SCREWBALL CHILI

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2010 Yesterday I met Corey, Jayden and Bailey at Won Won Wok for their $5.50 lunch special. They went through the drive at McDonald’s first and got Bailey a Happy Meal. The other three of us got two sushi rolls each. Corey and Jayden had California rolls. Corey had a side of spicy mayo with his. I had a spicy tuna roll and a spicy salmon roll. Jayden wolfed his down in no time and wanted to get another order of two rolls. Corey said no and Jayden wasn’t happy about it. From there, we went to Wal-Mart where Jayden and I got hair cuts. Jayden was mad. He has decided he wants to let his hair, “grow long like a skateboarder.” While he and I were getting our haircuts, Corey and Bailey did some grocery shopping for chili makings for their ward chili cook-off that evening. Corey was going to make a chicken white bean chili. When we were through getting our haircuts, Jayden and I went to the toy-game department and got him a chess set. He has been playing chess in school. I was more than happy to pay $5.00 to make a chess learning investment. I later learned that Corey won the “Most Screwball” category for his chili. He also made “Red Lobster” brand biscuits. He said they turned out “really well.”

"HORSING" AROUND

FRIDAY, JANUARY 08, 2010 The other night I dreamed I was a horse. This was the fifth dream I have had about horses but the first one, if I remember correctly where I was a horse. In three of my dreams I was on horse back. In one of them, involving my son Chris, I dismounted and went on to completing my mission. Another one was in a pre-earth life and I never dismounted. In the dream of the other night there were a dozen or perhaps twenty horses. We were running over hill and through dale, over small streams and around groves of trees etc. there were various shades of green in the vegetation. After a while it turned into good horse against bad horse. The bad horses were chasing the good horses. I was one of the good horses. I don’t know if I was the bad horses’ prime target or if I was just preoccupied with my own safety. Finally it came down to one bad horse hot on my tail. I think perhaps we had outdistanced the rest. He finally caught up with me and we started fighting. I wasn’t afraid. It was just the bother of it all. At this point we horses took on some human features including being able to see human attributes in our faces. We were also thin like a thin person. Finally I grabbed his left front leg and bent it in the direction it would normally bend but went way past the straight up and down. At this point it looked like a hairpin bent this way. In fact it became a hairpin. My enemy squealed and writhed in pain and shook violently but wouldn’t give up; still vowing to get me and do me in. Finally he couldn’t take it any more and cried “uncle.” I turned him loose and went on my way, again romping over hill and dale, across small streams and around groves of trees. The next thing I knew, he was on my tail again and again to the same conclusion, the same fight ending in my bending the same leg the same way and his screaming in pain; except this time before he could yell “uncle”, I woke up.

"BEST DAY of MY LIFE"

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 06, 2010 The extended family met at Red Lobster in Murray for dinner tonight. Stacey, Jayden and Bailey met me at Smith’s and we rode together in my car. As we were driving, somehow the subject turned to “The best day of my life.” Jayden, strictly to be funny said, “The best day of my life will be the first time I kiss a girl. And after I do, I will say, ‘What is your phone number?’” He got a long belly laugh from the rest of us and for the rest of the night he kept playing off it. Bailey brought her Math homework with her and Jayden helped her. Stacey said that he is quite the math wiz and that Bailey is an above average reader. Jayden too reads everything he sees. At dinner there were Judy and me; Chris, Jim, Corey and his family and Greg and Niki and their two, Alexa and Gavin. Sierra was dancing at half time at the Taylorsville High School basketball game. Lynn and her boys are back in Houston and Julia had a class if I understand it correctly. Austin and Molly are at her mother's.

I'M ALL SHOOK UP--No, I'm not ELVIS!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 05, 2010 At 1:08 last night there was an earthquake just two miles from our house registering 2.9 on the Richter Scale. Judy and I jumped out of bed and Jim came running up from downstairs. Following is an e-mail exchange between Cousin Sherilyn and me. It starts out with her response to a joke e-mail I sent her about why women can’t sleep: (Sherilyn) “This explains a lot. (The joke) Thank you very much! Speaking of not being able to sleep, did you feel the earthquake last night? The radio said it was felt in Lehi and Eagle Mountain, but it sure woke Marlon and me up. Exciting stuff!” (Me) “Wasn't that a humdinger? It was on the west side of Redwood Road maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 mile south of Smith’s (Market). We shot out of bed and our son Jim came running up from downstairs. Judy wondered if someone had run into our house. Jim was able to look it up on the internet within minutes of its happening at earthquakes.gov if I'm not mistaken. Interesting how fast they could do that.” (Sherilyn) “And Angie slept clear through it! Innocent child! It's amazing how quickly the information can get out! Even faster than ‘tell a woman’!”

SAME OLD SAME O'

MONDAY, JANUARY 04, 2010 Today I picked the kids up after school and we had a good time wrestling tickling teasing each other and watching Avatar. Jayden told me that Issie asked him today if he had ever kissed a girl. I have no idea of his emotional state at the time or what was going through his mind, but his response was a simple “No.”

NOT MY LINE of BUSINESS

Saturday, January 02, 2010 The other day I complemented Jayden on his writing skills; his Thanksgiving story and his Christmas story. I told him I thought that any time he thought of a story he should write it down. His response was, “I’m not going into the story writing business!” Ten year olds!!!

JANUARY 1 and NO HANGOVER

January Friday, January 01, 2010 Judy left for one night to chase with her mother Bev and her friends in Minneapolis and left me here alone. Ha! Last night Chris came over with Sierra, Lynn, Wyatt and Cade. A little later Julia and Autumn showed up. Then it was Corey, Stacey, Jayden and Bailey. Austin and Molly were here early and are here for the weekend. Chris and his gang didn’t stay late but the rest were here until well after midnight and of course we had to make a big noise. I didn’t go outside but Corey said they were setting off fireworks down by the lake. By this time Austin had gone with Chris and his gang. They dropped him off at a church dance. I don’t know when or if he got home. His room doesn’t look like it has been slept in. the dance was up in Salt Lake. Maybe he called his mother and went back to her place. Chris called trying to get hold of Jim to say that Austin couldn’t get into the dance because he didn’t have on a tie and didn’t have a dance card from his bishopric, but while we were still speaking he said, “Oh, he just got in. I guess he must have sweet talked them” or some such wording. Jim wasn’t here because everyone had gone over to the pool. They came back shivering. Stacey said that the water was so warm that when they got out, Corey lay in the snow and made a snow angel and of course some of the others had to follow suit. I’m positive Stacey didn’t and I bet Julia didn’t either.