Nostalgia strikes again!

Today's Daily Challenge sounded like fun:
Share 3 small things that made you happy when you were a child or teenager.

The first thing is playing Barbies with my sister. We would spend hours in our basement making up a little world for our Barbie and Ken dolls. Their lives became a TV drama of sorts (think "Desperate Housewives"). We had good and evil dolls. If a doll got ruined, they "died" and were buried in the garbage can. We had a hair salon where we would dye their hair with markers. The sink in our basement kitchenette was their jacuzzi tub. The jukebox became a dance club. We also liked to make clothes for them from material scraps we got from our mom's dressmaker. We had such a blast and would even forget to come upstairs for dinner.

Next is drawing. I loved to draw pictures of people at different locations. I had a big drawing pad on my desk and would draw all sorts of details on the large sheets of paper. I even would draw in my notebooks in school if I got bored. When I was in high school, a pen pal introduced me to abstract art. I started drawing different lines and shapes and then coloring them in. Was I good at it? Doubtful. However, I found it relaxing. I even liked coloring in coloring books as a teenager. I found that calming and enjoyable, as well.

Finally, I want to share my love for Disney movies. This is focused on the animated musicals from the early to mid-90's. It started with "The Little Mermaid." I saw it the summer before freshman year of high school. Then I brought the soundtrack with me to overnight camp and listened to it a lot. When I first saw "Beauty and the Beast" in the winter of 1991-1992, I fell in love with the story and music. I saw it twice more in the theater. I even bought a book of the music to learn for voice lessons. The same thing happened when "Aladdin" came out the following winter. Except instead of buying a music book, I choreographed a dance to "A Whole New World" (with a male partner, no less). When "The Lion King" came to theaters after I graduated high school, I couldn't get enough of it and saw it even more than the usual three times. I listened to the music all the time, as well. Encouraging my love for Disney was my cousin who worked for Disney records and gave me free soundtracks. I even made a whole mix tape for Homecoming week when the theme was Disney. I made myself a copy too so I could listen in my car. Disney movies and music definitely cured my teenage angst.

Nowadays, my older son likes to draw and both my sons like watching Disney movies. I just hope my daughter will enjoy playing with Barbies so that they all can carry on some things I enjoyed from my youth.

Just like Sally....

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, Froggie picked the topic: In the Glee episode "Born This Way" the Glee Club is told to put a quality they see in themselves as a flaw on a t-shirt. This is done as a way for them to embrace this particular flaw. What I want to know is what would your t-shirt say?

(Side note: In our previous blog project, Froggie and I had to write about our flaws in a different way. This is what I wrote. However, I chose something completely different than anything in this previous post.)

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:

Froggie

Mom of Many

Moma Rock

This really says it all...



However, I will elaborate a bit. My shirt would say "Picky Eater." Around the time the t-shirt episode of "Glee" came on, I had read an article about how picky eating can be bad for one's health. However, they gave pretty extreme examples. I may be picky, but I hate to think that I was as bad as anyone in the article.

I really started out quite open minded. Then I began to develop taste buds. :P I used to like apple juice, cheese (by itself), and scrambled eggs. After a while, I lost my taste for all three. I also found a lot of things to be completely gross. My mom tried to give me fish (she even disguised salmon as burgers, but the taste was "off"). I hated it and haven't been able to eat it since! My rule is that "if it lived in the sea, it won't go in me." I am anti-seafood altogether. The smell alone is enough to put me off of it. Last summer, I was eating chicken nuggets at shul and my husband told me they were actually fish. Aside from the fact that I was pregnant and already sick all the time, this was just the icing on the cake. I got that fish out of my body as fast as it went in. (And if he was lying to me, then some chicken nuggets went to waste...not that they wouldn't have anyway with how sick I was at the time.) I can tell this story but I get upset if my husband tells it for me. Same for if my parents tell about the time they tricked me into eating clam chowder. (They would so get in trouble for that one now, as clams aren't Kosher.) My husband also likes to tease me about my food-hate-trifecta of fish, peaches and raspberries. However, my picky eating habits extend well beyond those three items which I detest!

Other things I will not eat:

*Cheese, unless it is melted on something. Melted cheese, good. Cheese by itself, bad. I'm picky about what cheeses I'll eat. And cottage cheese is at the top of my forbidden list. Along with that, I don't drink milk or eat yogurt. So I get calcium from melted cheese, ice cream and orange juice infused with it.

*Fruits and veggies: Avocado, tomato, coconut, mushrooms, pears, plums, peaches, raspberries, cantaloupe, red grapes (i like 'em green), eggplant (thanks to pregnancy number one), broccoli (unless it's baked into something), peppers, pineapple, cherries (except in pie)

*Meats: Duck, lamb, veal

*Other things: Oatmeal (except in cookie form), sushi (even if not containing fish), Mexican food (except fajitas and those can only have meat and onions), anything spicy, chocolate covered nuts, beer, coffee, mustard (I know what "Will" has to say about this), mayo

My list was a lot longer in the past, but thanks to my job at the Chinese restaurant and my husband's wonderful cooking, I've become more open to trying new foods and eliminated a lot from my previous list of untouchable foods. Being a picky eater did make it easier to keep Kosher though! I never had to give up shellfish and pork products because I never liked them to begin with. Same goes for meat covered pizza (except the chicken pizzas at CPK).

I do worry about how I've passed on the picky gene to my older son and now I am playing sneaky chef so he'll get some veggies in his system. I feel bad that I have to do it at all, but I worry about his pickiness impacting his health. I'm even trying to give incentives for trying new foods and showing him how I try foods too.

Needless to say, if you ever see me ordering at a restaurant, you can just call me Sally, as I order the same way she does!

Sign of the times (somewhat literally)

Last year, I did a blog project post about theme songs, in which I discussed "Right Back Where We Started From" by Maxine Nightingale. This afternoon, while getting ice cream, I heard that song. However, it had a different meaning for me this time around. That is because we had just received results from our daughter's ABR (a specialized hearing test). It turns out that just like her older brother, she also has hearing loss. We already started getting on the ball with taking the next steps. We had her fitted for ear molds so that she can get loaner hearing aids for the time being. We're also working on the steps for cochlear implant candidacy. This time around, it was not as difficult for me to digest the news. And I had a feeling of deja vu, based on what we went through with our older son. We also got him hearing aids right away and then started the speech therapy process. All of our hard work was well worth it, as we found out this morning at his IEP meeting. That was the first buffer for us. The next was the fact that we know so many people with hearing loss now. There are some great role models for her, including our son. Recently, I met a woman online who wrote a book about her own experiences with hearing loss and cochlear implants. I wish I had met her the first time around, but I'm glad I've been getting to know her now. It's nice to have insight about cochlear implants that my son is not able to provide just yet.

Hearing my "theme song" made me think of how we have to start the process of getting assistive devices, hearing tests and speech therapy all over again from the beginning. This time it won't be as scary though. We picked a great place to live with a huge support system, great school and one of the best cochlear implant surgeons in the country. She's very lucky to be born to us because we'll do whatever it takes to get her access to sounds and enable her to communicate. Some parents opt out of being involved with their kids' journey on this road. We are completely hands (and voices) on though.

So much schmutz!

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, Mom of Many (MOM, oddly enough) picked the topic: With a nod to Mothers Day, what was the best advice you ever got from your mom?

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:

Froggie

Mom of Many

Moma Rock

When I was living under my parents' roof, my mom had a famous saying: "Clean your room, the cleaning lady's coming." As a kid, I thought this phrase was ridiculous. Why should I have to do the cleaning lady's job? I later found out that my friends' moms also used this saying. I figured they must have picked it up in Jewish Mom 101. Then I moved out and didn't have the funds to justify hiring a cleaning lady to come over on a bi-weekly basis. When that finally changed, and I was able to have someone come on a monthly basis, I found myself repeating this famous saying to my kids.

The underlying message was that I should always try to keep and appreciate a clean home. I didn't think about this when my mom was vacuuming while I was watching my favorite TV show. Or when she'd chase me with a dust buster, Danny Tanner style. She would even fight with me about how I kept my apartment so darn messy! I was the one living there, not her. And I was neater than some people I knew.

I really do want my house to be clean. Somewhere between two boys and a new baby, a clean house no longer became a priority. Sure, we still have a cleaning lady over. However, the moment she leaves, one crumb can set off a whole domino effect. Last year, I tried this FlyLady program and it worked for a little while. Then I lost interest when I got pregnant and was too sick to expend much energy on cleaning. Our sitter would help straighten up from time to time, which I appreciated. There was a weekend this past winter that I cleaned the entire basement. Then my boys had friends over and my work was in vain. I gave up after that and put the onus on them to clean up after themselves and make their friends clean up too. It's still a disaster. I can't even look down there! My mom would be in that basement with a vacuum cleaner and boxes to organize things. She would never let my sister and I keep our basement that messy when we were kids. It's not that I don't care, I just don't have the patience to clean it right now.

This week, I decided to give my older son an allowance for helping me around the house. Our first task was folding, sorting and putting away laundry. He complained, of course, until he saw that shiny quarter. I also told him that I had twice as much work as he did when it came to cleaning. I hope this will teach him not to make a mess in the first place, but one can only hope. I'm no better, as I need to find a way to get organized instead of tossing papers everywhere. I'm such a pack rat sometimes. I do wish I carried my mom's "clean gene" sometimes. Maybe it would make me more inclined to keep the house in better shape between visits from the cleaning lady. It's not that I don't want a clean house. It's just that I don't know where to start sometimes. I hope that as the kids get bigger, I can find ways to keep the house cleaner. All I know is that there's nothing like coming home after the cleaning lady has been in our house. The smell of cleaning products combined with the shine coming off of the floors and windows make me savor having a clean house, even if it's only for half a day.

Are you going to San Francisco?

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, I picked the topic: If you could travel back in time to meet a past celebrity crush, what time period would you travel to and who would you meet? Describe how you would meet them and share something you would say to them.

(I was inspired by "I Love the 80's" by Megan Crane.)

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:

Froggie

Mom of Many

Moma Rock

If you know me pretty well, I'm guessing you would say I'd pick one of the following three celebrity crushes: Michael J. Fox, Patrick Swayze or Joey McIntyre. Well, you'd be wrong. I did meet Joey in 2004 but it was disappointing that he didn't care to acknowledge that he's a New Kid on the Block. (I would also get arrested if I went back as my 34 year-old self to hit on a 16 year-old Joey in 1989.) As for the other two, I don't know what I'd say to them after seeing what has happened in their lives.

If you know me really well, then you know that my all-time favorite TV show is "Full House." And it should be a given that I have the hots for John Stamos as Jesse. Not for John Stamos now, even though he was quite sexy on "Glee." Back in the 80's and 90's, I would melt whenever I saw him on "Full House." I even wrote a song parody called "Uncle Jesse's Girl." I wish I had saved the lyrics to it. It was pretty clever. I did it as an homage to that David Duchovny song (he's another crush of mine, by the way). It broke my heart whenever there was a sad episode and he'd be crying. I wanted to go all the way to San Francisco just to hug him.

Anyway, I decided that I would go back to 1988 and get a part on "Full House" as my adult self and Jesse would fall madly in love with my character, negating the need for him to ever get with Rebecca "Becky" Donaldson. (Maybe Becky could hook up with Danny instead!) That way, I'd get a lot of on-screen kissing time with him and I'd be a regular for the rest of the series. It would be a cool way to not only be with my crush, but also be on my favorite TV series. I'd thank Bob Saget in advance for being the voice on one of my current favorite shows and reassure him that his career does not end at "Full House" (although he could do without "America's Funniest Home Videos.") I'd help Candace and Jodie with their teen angst. I'd tell Dave not to sleep with Alanis Morissette so he wouldn't be the butt of ugly rumors that "You Oughta Know" was about him. I would even give the Olsen twins tips on not letting Hollywood get to their head. Finally, and most importantly, I'd tell John not to marry the other Rebecca in his life (Rebecca Romijn, that is). That ended badly and he could probably still be married to someone better suited for him. (Not me, since I have found my one and only, but someone who "gets" him. I just want to be his on screen lover.)

That's my time travel fantasy and I'm sticking to it. :)

Have Mercy!

All I have to do is dream

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, Moma Rock picked the topic: What would your dream job be? It can be anything (or one that you already have)... the sky's the limit!

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:

Froggie

Mom of Many

Moma Rock

Originally, I would have said that I want to star on Broadway, but I don't want to live in or near New York, so that kind of makes such a dream rather difficult. After writing my "legendary" post, I realized that I now have a different dream job.

Wait for it...

Professional Reader!

Yes, I would want a job where I could be paid to do what I love best...read. The catch would be that I'd get to choose all the books and the reading venue. "Supplies" would be covered in full and beverages at Starbucks would be expensed. (It's my dream job, so why not?) I would review every book, but that's par for the course. I'd get commission on all books sold based on my review (there'd be a way to track this in my dream job world). I would never be made to feel like this was a "job" per se, but more like something enjoyable and relaxing that still brought in a decent salary. The next best thing would be getting paid to eat ice cream, but it would have to be a magical calorie-free ice cream or I'd ask for a health club membership to go along with it. (I read while I work out anyway.)

Realistically speaking though, it would be cool to have a job in the book business. I'd love to be an editor or book publicist. I'd also love even more to be an author, but I need to get the motivation going to write again. It's been too long!

Therefore, professional reader it is! (Til' that happens, I still plan to read for fun.)

No small sacrifice

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, Froggie picked the topic: You have to give up something up for 30 days, what would you give up and how do you think giving that up will change your life? (Or, have you given up something for a period of time - what was your experience like?)

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:

Froggie

Mom of Many

Moma Rock

I've decided to go with the alternative option in this set of questions, as I am already used to giving up things for long periods of time. I have found something positive from the things I will be discussing today.

The Meat We Eat (or Don't Eat)

In 2003, I decided to start keeping Kosher. This was something my (soon-to-be) husband and I agreed upon prior to starting the next step in our life together. We wanted to take it in small steps, as it would be less overwhelming and eventually easier to stick with. The first step that summer was to stop eating meat and dairy together. We even set a time of three hours between eating meat and dairy separately, if we ate the meat item first. This meant no more cheeseburgers or chicken parmigiana. Thai chicken pizza was out of the question, as well. If we wanted dessert right after we ate meat, we would have something pareve (dairy-free). We continued to increase the time between meat and dairy every year until we reached our limit of six hours.

Along with this change in our diet, we started cutting out the non-Kosher meat, as well. My husband stopped eating all of it (beef and poultry) before I did. I took smaller steps, first by giving up beef in 2006, on our three year "Kosher anniversary" (the day we started keeping Kosher) and then poultry in 2007 (at the same time the following year). I will admit that this was a hard change, as I still miss some items from my non-Kosher meat days. The things I miss the most are Wendy's cheeseburgers, breaded chicken croissant sandwiches from Portillo's, chicken garlic lo mein from Yen Yen and prime rib from Wildfire, just to name a few. Since my parents are so kind as to get Kosher meat for us when we come to town, I don't have to miss their cooking, thankfully. My husband makes delicious chicken marsala, sweet and sour chicken, hamburgers and ribs. If he can perfectly replicate soup from Journey's End, I have faith that he'll one day be able to make the chicken garlic lo mein we used to love so much. I feel so much better about eating only Kosher meat now, as the process for obtaining the meat in the first place (to put it nicely) is more humane and everything is blood-free. It's so much healthier in general. And after hearing what went on in a documentary called "Food," I don't regret giving up non-Kosher meat at all.

50 First (and Last) Kisses

There is a halachic ritual called taharat hamishpachot (family purity), which involves a married couple becoming physically separated during the time of a woman's cycle and for an extra week beyond, until the woman goes to the mikvah (ritual bath). To keep it clean here, they basically can't so much as hold hands or pass each other items during this time. When a woman has a baby, the time of separation is a lot longer.

I have been participating in this ritual since marriage. Just like with kashrut, I started off in baby steps. I even took private classes to learn more about it. (I'm still friends with my teacher.) Just like with giving up non-Kosher meat, this is also difficult at times. It was the hardest after my first son's birth, as I was super emotional and just wanted to hug my husband and knew I couldn't. However, it got easier over time. The six weeks off made a normal two weeks off seem like a breeze in comparison. We also had to rely on verbal communication the entire time. We tend to make each other laugh more when we can't touch each other at all. It's nice to know that we never run out of stuff to say to one another and it has strengthened our bonds of communication that much more. The other difficult thing is planning a vacation around my cycle, especially if other things don't fall into place or if my cycle decides to start early. We were fortunate when we went to Vegas that my cycle was on schedule. However, I was all worried that it was going to start early anyway. (A vacation alone would totally suck if we couldn't so much as kiss or share a bed.) There were other times when this became a difficulty, as well. Maybe it's also the reason we don't go on vacation much, but it wouldn't stop us from doing something special for our kids.

When it comes to mikvah night, the first kiss after I return home is like the first kiss ever (minus the awkwardness). So imagine coming home once a month to a first kiss. That adds up over time and it makes the whole separation experience worthwhile, as well. The experience of going to the mikvah is also very special. The mikvah lady makes every woman feel like a queen. I feel so rejuvenated after I've dipped. I also use the time in the mikvah to pray for everyone and everything that is important to me.

Over time, the physical separation has bothered me less than it did in the beginning. I know that it is making our marriage even stronger and I also appreciate that I get some "me time" out of the deal. In the past, we used to take turns between sleeping in the bed or sleeping on an air mattress. When we moved to Maryland, we got separate twin beds (that can be joined when we're able to sleep in the same bed again). I think this also helps me feel better about the separation time, as the air mattress tended to be uncomfortable. In the meantime, I still get kisses and hugs from my kids and thankfully they don't question why my husband and I don't kiss or touch when we're not allowed to. (When we are allowed to, they tease us for kissing too much.) This ritual allows us to cherish the time we do get to be together in the physical sense. Every kiss could be the last for a while, so we make the most of it.

As you can see, I am experienced with giving things up for extended periods of time. While both have had their challenges, they've also had many rewards that outweighed the challenges altogether. I've now gone almost two months without touching my husband since our daughter was born. However, cuddling with her also makes the reason why we aren't touching just as special and meaningful. I'd gladly challenge any married couple who hasn't tried or experienced family purity to give up all physical contact for at least a week, just to see what the experience is truly like. I have a feeling they might be pleasantly surprised.