Right before Pesach last year, I saw Adam Lambert perform "Mad Mad World" and with that, he completely obliterated any celebrity crush I've ever had (including Michael J. Fox, Patrick Swayze and David Duchovy). He even usurped my crush on Lin-Manuel Miranda at the time. Pretty powerful stuff, huh? I couldn't stop thinking of him and those thoughts sometimes distracted me during the sedarim. (Not that I'm not already distracted in shul to begin with.) In any case, my crush on Adam Lambert was (and still is) pretty apparent and I wrote this before he even came out. That doesn't change things for me, of course!
April 13, 2009, 03:41 pm
It's just a little crush....
I have crossed over to the dark side....of American Idol, that is.
Last year, I had a crush on Michael Johns and then he got booted off and I suddenly lost interest. Not because he got booted off but because he wasn't around as much and that he also kept me from noticing how HOT David Cook was.
This year, it is different. I mentioned in a previous entry titled "My Latest Crush" that I had a thing for Danny Gokey (2/17/09). Then I started thinking about Adam Lambert in a different way. And when he sang "Mad Mad World" last week, it just sealed the deal. I have been constantly daydreaming about him (and had an interesting night dream too). I just feel like I'm mentally cheating on Danny. I still adore Danny, but he doesn't make me blush as much as Adam does these days.
I have heard rumors that he is gay, but that would probably make sense given my history. :)
Anyway I had to get this out of my system. Thanks for listening.
Follow up: This post was written to livejournal. I wrote one more minor little post after that and haven't posted there since. I really like blogging here much better at this point in my life. :)
Initially, I did like Danny better than Adam. I sympathized with his story and thought he was genuinely adorable and had a great voice. I actually thought he would have been Adam's main "American Idol" competition instead of Kris.
Of course, I still have a huge crush on Adam and I listen to his CD almost every day!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
High FLYing Adored
Yes, the title is from "Evita." :)
Anyway, I haven't posted about my FlyLady progress in a while. I've been ignoring the actual maintenance of home appearance in favor of getting ready for Pesach. Everything is in its place now, but there's still a lot of cooking to do. I spent my Saturday night moving food around the house.
There was a FlyLady objective for kids: To organize books and give away ones we don't need. I did just that and my older son helped initially. He is a hoarder like me and wanted to keep everything. I did come up with a huge bag of books to give away and was able to Freecycle them today.
I vacuumed out one car today, as the other is in the shop until tomorrow, when it gets a new tire. I managed to hit a pothole and got a busted tire as a result. The same thing happened to someone else in the neighborhood at around the same time. It's a conspiracy, I think!
Not too much else to report. We had a cleaning service here last week, so there wasn't much else for me to do, other than straighten up the night before their arrival.
Anyway, Pesach starts tomorrow night and I will be offline until Wednesday night (probably after I watch the "American Idol" results (I'll just watch the performances I like online.) I already have my "Time Warp Tuesday" post scheduled for Tuesday morning, so check back then.
To those of you who celebrate Pesach: Chag Kasher V'Sameach!
Anyway, I haven't posted about my FlyLady progress in a while. I've been ignoring the actual maintenance of home appearance in favor of getting ready for Pesach. Everything is in its place now, but there's still a lot of cooking to do. I spent my Saturday night moving food around the house.
There was a FlyLady objective for kids: To organize books and give away ones we don't need. I did just that and my older son helped initially. He is a hoarder like me and wanted to keep everything. I did come up with a huge bag of books to give away and was able to Freecycle them today.
I vacuumed out one car today, as the other is in the shop until tomorrow, when it gets a new tire. I managed to hit a pothole and got a busted tire as a result. The same thing happened to someone else in the neighborhood at around the same time. It's a conspiracy, I think!
Not too much else to report. We had a cleaning service here last week, so there wasn't much else for me to do, other than straighten up the night before their arrival.
Anyway, Pesach starts tomorrow night and I will be offline until Wednesday night (probably after I watch the "American Idol" results (I'll just watch the performances I like online.) I already have my "Time Warp Tuesday" post scheduled for Tuesday morning, so check back then.
To those of you who celebrate Pesach: Chag Kasher V'Sameach!
Friday, March 26, 2010
We'll Always have Angel Oil...
For my first Friendship Friday post, I have chosen my friendship with L.A. to share with my readers.
I met L.A. during my senior year of high school. She was a sophomore at the time. We were in dance class together and would try to make each other laugh when we had to do these silly dance exercises every day. I think we slipped easily into a friendship. I don't know what the catalyst was or how we really became close. All I know is that I was invited to her 16th birthday party that spring and by the summer (after I had graduated), we would hang out or talk every day. We would chat on the phone all throughout the Ricki Lake show and would laugh every time an Eagle Insurance commercial came on. We even made a parody of it with my dog and called it Beagle Insurance. My sister taped over it though.
That same summer, she was my accomplice to "Rocky Horror" many times and I thank her for putting up with my obsession with the show. (She will attest that I used to say the audience participation lines while listening to the soundtrack in my car.) She and I also highlighted the steamy scenes in V.C. Andrews books and would laugh over them together. We also spent lots of time at the mall. I invited her to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" with my family and me for my 18th birthday.
Throughout the time I was in college, we stayed in touch through letters, e-mails, phone calls, etc. We'd always hang out when I came home for holiday or seasonal breaks. When she went to college, I would visit her a few times. She even connected me with a close friend of hers who was attending my college. (That's another "Friendship Friday" story for another time.)
There was a time during one of my summer breaks when I decided to take L.A. to the mall with me on a rainy Thursday night so that I could get my left ear triple pierced (as well as get my right ear double pierced). On the way there, my car stalled. She and I got it over to a nearby restaurant (which is no longer there, unfortunately). One of the guys working there was kind enough to look at it and then told me I needed "angel oil." He had an accent so that's what I thought he said. We managed to get it started again and drove over to a gas station, where I asked the attendant for angel oil. He thought I was crazy and she and I had a good laugh about it. I ended up purchasing engine oil, but my car was okay by then and I didn't need it after all.
Over the next few years, we continued to hang out as often as we could and would end up talking for countless hours. Once we sat at our favorite Chinese restaurant laughing about a mutual connection we just found out about. During the spring of 2000, she invited me to join her for dinner on her birthday. On the train ride back, she was there for a major epiphany I had about my life. And when we got to my car, I played her an 80's song with her name in it that she had never heard before that time. The following year, we both had some bad luck with guys we liked and decided to spend a weekend shopping, lamenting and seeing "Bridget Jones's Diary." She gave me some words of wisdom that helped through that period in my life and made me feel more empowered. That summer, she introduced me to Pad Thai during another girl's day we had to celebrate my birthday. Over time, our taste in books changed from V.C. Andrews to chick lit and we recommended and exchanged numerous novels.
The following year is when we both met our (now) husbands. Meanwhile, she was in graduate school and it kept her busy a lot of the time. When she got her degree, she had a party to celebrate and we met some other close friends that way (I have a "Friendship Friday" post in mind for one of them, as well). Her husband (then boyfriend) and I graduated the same year from the same high school, after being in school together since the 5th grade, so the party was also like a mini-high school reunion (as was their wedding 2 years later.)
Oddly enough, we didn’t stand up in each other’s weddings. Normally, I would have asked her to stand up in mine, but she had already been in a few weddings and was planning to be in more, closer to the time of my wedding. I didn’t want to overwhelm her with even more bridesmaid demands and the cost of yet another dress. In turn, I wasn’t asked to stand up in her wedding. I wasn’t bothered about this since I was 6 months pregnant at the time (nor did I expect to be asked...my expectations had chaged a lot by then anyway). I was just happy to be there to share in her special day and was glad she could also share in mine. Between the times of our weddings, we took my husband and her fiancée with to see “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.” It was cool to know that we were in a different place in our lives between the times the first and second Bridget Jones movies came out.
After I had my first child and L.A. and her husband moved to the south suburbs, we didn’t get to hang out as often. We’d still make plans to get together, but it was more sporadic. The first movie I saw at a theater after I became a mom was with her. We saw “In Her Shoes,” as we were both into Jennifer Weiner’s books. (In the past, we had a tradition of buying her books together on the day they came out.) When I moved out east, we stayed in touch and still got together when I came back to town for visits. We even met up when she and her husband came to NYC for a weekend (she was pregnant with her first child at that time). She also was the only one to predict that my second child would be a boy.
Nowadays, between her work and parenting schedules, it’s harder for us to stay in touch. I would love for her to get on Facebook, but that’s wishful thinking. Her husband is on there and he shares lots of pictures of their son, including ones that she is in. We play a lot of phone tag, but we finally got a chance to talk last week. I hope we’ll continue to stay in touch as our lives continue to move in parallel directions, no matter how far the mileage is between us. I'm grateful for her friendship and our long lasting history and I know that no matter what else happens, we'll always have "angel oil."
I met L.A. during my senior year of high school. She was a sophomore at the time. We were in dance class together and would try to make each other laugh when we had to do these silly dance exercises every day. I think we slipped easily into a friendship. I don't know what the catalyst was or how we really became close. All I know is that I was invited to her 16th birthday party that spring and by the summer (after I had graduated), we would hang out or talk every day. We would chat on the phone all throughout the Ricki Lake show and would laugh every time an Eagle Insurance commercial came on. We even made a parody of it with my dog and called it Beagle Insurance. My sister taped over it though.
That same summer, she was my accomplice to "Rocky Horror" many times and I thank her for putting up with my obsession with the show. (She will attest that I used to say the audience participation lines while listening to the soundtrack in my car.) She and I also highlighted the steamy scenes in V.C. Andrews books and would laugh over them together. We also spent lots of time at the mall. I invited her to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" with my family and me for my 18th birthday.
Throughout the time I was in college, we stayed in touch through letters, e-mails, phone calls, etc. We'd always hang out when I came home for holiday or seasonal breaks. When she went to college, I would visit her a few times. She even connected me with a close friend of hers who was attending my college. (That's another "Friendship Friday" story for another time.)
There was a time during one of my summer breaks when I decided to take L.A. to the mall with me on a rainy Thursday night so that I could get my left ear triple pierced (as well as get my right ear double pierced). On the way there, my car stalled. She and I got it over to a nearby restaurant (which is no longer there, unfortunately). One of the guys working there was kind enough to look at it and then told me I needed "angel oil." He had an accent so that's what I thought he said. We managed to get it started again and drove over to a gas station, where I asked the attendant for angel oil. He thought I was crazy and she and I had a good laugh about it. I ended up purchasing engine oil, but my car was okay by then and I didn't need it after all.
Over the next few years, we continued to hang out as often as we could and would end up talking for countless hours. Once we sat at our favorite Chinese restaurant laughing about a mutual connection we just found out about. During the spring of 2000, she invited me to join her for dinner on her birthday. On the train ride back, she was there for a major epiphany I had about my life. And when we got to my car, I played her an 80's song with her name in it that she had never heard before that time. The following year, we both had some bad luck with guys we liked and decided to spend a weekend shopping, lamenting and seeing "Bridget Jones's Diary." She gave me some words of wisdom that helped through that period in my life and made me feel more empowered. That summer, she introduced me to Pad Thai during another girl's day we had to celebrate my birthday. Over time, our taste in books changed from V.C. Andrews to chick lit and we recommended and exchanged numerous novels.
The following year is when we both met our (now) husbands. Meanwhile, she was in graduate school and it kept her busy a lot of the time. When she got her degree, she had a party to celebrate and we met some other close friends that way (I have a "Friendship Friday" post in mind for one of them, as well). Her husband (then boyfriend) and I graduated the same year from the same high school, after being in school together since the 5th grade, so the party was also like a mini-high school reunion (as was their wedding 2 years later.)
Oddly enough, we didn’t stand up in each other’s weddings. Normally, I would have asked her to stand up in mine, but she had already been in a few weddings and was planning to be in more, closer to the time of my wedding. I didn’t want to overwhelm her with even more bridesmaid demands and the cost of yet another dress. In turn, I wasn’t asked to stand up in her wedding. I wasn’t bothered about this since I was 6 months pregnant at the time (nor did I expect to be asked...my expectations had chaged a lot by then anyway). I was just happy to be there to share in her special day and was glad she could also share in mine. Between the times of our weddings, we took my husband and her fiancée with to see “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.” It was cool to know that we were in a different place in our lives between the times the first and second Bridget Jones movies came out.
After I had my first child and L.A. and her husband moved to the south suburbs, we didn’t get to hang out as often. We’d still make plans to get together, but it was more sporadic. The first movie I saw at a theater after I became a mom was with her. We saw “In Her Shoes,” as we were both into Jennifer Weiner’s books. (In the past, we had a tradition of buying her books together on the day they came out.) When I moved out east, we stayed in touch and still got together when I came back to town for visits. We even met up when she and her husband came to NYC for a weekend (she was pregnant with her first child at that time). She also was the only one to predict that my second child would be a boy.
Nowadays, between her work and parenting schedules, it’s harder for us to stay in touch. I would love for her to get on Facebook, but that’s wishful thinking. Her husband is on there and he shares lots of pictures of their son, including ones that she is in. We play a lot of phone tag, but we finally got a chance to talk last week. I hope we’ll continue to stay in touch as our lives continue to move in parallel directions, no matter how far the mileage is between us. I'm grateful for her friendship and our long lasting history and I know that no matter what else happens, we'll always have "angel oil."
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wake up in the morning...
When you hear the words in my subject line, what is the first thing you think of? If it is this song, then you know you’re a “Degrassi” fan, just like me!
When I was in junior high, very few things saved my sanity. “Degrassi Junior High” (later becoming “Degrassi High”) was one of those things. I originally got a book based on the TV series and thought it was interesting. Then I saw that the show was on PBS (right after “3,2,1 Contact,” where I got to see “The Bloodhound Gang”) and I tuned in. I fell in love with it immediately and raced home from the bus every day to watch it. I even got my sister addicted to the show.
“Degrassi” is a show based in Canada that has teens and adolescents dealing with some pretty heavy stuff in a way that is interesting and educational, but entertaining at the same time. It has covered such topics as suicide, teen pregnancy, molestation, abortion, AIDS, eating disorders, drug addiction, etc. It would really get into the heads of the characters dealing with such issues.
On the other side, there were a lot of amusing and fun things to take away from the show. I had a friend in college who would joke with me about Zit Remedy, the band that Joey Jeremiah and his friends were in. They sang a song called “Everybody Wants Something”. We’d randomly sing that during the middle of dinner with our other friends. I also loved the dialect and how everyone said “aboot” (about) and “surry” (sorry). In “Chasing Amy,” Banky even said he had a thing for girls who say “aboot” when he was talking about “Degrassi.” (And just so we’re even here, when I went to Canada, everyone was trying to get me to say “hockey” because they thought it sounded funny coming from an American.) There was also a time in high school where my friend and I were joking about a guy who looked like Wheels and we’d draw a picture of a wheel when we were talking about him. I also knew a girl who looked like Heather/Erica.
Aside from the personal jokes and pop culture references, there was one episode where Lucy was making a horror movie and it ended up being funny instead of scary. I think it was called “It Creeps” and it took place in one of the locker rooms. The show also had a lot of warm fuzzy moments and showed a lot of different friendship dynamics.
At the end of the series, there was a movie called “School’s Out.” I finally got to see it, thanks to a friend from Canada who mailed it to me. It was pretty interesting and showed a side of the characters that I hadn’t seen before. Around this time, I was also able to find old episodes of the show on a cable channel at my parents’ house and I taped a bunch for when I need my “Degrassi” fix. Nowadays, there is a new series called “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” I’ll also watch that when I visit my parents on our annual Chicago trip. (I was able to watch it when they showed it on a local station in NJ on Sundays, as well.) I even stayed up for a marathon of episodes one night. It’s almost as good as the original series. They cover some more modern issues, such as school shootings and cyber-bullying. Some of the original series characters are even featured on it, such as Caitlin, Joey, Spike and Snake. Spike’s daughter is one of the teens on the new series. I know Kevin Smith had some connection with the series a while back (which makes me love him even more, beyond his reference in “Chasing Amy.”)
No matter how old I am, I will always be a “Degrassi” fan. I just hope it will be around for when my kids are old enough to appreciate it. If not, I just hope my tape of the original series will still work by then. Otherwise, I may need to invest in some DVDs (if it is even on DVD by then).
“Everybody can succeed, all you need is to believe.
Be honest with yourself, forget your fears and doubts.
Come on give us a try...”
When I was in junior high, very few things saved my sanity. “Degrassi Junior High” (later becoming “Degrassi High”) was one of those things. I originally got a book based on the TV series and thought it was interesting. Then I saw that the show was on PBS (right after “3,2,1 Contact,” where I got to see “The Bloodhound Gang”) and I tuned in. I fell in love with it immediately and raced home from the bus every day to watch it. I even got my sister addicted to the show.
“Degrassi” is a show based in Canada that has teens and adolescents dealing with some pretty heavy stuff in a way that is interesting and educational, but entertaining at the same time. It has covered such topics as suicide, teen pregnancy, molestation, abortion, AIDS, eating disorders, drug addiction, etc. It would really get into the heads of the characters dealing with such issues.
On the other side, there were a lot of amusing and fun things to take away from the show. I had a friend in college who would joke with me about Zit Remedy, the band that Joey Jeremiah and his friends were in. They sang a song called “Everybody Wants Something”. We’d randomly sing that during the middle of dinner with our other friends. I also loved the dialect and how everyone said “aboot” (about) and “surry” (sorry). In “Chasing Amy,” Banky even said he had a thing for girls who say “aboot” when he was talking about “Degrassi.” (And just so we’re even here, when I went to Canada, everyone was trying to get me to say “hockey” because they thought it sounded funny coming from an American.) There was also a time in high school where my friend and I were joking about a guy who looked like Wheels and we’d draw a picture of a wheel when we were talking about him. I also knew a girl who looked like Heather/Erica.
Aside from the personal jokes and pop culture references, there was one episode where Lucy was making a horror movie and it ended up being funny instead of scary. I think it was called “It Creeps” and it took place in one of the locker rooms. The show also had a lot of warm fuzzy moments and showed a lot of different friendship dynamics.
At the end of the series, there was a movie called “School’s Out.” I finally got to see it, thanks to a friend from Canada who mailed it to me. It was pretty interesting and showed a side of the characters that I hadn’t seen before. Around this time, I was also able to find old episodes of the show on a cable channel at my parents’ house and I taped a bunch for when I need my “Degrassi” fix. Nowadays, there is a new series called “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” I’ll also watch that when I visit my parents on our annual Chicago trip. (I was able to watch it when they showed it on a local station in NJ on Sundays, as well.) I even stayed up for a marathon of episodes one night. It’s almost as good as the original series. They cover some more modern issues, such as school shootings and cyber-bullying. Some of the original series characters are even featured on it, such as Caitlin, Joey, Spike and Snake. Spike’s daughter is one of the teens on the new series. I know Kevin Smith had some connection with the series a while back (which makes me love him even more, beyond his reference in “Chasing Amy.”)
No matter how old I am, I will always be a “Degrassi” fan. I just hope it will be around for when my kids are old enough to appreciate it. If not, I just hope my tape of the original series will still work by then. Otherwise, I may need to invest in some DVDs (if it is even on DVD by then).
“Everybody can succeed, all you need is to believe.
Be honest with yourself, forget your fears and doubts.
Come on give us a try...”
Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!
I have a few friends who knit and blog and we've decided to embark on a blog project that has nothing to do with knitting. We're going to take turns coming up with a topic every Thursday and we each have to blog about it by the end of that day and post links to each other's blogs so that people can see our different perspectives on the same topic.
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week's topic comes from Desperate Madness: What is the happiest moment that you can remember in your life?
This topic was asking for another Sondheim quote! Once again, from "Into the Woods" in a song called "Moments in the Woods."
"Oh, if life were made of moments,
Even now and then a bad one!
But if life were only moments,
Then you'd never know you had one."
I thought of this song because I feel that I have so many happy moments in my life that it is hard to list just one. However, it takes times of unhappiness or when nothing is really happening in order to make such moments stand out. That they're something I can look back on when I need a good smile or laugh.
Of course, there will be cliche things that I have to mention, such as my engagement, wedding and the birth of my two sons. There is more than meets the eye for me personally when it comes to these moments.
*On my wedding day, there was a point before everything started happening where my husband and I got to see each other in our wedding gear without the crowd and excitement surrounding us. I think people would only get to see this moment if they watch our DVD. (My stepmother-in-law and my dad were the only family members who got to witness this in person.) My husband was facing the other direction and I was instructed to tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw me in my dress with my hair done and makeup freshly applied. His smile was so genuine and he made me feel so beautiful at that moment that I was laughing and crying at the same time. He looked so handsome in his tux and I was so excited that we would officially become husband and wife in a matter of hours. I know it's not customary for brides and grooms to see each other before the wedding, but it is different in Orthodox Judaism. Normally, we would have waited until the badeken (veiling) ceremony but everyone was nagging us to have pictures done together before things got crazy. We still got to have our special moment of awe and the badeken still was amazing. I was laughing and smiling from all the excitement of that.
*When my younger son was born, I was expecting him to be a girl (I was pretty much convinced of it, as were most of my family members and friends) up until the moment the doctor placed him on my stomach and told me he was a boy. I was so thrilled and surprised that I started crying tears of joy. I'm not discrediting the excitement of my older son's birth, but I had a feeling he'd be a boy in the beginning.
Aside from these happy moments, here are more that I'd like to share (not in any order, necessarily):
*Making it into my first and only play in high school. I felt like Elle Woods when she saw her name on Professor Callahan's list.
*The first time I won an award at a speech tournament. It was during sophomore year. Although it was 3rd place, it still felt great!
*Winning another award during junior year of high school for something I didn't expect at all. I had assistant directed two plays during that year and received a theater service award. Yes, an award for doing something I enjoyed. It was cool to receive such an honor.
*The day my sister and I waited outside for hours to get front row tickets to see "Rent."
*Meeting celebrities (the best being Adam Pascal).
*When I worked at a Chinese restaurant and gave a cocktail fan to a girl with developmental and physical disabilities. The smile on her face brightened my whole day and I still think about it and smile.
*This past New Year's Eve, just playing board games with friends but laughing really hard over the craziest things.
*Receiving an e-mail from my older son's teacher telling me that she thought he was smart enough to test for kindergarten in the fall, even though he missed the deadline.
*Finding out that my older son's speech therapist (at his school in NJ) was able to do auditory-verbal therapy. That was something we really wanted for him at the time.
*While I was in Israel, the night I was in an auditorium full of Jewish people from all over the world who all knew the same songs.
*Finding out that I was pregnant with my older son and having it confirmed by my doctor.
*Seeing "In the Heights" last year and getting to meet the actors afterward.
*Receiving a book I really wanted in the mail for free because I won it! :)
There are so many big and little happy moments that I'd be writing this blog for a year if I listed them all. I feel fortunate to have so much about which to be happy. I know I'll continue to have moments that I can list in blog entries like this. I might even make it into a regular weekly entry. When I was in England, I'd write 5 good things about each day so that I could look back and smile. I don't see any reason why I couldn't do that on a weekly basis. I know my BFF tried it for a while and I hope she'll get back into the habit of doing it again too. It's definitely nice to be able to cherish the happy moments whenever possible!
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week's topic comes from Desperate Madness: What is the happiest moment that you can remember in your life?
This topic was asking for another Sondheim quote! Once again, from "Into the Woods" in a song called "Moments in the Woods."
"Oh, if life were made of moments,
Even now and then a bad one!
But if life were only moments,
Then you'd never know you had one."
I thought of this song because I feel that I have so many happy moments in my life that it is hard to list just one. However, it takes times of unhappiness or when nothing is really happening in order to make such moments stand out. That they're something I can look back on when I need a good smile or laugh.
Of course, there will be cliche things that I have to mention, such as my engagement, wedding and the birth of my two sons. There is more than meets the eye for me personally when it comes to these moments.
*On my wedding day, there was a point before everything started happening where my husband and I got to see each other in our wedding gear without the crowd and excitement surrounding us. I think people would only get to see this moment if they watch our DVD. (My stepmother-in-law and my dad were the only family members who got to witness this in person.) My husband was facing the other direction and I was instructed to tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw me in my dress with my hair done and makeup freshly applied. His smile was so genuine and he made me feel so beautiful at that moment that I was laughing and crying at the same time. He looked so handsome in his tux and I was so excited that we would officially become husband and wife in a matter of hours. I know it's not customary for brides and grooms to see each other before the wedding, but it is different in Orthodox Judaism. Normally, we would have waited until the badeken (veiling) ceremony but everyone was nagging us to have pictures done together before things got crazy. We still got to have our special moment of awe and the badeken still was amazing. I was laughing and smiling from all the excitement of that.
*When my younger son was born, I was expecting him to be a girl (I was pretty much convinced of it, as were most of my family members and friends) up until the moment the doctor placed him on my stomach and told me he was a boy. I was so thrilled and surprised that I started crying tears of joy. I'm not discrediting the excitement of my older son's birth, but I had a feeling he'd be a boy in the beginning.
Aside from these happy moments, here are more that I'd like to share (not in any order, necessarily):
*Making it into my first and only play in high school. I felt like Elle Woods when she saw her name on Professor Callahan's list.
*The first time I won an award at a speech tournament. It was during sophomore year. Although it was 3rd place, it still felt great!
*Winning another award during junior year of high school for something I didn't expect at all. I had assistant directed two plays during that year and received a theater service award. Yes, an award for doing something I enjoyed. It was cool to receive such an honor.
*The day my sister and I waited outside for hours to get front row tickets to see "Rent."
*Meeting celebrities (the best being Adam Pascal).
*When I worked at a Chinese restaurant and gave a cocktail fan to a girl with developmental and physical disabilities. The smile on her face brightened my whole day and I still think about it and smile.
*This past New Year's Eve, just playing board games with friends but laughing really hard over the craziest things.
*Receiving an e-mail from my older son's teacher telling me that she thought he was smart enough to test for kindergarten in the fall, even though he missed the deadline.
*Finding out that my older son's speech therapist (at his school in NJ) was able to do auditory-verbal therapy. That was something we really wanted for him at the time.
*While I was in Israel, the night I was in an auditorium full of Jewish people from all over the world who all knew the same songs.
*Finding out that I was pregnant with my older son and having it confirmed by my doctor.
*Seeing "In the Heights" last year and getting to meet the actors afterward.
*Receiving a book I really wanted in the mail for free because I won it! :)
There are so many big and little happy moments that I'd be writing this blog for a year if I listed them all. I feel fortunate to have so much about which to be happy. I know I'll continue to have moments that I can list in blog entries like this. I might even make it into a regular weekly entry. When I was in England, I'd write 5 good things about each day so that I could look back and smile. I don't see any reason why I couldn't do that on a weekly basis. I know my BFF tried it for a while and I hope she'll get back into the habit of doing it again too. It's definitely nice to be able to cherish the happy moments whenever possible!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
I recently posted a link on Facebook to a “Sex and the City” prequel novel and a friend asked me if I was ready for the (sequel to the) movie to come out. A few years ago, when the original movie came out (based on the TV series), I was excited to see it, but felt I had no one with whom to see it in the theater. Sure, my husband would have gone with me, but it was expensive to get a sitter and we were watching everything on DVD anyway after our younger son was born. In the meantime, I was envious of my friends in Illinois who were all going to see it together. I would have totally had gotten a group together to see it, if I had been living there. When it eventually came out on DVD, my husband and I watched it together. (Nothing wrong with a husband who likes chick flicks, that’s for sure!) The whole movie (especially the part where the women are trying on clothes from Carrie's wardrobe) made me long for a “girlfriend.” What I’m talking about here is a female friendship where you can shop together, go out for mimosas, paint each other’s toenails and do other girly things that would only be seen on “Sex and the City” or read about in chick lit books.
I have plenty of “girlfriends” in Illinois and we still talk all the time. I was even on a bowling team with three of these friends and we took on “Sex and the City” character names as our “aliases” and even made T-shirts with the names on them. (I was Samantha.) I didn’t feel that I had “girlfriends” in NJ though. I had female friends, but the dynamic was different. I enjoyed talking to the female friends with whom I had become close and appreciated the connection we had made, but we didn’t get to hang out and do the girly things mentioned above (maybe they just weren’t interested or we just never had the time to pursue the "girlfriend" side of the friendship). There was just one time when I went out for ice cream with two female friends and we sat talking for hours and laughing. We never did that again though. I probably could have had the “girlfriend” connection with my older son’s early intervention speech therapist, but she lived further away. I also had a friend in NYC who liked doing girly stuff and we’d make plans to just hang out at Target. However, our schedules conflicted a lot and we hung out sporadically (usually with one or both of the kids in tow). While I connected well with my female boss in NJ, I was far more secular when it came to Jewish observance. I don’t think she even saw “Sex and the City” to begin with.
Around this time last year, I connected with a friend I met through my sister. She lived in NJ and we would go to movies together. Of course, my son was in tow, but we had fun hanging out and talking about girly things. She was also there the day we moved. Also before I moved, I got to see two of my favorite chick lit authors speak at different bookstores. The first time was to see Jennifer Weiner in NYC, but I couldn't find a "girlfriend" who was able to join me, so I went alone. However, the second time was to see Jane Green and I was invited by another woman with whom I had become friends over the past year through Freecycle and Facebook. It took until just before I was to move before we had a chance to hang out. Getting to see Jane Green together was a fun experience and I enjoyed talking to her afterward. I just wish we had become friends two years prior. We still are in touch online though.
When we moved to Maryland, I figured that if all else failed, I’d have “Jack” as a “girlfriend.” (He’s gay and fashion conscious, so it counts!) However, it turns out that there are a lot of girls in the area who want to do girly things. I feel like I could easily get a group together to see the new “Sex and the City” movie. I became friends with one girl because we both like to watch “Glee.” Also, my neighbor and I like to shop together, even if it’s at the thrift store (which is my favorite place now). I share and discuss chick lit novels with another friend here. I’ve gone to numerous girls’ nights out that were hosted by women in the community or through the local Chabad. I enjoy that I’m able to explore my girly side with my new friends and that I can also talk to them comfortably about less “frilly” topics. In Maryland, I have friendships that have the dynamic I shared with my boss and next door neighbor in NJ (where we could talk about Judaism, parenting and other topics we shared in common), while also getting to enjoy the "girlfriend" side of things. It’s a nice balance overall. I think I especially need this as the only girl in a house full of boys!
In this week's first "Friendship Friday" blog, I will be talking about a "girlfriend" whom I've known for over 15 years. Check back to see the whole story.
I have plenty of “girlfriends” in Illinois and we still talk all the time. I was even on a bowling team with three of these friends and we took on “Sex and the City” character names as our “aliases” and even made T-shirts with the names on them. (I was Samantha.) I didn’t feel that I had “girlfriends” in NJ though. I had female friends, but the dynamic was different. I enjoyed talking to the female friends with whom I had become close and appreciated the connection we had made, but we didn’t get to hang out and do the girly things mentioned above (maybe they just weren’t interested or we just never had the time to pursue the "girlfriend" side of the friendship). There was just one time when I went out for ice cream with two female friends and we sat talking for hours and laughing. We never did that again though. I probably could have had the “girlfriend” connection with my older son’s early intervention speech therapist, but she lived further away. I also had a friend in NYC who liked doing girly stuff and we’d make plans to just hang out at Target. However, our schedules conflicted a lot and we hung out sporadically (usually with one or both of the kids in tow). While I connected well with my female boss in NJ, I was far more secular when it came to Jewish observance. I don’t think she even saw “Sex and the City” to begin with.
Around this time last year, I connected with a friend I met through my sister. She lived in NJ and we would go to movies together. Of course, my son was in tow, but we had fun hanging out and talking about girly things. She was also there the day we moved. Also before I moved, I got to see two of my favorite chick lit authors speak at different bookstores. The first time was to see Jennifer Weiner in NYC, but I couldn't find a "girlfriend" who was able to join me, so I went alone. However, the second time was to see Jane Green and I was invited by another woman with whom I had become friends over the past year through Freecycle and Facebook. It took until just before I was to move before we had a chance to hang out. Getting to see Jane Green together was a fun experience and I enjoyed talking to her afterward. I just wish we had become friends two years prior. We still are in touch online though.
When we moved to Maryland, I figured that if all else failed, I’d have “Jack” as a “girlfriend.” (He’s gay and fashion conscious, so it counts!) However, it turns out that there are a lot of girls in the area who want to do girly things. I feel like I could easily get a group together to see the new “Sex and the City” movie. I became friends with one girl because we both like to watch “Glee.” Also, my neighbor and I like to shop together, even if it’s at the thrift store (which is my favorite place now). I share and discuss chick lit novels with another friend here. I’ve gone to numerous girls’ nights out that were hosted by women in the community or through the local Chabad. I enjoy that I’m able to explore my girly side with my new friends and that I can also talk to them comfortably about less “frilly” topics. In Maryland, I have friendships that have the dynamic I shared with my boss and next door neighbor in NJ (where we could talk about Judaism, parenting and other topics we shared in common), while also getting to enjoy the "girlfriend" side of things. It’s a nice balance overall. I think I especially need this as the only girl in a house full of boys!
In this week's first "Friendship Friday" blog, I will be talking about a "girlfriend" whom I've known for over 15 years. Check back to see the whole story.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friendship Friday
I've decided to add a weekly theme to my ever-so-busy blog. I will be starting "Friendship Friday" this week. Every week, I will talk about a friend (no actual names given, just initials or a nickname) and just discuss the history of the friendship, fun or memorable moments, etc. I think it will be a fun way to end the week and also show how much I cherish my friends.
Please note: If I have already written about some friendships in great detail in other blogs, I probably won't repeat them here. The choice of the week will be random and has no prioritization involved.
Stay tuned....
Please note: If I have already written about some friendships in great detail in other blogs, I probably won't repeat them here. The choice of the week will be random and has no prioritization involved.
Stay tuned....
Time is of the essence
I thought about this entry because of a situation that recently happened by where I used to live. There were two men coming home from shul and due to the storm, a tree fell on top of them instantly ending their lives. Someone posted an e-mail about this to our listserv and talked about how if they had left two minutes earlier or later, they might still be alive. It's scary and sad to think about, but the message was about how we should treat people because we never know what Hashem's plan is for us from day to day.
Friday, June 22, 2007
It's all about timing...
Current mood: content
Category: Life
I was reflecting on this concept yesterday but didn't have a chance to write about it till now.
Yesterday morning, my husband took my cell phone (along with his own cell phone) to work with him. So I missed my alarm (teaches me a lesson for relying too heavily on my cell for everything) and was late getting Eitan to day care. On my way back to the car, someone stopped me because they wanted to ask me about the temple I attend. Had I gone earlier, like at my usual time, I would not have run into this person and would not have been able to tell them how much I like our temple. (The embarrassing thing was that I thought his son was a girl. I'm always the one correcting people who think Eitan is a girl. Oops!)
That got me thinking of some other situations that had an impact on my life, all because of timing.
1. Had I not been talking to one guy outside a bar on February 3, 2002, I would have not met my husband. One of my friends is partially responsible because she got kicked out of the bar and we all had to leave. We were deciding what to do next and I mentioned that I couldn't stay out too late because I had to bowl the next morning. What are the odds that the one person to overhear that would be the person that introduced me to my husband?
2. When we moved to NJ, it was all due to good timing that I met one of my close friends here. After the week I met her, I didn't see her again in temple for about a month or so. Had I not been at temple that week, it would have been a while before we met. So it's very fortunate that we moved the week we did.
3. A few years ago, my husband was leaving a shopping center and was getting ready to turn onto the main road. He had an itch on his hand and scratched it before proceeding with the turn. Before he made the turn, a truck sped through the light at the last second. Had he not had that itch, a truck would have hit him.
So yes, it's all about timing....
Feel free to post your own situations like this, as blog replies.
Follow up: The guy who asked me about our shul never ended up joining. And this happened about a week before we got the call from the shul president's wife that started all the trouble with our rental schedule. He's not the president anymore and I know they're trying to make some changes. Recently some friends told me that they are planning to move to the NY/NJ area and I encouraged them to check out our previous shul. So I don't harbor hard feelings toward it now. It just wasn't the right fit for our family but it might be the right fit for other families. Anyway, this blog is about timing, not about shuls. I just thought the timing of this post was ironic in some ways.
I still encourage anyone who wants to post about their own timing situations to do so in the comments section or in their own blogs. :)
Friday, June 22, 2007
It's all about timing...
Current mood: content
Category: Life
I was reflecting on this concept yesterday but didn't have a chance to write about it till now.
Yesterday morning, my husband took my cell phone (along with his own cell phone) to work with him. So I missed my alarm (teaches me a lesson for relying too heavily on my cell for everything) and was late getting Eitan to day care. On my way back to the car, someone stopped me because they wanted to ask me about the temple I attend. Had I gone earlier, like at my usual time, I would not have run into this person and would not have been able to tell them how much I like our temple. (The embarrassing thing was that I thought his son was a girl. I'm always the one correcting people who think Eitan is a girl. Oops!)
That got me thinking of some other situations that had an impact on my life, all because of timing.
1. Had I not been talking to one guy outside a bar on February 3, 2002, I would have not met my husband. One of my friends is partially responsible because she got kicked out of the bar and we all had to leave. We were deciding what to do next and I mentioned that I couldn't stay out too late because I had to bowl the next morning. What are the odds that the one person to overhear that would be the person that introduced me to my husband?
2. When we moved to NJ, it was all due to good timing that I met one of my close friends here. After the week I met her, I didn't see her again in temple for about a month or so. Had I not been at temple that week, it would have been a while before we met. So it's very fortunate that we moved the week we did.
3. A few years ago, my husband was leaving a shopping center and was getting ready to turn onto the main road. He had an itch on his hand and scratched it before proceeding with the turn. Before he made the turn, a truck sped through the light at the last second. Had he not had that itch, a truck would have hit him.
So yes, it's all about timing....
Feel free to post your own situations like this, as blog replies.
Follow up: The guy who asked me about our shul never ended up joining. And this happened about a week before we got the call from the shul president's wife that started all the trouble with our rental schedule. He's not the president anymore and I know they're trying to make some changes. Recently some friends told me that they are planning to move to the NY/NJ area and I encouraged them to check out our previous shul. So I don't harbor hard feelings toward it now. It just wasn't the right fit for our family but it might be the right fit for other families. Anyway, this blog is about timing, not about shuls. I just thought the timing of this post was ironic in some ways.
I still encourage anyone who wants to post about their own timing situations to do so in the comments section or in their own blogs. :)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Irish Eyes are Smiling
I am a huge fan of two Irish chick lit authors: Marian Keyes and Cecelia Ahern. I thought about writing on this topic on St. Patrick’s Day, but then forgot and was reminded again when I started reading Marian Keyes’ latest novel.
I was drawn to Marian Keyes when I read “Watermelon” over 10 years ago. I loved the story and couldn’t put it down. She proceeded to write about the main character’s sisters in a few of her other novels. She still has yet to write about Helen, who seems fun and interesting. She also writes other novels involving a set of friends or women (and sometimes men) drawn together by a common circumstance. Her last book (“This Charming Man”) and current book (“The Brightest Star in the Sky”) seem to explore the latter set. I love her writing style and her books flow so well. She makes them all nearly impossible to put down! I’m always thrilled to find other Marian Keyes fans that get why I think she’s such a great author. I’m excited to delve into her current book and see what happens. I know I won’t be disappointed!
As for Cecelia Ahern, I first saw “P.S. I Love You” at the bookstore in 2004. I was newly married and didn’t want to read a story about someone losing their husband. Almost a year later, I came across “Rosie Dunne” (now known as “Love, Rosie”) at the library and enjoyed it from start to finish. It was a cute and light story. The following year, I picked up “If You Could See Me Now” and read it quickly, as I fell in love with the story. After reading two good books from this author, I decided to give “P.S. I Love You” a try. I wasn’t disappointed and felt I could handle the topic better than I expected. It was such a warmly told, heartfelt story. I wasn’t happy with how the movie changed so much around. (For example: Holly, the main character, had such a huge and crazy family and the movie just showed us her mom and sister.) Over the last couple of years, I read “There’s No Place Like Here” and “Thanks for the Memories.” Both were cute stories, but I liked the latter better. “There’s No Place…” just seemed to end too abruptly for my tastes. Aside from her first two books, Cecelia Ahern manages to write stories that have more of a fantasy or fairy-tale feel. They still have a fun chick-lit tone, but they definitely stand out from most books in that genre. I look forward to reading “The Gift” soon, as well as any other fun stories that she plans to come out with in the future.
I was drawn to Marian Keyes when I read “Watermelon” over 10 years ago. I loved the story and couldn’t put it down. She proceeded to write about the main character’s sisters in a few of her other novels. She still has yet to write about Helen, who seems fun and interesting. She also writes other novels involving a set of friends or women (and sometimes men) drawn together by a common circumstance. Her last book (“This Charming Man”) and current book (“The Brightest Star in the Sky”) seem to explore the latter set. I love her writing style and her books flow so well. She makes them all nearly impossible to put down! I’m always thrilled to find other Marian Keyes fans that get why I think she’s such a great author. I’m excited to delve into her current book and see what happens. I know I won’t be disappointed!
As for Cecelia Ahern, I first saw “P.S. I Love You” at the bookstore in 2004. I was newly married and didn’t want to read a story about someone losing their husband. Almost a year later, I came across “Rosie Dunne” (now known as “Love, Rosie”) at the library and enjoyed it from start to finish. It was a cute and light story. The following year, I picked up “If You Could See Me Now” and read it quickly, as I fell in love with the story. After reading two good books from this author, I decided to give “P.S. I Love You” a try. I wasn’t disappointed and felt I could handle the topic better than I expected. It was such a warmly told, heartfelt story. I wasn’t happy with how the movie changed so much around. (For example: Holly, the main character, had such a huge and crazy family and the movie just showed us her mom and sister.) Over the last couple of years, I read “There’s No Place Like Here” and “Thanks for the Memories.” Both were cute stories, but I liked the latter better. “There’s No Place…” just seemed to end too abruptly for my tastes. Aside from her first two books, Cecelia Ahern manages to write stories that have more of a fantasy or fairy-tale feel. They still have a fun chick-lit tone, but they definitely stand out from most books in that genre. I look forward to reading “The Gift” soon, as well as any other fun stories that she plans to come out with in the future.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Futility has the word "utility" in it
Oddly enough, my efforts at cleaning the utility room have proven to be the opposite of futile. I'm pretty much done!!! There are a few boxes that need to be cleared away, but I'll use them to pack up chometz. I found some more items to freecycle, as well. The closet could use some work, but it's not dire at this time.
I also got more work done on the basement and have become obsessive over my kids cleaning up after themselves after they're done playing. I won't even let them come upstairs until that is done. And while I applaud their efforts, I nearly had a panic attack when some of the items got mixed up again. I fixed it though. I also cleaned out their art kits and condensed everything into two smaller boxes. I started working on the area that is out of their reach but was still a major clutter disaster.
Overall, I am really happy with my progress with both rooms. I think the next area to tackle is the living and dining room. It's a combined space, so it shouldn't be too awful. I also need to fix up the kitchen again and actually make good on my attempt to pack up chometz. I'm most afraid of the freezer because the utility room freezer is also out of space.
Finally, the clean-up of the utility room was made productive by the tunes of 90's female singers (most of who still perform these days) such as Gwen Stefani, Jewel, Alanis Morissette, Lisa Loeb, etc.
I also got more work done on the basement and have become obsessive over my kids cleaning up after themselves after they're done playing. I won't even let them come upstairs until that is done. And while I applaud their efforts, I nearly had a panic attack when some of the items got mixed up again. I fixed it though. I also cleaned out their art kits and condensed everything into two smaller boxes. I started working on the area that is out of their reach but was still a major clutter disaster.
Overall, I am really happy with my progress with both rooms. I think the next area to tackle is the living and dining room. It's a combined space, so it shouldn't be too awful. I also need to fix up the kitchen again and actually make good on my attempt to pack up chometz. I'm most afraid of the freezer because the utility room freezer is also out of space.
Finally, the clean-up of the utility room was made productive by the tunes of 90's female singers (most of who still perform these days) such as Gwen Stefani, Jewel, Alanis Morissette, Lisa Loeb, etc.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
In 2 days time...
The FlyLady bathroom cleaning objectives for the last two days were to clean the mirrors and shine the shower. I did one task each night. Both were quick and easy. I now keep a spray bottle with Windex and some paper towels under the sink for easy access whenever the mirrors get spotted again.
In the meantime, I did about 25-30 minutes worth of cleaning in the utility room and basement both tonight and last night. Last night, I listened to my Styx channel on Pandora and tonight it was my Lady Antebellum channel. That was just for the utility room. I straightened the shelves some more and started putting aside stuff for my husband to look through. I cleared up a lot of floor space, as well. I also got started on one of our few walk-in closets. We use it to store clothes that need ironing, extra linens and luggage. I went through the clothes and separated them into piles to wash, take to the dry cleaners or freecycle. I'll probably freecycle some of the items I'm washing too. Speaking of which, our sitter took home some of the items I already put aside for freecycling, leaving more room in the box to add items tonight.
In the basement, I listened to Faith Hill last night and Jill Sobule tonight. I cleared the central carpeted area and went through the toy box that's next to the large shelves. I found some items I thought I'd never see again, including the device that plays the phonics magnets. I organized more items into their proper places and put all the games on the back shelves. I also straightened up the books. I still have a few more target areas upon which to focus, but the basement is looking good compared to the disaster that befell it during my younger son's party.
I don't know if I'll get a lot of cleaning done this weekend, but anything is possible. Our cleaning lady is coming next week to help us get ready for Pesach. I feel that through the FlyLady system, I don't have to rush around the night before "cleaning the house for the cleaning lady." When I was younger, my mom would always say "clean your room, the cleaning lady is coming." I thought that was such an annoying phrase. What was the point of having a cleaning lady if I was going to clean my room anyway? Now I totally get why my mom would say such a thing and feel like my bedroom wasn't such a big deal as compared to an entire house!
In any case, I really hope I'll have time to put away all the chametz and set up the counter space for Pesach soon. I usually procrastinate because I feel more productive when I actually have to get it all done, even at the last minute. I hope I will have some time to relax before Pesach though.
In the meantime, I did about 25-30 minutes worth of cleaning in the utility room and basement both tonight and last night. Last night, I listened to my Styx channel on Pandora and tonight it was my Lady Antebellum channel. That was just for the utility room. I straightened the shelves some more and started putting aside stuff for my husband to look through. I cleared up a lot of floor space, as well. I also got started on one of our few walk-in closets. We use it to store clothes that need ironing, extra linens and luggage. I went through the clothes and separated them into piles to wash, take to the dry cleaners or freecycle. I'll probably freecycle some of the items I'm washing too. Speaking of which, our sitter took home some of the items I already put aside for freecycling, leaving more room in the box to add items tonight.
In the basement, I listened to Faith Hill last night and Jill Sobule tonight. I cleared the central carpeted area and went through the toy box that's next to the large shelves. I found some items I thought I'd never see again, including the device that plays the phonics magnets. I organized more items into their proper places and put all the games on the back shelves. I also straightened up the books. I still have a few more target areas upon which to focus, but the basement is looking good compared to the disaster that befell it during my younger son's party.
I don't know if I'll get a lot of cleaning done this weekend, but anything is possible. Our cleaning lady is coming next week to help us get ready for Pesach. I feel that through the FlyLady system, I don't have to rush around the night before "cleaning the house for the cleaning lady." When I was younger, my mom would always say "clean your room, the cleaning lady is coming." I thought that was such an annoying phrase. What was the point of having a cleaning lady if I was going to clean my room anyway? Now I totally get why my mom would say such a thing and feel like my bedroom wasn't such a big deal as compared to an entire house!
In any case, I really hope I'll have time to put away all the chametz and set up the counter space for Pesach soon. I usually procrastinate because I feel more productive when I actually have to get it all done, even at the last minute. I hope I will have some time to relax before Pesach though.
What if?
I have a few friends who knit and blog and we've decided to embark on a blog project that has nothing to do with knitting. We're going to take turns coming up with a topic every Thursday and we each have to blog about it by the end of that day and post links to each other's blogs so that people can see our different perspectives on the same topic.
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week's topic comes from Froggie: We all have times in our lives that we look back on and wonder what our lives would be like if we had just made a different decision. What is one of those times for you?
I wanted to start off by sharing some lyrics from "The Road You Didn't Take" by Stephen Sondheim ("Follies"). Can you tell I use his music a lot for my blogs?
"You take one road,
You try one door,
There isn't time for any more.
One's life consists of either/or.
One has regrets
Which one forgets,
And as the years go on.
The road you didn't take
Hardly comes to mind,
Does it?
The door you didn't try,
Where could it have led?
The choice you didn't make
Never was defined.
Was it?
Dreams you didn't dare
Are dead.
Were they ever there?
Who said?
You take your road,
The decades fly,
The yearnings fade, the longings die.
You learn to bid them all goodbye.
And oh, the peace,
The blessed peace...
At last you come to know:
The roads you never take
Go through rocky ground,
Don't they?
The choices that you make
Aren't all that grim.
The worlds you never see
Still will be around,
Won't they?"
I was pointed to this song through an article my mother-in-law sent me yesterday about a Stephen Sondheim birthday concert she attended. The title stuck out to me since we were writing about this topic.
The road I didn't take is an interesting one. When I was in college, I originally majored in special education. During second semester of freshman year, I had the opportunity to work with some children who were deaf. I got to teach them about the Internet. I was also taking a fascinating class about speech pathology at the time. The children in the class were really sweet and I had a good rapport with them, even though I had no knowledge of sign language at the time.
During the summer between freshman and sophomore year, I worked part-time at a summer camp for children with special needs. I originally was placed in a group with two counselors who were deaf. Then they switched me out of that group for some unknown reason. I got to know some kids who were developmentally disabled and enjoyed working with them. After that summer, I decided to follow the path of developmental disabilities (i.e. mental retardation) when I delved deeper into my studies. I stuck with this path until first semester of senior year, when I realized that I was in the wrong field altogether. I wasn't cut out to be a teacher and I think I finally realized that through one of my practicums. I ended up changing majors to psychology and taking on an extra year to finish off that major instead. I did really well with psychology overall, but it was impossible to find a job in the real world without at least a master's degree. So I went the corporate and administrative route instead.
To backtrack a little, during that same first semester of senior year, I took an American Sign Language class. It was interesting, but I had a rough time with it because the teacher never spoke and expected us to pick up the signs without any knowledge to what she was referring. It was very frustrating. If I didn't have the supplemental group lessons offered outside of the class, I would have been even more lost. I enjoyed the supplemental lessons that were taught by a woman who was deaf. She was very patient and I picked up quite a lot of signs. However, like with Spanish (which I was really comfortable with for quite some time), if I didn't use the skill, I lost it.
This all makes me wonder what my life would have been like had I chosen to work in the field of hearing loss. Would I have become more comfortable with sign language? Would I have had more patience with teaching children? Would I have been able to apply my skills and knowledge to teaching my older son how to listen and speak? I think about this now because I see how wonderful the school programs are for my son. The teachers really love what they are doing and are so passionate about working with my son and his peers. Even when I went to speech therapy with him, I became fascinated with all the techniques being used to help him pick up language. I'm guessing that if I ever wanted to go down this route, it wouldn't be too late. However, I am immersed in a life filled with hearing loss in my own home and am not sure if I would want that outside the home too. I don't know if any of my sons' teachers or therapists have people with hearing loss in their immediate family.
I don't think my choice overall would have changed where I am now in terms of meeting my husband (which had nothing to do with my career choice), my Jewish observance level, where I live (it might have made me more likely to live out here sooner, since DC is a great area for people with hearing loss), etc. If I had become a teacher for the deaf or a speech therapist, I might have been more obsessive over my son's language development and more critical of his speech therapists overall. I think I enjoy going along for the ride at this juncture. I like being given information and letting the teacher be in charge of his IEP (for which I respect her, as they take an incredible amount of hard work). I don't mind putting the education and language development of my child in the hands of others whom I trust are very professional. I help by constantly reinforcing what he has learned and I know what my husband and I have done at home has paid off recently.
In the meantime, if I had chosen that route, my friendships might have been different. I wouldn't have lived in an apartment during my last year of college if I had finished when I was supposed to. Living in that apartment brought me close to two friends of mine. We still have fun memories of those times together. I also wouldn't have met "Jack". Finally, I am passionate about where I work now and am happy here. I can definitely see building a thriving career out of where I work and I might even be able to use my psychology skills down the road. (I already had to use them this week.)
While there will always be those "what ifs" hanging around, I feel comfortable with my current life choices and am glad that my son has so many resources available to him in this day and age, regardless of my career choice. I learned through subbing for a Sunday school class that I definitely do not have the patience to be a teacher. And sometimes I don't even know where I get the patience to be a mother! However, I love being able to teach my boys new things and I get so excited when they retain what they've learned and display that knowledge at a later time. I think that's all I need for now.
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week's topic comes from Froggie: We all have times in our lives that we look back on and wonder what our lives would be like if we had just made a different decision. What is one of those times for you?
I wanted to start off by sharing some lyrics from "The Road You Didn't Take" by Stephen Sondheim ("Follies"). Can you tell I use his music a lot for my blogs?
"You take one road,
You try one door,
There isn't time for any more.
One's life consists of either/or.
One has regrets
Which one forgets,
And as the years go on.
The road you didn't take
Hardly comes to mind,
Does it?
The door you didn't try,
Where could it have led?
The choice you didn't make
Never was defined.
Was it?
Dreams you didn't dare
Are dead.
Were they ever there?
Who said?
You take your road,
The decades fly,
The yearnings fade, the longings die.
You learn to bid them all goodbye.
And oh, the peace,
The blessed peace...
At last you come to know:
The roads you never take
Go through rocky ground,
Don't they?
The choices that you make
Aren't all that grim.
The worlds you never see
Still will be around,
Won't they?"
I was pointed to this song through an article my mother-in-law sent me yesterday about a Stephen Sondheim birthday concert she attended. The title stuck out to me since we were writing about this topic.
The road I didn't take is an interesting one. When I was in college, I originally majored in special education. During second semester of freshman year, I had the opportunity to work with some children who were deaf. I got to teach them about the Internet. I was also taking a fascinating class about speech pathology at the time. The children in the class were really sweet and I had a good rapport with them, even though I had no knowledge of sign language at the time.
During the summer between freshman and sophomore year, I worked part-time at a summer camp for children with special needs. I originally was placed in a group with two counselors who were deaf. Then they switched me out of that group for some unknown reason. I got to know some kids who were developmentally disabled and enjoyed working with them. After that summer, I decided to follow the path of developmental disabilities (i.e. mental retardation) when I delved deeper into my studies. I stuck with this path until first semester of senior year, when I realized that I was in the wrong field altogether. I wasn't cut out to be a teacher and I think I finally realized that through one of my practicums. I ended up changing majors to psychology and taking on an extra year to finish off that major instead. I did really well with psychology overall, but it was impossible to find a job in the real world without at least a master's degree. So I went the corporate and administrative route instead.
To backtrack a little, during that same first semester of senior year, I took an American Sign Language class. It was interesting, but I had a rough time with it because the teacher never spoke and expected us to pick up the signs without any knowledge to what she was referring. It was very frustrating. If I didn't have the supplemental group lessons offered outside of the class, I would have been even more lost. I enjoyed the supplemental lessons that were taught by a woman who was deaf. She was very patient and I picked up quite a lot of signs. However, like with Spanish (which I was really comfortable with for quite some time), if I didn't use the skill, I lost it.
This all makes me wonder what my life would have been like had I chosen to work in the field of hearing loss. Would I have become more comfortable with sign language? Would I have had more patience with teaching children? Would I have been able to apply my skills and knowledge to teaching my older son how to listen and speak? I think about this now because I see how wonderful the school programs are for my son. The teachers really love what they are doing and are so passionate about working with my son and his peers. Even when I went to speech therapy with him, I became fascinated with all the techniques being used to help him pick up language. I'm guessing that if I ever wanted to go down this route, it wouldn't be too late. However, I am immersed in a life filled with hearing loss in my own home and am not sure if I would want that outside the home too. I don't know if any of my sons' teachers or therapists have people with hearing loss in their immediate family.
I don't think my choice overall would have changed where I am now in terms of meeting my husband (which had nothing to do with my career choice), my Jewish observance level, where I live (it might have made me more likely to live out here sooner, since DC is a great area for people with hearing loss), etc. If I had become a teacher for the deaf or a speech therapist, I might have been more obsessive over my son's language development and more critical of his speech therapists overall. I think I enjoy going along for the ride at this juncture. I like being given information and letting the teacher be in charge of his IEP (for which I respect her, as they take an incredible amount of hard work). I don't mind putting the education and language development of my child in the hands of others whom I trust are very professional. I help by constantly reinforcing what he has learned and I know what my husband and I have done at home has paid off recently.
In the meantime, if I had chosen that route, my friendships might have been different. I wouldn't have lived in an apartment during my last year of college if I had finished when I was supposed to. Living in that apartment brought me close to two friends of mine. We still have fun memories of those times together. I also wouldn't have met "Jack". Finally, I am passionate about where I work now and am happy here. I can definitely see building a thriving career out of where I work and I might even be able to use my psychology skills down the road. (I already had to use them this week.)
While there will always be those "what ifs" hanging around, I feel comfortable with my current life choices and am glad that my son has so many resources available to him in this day and age, regardless of my career choice. I learned through subbing for a Sunday school class that I definitely do not have the patience to be a teacher. And sometimes I don't even know where I get the patience to be a mother! However, I love being able to teach my boys new things and I get so excited when they retain what they've learned and display that knowledge at a later time. I think that's all I need for now.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Beauty of being Ugly
I know I’ve touched on this in the past on a surface level, but the main reason I am upset about “Ugly Betty’s” demise this spring is the fact that Betty Suarez is the first TV character I can truly relate to. She’s been a kindred spirit for me these past 4 years.
*We’re both independent but also close with our families.
*We both have an interesting way of dressing. I know she has toned down her style a lot this year, which is probably closer to my style. However, I found a pic of myself from high school that was the epitome of “Ugly Betty.” I was wearing a tie-dyed jumper over a purple shirt with these huge earrings. I also sported the glasses and braces look.
*We both like our jobs a lot and want to do the best work possible at all times. She started off as support staff, which I what I’m considered. She pretty much did the kind of stuff I do now, except on a larger level for someone with a lot of personal drama.
*We both have gay guy friends who like to give us a hard time. (“Jack” is my Marc.)
*And finally, we both write blogs....
I actually started writing my blog shortly before Betty started writing hers. We both attracted a small group of people at first. However, her audience is probably a lot bigger than mine now and she won an award for hers, as well. There was an episode where she accepted the award and then managed to insult her audience by calling them weird or awkward. I can’t remember exactly what she said. She also got her (now ex) boss in trouble through her blog. I guess that happens when your company is in the public eye the way hers is. The conflict with her ex-boss came about when she answered someone about how she was always positive and never seemed to get mad about anything. She then answered that she was mad at her ex-boss (whom she labeled as a friend at the time) for how he had treated her recently. That caused a snowball effect that could have done serious damage to his reputation. They made up in the end, but it definitely spoke to me about why I try to stay positive and not insult people in my blog.
I think I’m naturally positive, just like Betty. I think Marc even commented on her sunny disposition. I do get angry and annoyed about things, but I don’t think they’re worth wasting energy on in writing. I was even telling someone the other day how it took more energy for me to be negative than positive. In any case, I don’t think my audience of readers is weird or awkward at all. However, I want to share about times that I have been weird or awkward (I’m sure I’ve done this already) in order to show that I am just an average girl who does some things right and still needs to find her way at other times. I want anyone who is reading to be able to relate to my blog on some level, whether or not they’ve been in my shoes. I usually hone in on blogs that I can relate to easily and I love commenting on them, as well. I really enjoy writing again and I hope to continue to produce blog entries worth reading by anyone who cares to check them out.
*We’re both independent but also close with our families.
*We both have an interesting way of dressing. I know she has toned down her style a lot this year, which is probably closer to my style. However, I found a pic of myself from high school that was the epitome of “Ugly Betty.” I was wearing a tie-dyed jumper over a purple shirt with these huge earrings. I also sported the glasses and braces look.
*We both like our jobs a lot and want to do the best work possible at all times. She started off as support staff, which I what I’m considered. She pretty much did the kind of stuff I do now, except on a larger level for someone with a lot of personal drama.
*We both have gay guy friends who like to give us a hard time. (“Jack” is my Marc.)
*And finally, we both write blogs....
I actually started writing my blog shortly before Betty started writing hers. We both attracted a small group of people at first. However, her audience is probably a lot bigger than mine now and she won an award for hers, as well. There was an episode where she accepted the award and then managed to insult her audience by calling them weird or awkward. I can’t remember exactly what she said. She also got her (now ex) boss in trouble through her blog. I guess that happens when your company is in the public eye the way hers is. The conflict with her ex-boss came about when she answered someone about how she was always positive and never seemed to get mad about anything. She then answered that she was mad at her ex-boss (whom she labeled as a friend at the time) for how he had treated her recently. That caused a snowball effect that could have done serious damage to his reputation. They made up in the end, but it definitely spoke to me about why I try to stay positive and not insult people in my blog.
I think I’m naturally positive, just like Betty. I think Marc even commented on her sunny disposition. I do get angry and annoyed about things, but I don’t think they’re worth wasting energy on in writing. I was even telling someone the other day how it took more energy for me to be negative than positive. In any case, I don’t think my audience of readers is weird or awkward at all. However, I want to share about times that I have been weird or awkward (I’m sure I’ve done this already) in order to show that I am just an average girl who does some things right and still needs to find her way at other times. I want anyone who is reading to be able to relate to my blog on some level, whether or not they’ve been in my shoes. I usually hone in on blogs that I can relate to easily and I love commenting on them, as well. I really enjoy writing again and I hope to continue to produce blog entries worth reading by anyone who cares to check them out.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
You Can't Stop Progress!
In "Muriel's Wedding," Muriel's dad says "You can't stop progress" a lot. That's how I felt about the cleaning process tonight. I tackled the utility room again, to a love song mix on Pandora (inspired by "The Last Song"). I mainly focused on cleaning off my desk. I didn't work on the insides of the drawers yet, but it looks a lot better on the outside! I put together a box of freecycling items too. I don't know if I'll post them right away or let friends look through it first. Probably the latter. :)
Next, I cleaned off my bathroom counter because that was the FlyLady bathroom focus for tonight. I also cleaned the kitchen table and the floor area that felt sticky.
Finally, I worked on the basement to music from the Dixie Chicks "Fly" CD. (How appropriate!) I was able to put a lot of items away and throw out more junk. I put the baby toys into storage and cleared out another box by doing so. I can use this box to store stuff that's laying around all over the place. Not sure what I want to put in it yet, but it's nice to have that extra bit of storage space!
After a busy night of cleaning, I kicked back with "American Idol" and the scarf I'm knitting.
I e-mailed FlyLady today to tell her about how well her program is working for me and also share my related blog posts. She sent me a very nice e-mail back and it made me want to stick with this cleaning process even more! I also credit my friends who blog about their cleaning and de-cluttering processes.
Next, I cleaned off my bathroom counter because that was the FlyLady bathroom focus for tonight. I also cleaned the kitchen table and the floor area that felt sticky.
Finally, I worked on the basement to music from the Dixie Chicks "Fly" CD. (How appropriate!) I was able to put a lot of items away and throw out more junk. I put the baby toys into storage and cleared out another box by doing so. I can use this box to store stuff that's laying around all over the place. Not sure what I want to put in it yet, but it's nice to have that extra bit of storage space!
After a busy night of cleaning, I kicked back with "American Idol" and the scarf I'm knitting.
I e-mailed FlyLady today to tell her about how well her program is working for me and also share my related blog posts. She sent me a very nice e-mail back and it made me want to stick with this cleaning process even more! I also credit my friends who blog about their cleaning and de-cluttering processes.
"The Moment I Wake Up, Before I Put on My Makeup..."
I have realized that I have a problem that when I go to shul, I tend to zone out through most of the service. Even when I'm in silent prayer during the Amidah. It bothers me that I can't stay focused in shul. I decided to look back at this entry from MySpace in 2007, regarding my thoughts on prayer.
This topic also came to light when my boss from NJ recently said that if you really want something, you just have to pray for it and Hashem will listen. The philosophy seemed to work for her, so she wanted to share it with me.
Monday, June 25, 2007
We've got to pray just to make it today
Current mood: thankful
Category: Religion and Philosophy
I've been thinking a lot about the power of prayer recently. The subject line is from an M.C. Hammer song that I used to sing with one of the kids I babysat for. I'd say "Why do we pray?" and he'd say "To make it today!" He had to be only a little older than E at the time, but it was too cute! In any case, I feel that way about prayer now.
When I was younger, my (late) maternal grandma told me to say the Sh'ma every night before going to bed. I did that for a while and then fell out of the habit in college. After I met my husband, we started saying the Sh'ma together every night and now we have added the V'ahavta. We also do both prayers with E. After I say both during my own time, I add personal prayers. I pray for myself, my family, my friends, and anyone else who needs a prayer said for them. I believe strongly that prayer works, no matter what religion you are. I've seen what the power of prayer is doing for baby Kaleb in Tampa. It's truly amazing...people of all different religions and beliefs coming together in prayer for one child. I've been praying for him ever since I got the bulletin about his situation.
After 9/11/01, it was easy for people to lose faith. However, I went to Israel a few months later and put a note in the Western Wall. It was mainly for myself...a bargain that if I gave up my "wild ways", I would either get into a really good relationship or would make it into the Comedy Sportz troupe. Needless to say, I got the former of the two options and I can't complain. :) I met my husband less than a month after putting that note into the wall. Not only that, but he helped me get more involved with Judaism, which is what I wanted to do.
I've been praying every day since then. I could pray for the same thing for months or maybe just once and that's it. It depends on the situation.
Today, I went on an interview for a job I really want and feel I could turn into a career. I won't know more until next Monday, but I'll be praying every day to receive this opportunity. If you pray, please pray for me about this, as well. I know it might sound trite compared to what some people need prayers about, but it's important to me. If anyone needs me to pray for something on their end, I'd be glad to do so.
In the long run, whenever I pray, I trust in Hashem to do what is in his will. On Shabbos and Yom Tov, I've been told not to ask for anything when I pray. That is when I just say my thanks for prayers being answered, even in the smallest sense. I also do this every night, even when I am asking for things. It's spiritually comforting and I am glad I pray.
That's all I have to say on this topic for now.
Follow up: I didn't get the job I posted about, but Hashem did bless me with a baby around the time I wrote this. I wanted one and prayed a lot that it would happen. I just didn't know I was pregnant for sure at the time I was writing the entry and couldn't share for 3 months anyway. Also, I have a friend who is a Messianic Jew. Even though we don't agree about all things religious, we can still connect about our belief that prayer is important and that we feel our prayers will be answered. She once wrote me a letter just to say that one of her prayers was answered and it was so nice to read about that. I've been telling her every time I pray for something and it gets answered. It's just comforting to know that I don't have to necessarily pray in shul in order to be heard.
Side note: Baby Kaleb is a little boy who was shaken by his babysitter at about 9 months of age. There was a poor outlook for him after that, but he made a miraculous recovery and is still alive today. He will probably always need special care, but he's better off than he could have been. I believe a lot of his recovery had to do with prayer. I now think it's important to pray for his family that the babysitter will be convicted when she finally goes to trial. That's another long road and the family can't even blog right now for fear of it throwing off the trial even more.
This topic also came to light when my boss from NJ recently said that if you really want something, you just have to pray for it and Hashem will listen. The philosophy seemed to work for her, so she wanted to share it with me.
Monday, June 25, 2007
We've got to pray just to make it today
Current mood: thankful
Category: Religion and Philosophy
I've been thinking a lot about the power of prayer recently. The subject line is from an M.C. Hammer song that I used to sing with one of the kids I babysat for. I'd say "Why do we pray?" and he'd say "To make it today!" He had to be only a little older than E at the time, but it was too cute! In any case, I feel that way about prayer now.
When I was younger, my (late) maternal grandma told me to say the Sh'ma every night before going to bed. I did that for a while and then fell out of the habit in college. After I met my husband, we started saying the Sh'ma together every night and now we have added the V'ahavta. We also do both prayers with E. After I say both during my own time, I add personal prayers. I pray for myself, my family, my friends, and anyone else who needs a prayer said for them. I believe strongly that prayer works, no matter what religion you are. I've seen what the power of prayer is doing for baby Kaleb in Tampa. It's truly amazing...people of all different religions and beliefs coming together in prayer for one child. I've been praying for him ever since I got the bulletin about his situation.
After 9/11/01, it was easy for people to lose faith. However, I went to Israel a few months later and put a note in the Western Wall. It was mainly for myself...a bargain that if I gave up my "wild ways", I would either get into a really good relationship or would make it into the Comedy Sportz troupe. Needless to say, I got the former of the two options and I can't complain. :) I met my husband less than a month after putting that note into the wall. Not only that, but he helped me get more involved with Judaism, which is what I wanted to do.
I've been praying every day since then. I could pray for the same thing for months or maybe just once and that's it. It depends on the situation.
Today, I went on an interview for a job I really want and feel I could turn into a career. I won't know more until next Monday, but I'll be praying every day to receive this opportunity. If you pray, please pray for me about this, as well. I know it might sound trite compared to what some people need prayers about, but it's important to me. If anyone needs me to pray for something on their end, I'd be glad to do so.
In the long run, whenever I pray, I trust in Hashem to do what is in his will. On Shabbos and Yom Tov, I've been told not to ask for anything when I pray. That is when I just say my thanks for prayers being answered, even in the smallest sense. I also do this every night, even when I am asking for things. It's spiritually comforting and I am glad I pray.
That's all I have to say on this topic for now.
Follow up: I didn't get the job I posted about, but Hashem did bless me with a baby around the time I wrote this. I wanted one and prayed a lot that it would happen. I just didn't know I was pregnant for sure at the time I was writing the entry and couldn't share for 3 months anyway. Also, I have a friend who is a Messianic Jew. Even though we don't agree about all things religious, we can still connect about our belief that prayer is important and that we feel our prayers will be answered. She once wrote me a letter just to say that one of her prayers was answered and it was so nice to read about that. I've been telling her every time I pray for something and it gets answered. It's just comforting to know that I don't have to necessarily pray in shul in order to be heard.
Side note: Baby Kaleb is a little boy who was shaken by his babysitter at about 9 months of age. There was a poor outlook for him after that, but he made a miraculous recovery and is still alive today. He will probably always need special care, but he's better off than he could have been. I believe a lot of his recovery had to do with prayer. I now think it's important to pray for his family that the babysitter will be convicted when she finally goes to trial. That's another long road and the family can't even blog right now for fear of it throwing off the trial even more.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Clusters of clutter
I cleaned on the FlyLady plan tonight. I did 15 minutes for each area I was cleaning. I was successful in some areas and not in others.
I first started with the utility room while listening to my Ingrid Michaelson station on Pandora again. I was able to clear off some space on the shelves by the window and organized my gift bag and ribbon collection.
Then I went to the front hall closet and attacked the whole thing while listening to Jewel's "Rare Angels" cassette (yes, I'm still "old school"). I put all the plastic bags together and all the environmental bags together. I also hung up some items and put all the boots in one area. I moved the bowling bags to the top shelf, after reorganizing that, as well.
Next was the basement (still to the tunes of Jewel). I just picked up a bunch of items and put them back in their boxes/containers/bags. I made a box for all the items that go with the Jewish toy kits (i.e. Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, etc.). I put all the phonics magnets away when I came across them. I hope to one day find the piece they go into in order to hear the songs about each letter. Fifteen minutes wasn't long enough, but I knew I'd burn out if I stayed down there any longer.
Finally, it is bathroom week on FlyLady.net. I followed the task e-mailed to me today. It was to clean out the cabinet and reorganize it. I didn't find a lot to throw out or give away, but it's a lot easier to find things now.
I rewarded myself by watching "90210." :)
Side note: "Rare Angels" is an album put out by Jewel in the mid-90's. It has a lot of acoustic and improvised songs, most which never made it onto any other album. There is a song, however, called "Perfectly Clear," which was made into a country tune and also became the title of her country CD. In any case, I used to listen to "Rare Angels" a lot in college and listening to it again brought back memories. I even sang one of the songs at Theater of Ted (a midnight theater open mic at the college I attended).
I first started with the utility room while listening to my Ingrid Michaelson station on Pandora again. I was able to clear off some space on the shelves by the window and organized my gift bag and ribbon collection.
Then I went to the front hall closet and attacked the whole thing while listening to Jewel's "Rare Angels" cassette (yes, I'm still "old school"). I put all the plastic bags together and all the environmental bags together. I also hung up some items and put all the boots in one area. I moved the bowling bags to the top shelf, after reorganizing that, as well.
Next was the basement (still to the tunes of Jewel). I just picked up a bunch of items and put them back in their boxes/containers/bags. I made a box for all the items that go with the Jewish toy kits (i.e. Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, etc.). I put all the phonics magnets away when I came across them. I hope to one day find the piece they go into in order to hear the songs about each letter. Fifteen minutes wasn't long enough, but I knew I'd burn out if I stayed down there any longer.
Finally, it is bathroom week on FlyLady.net. I followed the task e-mailed to me today. It was to clean out the cabinet and reorganize it. I didn't find a lot to throw out or give away, but it's a lot easier to find things now.
I rewarded myself by watching "90210." :)
Side note: "Rare Angels" is an album put out by Jewel in the mid-90's. It has a lot of acoustic and improvised songs, most which never made it onto any other album. There is a song, however, called "Perfectly Clear," which was made into a country tune and also became the title of her country CD. In any case, I used to listen to "Rare Angels" a lot in college and listening to it again brought back memories. I even sang one of the songs at Theater of Ted (a midnight theater open mic at the college I attended).
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Indebted to FlyLady for life!
FlyLady had a daily objective of cleaning out the car. I decided to follow this objective and ended up finding my older son's kipah! It's this kipah we got him prior to his upsherin (which has his name on it in Hebrew) and thought he had lost in the move last August. I was so excited to find it again! De-cluttering is really amazing. :) I still have to tackle the basement and utility room and need a game plan for both. I'm procrastinating on them as it is. :P
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Knitting Envy
I didn't post a picture or blog last week because I was just being lazy. I had made quite some progress though. This week, I only worked on it Tuesday and tonight. I didn't work on it during "American Idol" yesterday because I was in the middle of an organizing project.
I still don't feel that it looks like a scarf. Maybe time will tell? I met up with a friend the other night and she pulled out this scarf she was working on and it looked amazing. I can't even imagine mine ending up as nice as that. I know she has a lot on her plate, but I'd love to take some lessons from her. :) I have a feeling she wouldn't overwhelm me. Not saying others would, but she does homeschooling for some of her kids, so I imagine she has a lot of patience and some good teaching skills. :) I also see the stuff my BFF is working on and am blown away each time by how perfect everything looks and how she's able to put together such neat color combinations. And finally, whenever I go into my friend's yarn store, I get this longing to be able to knit stuff as amazing as what is on display. Is this the beginning of a hobby or addiction? I don't know. All I know is that now that I enjoy knitting, I want to actually be good at it and have something to show for all my hard work that actually looks like what it's supposed to be. Is that too much to ask? I don't expect to win contests but I'd like to be as proud of my own work as I am of my friends' work. At least I know that my son will still wear my attempt at a scarf because I made it for him out of love. :) (Okay...talk amongst yourselves...)
You are WHERE you eat
A lot of the fond memories I have from growing up revolve around going out to restaurants for meals. Since I grew up Reform and my family did not keep Kosher, there were a lot of available options for dining out. I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites:
*Ed Debevic’s: I was inspired to write this entry when my friend posted an article about a new 50’s style diner opening up in the Chicago suburbs. It made me think of Ed’s. The first time I ever went to Ed’s was after we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with some family friends (at the time). We visited the downtown location and were amused and impressed. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. Our waitress had a button that listed the special of the day, which was Pot Pie when we were there. So my dad thought that was her name and kept calling her “Pot Pie” the whole time. The fun part of dining at Ed’s is that all the servers have attitudes and get to make fun of customers. The customers are aware and enjoy this treatment. Sometimes they’ll all get up on tables and dance to whatever song is playing. There are little jukeboxes at every table, so customers can pick what songs they want. At the end of the meal, the best dessert option is the World’s Smallest Sundae (that comes with an incredibly tall spoon). After that experience, we went to Ed’s in Deerfield often (before it turned into an overpriced Greek restaurant). We’d take out of town visitors there. I had my 11th birthday party there, as well. I even tried to get a summer job there when I was older, but I guess I wasn’t surly enough. The ironic thing was that when I worked at IHOP, I’d joke around with customers and one of them told me I should work at Ed’s. During the same year I had my birthday party there, I decided to make up a commercial for Ed’s to the tune of “Duke of Earl” (a song played there a lot) and recorded it on cassette during one of my pretend radio shows. My BFF still has the tape and we joke about it being used for blackmail. I guess the cat is out of the bag now! :) The final thing I loved about Ed’s was that I got to collect tokens from kid meals and would get cool T-shirts and buttons. My favorite was a T-shirt with a peace sign in rainbow colors. Another memory I have is that every time we went there with one of my cousins, she’d always want them to sing happy birthday to her, even though it wasn’t her birthday. She was probably the same age as my younger son at the time. :)
*Yen Yen: I pretty much grew up at this neighborhood Chinese restaurant. My family and I went there all the time. I used to only eat beef and gravy or beef in a nest because I was so picky. After I got a job there during my high school years, my tastes expanded and I got to try new items. It also allowed me to expand my tastes when I went out elsewhere for Chinese food (even though I felt like a traitor for doing so). I eventually got friends, as well as my husband, addicted. Yen Yen was the place to go for Chinese food if you lived in the Buffalo Grove or Arlington Heights area. I think it is the restaurant I frequented the most with or without my family. We had my maternal grandma’s 70th birthday party there, and went there for countless other birthday meals. It was also the place to go when we got back from vacations. And keeping with small world coincidences, one of my favorite waiters had a day job as a teacher and worked with “Will’s” mom. When I got back from Israel, he told me that he worked with someone who had a son who was there at the time. I told him that was the same person I got to see during my trip.
*Ember’s Charhouse: This was a nice steakhouse where the servers sang all the time. It was a great place to go with family for special occasions or on a date. For a while, a friend of mine from college worked there and on a quieter night, she let my sister and I join her to sing something from “Rent.” I think it was “Seasons of Love.” On birthdays, all the servers would surround the table and sing a song they made up for the birthday celebrant. When I was still eating non-Kosher meat, I really enjoyed their prime rib. They also had delicious French onion soup. It eventually closed down and I was sad to see it go. It’s a place I could have seen myself working, as I love to sing all the time. I sing while doing average household chores and I’m pretty much a server during dinnertime anyway.
These are the three that stick out. I was addicted to T.G.I. Friday’s during my college years. I also have fond memories of going to a lot of birthday parties at the Ground Round when I was a kid. There was a clown named Bingo and she would lead everyone in games of hot potato or pin the tail on the donkey. A couple other standouts are Bill’s Pub, where we could throw peanut shells on the ground; Lou Malnati’s, which has the best Chicago pizza in my opinion; Chuck E. Cheese, which was fun before it went all modern and a great place of entertainment when we were kids; Buffalo, for their fabulous sundaes and small world Jewish geography connections (when didn't we see someone we knew there?) and Fuddruckers, which had delicious burgers on top of which I would pump lots of piping hot cheddar cheese. Finally, there was Journey’s End, which had the best vegetable soup (that we now make at home) that was served in buckets and refilled often (and came with lots of oyster crackers). It also met its demise when it sold out to CVS. Every time I eat the soup at home, I still feel like I'm sitting at the round table in the area that looks like a ship.
These days, we still enjoy taking our kids out but are limited with where we can go. We end up at Ben Yehuda a lot, as they have delicious pizza and we love their cheese fries. It has become a favorite for our kids now. My older son was making up a song about going to Ben Yehuda once and it made me think of my Ed Debevic's commercial. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all.
*Ed Debevic’s: I was inspired to write this entry when my friend posted an article about a new 50’s style diner opening up in the Chicago suburbs. It made me think of Ed’s. The first time I ever went to Ed’s was after we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with some family friends (at the time). We visited the downtown location and were amused and impressed. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. Our waitress had a button that listed the special of the day, which was Pot Pie when we were there. So my dad thought that was her name and kept calling her “Pot Pie” the whole time. The fun part of dining at Ed’s is that all the servers have attitudes and get to make fun of customers. The customers are aware and enjoy this treatment. Sometimes they’ll all get up on tables and dance to whatever song is playing. There are little jukeboxes at every table, so customers can pick what songs they want. At the end of the meal, the best dessert option is the World’s Smallest Sundae (that comes with an incredibly tall spoon). After that experience, we went to Ed’s in Deerfield often (before it turned into an overpriced Greek restaurant). We’d take out of town visitors there. I had my 11th birthday party there, as well. I even tried to get a summer job there when I was older, but I guess I wasn’t surly enough. The ironic thing was that when I worked at IHOP, I’d joke around with customers and one of them told me I should work at Ed’s. During the same year I had my birthday party there, I decided to make up a commercial for Ed’s to the tune of “Duke of Earl” (a song played there a lot) and recorded it on cassette during one of my pretend radio shows. My BFF still has the tape and we joke about it being used for blackmail. I guess the cat is out of the bag now! :) The final thing I loved about Ed’s was that I got to collect tokens from kid meals and would get cool T-shirts and buttons. My favorite was a T-shirt with a peace sign in rainbow colors. Another memory I have is that every time we went there with one of my cousins, she’d always want them to sing happy birthday to her, even though it wasn’t her birthday. She was probably the same age as my younger son at the time. :)
*Yen Yen: I pretty much grew up at this neighborhood Chinese restaurant. My family and I went there all the time. I used to only eat beef and gravy or beef in a nest because I was so picky. After I got a job there during my high school years, my tastes expanded and I got to try new items. It also allowed me to expand my tastes when I went out elsewhere for Chinese food (even though I felt like a traitor for doing so). I eventually got friends, as well as my husband, addicted. Yen Yen was the place to go for Chinese food if you lived in the Buffalo Grove or Arlington Heights area. I think it is the restaurant I frequented the most with or without my family. We had my maternal grandma’s 70th birthday party there, and went there for countless other birthday meals. It was also the place to go when we got back from vacations. And keeping with small world coincidences, one of my favorite waiters had a day job as a teacher and worked with “Will’s” mom. When I got back from Israel, he told me that he worked with someone who had a son who was there at the time. I told him that was the same person I got to see during my trip.
*Ember’s Charhouse: This was a nice steakhouse where the servers sang all the time. It was a great place to go with family for special occasions or on a date. For a while, a friend of mine from college worked there and on a quieter night, she let my sister and I join her to sing something from “Rent.” I think it was “Seasons of Love.” On birthdays, all the servers would surround the table and sing a song they made up for the birthday celebrant. When I was still eating non-Kosher meat, I really enjoyed their prime rib. They also had delicious French onion soup. It eventually closed down and I was sad to see it go. It’s a place I could have seen myself working, as I love to sing all the time. I sing while doing average household chores and I’m pretty much a server during dinnertime anyway.
These are the three that stick out. I was addicted to T.G.I. Friday’s during my college years. I also have fond memories of going to a lot of birthday parties at the Ground Round when I was a kid. There was a clown named Bingo and she would lead everyone in games of hot potato or pin the tail on the donkey. A couple other standouts are Bill’s Pub, where we could throw peanut shells on the ground; Lou Malnati’s, which has the best Chicago pizza in my opinion; Chuck E. Cheese, which was fun before it went all modern and a great place of entertainment when we were kids; Buffalo, for their fabulous sundaes and small world Jewish geography connections (when didn't we see someone we knew there?) and Fuddruckers, which had delicious burgers on top of which I would pump lots of piping hot cheddar cheese. Finally, there was Journey’s End, which had the best vegetable soup (that we now make at home) that was served in buckets and refilled often (and came with lots of oyster crackers). It also met its demise when it sold out to CVS. Every time I eat the soup at home, I still feel like I'm sitting at the round table in the area that looks like a ship.
These days, we still enjoy taking our kids out but are limited with where we can go. We end up at Ben Yehuda a lot, as they have delicious pizza and we love their cheese fries. It has become a favorite for our kids now. My older son was making up a song about going to Ben Yehuda once and it made me think of my Ed Debevic's commercial. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all.
What *don't* you know?
I have a few friends who knit and blog and we've decided to embark on a blog project that has nothing to do with knitting. We're going to take turns coming up with a topic every Thursday and we each have to blog about it by the end of that day and post links to each other's blogs so that people can see our different perspectives on the same topic.
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week’s topic comes from yours truly again. I was watching “American Idol” last week and each of the contestants had to share something that most people would not know about them. I decided to have everyone, including myself, do the same.
(While the topic was mainly influenced by "American Idol," I also thought about how my mom recently told me that she used to knit when she was around my age or a little younger. I never knew that about her before!)
Here goes:
The ironically funny thing about me choosing this topic is that I’m an open book. I think everyone knows almost everything about me now that I’ve put myself out there so much on Facebook and have been blogging about things that come up from past memories. However, I was able to come up with something that I’m sure most people who didn’t know me at the time will have as new information and people who knew me then will have probably forgotten about it anyway.
I bet you’re thinking that the first time I ever traveled overseas was to Israel in 2002. I probably would have won a lot from such a bet because the first time I traveled overseas was in 1992, during the summer between sophomore and junior year of high school. I went to England for an exchange trip through my school.
Time to backtrack first: In the fall of 1991, there was an opportunity to host girls who were visiting from England for a month (and we’d also be able to travel to England the following summer if we chose to). I went after this opportunity right away (being that it’s not a lengthy visitor, and neither were the girls). The girl they paired me with was really nice. I remember that she liked frogs and collected erasers (which she called “rubbers;” something amusing to be yelled out loud in stationery shops). All the girls got to participate in school activities and check out the classes. They also went on field trips all over Chicago. I got to tag along for some trips, including one further away to Springfield (since I didn’t go there when I was in junior high, it was nice to be able to participate). On weekends, the girl would spend time with my family and me. We tried to keep her entertained as much as possible. I think my mom did that by herself though. She was the victim of a bad hair-dying experiment (from a salon, oddly enough) and also decided to get her ears double pierced. The girl thought my mom was trying to be a rock star! We had a fun time having her stay with us and participate in some of our daily or weekly family routines. We had some funny miscommunications due to my unfamiliarity with some British terms. Once she asked for “cotton” and I gave her cotton balls. She was actually asking for thread. Also, things sounded really cute in her dialect, like when she said our dog ate her nuggets (new-gits) or that our cat was massive (mah-siv). When she left to return to England, I was sad to see her go, but determined to go visit her the following summer.
Finally, it was June of 1992 and I was overly excited to board a plane that would take me overseas for the first time in my life. It was a long flight, but I read, watched movies and slept. When we arrived, I had major jet lag, but they decided to take us touring right away. In one town, an old lady asked me to help her cross the street and I was so freaked out by the change of traffic directions that I was practically running with her to get across safely! I also had trouble distinguishing pounds from pence when I went to get ice cream. And I even asked someone what a kwee-wee (queue) was! (That later became an inside joke with my husband.)
We spent a weekend in London before heading closer to Birmingham to meet our host families. While we were in London, we walked, took their underground or rode trolleys to get where we needed to be. We stayed in a youth hostel overnight, but it was very loud and hard to sleep. The lady managing our trip brought sandwiches for everyone but they were disgusting and birds wouldn’t even eat them. I did enjoy seeing a lot of London even though it was such a whirlwind trip. I think I’d enjoy it more now that half the books I read take place there. At night, we got to see a musical. I was hoping for something along the lines of “Les Miserables” but the trip wasn’t budgeted for such a show. We ended up seeing “Me and My Girl.” It was decent, but had more of a dinner theater feel.
When we finally got settled with our host families, I got to take a real nap and catch up on all the sleep I missed. Then I had tea (which is really dinner) afterward. I got to stay with the girl we hosted the previous fall. Her family was so nice. I adored her mom and even helped do chores around the house without being asked. I was there during Wimbledon season, so I got to see a lot of tennis. I was cheering for Agassi, of course. It got all heated between me and the family, but in a fun way. I got to partake in family traditions such as Sunday dinner (which is really lunch). I helped the girl and her mom cook using the metric system. I also read a lot of books that I wouldn’t have found in the US. I got hooked on watching “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” and laughed at all the funny commercials that came on during the shows. I also caught up on some classic movie musicals, such as “Oklahoma.” I’d stay up at night talking with the girl and laughing about crazy things. Other times, I got pretty homesick, especially after I talked to my family on the phone. I missed some of my friends too. A month feels a lot longer when you’ve never been overseas before.
During most of each week, I would go to school with the girl and check out some of the classes. I made friends with some girls I met in those classes. Everyone was fascinated by the fact that I was American. I think they found my dialect as amusing as I found the girl’s dialect the previous year. There was one time when we got to check out an elementary school and help out the kids with their assignments. The kids were asking me a lot of questions. (One was “Is it proper for a boy to marry another boy in America?” I wonder if he watches world news these days?) They also laughed when I said “period” instead of “stopmark.”
We also had some big field trips. We went to Bath, Oxford, Stratford, downtown Birmingham, etc. I have tons of pictures from all the places we visited. I also kept a journal detailing my trip (which I came across again while cleaning my closet and looked over some entries from that time). I purchased tons of souvenir items, as well. In the evenings, I’d spend time with the girl and her family. Sometimes we’d go out for meals and sometimes we’d stay in and barbeque. The food was interesting too. They had different names for things and it got confusing sometimes. I really liked Shepard’s Pie though. However, I was put off lamb after overindulging in it there. The girl’s mom was a really good cook, so I enjoyed all the meals. Ironically enough, I got to celebrate Independence Day with all the other people from America that came on the trip. (There weren’t that many of us.) We had a barbecue at the home of another host family. By the time I got comfortable with my surroundings (enough to cross the street on my own or figure out how much money to put out for an item), it was time to go home. On our last day there, the girl and her mom took me to a movie theater to see “Howard’s End.” Despite the fact that it was a boring movie, it was cool to experience a movie in a British theater. They have an intermission halfway through.
Overall, I had a great time and the memories of that trip still resonate with me enough to write a blog about it! I stayed in touch with the girl for a few years after my trip. Then we lost contact for a long time until I found her on Facebook. It’s great to be in contact with her again and to see that things are going well in her life. I’d love to go back to England again sometime, but mostly to check out more of London. It would be neat to pay a visit to my host family if it were accessible to make a trip to the Birmingham area. Staying with them was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week’s topic comes from yours truly again. I was watching “American Idol” last week and each of the contestants had to share something that most people would not know about them. I decided to have everyone, including myself, do the same.
(While the topic was mainly influenced by "American Idol," I also thought about how my mom recently told me that she used to knit when she was around my age or a little younger. I never knew that about her before!)
Here goes:
The ironically funny thing about me choosing this topic is that I’m an open book. I think everyone knows almost everything about me now that I’ve put myself out there so much on Facebook and have been blogging about things that come up from past memories. However, I was able to come up with something that I’m sure most people who didn’t know me at the time will have as new information and people who knew me then will have probably forgotten about it anyway.
I bet you’re thinking that the first time I ever traveled overseas was to Israel in 2002. I probably would have won a lot from such a bet because the first time I traveled overseas was in 1992, during the summer between sophomore and junior year of high school. I went to England for an exchange trip through my school.
Time to backtrack first: In the fall of 1991, there was an opportunity to host girls who were visiting from England for a month (and we’d also be able to travel to England the following summer if we chose to). I went after this opportunity right away (being that it’s not a lengthy visitor, and neither were the girls). The girl they paired me with was really nice. I remember that she liked frogs and collected erasers (which she called “rubbers;” something amusing to be yelled out loud in stationery shops). All the girls got to participate in school activities and check out the classes. They also went on field trips all over Chicago. I got to tag along for some trips, including one further away to Springfield (since I didn’t go there when I was in junior high, it was nice to be able to participate). On weekends, the girl would spend time with my family and me. We tried to keep her entertained as much as possible. I think my mom did that by herself though. She was the victim of a bad hair-dying experiment (from a salon, oddly enough) and also decided to get her ears double pierced. The girl thought my mom was trying to be a rock star! We had a fun time having her stay with us and participate in some of our daily or weekly family routines. We had some funny miscommunications due to my unfamiliarity with some British terms. Once she asked for “cotton” and I gave her cotton balls. She was actually asking for thread. Also, things sounded really cute in her dialect, like when she said our dog ate her nuggets (new-gits) or that our cat was massive (mah-siv). When she left to return to England, I was sad to see her go, but determined to go visit her the following summer.
Finally, it was June of 1992 and I was overly excited to board a plane that would take me overseas for the first time in my life. It was a long flight, but I read, watched movies and slept. When we arrived, I had major jet lag, but they decided to take us touring right away. In one town, an old lady asked me to help her cross the street and I was so freaked out by the change of traffic directions that I was practically running with her to get across safely! I also had trouble distinguishing pounds from pence when I went to get ice cream. And I even asked someone what a kwee-wee (queue) was! (That later became an inside joke with my husband.)
We spent a weekend in London before heading closer to Birmingham to meet our host families. While we were in London, we walked, took their underground or rode trolleys to get where we needed to be. We stayed in a youth hostel overnight, but it was very loud and hard to sleep. The lady managing our trip brought sandwiches for everyone but they were disgusting and birds wouldn’t even eat them. I did enjoy seeing a lot of London even though it was such a whirlwind trip. I think I’d enjoy it more now that half the books I read take place there. At night, we got to see a musical. I was hoping for something along the lines of “Les Miserables” but the trip wasn’t budgeted for such a show. We ended up seeing “Me and My Girl.” It was decent, but had more of a dinner theater feel.
When we finally got settled with our host families, I got to take a real nap and catch up on all the sleep I missed. Then I had tea (which is really dinner) afterward. I got to stay with the girl we hosted the previous fall. Her family was so nice. I adored her mom and even helped do chores around the house without being asked. I was there during Wimbledon season, so I got to see a lot of tennis. I was cheering for Agassi, of course. It got all heated between me and the family, but in a fun way. I got to partake in family traditions such as Sunday dinner (which is really lunch). I helped the girl and her mom cook using the metric system. I also read a lot of books that I wouldn’t have found in the US. I got hooked on watching “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” and laughed at all the funny commercials that came on during the shows. I also caught up on some classic movie musicals, such as “Oklahoma.” I’d stay up at night talking with the girl and laughing about crazy things. Other times, I got pretty homesick, especially after I talked to my family on the phone. I missed some of my friends too. A month feels a lot longer when you’ve never been overseas before.
During most of each week, I would go to school with the girl and check out some of the classes. I made friends with some girls I met in those classes. Everyone was fascinated by the fact that I was American. I think they found my dialect as amusing as I found the girl’s dialect the previous year. There was one time when we got to check out an elementary school and help out the kids with their assignments. The kids were asking me a lot of questions. (One was “Is it proper for a boy to marry another boy in America?” I wonder if he watches world news these days?) They also laughed when I said “period” instead of “stopmark.”
We also had some big field trips. We went to Bath, Oxford, Stratford, downtown Birmingham, etc. I have tons of pictures from all the places we visited. I also kept a journal detailing my trip (which I came across again while cleaning my closet and looked over some entries from that time). I purchased tons of souvenir items, as well. In the evenings, I’d spend time with the girl and her family. Sometimes we’d go out for meals and sometimes we’d stay in and barbeque. The food was interesting too. They had different names for things and it got confusing sometimes. I really liked Shepard’s Pie though. However, I was put off lamb after overindulging in it there. The girl’s mom was a really good cook, so I enjoyed all the meals. Ironically enough, I got to celebrate Independence Day with all the other people from America that came on the trip. (There weren’t that many of us.) We had a barbecue at the home of another host family. By the time I got comfortable with my surroundings (enough to cross the street on my own or figure out how much money to put out for an item), it was time to go home. On our last day there, the girl and her mom took me to a movie theater to see “Howard’s End.” Despite the fact that it was a boring movie, it was cool to experience a movie in a British theater. They have an intermission halfway through.
Overall, I had a great time and the memories of that trip still resonate with me enough to write a blog about it! I stayed in touch with the girl for a few years after my trip. Then we lost contact for a long time until I found her on Facebook. It’s great to be in contact with her again and to see that things are going well in her life. I’d love to go back to England again sometime, but mostly to check out more of London. It would be neat to pay a visit to my host family if it were accessible to make a trip to the Birmingham area. Staying with them was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Be Our Guest
The guest room is now ready for my parents to sleep in this weekend. I even cleaned out the closet in there! I went through old photos while watching "American Idol," instead of knitting like I usually do. After "American Idol" was over, I finished up in the guest room and went about cleaning out the linen closet. That was quite a feat. It's taller than me, so I had to stand on a wobbly step-stool to reach the items on top. The closet looks a lot more organized now. Yay! I think the front hall closet needs a makeover soon. The dining room also needs to be cleaned up before Shabbos.
Tonight's cleaning was done to my Ingrid Michaelson station on Pandora. It plays musicians similar to her style, such as Adele, Sara Bareilles, Lenka, K.T. Tunstall, etc.
Tonight's cleaning was done to my Ingrid Michaelson station on Pandora. It plays musicians similar to her style, such as Adele, Sara Bareilles, Lenka, K.T. Tunstall, etc.
"It's a Small World" is not just a Disney ride
I always love experiencing or hearing about bizarre coincidences or small world events. I wanted to share some of my own and will share more as they come up.
*In 2002, my husband took my mother-in-law to a Judaica store in West Rogers Park. The salesman found out that she lived in Cleveland and started talking about how he knew a family in Cleveland. It turned out that he was roommates with my brother-in-law at Yeshiva. A few months later, we were at a family friends’ house and the same guy walked in. He was also friends with their son!
*When I was working at my medical billing job, a patient’s name came up over and over. After I moved, I saw the same name on Facebook, as someone a friend of mine is friends with. I’ll never reveal names for this because of privacy reasons, but it was one of those names that is such a rare combination and the location was the same. It was amusing more than anything else.
*When I started my new job, I ended up talking to a girl who said she grew up in my husband’s old neighborhood. When I asked her if she knew him, she said she went to prom with him!
*I also discovered that I went to the same high school as another girl I work with. It made me feel old when she said her graduation date, but still, what are the odds?
This is all I could think of for now. I’m sure more will definitely come up!
*In 2002, my husband took my mother-in-law to a Judaica store in West Rogers Park. The salesman found out that she lived in Cleveland and started talking about how he knew a family in Cleveland. It turned out that he was roommates with my brother-in-law at Yeshiva. A few months later, we were at a family friends’ house and the same guy walked in. He was also friends with their son!
*When I was working at my medical billing job, a patient’s name came up over and over. After I moved, I saw the same name on Facebook, as someone a friend of mine is friends with. I’ll never reveal names for this because of privacy reasons, but it was one of those names that is such a rare combination and the location was the same. It was amusing more than anything else.
*When I started my new job, I ended up talking to a girl who said she grew up in my husband’s old neighborhood. When I asked her if she knew him, she said she went to prom with him!
*I also discovered that I went to the same high school as another girl I work with. It made me feel old when she said her graduation date, but still, what are the odds?
This is all I could think of for now. I’m sure more will definitely come up!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Bedroom Eyes
Tonight I tackled the master bedroom to the tunes of Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and other alternative and grunge bands of the 90's. I put all my clothes away and put my husband's clothes aside for him to sort and put where he wants. I went through my closet and some drawers and even found some things I was looking for (such as one of my favorite hats). I got distracted for a few minutes by an old journal (in which I don't even recognize my own handwriting). It focused a lot on something that I'll be blogging about this Thursday. I also put aside a few things for freecycling, but less than I expected. I did freecycle some clothes earlier this evening, so that was nice. There was so much demand for the clothes!
I know I need to straighten up the guest room soon because my parents will be here starting Thursday evening. The utility room is a week-long project though. I don't even know where to start in there!
The kitchen still looks good. My husband washed some dishes, but there are still some more to tackle. I hope to get to them tomorrow.
I know I need to straighten up the guest room soon because my parents will be here starting Thursday evening. The utility room is a week-long project though. I don't even know where to start in there!
The kitchen still looks good. My husband washed some dishes, but there are still some more to tackle. I hope to get to them tomorrow.
Time Warp Tuesday
I've decided to start a new blog "tradition" called "Time Warp Tuesday." I will post old blog entries from MySpace (or possibly even from livejournal if I feel it's appropriate).
My first entry happens to be from this time of year in 2008, as posted to my blog on MySpace. It still rings true today and has to do with my impending Pesach freakout that happens during the month leading up to the holiday. I'm leaving everything in the post because it was relevant during the time I originally posted it. That's what gives it more of a "time warp" feel.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Passover panic and pandemonium
Current mood: angsty
Category: Food and Restaurants
First of all, I want to note how amusing it is that Purim is closer to Easter than Passover is this year. Which means that if the Easter candy is Kosher, we can feast on it without feeling guilty. :) (And yes....all those spring-colored Hershey Kisses and Reese's PB cups are still Kosher.)
I was at Shop-Rite these past two days (I never get everything I need in one trip) and noticed that the Kosher aisle is being converted into a Passover aisle. Passover is only a little over a month away. Still plenty of time to eat chometz (bread and other leavened products) between now and then. I've never seen so much Passover food at one store. When I was living in Illinois, there was maybe a small section at the front of the store with a limited amount of Passover items and not really enough options to choose from. Here, the entire aisle is being devoted to Passover.
Ever since I started keeping Kosher, shopping for Passover has become a huge undertaking. I used to not care as much and would just buy matzah and a few standard items to get me through the week. Even last year, I didn't go overboard, as I knew we were moving soon and spending the first two days in Lancaster. This year, despite the fact that we'll be having another child by the time Purim gets here (b'shaah tovah), my husband has "volunteered" us to host his family for the beginning of Passover. I don't mind hosting a meal normally, but Passover has its own set of rules. Seeing that my brother-in-law keeps Kosher even more strictly than we do, I feel like we should just completely overhaul the kitchen and start fresh. I did tell my husband that if he wants to have Passover here, he's in charge of cooking. Not like he isn't anyway, but I usually do a lot of cooking these days. I will probably contribute some desserts to the meal, but that's all I can fathom doing right now.
In any case, just looking at the Passover items on the store shelves sets me into a tailspin. I know I'll end up procrastinating on Passover shopping as I do every year. I just don't want to think about all that food in my house yet.
The one thing that truly annoys me about Passover shopping is how marketable the holiday has become. It's not enough to just eat matzah and other unleavened bread products, but suddenly nothing is Kosher for Passover unless it's in a Manischewitz or Streit's box that says OU-P on it. And it doesn't just come down to food either. Dish soap apparently has to be Kosher for Passover. I think that's where I draw the line.
I'm hoping Passover won't be a major chore this year. I just want to get through the week and then move on to chometz for the rest of the year. Even the High Holidays don't unnerve me this much!
On a positive note, I am prepared for Purim this year, even though I won't really get to do much for it, all things considered (b'shaah tovah). I just have to fix up E's costume and that's it! (He's wearing his Halloween costume again because his eema is just that lazy. :P )
Sticking with the theme of Judaism here, if you are wondering why I say "b'shaah tovah" a lot, it just means "in due time" and it's my way (as well as the way of the observant Jewish population) of not jinxing the pregnancy.
Follow up: My brother-in-law and his family ended up doing their own thing, so we hosted my mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law. My mother-in-law brought a lot of food from her home, which was nice. I managed to get the shopping done after the baby had arrived and I had time to settle into a schedule with him. We had one seder at our house and went to one at the Rabbi’s house, where E entertained everyone with his “Dayenu” dance. It was a nice and meaningful Pesach overall that year, as well as last year. While I still dread shopping for the holiday, my mother-in-law finds ways to help me feel better about things and get more organized. I’m thankful to her for that!
My first entry happens to be from this time of year in 2008, as posted to my blog on MySpace. It still rings true today and has to do with my impending Pesach freakout that happens during the month leading up to the holiday. I'm leaving everything in the post because it was relevant during the time I originally posted it. That's what gives it more of a "time warp" feel.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Passover panic and pandemonium
Current mood: angsty
Category: Food and Restaurants
First of all, I want to note how amusing it is that Purim is closer to Easter than Passover is this year. Which means that if the Easter candy is Kosher, we can feast on it without feeling guilty. :) (And yes....all those spring-colored Hershey Kisses and Reese's PB cups are still Kosher.)
I was at Shop-Rite these past two days (I never get everything I need in one trip) and noticed that the Kosher aisle is being converted into a Passover aisle. Passover is only a little over a month away. Still plenty of time to eat chometz (bread and other leavened products) between now and then. I've never seen so much Passover food at one store. When I was living in Illinois, there was maybe a small section at the front of the store with a limited amount of Passover items and not really enough options to choose from. Here, the entire aisle is being devoted to Passover.
Ever since I started keeping Kosher, shopping for Passover has become a huge undertaking. I used to not care as much and would just buy matzah and a few standard items to get me through the week. Even last year, I didn't go overboard, as I knew we were moving soon and spending the first two days in Lancaster. This year, despite the fact that we'll be having another child by the time Purim gets here (b'shaah tovah), my husband has "volunteered" us to host his family for the beginning of Passover. I don't mind hosting a meal normally, but Passover has its own set of rules. Seeing that my brother-in-law keeps Kosher even more strictly than we do, I feel like we should just completely overhaul the kitchen and start fresh. I did tell my husband that if he wants to have Passover here, he's in charge of cooking. Not like he isn't anyway, but I usually do a lot of cooking these days. I will probably contribute some desserts to the meal, but that's all I can fathom doing right now.
In any case, just looking at the Passover items on the store shelves sets me into a tailspin. I know I'll end up procrastinating on Passover shopping as I do every year. I just don't want to think about all that food in my house yet.
The one thing that truly annoys me about Passover shopping is how marketable the holiday has become. It's not enough to just eat matzah and other unleavened bread products, but suddenly nothing is Kosher for Passover unless it's in a Manischewitz or Streit's box that says OU-P on it. And it doesn't just come down to food either. Dish soap apparently has to be Kosher for Passover. I think that's where I draw the line.
I'm hoping Passover won't be a major chore this year. I just want to get through the week and then move on to chometz for the rest of the year. Even the High Holidays don't unnerve me this much!
On a positive note, I am prepared for Purim this year, even though I won't really get to do much for it, all things considered (b'shaah tovah). I just have to fix up E's costume and that's it! (He's wearing his Halloween costume again because his eema is just that lazy. :P )
Sticking with the theme of Judaism here, if you are wondering why I say "b'shaah tovah" a lot, it just means "in due time" and it's my way (as well as the way of the observant Jewish population) of not jinxing the pregnancy.
Follow up: My brother-in-law and his family ended up doing their own thing, so we hosted my mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law. My mother-in-law brought a lot of food from her home, which was nice. I managed to get the shopping done after the baby had arrived and I had time to settle into a schedule with him. We had one seder at our house and went to one at the Rabbi’s house, where E entertained everyone with his “Dayenu” dance. It was a nice and meaningful Pesach overall that year, as well as last year. While I still dread shopping for the holiday, my mother-in-law finds ways to help me feel better about things and get more organized. I’m thankful to her for that!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Heaven's Kitchen
The kitchen is now organized (thanks to Little Miss Obsessive) and it smells of delicious vegetable soup (thanks to my fantastic cook of a husband). :) I still need to wash dairy and pareve dishes, but I'm stuck until the dishwasher is finished because I have to move more meat dishes out of the sink and into there first. I put away the dairy dishes that were on the drying rack though. I also found the time to organize my bag for work so it won't be as heavy and I'll be able to find things. :)
I can't decide which room to tackle next. I think our bedroom could use some work. I still have to put away the boys' laundry too.
I haven't really found much to freecycle yet. Most of the stuff in the kitchen was stale crackers and little pieces of junk that could easily be tossed in the trash. I think other rooms will provide more to actually give away. I'm just glad that I have less chometz to pack away now. :)
In any case, I'm proud of the work I accomplished tonight. I can actually see the counters and window area now!
I can't decide which room to tackle next. I think our bedroom could use some work. I still have to put away the boys' laundry too.
I haven't really found much to freecycle yet. Most of the stuff in the kitchen was stale crackers and little pieces of junk that could easily be tossed in the trash. I think other rooms will provide more to actually give away. I'm just glad that I have less chometz to pack away now. :)
In any case, I'm proud of the work I accomplished tonight. I can actually see the counters and window area now!
Fly Lady, Fly
I know that Passover is around the corner (and you will see a related post about it soon), and everyone seems to talk about cleaning the house in preparation. I keep telling myself that it’s as easy as having our cleaning lady over a few days prior and packing up all the chometz in the house to “sell” (or eating a lot more so there’s less to pack). A friend of mine keeps a blog about how she is de-cluttering her home. Someone had suggested that she check out FlyLady.net to help herself get more organized.
As a result of this suggestion, I decided to check out the site and see what the deal was. To anyone first checking it out, it looks extremely overwhelming. However, I decided to sign up as a beginner and get all the e-mails in digest format. There’s a disclaimer that you should never try to catch up and just pick up from wherever the process is when you first get the e-mails. They don’t want to overwhelm new readers in any way. I find a lot of validity in what is being presented, but I still need some self-motivation. I’ve decided to tackle the house one room at a time. I am planning to start with the kitchen since that’s the most cluttered room of the house. Even more cluttered than our bedroom or the utility room, in my opinion. Sometimes our weekly sitter will help straighten up in the kitchen, but it ends up becoming a disaster anyway. I need to figure out a new system soon! It doesn’t help that there’s a giant box amidst all the clutter. This box is our new oven and it will be installed a week and a half before Pesach. I don’t know if that will throw off our non-Pesach cooking, but I guess we won’t have pizza in there for a while, unless it’s made of matzah!
Also, I recently received an e-mail requesting items for a Jewish community in Ukraine. Great way to de-clutter and also perform a mitzvah. I think Hashem wanted this all to come together (my need for organization and this mitzvah opportunity that happened to stand out to me from all my other e-mails).
Anyway, FlyLady thinks that 15 minutes is enough time each day to tackle the room or area of the week. I am obsessive and need to get it all done in one straight shot, if possible. I’ll put on Pandora radio and get cracking. I’m going to attempt this while my husband is in the middle of making Journey’s End soup, but there’s room in the kitchen for both of us. It will be nice to have his company during my “mission.” Wish me luck!
As a result of this suggestion, I decided to check out the site and see what the deal was. To anyone first checking it out, it looks extremely overwhelming. However, I decided to sign up as a beginner and get all the e-mails in digest format. There’s a disclaimer that you should never try to catch up and just pick up from wherever the process is when you first get the e-mails. They don’t want to overwhelm new readers in any way. I find a lot of validity in what is being presented, but I still need some self-motivation. I’ve decided to tackle the house one room at a time. I am planning to start with the kitchen since that’s the most cluttered room of the house. Even more cluttered than our bedroom or the utility room, in my opinion. Sometimes our weekly sitter will help straighten up in the kitchen, but it ends up becoming a disaster anyway. I need to figure out a new system soon! It doesn’t help that there’s a giant box amidst all the clutter. This box is our new oven and it will be installed a week and a half before Pesach. I don’t know if that will throw off our non-Pesach cooking, but I guess we won’t have pizza in there for a while, unless it’s made of matzah!
Also, I recently received an e-mail requesting items for a Jewish community in Ukraine. Great way to de-clutter and also perform a mitzvah. I think Hashem wanted this all to come together (my need for organization and this mitzvah opportunity that happened to stand out to me from all my other e-mails).
Anyway, FlyLady thinks that 15 minutes is enough time each day to tackle the room or area of the week. I am obsessive and need to get it all done in one straight shot, if possible. I’ll put on Pandora radio and get cracking. I’m going to attempt this while my husband is in the middle of making Journey’s End soup, but there’s room in the kitchen for both of us. It will be nice to have his company during my “mission.” Wish me luck!
Awards galore!
I am not normally big on watching award shows. I sometimes catch the Tony Awards, but only for the musical numbers. However, there is one awards show I refuse to miss (with the exception of a night on the town in Vegas) and that is the Oscars. I am a movie buff to begin with, despite the lack of time I have to watch movies these days. So even with all the other movie award shows out there, the Oscars take the cake in my book. I’ve been watching the Oscars ever since I was a kid and it was shown on a Monday night in late March. Eventually it got switched to Sundays in late March and later moved to late February/early March. I was thrilled that this started the year I got married so that I wouldn’t miss them while on my honeymoon. As I mentioned before, the only time I made an exception was for a trip to Vegas, and I watched as much as I could while getting ready to go out.
When I lived in an apartment in college, I started making chocolate chip cookies to eat that night and it became an annual tradition for me afterward. I start to get really excited in late January/early February when the nominees are announced and that carries over until the actual ceremony. One year, I tried to see all the nominated films before Oscar night. I ended up missing one though. I love watching the actors and actresses walk up the red carpet prior to the ceremony and finding out “who” they are wearing. I love how the host(s) open the ceremony, especially when they find ways to get creative. (I honestly think Neil Patrick Harris should have hosted the whole show this year though.) I love all the special tributes and seeing the nominated movies more in detail. I even love when someone unexpected wins.
Having said all that, I wanted to quickly share my thoughts about this year’s Oscars. I liked Neil Patrick Harris’ musical number. He’s so much fun! It totally made up for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin just talking awkwardly and annoying George Clooney somehow. I liked that “Up” won for best animated feature film and best original score. I liked that Sandra Bullock won for best actress because my husband makes fun of her and “The Blind Side” even though neither of us have seen the movie and it looks really good. She gives off a performance similar to Julia Roberts in “Erin Brockovich.” I loved the John Hughes tribute. I even love how Ben Stiller dressed like an Avatar and started speaking his own version of the Na’Vi language, which came off more as Hebrew. I liked how they did the “In Memoriam” part this year, but they didn’t really show Patrick Swayze up close for TV viewers, nor did they give him as much time as the others. I like how other actors introduced the best actress and actors even though I would have liked to see more scene work rather than the little snippets at the beginning that were merged together. I only saw two of the nominated movies this year: “Avatar” and “Up.” I thought “Up” had a better chance of taking home the final prize, but I’m glad it got some major awards overall. I want to see all but two of the other nominated films. “District 9” creeped me out from what they showed and I have no interest in seeing “Ingloroius Basterds.” I’m not much for seeing Holocaust films, but I prefer ones like “Life is Beautiful” over the more violent versions of such a tragic situation. I also want to see “Crazy Heart” and “The Princess and the Frog.” “The Messenger” and "A Serious Man" seem interesting too.
Even though the Oscars were 3 ½ hours long, it didn’t drag like it has in the past. At least it felt that way to me. I’m glad they kept things brief and gave more time to show the movies being nominated, pay tribute to a legendary director and allow ample time for each winner to give a reasonably sized speech. I’m already gearing up for next year and hope the movies nominated will be another interesting selection.
When I lived in an apartment in college, I started making chocolate chip cookies to eat that night and it became an annual tradition for me afterward. I start to get really excited in late January/early February when the nominees are announced and that carries over until the actual ceremony. One year, I tried to see all the nominated films before Oscar night. I ended up missing one though. I love watching the actors and actresses walk up the red carpet prior to the ceremony and finding out “who” they are wearing. I love how the host(s) open the ceremony, especially when they find ways to get creative. (I honestly think Neil Patrick Harris should have hosted the whole show this year though.) I love all the special tributes and seeing the nominated movies more in detail. I even love when someone unexpected wins.
Having said all that, I wanted to quickly share my thoughts about this year’s Oscars. I liked Neil Patrick Harris’ musical number. He’s so much fun! It totally made up for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin just talking awkwardly and annoying George Clooney somehow. I liked that “Up” won for best animated feature film and best original score. I liked that Sandra Bullock won for best actress because my husband makes fun of her and “The Blind Side” even though neither of us have seen the movie and it looks really good. She gives off a performance similar to Julia Roberts in “Erin Brockovich.” I loved the John Hughes tribute. I even love how Ben Stiller dressed like an Avatar and started speaking his own version of the Na’Vi language, which came off more as Hebrew. I liked how they did the “In Memoriam” part this year, but they didn’t really show Patrick Swayze up close for TV viewers, nor did they give him as much time as the others. I like how other actors introduced the best actress and actors even though I would have liked to see more scene work rather than the little snippets at the beginning that were merged together. I only saw two of the nominated movies this year: “Avatar” and “Up.” I thought “Up” had a better chance of taking home the final prize, but I’m glad it got some major awards overall. I want to see all but two of the other nominated films. “District 9” creeped me out from what they showed and I have no interest in seeing “Ingloroius Basterds.” I’m not much for seeing Holocaust films, but I prefer ones like “Life is Beautiful” over the more violent versions of such a tragic situation. I also want to see “Crazy Heart” and “The Princess and the Frog.” “The Messenger” and "A Serious Man" seem interesting too.
Even though the Oscars were 3 ½ hours long, it didn’t drag like it has in the past. At least it felt that way to me. I’m glad they kept things brief and gave more time to show the movies being nominated, pay tribute to a legendary director and allow ample time for each winner to give a reasonably sized speech. I’m already gearing up for next year and hope the movies nominated will be another interesting selection.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Keep it Gay....
Ever since I started going to midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” I have taken an interest in gay guys. My first encounter was a crush on one of the guys from the cast I was in. He was the first positive encounter I had with a gay guy around my age. (I knew others who were older and also cool in their own right, but this was more of an actual peer.) Once we were talking on the phone and he said “I love talking to you!” I took that as a major compliment! When the show started moving around theaters and the cast started going their separate ways, I lost track of him. We reunited through Myspace and Facebook. Through his friend list, I was able to reconnect with other friends from cast with whom I had lost touch.
In 1997, I saw “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and was jealous of the relationship Julianne had with George, her gay best friend. I also loved the connection Carrie and Stanford had on “Sex and the City.” And then there was “Will and Grace,” in 1999 which I had heard of but never thought to watch. I didn’t really have any of my own gay best friends (it’s different with my friends who are lesbians, but I don’t want to discredit my friendships with them either). I think some of the guys who were in the V.C. Andrews club (that I founded in 1996) were gay, but I wasn’t hanging out with them in person either. I hung out with one gay guy during the summer of 1998. We connected through an online group about "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" and he came up for Pride weekend to hang out. He was nice but I didn't like his boyfriend much. We fell out of touch shortly after that weekend, but it was fun hanging out with a gay guy even for a short period of time.
Around Halloween in 1999, one of my closest male friends came out to me. I think he was worried about how it would affect our friendship and waited 2 years to tell me. Once he did, it completely took our friendship to a whole new level. I first told him how much I wanted a gay best friend and compared our friendship to “Will and Grace” (which I hadn’t even started watching yet at the time he came out). He was in college one state away, but we hung out at breaks and when he was in town for a weekend. I also went to visit him at school a few times during the following year. His coming out to me was a positive influence on my life. He helped me realize (in ways that my mom never could) that my relationship with my boyfriend at the time was going nowhere. I had more to talk about with him than some of my girlfriends. When he finished up school for the summer, we hung out all the time and went to clubs after he turned 21. We would go to shows together, as well. He was even my date for a wedding that summer. We also went to the Pride parade together with one of his friends (who now lives closer to me, but whom I haven't hung out with yet). We still have a few laughs over Pride weekend that year. I even got him interested in "Too Much Light..." When he left for school that fall, I felt a void and missed him a lot. However, it was good preparation for all the years we’d be living in different states in the future. We still got to hang out during his school breaks. I even went on a road trip to Louisville with him that fall. We still laugh about some of the things that happened during that trip. We have a lot of fun inside jokes like that though.
In the winter of 2000, when I started my second job, I became friends with another gay guy through work. Just to backtrack a little, there was a gay guy at my previous job whom I adored and had fun talking to. We got together outside of work every so often, but usually with our mutual friend (the receptionist I talked about in “Get a Job”). My mom was teasing me that the only guys I seemed to attract were gay, but I didn’t mind. He ended up following me to my company later on, but we lost track of each other after he left. In any case, it was my second week at the new job and there was a formal holiday party coming up that weekend. He and I decided to go together. He came over to my place first to help me get ready (as stereotypes would have it, he was a better dresser than me) and won me over immediately when he put my “Rent” CD on and started lip-syncing to “Take Me or Leave Me.” On the way to the party, he scored more brownie points by putting the “Coyote Ugly” soundtrack into the CD player. After that, we hung out a lot and watched movies and musicals, as well as went to gay clubs on weekends. I was worried that I was replacing my “Will”, but he was more of a “Jack.” He even did the “Jack Face” if I did a good enough job insulting him (all for fun). I introduced him to my “Will” that spring and we all had fun hanging out. They both knew me better than most boyfriends had in the past and bonded by making fun of my quirks. They were doing it out of love, so I didn’t mind. We all went to the Pride Parade together that summer, as well as a lot of gay clubs and other shows. I also got “Jack” interested in “Too Much Light…” (we even went to see it in DC recently). “Will” and “Jack” are the only two who are allowed to tease me about Hume Cronyn (even though it means that I was right about something).
When my husband and I started dating, I made sure that he got to meet both my gay guy friends. The timing worked out well because “Jack” was moving out of state. I stopped watching “Queer as Folk” around that time because it reminded me of him and made me even sadder about him moving. (Oddly enough, his Super Bowl party in 2002 was a catalyst that led to events for me to meet my husband the way I did.) Both guys attended our wedding and came in from out of state for it. “Will” stood up in our wedding and also sang during part of the ceremony and toward the end of the reception. After that point, I still got to see “Will” every so often, but it would be almost 5 years before I got to see “Jack” again. “Will” lived in NJ at this time and my sister and I went to visit him in the fall of 2004. That was a fun weekend. He took us all over NYC. (We were also with one of my close friends who is a lesbian. It was our big gay weekend.) When my husband and I moved to NJ (while he was living in TX and later back in Chicago), he visited us a few times when he was in the area. One time, I met up with him for breakfast in the city. We also saw him on our trips to visit Chicago. He always found a way to make time for us, even if it was only for a few hours.
I finally got to see “Jack” again when I went to DC for the first time in November 2008. It was so great to be able to give him a big hug in person, even though he still knew how to drive me crazy. :) We hung out for a while, but the kids were with us too. We couldn’t really go clubbing. I did get to see his house though! After we moved to MD, we met up with him for breakfast on my older son’s birthday. Then I saw him again when he took me to see “Too Much Light” this past December. I’m hoping to see him again soon. It’s nice to know that he lives close by and I hope to have some “girl” time with him soon. :)
In the meantime, my sister has become close friends with “Will.” They hang out all the time. I’m happy that they are close though. A friend had asked me if I was jealous of their friendship. I haven’t told her this yet, but I did share my answer with “Will.” I just explained that I knew we’d still be friends no matter how many miles were between us or how often we got to hang out. We communicate a lot and we still have a connection that will not be broken over time or distance. I’m happy that he and my sister get to hang out a lot because their friendship makes her happy. I mentioned how we’d hang out more often if I still lived in Chicago, but I made the choices in my life that led me to where I am now. I have no reason to be selfish about whom he hangs out with while I’m living farther away. And if I need my gay men time, “Jack” is nearby, as well as “Will’s” friend (from our first Pride Parade together).
At the Chicago Pride Parade in 2001 with "Will" and "Jack" (from left to right, with me in the middle)
In 1997, I saw “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and was jealous of the relationship Julianne had with George, her gay best friend. I also loved the connection Carrie and Stanford had on “Sex and the City.” And then there was “Will and Grace,” in 1999 which I had heard of but never thought to watch. I didn’t really have any of my own gay best friends (it’s different with my friends who are lesbians, but I don’t want to discredit my friendships with them either). I think some of the guys who were in the V.C. Andrews club (that I founded in 1996) were gay, but I wasn’t hanging out with them in person either. I hung out with one gay guy during the summer of 1998. We connected through an online group about "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" and he came up for Pride weekend to hang out. He was nice but I didn't like his boyfriend much. We fell out of touch shortly after that weekend, but it was fun hanging out with a gay guy even for a short period of time.
Around Halloween in 1999, one of my closest male friends came out to me. I think he was worried about how it would affect our friendship and waited 2 years to tell me. Once he did, it completely took our friendship to a whole new level. I first told him how much I wanted a gay best friend and compared our friendship to “Will and Grace” (which I hadn’t even started watching yet at the time he came out). He was in college one state away, but we hung out at breaks and when he was in town for a weekend. I also went to visit him at school a few times during the following year. His coming out to me was a positive influence on my life. He helped me realize (in ways that my mom never could) that my relationship with my boyfriend at the time was going nowhere. I had more to talk about with him than some of my girlfriends. When he finished up school for the summer, we hung out all the time and went to clubs after he turned 21. We would go to shows together, as well. He was even my date for a wedding that summer. We also went to the Pride parade together with one of his friends (who now lives closer to me, but whom I haven't hung out with yet). We still have a few laughs over Pride weekend that year. I even got him interested in "Too Much Light..." When he left for school that fall, I felt a void and missed him a lot. However, it was good preparation for all the years we’d be living in different states in the future. We still got to hang out during his school breaks. I even went on a road trip to Louisville with him that fall. We still laugh about some of the things that happened during that trip. We have a lot of fun inside jokes like that though.
In the winter of 2000, when I started my second job, I became friends with another gay guy through work. Just to backtrack a little, there was a gay guy at my previous job whom I adored and had fun talking to. We got together outside of work every so often, but usually with our mutual friend (the receptionist I talked about in “Get a Job”). My mom was teasing me that the only guys I seemed to attract were gay, but I didn’t mind. He ended up following me to my company later on, but we lost track of each other after he left. In any case, it was my second week at the new job and there was a formal holiday party coming up that weekend. He and I decided to go together. He came over to my place first to help me get ready (as stereotypes would have it, he was a better dresser than me) and won me over immediately when he put my “Rent” CD on and started lip-syncing to “Take Me or Leave Me.” On the way to the party, he scored more brownie points by putting the “Coyote Ugly” soundtrack into the CD player. After that, we hung out a lot and watched movies and musicals, as well as went to gay clubs on weekends. I was worried that I was replacing my “Will”, but he was more of a “Jack.” He even did the “Jack Face” if I did a good enough job insulting him (all for fun). I introduced him to my “Will” that spring and we all had fun hanging out. They both knew me better than most boyfriends had in the past and bonded by making fun of my quirks. They were doing it out of love, so I didn’t mind. We all went to the Pride Parade together that summer, as well as a lot of gay clubs and other shows. I also got “Jack” interested in “Too Much Light…” (we even went to see it in DC recently). “Will” and “Jack” are the only two who are allowed to tease me about Hume Cronyn (even though it means that I was right about something).
When my husband and I started dating, I made sure that he got to meet both my gay guy friends. The timing worked out well because “Jack” was moving out of state. I stopped watching “Queer as Folk” around that time because it reminded me of him and made me even sadder about him moving. (Oddly enough, his Super Bowl party in 2002 was a catalyst that led to events for me to meet my husband the way I did.) Both guys attended our wedding and came in from out of state for it. “Will” stood up in our wedding and also sang during part of the ceremony and toward the end of the reception. After that point, I still got to see “Will” every so often, but it would be almost 5 years before I got to see “Jack” again. “Will” lived in NJ at this time and my sister and I went to visit him in the fall of 2004. That was a fun weekend. He took us all over NYC. (We were also with one of my close friends who is a lesbian. It was our big gay weekend.) When my husband and I moved to NJ (while he was living in TX and later back in Chicago), he visited us a few times when he was in the area. One time, I met up with him for breakfast in the city. We also saw him on our trips to visit Chicago. He always found a way to make time for us, even if it was only for a few hours.
I finally got to see “Jack” again when I went to DC for the first time in November 2008. It was so great to be able to give him a big hug in person, even though he still knew how to drive me crazy. :) We hung out for a while, but the kids were with us too. We couldn’t really go clubbing. I did get to see his house though! After we moved to MD, we met up with him for breakfast on my older son’s birthday. Then I saw him again when he took me to see “Too Much Light” this past December. I’m hoping to see him again soon. It’s nice to know that he lives close by and I hope to have some “girl” time with him soon. :)
In the meantime, my sister has become close friends with “Will.” They hang out all the time. I’m happy that they are close though. A friend had asked me if I was jealous of their friendship. I haven’t told her this yet, but I did share my answer with “Will.” I just explained that I knew we’d still be friends no matter how many miles were between us or how often we got to hang out. We communicate a lot and we still have a connection that will not be broken over time or distance. I’m happy that he and my sister get to hang out a lot because their friendship makes her happy. I mentioned how we’d hang out more often if I still lived in Chicago, but I made the choices in my life that led me to where I am now. I have no reason to be selfish about whom he hangs out with while I’m living farther away. And if I need my gay men time, “Jack” is nearby, as well as “Will’s” friend (from our first Pride Parade together).
At the Chicago Pride Parade in 2001 with "Will" and "Jack" (from left to right, with me in the middle)
We are Family!
I have a few friends who knit and blog and we've decided to embark on a blog project that has nothing to do with knitting. We're going to take turns coming up with a topic every Thursday and we each have to blog about it by the end of that day and post links to each other's blogs so that people can see our different perspectives on the same topic.
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week’s topic comes from Charmingly Random:
Tell me how you were raised - are there any lessons that your parent(s) taught you that you didn't appreciate when you were younger, but understand now that you're an adult?
Here goes:
This topic was very interesting food for thought on which to chew.
I like how I was raised. I can’t say that things were perfect from every angle. (My mom and I got in some huge fights every so often, but who doesn’t fight with their parents?) However, I liked that my parents cared and were involved in both my sister’s and my lives. We did a lot of things as a family: vacations, dinners out, seeing musicals, going to movies a lot, getting haircuts, being dragged on every errand whether we liked it or not, spending time with extended family, etc. When we were younger, we used to always have meals with my parents around the kitchen table. When our dad got home, we’d ask him if he found anyone a job (he was a recruiter). Then we’d sit down to a home-cooked meal. When my sister and I were involved with after-school activities, our parents could always be counted on for rides home from school. While they paid for a lot of things for us, they also encouraged us to get jobs and made sure we would become responsible adults before they sent us off to college.
When I took interest in a TV show, my mom would take interest too and we’d joke around about stuff that happened on the show. (Such as “Steeempy, you eeediot!”) When my sister and I became close friends with someone, my parents would practically adopt them as a family member (only if they liked them too). When we were involved with our different extracurricular interests, they would come to our competitions or shows. They visited us both in college and sent care packages a lot. There was a funny instance at overnight camp when my sister and I realized that they wrote us the same letter. We joked about it later. Our dad spent countless hours teaching us how to drive and hiring teachers for extra lessons outside of school until we got it right. He also took us for our licenses. Our parents spent a fortune on orthodontist visits so that we could both have nice looking teeth. They helped us with many of our school projects even when we told them about them at the last minute. (My dad mentioned my grandpa doing the same thing for him as a kid, as well.) If we had trouble with a subject in school, they worked with us until we understood it, even if it meant getting tutoring services.
Since my dad lived in a female dominated household, he went with the flow and bonded with us in his own ways, whether it was through Indian Princesses or “date” nights at our favorite Chinese restaurant. His favorite motto was “Dad can fix anything.” He taught this to us from day one. I would still call him when I was living on my own and something went wrong in my condo. He and I rarely ever fought, even when we disagreed. When I was a kid, I would go to watch him bowl on his league night. He and his bowling teammates would teach me hand symbols for strikes, spares and gutter balls. Later, I got into bowling for myself and we competed as a team once. Eventually, I went to watch him bowl for his league again when he and my husband were on the same team.
My mom took us to the mall all the time and was our fashion consultant until we were old enough to shop by ourselves. Even when we butted heads, we still were able to have heart-to-heart discussions. She spent a lot of time teaching us how to cook, which is why I love baking so much. She was the room mother for various parties when I was in elementary school. I think she also gave me the reading “bug.” She and I still love reading and we always recommend books to each other. I think our book tastes are even more similar now. She was the one (along with my sister) who helped me pick out my wedding dress. She also took over as "bridezilla" so I didn't have to be one. We had our disagreements in regard to some things about the wedding, but it all worked out in the end.
I never felt the need to drink (even after I turned 21, I kept it to a minimum), smoke or do drugs. I could attribute this to being raised with good values or just being picky enough about smells and tastes to not want to forage that path. The most rebellious thing I did, if you can even call it that, was participate in midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (which they even supported once they knew how passionate I was about it).
I don’t know what “lesson” I’ve really learned from all this. Maybe just about what it takes to be a good parent and stay involved in my kids’ lives. I already feel like I am doing that. Especially with my older son who has hearing loss…people always tell me what a difference my involvement has made for him, in a good way. I love teaching them how to cook, getting together with extended family, going out for meals together, reading with them, taking my older son to movies, being a room mother (even though it done differently now), playing skeeball or going bowling, shopping for their clothes, helping with "homework," teaching them about responsibility (in the simplest form possible for their age level), etc. We’re always guaranteed a special meal at home together every Friday night, but we make sure to sit and eat with them at dinnertime during the week, as well. Now that they’re getting bigger, they can communicate with us, which makes it even nicer.
My parents are also involved in my kids' lives, just like how our grandparents were involved in our lives (my sister's and mine, that is). They always have toys for them at their house and they visit whenever possible. They send care packages on occasion. They love spending time with the kids. They always call to see how they're doing. Now that we talk on Skype, they're even more connected despite the miles between us.
Overall, I am thankful to my parents for being involved in my life (while also allowing me to be independent) and I have a lot of good memories of our fun times together.
Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.
Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness
This week’s topic comes from Charmingly Random:
Tell me how you were raised - are there any lessons that your parent(s) taught you that you didn't appreciate when you were younger, but understand now that you're an adult?
Here goes:
This topic was very interesting food for thought on which to chew.
I like how I was raised. I can’t say that things were perfect from every angle. (My mom and I got in some huge fights every so often, but who doesn’t fight with their parents?) However, I liked that my parents cared and were involved in both my sister’s and my lives. We did a lot of things as a family: vacations, dinners out, seeing musicals, going to movies a lot, getting haircuts, being dragged on every errand whether we liked it or not, spending time with extended family, etc. When we were younger, we used to always have meals with my parents around the kitchen table. When our dad got home, we’d ask him if he found anyone a job (he was a recruiter). Then we’d sit down to a home-cooked meal. When my sister and I were involved with after-school activities, our parents could always be counted on for rides home from school. While they paid for a lot of things for us, they also encouraged us to get jobs and made sure we would become responsible adults before they sent us off to college.
When I took interest in a TV show, my mom would take interest too and we’d joke around about stuff that happened on the show. (Such as “Steeempy, you eeediot!”) When my sister and I became close friends with someone, my parents would practically adopt them as a family member (only if they liked them too). When we were involved with our different extracurricular interests, they would come to our competitions or shows. They visited us both in college and sent care packages a lot. There was a funny instance at overnight camp when my sister and I realized that they wrote us the same letter. We joked about it later. Our dad spent countless hours teaching us how to drive and hiring teachers for extra lessons outside of school until we got it right. He also took us for our licenses. Our parents spent a fortune on orthodontist visits so that we could both have nice looking teeth. They helped us with many of our school projects even when we told them about them at the last minute. (My dad mentioned my grandpa doing the same thing for him as a kid, as well.) If we had trouble with a subject in school, they worked with us until we understood it, even if it meant getting tutoring services.
Since my dad lived in a female dominated household, he went with the flow and bonded with us in his own ways, whether it was through Indian Princesses or “date” nights at our favorite Chinese restaurant. His favorite motto was “Dad can fix anything.” He taught this to us from day one. I would still call him when I was living on my own and something went wrong in my condo. He and I rarely ever fought, even when we disagreed. When I was a kid, I would go to watch him bowl on his league night. He and his bowling teammates would teach me hand symbols for strikes, spares and gutter balls. Later, I got into bowling for myself and we competed as a team once. Eventually, I went to watch him bowl for his league again when he and my husband were on the same team.
My mom took us to the mall all the time and was our fashion consultant until we were old enough to shop by ourselves. Even when we butted heads, we still were able to have heart-to-heart discussions. She spent a lot of time teaching us how to cook, which is why I love baking so much. She was the room mother for various parties when I was in elementary school. I think she also gave me the reading “bug.” She and I still love reading and we always recommend books to each other. I think our book tastes are even more similar now. She was the one (along with my sister) who helped me pick out my wedding dress. She also took over as "bridezilla" so I didn't have to be one. We had our disagreements in regard to some things about the wedding, but it all worked out in the end.
I never felt the need to drink (even after I turned 21, I kept it to a minimum), smoke or do drugs. I could attribute this to being raised with good values or just being picky enough about smells and tastes to not want to forage that path. The most rebellious thing I did, if you can even call it that, was participate in midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (which they even supported once they knew how passionate I was about it).
I don’t know what “lesson” I’ve really learned from all this. Maybe just about what it takes to be a good parent and stay involved in my kids’ lives. I already feel like I am doing that. Especially with my older son who has hearing loss…people always tell me what a difference my involvement has made for him, in a good way. I love teaching them how to cook, getting together with extended family, going out for meals together, reading with them, taking my older son to movies, being a room mother (even though it done differently now), playing skeeball or going bowling, shopping for their clothes, helping with "homework," teaching them about responsibility (in the simplest form possible for their age level), etc. We’re always guaranteed a special meal at home together every Friday night, but we make sure to sit and eat with them at dinnertime during the week, as well. Now that they’re getting bigger, they can communicate with us, which makes it even nicer.
My parents are also involved in my kids' lives, just like how our grandparents were involved in our lives (my sister's and mine, that is). They always have toys for them at their house and they visit whenever possible. They send care packages on occasion. They love spending time with the kids. They always call to see how they're doing. Now that we talk on Skype, they're even more connected despite the miles between us.
Overall, I am thankful to my parents for being involved in my life (while also allowing me to be independent) and I have a lot of good memories of our fun times together.
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