Friday, December 18, 2009

Channukah Recap 2009


Is it fair to say that I could really do without 8 days of parties and terrible food, etc for Channuka this year. Gifts just didn't find a way to get wrapped between all our parties with friends and family and I can live with that.

Last week we had a craft party on Sunday where the kids made and decorated sugar cookies and a mat to go under their chanukia (and it was laminated so it wouldn't burn, good thinking rebbitzen) - instigating another trip to the shul the following Wednesday to pick it up. This was the same week I made oatmeal raisin cookies with them.

We had a Shabbat Party (as Yael likes to refer to Friday night dinner) for the first night of Hannukah. We decorated the windows and hung a banner and our brightly lit Star of David was hung kid-high on the wall. We had egga latkes and boxed latkes served with applesauce to go with the amazing chicken and grilled vegetables and Israeli salad my husband made - taking into consideration that Aunt Carol is lactose intolerant and therefore postponing my attempt at sour cream with latkes). We put the electric menorah in the front window (can't even begin to compete with the next door neighbor's yard and lights display which won the Civic Club Yard of the Month award) and lit the candle ones in the kitchen so there was enough room for the kids to play with fire alongside Abba.

Aunt Carol's cinnamon crumb cake was the perfect desert before presents and Bubbe and Purpaw joined Aunt Carol and us as the kids got games for presents (Yoni promptly lost one of the pieces to his 4 person Connect 4 (which he later found) and Yael had such fun making the bugs for the Cooties game that it didn't even matter that there was actually a game and turns involving throwing a dice involved in playing the game.

We joined a select group of Israelis and some others from the preschool for a beautiful channukah party at someone else's house that included a gift exchange for the kiddos.
Then we did another small gathering on Sunday at our house for latkes where I could serve my spinach dip and sour cream and applesauce with the latkes cause we did it after dinner. The latkes were a success, but the party was kinda a dud since we were all exhausted from the weekend. But the kiddos got their big present from Bubbe that night - Yoni got a radio controlled monster truck and Yaeli got a baby doll with a costume change including shoes. They loved it!
Another one of their favorite presents was Yoni's Transformer and Yaeli's plush doggy doll.

During the week of Channuka we also had numerous parties lined up to attend each evening, but I was NOT about to go party hopping, especially after a full day of work. So we had the responsible Bubble and Purpaw fill in till we could get there. We had the Shul party with picture taking and contained chaos and then we had the Montessori school party that had bounce houses and lollipops and balloon animals and face painting and a multitude of other general chaos that was truly fun to watch as the kids ran around and played with their friends, but I never knew where they were exactly. Then we had an Israeli style party hosted by the consulate at the Merfish Center the following night, but it was raining and we were pooped so we opted to save it for next year (although, at last year's party, Jonathan's picture made the Chronicle Newspaper)

Yael's class had a channukah presentation/craft on Tuesday and Yoni's was today. Eran made the arrangements to go and be present at both events since the office sent out reminders and I didn't want my children to be the ONLY ones that didn't have at least one parental unit available and present at the class party. I had an office party Tuesday that I took more of the Spinach dip and crackers, etc so that I knew that at least I could eat SOMETHING since the party was a gumbo/chili throwdown. I then played hookey from work on Wednesday claiming to be ill because I had a doctor's appt anyway and was so worn out I couldn't make myself get up and go.

And I also toured a new school for my son who is graduating from Montessori. So with all that we had going on in the last two weeks (including 2 trips to the doctor - changing my BP meds since the one they put me on originally game me a serious case of the shaky hands and arms - like I had overexerted myself by lifting arm weights for 3 hours) is it any wonder I am exhausted and my co-workers claim that I do more outside of the office than anyone they have ever known. So is that a bad thing that my kids actually have playdates when I can squeeze them in and a more active social life than I can ever remember. And is it any wonder that this is how I describe my life right now: "Life is good, but exhausting. But all I really want is to curl up with my family on the couch with some cocoa, some popcorn, a blanket and a good movie."

Monday, December 14, 2009

My current home improvement wish list

So I think we always want a few new things for our kitchen or our house, etc
I want I want I want

I want an interior designer to come and redecorate my living room because I HATE the wood paneling and am still undecided about putting up curtains over the wall of windows (that I wish were French doors) even though you can see straight into our living room from the yard.

I want new kitchen cabinets that are not ugly pressboard and have nice new prettty handles

I want a jacuzzi (or even just a 2nd) bathtub in my master suite.

I want to redo my walkin closet so that you can actually walk in and see everything - and do I really need that outdated vanity nook that is just a waste of space? (unless I can fiind a way to make it my sewing corner - which would mean that I need a decent sewing machine (I saw one at Costco for less than $200 that could do everything but chop vegetables - that's on my wish list too)

And while I'm thinking of small appliances, I want a bread maker and a really nice stand mixer.

I could also use an ice maker dedicated just for that purpose, or a new refrigerator with a built in ice-maker/water dispenser in the door that magically fills itself with food every week or two.

Or I could get a new water cooler/heater that I don't have to rent every month. and then I would just fill up the enormously heavy 5Liter water bottles at the grocery and then carry them inside the house myself - NAH, some things are just worth having delivered!

Oh and I also want a self folding clothes dryer that I don't have to pay for weekly either.
I can do my own laundry and actually prefer doing it, but I don't know how to tell the mostly Spanish speaking housekeeper that I need her to scrub the shower instead of folding my kids' clothes (and then hiding them somewhere in their rooms so that I can't find them when I need them in the frenzy of the morning rush to get ready).

What I really want is the desk that Eran keeps promising to set up for me so that I can have an uninterrupted "office space" altough my kids will undoubtably find a way to undermine my best intentions.

But mostly, I want my kids to sleep in their own beds or at least in their own bedroom. They are not considerate sleepers and hog all the space or steal all the covers which they then manage to kick off in the middle of the night. They have learned not to sleep directly on my head, but I have also been not-so-soft lately in my man-handling of them out of the way when I want to sleep and they are sprawled everywhere. And my Yaeli just sprouted up and is now most definitely a 3-year old and Yoni is packing on the pounds in anticipation of another growth spurt I hope.

We had a fantastic row this morning over the TV which I left on tuned to the news channel in the AM. When Yoni woke up and stumbled into the living room, I was listening to the news reports of heavy fog and where the traffic snarls were from my comatose-looking sprawled position on the couch. However, he grabbed the "shalat" (remote for those not in the know) and changed the channel to the grating sound of SpongeBob first thing in the AM. NOT ACCEPTABLE! He knows there are other acceptable morning cartoons that he can watch on PBS or the Disney Channel if he happens to be awake before me which is rare, but I can not and will not tolerate the vapidness that is SpongeBob first thing in the morning, or for hours on end either. He screamed and cried, I roared and bellowed, and not necessarily in that order. It was the low point of my entire day. The situation was remedied by my esteemed husband who blearily found the remote control battery from last night's Channukah present and distracted the child with his now functioning radio contolled monster truck which needed the battery to be charged up overnight before it was any fun for him.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Kidisms

Yoni was sitting on my lap today and asked how do you spell 100. So I spelled for him h-u-n-d-r-e-d. But that's not quite what he meant. He said no, Mommy, 1-??? so I clued in and started to say 1-0-0 when he got a case of the giggles and chimed in "1-0-armpit." Outta the mouths of babes.

And Yael has been hooked on a book that has a few nursery rhymes in it including Dinah blow your horn and Jack and Jill. The first one has I've been working on the railroad only Yael's improved version when she "reads" the book to herself is 'I've been working on the rainbow'
Then Jack and Jill go up the hill to get a "drink of water" and Jack comes down "with his crown" and Jill comes "running after him". I think I like her versions better.

And who can decide when I am Mommy and when I am Imma? It seems to be a lot more Imma lately. Not exactly what I chose for myself, but then Abba has become Daddy amonst the kid set when they refer to him. And he has always been Abba.

Snow Day and weekend activities

Yael and Yoni and I made the recipe from the box of rolled oats for oatmeal raisin cookies. We destroyed my kitchen in the process and it made me realize even more that a stand or even hand held mixer would be a good ivestment for these kinds of projects.
Yael actually tried the finished product, but it took Yoni some convincing as the first bite he took was hot and he spit it out immediately with a pronounced "bleh"
We only baked one dozen and I rolled up the others and put them in the freezer for a hostess emergency. Since they are made with parve margarine, and it only takes 10-12 minutes to bake them unfrozen, I figure a half hour notice might give me the chance to actually take a plate of homemade slice and bake cookies somewhere when needed. :)
Next to try, the Amish sugar cookies which you apparently can make into all kinds of shapes and then decorate - great hannukah craft that we just did at shul with a bunch of other kids...
And then the peanut butter and nuttella recipe that I found that I will have to make when Jonathan isn't around because he doesn't like peanut butter or chocolate spread on his sandwiches. Who does this child belong to?

Now I have to get all the paperwork from my mother in law's trip to the ER together to send to Israel because they need to get reimbursed but more importantly because apparently she fainted yet again. It has not been a good afternoon for my husband. What can he do from here? She is in hospital in Afula doing the same tests she had done here 2 weeks ago. If she's lucky - we are talking about socialized medicine...
He is really concerned that something may really be wrong because she acted a lot out of character for what he remembered. But I spent a lot of time with her on my own and she was just happy to buy a lot of American goods to show all her friends at home. Maybe there really is something going on. He's afraid of a big neurological event that might leave her without her faculties and then where will we be? Yikes, to even think about something like that!

He may be attuned to what is going on with them more than he would like to admit. Even before he got the message he was tense. We don't generally have shouting matches over miscommunication isues, but we did today, and a crying fit to follow and really all over something important but silly. He didn't realize my fears and I didn't understand where he was coming from and it all blew up out of proportion, but really over nothing at all. But ugly, hurtful things were said and cannot be taken back and it proves that we really need to watch and think about what we say before we spout off - especially in anger.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Snow Day

Or at least half of one.
We Texans don't know what to do when it snows in Houston, so we shut everything down.
Kids have early dismissal at 12:30
My office is closing officially at 12:00 Noon.
And my parents are in Louisiana to miss all the fun.

It snowed mixed with rain all the way to school to drop off the kids and then all the way from there to downtown. Nothing is sticking to anything yet, but the kids could see it on the windshield and in the air. Very exciting. It should make for a VERY interesting weekend.


That red stuff in the middle of the picture is the rain/snow mix. Captured at Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. CST

Happy half-day/snow-day Friday and extra time to play in the kitchen (to get ready for Shabbat).

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Gratitude Journal - Giving

One thing I was happy to be grateful for is my husband and his generous heart which I made sure to tell him thusly:
I told him: One of the things I love about you is that when you have "extra" money, [we'll call it that for lack of a better term] you are quick to share it with others who may need it more than you. For me that is more of a challenge, maybe because I pay the bills, maybe because it is in my nature to want to save for a rainy day - all the while hoping that day never comes or that I will recognize it and actually be willing to let go of the hard-earned nest egg.

We as a couple have always been willing to share our home with our friends and family. For example: in the first year of our marriage, we had guests sleeping on our couch for various periods of time...My friend from the WUJS program who crashed with us for about a month, my cousin who came to visit with an open-ended ticket, but found a job and a place to live rather quickly on his own (once I pointed him in the right direction), one of Eran's childhood friends who needed a place to go to get away from his nasty divorce and to get started in his new life.
These were the good times. When we needed help, we were also quick to lean on our family and friends for the same.

Recently we went to a family function where a new, young mother is struggling to care for her newborn and to look for a job. She is also looking for direction at this point in her life. My husband came into some money unexpectedly and without a second thought gave her a generous portion - not as a loan to be repaid, but as a gift to help her out immediately. Can't we all use a little extra "folding money" as my grandma used to call it?

Also, another childhood friend of his was recently willing to leave his life and children behind and give the American dream a shot. He was very spontaneous about the whole thing and did not do the proper planning and prep that would normally accompany such a drastic thing. He did call once he was in California and we pointed him in the direction of the nearest Chabad so that he would at least be able to get a Shabbat dinner and a place to stay. He never called us from Israel about these plans, had he done so we might have been able to help him from this end - a place to stay, job, etc. He pretty much set himself up for failure - answered an ad in a newpaper in Israel and got on a plane with the Israeli attitude of "yiheh beseder" - it'll be ok. He then told us the sob story that he was here with basically the shirt on his back and not much else, so we eventually FedExed him some cash - which we all know we'll never see again.

Eran's answer to me when I reminded him of these things as an example of his generosity was that he didn't expect to see the money he "loaned" to his friend or the young mother, but he came into virtually the same amount unexpectedly so it was meant to be...for him to have the money in order to share it with those who needed it more than him at that time.

Another small example of the power of tzedakah - when I sent a donation to a fund for a friend who had just had a baby and then fell seriously ill, I accompanyed the check [which was 3 times the amount I expected/meant to give - when I sat down to write the check, it's just what came out] with a note about the mitzvot that some of us had been doing in merit of a full recovery. The day the check posted to my account, coincidentally, was the joyful day that her husband was able to report that they had taken her completly off all respirators - that she was conscious and breathing on her own and that he was grateful to see her smile return to her face.

For me there are always tangible and poignant signs of the goodness of Hashem - and I don't have to look very hard to find them. They pretty much bash me over the head and say "appreciate me!"