My Patriotic Duty

Well...I have a dilemma. (Don't you HATE dilemmas?) Election Day is coming up and I feel like a very uninformed citizen.

It all started when we moved from one county in the once-Golden State of California to another county. Ron and I were conscientious citizens and re-registered to vote. However, we have not received any information--no sample ballots, no voting guide, no obnoxious phone calls (I can live with that) and the only mail we've received are for the local elections from the county we've moved from. Local elections that aren't so local now.

When I called the Registrar of Voters to check on our voting status, they confirmed that Ron and I are registered to vote. That's good. When I complained about the lack of sample ballots and voter registration guides, the man was less than helpful. "I can't help you there."

WHAT?!!! Isn't that your job--to help voters, vote?

He suggested three options. 1. Drive to the register of voters office and pick up said materials.
I COULD do that, but it's not exactly a quick little drive.

Option #2: Show up at my polling place and ask to look at one of their sample ballots. Somehow, I don't think that is the best way to make an informed decision BEFORE I head into the polling place--unless I want to spend an extraordinary amount of time in said little cubicle.

Option #3: Do my research on-line. When I explained to said official that I tried doing this, but I wasn't sure exactly which measure and which officials I could actually vote for in my little town in this new county, he was unsympathetic. "Well, good luck."

So, I have taken option #3 and have scribbled little notes on who and what I want to vote for. But, I may come across some unknown judges, some unstudied measures, and some other men and women hoping for my vote and I may just have to leave those areas blank because I am an frustrated uninformed citizen.

I just hope I can read my own writing once I show up at my polling place on Tuesday.

Dentophobia

When I was a little girl, I had a peculiar problem. My teeth would not fall out.

When other little children would celebrate losing a tooth in kindergarten or 1st grade, my teeth stayed firmly in place. I was blessed with an extremely good "root system."

In the course of natural events, the permanent teeth would eventually begin growing in which made for a rather crowded mouth and since the cute little baby teeth weren't moving, it was determined by my dentist that the unwanted baby teeth would need to be "extracted."

I hate the word extracted.

And for many, many years, I really hated going to the dentist. It meant painful Novocaine shots and much wriggling and yanking and, well, I don't want to think about it anymore because it seriously is bringing butterflies to my stomach just typing these words.

In all my childhood years, I only lost TWO teeth the "normal way." Every other cute little baby tooth was "extracted." Along with several permanent teeth because of braces. And wisdom teeth, too. Yes, I developed a massive fear of dentists.

After I became an adult, I went to several dentists hoping to find the "perfect dentist" who I could be comfortable with. One day, I was inspired to ask a woman in my ward (who I knew was pretty particular) who her dentist was. That was when I discovered the husband and wife team of Gary and Sheri.

I explained my great fear to them. They did not mock me. They understood. With extreme gentleness they helped me overcome my dentophobia. I loved my dentists. I got to the point where a dental visit was a "non-event." I hardly gave it a thought. In the past, I would dread an upcoming visit for nearly two weeks, worrying about what would happen.

When we moved, I needed to find a new dentist. Much as I love Dr. Gary and Sheri, I really did not want to drive two hours each way to visit the dentist. After hearing about my mother's dentist, I decided to give him a try.

Last Wednesday morning, I saw my new dentist for the first time. When I am saying I woke up in the middle of the night in a near panic attack, I am not exaggerating. I did not sleep the rest of the night. All my old fears came back.

As I drove to his office, my heart was racing. I silently prayed that I would be OK and that I would like this dentist.

I'm happy to report that everyone was very friendly and kind. It may take two or three more visits to work up to the same level of trust I had with Gary and Sheri, but I think I may have found another dentist who I can trust.

Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

Last evening I made a "Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake." The picture from the magazine looked absolutely yummy. Picture a vanilla wafer/pecan crust, a layer of melted caramels, a thick decadent layer of cream cheese that has melted semi-sweet chocolate added to the mixture, topped with more pecans and a drizzle of chocolate. Don't you want some?

The directions said it would take 15 minutes to prepare. Fifteen minutes! Those 15 minutes turned into nearly an hour. An hour of chopping pecans, unwrapping caramels, melting said caramels, softening cream cheese, melting chocolate, burning the first chocolate I melted (my new microwave is very powerful), melting more chocolate, mixing, mixing, mixing, until finally it was ready to go into the oven.

I told my family I hoped it was worth it.


Tonight, after a lovely family home evening, a discussion of the perfect nail color Emily and I needed to get next, and a rousing game of Swap, I pulled the "Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake" out of the refrigerator. Ron lovingly dished it up and then we took our first bites.












The recipe is going into the garbage. Along with the rest of the cheesecake.

Why I Love Visiting Teaching

Our family moved two months ago. The move has been a good thing in many ways and a hard thing in many ways. It's great being with Ron every night. It's great being closer to family. However, I have been mourning my old ward. I knew everyone in my little ward. I knew probably half the active people in the stake. Here, I know very few people and attending church and trying to figure out who everyone is and who is related to each other has been somewhat overwhelming. We have moved into a large, strong, active ward, which is good. But it also means that it's going to take a lot longer to get to know everyone. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed trying to remember the names of those I have met.

Today, I was saying my prayers (again) asking Heavenly Father to help me find a friend. I asked Him to help me feel of His love. I was starting to doubt my own worth because I don't know if anyone in Morgan Hill (except family) really even know me, much less care about me. I knew that if I could feel my Heavenly Father's love, that it wouldn't matter if no one else knew my name. It would be enough.

A few hours later, my prayers were answered. It doesn't always happen that fast.

First, I talked to a woman back in Stockton. We were never in the same ward, but I have enjoyed talking to her at various stake functions throughout the years. Before we ended the conversation she said, "Loralee, I just want to say how much I love you! You have always radiated such light and goodness and I'm always happy to be around you." I expressed my thanks and told her that I admired her very much also and we hung up. Amazing how that brief conversation could lift my spirits! It also seemed like a very tangible answer to prayer--that Heavenly Father was answering my prayers through another. It works like that a lot.

A few minutes later, one of my visiting teachers showed up. I had met her for the first time on Sunday. I didn't know anything about her except her name. Her companion wasn't able to make it and our visit turned into a two hour talk-fest. We connected in so many ways. Finally, I feel like I may have met someone who can turn into a very good friend.

I am so grateful for the visiting teaching program. Heavenly Father knew I needed a friend. I am also grateful for an inspired Relief Society president, who just happens to be my sister-in-law, for being inspired in who I needed at this time in my life.

I don't know how I feel about that....

It's been Spirit Week at Emily's High School. They have had some fun dress up days. On Wednesday, the Senior's were invited to dress up as Senior Citizens--befitting their Senior status, for sure. The Freshman of course dressed up as babies with the Sophomores and Juniors dressed up somewhere else in the human life time line.

Emily decided to raid my closet for the perfect "Senior Citizen clothes."

I don't know HOW I feel about that!

She chose a cute floral skirt, a blue sweater, and a pair of my chunky high heels. She added a pair of knee highs (from her own dresser thank you very much) that she rolled down to her ankles, one of my pearl necklaces, and put her hair in a bun. She combed corn starch in her hair to turn it a lovely shade of gray.

But, the finishing touch was adding a pillow and a couple of shirts to her "backside." One of her school teachers, when seeing her said, "Oh my! You even got a rearend implant!"

Emily handed out old candy from her old lady purse and went around all day calling everyone "young whipper-snappers" and moaning and groaning of her aches and pains.

She had a lovely time.

But, I don't know how I feel about having my clothes turned into senior citizen attire. I may never be able to wear that outfit again.

A Tale of Two Bears

This last summer at Young Women's camp, we had a bear that visited our pavilion on a nightly basis. I never had the joy of actually seeing him, but I certainly saw instances where he existed. From the size of his paw prints, he probably was a two or three old bear--still somewhat small but still big enough where I didn't want to run into him.

That's one kind of bear. Today, I'm going to share with you another kind of bear--a bear of the female, human variety--sometimes affectionately known as "Mama Bear."

A couple of days before Heather and Dustin's wedding, Ron arranged for a piano moving company to come and move our piano. (Duh!) He made sure that he got a written bid saying how much this would cost. They showed up on time and then immediately began hauling out papers and asking me to sign different things before they moved the piano.

Now, before I go any further in this lovely story, let me tell you that these men made me feel uncomfortable. I asked Dustin to pop his head into the living room so they knew that there was a man folk on the premises.

OK, back to the story. I read the first document. It seemed pretty straightforward so I affixed my "John Hancock." Then they pulled out more papers in triplicate. "Sign here!" "Sign here!" Sign here!" As I began signing my name I noticed that they were planning on charging me for an extra man, for extra time, for extra gas. I didn't know what to do. I could see our piano moving expense doubling in no time.

I quietly called Ron at work and told him what was happening. He told me that he had a firm bid and that they didn't have any right to raise the price. I took the papers back from the supervisor and began scribbling out my name. He protested. He protested greatly. He told me he would be in serious trouble with the owner of the company if I crossed out my name. And then, "Mother Bear" took over.

"I just spoke to my husband. He told me he has a firm, written bid that we are paying this price. Now you are saying this is going to cost more! You will move the piano for the price quoted and I refuse to pay any more. Do you understand? Do you understand!?"

He was a little surprised that this sweet, loving, stay-at-home Mom could suddenly turn into a raving lunatic. Poor Heather and Dustin. I'm sure I embarrassed them.

"Do you see this girl over here? This is my daughter! She's getting married in TWO DAYS! I'm moving a week after that! You are NOT going to do this to my family! You are not going to suddenly raise the price. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand," he muttered.

"Now look me in the eye and give me your word that when you deliver this piano you won't suddenly come up with more "hidden fees." Do you give me your word?"

"I give you my word."

"I'm going to hold you to your word. And IF I find out you lied to me, I will not only report you to the Better Business Bearau, but I will also report you to the California Consumer Affairs Department! Do you understand?"

"I understand."

This company delivered the piano and Ron paid them the agreed on price. I'm sure I was not popular.

Now, fast forward two months before Mother Bear reappeared again in all her glory.

Two weeks ago, we were told that our rental was going to get a new roof. I had just gone through this in July on our Stockton house and truthfully, I was not looking forward to repeating the noisy process. But, the end results would be worth it and the roof on this house needed replacing very badly.

Three days into the roofing process, I came home from running an errand to find our garage door wide open. I knew I had not left it open. I also knew the garage door into the back door was locked. I wasn't sure how the roofers opened the door. I was not pleased because Ron has all his tools stored in the garage along with many household items we have not unpacked yet. I closed the door and called Ron at work. He told me to be a "mother bear" and let the roofers know that this was not acceptable.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was one of the roofers. He was wondering why the garage door was closed!

Gathering all my nerve I said, "Yes, I saw that the garage door was up when I came home. I am not happy! You have broken and entered into our garage! I have a lot of things in the garage and they could have been stolen."

"They weren't going to be stolen! We were on the roof the whole time! And besides, you weren't home and when the power to the outside outlet tripped, we had to get power from somewhere."

"How do you know no one would sneak into my garage? You were on the roof! Did you see me come back home?"

"Uhhhh."

"And why didn't you call my husband on his cell phone and tell him about the problem?"

"We didn't have his cell phone number."

"Someone in your company does--he's received at least three phone calls from your company. You should have called them to get the number!"

"We're sorry."

"How did you get into the garage? The back door is locked."

"We climbed in through the roof."

Oh. Of course. I should have thought of that.

I hate being a "mother bear." It's outside my comfort zone. But sometimes, a female human needs to do what she needs to do.

P.S. After nearly two weeks, the roofers told me they are finished.

Too Much Birthday!

About 30 minutes after the best surprise of my life, Ron came home from work. Since our young adult children were STARVING we took them to Subway where they partook from the sandwichy goodness. It was so much fun talking and catching up and getting to know Dustin. You know, I really like this guy. Good job, Heather!

Saturday morning, Christie climbed into bed with me like old times sake. We talked for quite some time and then Ron brought us both breakfast in bed--whole wheat waffles, bacon (OK, Christie did not have bacon but she COULD have), fresh strawberries and orange juice. What a treat! Ron, Jennifer, and Jacob then came in and standing in a row at the foot of the bed clasped their hands in front of them and began singing a breath-taking arrangement of "Happy Birthday." Truly indescribable. You would have to be there.

After breakfast, Gary and Vicki graciously allowed us to come over and ride their quads. Gary made a one mile track throughout his property by getting up at 6:00 am. I was touched by his sacrifice. It was the first time I had ever driven an ATV and truthfully, between you and me, I'm not very good at it. But, it was still very fun.



We then cleaned up, put on church clothes and went to the Sacramento Temple to do baptisms. My sister, Carol and her husband Dan and daughter Lauren joined us. When Ron had asked me a few weeks earlier what I wanted for my birthday, I told him I would like to go to the temple. Our ward's youth were planning on going and I couldn't imagine a better place to be with my little family. Ron knew the others were coming and called the temple to set up a family baptismal session. He then called a few good people in our stake to see if they had family names to use. He invited Dan and Carol to come, too. Can I just say again how awesome he is? The amazing thing is I had NO idea any of this was happening. We have many people who can keep a very good secret.

I absolutely loved being in the temple with my family. Ron was the recorder and Carol and I were "towel women." Dan, Jacob, and Dustin took turns baptizing different people. It was very sweet to see them exercise their priesthood. I don't think I will ever forget the tender look Jacob gave Jennifer before he began baptizing her for others.

We all went to Chile's for a late lunch. The food was great and it was fun laughing and talking. Carol interrogated Dustin during lunch. "How do you feel about changing dirty diapers?" "When your five of your six kids are acting up in Sacrament Meeting, who is going to take them out?" Dustin answered every question with flying colors. Did I mention how much I like this guy? Good job, Heather!


The rest of the day was filled with walks on the levee, Chinese food, Marie Callendar's Chocolate Satin Pie (my favorite!) and more talking. We got to bed very late. It truly was the best birthday I can remember. I think they should come and surprise me on my 100th birthday. By then I probably won't remember my 50th and it will be another great surprise!