The Princess and her Fairy Godmotherby Angie
3 Aug 2008
11:08 am1
… continued from Part I: “The Prince & The Captain.”
The Princess was in distress. What on earth could she do when the Prince, her fine husband, was so downhearted? She knew that his courage and integrity would make him perfectly suited to his new responsibility, but she couldn’t imagine being cheerful while he was so sad. She helped the royal cook prepare very special meals and asked the court musicians to play his favorite tunes, but all to no avail.
Finally, she had a wonderful idea: She would call her Fairy Godmother! The spry and thoughtful magical lady always had good advice and perfect remedies for the Princess’s troubles. The lovely Fairy appeared almost instantly to the summons in a shower of silver snowflakes (which, luckily, did not melt into a puddle on the carpet but instead shrank to tiny silver sparkles and then disappeared).
“What can I do for you, my dear Princess?” asked the beautiful Fairy.
“Well, you see… it’s my husband, the Prince. He’s unhappy. I mean, he’s had a… disappointment.” and the Princess explained the whole story to the attentive Fairy. When she finished with, “…so I hoped that you could, perhaps, do something for him…?” the gray curls bobbed around the Fairy’s face as she sadly shook her head.
“My dear child, there is nothing that I can do for him. It is not within my power to change how someone feels and thinks.”
“Then tell me what I should do!” urged the Princess. “I am prepared for any quest that would secure his happiness: send me over the golden hills to the North or beyond the great sea to the West or past my father’s kingdom in the mountains to the East or into the desert wasteland to the South! I will tread any path to bring back any treasure that will aid my beloved Prince.”
The Fairy Godmother knew that the Princess was in desperate earnest, but she gently shook her head again, this time with a soft smile on her lips. “There are no treasures in the wide world that will grant your desire. Your Prince has great treasures within himself which will bring about the change you seek in time. But, there is some advice I can offer before I go. When you were born, you were also given treasures by me and my sisters. Do you remember?”
“I remember learning of them as I grew up.” the Princess replied, curious as to how her fairy gifts might help her Prince.
“Do you remember what gift you received from my second-youngest sister?” The Fairy raised one eyebrow and her smile broadened as she added, “it is a gift which must be exercised and practiced to stay useful. If you find it and dust off the cobwebs, I believe it will stand you in good stead now.” The air shimmered and the Fairy Godmother vanished, leaving the Princess with her thoughts. She sighed, and then managed to smile.
“Alright, then. I’ll be patient.”
…to be continued (one more time)…
The Prince and the Captainby Angie
30 Jul 2008
9:07 am6
Once upon a time, in a kingdom by the sea, there lived a handsome Prince. This Prince was married to a beautiful Princess and they lived in a lovely little castle surrounded by gardens and fountains, where all was peaceful and pleasant.
One day, the Captain of the royal army visited the Prince and asked if he would be willing to take some time to work with a group of young men that the Captain was very interested in. Though a little wild and unruly, they were all honorable and of noble families, and the Captain was confident that they could be trained as fine knights if they had a good friend and example like the Prince to help them. Willingly, the Prince agreed to do all he could for the young men.
The Prince began to meet regularly with the noble boys. Sometimes it was to teach and train them, and sometimes it was to lead them in great adventures and quests. As their friendship grew, the young men learned to admire and appreciate their Prince and wanted to emulate him and win his approval. The weeks grew into months, and the Prince felt gratified to see what fine young gentlemen his boys were becoming.
When the months had almost become a year, something unexpected happened: The Prince received another visit from the Captain of the royal army. He looked very serious and began,
“My Prince, I’m afraid there is trouble at our borders. We are not yet in a state of war, but I feel it necessary to begin preventative action to protect our kingdom from future attack. I need someone to act as our negotiator and strategist in these endeavors. I have considered every one of my officers and generals, but I have come to the conclusion that you are the best man I could choose.”
The Prince was surprised, and said, “I feel I am hardly qualified for such military responsibilities…”
“You have integrity and intelligence; that will be more important than military training in this situation. You are also trusted and loved by the people of your kingdom, and that is vital in these dangerous times.”
“Thank you. I do feel trusted and loved, especially by the young men I have spent so much time with of late.”
“Yes, that is another thing,” the Captain responded. “These responsibilities, added to the work your birth and position have placed upon you, will leave you no more time for lessons and adventures with your young knights-in-training. I will see that they are taken in hand by another nobleman as soon as possible.”
A year seemed to pass in a second as the Prince, dismayed, stared searchingly into the face of his royal Captain. The command left a sharp pain where his love for the boys had grown. He felt he must have failed them, to be so suddenly and easily replaced. The Prince knew his Captain well, and had always trusted his judgement, and always before found it easy to sustain the wise decisions of the brave veteran. It never entered the Prince’s mind to refuse, yet it was still very difficult to agree.
But He did.
To be continued…
A Sigh of Reliefby Angie
28 Jul 2008
3:07 pm1
I drove out to Pleasanton today to see Dr. Dang, a general surgeon my PCP referred me to. He looked at my ultrasound films, chatted with me a bit, poked around, and gave me his diagnosis:
The good news is, I don’t have a hernia. The bad news is, I have… two of them. However – the real good news is that they are both very small don’t urgently need to be fixed. He told me what to keep an eye out for, and I’ll check back with him if things get worse; but in the meantime, I can relax. Hooray!
Try-Me-Night: Red Hot Tomato Pepper Soupby Angie
22 Jul 2008
12:07 pm0
I’m rather proud of this recipe, because I made it up 🙂 Almost all of the ingredients can be found at our Costco, so we also affectionately call it “Costco soup.” It has become a favorite of ours – certainly more interesting than plain old tomato soup. It’s easy, so it’s a great meal to throw together on a chilly evening, or after a long day. It is also very spicy, so if you want to turn down the heat, just add one sausage instead of two, or cool your bowl down with a dallop of sour cream.
The red pepper & tomato soup I get from Costco isn’t always consistent in its… well, consistency. I think that’s because it’s organic. Anyway, if I happen to get a thicker batch, I thin it out with a little milk or chicken broth. Jim likes to stir in some goldfish crackers, and warm bread is tasty alongside, too. Hope you like it as much as we do!
I’m ok, really!by Angie
21 Jul 2008
11:07 am1
Apparently a conversation at ward choir, coupled with some misguided comments of my own, have led people to believe that something is seriously wrong with me and I’m having another surgery. Let me clear the matter up:
Since my laparotomy in May, my recovery has been fairly normal except that there seemed to be some swelling that never quite went away. When I discovered a couple of weeks ago that I could feel an actual lump in my abdomen, I was afraid that there was another cyst that they had missed and made an appointment with my PCP. In the mean-time, my cardiologist wanted to run some tests to make sure the swelling wasn’t heart-related (which would have been a very, very bad thing): those results came back today all normal, so it’s probably not that, thank goodness.
My PCP ordered an ultrasound and I went to see her on Friday about the results. She thinks it is likely that I may have a ventral/incisional hernia and has referred me to a doctor out in Pleasanton to see if that can be confirmed. If that’s the problem, it might possibly require surgery at some future point, but we really have no idea yet. It’s all very exasperating, but for the moment I am really ok. I’m so grateful for my very attentive home teachers, bishop, and others in our ward who responded so quickly and fervently with offers of help and support. We certainly have a lot of wonderful friends.
Hoffman Family Reunionby Angie
13 Jul 2008
12:07 pm0
We had a wonderful time at the reunion this weekend! It was for all descendants of Verne Hoffman, Sr. – grandfather of my father-in-law, Roger. It was held on Saturday at the Heritage Oak Winery, a vineyard owned and operated by Roger’s cousin, Tom Hoffman, and Tom’s wife, Carmela (we all call her Camucha). I was given the job of running the sign-in desk, where we collected contact information for everyone and let each person make their name tag. We had a great time figuring out each person’s “code number,” which we also put on the name tags, indicating their relationship all the way back to Verne Sr. My code was 1.3.5+, which means I’m Verne’s first child (Verne Jr.)’s third child (Roger)’s fifth child (Jim)’s spouse. Jim’s, of course, was 1.3.5 – all rather complicated, but very entertaining.
We ate lunch and various family members gave announcements, performed musical numbers, and told stories. After mingling and chatting some more, several of us changed into swim suits and headed down to the Mokelumne River, which runs along the boarder of Tom & Camucha’s land. We had innertubes and kayaks and took turns floating down the river beginning at the launching point and arriving at the beach area 30-40 minutes later. Huge blackberry bushes grow along the river in a couple of places, so we paddled over to eat ripe, delicious berries right off the bush several times. 
It was incredibly relaxing and fun. I absolutely loved it. At the beach area, there was a picnic table, where we set up snacks and leftovers for dinner, and then across the dirt road was a meadow where a wiffle ball game was held. We stayed until twilight finally forced us to pack up and head home.
Hoffman Family Mini-Reunionby Angie
12 Jul 2008
1:07 pm0
Since we were all getting together this weekend for the big family reunion, the Roger & Kathy family decided to meet up and have a BBQ on Friday evening. Tom & Pam Dozier were kind enough to open up their home and pool for our family’s use. 
They are good friends of the Hoffmans, from back when they all lived in Texas: Now that the Doziers are in Livermore, we get to see them all the time! Tom grilled up some delicious steaks and hot dogs, and we all swam and ate and played for hours.
Since Jason’s birthday is Sunday, we wanted to be sure to celebrate that, too, so we all had prepared movie scenes for a game that consisted of Jason guessing what movie we were portraying, despite the fact that we changed situational elements to make the lines harder to place. He won lots of candy that ended up being shared all around. Jon’s girlfriend, Michelle Piazza, came for part of the evening and met everyone; and even Kathy’s mom, Vera, flew out for a special visit, since she didn’t want to miss a gathering of so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren!