Ifuncused Decided to Hock!!!

Help

2008-10-12T23:32:00.002-04:00

So I promised my family some food. I just realized that my kugel calls for Non dairy creamer, and I don't have any..and the stores are closed at this hour. Go figure. I was hoping to make the food tonight and not deal with it tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is a busy day for me. I plan to finish packing for only two days of yom tov and one day chol hamoed. The two older kids packed for themselves, yes! So that leaves me and the little guy to pack.

Go to my sister in law and visit with my inlaws. They came to help her out because she is due very soon.

I guess bake a kugel in the am that I was supposed to make tonight (still have time if dh comes home with the non dairy creamer.)

Load up the car.

Return books to Library.

Give out old and current gifts, Bar Mitzvah, baby gifts.

Make sure pack up ALL the things we need including lulav and esrog and food and the kids succah decorations.

Go to Brooklyn.

Drop suitcase off at my mom and see if she needs help.

Go to my brother in Flatbush and hand out two current birthday gifts, one old bday gift and one for the kid who does not have a birthday now but her siblings do and they are all getting a gift.

Go to a cousin at some point and drop off a belated Bar Mitzvah gift.

Go to JFK and pick up my sister.

Oh, and I forgot to buy food for the last days of Yom Tov which we will be home for (not shabbos since we don't have a succah and we are eating out.)

Not sure if I will get all this done before 6pm tomorrow, but I sure hope so. I guess I can always opt to go shopping for food on Thursday....and drop off gifts in Brooklyn motzei yomtov and drop off gifts here on Friday or something.

Good Yom Tov to all

SALE

2008-08-14T21:29:00.002-04:00

Just in case anyone reads this:

Staples:
looseleaf paper 9 cents a package of 150. Two varieties offered. Wide and college ruled.
package of 100 index cards: 33 cents (good luck finding them in store)
package of 5 lead pencils, 25 cents (goodluck again)
Crayola Markers non washables 79 cents
Elmers Glue- free. limit two

That was it I needed.

Next week they have
Plastic rulers and pencils: Free
and I forget what else... Will find out on Monday when I go.

too bad they didn't have their sharpeners on sale, like last year... a penny each.

Still waiting for some rebate checks to come in the mail.

Cell Phone

2008-08-12T11:53:00.002-04:00

So I updated my phone. Finally. I got internet on it, with a qwerty keyboard. Not sure if I love it. Not sure if I will keep it. Or maybe I will exchange it for the new cool iphone! I do have texting on it as well..and we will see how that goes.

The next question is do I really need internet on my phone!?! I do love the fact that I get my email every so often where ever I am, so I am not so tied to my computer at home, but is the cost really worth it? Too bad my work won't pay for it. I am overhead, so why pay?

I think I might return the phone and keep my current plan with the additional texting for now. I think after my husband gets his new phone, yes, the iphone, I will decide if I want to splurge and get one for me. The actual cost for the phone does not bother me as much as the yearly cost of the internet. What can I cut out so that it will be worth it??

So if any you readers out there want to get the iphone or any other service with AT&T let me know first! (assuming you are not an AT&T customer (or cingular) First.

Monday Means Half the Summer is Over

2008-07-27T20:08:00.002-04:00

My daughter is coming home tomorrow. First half is over. One month away from home. I am sure I am going to get a different girl when I see her tomorrow. I can't believe my little big girl was in camp for a whole month. I barely heard from her. The last call was Friday before Visiting day and that was two weeks ago. I am sure that means she had a great time. Others told me when they heard from their daughter, their daughter wanted to come home asap. I think she would love to stay for second half, but that will not happen now.

I still can't believe half the summer is over. That means school starts in a month. I guess that makes sense, since I have been shopping for school supplies already. I love getting a deal!

Speaking of deals. I saw a few weeks ago, in Gap Outlet a denim skirt that would be great for my daughter. I bought one for her. I told my sister in law(s). I bought one when I was there then. I splurged and spent $25 for it. A week later my local sister in law was there and bought for my other sister in law(on my side, not hers). I always felt bad, because I had a 15% coupon but left it at home. I was planning on going and never made it. A week later I get a call telling me that the skirt(s) I bought for $25 are now 30% off. I quickly went back this past week with a friend. I returned the one I bought and the ones my s.i.l bought for my other s.i.l and rebought them... 30% off PLUS my 15% coupon. So these $25 skirts in the end was UNDER $15. I love a bargain and this was it. Gap does not seem to have The Children's Place sales or coupons so this was a great bargain.

When I got to that mall, I was disappointed to see that TCP Outlet was closed again. It seems they are renovating it. It is a shame, because I only go there for the stores and I rarely buy anything at Gap. But all is well, I don't think I need anything till school starts. I think I am set for now. I love TCP prices on sale with a 20% coupon!

Hope your summer is going well and nothing major going on.
Have a great one.

what a small world

2008-07-11T16:51:00.000-04:00

I called a friend for little guy. He is smitten by this younger boy in his bunk and really wants him over. I spoke to the mother and she said they are not home this week. Then continues .. "my husband knows you from college." I knew the last name and was trying to think... then I asked for his first name and I was like "of course!!!" Now we really need to have them for a meal. If I am not mistaken, he was at my wedding. What a very very very small world.

Camp

2008-06-25T12:36:00.002-04:00

Summer is here.
My 4 year old. Yes, I have a four year old. Today is his birthday. Today he starts daycamp. While he is in camp...my 6 year old boy still has yeshiva. I don't know why the boys have an extra week of 9-12 hebrew, but since I am not home, I cannot complain about it. I actually like it a lot!!
This mornings carpool showed up late and I was mad! I had to drop off two other kids and make the 9am train. I know school starts at 9, but some of us need to catch trains to work vs driving. I felt bad his kids were acting up this morning. Just glad tomorrow is the last of this.

After he left, I quickly dropped my daughter off at her friends house and then sped over to daycamp. I couldn't find the councelor, but quickly took my son inside. I am glad he didn't get shy or act up, or cry! He went happily to camp. Good for him. I then sped back to the train station. I parked my car at 8:59. The train comes at 9:01.

I walked the block to the train and when I got close to the other side of the train, it showed up. I ran as fast as I could, and then took the stairs down and then up. Good thing there was a line of people waiting to get on, or I would have missed the train by seconds!! Not a good way to start the morning. The a/c on the train was not working so well and after running like that, it was an uncomfortable ride to say the least. Glad at work it is cooler than I thought.

My daughter leaves to camp on July 1. I am so excited for her. I am not packed yet and still don't know what I am missing. I hope to get this all done in the next night or two and have Sunday to do last minute shopping. Glad I live in Passaic so the luggage goes with me in the car. Unfortunately my husband won't be around to help shlep the luggage. Uh oh. he takes the car on Tuesday. Guess he better realize that he is NOT going to take the car!

Well, that is about it. Been a long time since I updated but will try to do so more often.

Interesting

2008-03-26T13:57:00.001-04:00

I was trying to remember something and I knew I blogged about it, so I decided to research on my blog.
I found it!
I also got to read about a lot of things that happened a few years back. Some I remember and some I don't. Interesting to see how things change and how they have not.

Thought I would share that with you....if you are still out there.

abc.com

2007-12-15T20:53:00.000-05:00

I watch my TV online. Go figure. While searching abc.com for tv shows (not that I want to get hooked another tv show) I see My So Called Life as a show you can watch online. Now I remember watching this waaay back when...wow. Full circle.

Are they that scared that they are running out of TV shows due to the strike, that they need to bring back ten + years ago tv shows to show? I wonder if this is now playing on ABC as well and not just online. Don't get me wrong, I like Claire Danes. But to show this show online...what is the point??

I don't think I have time to sit and watch this again! I did watch it the first time around many years ago, why repeat?

Need to run and entertain the 8-year olds sleepover.

Facebook

2007-07-29T20:14:00.001-04:00

So I discovered facebook.
Believe it or not, I use my real name there.

I found some cousins and some old friends. It is not bad.

I don't like that when they email you that you have a new message or that someone "wrote on your wall" you cannot see what was written, you have to sign in to see it. I wish they made it a bit easier for those who do not keep facebook open 24-7, but still would like to see the latest "news".

I do like that I can upload my address book and they will automatically pull anyone who is in your address book and match with a facebook junkie and ask if you want to add as a friend. That way you don't have to go through your address book yourself. Just need to keep your address book updated and hope your friends use the same email address that you have.

I also like that I can look at my friends friends and see if I know anyone there. It is like six degrees. Let's see how many people we have in common.

It is stalking like because you can learn a lot about a person without them realizing you are there. I guess they realize you are there but can forget. If things are posted "on the wall".

It aint bad. Go ahead and try. It is not for college kids anymore.

mazel tov!!

2007-07-19T22:45:00.000-04:00

I got a great phone call tonight.

A girl I went to camp with many years ago, for many years got engaged tonight!!

I am so very happy for her.

Swim A Thon

2007-07-02T21:14:00.000-04:00

Okay you lucky readers. My daughter is all excited about her swim-a-thon that she has coming up.it is for Chai Lifeline!You an either pledege per "lap" she "swims/walks" oryou can pledge a flat fee!

Last year she did a LOT of laps in walking. This year the pool is different and it is much higher and she has a harder for her to swim or walk. The shallow water is even high for her. (okay she is petite after all!!)So please, be generous with your maser money, we are taking pledges... no denominations to small for us.

She would love it! She is sooo into this. She actually went to the neighbors!! I am very impressed with that. At first she didn't want to. But I told her in order to get a lot of pledges she MUST do the work herself!!

She called my sister.

She went to FOUR neighbors and they ALL pledged and already gave her a check.I cheated.

I emailed a friend from HS and she already pledged a flat fee. My daughter will be escatic to hear!!

email me for details.
oh and If I do not speak with you,Have a good and meaningful fast tomorrow. It is LOOOOONG one!!

2007-06-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

I have a cleaning lady today. I am so excited. I have not had one in months and the house needs it. Especially now that I increased my hours back to leaving work at 5pm. I told her if she is good, fast, honest, etc..I have friends who are looking and I can tell them about her. She went on to say she has a green card and she doesn't steal, and in one house the lady was home almost the whole time so how could she even steal?? and she didn't grow up that way!It was nice to hear that and so far she seems to be doing a good job!! (actually anything is better than what it was!)

I need to buy a laundry marker as my son is losing things in camp. They go swimming at a university nearby and kept losing things. first day" undershirt, second day" tshirt, they had to give him a camp shirt. third day tzitsis. Will see what today brings.

Spoke to the JC kid...need to speak to the Rebbi who is actually a married man who is older (older than me!) but it is good for him. He seems to be having a great time in camp. If only he stops losing things!!

My little guy loves camp Funshine. He just doesn't play with the girlies. Who taught boys at such a young age NOT to play with girls? It sure wasn't me!! Although next year he will be in an ALL BOYS playgroup. It just happened that way. The Morah got more calls for boys so she told the ONE girl's mother to find another place since she simply wasn't getting any calls for girls. I hope it turns out okay...because Kindergarten here is mixed.

I bought my nephews and neice camp stationary the other day and now just need to mail it to them. It is the one that you just fill in the blanks. I hope that way they will actually send us some letters!

I hope to visit Camp this summer, but my son is now going to join Yiddle League and that is a commitment for every Sunday at 5. So there goes my plan to have my husband come with us to the mountains. He is also a coach! Hope to work something out.

Oh, before I forget. I joined facebook. If only someone can tell me what it is?! I feel so old!! I did befriend some old hockers which is cute, but I am still trying to figure out the purpose of it. I know it started for only college kids...oh well. Something new to join as well.

Have a great Shabbos to y'all

FiOS

2007-06-25T15:23:00.000-04:00

I got Verizon Fios two weeks ago. I hate it.
Yes it is much faster, BUT I now get pop-ups that I have never gotten in the past five years of Optimum!!
Will someone please help me?
I called Verizon and they say it is not them and it is coincidental. I don't believe them.

Today

2007-06-17T21:16:00.000-04:00

Today was a hectic one.

We cut our youngest son's hair today. We waited for three years...and then in a blink of an eye...our little boy is a big boy. Our baby. No more getting away with things because you had the cute curls and looked like a little kid. NO more being mistaken for a cute girl. No more calling him my baby... but he is still my baby!!

My friend came over this morning to cut his hair. We were not going to torture the kid by having everyone take a snip. I took a snip and my husband took a snip...and then she cut his hair and used the noisy shaiver. He was great during the whole thing. What a difference it makes!!!

Then we went to the Yeshiva and went to Pre1A (the grade before First for those who don't live in the NY metro area). They have school on Sunday here, and it is only boys. We chose my sons class, since it made sense to let my five year old enjoy seeing his little brother. Mind you when my 5 year old left for school this morning he said goodbye to his little brother who had long hair. When we showed up later, he has short hair.

The Rebbi was great. He had patience and much much better than the one we went to when my 5 year old was three. He didn't force the aleph bais lickin' honey on to my son this time, but did something different. Had him lick the lolipop after repeating each aleph beis letter after the Rebbi said the letter. He didn't expect my son to know it. He included his student (my son) as well. It was super and everyone enjoyed.

Then we came home and had a party later on, in the backyard. Yes it was hot but not too hot and the kids enjoyed the kiddie pools and the water slip and slide. Everyone had a great time. I had tons of food. My little guy was shy to the attention he was getting and wasn't interested in it. He did his own thing, but took note when his friends from playgroup showed or didn't show.

Finally...time to digest this and remember that he has his haircut and will wear a yarmulka and tzitsis from now on. Kids. They get bigger in a blink of an eye.

Funny?

2007-05-31T22:43:00.000-04:00

Funny thing happened to me on my way home from work.

Wow! I was actually able to start my blog that way for once.

Anyway, I was walking down 5th Ave and 42nd Street, RUSHING to catch my bus when all of a sudden I pass this young frum women with kids...and she calls out "riva?!" Who in blazes are you?? My mind is racing trying to figure out how I know her and from where and WHO is she?

Turns out, she and I went to seminary together. That was the LAST TIME I saw her. I graduated seminary in 1995. That was 12 years ago!! How on earth was she able to recognize me? In a shaitel? 12 years later?

Too bad I didn't have time to shmooze with her. Though I managed to find out where she lives and find out that a sister or sister in law lives here.

How funny is that??

I don't understand this...

2007-05-20T20:33:00.000-04:00

Last Shabbos I was in BP to help celebrate my nephews bar mitzvah. I am still getting over the fact that my nephew is 13! Mind you, I have been to Bar Mitzvahs on my husbands side...almost a dozen already but this one was for MY nephew. My own flesh and blood. I remember when he was born. I babysat when he was a little guy...and now...he is a man.

For the kiddush I had invited some friends to come and crash. After helping set up and keeping me sane, I convinced them they are to stay for lunch and they did. (it helps that they are still single.)

During the course of the meal we started reminiscing about High School. I guess it helped that we were in the very same building that hosted us for our first two years of school, and that we went to school together. BUT during the conversation, I question whether or or not we actually went to the same high school.

You see, I seem to remember certain classes very differently than they do. Of the two girls, it seems that we never shared a class together. Surprising at it may seem, she remembers that she was never in my class, and I take her word on it. But we still had the same teachers and supposedly learned the same things. I say supposedly because we were talking about one class in specific.

Now this class was great. Great in the fact that I don't feel that I learned anything in it, yet the tests always had questions on the subject. Had the teacher asked us instead, to tell over the stories that she told, I would have aced the class hands down. Even now, ask me what stories she told over, and I can tell them over to you. Ask me the question about the actual subject, and then you will get some umm...humm....it was over ten years ago, leave me alone. But the stories and the tales she told, THAT I can repeat. Too bad that was not on the test.

Now we sat there for some time talking about this one class and we could not believe what we were hearing. Was I the only one to remember her tales and they actually learn? Granted, I admit that she did throw in some useful knowledge here and there, but by the time she did that I so tuned myself out that I could differentiate the facts from tales. So I never bothered. But to this day I can still remember her tales and not the actual facts of the class.

Being in the building did bring back memories. My mom remembered the last time she was there, was for PTA. I remember learning how to bake apple strudel there. My friend remembered the bathrooms in the basement, which shocked myself and the other girl. The other girl remembered that it was a shelter and pointed to the sign on the outside of the building. Okay, so I didn't remember much as I seem to have blocked out my 10th grade year for whatever reason. What we each picked up and chose to remember during our two years there and four years in High School.

Highschool seems so long ago, yet when get together with friends, it does not seem that long ago. A few weeks ago I got together with five other girls. Two singles and four married. These were different set of girls than my previous gettogethers. It is interesting to see how things changed but better yet, it was interesting to see how things stayed the same. We all moved on. We all were in different stages of life. Singlehood at age 30. Married with three kids at age 30. Picking up and moving out west at age 30. We were all so different yet certain things stayed. It made me wonder if we ever had another high school reunion, will it be like highschool all over again? Certain things you loved and others you hated. The dinner was great and we all wanted to do it again, at a cheaper place of course.

What shocked most was to know that I still keep in touch with 1-2 teachers from hs. Believe it or not I like them as people and still have what to say to them. I turned to them when I had some issues with schooling and asked for their professional opinion on things. Who else to go to than someone you feel close to and is in the field that you are asking about. I do feel that I should make it a point and visit with them the next time I am in "town", but who has time for that? Isn't email the same thing?

Anyway, enough reminiscing. My daugher wrote to her teacher from last year. We got word that the teacher received the letter, now lets see if she writes back. This year the teacher introduced them to pen pals. They each wrote once. My daughter wrote back but the teacher never sent it. I found the school and called to verify the address and told them that my daughter has a pen pal, and I am sending it to the school. A few days later my daughter gets a call. Her pen pal received it and is going to write back. IT would be great if they continue this writing. Maybe one day they shall meet.

Until then...

Explain this to me

2007-05-16T13:22:00.001-04:00

Stupid people do stupid things. Or is it desperate people do silly things. Either way I am not sure but glad to live a life with morals and decency

I know this person who is in the process of divorcing her husband. I always assumed it was her who had an affair. But it was her husband who had one and kicked her out of the house one day and she left everything behind. He then claimed to have sold her stuff for pennies and she was left with little.

She takes her kids and moves on. Moves away for a little and then heads back to NY life and gets a good job. She gets a lawyer and does all the work to go for a separation and move forward with a divorce.

Along the way she meets a guy. Dates him for a while and really likes him. She does NOT move in with him shocking as it may seem, but does go on vacation with him and to see his family over seas and leaves her kids behind. Sure, it is normal for her lifestyle. Somewhere along the way even with much aggravation with her divorce issues she does something silly and what I call stupid. She gets pregnant.

Yes, a grown woman with kids who is divorcing her husband who is NOT divorced goes ahead and gets herself pregnant. I am still trying to digest this. Well I guess her husband (he is not her ex yet) figured it out first, because not that long ago, he became a proud new Papa to a women he will NOT marry.

So to let you understand this real life true story. Two people are married. They get into a fight and move on with life without each other. They share kids and fight for custody and divorce. Along the way he meets a new girl. He then gets the girl pregnant and has a baby. She meets a new man. Gets pregnant by that. Mind you the first couple are still married to each other, but have chosen to have a kid with someone else. That would make the baby a what??

Thank God they are not part of my religion.

It disgusts me to think people are so careless with this whole marriage thing. Like why do they need to be married to have a baby? Or, why bother living with the baby’s other parent. It is so much better to bring up the kid alone, or explain why Daddy lives elsewhere.

Some things I will never fully understand.

Memorial

2007-05-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

I just received a note saying that there will be a memorial for Mrs. Shoshanah Stein on Tuesday, May 8 at Bais Yaakov of Boro Park, at 8 pm.

I hope to make it.

What to Make of This...

2007-04-27T11:33:00.000-04:00

I was at the park a few days ago with my kids (yes, when it was nice outside and not pouring).

I overheard two ladies talking. One was between 20-30 and the other was a good 30 years older. The younger one had her little boy there and I am not sure of the whole topic but from what I heard from sitting behind them was ....

Imagine two ladies sitting on a bench discussing about going back to work because her child's father said she needs to go work. The older women was complimenting her on her motherly skills and how well she raised her children and what good children they turned out BECAUSE she was home with them. While this conversation was taking place I saw the little four year old sneak up behind them. He proceeds to sneakily steal his mothers wallet and walk away. He gets no reaction from them. He then walks by again and quickly grabs her keys and walks away. All this while they were complimenting the mother on her good children.

I was laughing to myself. Here they are saying how good the kids are, when one is trying to learn how to steal without getting caught.

I guess it is all relative.

Boruch Dayan HaEmes

2007-03-29T09:55:00.000-04:00

With tears in my eyes and a heavy heart, I tell you that we are mourning the loss of Esther Malka bas Chasha Batsheva who was niftar this morning.

The levaya will take place today at 2:30 in Clifton, NJ.
Her sister Rivky will be flying in tonight and will sit shiva in Passaic at her sisters house. She appreciates that friends have been told.

HaMakom Yenachem Eschem Bsoch Shaar Avlei Tzion BYerushalayim.

Tehillim

2007-03-27T23:31:00.000-04:00

Please.
Stop what you are doing.
Say a Perek of Tehillim for

Esther Malka bas Chasha Batsheva.

A mother of many who really needs a refuah.

I know her personally as she was my sister's childhood friend.
and.

My friends big sister.

Please.

Say another Perek.

Boruch Dayan HaEmes

2007-03-17T22:51:00.000-04:00

My favorite principle, Mrs. Shoshana Stein (from B.Y. of Brooklyn) was niftar today. The levaya is Sunday morning at 9 at Shomrei Hadaas.

Boruch Dayan HaEmes.

Mazel Tov

2007-03-16T16:01:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine had a girl last week. I am so excited for her! She is married for about 6 years, give or take.

My daughter's teacher is a Kallah. I do hope she manages to stay till the end of the year before she gets married and potentially move away. It is like only three months to the end of the year. Why do that to the girls? Last year the teacher moved away and they had a sub from after Pesach on. It was a nightmare. Let's hope this one stays. I do not like the young teachers for that reason! Hard on the girls.

A close friend of ours had a boy. We missed the bris this past week because it was not so close to us. Husband also had a meeting in the early AM. Until the meeting was planned, he was thinking of going there!

My cousin's children are making her a birthday brunch this Sunday. I was not invited (Father's first cousins wife) On her birthday she will be 94 years old.

S.I.L had a...oh, I am sorry. She is OVERdue for a while. Guess every time the phone rings we are all anxious to hear....

Mazel Tov
May we continue to share in simchas.

2007-03-16T13:23:00.001-04:00

vista

What a Beautiful Day

2007-03-14T18:43:00.000-04:00

Came home melting because I was wearing my winter coat. I need a coat for the morning when I wait for the bus. Did not need it walking to the bus or coming home.

Waited for the kids to come home (after the boys switched to short sleeved shirts) and then off to the park we went. It was packed. I couldn't even turn down the two way street that the park is on because it was filled with....minivans! So I pulled into a driveway to go back where I came from and parked there. It was so crowded. The two older kids found friends there. The little one, well he made friends there. It was great. And I got to see some friends and socialize too.

It was a great day.
Tomorrow night it is supposed to snow.

Ideas

2007-03-13T12:52:00.001-04:00

So many thoughts are running through my brain on what to write about.

Then, I actually start to write/type it....

and then something comes up.

Either it is work, home, life in general.

I do have lots of ideas.

I have even started them and they are in my drafts.

By the time I get to them it is sometimes too stale to even fix up and post, or even complete.

I will get there.

One day.

But until then.

This is it

WooHoo

2007-02-26T14:12:00.001-05:00

1. Took daughter, niece and YoYo to a Purim Carnival.
2. Went to Rena's engagement party yesterday.
3. Husband threw me a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!

He did it all himself. He invited my friends (went through my phone). He didn't invite EB because he wasn't sure EB's real name...guess you know how I keep names in my phone :-) He also didn't feel comfortable to ask for EB! Good thing too, because I think it is her husbands cell phone!) He decorated the house. He made a fruit salad. He cut up cheese and crackers. He thought of everything!

I am so happy. It felt nice coming home and being surprised.

Happy Early 30th Birthday to me.

See how well you know me

2007-02-15T18:07:00.000-05:00

Create your own Friend Test here

UGH

2007-02-14T20:48:00.000-05:00

I had to switch over to the NEW BLOGGER. I have to look and see what I lost and what I like.
Not happy.

Will now have to do my post later.

Random Thoughts

2007-02-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

Mazel Tov!! I am so happy to hear that a friend of mine is engaged! It is great news! And I love that you called me!! Email me info and I will try to make it the engagement party!

It is bitter cold outside.

A month ago we were complaining about how warm it was for January and that Global Warming is going to kill us. Now we have this cold front coming in from good ol' Canada.

A friend of mine in town had a baby girl after two boys. Based on a misunderstood conversation, her husband went out to buy food for Sunday and Monday Night. I felt horrible. So much for the chessed of the town. I immediately called her and left her a message that she will be having meals sent for the next two weeks, and possibly more. I went straight to work. I called my classmates from High School who live in town, and incorporated them to make food for her. I then called another friend and she knew some people who would say yes. Then I pulled some rabbits out of a hat and stretched the connection. "Oh, you know her sister, and I know you...so can you make food." or, "your husband davens at this minyan and so does her husband, and I know you, can you make food?" Boruch Hashem these people were like, "sure!" "tell me when!". I tried to make sure that meals were not all dairy, dairy dairy dairy, meat. I tried to alternate, even giving them two meats in a row (which I think they might prefer). She was so grateful that I managed to pull this off. I got to do Shabbos, when I am not home for one meal! But, will figure it out and I do have to cook for the other meal, so why not add some more to it.

I owe you a story about Friday. I will write that another time, maybe.

18 Years

2007-02-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

18 years.
A long short 18 years.
So many memories.
So many tears.

I was a young girl at that time. Not Bas Mitzvahed yet. A young one in Seventh grade. And.then.it.happened. Shattered my world. Destroyed my innocence. Threw me into the reality. No more living in a bubble. A shock. A tragedy. I was little. Being a bas zakayn is never easy.

He was old. He was sick. He needed to go. He had a rough life. His time was up. He wanted to go. He did not want to fight any more. So, he left.

Hashem had mercy on him.

Motzei Shabbos. Right after Tu B Shvat.

I was not home.

I did not get to say good-bye. I did not get to have one last kiss. One last hug. One last conversation.

I did have that extra sense the few days before. I knew something was going to happen. I did not know it was going to be a permanent something.

18 years has passed.

My life has gone on without him. His has not.

I have grown up. I married. I brought in a new generation.

I miss him.

I love him.

I think of him constantly.

18 years is a long time. I am not that old.

18 short years. Seems like yesterday.

Gifts

2007-01-22T11:58:00.000-05:00

At what age do you need to start giving a gift in response to an invitation sent to you?

I ask you because we seem to be getting invites to kiddushim from people that we do not really associate with but they feel the need to invite us, for whatever reason. I am not complaining. We try to make the trek to the appropriate simcha hall and wish them Mazel Tov. Sometimes it will be with the kids, others one of us will go, depending on why we were invited.

We have not been so ontop of the gift giving. We do give, don't get me wrong, but there are times when I realize that we simply neglected the invite and pushed it aside for a long time that it just got lost in the shuffle, if you know what I mean. How late can one give a gift? I know they will always accept one but what is the time frame? And what do you do when you are unsure if you gave one or not? I have a few of that, where I am not sure if I gave a gift or not and it was not a check, so I can't look that one up!

My neighbors send out kiddush cards. We do not attempt to go to every one of them nor do I send off a gift. But now I want to. Now I want to be ontop of this gift giving and figure out how many invites we receive a year and budget for it. Some I can tell by looking at the family calendar and figure out how many Bar/Bat mitzvahs there will be for the year. But weddings are unpredictable as well as community affairs. Call me a scrooge, but there is only so much that I want to cut into my "savings for x" account to give to people especially those whom I don't have much to do with.

I need to keep a spread sheet that tells me what I gave who. I don't need siblings of the recipient or the parents comparing gifts. Nor do I want cousins to do the same. Not that I really care we are usually equal, but you never know what will happen on day.

But what do you do with the invites you get from old acquaintances? The ones where you had nothing to do with for the past five years and then all of a sudden you get a wedding invite. You don't go to the wedding for whatever reason, but do you need to give a gift or what? And if you give a check, how much is it for? I like actual gifts to give to those who you can (i.e when you go to the wedding) vs a check, but as the saying goes "everyone can use money".

So please respond with what you do and what you think your friends do, I am always so curious what "my age" people do and what "not my age" people do.

Thanks

Potty Training

2007-01-22T11:45:00.000-05:00

I am trying hard to get my 2 1/2 year old to outgrow diapers. I am so not used to this. I haven't worked this hard with my other two, but that was because their daycamp actually had a hand in it. But his birthday is right before camp this year, and he needs not to have diapers. I refuse to buy diapers in bulk anymore because I simply do not want leftovers in the house. His playgroup teacher is great and encouraging, but she has 7 others in her group so she cannot always take him when he says so and have nothing happen. I do know she would love to have one less diaper to change as well.

He wants to stay a little boy. He told me so. He told me "me little boy." When I tell him to use the toilet instead of a diaper he says "me don't know how!" I asked him what he wants if he wears underwear. He said a big lion. So I bought him a lion (not a plush one). I showed it to him and told him it is on top of the freezer and said when he doesn't make in diapers, he can have it. He was so mad. I can't blame him. Who really wants to grow up? He is the baby of the family and is enjoying it, though he does think he is like his 5 year old brother or 7 year old sister. He also enjoys his crib. My other son was out of the crib at this age already. He was jumping over the bar so we removed it (rather have him get out than jump out and possibly get hurt. This one, bli ayin hara, hasn't really tried in a really long time. This I am not complaining!

I have a door hanger in the bathroom that is used as a chart. It came with the new potty we got for him. (okay, we got one as a gift when my second child was born, but we already had one at home, so we left at my mom. Now we gave the one we had at home to his playgroup so he can use it there...so we needed a new one at home, so we used the gift that was given to us 5+ years ago.) Inside came a rewards chart with stickers and a chart. I have used it. I then went out and bought a cushy seat for the toilet because *see above comment, he thinks he is older than 2 1/2 and his siblings don't use a potty, they use the toilet! ANYTHING to get him to stop using diapers!! I am in search of Cookie Monster underwear as well. For some reason, he got himself into cookie monster. Picks out all the CM diapers first! I bought a pair, but it turned out that it was only Elmo. He accepted but I want CM for him.

His biggest fans are his siblings. They are a great big help. They encourage him. Cheer him on. But it still doesn't seem to be helping as much as I would like. As soon as he gets home from playgroup, I take off his diaper and put on underwear. He usually has 0-1 accidents. When he wets his underwear, I put on a new pair of pants with nothing underneath. He is very upset and doesn't like it, but it helps. But this is only short term because during the day he is in diapers.

Wish me luck. I hope by his upsherin or sooner (pesach?!) he is DONE for good! I can manage pull-ups at night...

Why do we Blog

2007-01-05T14:19:00.000-05:00

Why do we blog?

Why do people feel the need to write about their life so openly and leave it hanging on the internet forever? I don't understand the need for strangers to read your most inner thoughts and feelings. Not only that, but you will post something, leave it there and forget about it. Then one day on a google search or something, someone will chance upon it and figure out the anonymous blogger and all hell breaks loose.

Blogging can be fun but can also get troublesome. If you are anonymous you need to always remain anonymous and make sure that what you write is not known to others as you never know who will read it without you knowing. If you are writing about yourself or openly (like me) you still need to be careful that nothing will come and haunt you. (been there done that).

So then again, why do people write about the most intimate things? Or write about things they will never discuss with others or to shy to talk about? There are those who will be more vocal on line than in person. If you would meet the person in real life, you would be surprised that they are one and the same. The blogs that flow smoothly and have interesting things to say are the best blogs out there (in my opinion).

Sorry for not updating, but life takes funny turns and you end up dealing with new things daily.

Have a great Shabbos, and oh year, Happy New Year. Let 2007 be a better year than 2006 (no matter how good '06 was)

For those who realized, I just celebrated my 8th anniversary and going to celebrate next month my big birthday. Need to mentally prepare for that birthday....

Random Thoughts

2006-12-20T16:23:00.000-05:00

I went to my friends birthday party the other night. It was fun. I knew half the girls and the other half were friends she has met out of school. I can't believe we are hitting the big number this year.

I used to get together with a few friends for birthdays. I organized it. Always. Then it came my birthday. No one coordinated it. I got upset. I stopped doing it. I guess that is what happens when you are the one who always organizes things. I think I might get together next month (a month before my big number birthday) for another friends birthday. I just have to have the time and the energy to do so.

So last night was fun. They went all out. They chipped in for many gifts for her, a common thing among the "single girls". They did Broadway theme. They hung pictures of NYC on the wall as well as some Broadway shows signs and a map of NYC. They rolled out the red carpet for her, and had her blind folded all the way from her house to the Lower East Side. It was really cute. The printed out playbills that they created with her and people she knows starring in the play. It was adorable. The songs where appropriate and the scenes were cute too. Too much time was invested in it. They got her some nice gifts too.

We had a family Chanukah party last Motzei Shabbos. My in-laws where there as well. It was really nice. Too bad they sent my kids gifts to a different family and gave us theirs. They made it up last night where they gave my kids "cheaper" gifts just to give them something. My kids loved it and have no idea they are getting the real gifts, eventually.

I got it this year. I figured out what to get my siblings children. And not spend a fortune.

My daughter has been begging for an American Girl Doll. She has a doll that she received as a birthday present and calls it an AGD. I let her do so until she brought the magazine to school and told me other girls have one. I had to tell her that what she has is NOT the real doll and didn't want her to tell people she has one. I can't bring myself to pay that much for a doll that will not get played with. I saw the mini dolls for relatively cheap price, and decided to buy it for her and that way she can feel that she got the coveted American Girl Doll that she so very wants. Did I have issues with that!! But she loved it!

I ordered the dolls. I ordered three (one for her). The one for her was not the right doll. The packing slip said one doll. The upc sticker that they added was the right doll. But the doll was NOT the one I ordered. I emailed the company complaining. The message I got back was they are mailing me a new one out and I should receive it a week or so later. I was mad. I was not happy with that answer. I told them that I needed it for my Holiday that was starting that Friday night. I got a new email. It was being sent over night at no charge to me. I got it in time for when I needed it. But, I now have two extra dolls and one extra charge for the doll. I got rid of the charge but I have two extra dolls. One box not even open. Need to figure out how to return the dolls. What a pain. I hate shopping on line!!

Now if I can only figure out what to give the parents/inlaws as a gift!

I know that we need to give the Rebbi some $$.

Have a very happy Chanukah (the last three nights at least).

Oh

2006-12-13T01:07:00.000-05:00

Oh 'tis the season all right. Shopping till 10PM on stores that normally closed at 9 or 9:30. Now trying to figure out what to buy everyone and what is really needed.

I am impressed. I got all the nephews and nieces done. I figured out what to get them and hope they are happy with what I got. Now, on to my own children. Such a toughy. I know what my daughter wants, but I am not going to get it for her! Maybe next year. Maybe not.

Biggest dilemma that I have is regarding camp. She is so wanting to go to sleep-away camp. I received an application for camp in the mail. It is a fortune. It is more than double daycamp. If not three times the cost plus. Oh, I have thought about it. Remember, I went to camp at age four. She will be almost eight when she goes. I would love to send her to the camp that I went, but if not, not.

The thoughts. The debates. The phone calls.

I think in the end I will send her to the daycamp last year, and push off sleepaway for another year. Next year we can have this discussion again. I would like to go visit camp this summer, again. Though it will be a different camp than last. Good to get a feel of the summer camps. I guess I can wait another year.

On other news...the shul where I daven at had two major occurrences the other day regarding their members. One member had TRIPLETS!! Mazel Tov!... while another lost her young husband, leaving her a widow with two young young children (5 and 3). I saw her kids at the park yesterday before the levaya. I am contemplating about making a shiva call to her. I have no idea who she is or her husband. I never met either one. My heart goes out to her and to her very young children who are now without a father.

Too Shocked for Words

2006-11-26T20:51:00.000-05:00

I am shocked. I am very happily shocked. I can't believe it!
A huge mazel tov! To the hockers who read this...."she said YES!"
A huge shout-out to you MM!!! I am so very excited for you!!

Yes, this news deserved a blog!!!

Why?

2006-10-31T12:51:00.000-05:00

Why is it "Mazel Tov it is a boy"
or "Mazel Tov she had a baby"

Why are girls called baby and boys are called baby boys?

Gmar Tov

2006-10-01T16:44:00.000-04:00

Gmar Chasima Tova!
May your tefilos be answered.
Remember the answer can always be No! (thanks M)
Hope you have a good fast.

argh

2006-09-25T19:36:00.000-04:00

Now I am mad.
Furious.
Need to control myself for the idiotic email I received.
Blatant lies.
13+ years living a lie.
Hard to overcome the shock.
Hard to overcome the anger.
Need to control myself.
Move on.
Good bye.

2006-08-04T10:52:00.000-04:00

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Happy Birthday and more

2006-07-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to my baby. He is 2! Can you believe how time flies. We had his birthday party last Sunday. Called it early so relatives can come because they had another engagement to go to later that evening, but in the end they couldn't come. What a bummer, I had already ordered the food and counted on them, and even accommodated them with the time. I made sure to send them birthday bags so the kids wouldn't be so disappointed.

Last week my kids started camp. My daughter commutes to Monsey every day. Yes, I let my 6.5 year old go on a school bus every day to camp. She is having a blast there as well, so it is very worth it for her. My son loves camp as well.

Try taking a two year old on a row boat. Not so much fun! But it was enjoyable when he did behave and didn't demand to row the boat like Aba. The two others also took turns rowing and had lots of wet fun. It was great. Of course when we showed up, it started to pour 2 minutes later...But we waited it out, and they opened the boating area...30 minutes after the last lightening striked. Go figure. We didn't watch the clock so we walked around and then headed back.

Hope you are all enjoying the day off. I know I did. And the fireworks down the block from me (just for the co, could really see them by my house).

Keep cool

Ay?

2006-06-21T12:35:00.000-04:00

Your Linguistic Profile::

50% General American English

35% Yankee

10% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Smart Shopping

2006-06-15T12:21:00.000-04:00

I decided to "google it" before I went shopping. Smart move.

I found another coupon to the children's p lace for 20% off. Of course I found this only after I bought my son his bag for camp. It is both printable and on line..And it's good till the end of the month. So I might return the bag and buy two (one for daughter as well). Oh, and I just received an email to sign up for their birthday club (is this a new thing?)

Then of course after I bought it, I joined fatwallet. If I had only known before hand, I could have gotten $$ back on my dell purchase last month! And on my tcp purchase as well. Well you live and learn. I will now do my staples order for work via fatwallet so I can get the $ back. We shall see if that works. I will probably do another order next week.

So I went to ShopRite the other day with printed coupon in hand. It was for $ off Luigi's ices which was on sale to begin with. I was very annoyed to find that this shoprite didn't take computer printed coupons! I left the ices behind, (no room in freezer either).

There is so much free stuff on-line. Sign up and get free pens, stationary, movie tickets, stickers, you name it you can probably find it. If you only have the time.

I was thinking recently. Before google came about, what did you use for the expression "google it"?

Going for lunch soon. Got to do return my makeup to Sephora and to pick up a free lip gloss. Wow, when did I get so cheap?! But this makes shopping fun! It is always nice to get a bargain!
(will someone tell blogger that google is a real word now!!)

She Did It

2006-06-12T13:28:00.000-04:00

My daughter read her 8 books for the BN reading program. I took her last night to get her free book and to pick up another form, so she can start on the next eight. She was excited. I picked up some Junie B Jones books for her (buy 2 get one free) on top of her free book. I just am not so happy with the books. Why am I encouraging my daughter to read books about "heck, shut up, stupid, " Yes I know she will learn those words soon but why now? And why am I the one encouraging her to read them?! I guess next time I will read the books first.

I convinced my daughter that she needs to read longer/chapter books for the next round. I realized that I didn't have her age appropriate books for her to read. Even at the library the books she takes out are not chapter books. I will have to be more careful with her books and help her chose the right age group for herself.

Now I need to figure out which books she read and have her fill out the build-a-bear reading sheet. If she reads three books for them, she gets a book mark. If she reads another three more books she gets a $5 coupon. And I wanted to take the kids there once school was over to build a bear workshop. The one near me in the city is great! So the $5 coupon will help!

I took the older kids to the bank Sunday morning to open a savings account with their money. I gave them each $10 to open it with (they had a little less) In return they got a Valley pen with either a boy or a girl on top of it. They gave the baby who I didn't open an account for a piggy bank, but he wanted a pen like his older siblings, so they gave one to him. I tried to get another piggy bank for the other kid(s) but the one who was working with me on the account, asked someone and she said no. (meanwhile the other person already gave my son a pen and a bank and he didn't even open an account!) On our way out the baby lost the cover to his pen, so I went back to the bank to search for it. The customer service person asked me what was wrong, and then went to get me a new pen without me even asking. When we got home, the baby got out of his carriage and was so excited to see the bottom of his pen there (it was in his carriage). So I went back to the bank 10 minutes later to return the pen. The best part about the bank they match the first deposit up to $10. So my kids now have $20 in their account earning 3.5%. I am happy for them and hope they will save their money. Now I need to start on allowance and have them save some for their deposit and save to buy themselves their own toy.

I Saw Her

2006-06-09T01:34:00.000-04:00

I went to Barnes and Nobles the other day to pick up the form for their summer reading program. It is where my daughter writes the 8 books she read, the author and what she liked most about the book. I sign it. Once filled in and signed, we go back to BN and hand it in. She then gets to chose a book to keep. She can do this twice. Last year we started late and only had a chance to read 8 books. She is so excited to do it now. She already wrote down two books. 6 more to go and she wants to do it before school is over. I think she can, if she remembers to write down the books. She can do it so readily. She probably reads about two books a night to herself before she finally falls asleep.

So anyway back to the topic. I was at BN on the second floor trying to find the children's department (that is wear I can pick the form off the board), when I was told that the area I was entering was closed off. I wasn't paying attention, but the area in front of me was indeed closed off and there seemed to be a lot of black suits body guard style. I looked around to find out why, and THERE SHE WAS. Lorraine Bracco. Dr. Melfi from The Sopranos. It was cool. No, really. She was promoting her new book (which I was tempted to buy and see if she would autograph it). She was so down to earth. So normal. You can recognize her voice in a heartbeat. What a shame I didn't have the guts to go over to her or even use my phone to snap a picture of her. Maybe next. time.

(sorry, only about two people I know who will appreciate this...and only one of them reads this.)

You Just Gotta Know How To...

2006-06-07T20:41:00.000-04:00

smr56 is a code for all those childrens place shoppers out there. Go to thechildrensplace.com and use that code on your next shopping order. Most coupons out there are for 15% off...this is for 25%!! The item I want is not on any major sale, but with this code..it is 25% cheaper...and the shipping is only $5 for your order!
Happy shopping.
Let me know if you use it!!

Head Checks

2006-05-29T20:39:00.000-04:00

I don't understand this.

Can someone please explain to me why on earth every institution I deal with wants head checks...And now, only ONE place that is individually run will NOT accept me for playgroup if I do not supply headchecks. I do NOT do head checks. I do not give out ten checks to any place for x amount of dollars that is post dated for the first of each month. I simply do not do it. I grew up that way. I refuse. I wont budge. I hate the idea. It is illegal. It is wrong. It is stupid.

I will pay the first of the month. I have two previous private individuals who can vouch for me. This time it is a no. She has no idea who I am. I told her I will sign a document stating that I will send my child there. It is a no. Everyone is giving head checks. Everyone. Except...Well there is only one other person as of now...But she will give it to her as soon as she arrives from Israel and opens an account here. HEELLLOOO do you get this?!

I told her head checks are illegal. I cannot write out three thousand dollars plus right now knowing that I do not have that money in my account. You are telling me you don't trust me that you will get the money on time? I am telling you I don't trust you to deposit the check on the first of the month and not earlier. How on earth do you balance a checkbook? Am I the only one who balances a checkbook? Am the only one who finds this practice ludicrous?? I mean who is to say that by me giving you ten checks that it guarantees payment? Does that really mean that I have not given you checks from a closed account? Or that they will not bounce, very high? It will cost you money to deposit a bounced check or a check that is drawn on a closed account. It will not cost me money to give you a check from an account that is closed. I feel so mean that I will pay the $30 to do stop payments on all the checks that she wants JUST to prove my point to her! I am so very mad right now.

This playgroup seemed ideal for me. She seemed so nice. Now I am starting to think too much into it. She will not take me if I do not give her head checks. She is paying the teacher and we are paying the one who is having it in her house. There are others who want to join this group, but I have the last spot, until tomorrow night. I cannot and I refuse to give her ten checks. I simply do not give out head checks. I do.not.do.this.thing. I actually believe it or not, balance my check book. Gasp. Yes. I record every deposit and withdrawal that happens, as they come in! I am on top of things. I just do not believe in giving out ten checks to this person and hope that all will be well. The best part she said when I asked her why she is demanding head checks was "to guarantee that your child comes and if not, I still have your checks." Lady, do you hear yourself?! If I want to pull my child out for what ever reason, I will do so and YOU will not keep my money. If I have to pay $30 a check to stop payment on the ten checks that I gave you...Believe you me that will still be cheaper than the 3grand plus that you have in checks.

So where is the logic in all this? Why are schools asking this of us? (yes, my school lives in the ice age and does not accept credit cards). Why are these places demanding that we screw up our accounting systems at home. Give out checks knowing full well that if cashed now they will bounce very very high. Imagine if I give her checks without signing them, and hope she does not realize that until it is too late.

I am mad. I am looking for another full-time playgroup but not sure if they really do exist here for the same price. I just cannot believe how stubborn people are about certain things...And about things that just simply do not make sense!

Where is Yetta

2006-05-23T11:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, I tried to go to her site last week...and it is gone...does anyone know why? and how I can reach her?? Yettabettaboo...where youuuuuuuuuuu?

That's It!!!!

2006-05-22T10:15:00.000-04:00

I am moving back to Brooklyn!!!!

Tznius

2006-05-12T00:51:00.000-04:00

I went to this shiur tonight instead of going out with friends. Nice trade off, ey? It actually wasn't a bad shiur and it had some good strong points brought out. The topic was on self esteem and daughters. Interesting topic I must say.

There are those who feel that in order for them to feel better, they live through their children. If their child does well, we feel good. If someone compliments, our self esteem rises and we feel that we are doing a good job. A few other points were discussed and I will try to recall them.

The last comment made there was regarding tznius. A young women who is also a morah relayed a marvelous story. She needed an idea on how to teach tznius to her students as well as to her own daughters (and sons). She came up with a wonderful idea. She got to class, and she took out a diamond and jewelry. She put it on the table. The girls oohed over it but told morah that she needs to put it in a jewelry box to keep it safe. So she did that (she had a small box for such). Then she took out money and left it on the table. Again, the smart girls told her to put it in her wallet to keep it safe. Lastly she took out lollies. The girls then asked where were the wrappers to keep it clean.

The morah went on to explain her activity. "Kinderlach, one day you will iy"h be carrying the kinderlach of Hakodesh Baruch Hu inside of you. You too should be covered up and protected..." Okay...so maybe you needed to hear it from this young women who spoke so softly and gently. She said that whenever she sees a girl sitting with her feet wide apart and not the proper way, she will take out the jewelry/money/candy etc and the girl will quickly cover up. Granted the girl is First grade or Second. But this is something to think about.

Tznius is an important issue. There are really many different aspects to it and we can focus on the good or rant and rave about the negative side of it. If we make our daughters wear socks and they will complain that it is shmoiling, we need to present the concept to them in a good and positive way so she can understand WHY she is being taught this. The word "it is not nice" is a horrible expression to use. Come up with other reasons why you don't want her to wear that tight fitted shirt.

It wasn't about tznius but it got onto that topic. How do we explain tznius to the girls? How do we explain that there are those in our community who differ from us? That question is a tough one to answer and I will not do so. That is not my point.

We need to realize that the world does not respect women for the most part. There is so much out there that degrade women for no good reason other than being female. Think real hard. When in the corporate world, the female must fight her way through the male world to achieve her goal, while she can be making less than her male counterpart. You go to the cleaners and you are paying more to have your female clothing cleaned, along with your female haircut. You also have the other stuff out there that degrade women. We need to take a stand and say NO MORE.

What is really wrong with having a young girl understand that she should cover up? Explain on her level why she is doing so. Don't say women are degraded in this world so we are making a point. With a positive attitude our daughters will understand on their level and accept what is being requested. Now if we have problems with that...that is another story.

My daughter needs to wear socks this summer. I think she did last year, but was young enough not to realize anything. Now, I am sure she will realize that I don't always wear stockings and will go out without socks. How will I explain to her the difference? I am sure I will come up with a creative answer for her, when asked. I will not make a big deal about it nor will I criticize the camps for asking. Is it bad to say that I am not that level right now and for me going without stockings is not so bad? I want my daughter to be better than me. I also want her to know there are different people out there and it doesn't matter how different they are from you, they can still be good people. I will cross that bridge when I get there.

Uh Oh

2006-04-25T13:24:00.000-04:00

I recently found out that (one maybe all) found out about this blog. I guess I shouldn't complain as it is old! Surprised it took so long!

Well Pesach is over and we are back to normal now. The kids started school Monday and my daughter has a new English teacher. Her previous teacher decided to move to Israel after Pesach, mind you she got married a few months ago. Not a happy camper. She was doing so well in her class. A star reader. A great teacher in my opinion despite her young age. I really liked her and the way she taught. I will miss her, but now I am upset she couldn't wait until the end of the year.

I think my sons preschool teachers is engaged, which means that I have to call the parents to collect an engagement/wedding gift for her. Better do so soon, because I also have to collect for the graduation! What fun. I don't think I want to sign up for this anymore.

Sunday night I received a cute phone call. It was my friends daughter, "Hi, I want to let you know my mommy had a baby girl last night." It was adorable. I am happy for my friend. Her family is growing nicely. I will try to call her soon to wish her Mazel Tov.

Speaking of mazel tov, my first cousins daughter is engaged. I hope to go to that wedding. A few weeks later, my first cousins granddaughter got engaged! Yes, you read right...his granddaughter!! Go figure and do the math. Complicate. Unbelievable. But true. I don't think I can make it to that wedding, as it is in Israel.

So Pesach was nice. Keep thinking of what it will take to stay home. Contemplate it but usually by Purim we say "not this year." Maybe next year will be the one.

Painting once again. Got into the mood of fixing up the house. Decided to paint the attic and clean out the bedroom that is there and make it presentable for guests and have some company sleep over. We started last night. Mind you the hallway upstairs is this ugly yellow, so we need to prime the walls first. The first time we painted, we skipped the priming as the walls were white to begin with. I love fixing up the house and getting things to look different. This is internal and no one will really see it. It is not like fixing my staircase that will get everyone's attention!

I cannot believe school is over in a mere two months. Time flies. The kids had a great year...And soon is summer....Do I even have enough vacation days to use for actual vacation? Will that be possible?

Have a great day, and enjoy the lovely weather!

The Wedding

2006-04-17T13:04:00.000-04:00

So the wedding is done and over with. I didn't find a tux for the little guy, so the two boys wore matching suits. They looked adorable. They didn't walk down, but then again there are too many to walk down, so no one walked down, other than the brides brothers who walked down the grandfather. Of course the Chason and Kallah walked down with their parents.

The message was to be there at 4:30. We got there at 4:25 being number 4 there (actually tied with 3). We got ready and were the first family to take pictures. It didn't matter that the rest of the crew didn't show because when they did, they still had to wait for pictures. Amazingly we were able to get the entire mishpacha in one picture, albeit, we had to relocate in order to line everyone up. Kids in the front. Tall in the back. Everyone, find a spot. If it is near your spouse, you are lucky. Be careful not to look like a couple with your niece or nephew! Make room for the kallah she will be super imposed into the picture, you really think we are going to get everyone in the picture again?! Think again. This is it. One huge family picture. Should develop my digital camera film so I can actually see the picture!

On the way into the hall the caterer saw my brooms. Mezinka he said? And I said yes. I put them away in a safe spot, knowing I would need them much much later. Sure enough when the time came, no one told me that they were starting the dance and well, they had to use the dirty brooms until the brooms that I brought were located. What a shame. Next time I need to know when, and also get wreaths for the parents. But I don't know when the next time is so I am off the hook.

The kids were great at the wedding. My daughter hooked up with some cousins. Although she didn't have a puffy Gmach gown, she looked like a princess. She got her hair done and with the white gown and all, she was a princess. She smiled nicely as well for the camera. The boys took care of themselves as well. The little guy was in the carriage for most of the time. He didn't fall asleep. I went to locate him at one point and found the two boys holding hands and walking around. His big brother took him around. I dragged him into dancing, the very last dance and then he fell asleep, shortly before we left (and we were the last to leave!)

Shabbos sheva brachos is another story that I would like to forget. Let's just say we surely did not make it and spent what was supposed to be a kid-free Shabbos was anything BUT kid-free. It was a very nice Shabbos though and I am thankful to our hostess who took us in twenty minutes before Shabbos!

Coming soon....Pesach and more

Yes, It is I

2006-03-21T16:06:00.000-05:00

I am alive and well, thank you to my dedicated readers for asking.

I started my new job and love it.

I love working in the city.

I love not driving to work.

I hate the running to catch the bus to work
and I hate figuring how long it will take me if I leave my office at a certain time. I have to hope that the elevator is running fast and that there are not that many tourists clogging the streets so I have the room to walk and run to Port Authority.

My mom did Pesach cleaning in her house. She sent over my old doll clothes that I used to have for my dolls. I just gave them to my daughter last night. She was so excited to have my old clothing (which by the way are real baby/premie clothing). She also gave me my uniform shirts that I have saved for so many years and now have to decide if it is worth it to keep or just throw them out. Included in the gift package she sent me, she sent over my old tapes. (I forget when the last time I bought tapes). I was going through the tapes to see if any were interesting and found a blog friends tape, Mark Skier in the batch. I got so excited. I totaly did not realize that I had his music. Now I just need to find a tape player and time to listen to his plus the others that I had found.

I am still looking for a tux for my little guy and I cannot seem to find one. I have this wedding next week that would be great for him to wear and match his brother.

Little guy is starting to say more words. Including, la-lolla for lollipop, mine and stucky. It is adorable. The boys play so nicely together it is a pleasure to watch them.

So for now I am back. I will try to update when I can.

Oh, mezinka dance..anyone hear of it? You know the dance you do when the last child gets married???

Hodu L'Hashem

2006-02-12T12:01:00.000-05:00

So much has happened the past four weeks. B"H everything fell into place at the right time. I couldn't even imagine how things turned upside down and all around in the short time span that it did.

First, I left my job after being there for three and a half years. I handed in the key after work on Friday. I had no other job to go to. I felt so relieved. So happy. I was in control of my life. I hated the new workplace. I didn't say goodbye to the employees. I just said goodbye to the boss. Let him tell them what he wanted to.

By the following Thursday, I was working part-time in town. So close to home. So relaxing. Nice work place. I was still going on interviews for full-time work.

By two weeks, I was hired elsewhere. Working in a completely different field. Different location. Different atmosphere. I cannot wait to start. The vast differences are amazing for good and for not so good. But it will be a good and happier change.

I still marvel at what life did in a two week time span. It is absolutely amazing and a big thanks to Hashem.

Update

2006-01-03T19:19:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe it has been almost a whole month since the last time I was here. I can't believe I survived so long without a computer. What a spoil generation we live in. Let us catch up.

Where did I leave off? PTA was fine. It was nice to shep nachas as I listened to the teachers say nice things about the children. Even if there was an issue, it would sound nice.

Then we go to Channukah. The kids had off the last few days. Friday and Monday. Friday they stayed home with the babysitter, we all had work. It was only a few hours so I didn't feel soo bad. We then went to Brooklyn for Shabbos which is always fun. Actually it wasn't so bad this time around, and it was also our anniversary. Seven years. So of course there was a cake Friday night.

Before Shabbos my kids got some nice gifts. One I requested, Cliks. My daughter got an outfit for her "Build-a-Bear Workshop". The baby got sit 'n spin. They also received some Channukah gelt. Motzei Shabbos there was a Channukah party, where my other brother came and more pressents were given out. Fun was had by all. We put the baby to sleep and my husband and I went out.

We went to the city by.train. I don't like the train, but being that it was New Years Eve, it was the best solution. We went to the restaurant and was expecting company to join us, but they didn't show till right when we go to the door to leave. So we made a u-turn and sat back down so they can eat the dessert that we had for them.

The kicker was, I was in NYC. I saw the ball drop. In the restaurant. Half hour later, I was at Times Square. I couldn't believe my luck. I always wanted to be at Times Square for New Years Eve. I was so close. So very close, but no cigar. Maybe some other time. But at least I was out of the house so I was able to watch the ball drop. I really do not know why I am fascinated by it! I remember when I was younger I used to watch it when I was away. Not sure when my fatuation started.

Over Shabbos I finally got to finish reading this book that I was reading for so long. I just never had the time to read it in one sitting, though I really truly wanted to read it. I bought it before Succos, and finally finished reading "The Will". It was an amazing book I must say. Really long. But well worth it. I left it at my mom's house for her to read, and forgot to pick up the book she finished reading. I love reading. My daughter is good at that too.

We just finished reading a Clifford book, and she wrote a book report on it. Not much writing I must say, but it is called a book report no less. She wrote her name, date, title, author, illustrated by and then she had to draw a picture which she traced. She then added the sentence that was written on the page that belonged to the picture. This is her second one she wrote. The teacher said if she writes two, she gets a prize. She actually wanted to write three before she got the prize, but at least let her give the second one in. I will definitely encourage her to write some more. I am so proud of her.

My four year old is cute. We were working on a project together, when he goes to me "Mommy, let me do that, I just know how to do things." My smart little boy who doesn't even realize that he is smart. he is now realizing he "just" knows things.

Impressive typing for someone who has a bandaid on her finger.
Got to run out now and do some grocery shopping.

2005-12-05T17:15:00.001-05:00

My dell notebook doesn't work so well. I can't charge it. Anyone with knowledge of how to fix it, please please email me. I feel lost without internet.

This past Shabbos, a good friend of mine went to Brooklyn for Shabbos. Shout out to her, THANK YOU for taking my daughter to Brooklyn. My brother met her, and picked up my daughter, who spent Shabbos with my mother, brother and his kids, and great uncle. She had a great time. The kids there enjoyed it too. My boys had a great Shabbos home with just Mommy and Abba, and we got to focus on them. My Four year old was able to show us all his projects and answer all the questions without his big sister. He missed her very much, but also enjoyed being home.

We all enjoyed it so much, it is happening again this week. My aunt is coming in for Shabbos and I cannot leave this Shabbos, so my daughter is going once again without us. This time, we will meet up with her Motzei Shabbos and visit. Not so sure what the plans are, a lot of things might be happening that night and I don't know where I can split my time. She then will go back with my husband because she has a birthday party in the early AM, and I will stay over with the boys. Then get driven in later in the afternoon. Hope it works out.

Not much else to report. I don't have a computer so I must leave this one.

2005-12-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

Friday

2005-11-24T18:55:00.000-05:00

Black Friday.

Explain why it is called Black Friday.

Yup, I plan to do my usual pilgrimage at 5am, or earlier.

The best site I have found is right here. I hope I am more succesful than last year.

This year I am on my time, my stores, my business. No one else's. All alone in the car at 4:45am to go shopping.

Can't wait.

We Have Gone TOOOOO Far

2005-11-22T18:10:00.000-05:00

So I am behind the times in writing this. But I just heard this on the news on my way home. Why is this a proud thing, that Lakewood, NJ is banning internet in their schools. According to the news, "if you have internet at home, you are not welcomed in our schools" So the reporter said that if you have internet at home, you cannot go to a Jewish school. Go figure. Don't we have enough in the news about us, that we really need this important vital information the talk of topic.

I am so happy that I do not live in Lakewood. So far my school has not started up on this topic. They have asked if we have a TV, and the answer was no. I sort of understand the question, and I guess the same issue they have with TV, they are now having with internet. But this is 2005 and soon to be 2006. How can we not have internet? I mean...Really now. What is going to happen??

I was speaking with a friend. She agrees with this because she has had company where the young gentleman was online till 2-3am on a Saturday night. I am sorry. If he is old enough to understand what he is doing, he also knows what he is doing and there is nothing you can do about it. What already is so bad? I mean if he knows what to look for he will either do it at home, or go elsewhere and do it, like the newspaper stand or somewhere else.

Who is to say that by banning the internet we are not encouraging the kids to go seek and find why we are banning it. Please, why are we hiding from them?! There are ways to get around it, if you are worried, go block everything possible. Get a lock and key. To say that all you need is one boy to get an AOL screen name, and pass the information around...What you are doing is, causing people to lie.

From what I am gathering, it is best to lie, if you want your kids to be in school. If you don't care, or if you find another school that will accept the new modern age, and does not feel the need to live in the shtetl, be honest and tell them you have internet.

But beware, word is out. If you have internet at home, you will have a hard time with shidduchim.

Today

2005-11-20T20:19:00.000-05:00

I am still here. I didn't leave, I just don't have that much time to access the internet. And my H doesn't work so well.

Today was a busy day. Last night we painted our daughters room...pink. Two-tones. It looks like a girly-girls room. It is really nice though. She is all happy about it. Next we paint the boys room, yup, you got it. Blue. It should look really nice. We just need some time for that one.

My daughter had a birthday party today, and another two next week. She decided she did not want to go the the Uncle Moishy concert, which I already had tickets for. I never knew it would be so hard to find someone to fill that spot. After numerous phone call, I finally got two other kids to go with me. A friend down the block, where we swapped kids. She took my oldest, while I took her youngest. And then my niece joined us. (Do not ask why I had these extra tickets). Not sure why my daughter did not want to come, but I did bump into many of her classmates, and older girls as well. She did ask that next year she go.

While we walked into the building where the concert was, my son noticed a man walking out and said "that is the clown". He was not dressed as the clown, but it was the clown, juggle/cousin Nochum. Astute little boy is he.

The kids really enjoyed the concert. They had a lot of fun dancing and clapping along and singing with their favorite Uncle. There was one weird guy on stage with Uncle Moishy, and I am trying to figure out who he is and why he was there. It was not the usual mitzvah men who played the keyboard or drums, nor was it Uncle Moshy or cousin Nochum. It was some guy named Dovid, who used to do the announcements from behind, but this time stood on stage, sang into the mike, and killed lots of Nochum's jokes made for the adults. He also ruined some of Uncle Moishys routines. If anyone knows why he was there, and what purpose he served, please let me know.

All in all it has been a busy day. Best of all, the kids had a super day.

Favors

2005-11-01T01:59:00.000-05:00

Asking a favor from people is never easy nor fun. Especially those who actually keep track of the favor and expect "an eye for an eye" return. Don't get me wrong. I do favors for people and ask for them as well. I have a few that I don't feel the need nor do they make me feel that I must return it exactly for them. I try to pay back my favors as well, but sometimes it is just not possible. Sometimes it is just annoying to deal with people as well.

I needed a favor from someone who I am relatively close with. So, I called her up, and told her the scenario, and she was so accommodating. Sure she will do the favor for me, but I will return the favor to her when it is at her convenient. DING DONG. The warning bell just went off, though I chose to ignore it. I owe her a favor. What is the big deal? Inconvenient for me? Messes with my work schedule? Big deal. It was hard for her to do what I asked for, but she did it for me. No complaints.

As I was speaking to her this week, and mentioned that I might be going somewhere earlier than planned, she was wondering if by chance, NOT to call in the favor, but if I was going anyway can I do her a favor, because I am going anyway and it is not out of my way. But she is saving the returned favor that I owe for another time when it is more suitable for her. WHAT THE @#$%^& is this? Please explain this to me! When you do a favor for a friend, are you really keeping track to see whether or not she repaid your favor at your convenient making it a harder obligation than it really is? Is it really even stevens? Mine are usually not. If I ask for a favor I see if the other person can do it. If someone owes me the favor, when they offer to do the favor, I accept, and not demand it, or bank it. I just don't get it.

She had the audacity to ask me to do something as a "you are going anyway, so it is not the favor that you owe me because that I will use when it will be convenient for me and not you, but since you are going, be a pal and do this for me, scott free." I don't owe you anything for this, because you are going anyway. Because of that, I am so not interested in doing it for her. I am so interested in being mean and want to stop the relationship we have going on because, frankly, I don't like it. Not one little bit.

Please tell me, my dear loyal readers, that you are a true friend. That when you do a favor for someone, and even if you did it as an exchange-a-favor favor, you will not really hold the other person to it. And if you do request the pay back favor, it is as their convenient and not just yours. And if they do owe you a favor, you don't ask for them to do something for you that is on their way, but remind them again, that what they are doing is NOT the favor they owe you, but just a token of friendship, because of course they would do the same for you...NOT.

Keeping ones word is very important. I am going to keep mine. I will also know when to offer a favor and when I have the right to be not nice and say No. This is one of those times. It really is "it's all in the way you phrase it". Had she phrased it differently, I probably would have done the nonfavor, token thing and forget about it. But since it phrased in such a way...I am going to keep score. Actually, come to think of it, I have one on her and she has not realized it, or maybe she has, but thinks that it is all coming to her.

Thanks for the venting season. We hope to have a better one tomorrow.

To Party or Not to Party, That is the Question

2005-10-31T01:17:00.000-05:00

I just finished with my daughters sixth birthday party.

I had a little bump when I first sent out invitations, but that see to have cleared up.

After speaking with a few other mothers, I wonder..."is it wrong to make a birthday party every year for my daughter/kids?"

What is the real reason why we make a birthday party for our kids? What do we gain? How much does it cost us? I really do not understand why it is frowned upon to have a party. I was actually told, that by third or fourth grade, the girls thinks it is pathetic that the mother still makes a party for the girl. I don't know how much of that I buy into.

I am not sure why the mothers seem so against it, or rather, have this negative attitude. Is it because it is an additional expense, that they cannot afford? Or do not want to afford? Do they think it is silly? Or perhaps it is bothersome to entertain so many little kids at one time for no real purpose.

I am not sure I agree with any of those. One can make a party for little money if planned right. If I had spent some time to figure things out, I could have made the party cheaper but I didn't vest that much time and energy into it. I had some misgivings about having it all, but after speaking to a friend who said, "I had a friend who had birthday parties every year, we all want it, but didn't have it" and it made me think, "why not do it for her?" I am also not the only one making another party this year, so what is the grief? What is with the comments?! Yes, I am a brave brave mother, who has had 24+ six year girls at my house for two hours. Look at me. I survived too.

My daughter has some really good girls in her class. I even called one mother up to tell her what her daughter had said to me on her way to her car. "Thank you for having me, and thanks for letting me play and stay..." She was genuine. She was the real thing. She thought about thanking the hostess more so than the birthday girl thanking her for the gift and coming.

Another girl was really upset about missing the party, as her mother told her she must go to a family simcha instead. She then had this wonderful idea. "If I cannot go to the birthday party, can we at least drop off a birthday pressent for her before we go to the other simcha?" These are SIX years old girls.

My daughter had some friends come to the party who are not in her class, but she knows them from camp, or other places. She played with all the girls who came and ran around with them like every one else. Every once in a while, I would notice a girl off to the side, feeling sad and alone. I would try to talk to her, but she would just shy away and looked like she was hiding her tears. I then promtly called my daughter over...and told her to go look for the girl. A minute later, I would see two girls running with smiles on their faces, one being my daughter, and one being the girl who was sad. This has happened a few times. A good friend she is. Now I see what the teachers mean when they say she is there for others, and a good friend to them. In her unassuming ways, she manages to enlighten others.

We are done for birthday parties this year. We did one in June, One begining of October, and one at the end of October. That is all. I guess I am the party planner, and never the party girl.

Just a Short Note

2005-10-11T22:09:00.000-04:00

The year is over. A new one is starting. Time to reflect on the past and improve myself for the future.

Need to calculate what I did and what I was thinking when I did it. Then remember the outcome and decide if that was the result I was looking for. If it was, great! Remember the strategy and move on. Otherwise, I need to recalculate my doings and make sure I improve on myself so that I can get positive results.

So many things have happened this past year, some I want to remember and some I do not. I want to improve yet, I wish I wont have the opportunity to have that test again.

To my dear readers, work on yourself before you worry about others. Be selfish. Make sure you are the person you want to be. To be the one you were striving for last year. Don't lose sight of the goal and get side tracked by other things. It is very hard. But if we do not take of ourselves..Who will?

Gmar Tov. And have a good and meaningful fast. May this be our last fast.

Kesiva Vchasima Tova and more

2005-09-29T00:26:00.000-04:00

You guys deserve an update. So here it is.

Carpool issues are fine. No more leaving my daughter behind in school. I try my hardest to be on time, and figured a way to get my daughter to school on time. It seems to be working...most of the days.

My daughters' teachers called. Yes, both teachers called this past week. She is doing great. Reading on the high end of her reading group (yay!) and very smart. Very helpful and friendly. I received great reports from both her morning teacher and her afternoon teacher. I am so happy for her. She is loving first grade a lot. Her biggest complaint about school is...She wishes she was in eighth grade or higher. Why? you ask? Because she wants her homework to be harder. This is my daughter. I am so happy for her that she loves school. I do hope the teacher will accommodate her with harder homework. Actually, I am not going to bother with that until PTA in December, if she still feels that her homework is not hard enough.

My son is Shabbos Aba this week. He is very excited about that. I received a phone call last week from his morah and he is just a cutie in school. He listens, behaves, etc...so unlike last year. He grew up so much. It is wonderful to hear this from the teachers. He is requesting from me, a birthday party at home. Go figure. Of course being me, I caved in and said he can have one at home...BUT it will be small. I figured about ten kids all together. He helped me with the guest list...and most of the boys are from camp or Nursery, and two girls from his class this year. Impressed. Of the ten kids, only three girls.

Rosh Hashanah is around the corner. Funny I just wrote that and remember my children telling me "some people say that RH is around the corner..." and they are trying to figure out what that means. They know that Rosh Hashanah is next week, but how can it be around the corner for everyone?! We don't all live on one block. Try explaining that one to them.

Back to Rosh Hashanah. Kesiva Vchasima Tova to my dear readers. I wish you and your families a happy and a good year. Let this year be a better year than last. May this year grant you more wisdom and knowledge to do the right thing. Let this year be the one where you understand things better. Let this year be the one where complicated issues become uncomplicated. Where your wishes and dreams can become a reality. With all good things and many more.

I have many different readers. Some are lurkers and some are friends, and others are on-line bloggers who find me. Feel free to sign and let me know who you are or not. Would love to hear from my lurkers, feel free to drop me an email. I will respond one day.

On that note....

What a Day...

2005-09-07T19:53:00.000-04:00

I need to calm down and relax. Stop screaming and breath. In and out. It is not really the end of the world. Even if it seems that way. It is fine. All will be okay. No really. It will.

Today was my daughters first day of school. I dropped her off and couldn't believe the traffic I had encountered. I do hope it will get better. Then off to the other side of town for Orientation for my son. That was so much fun. I told his two teachers to go speak to last years afternoon Morah and learn her method of helping my son grow. Whatever she did was great and she should share the wealth of knowledge. I wonder if they will actually go talk to her. I gave them some advice, but I don't know if they will listen to it or not.

I get a phone call at work at about 4:30 from my babysitter. She received a phone call from school that Rivky is still there. No one took her home. I was livid. I was fuming. I was mad. I quickly called the school and told them that she was supposed to go home with another Morah who taught FIRST grade. Apparently that person forgot. The school left her a message and I left her a message. In the meantime, the secretary said she will take her home at 5. I was at a lost. The very first day of car pool and this happens. WHY oh why did I do this?! I finally get a phone call at about Five PM. "OH my, I am sooo sorry, I am nauseous, etc I cannot believe I forgot. I thought she was in Pre 1-A, I didn't pick up my others. I took the other girls home. I forgot, so unlike me. Etc. Etc. etc" Mind you this is the very same person who kept asking me "are they normal" regarding the morning car pool.

She went to go pick up my daughter at five. Now my daughter knows who she is. She will find her on her own. She got a toy and super snacks out of the deal, but also came home at 5:15 instead of at 4:15. I am fuming. I am still burning mad about this.

Doesn't help matters when I get a note in the knapsack that I am missing some supplies. I made sure that I packed everything in her knapsack. A machberes with her name on it is missing. It will be annoying for me to go to the sefarim store to replace it. I know I bought it. She knows she had it in school that morning. Where in the world did it go? On top of that as well, her brand.new.knapsack.has.a.hole.in.it.already! I threw out a water bottle and noticed it was dripping. I go check the pocket and sure enough there is a nice hole in the mesh. Why did I bother with the new knapsack? In a week, it will look just like last years beat up knapsack. Why bother? Can't you tell I am frustrated?! I do need to calm down. I explained how the rolling part works and how she must be careful with her stuff. To be kids again.

I hope that tomorrow is a better day. I sent a note back to the Morah. Dear Morah, Please look around the classroom or ask the girls sitting next to her if they have seen her machberes as I had sent her to school with two machbaros with her name on them. If need be, please let me know which size is missing so I can repurchase it soon. Thank you. I met this Morah in the summer and not sure if I want to call her up. The class note says if we have issues with her, we can send a note to school in the folder. No phone number. I guess it means no calls for her.

To make the day go better, my two boys started emptying water bottles all over the floor. Yes, I know they should not be within reach, but they are. No where else to keep them. I don't mind if they play with them, but to open them and empty them onto the floor, that is too much for me. Glad my husband was home to help clean that one up.

Why oh why do we teach kids how to dial 9.1.1.??? Just another icing on today's day.

I am sure I can think of many more..But I cannot blog about work.

School

2005-09-01T01:00:00.000-04:00

I found it.

I really did.

My daughter asked for a rolling Hello Kitty knapsack. I found it. and I bought it.

Before you start on the issues that it is not good for busses, we do not have bus service out there. It is all car pool.

I searched high and low for this backpack, and I cannot believe I finally found a decent priced one. I am impressed. I do hope this one lasts the year and then some. I remember, in my days, I didn't get a new every year. Nor did I get a Hello Kitty one too. My have time changed.

School starts next week. A first grader. I need to get her uniform all ready. Not impressed though, she had uniforms last year.

I spoke with a friend of mine. The last I spoke to her was when my 14month old was born. Been a while, eh? Well she was telling me about her girls and how she might take them to build-a-bear workshop, but sigh. it is so very close to American girl place. What is with it? What is all the hype of the doll? I have seen the knock-off brands but I still do not get it. I wonder if the girls here are into it. Right now, my daughter is clue-less and is happy with the regular dolls she has. I do not see the need for the others.

There is a guy in town, an old Russian guy who after work, does house calls, and cuts hair. I asked my sister in law, when he comes to her next, to let me know, and maybe he can cut my sons hair as well. So we went off tonight at 7 pm. Night time. I am so very impressed with my boy. He behaved and sat so still and didn't move. He was a great trooper. I am thinking of calling this guy up myself. But who really wants to sweep up cut hair?

Speaking of cut hair. I finally did it. I got it professionally done. I don't remember the last time I had my hair washed and cut by someone. I guess the last time was 6.5 years ago, the day of my wedding. Been too long. I did cut off a bit too much just that it is annoying to stick under a shaitel. But I am thinning that maybe I want to cut my shaitel to shoulder length hair.

Shout out to MINDY! The wonderful news made my day. I am so excited for her wonderful news. A bouncy baby blue bundle of joy. WELCOME to mommyhoood and parenting.

Summer is Over

2005-08-24T11:37:00.000-04:00

Camp is over. Think it would be a good idea to tip my kids counselors? I am not really sure why I didn’t do it when I was supposed to. I just got lazy and never got around to it. So now, I must mail it to them. Oh well. Better late then never. They do deserve their tips and I am assuming they were not paid so much considering the tips are pretty high. I just with the camp would incorporate tips into the fee, and pay it up front, without having to shell out more money later on. Same with school.

Why can’t school give us one bill? Here is what you owe us. Pay it over ten months. It will include all funny obligations, and all miscellaneous charges like Chanukah gifts, pesach hagadah, etc, etc. I would rather know what my expenses are upfront, then having little odds and ends through out the year. But things wont change they will just stay the same.

I think my car pool issues are resolved. I am so excited. I am going to do a double shift. We have four drivers. I swapped with someone, I will take her daughter to Kindergarten in my carpool (and drive her shift) and she will take my daughter home from school, every single day. Woo Hoo. When I she called, I was so excited. I then called one person in the carpool and told her. She agreed, and we just needed to find one more, to make it a fiver driver carpool. I think we found her yesterday. The kids are in the same grade and we are all near each other. The best part, the child who I am driving in the morning, is only going in the morning, so it only affects two people’s car pooling, and one of them is me. Car pooling is a stress that I can do without! Best part about this car pool, is that there are three of us who have boys! So assuming we are all promoted, they will be in the same building next year and we just need to find two more children to join. For those of you who don’t carpool, you will never understand my stress. For those of you who do not work you will definitely not understand the hardship it is to find someone who can drive the PM shift. My carpool is made up of THREE working MOMS. Go figure! That is a tough carpool. BH I think it is working out.

My daughter requested a specific knapsack. A rolling Hello Kitty knapsack. I am searching high and low for one, and all the hot-spots I tried, do not have it. I did check Kohls.com, but it is way too much money for me to spend on a knapsack when I can get a regular HK knapsack for half price. I will keep searching as I still have two weeks till school starts.

Speaking of school. I went shopping for uniform shirts. I cannot seem to find a white oxford shirt for my darling daughter. I did find lacy peter pan collars, and I am wondering if the school will allow her to wear them. It was hard to find regular peter pan color shirts. I can’t even find them on Land’s End. Next, I have to try on her skirts and jumper from last year to see if they still fit her. Yes, I know, we had uniforms before First Grade. It did make getting dress easier!

Looking for a new cell phone. Any suggestions? Right now I have Cingular, but the old plan not the digital one, it is three years old. I want to upgrade because all my calls are dropping, as they are not replacing the old towers. But my service plan is great. I get a lot of calls for cheap, and there is no one out there who can beat that. I will just have to be careful with my minutes. I looked into the Razr3 and the V551. Mixed reviews. Some say they are great and super while others claim they are faulty. I want the V551 while my husband wants the Razr. We do not need to get the same phone. My biggest complaint on my old Motorola phone was the charging was hard to hook up. The Nokia charger is much easier. Other than that, I would rather get a Motorola phone. Up for suggestions, so lets hear it.

Have a great day.

2005-08-16T00:19:00.000-04:00

So I borrowed a dvd from this friend, on the condition that I return it to the store in the morning, on my way to work. I gave her my word. I promised. I even spoke to her that morning and told her I will return it when I leave.

I forgot.

I left to work.

I realized once I got five minutes away from work. I left the DVD in my computer.

I called her. I felt horrible. I couldn't believe it.

I didn't do it on purpose.

I promised. I felt horrible.

I made her pick up from my house, return it herself. I said I was sorry.

I also had the nerve to borrow another one tonight...and although said I would return it tonight, convinced her to let me keep it till morning.

I will remember this time.

I hope!

Dear Ifuncused

2005-08-11T23:27:00.000-04:00

In response to my letter to them letting them know how bad of an idea it is to make the DH cake mixes dairy.

Dear ifuncused (okay, not really even though most of you know me...:

We appreciate the time you've taken to share your thoughts and concerns
about a Duncan Hines® product with us. We have forwarded your comments to
our Marketing and Product Development groups for review and consideration
as they continue to improve existing products and develop new items. We
are working hard to provide you with the kinds of products you want, and
it is important for us to know when we do not meet your expectations.

Thank you for taking the time to email us. Contact us again if we can be
of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,Robin Diamond
Consumer Services Representative000531087A**END**

Update

2005-08-11T23:07:00.000-04:00

I bought frames for my kids pictures. We took pictures back in January, and I got the kids 5x7's so they can have family pictures in their room. Is it really that weird for my daughter to have a picture of herself hanging in her room? I have seen this numerous times, yet someone mentioned to me that it was odd. Now I am doubting myself.

In the meantime, the frames that I bought are these nice 5x7 silver frames. Each room (two rooms, one for my daughter and one for the boys) will have the following pictures:

Picture of the family
Picture of each kid
Picture of the three of them.
My daughter and baby have two poses, so they will get an additional picture to hang up.

As I look at the pictures, I see how six-seven months is really a long time with little kids. The baby looks so different now. He is 13 almost 14 months old already. His walking is improving tremendously daily. Today he walks half the length of the house with out falling. Just last week it was a mere few steps. What do I mean last week? Monday night by the doctor he was only doing five...Now he just walks. Falls down, but gets right back up. TIME to get shoes for him already. My three year old got bigger and matured, as well as my five year old. Time seems to be passing by pretty fast.

Check out these pictures. I am sure most of you have already seen them, but still worth it to look at it again. I am in shock with how many people showed up.

A friend of mine from High school is moving here soon. I keep calling her, and she doesn't seem to answer the phone. I just leave her messages. Today I left her a message that I probably won't get a return call, but "I am sure I will see you around town soon". Insinuating to her, that she doesn't call back. I took my kids to the pizza store tonight and who do I bump into. None other than the very friend that I just left that comment too. I was laughing. I told her "I just left you a message saying that I will see you around town...And I am actually seeing you around town!" It was very funny. Didn't have much time to talk, as it was supper time and my son was hungry. But it was very nice to see her and know for a fact that she is indeed moving here. Chalk one up for another person moving to New Jersey. See it cannot be that bad!

Hope you all have a good fast this Sunday.

Sad Sad News From the Kitchen

2005-08-10T19:40:00.000-04:00

Duncan Hines® cake mixes are becoming Dairy. What a sad sad day for me. I use the cake mixes to make yummy cakes for Shabbos... and now...No more. I must go and stock up on the cake mixes...

I even wrote the company a letter. I suggested they rethink what they want to do. I even mentioned that Stella Dora tried that on their Swiss Fudge cookies, aka Streimel cookies. I don't know if it will help, but I did get a response.

Oh, does this mean that I must start making my own cakes?

I am so Mad

2005-07-25T16:23:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-24T10:35:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-12T22:13:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-07-10T21:17:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-06T22:08:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-01T15:21:00.000-04:00

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.

Happy Birthday

2005-06-23T20:55:00.000-04:00

Shabbos is my son's birthday.

He will be ONE. I can't believe it is a year!

One year old.

Adorable.

The baby of the family.

A year ago Thursday, I signed away my life by signing my closing documents on my house. My oldest and longest friend went to her fathers levaya while I was having contractions (I still think the news of his passing put me into labor, along with me bending and packing, and being 1 1/2 weeks late). Friday I had a baby boy. Sunday I came home from the hospital to pack. Monday, I went to the lawyers office with my husband for him to sign away his life, we finished packing. Tuesday, we moved into the house on Tuesday. Wednesday the kids came home and went to daycamp. Thursday was the vach nach, and Friday was the Bris. I can say that was one hectic week.

My kids are growing nicely, BH. My baby is one! We, actually, I am planning a birthday party for him this coming Sunday. You know, I came to the conclusion that you can never get everyone to coordinate their schedule. At least one brother will be here. Will try to get the other one here eventually. Now I just need to figure out how many kids will be here and how many party bags to prepare. I would rather have just enough than too much. But will take more prepared party bags than not enough bags. Now, how does one prepare to plan a party for a One year old who will have no idea that it is his birthday, and that all the kids are there for him? Do I need to have him in mind when I prepare the activities? Or just use his birthday as an excuse to get the people here?!

One year later, he is standing by himself. Crawling upstairs. Laughing. Makes himself understood when he is hurt or upset. Claps his hands. And really understands you when you tell him something. Will "say" yes or no with his head. And when told to say bye-bye, he waves. So, he might not talk but he fully understands what you are telling him. Maybe he will realize there is a party because of him. Smart little fellow.

A year has gone by. A year since I had my last baby. I year since I bought my house. Will always use his birthday as a milestone and date to know when we purchased the house (go figure). I am getting over the year part. Will let you know how his party went, after we have it.

Mazel Tov.

Stuff

2005-06-20T22:56:00.000-04:00

Went to Baltimore yesterday for an afternoon wedding.
About thirty minutes into the trip, I realized that I left my shaitel at home.
There was no way possible to turn back, as we were already late.

When we hit Baltimore area, we went to Towson Mall, and went shopping.
For a hat.
The Rack didn’t have any white hats. The line was huge.
Nordstrom had one hat, but it wasn’t doable with my outfit.

Off to the mall we went. To Hechts.
Found this huge black hat.
I call it my church hat.
I bought it.

My cousin, who was so nice to watch two of my kids, lent me her hat-fall so that I didn’t have to go with just this huge hat.
I cannot believe I went out in public with such a hat.
It was fun to an extent.
I now have a church hat that I don’t know when I will wear it again.

As I mentioned before, my cousin watched the older kids for us while we went to the wedding. She has three of her own (twin boys and an older daughter) and I forgot when I asked, she is due in a month or so. She was fine with it. My kids were great (yay). She had two of the boys stuff, as the twins are boys. She had a small bike that my son was riding, the very bike I was looking to purchase. She offered it to us. She has been trying to get rid of it for a long time. Finally. She got rid of it. We were the happy takers. It is just his size. He loved it. He still loves riding it today. “Mommy, I told all my Moros about the new bike.”

We got a new swing set (incase I forgot to update you). We bought a used one, on Ebay. Go figure. Good deal. The kids love it. They spent the entire yomtov outside. They go out daily. They love it. Which means we love it as well. I want to fix it up and add to it, but will wait a little. It is a great toy for the kids. They will definitely play with this for a long long time.

Today

2005-06-12T15:32:00.000-04:00

Company for almost all the Yom Tov meals.

Impressed.

A lot of cooking.

No room in the fridge.

Need FOUR menues.

Make sure it is all Cholov Yisroel for the company.

Make sure the company will like it.

Make sure I will like it.

Make sure I do all the muksah cooking today.

Figure out where to put all the food.

Figure out why I decided that this past Shabbos was a good Shabbos to go away.

Thank my husband for taking two of the three kids away for the day so I can spend all day cooking.

Figure out how to get cool air into the kitchen.

Hope that the food comes out good.

Have a good Yom Tov my dear readers.

Friends

2005-06-09T21:30:00.001-04:00

Same debate.

Different person.

Who is right?

Who is wrong?

Stay-at-home Moms vs Working Moms.

I hate discussing it.

We each do what we feel is right.

You do things your way.

I will do things my way.

We can agree to disagree and agree to be friends.

Friends respect one another.

Friends don't always have to agree with one another in order to remain friends.

Friends are there for one another.

Friends understand one another, or say they do, even if they do not always.

*for my working friends, my stay at home friends, and everyone else.

Friends

2005-06-09T21:30:00.000-04:00

We Got IT

2005-06-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

Remember the post where I talked about a swing-set. Well, we bought one!

Actually my husband bought one. I was at the Zoo with my children and their cousins and aunt. My husband went with a dear friend who came to NJ to help him take it apart. The next day, he went by himself to pick up the pieces and to take it apart even more, because now he had a min-van instead of the rental truck that they were hoping for. Today is Thursday, and it is up and running. He fixed many things himself, and definitely put it together himself. Hurray. The kids are so very excited about it.

Over the past few weeks, my lovely daughter kept asking us to get a swing-set. I am not sure if she thought of this on her own, or because she kept on hearing our conversation on this topic, and we showed her brochures and catalogs from different companies. Nonetheless, we have a very nice sized swing-set in our backyard and we will not even be home for Shabbos this week for them to enjoy. But, we will be home for Shavuos and that is TWO days (plus erev). I really hope they enjoy it and play with it.

Rant

2005-06-03T13:02:00.000-04:00

I went to the infamous tznius shiur this past week. I wanted to go because I knew personally one of the speakers and was curious what she had to say. I didn’t realize until right when I go there that the video presentation was on tznius. Had I knows, I am not so sure I would have gone. Probably to hear the one speaker, but I guess it is a good thing that I went.

I am not going to give over the shiur and the musser we received. But I have a valid complaint. One of the people talking brought up fashion. They referred to the designers as the low life designer in Paris or on Madison Avenue. I have big issues with that. Is it really necessary to put someone else down in order to make ourselves better? Is it really part of our masorah that in order to stress how better and how we should be above everyone else that we need to put them down and mock fun at them and call them names? How hypocritical it is to do such things. We don’t allow our kids to bad mouth other children. We teach them that we should find the good in others, and yet here we are, doing the opposite.

Remember when we want to make a point and to point things out, there are ways to do it and ways not to do it. I don’t care what, there is no valid reason to put others down to make yourself look better. Especially those whom we use! We use those fashion designers to design our clothing. If not their clothing them a knock-off. And please, when was the last time a heimishe person designed clothing or other things we wear. We just do not do that. So why do we have to lower ourselves and to stoop to their level by calling them “low-lifes” and other not so nice words.

Sorry for ranting, but it does bother me. I have some other issues, but just not for now.

My How They Grow

2005-05-26T23:54:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, or is today? is my daughters' siddur play. They chose Lag BaOmer so they can have music. They chose a Friday because, I do not know. It is scheduled for 9:20 AM. I wonder how punctual they are? I wonder how long it will be for? I am also still getting over the shock or not so shocking news that no fathers are allowed to her siddur play. I will get over it. It is not that important. The fathers will have nachas from them another time, another way. Ho hum.

I keep forgetting she is turning six. Granted she has about four months or so to turn six, I keep forgetting that she is closer to six than to five. Meaning, when I was looking at a toy (skipit) it said for age six and up. I started to put it back, until it dawned on me, SHE IS ALMOST SIX! My big girl is growing up. So fast. Tomorrow is her siddur play. Tomorrow she will get a siddur. This means she already knows how to read Hebrew. My girl is not so little anymore.

Monday is my sons’ graduation. He is graduating Nursery (or Pre-K). He has grown and matured over the year. Mind you that at the beginning of the school year he was not even three and now he is three and a half. Time flies. He is so different now. His behavior, his attitude, everything.

Here they purposefully made his graduation on Monday, Memorial Day. They figured that the parents would like the fact that they do not have to miss a day of work for the graduation. True. Very true. The kids have school anyway. And because Shavuos is a week before school is over, there was no other time to make it. This made the most sense. I appreciate the Morah’s thoughtfulness. I cannot wait to see him. He has been singing his song. “..the whole EAR through…” uh oh, what can I do? He refuses to realize that the word is YEAR and not EAR.

Tomorrow is his class trip. They are going to this real neat park near us. A great place for them to go to. Shaded, lots of climbing things, it has wooden castles and different neat things. For adults it is great because it has lots of shades. For the kids it is great because there is a lot to do, no matter the age. And they have actual bathrooms. With toilet paper. Amazing. They need chaperones. I figured, hey I am off for the day, I can finally chaperone. Hey, I am off for the day BECAUSE I have her graduation. Same time. No can do. What a shame. He will have loads of fun anyway.

My kids are getting bigger. My baby will be ONE next month. He has five SIX teeth already. Off balance I might say (four on top) but hey, he is adorable and cute anyway. I thought he would be walking by now, but I guess not. He loves his walking toy. And when he forgets that he is standing, he stands much better than when he is aware that he is standing alone. He still has three weeks before his birthday…you never know….

On that note, I must go finish cooking and cleaning for Shabbos. Busy day tomorrow.

Lunch

2005-05-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

My good watch broke. I never brought it in to be fixed. I got myself a cute, but cheap watch. The only problem I have, it does not have the date on the watch, and my old one did.
I bought myself a salad today. You know the Bodek lunchtime salads that come with salad bag, too little dressing, croutons, a fork, salt (why?) a napkin and the container is the bowl to be used for it all. Oh, don’t forget the toothpick! Why am I telling you this? There is a good reason.

Oh. I forgot today’s date. While I was picking up the salad for my lunch I looked at the date. It said May 24. I was trying to figure out today’s date. Knowing that last time I bought the salad it too had expired the day before but bought it anyway.

I came to work today. Today is May 25. Again. I almost said something to the owner/manager asking him why his salads expired already, but knew I would get an excuse and be told don’t buy it.

Does it really matter if it is one day old? Will try it today and see. I don’t like that my salad has yesterday’s expiration date on it. But what am I to do? I am hungry, and there is no food here. I need to brown-bag my lunch instead.

2005-05-23T14:21:00.000-04:00

Which one to get?

We are looking into swing sets for the kids. They need it. We need it. We have the space for a nice size swing set. The kids love playing on them at the park.

What to do? What to do?

Do you spend a lot of money on one that will last forever or until the kids out grow them? Or do you get one that will need to be replaced before they outgrow the set? Should I get one that takes up a lot of space and offers so many wonderful features? Or do I get the basic one that has good features and not huge?

Don't what to do about it. Mixed feelings. Unsure of what is really worth it. Then again, what is worth when talking about children and their happiness?

The Little Things in Life

2005-05-16T10:59:00.000-04:00

I did it!

I bought my daughter the much-coveted poncho. She has been asking for one for a very long time. I just haven’t seen one that I liked, or the price that I liked. Yesterday I was in a store, returning things and did a quick run through. I looked through the girls clothing and saw one. Not what I wanted, but her size and the price was great. She deserves it. She is a good girl.

On my way to bed I woke her up and gave her the poncho. I made her get out of bed to go look in the mirror. She loved it. She was so happy. So excited to wear it! It feels so good when you do something for someone and you know they love it! It was so worth it to wake her up in middle of her sleep so she can see it and appreciate it.

Me Think

2005-05-12T17:18:00.000-04:00

I am driving too fast when the kids think the car ride is like a roller coaster.....

Horizon

2005-05-11T21:29:00.000-04:00

I just cheated. I read the Horizon magazine before Shabbos. Intense article in there!

"Table 23 A Psychodrama" by Tali Arieff.

Mindy, where are you when I want to talk to you?

Just Stuff

2005-05-10T21:14:00.000-04:00

I am so excited. Okay, let us not exaggerate. But I got my Horizon magazine today in the mail. Now I need to find time to read it. I guess it is reading that, or blogging, or playing on line. Tonight I chose on-line. Maybe I will just save it for Shabbos...(yeah, like I get a chance to read then.)

I am not sure what to do. My cleaning lady (yeah, I am spoiled) is coming tomorrow. Last week she was here for two hours and I gave her four things to do. She did only two of the four. Tomorrow she will be here for four hours and I am afraid that what I need most will be neglected or not done as I want, and I won't even be home to check on her. I also not so sure what needs to be done now, and never know how long it will take her to actually do the work. Sometimes she takes her time, and others she gets most of it done. So we will see. I think I might just look for someone new, but that I hate as well. I am not so good with firing people, or asking them not to come. But it is not really my fault. She doesn't speak my language, how easy is it to communicate then?

Again today was election day here in my hometown. I am not sure why they don't make the two elections the same day, opposed to a month apart. But what do I know about politics. They just like us to get out and go vote. I did. I took two kids with me as well. We got little hand outs on our way into the voting room. It was cute. Yes they were all outside the building...No politicians inside! I wonder if they actually stood there all day. One of the councilman who is running was there this morning, and again tonight when I walked over there. Could it be? Could it be there is only one place to vote here? I think not. Wonder if he went to the other area? Mind you, we have two places right next door to one another. No, really. I am serious. One is in the public school and the other is in the Shul which is right next door. Go figure. Last month I ran around trying to figure out where to vote. I was not sure which address they had. This month I remembered. I think we are done with voting...Until. next.month. Don't. ask.

Trying to get a swing set for our kiddies. You can spend over ten grand for one. Hard to chose. I guess the pocket book will make the decision easier. It is important especially since we do have the space to get a nice swingset for them to play in the backyard. If only....ah, to dream.

My have things changed over time. I remember when I was younger...before I was married I used to be very very into my JM and during this time of year I was eagerly waiting for Lag BaOmer so I can listen to my CD's. Now, I haven't bought a new CD in over a year. Things are different. My collection is old. The only new tapes I buy are Uncle Moishe no more Dachs, Wald, and forget the new singers. I wonder if it is me or the age. Which do you think?

The world is a small place. And Jewish geography is getting smaller and smaller. Went to a wedding. My cousins son is good friends with an old friend of mine. Went to make a shiva call, and someone there knew my my husbands sisters family. Knew her mother inlaw very well. Another person came, and he is extremely close with my cousins. The four corners are getting closer and closer. Last night at the wedding we were trying to figure out how we are related to one another. "I'm my own Grandpa" came to mind. It was quite funny.

Adios for now my dear readers.

Must go do work and clean up.

How come my spacing is all screwed up??

Live Life to the Fullest and Don't Forget to Love

2005-05-06T10:05:00.000-04:00

A good friend (albeit much older than I) lost her mother over yom tov. Right after the second Seder, her very ill mother was niftira. She got the phone call. And then the police came to tell her. Then she went to the funeral home to do shmira all night and the next day. Luckily for her, she knew on Friday that the time was imminent and made all the preparations before Yom Tov, and didn't have the news sprung upon her.

I knew her mother as I have seen her numerous times. I actually visited her in the nursing home once. We went shopping together too. Even back then the early stages of Alzheimer’s kicked in. What a horrible disease. What a horrible feeling for the children who are so dedicated to their parents and not to have them know who they are. What a horrible way to go. You learn so much in life, gain so much knowledge and then to have it slowly slip your mind until you barely remember your own name. Until you are back to an infant stage of life and having others feed you and take care of your needs for you. Gone is your independence. Gone is the respect that you had demanded. Gone is the respect you worked hard for and deserved. You are put in your place. God took over and is showing who is really in control.

To live a full life and then to go backwards and still know what is going on is a horrible feeling for the person. Imagine if you know what is going on but yet you realize you are missing some social skills that seem to have gotten lost. But you are aware that you are different. You are aware that you are going down hill. You fight so hard for your independent. You do not want to lose it. You do not want to live in that black box that you see others living in. Where they are sitting in a chair in their own little world. You fight to do things your way. You fight to live on your own. You do not want to surrender, but slowly and surely you realize that it is a useless fight. You give in, but still as stubborn as ever, you blame the kids. You pick on your own children who in reality are doing the best they can in the situation. They too are hurt and confused. The role of the parent reversed. They are now their parents’ parent. They need to look and take care another child who fluctuates between being a child to being an adult and a parent. One needs to be careful and it makes life very hard on everyone.

Going to a shiva house makes you rethink your life and see things differently. You see people differently, and it also makes you take a good look at your life and make sure you are living your life to the fullest and making the most of it and with the people you care about and love.

Hamakom Yenachim Eschem Bsoch Shaar Avlei Tzyon Byerushalayim.
May we only hear of simchas from one another.

I am still here

2005-05-04T13:26:00.000-04:00

Helloooooooooo Readers,

I have not forgotten you guys. Really. I didn't. I am just swamped because I actually took off the entire Yom Tov. It was great. It was fun. But now it is back to work. I have a weeks worth of work that I must get done on top of daily issues that I need to answer and take care of.

I will be back. I promise.

I must say again and again, I am so happy that I moved out. It is nice to visit, but to live there, I just wouldn't be able to do it. Okay, probably able to do it, if I never left, but since I left....I don't want to permanently move back! Sorry friends!

Tough Decissions

2005-04-20T11:57:00.000-04:00

To work or not to work, that is the question. It is a tough call and a conscientious decision that is made by husband and wife. There are many reasons why a mother will go back to work or not to go back to work. It is even harder when outsiders judge the mother without knowing the full scenario.

Now I am a working mom who works outside the home as well as inside the home at night. I get to do both and work very hard. I splurged this year and have a babysitter to come to my house instead of sending my baby to someone else. I felt that he would benefit the one on one attention, and being in his own environment instead of with many other kids of different ages. He is my first baby that I was not home for at this age. I feel guilty already without having others tell me about their point of view on this subject matter. It is my choice and reasoning and no one else can really understand it. I am happy that at least I am able to have the babysitter in my house, as opposed to sending the baby out all day.

There are many benefits of having someone in your house. Right now is a great time to have a babysitter in the house, opposed to sending them out. All my kids are off from school now, so I am not paying extra to have someone else watch all of them. They have about a week off from school and she is there to entertain them and take them out to the park. She arranged play dates after I left her with a few phone numbers and when the kids received a call, she took care of it. This alone is a relief off of my back. Last year I moved into to my mom’s house, and on erev Pesach, I left her with two kids. Trust me, I have received numerous comments on how wrong it was for me to do what I did. But reality is my mom didn’t say no, and then made me run tons of errands for her when I did get back from work without my kids. So it was not as bad as you think. Had she said no, I wouldn’t have gone to work. Now I have someone here to watch them while I go to work.

I keep losing my train of thought while I stop writing this and work.

Next week is chol hamoed. I am not sure yet what I am going to do. I told my boss I was taking off two days and she was fine with whatever I chose. I said I feel bad leaving the kids on chol hamoed. I am not so sure now what I am going to do about it. I am still thinking if I will take an extra day off and stay with them. It is not like they will be alone. They will do things with my family, but I can still have that Jewish mother guilt. Maybe I will hook up with a friend or two. Maybe I can see if I can bring work home and do work at night so it won’t be the worst thing to take off so many days. I also need to factor in Succos and what I am going to do then.

Gotta run, good gossip going on here and I want to listen to what is going on. Maybe it will be a new topic for me, Jewish children vs. non-Jewish children.

Happy cleaning!

Yesterday

2005-04-18T13:36:00.000-04:00

We were invited to an impromptu barbeque. Not so far from us and we always wanted to check it out. So we went.

Before we went we had our very own picnic in our back yard. You see my darling three year old has been asking for a picnic for over a week already. Ever since we read about how Winnie the Pooh goes on a picnic, he very sweetly asked if we could have one. I told him when the weather gets warmer, sure why not. It would be fun! So every day he kept asking for it. I told him on a Sunday so his Abba can join as well. He couldn’t wait. So yesterday he asked for it since he looked outside and saw that it was sunny. Sure enough we had a picnic for lunch.

I made sandwiches for the kids and gave them a juice box. I heated up leftovers for my husband and myself. We found something to use as a tablecloth and off we went, to eat our lunch outside. It was fun. It was in our own backyard. The little guy was glowing. He was very happy. He had a great idea and we followed through with it. We all had fun. Even the baby who was eating the bigger kids lunches!

After our picnic lunch, we packed up the car and off we went to our barbeque. It wasn’t far, but if we planned it right, the kids would get a good nap and wont be cranky. It worked. We got there two hours later. We were the only ones there. A single guy said he might show up, but didn’t. Our friend tried to get a hold of another couple but they weren’t reachable. Not by land line and not by cell p hone. I said she is in labor then. I am very close with her, and knew she was really due any day. I tried calling them at home but got the machine. Through out the meal, I kept calling my voice mail to see if they left a message, as at this point I was waiting to hear about the babies. Sure enough we get a phone call there. It’s a girl and a boy! Mazel Tov!

I am so happy for her. A little girl. A little boy. So very nice, to a wonderful couple. I am still getting over the shock that my friend is a father! He is a father, scary thought!!! Watch out world! Watch out kids! Oh, he is still on cloud nine, I don’t know when he will land, but he is so very happy! It is contagious. I on a high from talking to him. I am so very happy and excited and cannot wait to see the little ones. What wonderful news. Oif simchas to all!

What to Write About...

2005-04-15T11:13:00.000-04:00

I give up. I can’t do this anymore. I have written about three drafts to write, but couldn’t finish them. I couldn’t get them into a blog format. My mind is just not into the writing feature this week. Maybe when things calm down I will be able to write coherent words of wisdom and my dedicated readers will actually have something to read this upcoming week. Who knows?

Will I write about how hard it is to live out of a suitcase for the entire yomtov? Will I complain about being at family for the entire time and have no space? And how this and that is different. And and and and. I will try to take note from my friend and talk about positive things. I will definitely try to enjoy myself while I am there. I can’t complain if I don’t do anything, so I will do things to make it enjoyable for everyone there. I will take suggestions from any and everyone who has suggestions to offer!

Packing is annoying as well. Who knows what the weather will be like and I am always bound to leave something important at home. I will make sure to take enough clothing with and my laptop! Never leave home without it. I never tried to see if it will work with the wireless, but I am hoping it will.

I decided that for the family we are to take off two days each for chol hamoed. Of the two days each, one will coincide with each other so we can have a family day out. I am not sure when and what we will do, but I hope it will be fun. The other two days we are on our own and the fourth day, the kids will be with my mom without us. I can’t take off so many days from work, so this is a good compromise. I hope the kids have fun as well.

When did the phenomenon of doing something every single day of chol hamoed the norm? When I was younger, we didn’t go out to all the attractions on every single day. We did other things, but I don’t recall what they were now. I think once we went to the 18th avenue shenanigan. But to do something which all cost a lot of money every day? What is this generation coming to? Can’t they entertain themselves at the park or at home? Can’t we come up with something that doesn’t entail the bells and whistles and something happening every second? I guess I don’t remember my childhood that much, or, I don’t know. But we are going to do something as a family, but not sure what the “bells and whistles” will be.

So, have a chag kasher vsameach. I don’t know when I will be back here to blogger land. I do have to clean and work. But not that much cleaning. Don’t forget the usual joke, check your computer hard drive for chametz!

Until next time…..

Just Stuff

2005-04-08T10:04:00.000-04:00

Why didn't anyone tell me that it has been a week since I last blogged? Shame on me! But shame on you my readers for not saying anything.

Fish update: 4 out of 5 are alive and well. I will stop feeding them so much food. Will make sure that the water is clean (actually that is my husbands job, I feed them) The kids, they look at them and the baby laughs and points to them.

Last night we had sheva brachos to go to in Boro Park. I went incognito. I showed up with a hat and a blond shaitel. Yes. I am contemplating of changing my shaitel color and going blond or more blonde and not so dark of a shaitel now. I tried it out. No one commented on it. No one there knew me so well to notice and those who did were not really in the position to say anything (hence the men). So I had no real audience to see what the reaction would have been. I did enjoy wearing the blond color fall, and I am really thinking of changing. I need a bigger audience…or not. I need to figure out the right color for me. I figured, once I get used to it, so will others and it won’t be an issue. It will take time for the adjustment period to get used to the new color, but I am really thinking of it.

My mother took her uncle to the ER yesterday because he wasn’t feeling so well. While she was there an intern went over to her and asked her if she is Mrs. ____ (come on, there are some who don’t me yet). He went on to tell her that he’s good friends with __ her son-in-law (my husband). It was Mikey. He recognized her. My mom called me and when I told her who it was, she remembered the name. It was really cool! I saw him last night at sheva brachos. He told me the story. He said he will go tomorrow and check my great uncle and see how he is doing. Mind you, he just started the ER this month! (BH my uncle seems to be doing better).

On a different note, my baby sitter has been showing up every day for two weeks straight. I am very impressed and very happy with her. The kids really like her and we seemed to have ironed out the things that were issues. I didn’t have time to cook for Shabbos, but she is more than happy to do it so I gave her things to do on this short day (a short working day for her, till 1:30). I would like to finish the rest of the cooking that I need to cook as early as possible so the kids can do things. It is such a long Friday! I don’t know what I am going to do with them. Their bedtime is candle lighting time.

Pesach is around the corner. After this Shabbos one more Shabbos before we move out. Probably moving to my mom for the entire time. Boro Park here I come! I have to brace myself and be ready to be there. (Well, since I don’t go to shul, it is more my husband needs to get ready J hehehe.)

Have a good Shabbos my faithful readers.

Yesterday

2005-03-31T12:27:00.001-05:00

Tuesday I get a phone call. A classmate of mine just lost her mother and the levayah is at 1. I contemplated what to do. Do I go? Do I just go for a shiva call? I decided that since I am at work already and I haven’t seen her in many years and don’t have much to do with her. And that she was only in grade school with me, I will go make a shiva call to her this week instead of going to the levaya as well, where she will not see me. Her mother was sick for a year and half. Right after they moved to a new place. BH. She wouldn’t have been able to handle the stairs in the old place and the new apartment had an elevator. Hashem watches over us and sends a Refuah before the makah.

I called a friend of mine who went to school with her as well and we made plans to meet and go together. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be recognized or recognize the girl. When we go to the shiva house, she asked me quietly which of the three ladies wearing snoods was her. I recognized her right away. When we got closer our friend nodded her head and said my name. She recognized me right away. My friend asked her if she recognized her as well, and she said her name too. The friend who came with was impressed. After all we graduated high school 15 years ago! I am told that my face is the same and hasn’t changed. This appears to be true when I have people recognize me from when I was very little. I am not sure how to take that.

We talked a little but mostly sat there and listened to a few others talk to her older sister. Her older sister was in my older sisters class (yes, I do have an older sister) and I did send her my sister’s condolences. I got to meet some other girls who were in my sister’s class and one who told me wonderful news. Her sister that was in my class as well just got married a few weeks ago! I was so happy to hear that. Come to think of it, there apparently were a few of us with older siblings. At least four of us had sisters in the same class, meaning they are seven years older than us. The other half of the class were the oldest. Some had a sister a grade or two older and the rest, were in the middle of the family or only child.

As we shmoozed a little there, we got to update her on what is going on in our lives. She moved out of town and happens to know my oldest brother in law. She knew a lot about me via my cousin who went to high school with her (which is how I heard about her mother). The friend who came with me updated her on her life. We did the right thing by going. It is important to go to make a shiva call to people even if you are afraid that they will not remember you or you don’t know them so well. I think I will try to make more of an effort to go to people as it does help.

Yesterday

2005-03-31T12:27:00.000-05:00