just the three of us as nobody else showed - which is just as well.  Randy had set the dinner for 4:30 but said we could come earlier if we wanted to (hint, hint) but we had made other plans.  Biff was in need of clothes and Roland said he would take him shopping and invited me to come along.  Oh, there is no way in this world that I spent 22 hours in a car crammed into a pretzel position so that I could go shopping!!!  I declined - several times.  I guess Randy gets his persistence from Roland.

        While Roland and Biff were out shopping, I visited with Bill and Kayla.  Jenna was excited to see and spend time with her cousins.  Randy had called to ask what we were doing and if we were on our way.  It wasn't even 3:00!  The truth of the matter was that he really wanted Roland to cook the dinner. 

        Roland had brought back McDonald's for everybody and we went to the lobby to continue our visit and once again grabbed the games.  We had our food table set up with coloring books and crayons and another table for games - which Kayla and I had attempted to play, but as the boys found the elevators too fascinating to resist, Kayla and I finally took BJ upstairs to continue our visit without the interruption of possibly losing the boys on the wrong floor.  I don't know if the others ever completed the game or not.

        We left the hotel in plenty of time to get there according to Randy but did not arrive until after 5:00 as there were barricades set up for construction and only one lane (which was backed up, I might add) before we could even turn into his neighborhood.  We were the first ones to arrive followed by Bill and Kayla, Biff and Clair and Tony and Rochelle in that order. 

        All of the kids enjoyed playing with the dog, Chief, but neither Kayla nor I appreciated his slobbery toy.  Even Anna was holding it like it was a dead mouse, but did enjoy tossing it to Chief.  Each took a turn throwing the disgusting toy - even Liz, the two-year-old.  There was concern when red splotches appeared on her face.  It's possible that she's allergic to dogs.  Chief was banned to the basement.  No more slobbery toy.

        The menu consisted of eggs and French toast. Claire asked to use the toaster as she is allergic to eggs.  Thus Roland decided to pass out our gifts right then and there.  We had made jelly out of the baco grapes we had picked (see this post).  We only filled 8 jars though we had purchased enough jars to fill 24.  But Roland liked the juice too much and so we had stopped making the jellies.    

        Bill introduced the family to an electronic game that some were already familiar with.  It is called "Quiplash" and is done off computer screen and tablets. It felt like a cross between Balderdash and a reverse Family Feud.  Once again I did not play because I do not have a tablet or smart phone because I cannot seem to work them, but it was fun watching the others play.  I think they played two rounds before we stopped to pass out gifts.

        Roland and I decided to first pass out finger glow sticks to each of the children.  Randy led the families in the song "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" - I don't know why it was picked.  Probably the glow sticks reminded somebody of that song. It was the only song we sang before we exchanged and opened gifts. 

        We all left pretty much at the same time.  We dropped Jenna off with Kayla and Bill who did not have room in their car to take her when they left Randy's house.  Jenna was hoping to open something on Christmas morning, and I knew that Bill and Kayla had something for her.  Also I thought she would probably enjoy the magic of watching others open their presents on Christmas day than to wake up in a hotel room without.