Better Organization Day 3

OK so yesterday I posted as day 3, guess with my new schedule I am getting ahead of myself. It has been re-posted as day 2. Today was Independence Day and Israel is 63 years old. In a little country like Israel with lots of opinions, this is a conflicting day. Obviously there are many Arabs who do not celebrate this day, I am not sure about those who follow the New Testament and attend church. I don't know anyone here who does that. But even amongst the Israeli Jews there is conflict. Sounds crazy? Not really. After WWII and the Jews started arriving there was a campaign of sorts to prevent the religious Jews from entering Israel or once they arrived to essentially make it impossible for them to remain religious. The goal to secularize everyone or at least bring them down to a reform level. This is really a very minor nutshell, it is much more complex than this, but I am summarizing. On the other hand, without the establishment of Israel there would not be an opportunity for Jews world wide to move here. Today we also benefit from the fact that we can move to Judea and Samaria (The West Bank) and we have control over the Western Wall and Hevron. Hevron is where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives are buried. It is also said that this is where Adam and Chava (Eve) are buried. It is really an amazing place. Even just architecturally. Suffice to say that about 3/4 of the Jewish population observes this day by participating in Israel's national sport, barbecuing, while about 1/4 carry on as normal. That would include my boys who go to private school. I really wanted to pull them out, but D's argument was that, school is in session and they will miss out if we are gone. So responsibility to education won and in away, learning about our past through Torah and the fact that our kids have the freedom to learn in Jewish schools in Israel is not a bad way to acknowledge our 63rd birthday either. M on the other hand is enrolled in public school and had the day off........

Which leads me into a re-cap of today's attempt to stay on track. I have to say looking back, I did pretty good. We got a late start because S did not have school bus due to the holiday. So I thought, yeah! Sleep in time! Yes, but it put us back more than we should have been... both boys got to school late. Not good. But on the other hand, I made good time in getting everyone dropped off and was home by 9:30am. M did OK entertaining herself once I got a few projects going. Fortunately we have stock piled arts and crafts supplies. Pens, crayons, water colors, we even have a chalk kit from crayola that lets us make our own chalk. It is the cat's meow for her! So I did manage to get some work in. I actually got a couple of hours in, so not bad. My goal per day is 3-4, so 2 is about half way there. For those of you who work full time, I know this sounds wimpy. I used to work those hours too. Working from home is a different deal and I not only have to juggle work responsibility but also home responsibility too and it is very distracting to try and do one and not the other. Anyhow, so for me not bad. I also managed to get caught up on almost ALL the laundry! Considering the back log we have had from the build up from Passover, multiple Shabbos guests, so I am always washing extra sheets, the lice ordeal and the washer being on fritz, not to mention life in general, we have been looking a little crazy in that department. However, we can now see our floor again and it is great! I also managed to get caught up on a good amount of dishes. Another area that tends to lag due to the fact that I AM the dishwasher. No fancy electric machine for us! And I got the kids to clean up their mess, and they were almost in bed on time and it is only 9:45p. plus I also got an article read for work. All in all, I am pretty pleased. Tomorrow may be a little crazy. I have to call the bank first thing in the AM and I need to run and get rolls for the kids since I forgot to get flour and the stores were closed today. But I am thinking positive that all will work out in the end!

Better Organization Day 2

Since I am off schedule and it is past my bedtime I am going to TRY and keep this short. But suffice to say, after what started out as a lost cause yesterday I managed to accomplish a few important things AND get a day off too! Yesterday afternoon I had to run into Jerusalem to get to our bank before Memorial Day and Independence Day began, because then banks would be closed or on short hours and I really needed to pick up our new checks. No, they don't mail them out here. What started out as a chore ended up being very fortuitous because I got to go to the Western Wall which I have not been to in maybe a couple of years, because every time we need to go into town it is a mad dash to get everything done! Anyhow, great weather and the underground tunnels were open! Hurray. Usually it is a guided tour and they are booked way in advance. However, they were open up to the synagogue for afternoon services and it was really inspiring. Plus there more archeology sites that have been started since I was there last and that is always fun too! To be there during the set up of Memorial Day was also really inspiring. Because to think that 43 years ago I would not have been able to go to the Western Wall is really sobering. In 1967 Jerusalem was reunited and once again we were allowed to go and pray at the wall. I actually have a lot more thoughts on that, but I will save it for tomorrow.

Anyway, after I got my dose of spirituality and moral pride I headed over to the mall like a good American! Couldn't be helped since I have really been wanting to go. It has the Gap! Plus Columbia and North Face. It was like a tractor beam pulling me in, how could I resist! It was great to window shop through there. Plus, NO KIDS! What a Mother's Day!

And not only did I manage to get our banking done, take care of another banking issue and hit the highlights of the city, I also managed to get a serious amount of exercise in because I walked every where instead of busing it; AND on the way home, I even got work done! I love having wi-fi on the go for my laptop. It so cool!

So all in all, not bad for what started out as not a good day!

Today was another productive day which included grocery shopping, taking Y to school, socializing with a friend, work, cleaning out the laundry room, and helping D fix the washer.... how many times can a laundry room flood in one day?! Which is why ours is now sparkling clean and the garbage is gone! I also spent quality time with the kids learning about beavers and watching a great show on whether or not Robin Hood could really have existed. It was put on by Discovery Channel and we watched the whole thing on You Tube. It was great! Gotta love the internet! While I did not get everything done on my list, I am feeling pretty accomplished all the same! May our coming weeks continue to be successful and I hope everyone else has a good week too!

So Much For Better Organization!

Recently I have been making an attempt to get my life more organized. Some who read this will just roll their eyes. There are times in my life that I have been organized, but this is not one of them. So in an effort to re-establish this as one my organized phases in life I set up a new schedule. It seemed really practical, the expectations not too high and very straight forward. I even went to bed pretty close to on time. And that was the end of that......

This morning on the other hand, the only kid who got up on time is the one who leaves the house last, of course. Y is our morning person and is always the first one up and the last to leave.....perfect. And even better, we take him. So no need to worry about him missing his school bus. The other two don't come even close to being morning people and getting them ready takes a lot of nudging, sometimes, hollering, sometimes bribery and every now and then they do it on their own. Not today. I managed to get S out the door with a minimal of hassle this morning. I only had to bribe him with a homemade chocolate chip cookie and he did pretty well. I balanced that out with a peanut butter sandwich. We could do worse in the morning. M on the other hand was lost to sleep and all my shaking, nudging, poking and so on was lost on her. Until Y woke her up 5 minutes before her bus was supposed to come! Joy! At that late time I would have been happy to let her sleep and get on with my day and let her entertain herself for the day. I suspicion she has been either bothered by allergies or fighting something. Nope instead at 7:30am she gets out of bed. Great. Unfortunately the bathtub water from the boys has gone cold and we can't just drain it like normal people. We have to let it drain slowly or it backs up. Another 15-20 minutes down the drain. I guess pun intended. Then I have to make sure I get all the snarls out of her hair make sure I get all the shampoo in because her brother put dirt in her hair the day before. Plus I want to make sure we get the tea tree oil nice rubbed in to keep the lice out! Then we have to do breakfast and drag feet and so on. She was only about 2 hours late to school. No problem right?! Then it is time to get the grown ups ready, get interrupted, do something else, get D back out the door, have him come back because he forgot something..........And here it is at 11:52 am and my day is gone! In an hour I have to go get Y and that will be it. I did not even make the grocery store today! The only thing I did manage was to vacuum my bedroom floor. Hurray!

Well maybe this afternoon I can manage to do a few things and start fresh tomorrow! Anything is possible right?!

We're Still From Oregon

Lately I have been feeling a little homesick. In the end of March it was looking like I was going to be heading for a week visit. A very last minute thing because of a family emergency, which Thank G-d was quickly resolved. Whew! It left me feeling a bit of longing for Starbucks, my family and the rain. Well OK maybe not the rain, lets be serious..... but at least the Oregon green. This week I have gotten several reminders that no matter how long we live here, we are still from Oregon. The first one was an on going e-mail, that goes around every year, "Jeff Foxworthy's "You know You Are From Oregon When........." OK so maybe he didn't write it, and maybe he has never been there, who knows! But I still laugh at it and I can still relate to it. Particularly the jokes about recycling, I was so relieved when the plastic bottle recycling bins went in here and when I finally figured out the bottle refund system. The truth is, we rarely have enough refundable items to get more than a dollar, but it goes towards a quart of milk or whatever and that is good enough for me. I hated just tossing these things in the garbage. It is not natural for an Oregonian to toss recyclables in the bin when we know there is a refund!

The next dose of Oregon came from re-installing the hard drive on one of the older computers in our house. We keep the discs in the freezer. Yes, the freezer, that way it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. However, my husband couldn't find them and when I went to look for them where were they? Behind the Starbucks Coffe in our freezer of course! Because we all know that Starbucks and Computers go hand in hand!

And finally, today I got a good old fashioned dose of Portland at a Bris Milah. A Bris Milah is the ritual circumcision of Jewish Baby Boys. Our friends from Portland were having such a ceremony today and so there were a whole crowd of Ex-Portlanders! Hurray! It was really nice to catch up with everyone and talk about things only other Oregonians can understand. We are all thinking about a Portland Reunion this summer. We will see!

You take the girl out of Oregon, but not Oregon out of the girl!

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

Where Does The Time Go?!!!!

It woulds seem that I am quite behind in my blog so there is no point in trying to catch up, but winter to spring seems to be quite busy for us and that explains the long lapse in writing. So in a nutshell...... the end of January we had my mom and Aunt E here for two and a half weeks which kept us all busy in a good way. We had a trip to Bloomfield Science Museum, the zoo and a girls trip down south to the Dead Sea and Masada and a day trip to Jerusalem. Not to mention day to day routine. I have to say all the trips were great, but the trip down south was fantastic as well as an adventure. First, we took the bus, which is not unusual for us, but in this case I did not know exactly where to get off, but the bus driver was a huge help and we managed to find our hotel with no problem. Plus you have to love Israel, the bus had Wi-Fi, how cool is that?! That night it rained, in fact it poured buckets... so much so that we had continued power outages and the restaurant actually used my flash light to make our salads! Hats off to my husband who insists I always be prepared! The next day we had great weather and headed to Masada, this was one of the last hold outs for the Jews before the Romans invaded and is an amazing site. I really loved this, I have been twice before, but this is the first time where I was not sick and pregnant! Plus the site is a work in progress and they have discovered more since I was there last, about 5 years ago! It was really great!

Moving on, 6 weeks later my in-laws came! Hurray! Another trip to the zoo, we now have armadillo at our zoo and we saw the otters out. This is also a relatively new exhibit and the otters were tucked away when we went before. I also managed to sneak in a trip with my MIL into Jerusalem and out to lunch. A great visit and as when my mom and aunt are here, a HUGE help with the kids!

The week after my in-laws left we had spring vacation. In America this is slack time. In Israel, it is get ready for Passover time! Lots and lots of cleaning, shopping and running errands. Since by Jewish law we are not allowed to keep any type of leavened bread in our homes this includes a mass cleaning to be sure all the coats are cleaned out, stray crumbs are swept out of rooms, and most people do a pretty thorough spring cleaning. We are somewhere in between going crazy and trying to keep it simple. Since most of the country shuts down for the week, this means getting anything you need to do, done ahead of time. Plus preparing for the Passover Seder itself and trying to figure out what to eat for a week that doesn't include bread, pasta, corn, beans and rice. The last three are what we consider Kitnyiot and are not bread, but are considered off the menu for the week of Passover because they could be confused with regular flour and cause a problem. Sephardim (Jews from southern Europe and the Middle East and Africa eat these items). However, our families originate out of Eastern Europe so we are Ashkenazi and don't eat those things. A challenging dietary week for us. We did manage to enjoy ourselves once Passover began though. We were able to visit with friends and take the kids on a hike. Although the end of Passover did bring one challenge. M had gotten lice and some how we missed it! A major infestation and we had to re-clean all the sheets, blankets, etc and vacuum the kids room AGAIN! We felt as though we were getting ready for Passover again. Unfortunately lice is a huge problem in Israel and it is not uncommon. Except in our house! This was a first and hopefully a last! We have been told the tea tree oil in the shampoo will repel the lice from her hair so now all the shampoo bottles are treated with tea tree oil. So hopefully this is put behind us for good!

We have spent the last week trying to get the kids back into the routine of school and it seems to be a bit challenging. Plus apparently spring fever comes with the inability to listen, follow instructions or do anything they are told! However, we did have a break through today. My husband played military commander and gave the boys orders over his ham radio. They responded well to this, M did OK though not the best. They boys, especially S loved it though and now their room is clean. Again!

Though perhaps spring fever has hit us all. I have had a huge dose of writers block this week for work and it is not good. Things I can usually whip up are getting stuck in the back. Hence pulling out my blog. Maybe catching up here will get me jump started there. I sometimes feel I am in the wrong job and instead should be writing a book about my insane life in Israel with my crazy kids and nutty husband! The title would be: My Life As A Cartoon Strip, because sometimes I feel they have been peaking in our windows to get ideas.

As we look forward in our ever crazy life we are preparing for Shavuot when we received the 10 commandments on Mt. Sinai. In between we have Lag B'Omer and the twins b-day. Somehow they have made it to 5 and once again we are all here to tell the tale! In two months M is out of school for the summer and then I will have to decide what to do with her until the boys get out! She is now beyond entertaining herself, or perhaps her idea of entertainment is to drive me crazy! Not so good for either of us.

So this blog is a bit longer than intended and bit more detailed update than intended, but perhaps it will do me good. I would love to comment on life in general now, but I am afraid it will bore everyone to bits. So perhaps tomorrow I will manage again.

TTFN!