life as orieyenta

Grandma Moy

2012-02-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my Grandmother, Moy Lee.

She was the original Orieyenta.

She was quite a character and I am quite certain there will never be another one like her.

Chag Sukkot Sameach

2011-10-16T17:07:00.003-04:00

Chag Sukkot Sameach from our sukkah to yours!

Popping in to wish all L'Shanah Tovah

2011-09-14T09:48:00.001-04:00

As I took the annual Rosh Hashanah pictures for our cards, one thing came to mind...this kid is growing up too darn fast.

Take a look...2008, 2007, 2006.

Oh and for those missing blog years....

2009

2010

Wishing you and your families a happy, healthy and sweet new year.

Chag Oorim Sameach

2010-11-30T12:10:00.003-05:00

Wishing you and your family a season full of light and miracles. Happy Chanukah.

A quick hello

2010-11-22T08:17:00.005-05:00

Wow - I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since my last post. Thought I'd come out of hiding to say hello. Lots of stuff has happened but the most exciting news has got to be that LO became a Bat Mitzvah in August. Time keeps flying by.

Hope this finds all of you out there in the blogosphere well and happy.

Christmas Decorations

2008-12-09T11:37:00.005-05:00

PHD's mom lives in an independent living facility. They just finished decorating the facility for the holidays. We walked in to visit her and were immediately looking at an enormous Christmas tree with these golden reindeer on the side. LO ran over to them, turned around to look at me and wide-eyed she said, "Oh my gosh - not only do they have a Christmas tree but they are worshipping the golden calves too!" Oy - only my kid could have come up with that.

Woody Allen Shabbat

2008-11-08T23:17:00.004-05:00

I can only describe this past Shabbat as feeling like we had walked into a Woody Allen movie. Our Rabbi is in Israel for the month and so we decided to do a little shul hopping. For our first Shabbat away from our own shul, we chose to go to the shul of the other Rabbi who performed our wedding service.

We had just walked through the door and I turn as I can hear someone coming in behind me. Who is it? Why it's my therapist of course. It was surprise to see her there and it felt a little odd, but we took it in stride - we did the formal introductions of our respective spouses and then I didn't speak to her the rest of the evening.

Then we head towards the sanctuary and a woman enters and PHD whispers to me, "That's M". M was PHD's girlfriend many years ago. They dated for over 7 years but obviously things didn't work out. She came over to us and said congratulations on the wedding and we exchanged pleasantries and she went on her way - or so I thought. She actually spent the entire service giving me a dirty look. Talk about feeling uncomfortable.

All I could think to myself was, "What next?" I shouldn't have thought that. Next was my physician. The one I have been avoiding because I have physician-phobia.

So let's re-cap...
1) My therapist
2) PHD's ex-girlfriend
3) My physician
4) The Rabbi who performed our marriage and did our pre-marital counseling

How much more Woody Allen could it have been? I guess that will teach us to leave the comfort of our own shul!

Long voting lines = absentee ballot for me

2008-10-30T08:38:00.003-04:00

After several attempts to vote early, I finally gave up on the long lines. I am of the opinion that waiting 3 to 4 hours to vote is ludicrous. (BTW Kendall, the area mentioned in the article, happens to be the suburb of Miami that we live in.) I don't think Florida will ever be able to shake the whole voting nightmare thing. And I wonder if my absentee ballot will end up being a part of another voting nightmare...only time will tell.

And if you are wondering who I voted for...all I will say is that I stand with Israel.

Couldn't you just eat her?

2008-10-27T12:14:00.004-04:00

I visited with my sister this weekend and got to see my new niece...isn't she the cutest thing? She almost makes me want to adopt another...I said almost! (Cause you know LO would never stand for that!)

My little lulav shaker

2008-10-23T09:09:00.004-04:00

Whew! We made it through the chagim! Here's a picture of LO at Hebrew School - that poor lulav had to endure a whole slew of kids shaking it like CRAZY. I was sure we would be looking at an un-kosher etrog before it was all over but miraculously the pitom survived!

Hectic Holidays

2008-10-08T09:09:00.004-04:00

As I am sure they are for most, the holidays have been pretty hectic for us. We didn't help any by having our honeymoon end erev Rosh Hashanah. Thankfully we had many offers for meals and Rosh Hashanah seemed to take care of itself for us. We've been invited for a pre-fast dinner and a break fast so that is all taken care of. (Never mind that I never remember to wean off the coffee and diet coke or that I can't seem to find a CLEAN white shirt anywhere.)

And just when we thought everything was taken care of...we got a lovely surprise yesterday by the early arrival of some relatives from Israel. They are staying in West Palm Beach which is about 100 miles north of us, so I had to find last minute Yom Kippur seats for them. Remember when LO went to Chabad on her own? Well her connections there helped me find seats for the family within a few e-mails and phone calls. Yay for LO and the Chabad! (And special thanks to the Rebbetzin at the Jupiter Chabad and the Rabbi at the West Palm Beach Chabad for their help!)

As our Rabbi always says, "It's all good."

G'mar Chatima Tovah - wishing you all a peaceful, easy and meaningful fast.

My Bat Mitzvah Lladro

2008-10-07T12:37:00.005-04:00

PHD and I were walking through Macy's the other day and we saw that they were having an event where you could get your Lladro pieces signed by Rosa Lladro. We laughed as we both agreed that people that spent money on these things were meshugganah. And besides we both said, "They're kind of ugly". However, many years ago, PHD was in Spain and a friend of his asked him to buy a Lladro chuppah. (I have yet to find a picture of this on line.) PHD said it was lovely and he wanted to show it to me. We walked through the Lladro section and couldn't find it and so we looked through the catalog. We never did find it but instead we came across this. "Oh my gosh!" I marveled. "She has black hair and she looks Asian!" Can you guess what happened next?

(If you guessed that PHD bought the figurine for LO, you were right. We left the store shocked...did we just spend hundreds of dollars for a piece of porcelain for a bat mitzvah gift for LO who won't be a bat mitzvah for TWO YEARS?)

L'Shanah Tovah

2008-09-29T10:32:00.005-04:00

We just got back from our honeymoon and are rushing to get everything done before the chag. But quickly, I wanted to write a quick post to all of you...

For those of you who's address we don't have...this is the picture we sent with our Rosh Hashanah cards this year. You can see previous years' pictures here and here (geez is she growing up fast!)

Wishing you and your families L'Shanah Tovah. May the year bring us all good health, love, and happiness.

Wedding Day - Part Two

2008-09-18T10:25:00.006-04:00

PHD's 93-year old Mom accompanied him to the chuppah. I loved the look on her face all day as she was simply kvelling the entire time.

My Dad and LO escorted me to the chuppah while our Cantor sang (so beautifully). When we reached the chuppah, LO and I started to circle PHD. I don't know what goes on with other brides when they are doing this, but from fasting - I got dizzy! (Plus - how come no one told me how hard it is to navigate with a veil on?) So...I am guessing I looked a little drunk on the last few circles (the videotape will soon tell). PHD didn't help - he keep giggling and saying silly things. Best of all...on the 5th circle, LO said loud enough for all to hear, "How much longer do we have to do this?" Everyone (including myself) couldn't help but laugh. It was so sweet to have LO circle with me and so perfect that her little personality came right out during it all.

Rabbi D started the service. He is our Rabbi and the more traditional of the two and did most of the Hebrew. Rabbi M's job was to explain what was going on in English to those not familiar with a Jewish wedding (and that would be my Chinese gentile family members!).

Rabbi D did the kiddushin and PHD must have been nervous because he almost drank all the wine in the cup! Next we exchanged rings. (At this point LO looked perplexed as I put up my right index finger for the ring. She said, "Wrong finger!" I shush'd her. So when PHD placed it on my finger, LO exclaimed, "See - it doesn't fit on that finger!") From that point on, knowing that by Jewish law we were fully married, I could not stop smiling.

Next Rabbi D talked about the ketubah and it's significance. As he spoke about how the ketubah protects the woman, LO kept giving PHD looks like she was saying, "You got that - you better take care of my Ima!" It made me giggle. Rabbi M read the ketubah and he also talked a little bit about us. He explained that we had met at Shul on Shabbat (which is why the kippot that we gave out at the wedding say "Shabbat Shalom" inside in Hebrew). He explained how much we love Judaism and how important having a Jewish home is. I had no idea what he was going to say, but his speech was so lovely.

Next Rabbi D handed me and PHD each a candle. The Cantor sang as he lit each candle. When the Cantor finished singing, together we used our candles to light another candle joined as one. Rabbi D then spoke of the Baal Shem Tov's beautiful metaphor of souls as flames of light as he lit each candle.

The Cantor sang the sheva brachot, stopping after each bracha to allow Rabbi M to give the English translation. I had originally asked that only the Hebrew be read but in hindsight, the way they did it was really beautiful and more meaningful for my family since they could understand what was going on!

We drank the second cup of wine and Rabbi M said to PHD, "There are only two things left to do. One is to break the glass and the other is to kiss your bride." Thanks to the horrible colds we both had, we had not kissed or even held hands in over a week, so after he said "kiss your bride", PHD and I both did a little happy dance and had everyone in the sanctuary laughing. Rabbi M explained the symbolism of the glass and then PHD broke the glass (we saved the glass for this mezuzah) and then we kissed. We hugged as many well-wishers as we could before heading off for a few moments alone and a little snack!

I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. For all of you who assured me that all the pre-planning stress would be worth it and that everything would be just fine - you were right - THANK YOU!

And now, all we have to figure out is are we now Dr. and Mrs. Orieyenta or Dr. and Mrs. PHD? :)

We had a professional photographer so more photos are sure to come. We leave for our honeymoon around 5:00 am tomorrow - won't be back until Erev Rosh Hashanah!

(For those are you who are wondering...I did end up inviting my mother. On Shabbat morning, I had what I call a "Yom Kippur" moment and I really felt like it was the right thing to do. And it was fine as she was on her best behavior.)

Wedding Day - Part One

2008-09-17T10:50:00.001-04:00

Filled with excitement, I hardly slept. I kept waking up just about every hour. At around 6 am, I gave up and decided to take advantage of the fact that the sun had not risen yet and have a nice BIG pre-fast cup of COFFEE. This would help me avoid that caffeine-withdrawal headache that accompanies so many of my fasts.

LO woke up a bit later and then we were off to run errands. Once those were all done, I dropped LO off at Hebrew school and headed to pick up my Dad and his wife. (I had completely forgot about fasting when I invited them to breakfast!) I made a bagel for post-fast while they were eating hoping this would help them not feel uncomfortable that we were not eating. We spent a little time visiting and then I dropped them back at their hotel, went to pick LO up from Hebrew school and then headed back home. It was at that moment when I panicked and realized that the flowers had not yet been delivered. My panicked state was all for naught because when I walked in the house, there they were. (This is my bouquet. LO's was a miniature version of this one.)

We spent the next hour packing stuff in the car and trying to be sure not to forget everything. Just as we were going to get in the car, LO asked me to print her homework for her! She was going to spend the night at a friend's house after the wedding and would need her homework! Umm...talk about bad timing. Despite her lack of a printer and our laziness to hook her up to our printer, we managed.

And finally we were off to the Shul!

Remember my chuppah nightmare? In the end we decided to go with the chuppah that belonged to our shul. (Remember that it was not in the best of repair, but I decided to have faith that it would all work out somehow.) I kept talking with out Temple Administrator and he told me several times that he was going to do a trial run and set the whole thing up but with the High Holidays just around the corner he just got too busy to ever do it. He asked that PHD arrive early to the Shul on the wedding day to help set it up. When we got to the Shul (late of course) I went into the sanctuary and the chuppah was all set up and way more beautiful than I could have ever expected. I was so excited that I was literally jumping up and down...and what else did I do? I of course took a picture with my phone and uploaded it to Facebook.

While PHD was working on getting everything set up, I went to the library which I planned to use as a dressing room. When I got there, I was greeted with a broken doorknob and so we were never able to get in there! I headed to the kitchen where my friend was baking challot for us. She also happened to be the person who was going to do LO's hair and who was going to help me with my veil. We decided it was apropos that she would help us get ready in the kitchen since she and I became friends when we were baking challot for the high holidays there years ago.

I searched for a quiet place to do some last minute davening and from that point on, things seemed to be happening at warp speed. LO and I headed off to get dressed. Then we ran back to the kitchen for hair and veil. (This is when we realized that we left all the hair stuff at home. Thankfully I had remembered the most important thing...the veil!) I had forgotten to do the corsages and boutonnieres for everyone so I had to run and quickly give those out and then run to the office to sign the ketubah. It was simply CRAZY! (Oh yeah and I decided I had to take a few pictures here and there in the middle of all of it!)

On to the bedeken. The Rabbis (Yes, plural. One who is our Rabbi and one who is PHD's very good friend) gathered my Dad and PHD's Mom. And along with LO, we all recited the blessing for the children. It was one of my favorite moments of the day to have my Dad blessing me, PHD's Mom blessing him and me and PHD blessing LO. PHD and I looked at each other as my veil was placed and I don't think I stopped smiling from that moment on.

And then it was time...

Wedding Day Tehillim

2008-09-09T11:25:00.000-04:00

Photo by Hasan Sarbakhshian

With the frenzy that must always occur in the days leading up to a wedding, it completely slipped my mind to ask if anyone wanted me to daven for them. Thankfully someone reminded me! (Thanks Hadassah!)

If you would like me to include anyone in my tehillim on our wedding day, please leave me a comment or e-mail me at orieyenta@yahoo.com with names.

Chuppah here we come!

2008-09-08T15:17:00.003-04:00

Baruch Hashem. Six days. It seems like a million years since the day this happened (the good friend in that post was none other than PHD).

I can't believe it. We didn't get a hurricane. My cold is almost gone. Hopefully the cold that I managed to give PHD will be gone before Shabbos. And even more so I am praying that LO won't get it as well. Everything on my gazillions of checklists is complete except for going to the mikvah and buying kiddush wine.

Life is good.

You eat shrimp?

2008-09-03T09:59:00.004-04:00

We were visiting PHD's 93-year old mother at the independent living facility where she lives. We happened to see a friend of ours there who's mother also lives there. (This friend also happens to be a Reform Rabbi.) They were sitting in the dining room and motioned for us to come and sit with them while they waited for their food. We sat, talked about the wedding, talked about LO starting school, etc.

Then the food came.

The server placed a plate of chicken and shrimp in front of our friend.

Before the plate was completely on the table, LO exclaimed, "Rabbi, how could you? How can you be a Rabbi and eat SHRIMP? Oh my gosh - you are going to have to fast for a lot of days for Yom Kippur...." This went on and on until I literally had to tell her to stop talking.

Oh yeah, that is my little kosher police. Gotta love that.

(But I guess that now might be a good time to explain the differences in observance level for Reform Jews and the more observant ones.)

The Tooth Fairy doesn't work on Shabbos

2008-09-01T23:38:00.003-04:00

When I picked LO up from school on Friday she eagerly showed me that she had lost a tooth. She was very excited because as I've reported before, the tooth fairy at our house pays BIG. However, with Shabbos here, there was no further mention of it and it totally slipped my mind.

On Shabbos morning when I went downstairs LO (with the saddest face in the world) said, "The tooth fairy didn't take my tooth." Having not had an ounce of coffee yet, I gave her all sorts of lame excuses, none that she seemed to buy, but she eventually just went back to her room. A little while later she came out and said, "I know why the tooth fairy didn't take my tooth! The tooth fairy doesn't work on Shabbos!" Geez...why didn't I think of that excuse?

Visiting with the Bogners

2008-08-28T10:55:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I thought I would take a break from kvetching about wedding planning to get back to the fun stuff in life...talking about our trip to Israel.

When I last left off, we were headed to visit with the Bogners.

Last year when PHD went to Israel, I was most certainly jealous when he got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Treppenwitz before I got to meet them. For this trip, every list I had made of things that we absolutely had to do while we were in Israel had meeting up with them at the top. My wish was granted and we FINALLY got to spend some time with them.

We made plans to have dinner at their home. Zahava came to pick us up at the coffee shop that they met PHD at last year. This was our first opportunity to meet the little boy we have heard so many wonderful stories about...

Unfortunately for us, he was having a little schluf. (I was a little nervous he would wake up and be freaked out by the two Chinese gals in the back seat with him, but my fears were totally unfounded.)

Zahava gave us a wonderful tour of Gush Etzion complete with some history about each area she drove us through. I can't imagine that anyone could have given a better tour than she did. She most certainly could give some tour guides a run for their money. (As an added bonus she brought us to the Naot Factory Store in Kfar Etzion when I proceeded to contribute plenty of money to the Israeli economy.)

Then it was off to their home in Efrat where we got to meet the rest of the family and were treated to a delicious BBQ.

We got to hear Gili play his new guitar (and wow does he have a nice voice).

And even Yonah chimed in with the sweetest version of the Beatles' song Lady Madonna.

It was a lovely visit and one of the highlights of our trip. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity and to know this family.

A postnote: LO has talked incessantly about our trip. She mentioned that she liked it at the Bogners and that she thought, "the boy was NICE". I said, "Yeah - Yonah is cute isn't he?" She said, "Is Yonah the little boy or the big boy?" I replied, "The little boy". Her response? "Oh, he was nice but the big boy is REALLY NICE." Zahava thought Yonah might have a little crush on LO and it looks like LO has a little crush on Gili!

Here comes Bridezilla

2008-08-22T12:06:00.004-04:00

I am thisclose to becoming Bridezilla with this whole wedding thing. Just when I think the whole wedding planning thing is under control, something comes flying out of nowhere and hits me in the face.

You may remember that we wanted a very small, very simple wedding. We would have been perfectly happy having nothing more than the required minyan to say the Sheva Brachot. And then we seemed to have gotten caught up in sharing our joy with our friends and family and very quickly, our nice little minyan blossomed in THREE minyans. And now with some guilt from assorted family members including this whole issue, we are on the verge of FORTY people.

Yes, I know that 40 people is not a lot for a wedding and I should be happy to be sharing our simcha with everyone...but I am not. This is not what we wanted.

In the end, I am sure everything will work out just wonderfully and the wedding will be beautiful. But I have to admit that now I understand why some people just run away and elope. (I'm just saying!)

Ok - breathe in, breathe out - everything will be fine.

Wishing you all a beautiful and peaceful Shabbat.

Chocolate Ice Cream

2008-08-20T12:27:00.005-04:00

I had insomnia the other night so I went as downstairs. Of course I had to go in and check on LO because she is so darn adorable when she is sleeping. (Oh, alright, she is pretty darn adorable when she is awake too.) I kissed her on the forehead and started to leave her room. Just as I reached the door she started talking...

"Yes - I'll have some chocolate ice cream and cookies. Oh and I'll have manicotti too."

Yep - talking in her sleep....about food. That's my kid. (Guess she was having milchig!)

I need chuppah help!

2008-08-05T08:57:00.000-04:00

Want to help me with a decision? The chuppah (which I thought would be the least of my problems) is turning out to be a bigger issue than I expected. One Rabbi has the portable poles but no tallit for it. Our Shul has free standing poles - but two are in the Rabbi's office serving as flag poles and one is broke. I can rent one for $175 but again, no tallit. So...I am in the market for a tallit.

Yes, I am kicking myself for not buying one while we were in Israel. However, I found www.tallis-n-tefillin.com where I will be able to purchase one at a reasonable cost. The man who owns the site is in Ft. Lauderdale (so this is basically local) and he has been very kind in answering all my questions. Here's my problem...I'm at a loss of what to buy.

I know what you're thinking, I should ask PHD. Well, I did. He thought we should borrow one from a friend but I don't want to be responsible for someone's tallit. I am too worried about ruining it as we would use the tzitzit to tie the tallit to the poles. He also thought of using an Israeli flag. While I love Israel as much as he does, I think this is tacky. I could go to the fabric store, buy some fabric and make one (since I am crafty that way) but to be honest, I have too many other things to worry about without adding a sewing project in. So...I am going to buy one despite the fact that PHD thinks I shouldn't spend the money on something we will use only once. (I told him we should be glad we would use it only once and that I would save whatever we bought and give it to LO when she gets married so she doesn't have to go on this search.)

So...pretty please with sugar on top, help me choose...white with white stripes? white with blue stripes? white with black stripes? Want to pick for me? I'll be your best friend. Have a better idea? I'm all ears.

Yes, I'm frazzled with all this wedding planning. But I am thankful to G-d that my biggest problem of the moment is that I can't decide what color tallit our chuppah should be. We should all only know of such problems, right?

Hope this finds you all enjoying the meat-free, dirty laundry days. :)

Israel Pictures - Part 2

2008-07-29T12:00:00.001-04:00

Our trip continues...

We took a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The bus ride itself was uneventful but I must say that getting on the bus was quite a challenge. As the bus pulled up a whole crowd of people rushed toward the door. (PHD had warned us about this, but no amount of warning could have properly prepared us for this.) I held tight onto LO so as not to lose her in the crowd. PHD was pushing his way towards the door and we tried to stay as close as possible. For LO this must have been frightening as I looked down at her and could see that she was smashed in the crowd. She cried out, "Abba, Abba!" And what happened then is what I imagine it was like when Moses parted the Red Sea. The area around her mysteriously opened up and everyone let us pass so that we could join PHD as he was getting on the bus.

We visited the Kotel every day that we were in Jerusalem except one. LO loved praying there and she loved giving tzedakah to the ladies that were sitting alongside the wall. She was also thrilled the moment one of those ladies tied a red string around her arm. I explained that these red string were supposed to have come from Kever Rachel. From that moment on, she decided that Kever Rachel was somewhere we needed to visit. (We didn't make it this trip but I have some offers to take us on our next trip!)

As for me, I have always viewed the Kotel as a holy place and wondered how I would feel when I finally saw it in person. I was surprised to find that I was not overly moved when we arrived. But a bigger surprise was in store for me. We walked up to the wall to pray and when I put my hand on the wall and started to pray I was overcome with so much emotion that I started to cry. There is no way to describe that feeling nor do I think I can ever forget that feeling. It was absolutely an amazing experience.

PHD was not so lucky though. Just as he started to pray, several men tapped him on the shoulder asking for tzedakah. It reached a point where he was actually unable to daven. I would have never believed this had I not witnessed it with my own eyes. Religious men not allowing others to have their own personal time with Hashem. Shame on them.

This picture is for Z and Chiab. Somewhere in this picture is the note that I placed in the wall with prayers for you both.

Our visit happen to coincide with French President Nicholas Sarkozy's visit. The rental car agency we rented a car from was outside the King David Hotel. Little did we know that the day we went to pick up the car that they would close the road until he left the hotel.

As we were headed to Masada, LO and I were THRILLED to see actual live camels on the side of the road. Of course I needed a picture of her with one. We hopped out of the car into the BLAZING heat and headed towards one. It made a weird noise and this is how LO reacted.

This is LO as we started our tour of Masada. She looks quite happy to be there doesn't she?

This is LO towards the end of our tour of Masada. Need I say more?

From Masada we headed to the Dead Sea. I can't tell you how many times I made PHD stop the car so I could take pictures. So breathtaking.

We're Miami girls and we are used to the cool Atlantic ocean. Imagine our surprise when we put our feet in the Dead Sea and felt that hot, oily feeling water.

On the way back from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem, this is what we ran in to. The road was closed. We were told it was because some people had snuck in from Jordan. We had to take a VERY LONG detour back to where we came from and up through the Zohar Valley which made us none too happy but...

had we not detoured, we would not have seen this beautiful view.

The detour took us through the West Bank and we got our first glimpse of the separation barriers.

Next up...a visit with one of our favorite bloggers and his family.

Israel Pictures - Part 1

2008-07-23T10:39:00.001-04:00

I've written pages and pages of stories and details of our trip to Israel. If I posted it ALL here, you would all probably be sleeping, so instead I decided to do sort of a highlights of our trip with pictures. Enjoy.

Palmach Museum - This is located at the University of Tel Aviv. It's unusual for a museum in the fact that there are no artifacts or displays. You go to a series of rooms where they present the history as though you are actually experiencing the history while it happened. If you have never been, I strongly suggest it. If you ask LO what her favorite places in Israel were, this one is definitely on the list. At the beginning of our tour, a guide came and gave a little history of who the Palmach were. In the middle of this history, LO tapped me and with a very sour look on her face she whispered, "Ima, this is JUST like school." Knowing that there was much history to be learned on our trip - this was certainly a scary way to start. However...at the end of the tour, she again tapped me and exclaimed, "That was AWESOME! It was like Disney World except in Hebrew!" Maybe they should market it that way.

Shuk Carmel - PHD loves to go to the shuks. Our visit to Shuk Carmel was just one of almost a dozen shuks that we went to. We loved listening to the vendors shout out what they were selling and how much it costs and then trying to figure out what they were saying. I think LO's favorite part of shuk shopping was the fact that she got to sample all kinds of foods.

Shawarma - On the Shabbat before we left, we had lunch with our Rabbi. One of the places he told us not to miss was a shawarma place in Tel Aviv. Since I couldn't write it down, I had to remember the place in my head. What I remembered was Ben Yehuda and Boker Sov (yes - Boker SOV like Boker Tov with an "S"). We walked quite a bit down Ben Yehuda and asked quite a few people where Boker Sov Street was. Most just looked at us with blank stares. Just as we were about to give up, someone said, "Do you mean Bograshov Street?" We were only a half block away. And here is we received quite a pleasant welcome from our Rabbi's favorite shawama stand. And oh was it yummy.

The Golan Heights - PHD's cousin Toli arranged a day trip for us to the Golan. We went to the Golan Archaeological Museum, a winery, the Mount Bental lookout, and a pick your own fruit place. We learned about Gamla. We saw Lake Kinneret. We picked and ate as many blackberries as our stomachs could hold. We even got to see the world's largest Israeli flag. At the gift shop at Mount Bental, we purchased a beautiful necklace for LO that has the blessing of the daughters on it. (We plan to give it to her for her bat mitzvah.) We spent some time chatting with the shopkeeper. We explained that we say this blessing over LO on every Shabbat and that we have said it so many times that even LO knows it. LO then came over and recited the blessing for her. The smile on the woman's face was priceless. We talked about how LO knows so many of the prayers from going to services so often and LO recited the Shema and the V'ahavta for her. The woman told us that it gave her goosebumps and she was so filled with joy that it looked like there were tears in her eyes. She then leaned over to LO and said, "You know what? You just made my day." That almost made me cry. That moment made me so proud to be Jewish and feel so blessed to be in Israel.

(more to come...)

Jewish Guilt

2008-07-17T12:29:00.003-04:00

So the time has come for me to mail our wedding invitations. Like so many couples do, we have had an ever-changing list of who is invited and who is not invited. I would love to invite our entire Shul - of course I would have to win the lottery to afford that but it's still a nice genuine thought of mine.

Since we've both been married before we agreed that we wanted a small ceremony. Originally we had planned for a minyan. That minyan has blossomed into three minyans. And I'm ok with that. And I am ok with the Jewish guilt I feel about inviting some of our Shul friends and not others.

So the list is FINALLY finalized. The invitations have been beautifully addressed and now they are sitting on my desk waiting to be mailed.

And then my sister calls to lay on some guilt. You see, I am not inviting my mother. My mother and I do not have a wonderful relationship. Actually, we don't speak at all. My sister is sure that years from now I will feel guilty about not having invited my mother. And of course the guilt has already settled in and I am doubting my decision since she is my only mother no matter what our relationship is like. What do you all think? Invite her? Don't invite her? Oy.

Bed Jumping

2008-07-10T12:29:00.001-04:00

After 3 long very hot hours at Masada and a quick dip in the Dead Sea, my kid will apparently do anything for a laugh.

We're back

2008-07-06T18:20:00.003-04:00

We're back and have so much to share about our trip. I took over 1000 pictures and the task to go through them is a little overwhelming at the moment. I promise to share soon.

The trip was amazing and made us only want to make aliyah even sooner. I am not sure I can put into words how heavy my heart felt as we were in the taxi on the way to the airport.

For those of you who asked me to daven at the Kotel for you - please know that we went there several times a day for several days and I prayed and put notes in the wall for each of you.

I am off to start unpacking (ugh!) and to try to keep LO awake - she is definitely losing the battle over jet lag today. For now, I'll leave you all with our new favourite song that we can't seem to get out of our heads (PHD's cousins sang it over and over while we were there)...

Shalom from Israel

2008-06-21T15:45:00.000-04:00

I don't have a load of time to write but the trip so far has been amazing. When I wake up in the morning, I feel so blessed to be waking up in Israel. LO loves it here and has already said she doesn't want to go home. We head to Jerusalem in the morning and will see the Treppenwitz family on Wednesday and Gila when we return to Tel Aviv. Life couldn't be better.

Loads of pictures and stories to come. Shavua Tov from Israel.

Israel - here come the Orieyentas!

2008-06-13T11:48:00.003-04:00

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

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

Wishing you and yours a blessed and peaceful Shabbat.

Kids or no kids - the wedding dilemma

2008-06-01T10:45:00.001-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

We're not dead....yet

2008-05-28T11:27:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hate field trips

2008-05-13T12:07:00.004-04:00

(Bus rides make us meshugge!)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miami Beach Synagogue Vandalized

2008-04-23T10:22:00.002-04:00

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

Miami Beach Synagogue Vandalized

MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ―

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

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

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

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

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

Uhh...that's not kosher

2008-04-14T12:16:00.003-04:00

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

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

Refuah Shlemah

2008-04-09T08:45:00.005-04:00

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

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

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

Please daven for Esther bat Baila.

Oznei Haman

2008-03-11T12:25:00.001-04:00

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

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

Trip to Honduras = Trip to Hebron

2008-03-04T11:40:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

Navicular subluxation?

2008-02-28T21:18:00.005-05:00

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

Moses and the Golden Rat

2008-02-21T10:07:00.003-05:00

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

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

Diamonds are NOT my best friend

2008-02-19T12:59:00.004-05:00

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

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

What not to wear

2008-02-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

LO has a boyfriend

2008-02-05T08:28:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

Jews and Thin Mints

2008-01-29T10:51:00.000-05:00

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

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

Next there was the whole Children of Abraham lesson.

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

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

"Yeah, the blacks really like those Trefoils"

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

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

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

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

She continued...

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

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

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

The trials and tribulations of being a "Cookie Mom"

2008-01-24T11:21:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our own slice of paradise

2008-01-21T22:50:00.000-05:00

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

It is called a mezuzah

2008-01-10T15:16:00.001-05:00

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

Here's how that conversation went:

Man: Can I ask you a question?

Me: Sure, go ahead.

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

Me: Uh, because I'm Jewish.

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

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

If this was terrorism, we'd be dead

2008-01-08T13:37:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eretz Yisrael here we come!

2008-01-08T09:48:00.000-05:00

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

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

And then there were THREE

2007-12-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

It seems like it was not too long ago when Kelev joined our family. And now when I look outside, what do I see? Achat, shtayim, shalosh...yi, er, san...uno, dos, tres...un deux, trois...- no matter what language I count in, I see THREE dogs!

We're dog-sitting for an extended period of time. PHD's cousin's wife has been very ill and in the hospital so we're taking care of their dogs until she is well enough again to have the dogs around. I love Milo (the big brown dog), LO loves Macaroon (the little black dog), and Kelev loves the company, so it seems that we don't mind however long they will need to be around. It certainly does make life interesting here though.

Please daven for Avia bat Sarah.

A gift for Abba

2007-12-18T13:02:00.000-05:00

On the afternoon just before the first candle of Chanukah, I walked into LO's classroom to pick her up from school. She was so excited that she could barely contain herself... "Ima, I got a present for Abba!" She ran over to the corner and she presented me with a large Ziploc bag. Inside of the bag was a very large avocado. I asked her where she got it and she explained that she had bought it in the Panther Store with her Panther dollars.

Panther dollars are a reward for the kids when they do something good like help a teacher, behave nicely, help a classmate with their homework, etc. They are given out just about every day and the kids are allowed to take the dollars they have earned to the Panther Store (which is basically full of nothing but little junky toys like you might see in a birthday party goody bag). You can tell when the kids have gone to the store because each one of them is playing with their new little toy. Imagine my surprise that LO chose to get something for PHD rather than to bring home another useless toy. It certainly was one of the most heartfelt gifts ever. Geez, does this kid make me proud.

LO's first concert

2007-12-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

A friend from Hebrew school brought LO to a Rick Recht concert motzei Shabbos. LO was starstruck. The friend's mother bought a CD for LO at the concert. I'm not sure I am going to survive another day of this...

I liked it much better when LO wanted to listen to this guy all day...

LO raises her hand

2007-11-28T13:03:00.000-05:00

We had a meeting at our shul last night put together by our "Destination Israel" committee. Their job is to promote the upcoming synagogue trip to Israel and to also increase Israel awareness. One of the speakers was the Rabbi from our local JCC who is preparing to make aliyah. He started his speech by asking, "What makes a Jewish home Jewish?" A dead silence occurred at that moment in the room of approximately 60 people. So he asked the question again. Then he said, "Um, I see a hand way in the back but can't see who's hand it is." I turned around to see who it was. Who's hand do you think was raised? Yep, I turned around and saw LO's hand raised high in the air but since she was sitting on the floor all you could see was her little hand. Then we heard her say, "A mezuzzah!" The Rabbi replied, "Great answer. " Then he looked around and said, "Anyone else? Come on - if that little girl can come up with an answer so can all of you." Slowly people started to raise their hands and answer. And I was kvelling that my little one managed to motivate the group.

The Rabbi went on to give a very good talk about Israel and gave many reasons why we need to go to Israel. One point he made was similar to what Psychotoddler mentioned in this post. He talked about how American Jews are losing the war of attrition. He explained that in the US where Jews are a minority and we are so often surrounded by things like Christmas and the Easter Bunny, it's too easy for our kids to stray from their roots. He talked about how important it was for us to teach our children to love being Jewish. And I looked at LO and thought in my head, "Baruch HaShem, we are on the right path."

LO goes to the Chabad

2007-11-24T19:46:00.000-05:00

LO goes to her Dad's house every other weekend. He lives in West Palm Beach which is about 100 miles north of where we live . It's hard on LO for many reasons like she can't play with her friends here, she can't go to services at our Shul, she misses Sunday school, etc. My hope was that as she got older we would find a Shul for her that she could go to when she is up there or perhaps we could find somewhere that she could go to Sunday school on the Sundays that she is there. I searched the internet and found out that there is a Chabad within walking distance of her Dad's house! I mentioned this to her a while back but didn't really act on it.

Before leaving for her Dad's this week she asked me if I had a siddur that she could take with her. When I asked her why, she told me that she misses not having Shabbat and that if she had a siddur she could have Shabbat with her stuffed animals in her room there. (Yes - this made my heart melt.) I reminded her about the Chabad and told her that one day I was sure she could go over there and share Shabbat with them.

About an hour before Shabbat I got a phone call from her. She called to say Shabbat Shalom and then she told me that she met the Rabbi and his wife. When I asked her how, she explained that she was walking her Dad's dog and she remembered that I told her about the Chabad. So she looked at all the houses until she found one with a mezuzah. She walked up and rang the doorbell. The Rebbetzin answered the door and here is what LO said,

"Hello. My name is LO. I'm Jewish. My Hebrew name is Shoshana Leah and I am 9 years old."

I wish that I could have seen the Rebbetzin's face as she was looking down at a little Chinese girl saying this to her.

I had a chance to speak with the Rebbetzin. She adores LO and now it looks like I don't have to worry about where LO will spend Shabbat anymore!

Picture time

2007-11-18T15:16:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again - time for the obligatory Chanukah picture that I will send out to friends and family. LO is not always willing to be the subject of my photography and if it were up to her, I think this is the picture everyone would be getting this year...

Planning and more planning

2007-11-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

We've got time until the "Big Day" but for some reason in the past few days we've been talking about it a lot so...of course, now I am FREAKED out.

I'm ashamed to admit that I never attend big events since I don't love crowds, so as far as wedding planning goes, I have no idea where to start. Ok, maybe that's exaggerating a bit. We have asked the Rabbis to perform the ceremony and they have both said yes. (One Rabbi is the Rabbi from our Shul and the other Rabbi is one of PHD's close friends.)

Anyhow...I need all of your help. Any guidance, ideas, tips, etc.

We've picked out a ketubah but I don't love the phrase on it. We can change it but I don't want to go with the standard "Ani L'Dodi V'Dodi Li". Any suggestions?

How about wedding invitations - English only, English and Hebrew?

Oy....thank goodness I have months and months to take care of this. It should really be much easier than this.

Girl Scout Cookie MOM

2007-11-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

I just had a momentary lapse of reasoning and I VOLUNTEERED to be the "Cookie Mom" for LO's Girl Scout Troop. What this apparently means is that I am going to be in charge of collecting all of the money and then going to pick up all of the cookies for the troop. Last year LO's troop sold over 1000 boxes of cookies? Where the heck am I going to put 1000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies?

I'm trying to look at the bright side of things...at least they're kosher.

(Trepp - is sending Girl Scout cookies and Splenda to you as bad as eating french fries with Diet Coke?)

The foot washer

2007-11-05T09:50:00.000-05:00

LO came upstairs this morning to talk to PHD (who being retired, was still asleep in bed!) I noticed that her nails needed to be cut and so I told her to come into the bathroom with me. I guess I have never realized that she has never been in the bathroom upstairs. She came in the bathroom and exclaimed, "Wow! You have a foot washer in here!" I was like, "Huh?" And then I realized that she was looking at the bidet.

(I don't know why I am never ready for these moments. And is it bad that this bathroom post made me think of Jack?)

So I replied, "That's not a foot washer - that's where you shave your legs." I could hear PHD laughing as he overheard the conversation. And I can already picture it now...one day she'll be married and her husband will find her shaving her legs in the bidet. Lovely.

My green kid

2007-11-02T12:51:00.001-04:00

So at first glance you might think LO looks like the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz". But if you asked her, she would tell you that she is Elphaba, the green witch from the Broadway show, "Wicked". And then she'd sing you a few songs from the show.

Oh boy....just what have I created?

Giving in to the iPhone

2007-10-19T15:02:00.000-04:00

I did it. I couldn't handle resisting it anymore. I bought the iPhone. I actually can't believe I made it this long without buying it. Of course, I did wait until I could utilize someone's Apple employee discount. ;)

PHD will think I'm crazy for having spent so much money for a phone. That's when I'm just going to blame it all on Robert Avrech. (I'm kidding....sort of.)

Shabbat Shalom.

LO talks and talks and talks and...

2007-10-17T09:41:00.000-04:00

I ran into LO's teacher for the first time yesterday. He was on leave for the first month of school and has only been back a short while. When I walked into the office he turned and said to me, "Your daughter is so bright and is such a good girl". I was a little surprised since the substitute that was in the class while he was on leave had some problems with LO because apparently LO thought it was necessary to talk ALL THE TIME. I explained this and he said, "Oh, no she always just sits at her desk and is so quiet." He went on, "But today I must have opened the flood gates because I got her to talk and she was so excited."

I got a little nervous about what she might have babbled on about but then he explained that somehow they got on the subject of Israel and he said that all of a sudden LO perked up. Her teacher is not Jewish but he is a Zionist, so the two of them talking about Israel must have been quite a conversation. He showed LO where Israel is on a globe. And she saw Egypt and took that as an opportunity to tell him about the story of Moses and how he led the Jewish people out of Egypt. Then she told him about the Red Sea. And apparently she went on and one and on.

Nice to know that my Hebrew School dollars are being well spent.

And now...the news

2007-10-09T07:45:00.000-04:00

Just found out that LO is going to be the school news anchor. She'll be broadcast over all of the televisions in her school in the morning telling of school news, lunch menus, and the weather. She originally wasn't planning on trying out, but one of her friends was trying out and talked her into trying out as well. It came as quite a surprise when she found out that she was selected.

I can already hear her now..."The weather today will be HOT, humid, and we're all going to schvitz. Today's lunch is ham and cheese sandwiches and that's NOT KOSHER".

Lily's Bat Mitzvah Project

2007-10-02T07:29:00.000-04:00

I was reading something on the Families with Children from China website the other day and I ran across a posting asking the families for help with a Bat Mitzvah project. I was not only thrilled to come across another Jewish child who was adopted from China but excited that LO would be able to help this girl with her project.

The girl's name is Lily and she is looking to collect stories from other Jewish Chinese girls for her project. I e-mailed Lily's mother and she asked me to help get the word out about Lily's project. I know that there are several of you who have mentioned to me that there are adopted Chinese girls at your shuls and it would really be a mitzvah if you could spread the word to those families.

LO is already working on her essay for Lily's project and I promise to share it here as soon as she finishes it.

Here is the link for more information...Lily's Bat Mitzvah Project.

The Birds and the Bees

2007-10-01T08:11:00.000-04:00

Remember earlier this month when I had one of those unexpected parenting moments? Well, this must be the time for those moments because yet again, LO managed to catch me off guard.

Apparently one of the little girls in her class has already begun experiencing that time of the month. It started while she was at school and her mother had obviously talked with her about it because she felt the need to explain it to all the other little girls in the class. She gave some gory details to LO which were not totally accurate and managed to totally gross LO out. Another little girl in the class decided to chime in with this wise information..."When you get the period and you are older, if you hang out too much with boys it means you are pregnant." Talk about needing to do some damage control.

I was so totally NOT READY for this conversation. We're talking about a child who makes me giggle when she tells me, "When I grow up I'm going to go to China and get a baby just like you got me." She used to think that China is where all babies come from and that's where everyone goes to get a baby (I guess it never dawned on her that not all children are Chinese). Then she met someone who was visibly pregnant. I explained that there was a baby inside the woman and then LO was afraid of the woman because she couldn't understand why the lady ate a baby!

Oy, can't I just continue being content with just making sure that she knows she cannot ever date or marry someone who is not Jewish. Isn't that enough? There should be some parenting book that tells you when you need to do this stuff and how to do it. I am still not sure if what and how I explained this all to her was the right way to do it. I guess I did the best I could do...but now I am sort of guarded...what the heck will she come up with next?

On another note...it's raining AGAIN. A lot of the roads are flooded. A lot of the traffic lights aren't working. Next time for Sukkot we might take Jack's advice and build an ark. Actually at this rate, we may need that ark sooner than next Sukkot.

What's the buzzing sound?

2007-09-30T16:57:00.000-04:00

So, it finally stopped raining and we have been able to have several meals in our sukkah. We even slept in it on Shabbat. I know it's a mitzvah to sleep in the sukkah, but let's just say I don't think that mosquito season is over here in Florida. Oy do mosqito bites itch!

Here's wishing that all of you are enjoying a lovely (and mosquito free) chag.

It is STILL raining

2007-09-26T07:03:00.000-04:00

Day FOUR. It is still raining. I looked out the window at our unfinished sukkah this morning and it looked so sad without LO's little decorations adorning it. I hear there's a chance the weather will clear up for a bit later today. We are very hopeful.

LO, PHD, and I wish you all a Chag Sameach.

update: I just saw this...it is not looking good.

It's sukkah time...

2007-09-25T07:20:00.000-04:00

and apparently that means it is time to rain non-stop in South Florida (great for our draught conditions, bad for our sukkah building conditions!) Our new catch-phrase should be, "If you build it, it will rain". B"H this year the rain didn't come complete with a hurricane on the way (keinahorra...poo, poo, poo).

We had fun STUFFING my car full of palm branches for our s'chach and putting up the frame in the rain. Kelev even jumped into the action at some point...I have to say, there is nothing quite like a wet dog in your sukkah.

We are now on our third straight day of rain...if only it would stop for a bit so we could finish.

(If you are looking for some ideas for sukkah decorations, be sure not to miss Juggling Frogs' post here. She is AMAZING. I have to say if I could go back to being a kid, I'd want to be one of hers!)

Rosh Hashanah is not only ONE day

2007-09-24T07:53:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday LO hands me her interim report from school. I looked at the grades and there were no surprises there. But then I noticed that she had an unexcused absence on it. Certainly she hadn't been absent without me knowing, so I sent a note to the teacher asking for an explanation of when exactly LO got this unexcused absence.

On Friday I went to pick LO up early from school so that we could prepare for dinner followed by Kol Nidre. I ran into her teacher and she explained that LO had received an unexcused absence because she was absent on Friday, September 14th. Apparently it didn't matter that I had sent a note in with LO to explain her absence due to the second day of Rosh Hashanah. The teacher went on to explain that she had discussed it with the secretary in the front office and that Rosh Hashanah is only observed for ONE day. (I should probably point out that neither of them are Jewish, so it is probably safe to assume that neither of them are qualified to make this statement.) I hate to admit it but as those words came out of her mouth, I was so angry that my blood started to boil. But I kept my cool as I explained that the holiday was indeed observed on both days. She told me that I needed to take it up with the front office. I took LO by the hand and stormed up to the front office. Turns out that the secretary was at lunch. But...the assistant principal was there so I decided to address it with her. This time I was told that it is a Miami-Dade County school policy that Rosh Hashanah is only observed for one day. (I can't begin to explain how much angrier that statement made me.) I decided that I better drop it at this point before I blew up so I told her that I thought she might want to re-check that policy and I left.

On the way home I could picture it in my head..."the Orieyentas take on the Miami-Dade School Board in a quest for the right to observe Rosh Hashanah for TWO days." And then I started to worry. What will happen with Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah? Will a whole load of unexcused absences ruin her almost perfect grades? And how come this wasn't an issue last year? And oy, why didn't I send her to Jewish Day School this year?

I got home and really needed to focus on getting dinner ready and getting into the Yom Kippur frame of mind and decided that there was not much more I could do about this until after the weekend. Thankfully, motzei Shabbos/Yom Tov when we checked the answering machine there was a message from the school secretary admitting that she was incorrect saying that there was only ONE day of Rosh Hashanah and that there are indeed TWO days of Rosh Hashanah. LO's unexcused absence has been changed to excused. Hopefully we won't have this problem for the upcoming chags. Oh the joys of sending your child to a secular/public school.

ed. note: I thought I should point out that in making the choice to send LO to a secular school, I certainly realize things like this are bound to happen sometimes. I'm relatively ok with that. What I was truly mad about was being told by TWO gentiles that Rosh Hashanah is only one day.

Is it time to eat yet?

2007-09-20T07:27:00.000-04:00

LO really LOVES to eat. You'd never guess it if you saw her because she is and always has been smaller than all the kids her age. Needless to say, a day of fasting should seem like the end of the world to her. We obviously don't require her to fast but she does try to make an effort to at least skip a meal and possibly a snack. The funny thing is that she will ask a million times and then a million more times, "Is it time to eat yet?" Then I'll tell her to go ahead and eat. Of course, then she'll decide not to eat. I think she just likes to keep asking me over and over again, "Is it time to eat yet?" Or maybe she just likes the bagels, lox, herring, whitefish, etc. that we serve at our break fast. Whatever it is, here we are ready to hear, "Is it time to eat yet?"

Little Orieyenta, PHD, and I wish you all a meaningful and easy fast. G'mar Chatima Tova.

LO's Newest Friend

2007-09-18T21:49:00.000-04:00

Guess what we just got?

Direct from the Miami-Dade Animal Services, please meet the newest member of our household, Kelev. (For those of you who don't know, it's the Hebrew word for dog. And yes, it was LO's idea to name him this.)

LO had been asking for a dog for a long time and PHD and I finally decided it was time. We definitely wanted to rescue one from the pound rather than get one from a puppy mill or a breeder and so we set on a search to find a dog.

We wanted it to be a surprise so PHD went and picked Kelev up today while LO was at school. LO had no idea that we were planning this. When she came home she actually didn't notice the dog right away but as soon as she did she was jumping up and down with joy. She's so excited that we are lucky we were able to get her to go to bed tonight. B'ezrat Hashem this is just the start of a very wonderful friendship.

A glimpse at our Yom Tov

2007-09-16T14:49:00.000-04:00

We had a lovely Yom Tov and we hope that all of you did as well. I kvetch when I am cooking and baking and covered in flour, oil, etc. but it really is rewarding when it is all over and done with. We had some funny moments so I thought I'd share a few of them:

A phone message from my born-again Christian mother...

"Hello, I called to wish you a Happy New Year. (laughing) La-shay-na something or other. I heard them saying that on the radio."

My mother originally was not all that happy when I officially converted. Slowly but surely she has been trying to be a little more accepting of it (no more Chanukah gifts wrapped in Christmas paper, no more Easter baskets for LO, etc.) So for this phone message, I have to acknowledge that and say nice try Mom.

=====================================================

A conversation I had with the woman who sat next to me the first day of Rosh Hashanah at Shul...

"You are so beautiful. You have such an oriental look about you."

I then explained that I am Chinese. And she responded...

"Oh well, that explains it."

Ummm...I think that was a compliment.

=====================================================

A conversation LO and I had...

"Ima, when I grow up, I'm going to get married to a nice Jewish man just like you and Abba. He'll be Jewish and handsome and strong and he'll teach me how to use credit cards!"

Where the heck did she get the idea that a Jewish man would teach her how to use credit cards?

=====================================================

LO waking up from what looked like a crazy sleep, her bed was all messed up and her head was where her feet usually are and her feet where her head usually is...

"Oh my gosh. What will we do if our succah leaks?"

Nice to know that she is planning ahead.

=====================================================

And a classic that I am sure anyone who has kids has heard - LO at Tashlich...

"That man threw a whole loaf of bread in the water. He must have been very bad this year."
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Oy am I hungry. Wishing all of you who are fasting today an easy fast.

Sweet like apples and honey

2007-09-10T07:29:00.001-04:00

I'm sure I am not alone in feeling a little meshugganah this week. I can't believe that the holidays are just a few days away. I definitely feel like I am far from being prepared. Yesterday I sat staring at my recipe book trying to figure out what to make...kasha varnishkes? kishke ala Juggling Frogs? plain honey cake? chocolate honey cake? kugel? Oy...so many choices.

Since I am sure the week isn't going to get less hectic, I thought I'd go ahead and share our Rosh Hashanah picture from this year...I got a good giggle from comparing it to last year's picture here. I still think she is just as sweet as apples and honey.

LO, PHD and I wish you and your families L'Shanah Tovah and Ktiva v'Chatima Tova.

Winston's New Kippah

2007-09-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

You may recall one of my earlier posts about Winston when LO asked if her favourite teddy bear was Jewish. Since then, Winston has become a regular part of our Jewish community. He attends Shabbat services with us, has been to Hebrew school, and he even golfs with our Rabbi.

Not long ago, LO decided that his regular golf clothes (khaki pants, a polo shirt, and a baseball hat) were not nice enough for Shabbat clothes, so off we were to buy Winston a new Shabbat outfit. And no respectable Jewish bear could be caught at shul without a kippah...right?

LO was simply kvelling at Shabbat services over her little bear's new kippah and made sure that everyone saw it. (Me, on the otherhand...I still have that feeling of disbelief that I was actually sitting somewhere sewing a kippah onto a teddy bear's head.)

Special thanks to "Tante Ruth" for crocheting Winston his new kippah! Winston (and LO) love it.

Shabbat Shalom from the Orieyentas and the bear with a kippah.

The Shofar Factory

2007-09-05T07:23:00.000-04:00

(Rabbi Sholom Galperin from our local Chabad)

Our Hebrew school took a field trip yesterday to the Shofar Factory. The Rabbi from our local Chabad does a presentation where he talks about the holidays, shows how to make a shofar and then all the children get to make their very own shofar to bring home. Sounds fun right?

Picture this. Thirty children in a room. Each child has a horn, a piece of sandpaper, a paint brush, and a bowl of shellac varnish in front of them. A horrible storm is passing over and then...the lights in the synagogue go out! Much high pitched screaming ensues (with a few shofars being blown thrown in there.) Luckily the lights were only out for a few minutes and we all made it out of there without a gallon of shellac varnish in our hair. Amazing.

A warning to Hebrew school parents everywhere...if you are going to volunteer to drive for a field trip, this may be the one you want to skip. Let me just say, three kids, three shofars, enough said.

Ima, what's a bris?

2007-09-03T10:28:00.000-04:00

Anyone who is a parent will surely agree with me that every so often there comes a time when their child asks a question that catches you off-guard and you're not quite sure how to respond. I recently experienced one of those moments.

Now that LO is back in school, one of her homework assignments is to read 30 minutes every day. It came as no surprise to me that the first book she grabbed from her collection of books was "The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden". (Written by the wonderful and talented member of our very own Jblogosphere, Robert J. Avrech.) Every night after reading a chapter we discuss it. After reading the last chapter she asked me, "Ima, what's a bris?" Had I been prepared for this conversation I might have said something like, "It's the time when a Jewish baby boy is welcomed into a covenant between G-d and the Jewish people." Yeah, that's what I would have said....if I had been prepared. But...I was not not and so the conversation carried on something like this...

Me: Well, it's um, uh...it's when they cut a small part of a baby's penis off.

LO: (shocked) What?

Me: (dying that I actually have to say it again to her) It's when a mohel cuts off a small part of a baby's penis.

LO: What's a mohel?

Me: (thinking this conversation is not going well) It's a man who can be a Rabbi or a doctor who performs the circumcision which is what it is called.

LO: Why?

Me: (thinking when is this conversation going to end?) Because a very long time ago, G-d and Abraham made an agreement that all Jewish males would do this.

LO: Did Abba do it?

Me: Yes, Abba did it.

LO: (wide-eyed) Can I see?

Me: (wanting to die from this conversation) No - you can't see it silly-head.

LO: Well, thank goodness I'm not a boy because I bet it would hurt.

And just as out of the blue that this conversation started, it ended and she started talking about school and her teddy bear Winston as though this conversation had never happened. And oh was I ever thankful.

Happy Birthday Little Orieyenta

2007-08-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was LO's 9th birthday. We took our annual birthday trip to Disney World and this year we added a visit to Universal Studios. She talked about the trip for most of the way home (yes. that's a 4 hour drive and yes, that it a LOT of talking) so I would have to say that she had a great time. I asked her what her favourite things were in each park. She liked the Men in Black ride at Universal (which actually made me so dizzy that I wanted to be sick!) and Carousel of Progress and the Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom (yes, those are dorky but she's so cute, so who cares if she's dorky?)

I can't believe she's 9 already...where is the time going?

My car made me schvitz

2007-08-24T07:53:00.000-04:00

I walked out to my car in the 90 degree heat yesterday afternoon so I could go to the bank. (I work for a large corporation with over 1,500 employees at this location so our parking lot is HUGE. This means that depending on what time you arrive, there is a possibility that you will be parking your car a little over 1/4 of a mile away. I know, it's not far in distance but when you add the Miami heat/humidity factor and the tzniut factor into the equation, it is like walking in the desert.) All I could think of was turning on the A/C and that I was definitely going to have to get an ENORMOUS diet coke with lots of ice on the way back to the office. I got to the car, put the key in the ignition and heard...click click click. Nothing else. No blowing of the A/C, no music, just click click click.

My mind started to race. Ok, I'm a grown up. No need to panic. My battery must be dead. Guess it's time to buy a new car. Wait a minute, that is over-reacting. What should I do? (Meanwhile I am schvitzing to death.)

I try to call PHD. Since he is out playing golf with our Rabbi, I doubt he will answer the phone but it was worth a try. So I tried. And of course, no answer. (And I'm still schvitzing.) So I decide to call the Rabbi. He (of course) answers the phone. Instead of saying "Hello", he jokingly says, "You're calling to find out our golf score aren't you?" I wanted to say something sarcastic but whatever I would have come up with probably wouldn't have been appropriate to say to the Rabbi so instead said, "Oh yeah, sure I am. What were the scores? And oh, by the way my car broke down, can I talk to PHD?" I never got to hear the golf scores. (And yes, I was still schvitzing.)

PHD came to my office with a new battery for the car and all is well again in the land of orieyentas. (I am no longer schvitzing or kvetching.) The worst part of the story? I had to walk the 1/4 mile in the hot Miami sun BACK to the building. At least I survived to tell the story. Even so, how come buying a new car doesn't seem unreasonable? (Ok, I'm kidding. A little.)

Back to School Frustration

2007-08-23T07:58:00.000-04:00

LO started school on Monday. The entire week leading up to it, she was super-excited. She has always loved school and has always done very well at school. Much to our surprise that changed rather quickly.

To put it nicely, it has not been an easy week. Her school has decided to institute something called "departmentalization". That basically means that each teacher will be teaching the subject that they are strongest in. In theory it sounds like a great idea. After all, why not have someone who loves math teach math and someone who loves science tech science, right?

The problem with this theory is that they didn't think about the kids. They have the kids going from one classroom to another classroom all day. That sounds great if you're a high school kid or even a middle school kid...but ELEMENTARY school kids? These kids are used to having a desk with their names on them where they can keep all their stuff. But instead the kids (most of who probably don't weigh must more than 50 pounds) are walking down the hall in the 90+ degree heat several times a day schlepping bags of books and supplies that probably weigh about 20 pounds each. (Oh, did I mention that they are not allowed to use book bags with wheels?) No teacher walks with them when they go from classroom to classroom. It is just assumed that they will make it to their next destination. Some kids don't have books because they didn't order enough. The kids that got books have homework. The kids that didn't get books don't have homework. Nice, huh?

I could go on and on. The frustration level is at maximum capacity for not only me but LO as well. We had a parent meeting with the principal and the vice-principal yesterday. I don't think there was one parent who didn't have several complaints. I guess it's very apparent to me now why the Florida public schools are some of the worst in the country. And I guess taking out a loan for Hebrew Day School is looking better and better every minute.

Coconuts

2007-08-20T12:53:00.000-04:00

I was talking to PHD on the phone the other morning and he was out by our pool with LO. I could hear LO's voice in the background and then PHD started to laugh. Apparently some coconuts had fallen from our coconut tree. LO had gathered them up and she was standing over them with a stick talking to them and herding them like animals. Is this a sign that she has been an only child too long? Thank goodness school started today!

A present from the cat

2007-08-16T11:45:00.000-04:00

(photo by outcast831)

Remember this post?

Guess what the cat dragged in this morning? Ewwww.

Venus can't be a goddess

2007-08-15T15:25:00.001-04:00

(The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli)

During the summer we have been working with LO to improve her reading comprehension. We bought her a workbook that has several stories in it and after each story there are questions about the story. Today's story was the story from Roman mythology about Venus, Psyche and Cupid.

LO was confused by all the unusual names in the story and before she answered any of the questions about the story, she asked PHD, "Wait, who's Venus?" PHD replied, "She was the goddess of love". LO replied matter-of-factly, "Well there's only one G-d, so she can't be a goddess". Nice to know that she takes the words of the Shema that we say every morning and evening to heart.

A visit from "Gung Gung"

2007-08-14T15:09:00.001-04:00

I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't seen my Dad in almost 6 years. He lives in New York and while I have always had good intentions of going to visit at least once a year, somehow things always come up. I guess he decided that it had been far too long, because he decided to come and pay us a visit. If you would have seen LO with him you would have never guessed that she had not seen him since she was 3 years old. She definitely fit the role of "Grandpa's little girl" quite well and I must say that my Dad was quite the natural grandfather.

It really was a lovely visit and it definitely made me realize that I need to make a bigger effort to allow LO and her "Gung Gung" (Cantonese for Grandfather) more bonding time. Dad and PHD even had a little bonding time...PHD asked him for permission to marry me and Dad gave his blessing. Life is good.

A different stone wall

2007-08-08T16:01:00.000-04:00

(photo by spinedoc18)

We met up in North Carolina with PHD's cousins and some friends who are all visiting from Israel. We decided to meet them at a restaurant called "Stonewall's" (probably named after Stonewall Jackson). Here is a snippet of the phone conversation:

PHD: The restaurant that you wanted to meet us at is closed on Mondays so another restaurant called Stonewall's was suggested to us.

Cousin: (with HEAVY Israeli accent) Stone wall? What is this stone wall?

PHD: It's a restaurant with a huge salad bar. It sounds very nice.

Cousin: Ok, so it is called stone wall? Like the Kotel?

PHD: (laughing) Yes, like the Kotel.

I giggled and just shook my head. Only family from Israel could have come up with that one.

The Tooth Fairy takes a hit

2007-08-01T15:17:00.000-04:00

When LO lost her first tooth, I was all excited about playing the tooth fairy. Unsure of how much money to give her for a tooth, I asked one of the parents of a child in her class. The mother told me that she gives her son $20 for each tooth. $20? Geez, I was shocked since I don't think I ever got much more than a quarter or even an occasional dollar. But $20? Wow.

So, I've played along. $20 a tooth. (We actually took some of her money and bought an Israel bond. She was thrilled to think that her money is helping Israel.) Thankfully the time span between each tooth has been months, so it's never been a big deal.

This month the tooth fairy is taking a big hit. LO lost a tooth on her own...there goes $20. Then I brought her to the dentist. He explained how her teeth are crowded and that he will need to do several extractions. Two weeks ago - two teeth were extracted...there goes $40. Today another tooth extracted...another $20. Two weeks from now...another $20. LO's total for the month will be $100. This kid is raking in the cash. There has to be an end to this soon, no? I mean really, how many teeth does this kid have?

He's mine, all MINE!

2007-07-31T12:19:00.001-04:00

LO is home at "Camp PHD" for the summer. They both thought it would be more fun to spend the summer doing things together rather than for her to go to her usual summer camp (which she has grown bored of). While PHD is great fun, LO has asked that every now and then Camp PHD recruit another camper....so today her friend "Nesya" came to visit. I assumed that they would have nothing but great fun today but....that was a bad assumption.

I just got a phone call from LO. She was crying and screaming hysterically..."Abba doesn't love me anymore!" "Abba wants to play with Nesya instead of me!" "I want my Abba back!" "He's MY ABBA!"

(ed. note - I am using "Abba" in terms of the Hebrew word for father not that Swedish band that Neil is obsessed with.)

I was shocked. She has never been overly close to her father (my ex-husband). She never really took well to anyone I dated after the divorce. But, then came PHD. She has gotten very close to him. This became obvious to me when she decided that she wanted to call him "Abba". And it is very apparent when I see the two of them together. And now it's even clearer to me.

I'm thankful that they have built this wonderful father-daughter type relationship. But I'm really at a loss of what to do about what is now appearing to be a little over-possessiveness. I explained to her that he absolutely loved her and even if he was paying attention to the other little girl that he still loved her. What else could I have done? Any suggestions?

Our Chicago trip in pictures

2007-07-29T09:36:00.000-04:00

Since this was my first trip to Chicago, I took over 300 pictures. (Thank goodness for digital cameras!) I've already blogged about meeting Leah and Amy, so here's a small sampling of the rest of our trip...

This was taken from outside the Adler Planetarium. As you can see, we were blessed with beautiful weather during our trip.

No trip to Chicago could be complete without seeing Wrigley Field. The Cubs won this day.

We stayed with some of PHD's childhood friends at their awesome contemporary home. They were lovely hosts (If you are reading this J & M, many thanks for your hospitality!)

PHD's daughter works at the Lincoln Park Zoo, so we went there for a visit. This was a real treat for me since there is never much of a chance for me to see a polar bear in Miami.

Leah and her yellow crocs inspired us to take this picture of us. This is us at the Lincoln Park Zoo. (I love my Crocs and my little Israeli flags on them!)

We went to Chinatown and I thought it was cute to see that their fire engine number eight also had the number eight in Chinese on it.

Next we headed to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. We walked all day and I am told that we didn't even cover 1/2 of it. What an amazing place!

Stopped in East Rogers Park to pick up some kishke. We managed to get them all the way home to Miami and I can't wait to eat them!

All you have to say to me is "Kosher Chocolate" and I'm there. :)

I saw more homeless people in Chicago than I see in Miami. It was quite sad really. But this lady amazed me. She was as happy as could be reading her book and I just want to know how she manages to schlep all that stuff around by herself. A true example of make the best of what you have.

And finally, a trip to the Chicago Art Institute to see my favourite Seurat painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

It was a wonderful trip and we already can't wait to plan our next one!

Accidentally Jewish and Big Mouth

2007-07-25T07:26:00.000-04:00

Well, we just got home from a WONDERFUL trip to Chicago and I took over 300 pictures. This was my first trip to Chicago and I have to say that it is such a wonderful place that I now know why people brave the weather to live there. I'll post more about the trip as soon as I can go through the pictures but for now, here's a glimpse of one of my favourite parts of my trip....

I met up with Leah of Accidentally Jewish and Amy of Big Mouth Indeed Strikes Again. And from this meeting, I learned that not only is Chicago an awesome place...it sure has some awesome bloggers. Can't wait until my next trip there!

A blogger encounter

2007-07-17T20:56:00.000-04:00

(I was going to title this post, "Amishav, JAP, PHD and Two Orieyentas" but I thought that might be a bit long!)

Guess who we had lunch with today? Amishav and JAP are in hot, humid, sunny Miami visiting JAP's family and we were lucky enough to have them join us for sushi. I've been blog friends with Ami for a while and although this was the first time we ever met, it was like seeing an old friend. JAP was beautiful and sweet and I am just thrilled that we were able to all get together.

LO had two teeth pulled this morning so she started out rather quiet and not like herself. I apologized when we first met because LO was not even half the fun that I describe her as. However, that changed as the meal went on and she came completely out of her shell complete with her declaration that Amishav was indeed Jewish since he does not eat crab.

So Ami and JAP - thanks for making time in your vacation schedule for us. We hope to see you again soon - maybe we'll even make our way to Colorado some day!

Oh and speaking of blogger encounters...next up, PHD and I will be meeting Amy Guth, the most beautiful and talented author of "Three Fallen Women" and if we are lucky we'll get to meet Leah too.

You gotta love the jblogosphere.

Pink Cows?

2007-07-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

At dinner last night somehow the conversation turned to milk. As usual, LO jumped in and took over the conversation...

LO: I like chocolate milk. Chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows with some ice.

Me: Really? Well, where does white milk come from?

LO: It comes from white cows.

Me: And strawberry milk?

LO: Duh Mama! It comes from pink cows!

Shabbat Shalom.

The Kvetching Jogger

2007-07-10T17:34:00.000-04:00

One of the things that they do in LO's physical education class is run laps. At the end of the year anyone who qualifies gets to participate in what they call the "Panther Mile". For LO this means that she needs to run a mile in 10 minutes or less. LO has never qualified for the Panther Mile. But it's not because she can't run a mile in 10 minutes or less. It's because she is usually walking the track with her girlfriends. Instead of her feet running, her mouth is running...a million miles a minute.

It has never seemed to bother her that she and her girlfriends haven't qualified for the Panther Mile or that they are always the last to finish "running" the mile. But the other night when we were taking a evening stroll, she indicated that she wished she could run the Panther Mile. PHD told her that it would be easy and that he would help her do it. So this morning, training for the Panther Mile began.

(I was at work so this event is as told by PHD.)

The plan was to run one block and then walk one block for the mile. They started by running three blocks. Always the drama queen, LO started to pant like a dog that had been running on a hot summer day (complete with the sound effects and the tongue hanging out).

Then the kvetching began. PHD said she gave every excuse in the book. Some of the highlights were:

I'm sweating down my neck.

My arms hurt.

My eyes hurt.

My tongue hurts.

My tuchis is schvitzing. (I loved this one the most. How funny is a Chinese kid complaining in Yiddish?)

She called me and told me, "Mama, I'm a kvetcher!" Then she told me that the best part of jogging is stopping. Now I can't wait to go jogging with her. Although I fear it will be more about laughing hysterically than actually jogging.

16 weeks later....

2007-07-09T15:34:00.000-04:00

(This is not LO, but isn't this little girl adorable?)

In preparation for our shul's trip to Israel (which ended up not happening) we applied to renew LO's passport back in May. Here we are now SIXTEEN WEEKS later. Guess what we just got in the mail? Geez, they sure weren't kidding when they said that there are currently delays in passport processing.

(I am also amazed that I applied to renew both LO's passport and my own on the very same day. I receieved my passport 2 months ago. How the heck does that happen?)

Her Dad wants to bring her to visit friends in Costa Rica. I want to bring her to visit friends in Israel. I wonder which wonderful and exciting destination will be the first stamp in her new passport?

I need COFFEE

2007-07-03T07:33:00.000-04:00

I'm not ashamed to admit that I live a caffeine driven life. And I do know that it is important to taper off the caffeine prior to a fast. So, here it is the 17th of Tammuz. Guess who already has a headache? (Oy, somebody please remind me to lay off the caffeine before Tisha B'Av!)

May we all have an easy fast.

The kindness of bloggers

2007-07-01T10:24:00.000-04:00

(art by: Naomi Ocean)

Whenever I talk to a non-blogger about any of you who I refer to as a "blogger friend", they look at me like I am meshugganah. They can't understand how I can call someone a friend when I have never met any of you (although that will change very soon) and only spoken to a few of you on the phone. I'm sure that this is no new subject for a blog post but it's actually a little surreal when you think about it. We watch each other's children grow and share fun stories about them, we mourn the loss of each other's family members, we dream about each other, we join together for support when one of us or a family member is ill, we celebrate engagements, marriages and the donning of tefillin for the first time...we do all sorts of things "together" yet we could probably pass one another on the street and never know it. And the kindness I have come across here never ever ceases to amaze me and I thought I would share one of those stories.

LO and I were supposed to go to Israel and meet up with PHD there. Our trip got cancelled, but PHD couldn't cancel his trip since he was going there to attend a family wedding. Every day that he was gone LO and I were missing him terribly, but Shabbats were always the worst. Turns out that he felt the same way. While he was enjoying his time with his family in Israel, Shabbat was not the same without us. Short of getting on a plane to fix the situation, I tried to think of what else I could do to make this better. My research for ideas led to many very EXPENSIVE solutions. I decided to turn to a blogger friend who lives in Israel for suggestions. And he went way beyond giving suggestions, he actually facilitated the whole thing and certainly made Shabbat for PHD and his family very special. (When I tell this story to non-bloggers, they can't believe that someone I have never met would do such a nice thing.) So Trepp, here's a HUGE THANK YOU! I am truly blessed to know you and to be able to call you my friend.

After that Shabbat, PHD arranged a meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Trepp. Here's a picture from that meeting (and yes, I'm still jealous!)

We had a beautiful Shabbat (as we always do) but this one was more special since it was the first one we shared since PHD returned home from Israel.

To all of our blogger friends out there, LO, PHD and I wish to thank you for your kindness and for sharing all your stories with us.

Shavua Tov.

Inside LO's head

2007-06-28T07:53:00.000-04:00

When LO was younger there were several times a day where she would say something and I would just have to giggle at how her mind works. As she has gotten older, those moments still happen, but not quite as often as they used too. However, the past few days have been a little different and I thought I share a few of my favourites with you all...

LO asked me what a legend is. I explained and then she said, "Like Amelia Bedelia, right?" I replied, "Well, not really but..." She interrupted to explain how Amelia Bedelia flew her airplane all the way across the ocean but got lost in the Atlantic never to be found again. I said, "I think you meant Amelia Earhart."

She just looked at me and started giggling. (Should I be scared of what she is NOT learning in school?)

To keep LO from simply watching TV and playing games on the Internet all summer, we have decided to have our own little book club. We are currently reading "The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden" by the most wonderful and talented Robert J. Avrech of Seraphic Secret. We each read a chapter and then we discuss it. When we first started reading it, she asked me what an Apache Maiden was. She thought this meant she was someone's maid. I explained that an Apache is a member of an Indian tribe. Then she wanted to know if that was like a Cohen or a Levite. Oy, is this kid Jewish or what?

This morning she was marveling over fake grass. They replaced the mulch at her old school with this grass and we saw some of it at Disney World. The conversation went like this:

LO: Why do people want fake grass?

Me: Well, maybe they don't want to cut the grass.

LO: But they could just buy a lamb and have the lamb eat the grass. As long as it doesn't poop on the grass.

8 things

2007-06-26T07:39:00.000-04:00

(photo by claudecf)

Babka Nosher tagged me for this meme asking for 8 facts/habits about me.

The Rules are:
~ Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.
~ The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.
~ At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

This is an awful like this old meme but I guess that means I'll just have to share a little more! Here goes...

I drink what I am sure is an unhealthy amount of coffee and diet coke everyday. (Let's hear it for CAFFEINE - YAY!)

I taught myself to read Hebrew from several books after I realized that LO could read more Hebrew than I could.

I worked in the theatre on the cruise ship the SS Norway doing the show “Will Rogers Follies”. Before that I worked in the theatre on the cruise ship MS Seaward doing the show “Grease”.

My English middle name is also LO's first name.

My car has a navigation system in it because I am directionally challenged.

I have struggled with food issues for as long as I can remember and I even went here for help several times. (Ultimately keeping kosher is what saved me!)

I love to scrapbook and my scrapbook pages have been published in Memory Makers, Creating Keepsakes and a CK Idea Book.

When LO is asleep, sometimes I play games on her Gameboy. (Shhh...don't tell!)

I tag Z, Hila, Raggedy Mom, Amy Guth, Amishav, Tamara, Another Meshugganah Mommy, and Suburban Kvetch (who has been MIA for months but maybe this will bring her out!)

The Mezuzah Police

2007-06-24T19:50:00.000-04:00

(Mezuzah from the Gary Rosenthal collection)

The other night we were at shul and when we were leaving LO was holding the door for everyone. I noticed that she was paying special attention to each and every person who passed through the door. As they walked through the door she would either shake her head or proceed to look at the next person. I asked her what she was doing. She told me that she was watching to see who touched the mezuzah when they left the room and who didn't. (And I thought it was nuts when she acts like the kosher police.)

As cute as this was (and puzzling because you never know what she is going to come up with next), I made an interesting observation. The only people who touched the mezuzah when they left were all converts (myself and LO included). I wonder if this was a phenomenon of this group or if this happened outside of our little group. How about you? Do you touch the mezuzah on any doorpost that you see them on or only on your own home? And at home, if you have them on every room, do you touch them when you enter and exit each room?

An animal encounter

2007-06-20T07:20:00.000-04:00

So, while Neil is writing about pigeons on his porch, Babka Nosher is writing about her dog Rudy's antics, we learn just how much Amishav loves cats, and Jack has something to say about his love of cats as well, I have a little animal story of my very own.

Yesterday I stepped into the shower and turned the water on. I turned to reach for the soap and guess what I found in the shower...

If you guessed a RAT, then you guessed right. Umm...but it wasn't quite as cute as this picture. Oh and another thing...it was DEAD. Apparently the cat thought she needed to bring us a present. Oh the joys of an indoor/outdoor cat.

(BTW - LO's reaction was a very dramatic "EWWWWW!!!" But then her curious side took over as she visually inspected our dead little friend...."Mama, how come the rat doesn't have a tail?" Do we have to say kaddish?)

And why does this song keep playing in my head?

*Special thanks to our friend SS who so bravely removed our dead little friend for us! (There was NO WAY I was moving that darn thing!)

The Kosher Police strike again

2007-06-19T07:18:00.000-04:00

For an 8 year old LO takes keeping kosher pretty seriously. (I've posted about this previously here and here.) Tonight while I was watching television, LO was playing with her Webkinz on the computer. A commercial for Dunkin Donuts advertising a special for iced coffee and a ham breakfast sandwich came on. LO suddenly quit playing, looked at me and matter-of-factly said, "I have one thing to say about that - NOT KOSHER." Without even blinking an eye, she then turned back to the computer and continued playing her game.

That's my little kosher police for you. I wonder if the OU is hiring.

They didn't look Jewish

2007-06-14T07:17:00.000-04:00

We were at shul the other night baking fresh pita. (Yum - if you have never done this you should try - it is AWESOME!) Since we spend loads of time there, it is like a second home to us and there really is no need for LO to be at my side every moment. She usually plays in the school playground which is right outside the kitchen or she reads in the library. She is always sure to check in every now and then.

On this night, she apparently needed to use to the restroom. She ran by telling me she was going to the restroom and moments later she came back to the kitchen and had a very frightened look on her face. She said, "Mama, there were some ladies in the bathroom and they talked to me but they didn't look Jewish, so I didn't talk to them." Imagine my surprise after have just posted this when I heard coming out of my own child's mouth "they didn't look Jewish".

All the women in the kitchen stopped to listen to what would happen next. I asked her, "What do you mean they didn't look Jewish?" She replied, "I have never seen them in the synagogue before, so they must not be Jewish."

I explained that it was better to say that she didn't recognize them as people from the synagogue or as people that she knew. And I was certainly relieved that her explanation didn't include some form of stereotyping. I can only hope it will always be this way.

Fiddler Muzak

2007-06-13T07:31:00.000-04:00

The bathrooms in my Corporate America office have all of a sudden been playing Fiddler on the Roof muzak! Why does this make me giggle every time I have gone in there? Do you think anyone would appreciate it if I sang along?