Quiz........How much time do you think I spend in the kitchen?

A couple of nights ago we were up really late and so instead of me getting S up, he was waking me. I was right in the middle of a dream. This is probably the most bizarre dream I have had since high school when I had dream that a guy was killed in our bathtub when I read Julius Ceasar by Shakespeare. So the dream goes like this. First I was having a dream about Dirty Dancing, only no Patrick Swayze, rats! Then all of a sudden it switches and I am back in my parents old living room where I grew up, I think and it is a fight of good and evil. So who are the good guys? I think they are jars. Either that they were pot mitts. Not entirely sure. But the bad guy was for a sure a flying pot mitt, red to be a exact with a mean face. He had black eyes and a black mouth and was chasing the super hero, who was about to drop. And I am pretty sure the super here was an old mayonaise jar............. plus there were 2 more jars that were also good guys. Then S woke me up. Perhaps it is time I thought about a new hobby.......

We call her the wanderer.............

To be fair ALL of my kids wander off and only one has a good sense of direction. That would be my oldest. It has a lot to do with his observation skills. He actually pays attention to where he is going. The other two just start going until they are lost. Well the other evening I had D take the kids out to the park so I could get dinner done and a few other things in peace and quiet. Around 8:30p I get a call from D.

"Is M there?"

Me: No,

D:Are they boys there?

Me: Yep

D:But the boys did not bring her back?

Me: No

D: She was right here 1o seconds ago!

Well we did find her, eventually, it took about a half hour though. While we weren' worried anything bad had happened, we were more concerned with where is exactly she was at. We live in a safe area. And in fact D found her with two very nice people and one of the teams of security that regularly cruise the city. Different then local police. They even gave M candy. Oh boy!

Here are the family reactions;

D: How did she get so far, so fast?

Me: Now you know how I feel! The kids are always taking off on me..........

S: How come she wandered off? (I asked him why he wandered off and typical aswer of course, "I don't know........"

Y: M went to school! Because S is always coming home from school with cady. So his logical conclusion is that if she has candy she was at school!

M: Well she was a little upset, but after some suggles and dinner she went right to sleep.

All's well that ends well. Thank G-d.

The Princess has Spoken...........

on Friday we were getting ready for Shabbos and I made the statement that M is a girl in relation to why we want her to bathe on her own now instead of in the tub with the boys. Her response, "I'm not a girl, I'm a princess!" Well that solves that question! I think the fact that boys play knights and call her their princess might be going to her head! Watch out world because the Princess has spoken!

Mama said there'd be days like this.............

But I don't think they had cell phones when that song was written. What started out be a productive day, ended on a sour note when our one and only cell phone was picked clean off of me this afternoon in Jerusalem. Now I know it is easy to say, I must have left it somewhere or dropped it. I did have the twins with me, but I figured out right away and even if I had, most people are honest and would respond the first 3 times we tried to call it and return it. I borrowed a phone and called within 15-20min. of the time I last USED it until the time I lost it. It will now cost us $100 to replace it as it was a rental phone+$19 to have it delivered to us. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR............ Why are people so mean some days! I feel like a heal as it is D's phone that I use on the rare occassion I am on the go. So all his numbers are gone and until it is replaced I can't reach him when he is on the go. D is taking it well since he is not the one who lost it, but I feel horrible and would be feel better if he were angry, then I could go on the defensive, but I would still feel like I deserve it.

The positive things that happened today however are, we got some paper work turned in that could mean more money for us, yeah! I got new frames which I have not had in about 8 years! And I ran into 2 people I have not seen in ages, although unfortunately after I lost the phone so I was not very sociable and they were catching busses. I guess I have to remember to look on the bright side of things. It could have been worse and been my whole purse. And we did avoid a major car accident today as M some how got out into a very busy street and was not injured. Thank G-d there was road construction so even though she was half way out she had not made it into traffic. So I will have to see the cell phone as an inconvenience and count my blessings that I still have my daughter and that we all made it home OK. And despite the financial loss our day was Ok and that our blessings out weigh our challenges.

The Gift of Giving

It is now Thursday and I am 2 weeks behind in my Tuesday's Tip, so I am going incorporate it into my blog about our recent activities.

On Monday night started the holiday Purim which I mentioned in my last blog. It is the story of Queen Esther. The Megillah goes like this. An evil king named Asheverous ruled Persia and lived in the capital city of Shushan. He has a party in his 3rd year of rule and gets drunk. When his wife refuses to come to him during the party his henchmen suggest she be hanged for disobeying the king. After the party, the king has no wife and is bummed, thats OK say his men, "you can get a new one!" Enter Queen Esther the Jew, the woman he picked to be his new wife. Her Uncle Mordechai hangs out at the palace gates, figures out a plot to kill the king and saves the day. But meanwhile the king's most trusted advisor has it in for Mordechai and decides to kill him and the rest of the Jewish people. But after 3 days of fasting and a plea from the queen, a miracle occurrs and the king overturns the evil decree, the Jews fight back and the evil advisor and his sons are hanged on the gallows as punishment. It is from then on decreed that Jews should eat and drink to celebrate, provide gifts to the poor so that they to
may celebrate and hear the story of the Megillah every year.

On Purim we are obligated to 3 things, 1)So we make food baskets, which I actually did do, although we skipped dessert, but added a pickle to go with the kugel and everyone got wine. 2) Gifts to the poor which is monetary, so that even those who have no money can run out and buy food for a meal or give baskets to others. And 3)Hear the Megillah.

We did have our friends for our meal in the end, she is still quite pregnant and we went into Jerusalem today. A good time was had by all both days.

So where does my tip come in? My tip is, it is the simple things in life that count. As part of our food baskets to two friends we got them new KoomKooms. These are the same idea as hot water pots, but more durable and bigger. This is one of those things that EVERYONE has. Some people may not have a microwave, but this is something we all have. Since I am a tea addict I would lay down and give it all up if mine died. They are not expensive, they can be found for as cheap as $8 and as pricey as $25. I have no idea what the difference is. But as we all know sometimes spending that little extra money on ourselves can be hard. So when I discovered that our local store had the koomkooms on sale for $8, I knew we had to include it. Both friends were so pleased that it really made me happy. But the second person we did it for I also got 2 glasses to go with as she did not have any. Just tiney tea cups. And the look on her face was priceless. The whole thing cost us so very little, but to her it was priceless. I admit, I would not spend the money on my self. I always feel like it should go to groceries or bills, or saving it, but to buy it for someone else and have them see it as if it were a $200.00 gift was just heart warming. And in that moment I really treasured the words it is better to give than to receive.

So my tip is this: If you know that someone needs a pick me up, but you feel you don't have much, look around because one small item made or bought may make all the difference to someone else. Ideas when you are broke, but you want to cheer up a friend, 1) See if there is an album or song they want, most places only charge $1 if you want to be PC about the whole thing. 2) Make or buy a treat like cookies or a cake. People love treats when they can't afford to buy them. 3)Invite them over for a meal, they may have less to eat at home than you do!
4) If it is a tired mom, offer to give her a break and take the kid(s) for an hour or two OR go with her to run errands and help with kid(s). I have discovered that helping my friends with new babies while D watches ours is actually fun for me. Because hey, new babies don't talk back and when they cry, well, hey she's not mine so that is OK! 5)Send someone a card even if they only live around the corner. people love getting snail mail! Or even an e-mail telling them why they are so great will do.
In these times of financial struggle for us all I have found that people hate asking for help and are embarrassed to do so, but they need to feel they are not a failure and that they are still worthwhile person. Doing simple things for someone else can really boost their self esteem. Remember what comes around goes around!

Slug Days......

Not really slugs, but that is how I feel about my blog currently. But the truth is I know a lot of my friends and family use it to keep up with our busy or not so busy life. So here is a bit of what's doing.

We finally got winter this weekend. We usually get a whole lot of rain for Nov., Dec.,Jan., Feb. and a little in March. This year I can count on one hand the number of days it has rained. So this weekend it really rained and it seems to have kept going, including hail. S is loving this he has just learned the Hebrew for hail and just learned about the 10 plagues in Egypt which includes hail. He is most excited now everytime we have hail which is a lot lately.

The kids have all grown again....Y looks the same size but is like picking up a lead brick, I am sure S will be as tall as me by the time he gets into 2nd grade. He starts 1st this year. He is pretty much up to my sternum....M is growing nicely and has the height and weight of her mommy right now. They are all sick again however, and i am not enjoying this......We just went through colds about 2 weeks ago and my guess is the hot cold hot cold weather we are having this month is what is doing it. Or it is food allergy which they also seem to have although for the life of us we dont know what it is. We have narrowed it down to certain brands of bread and certain brands of snacks. Oh boy! I am basically ready to nix anything store bought and bag going out for pizza. I am not convinced that restaraunt pizza is not a culprit in this......The only difficulty in this is all the stuff they get from school. Everytime there is a party of some sort for a birthday or holiday out come the snacks.......In fact i got quite a shock last week. We were asked to send him to school with COLA! Not just a drink, but COLA! I actually called one of the parents to check this out and sure enough, that is the requested drink. She also had issue with this, but has decided she can live once a month. In Judaism the new month on the Hebrew calendar is a big deal. It is traditional to have a special dinner or treat and treat as a holiday on a smaller scale so they have a party in school. The menu is this, sandwhiches whith chocolate spread, cola apparantly and some sort of chips. OH Boy! Fortunately, my kid is convinced he doesn't like cola. Gotta love brain washing...... :)But he loves the sandwhiches. And oddly enough, no rash either....so we figure it is a different brand of bread then we buy. So we have figured we can live once a month with a sugar high kid...He does walk a mile and a half home, so that usually wears off the the hyper.

The one thing about kids with food allergies is that I am becoming a wizard in the kitchen despite that fact that my sister thinks it is "3rd world." True I don't have a kitchen aide mixer or a bread machine but I have opted not to spend the money on those things. i do miss my bread machine from the states, but we make do. and i think in truth, the kitchen aide can take more time to clean up than is worth the "ease." A spoon is much quicker to clean and is easier to lick when its all done! I make 90% of my bread from scratch, my tomato sauce I do use a store bought paste as a base, but i am careful to make sure there are little to no additives and i just found one that claims to be straight tomato with nothing else and i will probably switch to that. I want to start making my own crackers, my M-I-L just sent me an easy recipe. And of course we do a lot of popcorn and oatmeal and the peaunt butter is all natural as well. I am also hoping to start doing only homemade applesauce, but the kids keep eating the apples before I can get them into sauce......The great thing about all this is that, we save money and I am enjoying improving my cooking skills. I don't always enjoy the time and energy it takes to cook but I do like knowing how to cook.


Next week is Purim which is the story of Queen Esther. Traditionally kids and sometimes adults dress up and here the story of Purim. It starts like everything else at night and adults here the Whole Meggilah. The Meggilah is the story of Esther. Then it is heard again the following morning. After that the tradition is to have a festive meal and deliver baskets of goodies and food to friends and neighbors to ensure that everyone has a festive meal, even those who cannot afford. We will be giving baskets to all our neighbors, 7 and then the following day we will be going into Jerusalem and will have about 8 there. Jerusalem celebrates a day later since it used to be a walled city like Shushan was back in the day of the story. We bought a few pre-made ones through the women's group for friends in Beitar. However, we will still have 15 baskets to make so a lot of work this week. We are going to do mini challahs (tradditional egg bread), mini kugel(which a noodle pie/cake essentially) and some type of dessert and/or a mini bottle of wine. Suffice to say there will be a whole lot of cooking going on this week. Purim starts a week from tomorrow night! They sell them for about $1.50 a piece around this time. We will also be having friends for our meal if all goes well. She is do anytime so they could be in the hospital in stead......The boys are going as soldiers and M will go as a bee. This will be of course if everyones attitude suits on the day of the event. It is a very festive holiday and whole lot of fun. I would like to say we will have pictures to post however, our camera died so we will be buying a disposable and sending hard copies to family only. I will try to post a follow up next week as to how it all went. After that i will be posting about our frantic race to get our house clean for Passover!

Tuesay's Tip, one day late........

I totally spaced my blog yesterday as D was home sick, surprise, surprise, with all the germs from the kids. Anyway, so it means I got to run errands with out an audience but keeps me busy too.

My tip for this week, obvious I know, but popcorn. I have secret crush on the person who invented the air popper. We use ours almost everyday. We get a healthy, no sugar, no fat, add as much or as little salt, oil or butter as desired and poof the perfect snack! It also makes a great late night snack for eema and aaba movie night. We make carmel corn, which I have a great recipe for that does not use corn syrup. We buy about a kilo (2.2lbs) every other week. It costs about $2.25 a bag. I use it for after school snacks, I take it to the park in lieu of chips or other mystery snacks or a before dinner snack because we got home late and dinner will be late filler and as dessert as I said. On Shabbat we don't cook so I try to pop 2 batches ahead of time and I store in a re-usable container and we can have popcorn on Shabbat too. It keeps great. Our last batch made it in to Monday, although that is not the norm. I think that is when everyone got sick......... I love having something cheap, easy and with no preservatives and no sugar that I can give the kids and have them feel like it is a treat.

Tuesday's Tip

I am launching a new idea on to my blog and I am hoping to stick with it. Every Tuesday I am going to try and post a short meal or snack tip. I found that my main topic of conversation with anyone with kids is, A) How to feed everyone on a tighter budget, B) How to do it quickly and C) Make it easy. So for all my friends who are short on time, money or just have a kitchen phobia and you know who you are........ Here is my first Tuesday Tip.

Oatmeal: Yes, yes, I know, this is from the person who would not go near the stuff with a 10ft. pole growing up. Fortunately my kids are not like me.......... :) Actually what I have discovered is that oatmeal is high in protein and high in fiber and is one of the most versatile foods out there. It is also easier to take backpacking than cold cereal and milk.....

We use about 2.2lbs or a kilo of oatmeal a week depending on my mood. I like it better than cold cereal as it fills my kids up and is about $2.50 for a week of breakfast as opposed to nearly $7.00 for a box of Cheerios that might last me a 1/2 a week and will have my kids saying I am hungry 15 minutes later. Here is what I get for $2.50 a week:

Note*: We use whole oats not ground, so some of these recipes are going to come out different.

Breakfast: Cooked oatmeal: 1/3 cup oats to 1 cup water. Cook to desired consistency and serve. I have added: honey, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, chocolate chips( about 4 on top only), apples......You can add any or all of these to taste. I know my family always put milk in theirs too. I still have not acquired that taste. (I know someone who puts hers in a crock pot the night before so it is done in the morning. As soon as we replace ours I want to try this.)

Breakfast 2: Serve it raw with milk. This has been our favorite this winter. We seem to be running late these days and it is faster to serve it raw with milk and sugar/honey raisins and so on then to cook it. It really is good and I got this from my father-in-law who also ate it this way growing up.

Snack: This is my favorite way to eat oatmeal these days. I take raw oatmeal and mix it with peanut butter, honey, flax seed, sunflower seeds, raisins and occasionally chocolate chips. It is high in protein and omega 3 fats (flax seed) and really tasty, takes 2 minutes to make and if you throw it in some sort of bowl and lid it can be taken anywhere. One of these days I want to cook it and make it in to bars too. And of course you can add or subtract any of these things and add new ones with this.

Cookies: I have found that on the days everyone is craving a treat but we are out of chocolate chips I can throw in oatmeal and cinnamon and jazz up a very plain cookie.

Oatmeal can also be ground into flour. I have bought oat flour before, it is a great way to add protein to a plain white flour recipe. I can't always get it where we are now so I got out of the habit, but we are switching to organic whole wheat soon, so I won't need to worry about adding extra protein then. If you buy oat flour just swap out a cup of your regular recipe for the oat flour, it is a white flour and should not change the flavor of things too much if at all.

Not bad for $2.50! I will also keep you posted on how the bars work out, if we get that far........

Bugs aren't Jewish!

A while back we got a copy of the movie "Cars" for our kids in Hebrew. If we are going to let them veg in front of the computer, we may as well make it useful right? It is a lot of fun to see the difference between the Hebrew and English and it is good practice for us all. So today we were again watching "Speedy" as it is known in Hebrew and at the end it was doing a Pixar tribute and it showed a scene from a "A Bug's Life." It lead us to a conversation about getting the movie in Hebrew. S's response was, "No way, bugs aren't Jewish!"

Laundry and Fashion

This is really a combination of two seperate things, however since both are dealing with clothes I think that a combo post is OK.

The first is on the topic of laundry.........I don't know if all moms did this or just mine, but either in the early morning or in the evening, there would be this frantic call to me and my sister. It went something like this, "strip right now! I need your clothes to make a full load in the laundry!" If it was morning then she wanted our pajamas and if it was night, then it was our clothes and even if it was only 6:00pm we were in pajamas or sweats so that she could do her laundry. Flash forward about 30 years and low and behold, Friday afternoon had me doing the same thing. Fridays in our house for anyone who knows me, are to put it midly....INSANE! We are trying to get everything done before Shabbat comes in because if it doesn't get done before sundown, its not getting done until Shabbat goes out on Saturday night. Since my oldest has ripped every last pair of pants in the knee except for TWO I am always in a rush to get his pants in the wash for school the next or in this case Friday so they are ready on Sunday. So it was Friday afternoon around 2:00pm and out came those same words my mother would say, "Hurry up and get out of your pants NOW, I need to get them in laundry! I don't care what you wear but give me those pants!" I swear I was looking for my mother until I realized that it came from me! Oh how the mighty have fallen.........

Now for part two the fashion portion of our program. Somehow when we had twins and we had a boy and a girl we imagined pretty clothes and a fashion sense from one and jeans and whatever from the other. Well, we were mostly right.....Y is the ruler of fashion and coordination in our house. He will wear pants or jeans, always with a proper shirt. The only t-shirts he wears are Thomas the Tank Engine and occasionaly a Blues Clues shirt which is a hand me down. He will not wear shirts with writing on them. No sweats and everything must match. Now take M on the other hand..........she is a Slob. She drools, makes a mess out of everything she wears and her favorite outfits are anything with pants and anything that has a hood and pockets. Today she wanted to wear her pink sweat pants with her brown hooded Nike shirt that grandma brought this fall. Me, I am all fine whatever, just put clothes on......I am not in the mood to argue over what to wear. Y on the otherhand, seems to know that his twin sister is fashionably challenged and was in horrors about what she wanted to wear. He kept insisting that she wear the matching shirt to her sweats and not the Nike shirt. I had to convince him to just let it go. Y frequently tries to pick out her clothes and was for a while particularly fond her Dora the Explorer dress brought by Grammy. He was very dissapointed when I told him she out grew it. M rarely takes his fashion advice, though I must admit he does pretty good; but instead prefers her own style to anyone else's. Y does accept it, but I think he just can't resist trying, hoping that just maybe one day she will actually wear something during the week that doesn't embarass us all. Oh and by the way, there is one person who she will listen to. Her Abba! That is how I get her dressed for Shabbat. I can argue, force, struggle, to no avail. She will not put on what ever is I have picked out. But if D walks in the room, and gets her dressed she is just all smiles and sits perfectly still while he gets her ready! I told her she is a traitor to her sex! She doesn't seem to mind.

Nothing New

In reality I have very little news to report. But this is why I am writing. To show you that despite the war that goes on here, we are all fine and living our daily lives. I am extremely grateful that we live in the center in the country as this is what allows to live our lives without disruption. But it also shows that our goods and services are not cut off because of the war and that life and living goes on despite what most of the Arabs surrounding us would hope for. We just got in our first batch of localy grown organic carrots of the season at the health food store. They are double the price of the regular ones, but the taste and quality is so much better. It is well worth the cost. We continue to have guests for Shabbat and visit with friends coming from all over the globe. David was priviliged to see our Rabbi and wife who we know from Portland and now reside in New York. They were here for a Bar Mitzvah with their family. We have friends that have just arrived from Seattle, we will see them sometime in the coming week. Yes, despite what others would hope for, life here is thriving.

In kid news I am still trying to potty train the twins. My goal is next month, but I am not feeling hopeful, my absolute cuttoff would be age 3. S was trained at 2+9mo. And Y is so close, I figure he should be able to do it too. M is another story..........she can tell me she went in her diaper, but she has decided she has no interest in the potty at all anymore..........grrrr.....

S is enjoying school, but we can deffinitely see where he is behind and we are setting up a meeting with his Rabbi and principal so we can get him caught up. We missed the parent teacher conferences due to my own lack of understanding hebrew..........oooppps. Can we say, "feeling stupid...."

The grown ups in the house are fine, and as sane as possible with three very active kids, one of whom is quite the morning person........Must be a recessive gene! Nothing like running commentary about anything and everything at 6:45am............

I am happy to report that after 3 long weeks of colds and flu we are all healthy. I now take a full regime of vitamins and pro-biotics hoping to stay healthy the rest of the season. For those of you with kids, acidophilus in pill form or better in live culture like yogurt, but look for the one with the live acidohpilus, is a great pro-biotic that helps build the immune system.

OK gotta go, duty calls..............

Late Breaking News

I did send an e-mail, however, for those of you who read one but not the other, or for those e-mail accounts I lost last year when my mail was hacked I am doing a repeat.

Yes, there is a war going on here. Yes, we are fine. No, we are not affected. Think 9/11/2001. If you weren't living in New York and did not know anyone living there, other than shock value you were not personally affected. I mean yes, we as a people were saddened and hurt and shocked and so on, but our daily routine was not interupted except maybe that first day. Same thing here. And our routine has not been disrupted at all. In fact because our computer is on the fritz and I am rarely on it, I keep forgetting there is a war going on down there. Today I actually took the time to read the news for myself instead of asking my husband. Anyone who wants to follow the Israeli side of the story can look up Jpost.com which is the Jerusalem Post or IsraelNationalNews.com otherwise known as Arutz Sheva. Both excellent web sites with up to the minute information. You will probably know more than me.

My week on the other hand has gone something like this..............We will start with last Thurs. first real rain storm, great stuck walking home in the rain with 3 kids.........Friday......company for Shabbat, actually that was great we had help, but still busy. Saturday, oldest kid down with fever and flu all day long........Sunday, spouse and oldest child sick, other two just runny noses.....Monday, Oldest has major cough, husband still sick, youngest has fever and flu....Tuesday at 3:00am........All three kids awake and crying because they are sick, oldest and youngest have major cough and middle child has fever and flu. Husband well enough to go into Kollel. Great, now I am stuck with 3 sick kids and a million barfy blankets to wash..........

So in all honesty, you want to worry about something, forget the war, just say a little pray for my sanity and maybe a laundry fairy to wash all the barfy blankets. Did I mention that our middle child puked all over our good down comforter this morning? Nothing says I love you like your child barfing all over your bed!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy season.

Signed,

The Crazy Lady

And what have you been eating today?

I bet it is a lot less interesting than what Y ate today. D was home sick today, in fact we are all fighting colds, but that is not the point. I was in checking on D when Y came into the bedroom covered in black hands and a big smear on his face. The obvious question comes out of my mouth which is,"Y, what have you been into?" The obvious answer, "Nothing" Yeah sure right.............So we try again, question repeated. Answer this time, " Cookies." Me, "We don't have cookies... Were you in the oven?" "No" comes the reply of my two year old. By this time I am pretty convinced that this is where he has been. When I make bread I burn a small ball of it. This is to replicate the part that women used to give to the Jewish Priests in the days of the temple. I usually leave it in there for a couple of weeks and then take them out. The kids are convinced that if they bite them enough the will eventually taste like a treat. One more time I ask, " Have you been in the oven?" Again the reply is "No." "OK so what cookies are you eating?" I ask. The response, "Abba Cookies!" Oh great we think, what are Abba cookies? So I finally go out front to find out just what he has been into. It would seem that Abba cookies are Charcoal Birquettes...........Fortunately there does not seem to be a mess. But these things can often be misleading.

Oh and late breaking news......Y has just informed us that Giraffes eat lions and bees. Apparantely Y is not the only with an interesting appetite.

What I have learned from my kids......

As D and I have gone down the merry path of parenthood I have learned a few things that never entered my mind. Here is a brief list:

1) Don't tell your kids it can't be done. They will find away or make you do it.
Particularly when it comes to things like putting tights OVER the pants of a two year old girl..........Yes, this can be done. It is not pretty, but it can be done.

2) Don't under estimate their imagination. S owns a plane, a car and was a fire fighter with his younger brother when he was a grown up. Just like his abba. He has also informed us that not only was there a battle between David and Goliath, but did you know that Varn the Giant was also involved in that famous battle. We have yet find any firm evidence corroborating that story, but S is pretty sure of himself.

3) We have looked up countless animals just to see what they eat. Have you ever thought about what a Rhinoceros, an Ostrich or a Wombat eat? And apparantly according to Y, Lions eat chicken. In fact just about every animal out there eats chicken.........

4) I realized that I DO know how to draw train tracks with side walk chalk on our mirpeset(Balcony).

5) Ketchup on bread is considered an edible and tasty form of sandwich if you are 5 and under.

6) If Eema leaves the house and you are stuck with Abba, there is nothing left to do but sleep so that you will be wide awake and whiny and hungry just about the time that Eema walks through the door.

7) 5:45 AM is an acceptable time for breakfast for morning people.............

I know there are more, but these are our current lessons learned. And we thought we were smart, but having kids changes the grading curve!

It's 10:00AM, Do you know where your kid is?

Mine was apparently at home. In the morning D takes S by bike to school. He drops him off at the top of hill and he walks the rest of the way. This is maybe a 5 minute walk, even for an almost 5 year old. This morning was no different. Everything went smooth, dressed, breakfast and all on time. He is getting a cold so there was a momentary protest of not going to school, but after a promise of a new movie after a successful day at school all was well. Or so I thought.........D and S left at 8:45 AM and here I am merrily chatting away with my sister on the phone. She is by a nature a night owl which makes mid-morning a great time to chat for both of us. So it is 10:00 AM and I can hear the phone line sizzling we have been at so long; when the front door opens. I am thinking it is one of the twins playing with the door when all of a sudden, who should appear but my darling oldest who is supposed well entrenched in the riggers of school by this time. Mind you this is the kid who hates walking home every day after school with me. But he managed to walk all that way home by himself, being sick instead of sticking out and waiting for me and a chance at taking the bus, although slim to none. So he is now in bed and quarantined for the rest of the day with no hope of parole until tomorrow when he will go to school unless I seem something more serious than a cough. Yes, he does have a little cold, but we have it on good authority that he can still go to school like that and survive. We have also been told that he is behind because of his attendance for missing school for things like this. So we are being more strict in this department. D has been for it all along, but I have been slow in getting on board with it. So, hopefully our little delinquent has learned his lesson and so have we. From now on he gets front door service to school, but I am going to have him start meeting me half way now instead of getting him right from school. If he can walk home sick, then he can make it when he is healthy and then I don't have to cart 50+ extra lbs. up the hill in a stroller.
So do you know where your kid is? We all think we do don't we...............

Family and the Holidays

The past month we have spent celebrating the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. It starts with the celebration of the mark of a new year and a time of self evaluation and asking forgiveness from those around for any harm or bad feelings we may have caused. Yom Kippur is the day of Judgement when G-d decides the fate of all the people of the world and who will be inscribed in the book of life and who will die, and also how each person's life will be shaped. How many blessings and curses will each person receive, illness or health, money or poverty and so on. Then we have Sukkot which in Christian Terminology is known as the week of Booths. We put up a little house outside on our deck and sleep in it for a week and basically live there. All meals are eaten outside and we try to spend as much time as possible out there. The week is ended with Simchat Torah where we finish reading the end of the Torah and begin again. It is about a month of self reflection, eating big meals, with a fast day for Yom Kippur and trying to think about how we want to better ourselves and celebrating our Jewish heritage. It is always an amazing time and a lot of fun.

This year was particularly great because we spent Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem and had a really nice time seeing a lot of friends that we don't see often now that we are in Beitar. But also because and this is the best part of all, my mom and aunt came for two full weeks and were here for Sukkot and the week after. I have not seen my mom and aunt in nearly two years and it is 3&1/2 for the rest of the crew save my in-laws who trek out twice a year.

It was so much fun having them here. Not just for my own selfish reasons which is that I miss them like crazy, but even more so because the kids are now old enough to really see them and remember them. The twins were just 9mo. old when they came last and now they are nearly 2&1/2. S was only 3 and now is nearly 5 and got to see them in a different light too. Seeing the way they interacted with the kids reminded me of when I was a kid and that was fun too. My aunt always had goodies for us as kids and spent hours reading and playing with us. It was so much fun to see the kids do the same and of course now my mom gets to join in too and I got a very nice break. I even got help with kitchen and laundry duty and a few other things as well. Hallelujah! We also got to do some really cool things as well.

The first week we spent up North touring around. The highlights were Nimrod's fortress, the Temple of Pan, a really neat wildlife preserve and a visit to Tsfat. To sum up Nimrod was a descendant of Noah and built the Tower of Babel. The fortress sits up on a hill and from there both the borders of Lebanon and Syria can be viewed. It is really a breathtaking sight. The temple of Pan is a Roman sight where they worshiped their idols during the time of Roman occupation. It is a huge area and we only saw a tiny spot because as usual we ran out of time..........The wildlife preserve was also near our Northern borders in the Chula Valley and amongst the many critters are birds who come to migrate maybe two weeks out the year there and we got to see them come in. Nice day. And Tsfat is considered one of the most religious spots in Israel and is also quite historic with some synagouges dating back to about the 14th century. This city also housed t he headquarters for the Palmach group in the 40's which was an underground group that helped defend Israel. This is just a tiny idea about what the city is, but it is one of our favorite places and it was fun to be able to share. The following week we spent in Jerusalem. Trips included the zoo, the Old City and trip to Brooklyn Bakery in Geula, a religious neighborhood in Jerusalem with some of the best goodies in the country.

Suffice to say we ate really well for two weeks straight and we are all just a tad bit spoiled. But we are adjusting to life as mere mortals again! :) There is so much to say about this visit, a blog can't do it justice, but of the things that stand out here are some highlights and quotes. The trips were amazing, but for me having my mom and aunt there to share my birthday was about tops. My mom and D went nuts on the dessert and we had cheesecake and cream puffs and my mom made my birthday lunch. It was really cool.

For the kids it was probably the trip to the zoo. It took the four of us adults to keep up with the three of them! The kids loved showing the grands around and getting help from them at the petting zoo and we adults learned some neat things too. For instance, did you know that when a male tortoise is so inspired he can make noise? I am not kidding we actually witnessed this and we were laughing. They had quite an audience as this is something not witnessed every day. We also saw a very twitterpated male kangaroo chasing his mate.

But my favorite quote of all time came from S. This is a line only family will truly understand, "Can I stop smiling yet?" This came in the first week when we were up North at Nimrod's fortress as S posed for yet another photo opp! I think my sister and I used to ask the same question as kids, if not we were thinking it! My mom and aunt are notorious for the copius amounts of photos they take. Especially now in the age of digital where you can discard and re-take on the spot. But I am so glad that they do as it ensures that the rest of us get them too! But it really made me laugh! However, my mom now understands why " I can't just take one photo of all three kids "looking normal!" Two weeks of straight trying and I don't think she was succesful once!

The two weeks were amazing and went by all too fast. Now on Sunday my in-laws will be here for 8 days for their regularly scheduled fall trip. It is nice for the kids to have everyone here all at once and we are looking forward to it as well. It makes us feel not so far from home if we get to see everyone all at once.

That's it for now, will try to update again after all the family leaves.

My Funny For the Week

My mother in law sent this and I must admit that D and I got a good laugh out of it! So to all my friends who are over 30 enjoy the laugh and to those of you under 30 appreciate what you've got!

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
With their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When
they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school
every morning

... Uphill... barefoot.

BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
There was no way in hell I was going to lay

A bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it

And how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of
Thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of
today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my
Childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you
Don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we
wanted to know something, We had to go to the damn library and
Look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write
; Somebody a letter, with a pen!

...Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put
it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to
Steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and
shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and
the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!


We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you
Were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy
signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be
your school,
; Your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a
collections agent, you
Just d idn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your
chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video
Games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600!
With games
Like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little
square! You
Actually had to use your Imagination!! And there were no
multiple levels or
Screens, it was just one screen
Forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting
Harder and harder and
Faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!


You had to use a Little book called a TV Guide to find out what
was
On! You were s crewed when it Came to channel surfing! You had
to get off
Your ass and walk over to the TV to change the Channel and
there was no
Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons
On Saturday Morning. Do you Hear what I'm saying!?! We had to
wait ALL WEEK
For cartoons, you spoiled
Little bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat
Something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids
Today have got it too easy.
You 're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted
Five minutes back in 1980!

Re gards,
The over 30 Crowd

(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile,
Whether they are under 30 or not.)

Fox News Article

On October 5th Fox News on-line printed the following story about Modesty Patrols in Israel.

JERUSALEM — In Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where the rule of law sometimes takes a back seat to the rule of God, zealots are on a campaign to stamp out behavior they consider unchaste.

They hurl stones at women for such "sins" as wearing a red blouse and attack stores selling devices that can access the Internet.

In recent weeks, self-styled "modesty patrols" have been accused of breaking into the apartment of a Jerusalem woman and beating her for allegedly consorting with men. They have torched a store that sells MP4 players, fearing devout Jews would use them to download pornography.

"These breaches of purity and modesty endanger our community," said 38-year-old Elchanan Blau, defending the bearded, black-robed zealots. "If it takes fire to get them to stop, then so be it."

Many ultra-Orthodox Jews are dismayed by the violence, but the enforcers often enjoy quiet approval from rabbis eager to protect their own reputations as guardians of the faith, community members say. And while some welcome anything that keeps secular culture out of their cloistered world, others feel terrorized, knowing that the mere perception of impropriety could ruin their lives.

"There are eyes and ears all over the place, very similar to what you hear about in countries like Iran," says Israeli-American novelist Naomi Ragen, an observant Jew who has chronicled the troubles that confront some women living in the ultra-Orthodox world.

The violence has already deepened the antagonism between the 600,000 haredim, or God-fearing, and the secular majority, which resents having religious rules dictated to them.

Religious vigilantes operate in a society that has granted their community influence well beyond its numbers — partly out of a commitment to revive the great centers of Jewish scholarship destroyed in the Holocaust, but also because the Orthodox are perennial king-makers in Israeli coalition politics.

Thus public transport is grounded for the Jewish Sabbath each Saturday, and the rabbis control all Jewish marriage and divorce in Israel.

In recent years, however, the haredim have eased up on their long campaign to impose their rules on secular areas, and nowadays many restaurants and suburban shopping centers are open on the Sabbath.

These days, most vigilante attacks take place in the zealots' own neighborhoods.

Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the modesty police are not an organized phenomenon, just rogue enforcers carrying out isolated attacks. But Israel's Justice Ministry used the term "modesty patrols" in an indictment against a man accused of assaulting the Jerusalem woman.

The unidentified, 31-year-old woman had left the ultra-Orthodox fold after getting divorced, according to the indictment filed by the Jerusalem district attorney's office. The indictment said her assailant tried to get her to leave her apartment in a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem by gagging, beating and threatening to kill her. He was paid $2,000 for the attack, it said.

A 17-year-old who moved to Israel from New York five years ago said she was hospitalized after being attacked with pepper spray by a crowd of men outraged that she was walking down a Jerusalem street with boys.

"They can burn in hell," said the girl, who would identify herself only as Rivka.

She lives in Beit Shemesh, a town outside Jerusalem where the vigilantism has been particularly violent. Zealots there have thrown rocks and spat at women, and set fire to trash bins to protest impiety. Walls of the neighborhood are plastered with signs exhorting women to dress modestly — spelled out as closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts.

I cannot even begin to describe how many things that are wrong in this story. While the basis for this story is true and I have not doubt that the witnesses are true and that these things did happen, they are isolated inciddents. For Naomi Regan to suggest that living in these neighborhoods is like living in Iran is absurd. The incident that sparked this story happened so long ago, I don't even remember it. I have been to these neighborhoods and I live in one of these neighborhoods. These things that are happening are isolated events. First I will say that I do not condone these happenings or the people who carry them out. Nor do I know anyone who does. That these things happen is an embarrasement to all Jewish people. I understand so much that these people want to preserve a precious way of life, but this is not the way to do it. It only causes harm to our selves and to others. Someone once explained it to me like this; "Imagine you are a settled in wild west and you and your wagon train have been repeatedly attacked by Native Americans. Now it is you and a few small number left of your party from the large number you started with. Now imagine that a Native American is coming toward you, do you invite him in or just kill him on site no questions asked?" That is what these people see themselves as, those last few settlers holding their land. They do not want to invite the Native American in lest he destroy what is left of their party. It does not excuse what these people do, but it does make us understand the intention.

Now, why I am annoyed at Fox News. What irritates me as that A) They make this look like an everyday occurence. I can assure it is not. It is not even weekly. Once again, these are isolated incidences. B) They dug up some story from way back when and then made it look recent, even in the story it says things have changed. Why are they digging up the past then? C) Why the !@#$ can't someone print something good about Israel. Every race, color, religion, social group, etc. and so on.........has its outsiders. Why is it such a shock that they should exist in Israel too?! Why can't they talk to people who stand out against this, I know they are there, just as I am against I know there are many more who feel the same way. Why can't they write about the people who go out of their way to make people who are different feel comfortable. Those who do outreach, those who do amazing acts of kindness no matter what the religious affiliation. Why do they have to dig up the few to make the whole look bad? D) Do they ever mention that in some of these neighborhoods there are signs well marked explaining the rules of dress and behavior. There are many streets in Israel one can go if they do not want to dress in a modest fashion. There is no need to visit these well marked neighborhoods. It is matter of simple respect. No matter where a person goes they should always dress respectfully so as not offend the host. Whether it is someone's home or a large event. In this case, these neighborhoods are their homes and when we enter, we are the guest. It is not so much to ask to respect the host. The other thing that bothers me about this story is the mention that it is the religious who have caused the restriction of travel on Shabbat and the insistance of closed stores and restaraunts. That maybe so, but WE ARE A JEWISH NATION. We are not muslim, or catholic or hindu. Shabbat is a Jewish observance, why wouldn't it stand for these things to be closed. It is a National Law! I believe in religious tolerance for all, but I also believe that people should have religious tolerance for those who choose to practice their faith in a strong and traditional manner too.

No one complains when things are closed in America because it is Sunday and the traditional day of worship. No one writes scathing articles about the religious control in Iran, Iraq or Egypt. For sure there are things that crop up, but everyone just accepts that they are a muslim regime and that is what goes on there, save a few activits for women and childrens' rights. We are the only country in the middle east to allow any and all religions to worshipped freely here. How dare we be compared to Iran. Jews have fled from Iran thanks to religious persecution. But we continue to open our borders to all who come here and allow them to worship freely and again and again we pay for it with the few nuggets of slander the media can muster.

And in the end what really gets me is the fact that in America we preach tolerance and liberalism as the new religion. We must support any and all people despite race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, and so on and so forth. And I do. I have friends of many religions, friends who are straight, who are gay, who are divorced, who are married, or re-married with step kids. Couples who are inter-race, interfaith, and so on. And these are my friends and I love that each person has a right to live their life as they feel they are called to do with out fear of persecution and that there are laws that will protect them if they should come to harm for their beliefs. But what bothers me is that in all this rush to embrace those who are considered, " outsiders, or underdogs, or persecuted, people are no longer allowed to be devout in their faith anymore. Not just religious Jews, but those of any faith. The same people who embrace and rejoice in those living alternative life styles are harshly negative towards someone who is devout in their religious beliefs. I know a story of someone who grew up in a rough neighborhood, it took some time and work, but she and her daughter made it out. She practiced her religion faithfully and got her niece to start going with her to services. This woman was sure her niece would make it out, until the girls parents ridiculed her for going and teasing her. Instead of turning her life around, this young girl wound up pregnant at 16. I am sure her parents were not laughing then. That is a story that happened in modern day America. It may seem an extreme case, but I don't think those stories are uncommon at all. I have heard too many jokes or seen too many eye rolls when someone talks about the person who turned their life around and became religious. Why are we so ready to take on the bold and daring, the cutting edge, but we are so afraid of G-d and religion. I don't think that everyone should got out now and give up their liberal ways and find G-d and practice relgion in the way that my family does. But what I would like to see is that those who are so ready embrace the "alternate" also embrace those who are traditional and are just trying to do the same thing they are, which is to raise their family in the way that they best see fit. Why must it be so important to search deep for the few that are extreme to make sure that the many look bad. Instead of highlighting the good that comes from the many.

Quack! Quack!

Almost everyone who reads this blog knows that I am a Duck! And that I have a whole family of Ducks! Except for my brother-in-law who is a Beaver. We try not to hold it against him since, it is a family thing too. For those of you who are not following, I am referring to Oregon Football. The Ducks being U of Oregon and the Beavers being Oregon State University.

First of all it is now football season and while for the first time in over 15 years I am not following the scores at all............I am rooting for them.

But I must say that it warms the cockles of my little heart to see my little girl walking around with her favorite lovey. Which is a Duck! And although it is not Donald the true UofO mascot, he was purchased in honor of the Alma Matter. She started carrying him around out of the blue this spring. She really does look like her mommy walking around with curls on her head and a duck in her hand! The boys do like Donald Duck but I think it is for the entertainment value more than the Duck! What can I say, it is a genetic thing. We are all Ducks here!

So in honor of football season which has officially started.... GO DUCKS! QUACK QUACK!

I did it!

I finally sent in my cover letter and resume to a company that hires grant writers. It is a bit more detailed than that, but it sums up things in a nutshell. I got the contact through our friend SB who knows him from the Marina. I have no idea if I am really qualified or if I will even if get an interview or a job. But the point is, I finally sent in a letter and resume. I have not applied for a job in 5 & 1/2 years! I have not held a job in about 2&1/2 and barely count the last one since it was for friends and undefined anyway. So to join the rat race of the millions questing for work and trying to seem intelligent after 2. 5 years of my greatest accomplishment being getting S registered for school and other government issues, is pretty scary. I feel very unqualified for anything above McDonald's and truth be told I think that would worry me too.

But on the other hand, I do have experience, she was very up front about my qualifications and my brain atrophy and he was still interested. I am nervous, excited and curious to see what happens. I will keep everyone posted and let you know what happens.

There is lots to report in other news here in the J5 squad, but I am so tired that I am now typing with only one eye open...................guess it will just have to wait for another opportunity.