Israel - here come the Orieyentas!

We are so excited I can hardly type. Our bags are (mostly) packed although we keep adding more and more...the latest was a $900 stroller for one of PHD's cousins. (Did you even know that strollers could cost $900? What is up with that?) I have no idea how we are going to manage to shlep all of this at once but come Sunday, we are on our way!

We have plans to go to a million places plus plans to meet up with the Treppenwitz family, Gila, and maybe even Leah! Plenty of pictures to come for sure.

Wishing you and yours a blessed and peaceful Shabbat.

Kids or no kids - the wedding dilemma

Ok, I have a dilemma and I need your help. Since the wedding is getting close (3-1/2 months!) we have really gone into planning mode. We have always talked about it being very very small and to not have much more than a minyan. This becomes complicated since my family (meaning my Dad, his wife, my sister, and her husband) are not Jewish. But we decided that the minyan plus my goyim family would be fine.

Enter my sister and her 3 year old daughter and her newborn little girl.

I love my nieces as though they are my own children. Apparently PHD does not share this love. He is adamant that the kids don't come to the wedding. I can understand not wanting the newborn there but my other niece? I just don't get it. He says they will disrupt the wedding and since it's so small it would be a huge deal. I say that they would be fine.

Obviously I love PHD enough to marry him but let's just say that he is a tad on the stubborn side (ok maybe more than a tad) and when he makes up his mind about something there is usually no swaying him. He says I haven't given him a good enough reason to include my niece. I say that it should be reason enough that it's important to me that she is there.

Help me! What else can I say? My sister says she won't come if she can't bring the kids. PHD (as usual) is showing no signs of budging on this issue (he's even threatened to cancel the whole affair and just have us married with the Rabbi in his study).

I'm the one who will always give in to everyone else before taking what I want but I can't see a way to make everyone happy. Help!

We're not dead....yet

Thought I'd give an update in case there was anyone wondering where the heck we've been. My sister's baby will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and she is absolutely delicious. With all that black hair, I almost want to steal her for my very own (please note the "almost" in that sentence).

We celebrated PHD's Mom's 93rd Birthday yesterday. After the heart attack she seemed ready to throw in the towel but...we moved her to an independent living facility which we think is so nice we wish we could live there. The move seems to have given her a new zest for life and seeing her so happy fills my heart with joy.

PHD went to Honduras and made it home safely. I am still planning to use that trip as a bartering tool to take a trip to Hebron next month.

This week LO and I will celebrate "LO Day" - it's the 8 year anniversary of the day we officially became a family. (It's also the anniversary of our conversion so the date is always a double blessing for us.) I can't believe that it's been 8 years since the day that I first met her - thinking back to that sad tiny little girl they handed me, I would never have been able to imagine how much love could change a child's life.

As for me, I had to have a biopsy last week for a suspicious mass the doctor found. They botched the biopsy and it really was traumatic for me. The doctor called me yesterday and said she had good news and bad news. The good news is that what they did biopsy had no cancer it in. The bad news is that they biopsied the wrong place. I have to have another biopsy. I wanted to tell her that I would rather have undetected cancer than to let her touch me again. But I restrained myself and explained that there was no way I would do it before going to Israel. So the second biopsy will be in July. Please keep me in your prayers.

And finally - our trip to Israel is just around the corner. We are starting to really think of an agenda and are hoping to at least see Treppenwitz, Gila, and Jameel. My offer is still open if anyone needs us to schlep anything there or back for them, just let me know!

I hate field trips

(Bus rides make us meshugge!)

We just recently got back from a 3 day field trip to St. Augustine with LO's class. I usually avoid all the field trips since I just don't love the noise level. However, this one was over several nights, so there was no way getting out of it.

We obviously survived the trip but here is a little overview of what I will always remember as the "Punishment for Being Jewish" field trip...

Day 1
We got up at 4:30 am to be on the bus by 5:30 am. The bus drives to a rest stop on the turnpike for breakfast. Breakfast was anything you wanted at Burger King. (Thankfully, I had brought some fruit in my backpack.) Back on the bus for several hours we head to Ocala to Silver Springs. Lunch was a hamburger and chips. (Guess what we ate?) Back on the bus again for several hours we head to St. Augustine where we stop for dinner at Applebee's. (Guess what we ate? Or should I say guess what we didn't eat? Do you see a theme here?) Then back on the bus to go to the Old Florida Museum. Eventually we get to the hotel. It was just shy of 10:00 pm. Exhaustion doesn't begin to describe it.

Day 2
On the bus at 8:30 am. Off and running the whole day - you name it, we saw it. The St. Augustine lighthouse, the Lightner Museum, Ximenez Fatio, a tram tour, Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum, the Oldest Jail, the Heritage Museum, ended the day with a walking Ghost story tour. We got back to the hotel after 10:00 pm. The highlights of the day: (1) Making an unplanned stop at a church on the tram tour. While the whole group went inside for a tour of the church, LO and I were left to stand outside in the blazing heat. (2) Dinner - spaghetti and meatballs with cheese baked on top. We were told to just take the meatballs and cheese out and then LO could eat the spaghetti. Yeah right. UGH!

Day 3
On the bus at 8:15 am. One parent and child are still not on the bus by 8:45 am. Turns out they were still asleep. Behind schedule we headed to the Oldest Fort, the Fountain of Youth, the Oldest House, and the St. Augustine Village. At the Fountain of Youth, we had altacocker guide who really didn't like children. One of the parents was making fun of him and said to me, "He sounds like all the other Jews." You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that we are Jewish. (Heh heh.) Lunch was provided but when I saw the Honeybaked Ham bags we didn't even bother. On the way home, the bus stopped in Melbourne for dinner. It was a buffet and I kid you not EVERY ITEM had some kind of pork or bacon in it. We got home at 11:35 pm - hungry after 3 days of eating nothing but fruit, chips, and ice cream. Days later I am still trying to recuperate.

Lessons learned?
(1) Never trust that a tour operator will make concessions for kosher food when requested
(2) After eating the same thing for three days at every meal, even ice cream gets old
(3) Adults kvetch WAY MORE than children do about being hot, having to walk places, and being hungry
(4) I still hate field trips

(Sorry for the boring post...but Jack insisted! And afterall, we're all here to please Jack aren't we? LOL)

Miami Beach Synagogue Vandalized

Since I made my blog private I don't have the readership that I used to but perhaps you all can get the word out about this - they certainly could use all the help they can get at this time...

Miami Beach Synagogue Vandalized

MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ―

Police on Tuesday were investigating a fire that damaged a Miami Beach synagogue early Tuesday during Passover. The Chabad Shul, located at 2401 Pinetree Dr., was vandalized and its Torah stolen.

According to CBS4 Tiffani Helberg, detectives were told by congregation members that the Torah, a religious scroll of Jewish laws and customs, a centerpiece of its religion, was taken. Pieces of the Torah were found outside. Its value is more than $40,000.

"We could see all the prayer books there, all burnt up you can find them, but not one inch of the Torah remnants," said Rabbi Zev Katz. "And we found the pole to the Torah outside. Something strange happened; this is definitely criminal activity."The rabbi said he believed the fire was intentionally set, but Miami Beach fire officials have not confirmed it. The pole that holds the Torah found outside was brought to the attention of investigators as a clue as to what might of happened.A service on Friday at 7:00 pm will go on, and it will likely take place outside on the back lawn.

Congregation members have posted a $1,000 reward for information to find who might be responsible.

Click on Chabad House on Wheels to learn more and if you could help.

Uhh...that's not kosher

My company has flown in a candidate from Chicago to interview for a Vice President position. The headhunter said to be prepared because the man keeps "strictly kosher". Be that as it may, the department secretary came to me for advice on what they could feed him. I explained that in our area there are no kosher restaurants but that there is a kosher market where they could take out food for him. I also explained how they could not use the plates and utensils from our cafeteria. (I also offered to bring him to dinner in North Miami where there is a plethora of kosher restaurants as well as give suggestions in case he needed a shul to daven at. ) I left it at that figuring they would ask me if they had any more questions.

I completely forgot about it over the weekend until this morning when I saw a man with a kippah in our department. So I went to ask the secretary what they decided to do for lunch for him. She told me that they were bringing him to a restaurant and then she told me which one. She explained that they were "kosher style". I explained how this was NOT ENOUGH. I explained how they serve pork products there and how he won't even be able to drink a glass of water there. No one seems to care. I am so embarassed even though this candidate does not affect my particular work. I am almost tempted to give him my own lunch. Ugh.

Refuah Shlemah

Update: Esther had a heart attack and acute bronchitis but is doing much better now. We were able to see her and she is almost back to her usual self. We are continuing to pray for a complete and speedy recovery for her and thank each and every one of you for your words of support and prayers.

We got a phone call yesterday that PHD's mom was brought to the hospital. She is in ICU and we don' t have all the details yet. All we know is that she is having trouble breathing.

This morning LO asked me if Grandma Esther will be ok. I didn't have the heart to lie to her. Afterall, Esther is 92 years old. I explained to LO that we could only pray for her and that it was up to G-d. The tears that welled up in her eyes broke my heart.

Please daven for Esther bat Baila.

Oznei Haman

I have a Jewish calendar in my cubicle that has a special photograph that is symbolic for each month. This month's pages have pictures related to Purim. A gentile friend came to my desk today and asked me about the pictures. He first pointed to the gragger and I explained that it was a noisemaker. Then he pointed to a plate of hamentashen and I explained that those were cookies that we make and send to our friends. He said, "Ooo, you're going to make me some cookies?" I said, "Sure, I'll make you some so you can share in our tradition." I then went on to tell him how they were named hamentashen after a man named Haman. I explained that in the book of Esther the story is told of how Haman wanted to kill all the Jews. Because "oznei haman" was in my head, I told him that the translation of the name for the cookie was "Haman's ears". He looked at me and said, "you bake and eat cookies to represent the ears of someone that wanted to kill the Jews"? I replied, "Um...yes, I guess so."

I don't think he wants me to make him any hamentschen anymore.

Trip to Honduras = Trip to Hebron

PHD has just been asked to do some volunteer work in Honduras. For him it would be the perfect opportunity to practice his Spanish. For me, it would be two weeks home alone worrying about him since here's a little excerpt from the US Department of State website,

"Crime is endemic in Honduras and requires a high degree of caution by U.S. visitors and residents alike. U.S. citizens have been the victims of a wide range of crimes, including murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, and property crimes. Fifty-seven U.S. citizens have been murdered in Honduras since 1995, with a significant recent increase. Only eighteen cases have been resolved. Kidnapping of U.S. citizens has occurred in Honduras, including two incidents in 2006. Poverty, gangs, and low apprehension and conviction rates of criminals contribute to a high crime rate, including horrific acts of mass murder. "

The thought of him going honestly makes me want to vomit.

The bright side? If he goes to Honduras, his argument that we can't go to Me'arat HaMachpela when we are in Isreal because he is not putting himself or our family in danger is out the window. Always look on the bright side, right?

Navicular subluxation?

So apparently I have been pushing it a little too hard at the gym. My ankle has been KILLING me for a few weeks but I really dislike going to the doctor so I decided to ignore it and hope it would go away. Well guess what? It didn't go away. I went to the doctor today and thought it might be a bad sprain but it turns out it is a little more than that. So - here my blog friends is the beautiful new boot I get to wear for at least the next 3 weeks. I'm so not thrilled about the whole thing but in trying to look at the bright side I announced to the doctor, "Well...at least I painted my toenails."

Moses and the Golden Rat

This is a LO masterpiece that she brought home from Hebrew school this week. I didn't see it until this morning and I certainly understood what she drew but I asked her to explain the picture. (I wish I had taken a better picture of it - sorry!)

Apparently this is LO's artistic interpretation of the Moses finding the people worshipping the golden calf. What you can't see very well is that Moses has a very angry face and the broken tablets are on the ground next to him. I giggled and told her I didn't know that there was a golden rat (hey - doesn't it look like a rat?) She said someone told her to draw udders on it but she thought that was gross. I looked at the worshippers and noted that it is a woman and a little girl. I asked, "Oh my, is that supposed to be us worshipping the golden calf?" Her response, "No way - they have round eyes." Oy...not nice.

Diamonds are NOT my best friend

As you all know, our engagement had not been the usual run of the mill engagement. (Nothing in my life has ever been "usual" so I guess this plays right into the way things should be!) There was no ring. There was no getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him. There was no romantic dinner. And it's all good - I think it's sweeter that when my father came to visit us, PHD asked him for my hand in marriage. In any case, as the date draws nearer, we have started to talk about rings.

This is the part that I hate. I wish he would just go and get one and give it to me. I hate to make decisions. The only thing we agreed upon together was that we would purchase everything in Israel. So - we've got the diamond from a cousin in Israel who is a diamond dealer and now we I have to figure out what we I want to do with it. White gold? Yellow gold? Diamonds on the side? Plain diamond? Ugh. Too many choices. If you had to pick from these, which would you pick? I am SO OPEN for suggestions.

What not to wear

This is what happens when a Floridian tries to dress for cold weather. (Yes - it was in the 60's this morning and we were FREEZING.)

This is also what happens when LO picks out her own clothes. What you can't see in the picture is that her sneakers have PINK trim on them.

When I came downstairs and saw her I tried not to giggle but the look on my face must have told all and she knew that there was a possibility that she just might not match so well, so she said, "Do I look meshugge? I have another plaid skirt I could wear instead."

Um...I don't think another plaid skirt would fix it sweetie.

(I should probably add that when I asked her to let me take this picture she said, "No! You're going to show it to all your friends." Boy, does this kid know me or what?)

LO has a boyfriend

So I was cleaning up in LO's room the other day and on her desk I saw a piece of paper with a heart drawn on it. Inside of the heart was her name + the name of a little boy from our shul.

(I was a little surprised since she is and will always be my baby but she's NINE! Isn't this too young to be having the whole "puppy love" thing going on?)

I thought a little more about it and then I realized that after Shabbat services, she always runs off into the social hall and I always see her with him. (YIKES!) So I decided to say something to her. Her response? "Well, you want me to be with someone who is Jewish." How on earth could I argue with that?

Jews and Thin Mints

At the end of this whole Girl Scout cookie nightmare, I will at least be able to say that because of it I have certainly experienced some interesting moments that I may not have otherwise experienced. So, I guess I can't say that I am sorry that I volunteered (although I can certainly say that I won't volunteer again!)

It all started with wondering how I was going to cram 145 CASES of cookies into my car.

Next there was the whole Children of Abraham lesson.

Then there was the shoplifting incident. Apparently a man decided he was hungry and so he stole a chicken. The grocery store security saw him. They chased him as he left the store only to have the guy pull a knife on them. They eventually got him but by that time there were about 10 police cars and 20 policemen standing in front of our cookie tables. At this point maybe we should have been afraid for our children's saftey but instead the girls took the opportunity to talk the police officers into buying cookies.

And finally the warehouse incident. I had to go exchange a few cases of cookies at the warehouse. There was another "Cookie Mom" there and somehow we ended up discussing how it seemed like the cookie that you sold the most depended on what neighborhood your cookie booth was in. I agreed since I had seen that at one grocery store we sold a bunch of Thin Mints and at another grocery store we barely sold any but sold a whole lot of Trefoils. She then continued the conversation...

"Yeah, the blacks really like those Trefoils"

(Um...I don't think she realized that there was an African American warehouse worker standing behind her when she said this.)

I nodded my head and said, "Oh really?"

"And the Jews - they love the Thin Mints."

(Yeah - I'm guessing she didn't realize I am Jewish. And actually, I don't like Thin Mints. But is this true, do Jews love Thin Mints? Inquiring minds want to know.)

She continued...

"And Hispanics - they love the coconut ones and lemon cookies"

At this point, maybe I should have asked her what the Chinese liked. But I wasn't sure I could handle another stereotype. So I smiled and wished her good luck with her cookie sales and got into my car with my cookies as quickly as possible. Simply unbelievable.

And now all I have left is the 15 boxes of cookies that are on my desk. Considering that we started with 1,740 boxes, I am proud of our little troop. I think Jack should buy the rest.

The trials and tribulations of being a "Cookie Mom"

Remember back when I decided I would volunteer to be the "Cookie Mom" for LO's Girl Scout troop? Well, it's Girl Scout cookie time and let's just say I must have completely lost my mind when I said I would volunteer to oversee all of this. At some point 145 cases of cookies have been in and out of my car and in an out of our house. That's 1,740 boxes of cookies! At $3.50 a box, that means I am responsible for $6,090 worth of cookies. Oy!

I was talking to the mom who has been the "Cookie Mom" for the past 3 years and she said, "You must be dying with all these cookies in your house!" Slightly offended I said, "Why? Does it look like we've been eating too many of them? " She replied, "No, because they are not kosher." I explained that the cookies ARE indeed kosher showed her the OU on the boxes and explained how we would not have been able to have them in our house if they were not kosher. ( As I was talking, I was thinking in my head, why am I telling her this, she doesn't care if she can tell if something is kosher or not.) She said, "Oh - that's good to know because it's a good selling point."

Later on I was telling PHD this story. We laughed because the assigned grocery store for our cookie booth is in a neighborhood that is predominantly African-American and chances were that being kosher would not be a huge selling point in the neighborhood. So, there we are all set up with our cookies outside the grocery store and who was our first customer? Yep - you guessed it, an African-American man wearing a star of David. Knowing our story, we were of course curious about this man's story, so PHD asked him about his star of David. His reply was, "We are all children of Abraham. I never leave home without my star." PHD and I showed him our stars as well and told him that we never leave home without them as well.

When we got home, I was curious about the whole "children of Abraham" thing so I searched on the internet and found this. It seems to be an organization trying to bring together Muslim and Jewish youths. Interesting indeed. See, you learn something new everyday.

My favorite moment at the cookie booth was when a woman came up to buy cookies and pointed at LO. She said, "I tried not to give her any eye contact but as soon as I looked at her little face, how could I say no to her?" I said, "Believe me, I know exactly what you mean." And I was not joking.

(p.s. Trepp, your cookies are on their way! I am guessing they are somewhere between Miami and Israel right now unless some customs guy decided he was hungry!)

Our own slice of paradise

I woke up the other morning and this is what I saw out the window. Meshugganah as I am, I grabbed the camera and ran into the backyard to take some pictures.

It is called a mezuzah

My townhouse is in a gated community of about 70 homes. I'm sad to say that I know very few people in the community. However, it's not because I am unfriendly, it has more to do with the fact that I would guess that the first language of 99% of the families in these homes was not English. (It's just a guess but I have rarely found an English-speaker among them!) But I digress. I was standing in a line to pick up a decal they were handing out for our cars and a man approached me.

Here's how that conversation went:

Man: Can I ask you a question?

Me: Sure, go ahead.

Man: I was down by your house and I noticed that you have a Jewish object on the door at your house. Can I ask why?

Me: Uh, because I'm Jewish.

Man: Really? I asked one of your neighbors when I saw it and he said he didn't know if you were Jewish. You must know that it is called a mezuzah. I have one on my door too.

We actually ended up having a nice conversation. He hasn't been to Shul in almost 30 years and I invited him for Shabbos. Still...for much of the conversation, I kept thinking - did this man just tell me that the "Jewish object" on my door is a mezuzah? Some things will never change.

If this was terrorism, we'd be dead

(Ooo - two posts in one day. I can't believe it myself...next thing you know Fudge will be finding her luggage.)

We're home from school and work. My company closed around 11:30 am today. Apparently there was a bomb threat. We have had fire drills and evacuation drills but this was nothing like those drills. At 11:05 am someone in my department was running through the department telling everyone to get their stuff, go get their kids, and to leave. Well, you know it doesn't take much to get me to take the day off from work, but I wasn't buying it. I asked around, "How could they be evacuating the building and there is no alarm or company announcement?" No one could answer.

Please keep in mind that my building has around 1700 employees, so this is no small company.

I called my boss. He said he hadn't heard anything. Meanwhile all around me people are packing up their things and running towards the elevator.

I went to the Life Chief Actuary. He said he hadn't heard anything. But then as the words were coming out of his mouth, his secretary said, "Security just called and we need to evacuate." Out I went. Not using the elevator like all the others but hurrying down the stairs.

Out in the parking lot I saw a group of actuaries. I headed over to find out that while the Life Chief Actuary said to go home for the day, the Property and Casualty Chief Actuary told her people not to leave. WTF?

There were policemen and police cars everywhere. LO's school is on the same property as my office building - when I went to pick her up there it was pure chaos. Once I had LO in the car and was heading home, I glanced at the parking lot of my building which was now gridlocked with people trying to get out.

Still, no one knows what is going on. And I'm just sitting here at home in disbelief that in this day of creepy terrorists, my company as well as my daughter's school had no plan to handle this type of situation.

People often tell me that it's not safe to go to Israel. I say it seems as though it's more unsafe for me to go to work. And really if there is an anti-terror squad like this, is there any argument that Israel is the safer place?

Eretz Yisrael here we come!

We have plane tickets in hand for our trip to Israel! Some of you may recall that we were supposed to go with our shul last year but then the trip got cancelled. This time we decided not to rely on the shul trip and are heading to Eretz Yisrael on our own. PHD has been traveling there at least 2 times a year for as long as he can remember so he has an idea of what he would like to do while there. I, on the other hand, have ideas of my own! We of course plan to visit with the Treppenwitz family and are hoping to even have waffles with the Jameel.

And now, PHD has asked me to make a list of all the places I want to go so that he can do some planning for us. The Dead Sea is a must, so we already have hotel reservations there. Anyone else care to offer up suggestions? I would like to go to Ma'arat HaMachpela (but it's going to take some convincing to get PHD to go there), Kever Rachel (another one that is going to take some convincing), Safed, but where else is a must see? (Sadly, Yad Vashem may be out because they only allow children over 12 in the museum and boy is that going to make LO mad!)