Re-Introduction

My favorite picture of me.

I'm Rozylass, can you guess of Scottish descent?  My grandpa Joe left Dundee, Scotland to go to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1922.  My other grandpa left Norway for Salt Lake City in 1908.  My grandmothers were already there!  I love all things Scottish.  I hope someday to visit Norway and discover that side of my heritage.

I was born and raised in San Diego, California.  I've traveled to or through 45 states of the contiguous 48, as well as most of Canada (we drove from Montreal in the east to Vancouver in the west), Tijuana, Mexico, England, Scotland and Iceland (an adventure in itself!).  I've lived in California, Utah, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, Virginia and currently reside in Iowa, where my husband is from.

Topdad is a retired Marine, we have one daughter and four sons.  We homeschooled them for a total of 14 years ( I wish it could have been longer).  Noble, the oldest is in the Air Force; Elder PW is serving as a missionary in Argentina, with two months to go;  JET is a freshman in college, Dr. Hair/Doc Brown is a freshman in high school; and Dandylion is in 8th grade.

I began this blog with the help of my daughter, Noble, to motivate me to lose weight by making my journey public.  It quickly evolved to be a forum for posting whatever I felt like. 

I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ!  He is my Savior, friend and guide.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I love being a homemaker; it's what I wanted to become while growing up.  I'm fairly old-fashioned in many ways: I use hankies, I love to iron, I make many foods from scratch, etc. But I truly love and am grateful for modern conveniences like refrigerators and washing machines, running water and electricity.

I'm a student of history and love to read biographies and memoirs of pilgrims and pioneers.  I have dreams of making historic clothing (but NOT in size 20).  I know how to sew, quilt, knit, crochet, cross-stitch and embroider, but I don't do all of them equally well.  I love to read; I enjoy writing and have participated in National Novel Writing Month twice with the result that I have two unfinished novels.  I did have one short story published in The Friend magazine in 1995.  My husband likes to introduce me as an internationally published author because that little story was subsequently translated and published in the Liahona magazine in 22 or 23 languages.  I had the grand experience of speaking at the 2005 BYU Women's Conference.  That was one of the best experience of my life! (Outside of motherhood)

Thanks for visiting, I hope you find something of interest.  Blessings to you in your endeavors.

Name Change - It's who I am, really!

When my daughter, Noble, helped me start this blog, sort of on the spur of the moment, I couldn't think of a catchy title so went with "The Happy Homemaker."  Then the other day I was musing on what I want to accomplish with this blog and decided that I would go back to my roots, so to speak. 

I married a US Marine almost twenty-three years ago.  When we met he was the senior instructor at a formal school at Camp Pendleton.  Occastionally I'd visit him at the school and he'd introduce everybody to me as Sgt. Smith, LCpl. Jones, Pfc. Hamilton, and so forth.  I was just plain Rozy.  I felt rather naked without a title so I decided to be Pfc. Wilson.  In my case the Pfc (Private First Class) stood for Pretty, friendly, civilian.  I thought it was fairly appropriate.  Anyway, the appellation stuck and after we married and had children I became Pfc Mom.  My husband is known as TopDad, Top being the nickname for a Master Sergeant in the Corps.

So there you have it.  Pfc Mom!  We can even change what the pfc stands for--practical, frugal, clean; or persistent, fanatic, clever; of course there are days when I'm petulant for candy; but who's counting.  If you have something fun to share, please do so.  I'd love to hear it!

One last thing:  The name Rozy Lass is because I'm one fourth Scottish genetically, much more than that in reality.  Seriously, I'm redheaded, I love bagpipe music, tartan (plaid) and shortbread.  I've been to Scotland once and am promised another trip by my husband, who also loves Scotland, having served for two years there in the Marines.