Plants vs. Zombies

I do love to play Plants vs. Zombies on my i-Pad.  So naturally it was the first thing to come to mind when looking at myself in the mirror this week...

I feel pretty, oh so pretty! I feel pretty and witty and bright! (Name that musical)

This picture doesn't begin to do justice to the color array.  Purple, blue, green, yellow, I've got it all.  The stitches were removed today, all 19 of them.  It feels pretty tender.  I was more than a little unhappy with the size of the darn thing until I talked to the PA at the dermatologist's office today.  She assured me that:

1) The cells they removed were dangerous, deep, and wide.  But not cancerous.

2) Dr. Young did a terrific job of sewing me up and it is healing well.

2) The scar will fade to a fine white line after about a year.

3) Make-up will cover the scar (eventually) if I care enough to hide it.

Best of all, I can make a really good impression on my students on the first day of school. 

Welcome to Statistics!  

If you don't do your homework, I'll eat your brains!

Huntsman or Smart?

I married well.  The pick of the litter.  Good hair.  Long eyelashes. Cries during greeting card commercials and whenever the primary children sing.  Looks like Governor John Huntsman.  Here is your quiz!

Huntsman or Smart? 

Huntsman or Smart?

Oh wait!  That last one wasn't a fair question because of the cute clue in the backpack.

Huntsman or Smart?

I'm not telling, but let's just say I'm constantly surprised that Larry is in the news.

Huntsman or Smart?

Again, not fair!  Larry's name is on the bottom!  Besides, would Gov. Huntsman wrap his face in plastic wrap and then plunge it into a tray of wet cement?  This piece of fine art can be found at the Bear Lake cabin, along with the immortalized faces of his brothers, Craig and David. 

Heck of a day

I went back to work at school today.  As much as I love my job, playing with family and in my garden is my preference.  After work it was all downhill from there.  As you can see from the lovely photo, I got a chunk o' cheek removed and a bunch of stitches.  My left eye socket is coloring up.  I might have a good shiner to go with the stitches. Dr. Young also took a chunk off my ankle.  While I was getting worked over at Dr. Young's my phone rang a couple of times and I hurried and silenced it.

Come to find out, it was Beaners, calling to let me know that our mommy was in the emergency room.  I ran across the parking lot from Dr. Young's office to see what was up, and found mom all lively, complaining about the pressure cuff on her arm being too tight, and worried about Dad.  Her right foot was white from lack of blood flow.  The diagnosis was a clot in her leg, and there was a big concern about keeping her leg healthy and also about clots flinging about and causing further damage.  LifeFlight was on its way to transport her to the SLC Inter-Mountain Hospital and a vascular specialist there.  Beaners left the emergency room so that she could run back to mom's house to reassure dad, to get books (mom needed entertainment), some overnight stuff for herself, and then to drive to SLC.  Mom was pretty excited about the helicopter ride, and the flight nurse assured her that she could be propped up so that she could enjoy the ride.  Mom waved and I took pictures on my cell phone.  If I ever figure out how to get the pictures off the phone, I'll post them!  For now, we are praying for successful treatment and a quick recovery.

Alvaretta

My grandma, Alvaretta Jones Hunt, got married at the age of 16, and raised 6 kids during the depression on a small farm in Enterprise, Utah.  

Alvaretta Jones, age 16, about 1927

She is the same grandma who nailed my mom's skirt to the floor when my mom had a temper tantrum.  She had fine, silky hair that frustrated her.  (Katrina: you and I carry the gene to future generations!) I remember my mom holding her hands over my ears when my grandma would cuss at the neighbor for burning garbage when there was wash out on the line.   I remember her washing laundry in her wringer washer, and hating to give it up for a modern washer because it did such a great job of getting clothes clean. I also remember her making bread, slapping and thumping the bread dough with great gusto.  She confided that she liked to make bread when she was mad,  'cause she always felt better after giving the bread a good beating.  Grandma was always working hard at something.   

Alvaretta Jones Hunt, 1977

When my sibs and I were young, one of her favorite things to do when we came to visit was to take us swimming at Veyo.  She was an awesome swimmer.  And skinny!  When the widows in her church ward had a hard time making ends meet, Grandma figured that flour and eggs are plentiful on their farms, so she got a pasta maker and conducted pasta making nights.  My mom passed the pasta maker to me along with Grandma's hand written pasta recipe, and it is one of my greatest treasures.  Eventually in her 80's Alzheimer's took her memory.  When I visited her in the nursing home she couldn't talk any more, but her body kept on going.  Years of hard work had hard-wired her to stay busy, and she wandered from one patient to another in the visiting lounge, tucking in blankets, and adjusting furniture.   I'm so blessed to have known my maternal grandma, a vibrant and resourceful woman, a mother in Zion.  

Store Room Ecosystem

What does it take to make a sustainable ecosystem?  Hundreds of ants, an open bag of pancake mix, and happy spiders.   I discovered a thriving community in my store room, but can't figure out how the critters found their way into my store room.  It is far, far, far away from any outside entrance or window.

Treener told me she battles ants with borax in a syrup mixture, so I cooked up a batch, added a spoonful of peanut butter for extra protein attraction,  set it out on yogurt lids, then found hundreds of ants drowned in it.  Set out more.  More ants.  Got the piggy vacuum and chased down more ants and spiders.  I feel a bit guilty about the spiders, after all, they were on my team, but everything with more than 2 legs was getting sucked up.  I'd say I'll keep you posted, but you probably don't want to know.  (Nor do you want to know how many times I had to run out of the store room in the process of prepping for the colonscopy this afternoon....I tried to do yard work, but that was a disaster.)

Why does she look like that?

Best Parenting Practices

My mom has always been a very determined woman.  A great trait as an adult, but pretty hard to manage as a child.  When my mom was very little she had a screaming fit where she threw herself to the ground, kicking and raising a ruckus.  My grandma grabbed a hammer and nailed her skirt to the ground.

My sister Wowie had a hard time getting her 5 kids ready for church in the morning, so she put them to bed on Saturday night in their Sunday clothes.

When I would get sick as a kid, my mom would say:  "Get out of bed, take a shower, and you'll feel better."  Sometimes it worked.  If we stayed home from school complaining we were sick, we knew we would be scrubbing toilets if we got out of bed to play.

Grandchild #10 likes to clear the decks when he is being feed.  His mommy gives him healthy finger foods.  He throws it far and wide.  Then she takes him out of his chair, puts him on the floor, and he eats his dinner. 

John-boy is also a very determined individual, much like his maternal grandma.  I begged his pre-school teacher to please take him for both afternoon and morning sessions to help direct his energy, but she  refused. As a 3-year-old John-boy had a favorite pair of superman pajamas.  It was impossible to get him to take them off, even for laundry.  Solution: set up the wading pool to sit in, and run through the sprinklers every day. If he refused the pool or sprinklers, I chased him with a hose.

Chain Saw Larry

Once upon a time, about August 2006,  there was a good-looking hunk that was also a loving son.  His name was Larry. One day he decided to help his mommy and daddy at their cabin at Bear Lake.  Lots of trees needed chopping and slashing and cutting.   Larry loves to chop and slash and cut, especially with his powerful chain saw.  Oh no!  Look out Larry!  Do not forget that when you hold a chain saw you must watch out for the limbs that are attached to your body, not just the tree limbs.  Too late.   Look at the hole in those pants.  Look at the hole in the left thigh.  Bandage, bandage.  Tape, tape.  Brave Larry finishes the job on the trees.  He is much more careful now.   The job is done.  Time to go for medical treatment. Time to call loving wife and give her a heart attack while innocently asking if Insta-care is covered by the family insurance.   Funny, funny Larry will have a lovely scar.