Latest Creation

I've mentioned before that I like makeup - especially playing around with eyeshadows. I have quite a few of them which until now were tossed into a basket on the desk in my room where I sit and do my makeup in the mornings. I really couldn't see easily what colors I had, what colors I didn't have, always had to spend time digging for the one I wanted, etc.

Then while browsing on my new favorite web site - http://www.pinterest.com/ - I found a great solution. A magnetic board that is practical AND beautiful. Now that's my kind of project!

There was a picture we had hanging up on the wall over our piano for years that I decided I didn't want any more. I'd already taken the picture down a while back but hadn't gotten rid of it yet. So I took the picture out of the frame. Then I asked DH to find me a place in the industrial zone here that could cut me a piece of thin......what do magnets stick to? steel? Steel, I guess. They cut it to fit the frame. I then covered this piece of metal with a pretty fabric using spray glue and taped it into my frame with wide, heavy tape on the back of the frame. Then I glued small magnets on the backs of all my eyeshadows, my foundation, my blush, etc. and now I have them all out and up where I can see exactly what I have at a glance. Voila!

The whole project cost me (112 NIS = ~$30).

Chanukah Vacation

Today is the last day of Chanukah. I took Sunday and yesterday off work to keep the kids out of DH's hair for a bit. The two days off flew by but I feel like I got a lot done with the kids which is nice.

I kicked off my long weekend by taking T to see Fiddler On the Roof at the Cameri (Israeli Theater) in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.

Fiddler on the Roof

I mentioned in a previous post how NOT excited T was about this idea but by the time the date rolled around she was resigned to suffering through it with me to humor me. WELL. She and I got to Tel Aviv quite early. We had time for a coffee in the cafeteria at the theater. They opened the doors to the auditorium at 8:10 and since we were so early we were the first ones to go in and sit down. She kept making comments like, "OMG. We're going to be the only ones here. OMG. There's just going to be old people here. OMG. If my friends saw me now I'd be so embarrased." We were sitting 8th row from the front and smack in the middle - amazing seats. And then above us were two more tiers as well. The place was pretty empty for quite a while. Even I was getting nervous that we'd be the only ones there. And then all of a sudden at about 8:25 pm, everyone came in at once with a great big WHOOSH and the place filled to I'd say probably 90% capacity. Not bad! Every time a younster or 20-something person came in, I'd dig her in the ribs and said, "Hey, look! A young person!" I did it so often that I had her giggling: "OK OK Ima. Shush! I get it!" The show opened with the first song "Tradition" which totally grabbed her and swept her into the story and she was hooked. She was laughing a LOT through most of it. The music was WOW, the actors were excellent. Natan Datner played Tuvya and Chani Nachmies (sp?) played his wife. They portrayed the characters perfectly. When it was over and we were leaving, T very readily said with a tone of surprise in her voice, "That was good." HIGH praise, coming from her! Her only critique was that there was a bit too much crying and heavy at the end for her taste. It's true. It starts out all light and funny and haha and the story does get heavier as it goes along but......that's the story. I really do hope that this experience will give her a little bit more faith in my judgement when it comes to these things. For next time.

It started raining heavily Saturday night and carried on through Sunday. So Sunday was a "hang out at home day". Apart from taking both kids for haircuts in the morning, it was a pajama day, movie day, arts and crafts day, order pizza in for dinner day, etc.

Pre-haircut



Craft time - making rainbow clouds.

I have been looking to buy a laptop for myself. DH and I had nearly decided on which one to buy and then a friend of ours told us on Shabbat that she had bought a Dell mini (10" screen) a year and half ago and wasn't using it. She said she would sell it to me for 500 NIS (~$135). So Sunday night I went over to her house and played around with it for an hour to see if it did what I needed it to do. I went into all my favorite web sites, tried running a movie on it, etc. It also has a built in camera for Skyping purposes too. I ended up buying it from her and I'm so excited about it.

We saved a lot of money this way and even if it only lasts me a year I can upgrade next year. Our friend had bought a larger battery for it too so if I ever need to run it off the battery it has enough life to last 6 hours. It's small and compact and doesn't take up much space when not in use. Yesterday Y came with me to work. I popped this little thing into my handbag and got Y set up beside me at work watching a movie on it. Perfect!

On Monday, Y and I had a tiyul (field trip) organized by her school for parents and kids. There were 4 bus loads of people! We were gone from 9-3. They took us over to Beit Shemesh to a synagogue there where they had refreshments for everyone. Then they bused the kids somewhere else for a hike and crawl through some underground tunnels for an hour and a half. This was led by a tour guide. While the kids were off doing that, they had a rabbi come speak to the parents about marriage. Sounds heavy, right? Wrong. This rabbi was SO funny! He was more of a comedian. He talked mostly about the differences between men and women. Who can't relate to that? (He said that his day job as a rabbi involved a lot of counselling for groups of men prior to marriage, groups of women prior to marriage and couples together.)  We, the parents, were giggling so hard. He was wonderful. And of course, I really wished DH could have been there to hear him. Or at the very least that I would have thought to have videoed it for DH.

After the rabbis talk which was very enjoyable, we were bused to Park Britania (National Park) to meet up with the kids after their hike. The buses took us up to the top of a high hill there with an awesome view all around. Considering that it had been pouring rain the day before, we were SO lucky with the weather. It was sunny but VERY VERY VERY cold up there on the hill. After the buses of kids arrived, the people with the food turned up and despite the cold, they brought portable grills and pitot and hotdogs and salads and all the supplies for a BBQ in the "forest". (In this country, anywhere where there are a minimum of 7 spindly trees clumped together they call a "forest". Pu-lease. They ain't seen nuthin'.) They got the hotdogs on to cook pronto and there was a mad rush by one and all for the food. Once the "forest" had been cleared of debris (i.e. hotdog wrappers, plastic forks, cups, plates, etc.) and bagged up (largely by me), we headed back to Rehovot and Y's school. A very nice day.

Having just gotten a wash the day before in the rain, everything looked so bright and clean. The blues couldn't have been bluer, the greens couldn't have been greener and the whites couldn't have been whiter.

We got home from the tiyul around 3 pm and we weren't home 20 minutes before I turned Y around, grabbed E and we headed back out to the gymboree at Bilu Center. We were there from 4-8 pm. It's a pricey outing but I felt bad that E was home all morning with DH and probably didn't do much more than spend a lot of time in front of the TV so I wanted to get him out of the house for him to do something active. It was the perfect decision. I thought, you know, being Chanukah and all, that it would be mobbed but surprisingly it wasn't. The employee who heard me comment about it said that the mornings had been much more crowded and that we came at the right time of day. So that was also great. There were still plenty of people there but there was room for me to sit down and the kids didn't have to wait to go on anything or play with anything.

Since last night was the last night of Chanukah, we lit the chanukkiyah (menorah) filled with 8 candles. Here's E helping to get the candles set up in the chanukkiyah and helping to light them.

Greasy Goodness

I wanted to write my Chanukkah (Hanuka, Hanukka, Hanukkah, Chanuka, Chanukka, Chanukkah.....etc) post after I had a nice pic of our menorah all lit up which I don't yet. But I decided not to wait to write. Chanukah is just such a happy, FUN holiday that I can't contain myself.

First night (Tuesday) I was half sick and feeling blah. I left work 2 hours early, took the bus home (since our car was in for repairs) and on the walk home, stopped off and bought Y her Chanukah gift this year. We usually do very small, modest gifts but this year she got a korkinet (scooter) which she'd been asking for for a while. She is generally NOT a demanding kid so the fact she asked for it meant she really wanted one. When she first asked she hadn't learned to ride her bike which I/we felt was important so as incentive, we told her once she'd learned to ride her bike with no training wheels, we'd buy her the korkinet. She learned to ride her bike quick smart after that so I felt we needed to honor our promise about the korkinet.

About a week ago I started shopping around. There are little cheapy ones that all the kids have with these little tiny wheels that to me look so dangerous and hard to control. I wanted one with larger wheels. I looked online and found exactly what I wanted but the cheapest I found them for was 500-700 NIS!!!!!!!! OMG! <Choke> Forget that.

Then I started popping in to the many toy stores around town and found exactly what I wanted with the larger 20 cm wheels. It was on sale for 300 NIS. A little more than I'd wanted to pay but I was prepared to do it. When I got up to the counter they charged me 230 NIS and said they'd made a mistake in the price when they printed up their sale flyer so they were letting it go for that price! My lucky day. I was over the moon. THAT doesn't happen very often in Israel. Even if a store did make a mistake in their flyer, they'd usually still try to convince you that that was "only a mistake" and the REAL price is this and there's nothing they can do about it but charge you the higher price.

I still wasn't feeling great last night (2nd night) but came home from work determined to make some levivot (a.k.a. latkes - a.k.a. potato pancakes) even if it killed me. I know the holiday is all about oil which we generally try to avoid huge quantities of but I like to make them at least once during Chanukkah. I tried a new recipe which came out well and DH complimented me on. Y said she doesn't like them and didn't even taste them, T ate half of a small one and grumbled about all the oil - BIG ewwwww, DH only ate one because he tries to watch how much fried food he eats. So that left me and E to eat most of them. Glad I didn't make more than I did. There were still lots of leftovers.

If you want to know what the 10 signs are that Chanukkah is coming, go to http://rjstreets.com/ to see some wonderful everyday photos of Chanukkah in Israel. 



This coming Saturday night I am taking T to see the play Fiddler on the Roof in Hebrew at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv. As part of our Rosh Hashana gift from the company I work for, all the employees were given 4 free tickets to the Cameri so I'm taking her. Ever since I told her I wanted to take her, she has been kicking and screaming about going. I was informed that, "I don't like musicals. That sort of thing is for Ashkenazim." Apparently Ashkenazim are another "BIG ewwwwww" despite my informing her that she is half Ashkenazi <curtsy>. I have on several occasions gently tried to tell her that I try not to force her to step out of her comfort zone unnecessarily but it has been deeply disappointing that due to her nearly non-existent English skills (my fault) I have not been able to share books and movies with her that I loved as a child. So here is something from "my world" that we CAN connect on because it's in Hebrew for her. I told her that if she doesn't enjoy it I will eat my hat and that there must be a GOOD reason that that play has been running for 40 years or however long. It's timeless. I told her I wanted her to broaden/enrich her cultural horizons. She said she's not interested in being "cultured". I also told her that this is a good opportunity for her to trust my judgement, respect my decision and that even if she does sit there suffering for three hours that at least it is an opportunity for her and I to go out alone together which we never do. So she is still not happy about it but seems resigned. I will let you know her verdict after she sees it.

Chag Sameach!

Caffeine

Hi. My name's Avigayil and I'm addicted to caffeine. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, if someone would just inject it straight into my eyeballs I could die happy.

I know coffee isn't good for you and I keep telling myself I need to cut it out. But I. LOVE. IT.! And now the company I work for has installed an espresso machine in the meeting room for the use of the employees. O HAPPY DAY! Oooops. I mean OH DEAR! Now we have a new toy at work that involves caffeine the chances of me cutting out coffee are -.0000000000999999.

In the winter I will have at most 2 cups of coffee a day. In the summer, not more than one, if that. So I tell myself that's not too bad but I know it is. A) I know it contributes to an overly-acidic body which throws one's PH balance out of whack and B) it leaches one's bones of calcium thereby heading one in the direction of osteoporosis. Not exactly selling points. Sigh. Why does everything tasty in the food world have to be bad for you?

Coffee has become my brother's side business/hobby. He spent 5 years in Israel and became a fan of what the Israelis call "botz" (transl: mud) or Turkish coffee. The kind that leaves you with a thick, yucky layer of gritty sludge at the bottom of your mug (but that also contains mega quantities of caffeine - hurrah!). My brother now has a coffee roasting mail order business. He brings in all these exotic types of coffee beans, roasts and grinds them and will mail them to you.

If there are any other coffee addicts out there, I highly recommend his coffees. A year ago I flew from here to L.A. to spend one night with him and his family and I must say that having just come off of an 18-hour flight with 2 young kids, I chose the right night to spend with the Caffeine King himself. After three cups of his coffee(s), I felt like I wouldn't need to sleep again. Ever.

His web site can be viewed here: http://www.wcrcompany.com/. And check out his Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Coast-Roasting-Company/167594755668 for updates.

Jokes

The following is a joke that I remember my grandmother typing and mailing to my Mom. I can still recall the thin page full of manual typewriter print that it was on. We all laughed so hard at this joke and used to pull it out to share with good friends on holidays or other social visits. It doesn't matter how many times I've read it, it's still funny.

The W.C.

An English lady, while visiting Switzerland, was looking for a room for a more extended stay, and she asked the schoolmaster if he could recommend any to her. He took her to see several rooms, and when everything was settled, the lady returned to her home to make the final preparations to move.

When she arrived home, the thought suddenly occurred to her that she had not seen a "W.C." around the place. (In England, a bathroom is commonly called a "W.C." which stands for "water closet".) So she immediately write a note to the schoolmaster asking him if there were a "W.C." 

The schoolmaster was a very poor student of English, so he asked the parish priest if he could help in the matter. Together they tried to discover the meaning of the letters "W.C.", and the only solution they could come up with for the letters was Wayside Chapel. The schoolmaster then wrote the following note to the English lady:

Dear Madam:

I take great pleasure in informing you that the W.C. is situated nine miles from the room that you will occupy, in the center of a beautiful grove of pine trees surrounded by lovely grounds. It is capable of holding about 229 people and it is open on Sunday and Thursday.

As there are a great number of people who are expected during the summer months, I would suggest that you come early; although, as a rule, there is plenty of standing room. You will no doubt be glad to hear that a good number of people bring their lunch and make a day of it. While others who can afford to go by car arrive just in time.

I would especially recommend that your ladyship go on Thursday when there is a musical accompaniment. It may interest you to know that my daughter was married in the W.C. and it was there that she met her husband.

I can remember the rush for seats. There were ten people to a seat ordinarily occupied by one. It was wonderful to see the expression on their faces.

The newest attraction is a bell donated by a wealthy resident of the district. It rings every time a person enters.

A bazaar is to be held to provide plush seats for all the people, since they feel it is a long felt need. My wife is rather delicate, so she can't attend regularly. I shall be delighted to reserve the best seat for you, if you wish, where you will be see by everyone.

Hoping to have been of service to you, I remain,

Sincerely,

The Schoolmaster

And if you aren't laughing hard enough yet.........

The Bricklayer's Accident Report

The following is a bricklayer's accident report, which was printed in the newsletter of the Australian equivalent of the Workers' Compensation board.

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block 3 of the accident report form. I put "poor planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later were found to be slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley, which was attached to the side of the building on the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to ensure a slow descent of the bricks.

You will note in Block 11 of the accident report form that I weigh 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground to suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.

In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equal, impressive speed. This explained the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collar bone, as listed in section 3 of the accident report form. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley.

Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of beginning to experience a great deal of pain.

At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, that barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight. As you can imagine, I began a rapid descent, down the side of the building.

In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and several lacerations of my legs and lower body.

Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.

I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope and I lay there watching the empty barrel begin its journey back down onto me. This explains the two broken legs.

I hope this answers your inquiry.



My Kind of Math

Enjoy!

By George, I Think She's Got It!

http://www.extraordinarymommy.com/uncategorized/you-want-honest-ill-give-you-honest/

I can sooooooooo relate. Can't you?

Creativity

I am very artistic. Always have been. As are both of my parents in different ways. Guess I got it from them.

I still love to sit down with some colored pencils and one of Y's coloring books and color either with her or even by myself after she's asleep. It helps one think.

I love to decorate my space(s) - whatever they may be. I look at the world through eyes that ask: "Is it beautiful?" I like making things with my hands. I love detail. The more the better. I love hand-made. I like imagining a beautiful space in my head and then composing it in real life piece by piece.

Lately I am on this jewelry-making kick, trying my hand at different kinds. Seeing what works for me, what doesn't and what is within my budgetary restrictions.

I am realizing that creative expression is a necessity for me. A "need", not just a "want". As a busy, working, frazzled mom to three kids, I have put these crafty yearnings on hold for far too long. It's time to brush them off.

I have no great desire to have this become a career. It's just a private, me thing. An outlet for all kinds of things. But mostly I need it and do it because of its meditation-like qualities that lend themselves to contemplation and inner stillness. (By "it", I mean anything crafty that I might try my hand at.) My "inner pond" is ripple-free when I am creating something with my hands.

At the end of the day, after the kids are in bed, it is hard sometimes to work up motivation for creativity but if I just push myself and get started, all the fatigue just melts away and it will often be hours later that I will look at the clock for the first time and be shocked at the hour. Where did the time go?

Creating gives me a sense of productivity and pleasure so I can meet the following day with a smile.

Things

We were walking home yesterday from Shabbat lunch at friends'. DH and Y were walking hand in hand ahead of me. I was a little bit behind them pushing E in the stroller. I tuned into their conversation when I heard Y saying, ".....but they're ALL my friends - Benny and Itamar and Gavriel - how do I decide which one to marry????" DH told her that she doesn't have to decide now and right now they're all special because they're JUST friends and because it's nice to have a lot of friends.

Here are two more jewelry projects I completed last week. This short necklace - out of buttons of course. I made matching dangly earrings to go with it. I love how it turned out although I can't decide if it looks like I'm wearing some sort of dog collar or not. As the buttons are metal, the necklace is pretty heavy too but I don't mind. I even got a compliment on this one at shul yesterday.

And these made out of these clear plexiglass "tags" with scrapbooking paper glued to the backs of them. So simple and relatively inexpensive! Y made the pink set for herself.



Venting

I am going to murder a certain 15-year-old in our house!

First of all, she decided she MUST have her teeth cleaned TODAY because tonight she has a birthday party to go to and she wants to look good. I'm already frowning at her order of priorities because this means she will have to leave school for the cleaning appointment in the middle of her day/class. She does need to go but NOW? TODAY? DURING SCHOOL HOURS? I checked it with DH and he said he could pick her up, take her to her appointment and then back to school. So I agreed to her getting her teeth cleaned but I told her she had to be at school the rest of the day. She said ok. This was on Friday.
Then she goes off to her Dad's for the weekend. I SMSd her last night to see when she's coming back. She tells me this morning. Why not last night? Shabbat finishes now at 5:15 so she has 4-5 hours to get home by train at her leisure. She says her dad doesn't want her coming back Saturday night because he doesn't want her travelling alone in the dark. Please. The stations are all well-lighted as are the trains. And she looks much older than she is.  But whatever. I wasn't happy that she didn't come home last night either because I know how these scenarios with them go but I let it slide.

So this morning at 7:50 as DH is driving me to work I call her up to see when she's arriving in Rehovot and she tells me she's just leaving his house to go to the station on his end! How come she didn't get up early and catch the first train at 6:55?????

I LOST IT with her on the phone and let her have it with both barrels! Meltdown. Sunday morning. On my way to work. Like I need this!

It's not the first time she's done this. She knows as soon as she's at her Dad's that there's not much I can do about it and that she has her Dad's backing. She said, "So what? Abba will write me a note for the teacher." I said, "I don't care if he writes you a thousand notes. You heard your teacher in the P/T meeting this week: 'A responsible person has to be in his/her place ON TIME.' " But no. Goes in one ear and out the other with her. She acts like she's on vacation. I've had it. Not only that, she expects DH to pick her up from the train, take her to school, then pick her up again and take her to the tooth appointment, then back to school! I told her, "DH is not your personal driver. You cannot do what you want without thinking how this will affect other peoples' day. You cannot use being at Abba's AND your tooth appointment to miss half a day of school." She said, "My teacher will understand and give me permission." I said, "You haven't even spoken to her yet about any of this yet! You cannot just do what you want and then come to your teacher after it's a done deal and expect her to give you permission retroactively. It doesn't work like that."
DH needs to take the car in for repairs and today is the best day this week for him to do it. In the end I told him not to wait around for T to turn up. She will get to Rehovot, there will be no car and she will have to figure out by herself the rest of her day. It's mean, but I just don't know how else to get through to her and wake her up. She will probably be so annoyed that she won't even go to school at all today.

I spoke to her teacher and asked her to speak to T and maybe even T's father.

I am so fed up with her Dad backing her in these situations! Why does he think her missing school is ok?
Why do I need to start my week with all this aggravation???????

Yes, Your Craftiness!

A few posts back I mentioned that I'd bought 3 packs of scrapbooking paper. Here's what it looks like:

Aren't the patterns beautiful? They sort of satisfy my longing for wallpaper.

I have also been finding a lot of web sites from which you can download scrapbooking paper for free (if you have a color printer). The only color printer I have is the one at work so I would only do this in a pinch and not huge quantities either.

I also posted a clip of a custom button making tool from Epiphany Crafts. I've ordered it in the 20mm flower button shape from eBay and am eagerly awaiting its arrival so I can make custom buttons and with them make more necklaces and rings in combination with the regular buttons I already have in my collection.

Now here's the next type of jewelry I want to try making with the scrapbooking paper: http://www.theidearoom.net/2009/04/glass-tile-pendants.html What a simple, classy, neat idea! This would be a great gift for my 2 neices. The only problem is that 2 nights ago I ran around to four places in Rehovot that might possibly have these clear glass tiles and no one has seen or heard of them! SO frustrating!

However, yesterday, after a lot of asking around and looking online, someone referred me to this site http://www.netanella.com/. The web site is amazing AND the owner of the web site also has a store in Rehovot!!!!! How lucky is THAT? And how come no one in Rehovot knows about this place???? I think I see on the web site what I'm looking for and hope to go check this place out tonight.

Funnies

I love how when E comes into our room in the morning and gets in bed with us for a few minutes before he pops back up and asks for breakfast, he will look over at me as we're nose to nose on my pillow and say with the biggest smile, "Ima, ani (I) wake-y!" Yes, E. I noticed you're awake.

Then this morning I was in another part of the house and E comes running and calling for me to come with him in a tone of great urgency. He takes my hand and drags me into the kitchen where the oven door is hanging open. He stands there and indignantly flings his hand at the open oven and in an appalled near-shriek says, "DIRTY!" I said, "Yes, E, I know it's dirty. Ima needs to clean it, right?" With BIG, popping eyes he nodded his head vigorously.

What a Sight!

Last night when T and I were sitting in the bus station waiting for the bus home, we saw this elderly religious woman walking through the station dragging NINE boxes behind her by their shoulder straps like dogs on leashes. These nine boxes contained gas masks. And while I'm thinking "WHAT! She's only NOW picking up her gas masks?!" I'm also trying (and failing) to do the mental arithmetic required to determine just how many kids this woman must have.....

After we got on the bus, someone else was commenting about how many masks she had and we heard her say that she was picking them up for her neighbors as well so - whew! - they weren't all for her family. 

Kind Hearted

My oldest daughter, T (age 15), is my true Israeli. She doesn't speak English although she understands some. I know the English she hears us speaking at home is being stored away and will pop out later in life when she's in a situation where she needs it (job, university - whatever). Living in close proximity to each other 24/7 like we do in a smallish apartment often serves to magnify the stupid (and sometimes not so stupid) little things about her personality or lifestyle that bother/annoy me. Plus, being her mother, I suppose I am not the most objective judge of character. Or maybe I am? I don't know. I often don't approve of how she dresses although it could be a LOT worse. I sometimes do like the music she listens to but in small doses. She's now wanting a small stud nose ring in her nose. All connotations aside, the truth is that I think a small sparkle in her nose would suit her but of course I can't tell HER that.

Then there are days like yesterday where she gives me opportunities to take a step back and look at the Big Picture.

The first instance of this was when she told us that she was on the bus to school yesterday morning and the bus hit the car in front of it. The driver had to hit the brakes HARD but still hit the car. She said just before this happened a little old lady had gotten on and sat down in the front seat behind the driver. She said when the driver hit the brakes, the little old lady went rolling - literally - and was lying on the floor of the bus saying her back and neck hurt. T said she didn't know how to help the lady and was scared to try to move her. She said, "Ima, I felt so bad for her I wanted to cry." Eventually T and some other passengers got the lady up and seated in a seat and I don't know what happened to her in the end. But it warmed my heart to see how empathic T was towards this lady and how she was involved in helping her to the extent that she could.

It is at times like this that I say to myself, "OK. Let's get our priorities straight here. Does it really matter what she wears or what kind of music she listens to? Yes, those things irk me at times. But in my book, the most important thing is that she not lose her humanity or her empathy skills."

The second instance of her kindheartedness occurred last night. She and I had a P/T meeting at her school which went better than I'd anticipated. From there we took the bus home. The bus was rather full and there was a mother with several kids and a double stroller on the bus. The bus arrived at the stop where this mother wanted to get off and T jumped to help her get the stroller off the bus onto the sidewalk. She could have been oblivious and self-absorbed. But she was awake and aware and it warmed my heart to see that.

She made me proud yesterday.

ONE good thing.......

Yesterday was NOT fun.

A water pipe burst in DH's mom's apartment in Netanya (an hour north of us). He dropped me off at work in the morning and drove straight off to his Mom's to handle the insurance company and repairs, etc. He wasn't back in time to meet Y when her school bus drops her off at home so I had to tell them at work that I needed to leave 2 hours early and I explained the situation. They're great about these kinds of things. Had to take a taxi home, collect Y from the bus, get the stroller and then she and I walked to the other side of Rehovot (1/2 an hour walk) to pick up Efrom gan when he finished at 4 pm. From there we had about another 1/2 hour walk into the center of town. I had some errands I needed to do including looking for some jewelry supplies which no one's ever heard of or seen. DH left his Mom's around 3:30 and came back on the "fast" road but there was a car accident and it ended up taking him THREE FREAKIN' HOURS to get home! Annoying. But whatever.

So we all arrive home around 6:30-7 and I go and put E to play in the bath and then to help Y with her homework. While I'm doing that, Ef starts bailing out but by the time T noticed anything was wrong, the whole bathroom/laundry room/hallway area was standing in about 2 inches of water!!!!! ARRRRGGGGHHH! DH had to stop the urgent translation work he was doing and help me squeegee the water down the drainage hole in the bathroom floor which took quite a while. The water had also JUST started to creep around the corner of the hall into the entry way where we have 3 identical IKEA bookshelves which we just bought in the summer and you know those aren't great quality. So DH also had to unload the books off one of the bookshelves, dismantle it and flip it over to see how much water had gone under the bookshelf and to let it dry so it wouldn't get water damage. Luckily I think we caught it just in time. It was only slightly wet. OMG. What a circus last night was! I didn't sit down I think until 10 pm or so and after all that walking.....my feet HURT!
Then today DH had to go back to Netanya because the plumbing work isn't done and who knows when he'll be back today. Today is Y's short day in school. She gets home at 1 pm but I was able to arrange for her to go home with a friend from her class. I will still need to leave work early today to get E at 4 but not as early as yesterday. I really don't like using my vacation days like this.

Just about the only good thing that happened last night (depending on who you ask) is that while the kids and I were in town I bought a new pair of high black boots that I just LOVE.

Y was home sick on Sunday and went back to school yesterday but she got confused and packed her schoolbooks for the Sunday schedule rather than the Monday schedule. Then last night when we were doing all that walking around town, a certain spot on her ankle kept itching her and she kept stopping to scratch it. At one point she burts out with, "Oooooof! I'm not having a good day! First I packed the wrong books for school and now I'm itching!" She cracked me up.

A Little Humor

I'll never forget the time when E was a baby. I had him in the front seat of the car in his carseat. I went to put gas in the car. There were two female Ethiopian gas station attendants there that day - both blacker than black. I rolled down the window to talk to the first one, tell her how much to put in the tank and at the end, pay her. While the gas was being pumped, she was cooing and talking to baby E. He was NOT responsive to her so she laughingly said something to her friend - the other attendant - about how deadpan his expression was so the 2nd attendant said to mine, "It's because you're black. He's not used to it." (As if she wasn't black??) My initial reaction was shock at how un-PC her statement was but then I saw the funny side and was cracking up the whole way home. Ay-yi-yi-yi! Only in Israel............

Ideas

I'm still on a crafting "shvuuuuung". I have selectively been buying some basic craft supplies here and there that I'm sure I will use with the kids.

Last week I discovered this nifty little gadget made by Epiphany Crafts in the U.S.:

And now I am BADLY wanting one of these little button tools so I can make my own custom buttons to make jewelry out of.

On Friday I went to Ra'anana to a store there called Big Deal that carries a lot of overstock items from the US. They have really good English children's books, games, workbooks and toys as well as stationary, kitchenware, pillows, luggage, candy, and art and craft supplies including scrapbooking supplies. I bought three huge packages of GORGEOUS scrapbooking paper to use with this button making tool which I have ordered from eBay. I think it will greatly expand my jewelry making possibilities.

I can't wait to receive it and get to work!

English

Y mentioned recently that she is bored in her English class. Not surprising. Her spoken English is fluent even though her reading and writing skills aren't - although those are quickly improving too. I hope to make a trip to Ra'anana (about 45 minutes north of us) to a store there that I was told sells English teaching supplies - workbooks and such. I want to get her a book or two that will supplement what she's getting in school but that will be more of a challenge for her.

Y started a gynmastics class this week and is LOVING it!

My weekend starts tonight. I wonder what the weekend holds?

We have been potty training E for several weeks now. He got "#1" down pat in about 2 days. "#2"......that's been a bug-a-boo. Sigh. I keep comforting myself by saying, "He won't come to his wedding in a diaper." Everyone catches on at some point. Just when?

Chanuka is around the corner and I want to take a day or two off to spend with the kids. But do I want to just stick close to home or pull out all the stops and do something BIG with them??? That is the question. A month before E was born - on Christmas day which was COLD and pouring rain (weren't no shepherds out tending flocks in THAT weather, let me tell you!) - I and the girls jumped on a bus and went to Jerusalem for the day. There is a small, quaint, cosy coffee shop there called Kad V'Chomer where they sell plaster molds of all kinds of things including Judaica items like menorahs, kiddush cups, Shabbat candlesticks, mezzuzah covers, etc. You pay for the one you want and then you sit and paint it. They provide all the brushes and paints and sponges for people who like sponge painting, etc. When you're done painting your piece, you have to leave it there for them to fire it in the kiln and then return to collect it which, coming all the way from Rehovot, was a bit problematic for us. But we have friends who live near Jerusalem who agreed to pick up the three items for us and hold them until we saw them again. So it worked out in the end. The girls each painted a jewelry box and I painted a mezzuah cover which we have up on the doorway of our kitchen at home. This activity is NOT cheap but it was the perfect thing for three artistic girls on a cold, rainy day in Jerusalem. I don't think doing this again would fly, especially now that we have a very active almost-3-year-old but maybe spending the day in Jerusalem would be fun as we hardly ever get there.

T and I did a big food shop last night. I love baklava but rarely buy it. But it just sounded good so last night I did buy a box of it. Which brought to mind the one and only time my Mom ever made it when I was a kid. Dad took one bite of it and started laughing so hard he was crying and couldn't talk for ages. We asked him why he was laughing and when he could finally talk he said, "It's like eating the morning newspaper!" That's what I think of whenever I eat it. LOL.

Have a good weekend!