I am so Mad

I can't believe it.

Okay, I can believe it but it bothers me so much.

So much so, that I wanted to report them.

I wanted to open my window and yell at them.

I am mad. I am upset. I can't believe they are that ignorant.

That they are that stupid.

I was driving on the Belt Parkway.

I saw kids bouncing around the back seat. And something else.

I was in the lane next to them.

I drove up to check it out.

To see if my eyes were lying to me.

They were not.

There was a toddler on the wife's lap in the front seat.

There were three kids in the back seat bouncing around.

The father was wearing a seat belt.

The kids were not.

I guess they never heard of car seats. Of booster seats.

Of the NY State law of wearing seat belts.

Of the law that kids MUST be in booster seats and car seats.

and. Sigh. Yes. They. Were. frum.

I did It

I can't believe I did it and I liked it.

I borrowed my friends Harry Potter Books and read the FIRST book over Shabbos.

I remember when it came out I had no interest in reading it. I didn't watch the movie when we borrowed it from someone. I just had no interest.

Then on Friday, about half hour before Shabbos, when I was dropping something off at a friends house I decided to take her up on her offer and borrow a book or two. I took the first two books. I finished the first one. Now I have to find the time to read the second book. Lucky me, she has all the books. By the time she finishes the latest, I will still not be up to it. I guess it is best this way, no waiting to see what happens, just read the next book and then the next...

Now I have to borrow the DVD again so I can now see the movie. Glad I read the book first. The movies are never as good as the books.

A Sad Moment

I just read this blog via renreb's site. It brought tears to my eays and brought back memories of grade school.

In seventh grade, one girl was called out of class and two minutes later we were told the news. A classmates sister was niftar. The girl that was called out was her best friend and they wanted her to be with her.

The next day was the levaya, and they drove by the school so we can be apart of it. The little girl was six years old and a student in the school as well. It was a hard time for us.

This was the first time we experienced a death so close to us. A classmates little sister. What can be more horrifying. Time for us to grow up. Face what is really out there. To understand that there is life and then there is death.

Unfortunately for the class, we experienced another death a mere three months later. What a hardship on the teachers explaining all over again to preteens the cycle of life. To the two girls who had lost a sister and a parent the same year the bond that they shared, that they wish they didn't share. The memories of each one close to them, they still hold onto.

I am not sure if the girls remember that year. I am sure there are two girls who remember that year well, but not so sure about the rest of them. It did leave an impression with me. It was hard to digest the news. But the sun still shines daily and we hope for a new day.

Happy Birthday...

Tomorrow is 7-11. Don't forget to head over to your local 7-11 store and pick up a free small slurpee. They usually have that on their birthday.

You betya I will be there. With my kids.

So nice when it's a birthday and the birthday person gives you free things instead :-)

Happy Birthday Seven-Eleven.

Gymnastics and My Weekly Update

My daughter started gymnastics today.

She can’t wait until next week. She wishes it was more than just once a week.

I am so very happy for her. She likes it a lot. She is cautious yet is having fun trying different things. Balancing beam. Hoola hoops. Tumble sauces. Jumping then tumbling over. It is good for her.

I wonder how long she will be able to go. It is in a co-ed setting. But her small class of five, is just girls. The classes are separated. But the gym room is not. There are older boys but they are busy with their own gymnastic class. There is little time to mingle and I am not concerned with mingling.

I am more concerned with tznius. My friend asked her Rav. He said she has till she is seven years old. After all, they are in a gymnastic suit, but I got her the ones that are like shorts, so it covers more than just a bathing suit. I am not that careful with tznius at such a young age. Remember she does go on the trapeze at home and flips over making her skirt go completely up and uncover anything. I stress tznius, but in a nice reminding way as opposed to yelling at her and making her feel bad and hating it.

My son tried it today. Let’s put it this way, the money from his class is going in escrow for my daughters fall class. Luckily I didn’t decide to register him for the fall. Luckily the only fall class available was Friday at 2PM impossible to meet when he gets out of school at 1:50.

My daughter’s day camp is starting a reading program. Based on the grade she is going into, they are promoting a reading contest. They sent home letters spelling Reading is Fun and on each letter we sign that she read her allotted pages and the Title of the book. Yesterday she read three pages, but I sent in one letter. Today she read four pages and finished the book (only four page book) so I am sending her in with two letters. Also Barnes and Nobles has this Reading program as well. Going into First through Sixth Grade this coming year. Read Eight books, write the title and a sentence of your favorite part and bring it back to the store. Get a free book. So far she read two books. Six more to go.

I do not recall having summer homework as a child. My daughter was sent him with an English stack of summer homework. Reading, writing and math. Reading words, writing words and numbers. She also has a contest to do 15 minutes of kriah a day color in a balloon. When she is done, mail it back to her teacher for a prize. After a full day of day camp, who has time to do that? Luckily she is young enough to actually want to do this. She is doing great. It is me, after a long day of work lose patience.

My great-uncle is in and out of the hospital. Boruch Elazer ben Riva should have a refuah shelamah. Bli Ayin Hara he celebrated his 90th birthday in March. He has plenty of more years ahead. Have him in your tefilos.

I guess this is my weekly update.

My nephews from both sides who are in NY, NJ area are going to the Meadowlands to the State Fair. I think it is nice that the Jewish camps rent/reserve such fun attractions for the campers, and do NOT charge more money to take them there. My kids went bowling and roller-blading today. I don’t know if the girls camp do such creative things or if it is even possible to do it. I know in August, the boys camp are renting a water park for all males to go join. I am assuming that the girls camp can’t do that because the girls still have an issue with tznius with male employees there. But still, there must be fun activities that they do that they can get together with other camps. I actually take that back, because last year they rented out a water park for two days. One for the boys and one for the girls. So many ladies joined them that day. It was open for all Jewish females who bought advanced tickets. And surprisingly enough, tickets were not overpriced.

Had a discussion with a friend regarding maser money. How does one NOT take out ten percent of their paycheck? How can one complain that it will hurt their pocket? After all this money is not really yours to begin with. Yes, yes, I know, you can deduct child care expenses pre-maaser money. It is almost like figuring what you can buy pre-tax money. Are we that anal that we don’t want to give a penny more to maser than the ten percent that maser is entitled to? Do we really think that we will hurt if we give that money to maser? Don’t we know that in the long run it will hurt us more so if we do not give the money, because it is not really ours to keep? Or is it? I mean what is so hard with giving up ten percent of your income to those who do not have anything? Even the American government offers us incentives to give charity. The more you give the more of a tax break you get. If they are offering this to us, imagine being Jews what God will offer us!

My babysitter just called. She is not feeling so well now. She has pain. She can’t come in the morning. She will come when the kids get out of camp. She will pick them up and the baby, and stay till I come home. This is after I left work early every day for her. And mind you, she will want to get paid for not coming in on July fourth. Times like this is when I want to stop working.

Have a good week my dear readers. It seems I don’t update often enough. I guess that since this blog is long enough, I can count it as a weekly blog or update. Please, leave your comments.

I Just Do Not Get It

I have a bone to pick with tznius.
I have a bone to pick with the way we women dress.
I have complaints.
Me, yes, me, I have issues and I want you all to hear it.

The latest fashion craze here is driving me nuts. The layering of clothing. Yes, I know it is hot. I know how hot it is and how uncomfortable it is to wear long sleeves. To cover up. It is hot outside. We are hot. But come on now.

I know we can’t wear a v-neck without anything underneath. I accepted the look. Actually at times, I wear the same thing. A nice long sleeve v-neck sweater or shirt and underneath is a white t-shirt. I don’t mind and it can actually be nice looking. The newer look gets to me. The newer look seems odd and just ugly. Not pretty. Not cool looking. Just plain confused and opting to follow the goyim on this matter.

The new look as I call it is as follows: a long sleeve t-shirt UNDER a short-sleeved-cropped t-shirt. I don’t get the look. I don’t get the fashion style behind it. I don’t get the need to wear this. It is like taking a short-sleeve-scoop neck shirt and wearing it over a long-sleeved shirt. Whatever for? Do you really desire to wear such a shirt? Such a shirt that shows everything off and will make you cool, only to add another layer which by the way defeats the point of such a shirt to begin with.

Do the people who wear such ensemble actually look in the mirror and see themselves as cool looking people? Do they think they are in style? That it is fashionable to look like a slut that is confused? I am talking about really low boat neck t-shirts. Really short sleeves and really tasteless shirts.

I must be old. I don’t understand. I must be living under a rock and not see the outside world that this is indeed fashionable. It must be me. It is the latest here and I have seen it too often on people older then myself. It looks cheap. It looks confused. It looks retarded.

Thank you.
I just needed to vent.
Now carry on.