The Power of Prayer

I believe in it!! Julie says yesterday's prayers for Kris helped and she is doing well. I remember that road with my mom. It was a long one with the surgery, chemo, radiation, and then the 5 years of medication that followed. The good news is, she is cancer-free at this time. Thank God!

Prayers today go to Michelle who had fibroids removed from her uterus today. She is doing well and expected to go home on Sunday. But, please put out those good thoughts for her in her recovery.

I'd also like to add a small prayer of healing to Rabbi Debbie's 2-yr old grand-daughter who broke her femur (that's the leg bone) and is in a half-body cast. I hope she heals quickly.

Peace and love to you and all of yours.

Prayers...

for Kris. Much luck to you on the new boobs!

WE MOVED!!!

So, a long time coming, but we have finally moved into our new/old house. We have STUFF everywhere and no place to put it! I know...unbelievable now that we have over 2500 sq feet of space, but we don't have storage facilities. There is a decided lack of shelving and cabinetry throughout the house. In fact, before I built some Ikea bookcases for the playroom, there were no storage units anywhere outside of the kitchen. So, we are having some difficulty deciding where to put our existing bookcases which are scheduled for replacement and how much to unpack before that happens.

BUT, we are here! Pictures soon. I still can't get them from Dave's computer to mine!

It's been an eventful year already...

...with celebrations of life, death, love, and relocation. Let's see how it all unfolded...

Dear friend and mother to Julie, Roz, left this world to walk with God earlier this month. Her services were held last week and I was honored to say Kaddish for her. I hope her family felt God's presence there and took comfort in the end of her suffering.

On a better note, yesterday was Ry-guy's 2nd birthday! I hope he is ready for a big celebration in his honor tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Buddy! And also on the celebratory note, Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary to Dave and me! It seems we have spent our entire lives together, but the marriage is only 9 years old. 9 is my special number...I hope it means there are good things in store for us this year.

Speaking of good things in store....we are planning to move home this weekend! God willing, we will get all the plumbing done tomorrow and Saturday so we can finish cleaning the kitchen and set up the bathroom. I think we have found the closet systems we like, too. I will be buying those tomorrow if Dave decides he likes 'em. Then we can finally move home!!!!!! YAY!!! YIPEE!!! The excitement is overwhelming! We have 2 TONS of things yet to do, but at least we will be home to do them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR...

...I hope! Here's hoping everyone had a good holiday season and looking forward to a great new year! Not starting out great for us so far, but it's got to look up from here. We got broken into again last night. They broke the garage door and the door to the house. Not sure where else there is damage. Stole tools again. Really mad! Time to file an insurance claim. They also took our hardwood flooring which was sitting in my office waiting to be laid. GRRR! Not sure which part is most frustrating to Dave, but for me it's the repairs that we can't afford to make and then the replacement of the stolen items...I guess for me it's about the money. Of course, there is the lack of security feeling now. Hope that will return when we move into the house and have security cameras up and Shayna living there. Yeah...Shayna's being there would help a lot! Maybe I'll work on the fence tomorrow.

On the upside, we seem to past our month of colds and fevers (I hope) and on the mend. With a little bit of luck, we should be happy and healthy in our own new house soon.

A Year in Review!

So, I think I have finally hit the December peak! Let's recap...I finally got my CD out there; I spoke at the conference at Asilomar; I worked with a group of moms and we adopted a family; performed in the choir's winter concert; wrapped up school and spearheaded the Preschool's Teacher Appreciate December Event. Well, yep...that wraps up December. Of course, we still have Christmas with the in-laws coming, but that's not a big to-do for me. I just need to bring a little something and call it done. :)

So, now the whole recap:
January--My baby was still a baby back then and Jayden was a sweet at 3 could be. No major events.
February--Shayna learned it's not as much fun to chase cats as she thought it was. Didn't know what to do with it once she caught it!
March--Lots of visits from Michelle, Katie and Wes to celebrate MIL's 50th B-day.
April--Got some beautiful pics of the kids. Jayden peed all over the world when we finally said goodbye to diapers for real. Took the whole month, but he finally decided to do all his business in the potty! HURRAY!
May--House got broken into AGAIN and I was sad to find out that my dear friend was moving away. Spent a pleasant Mother's Day on the beach though, that was nice! Ellie is growing up too fast! Wants her hair combed and clips put in!
June--High school drama club reunion put a lift on things. I had a good time. My kids rediscovered the fun of the Exersaucer! HOW ridiculous!
July--Happy Birthday Jayden! My he seems too little to be four! Dad had his appendix out. That was a shocker!
August--Joint birthday party for the kids. Pirate themed...had a good time! Jayden and the boy next door became playmates. They really enjoy spending time with eachother. Gonna miss that when (if) we move back home!
September--Happy Birthday Eliana! Back to school for everyone! Jayden moved up to the Chavarim class and Eliana gets her first adventure in school in the Little Stars. I also went back to Notre Dame to teach just one class. Been quite an adventure for all of us!
October--Halloween! The kids were warm in their costumes! Jayden was a dinosaur and Eliana was an adorable Tigger!
November--Mom had angioplasty. Thanksgiving at my parents' house because...well you know!
December--not home yet, but soon!

Been a busy year! Hope you all have a good year and a relaxing holiday season!

Blogger's Time-Out!

Ok...it's quiet enough that I feel secure in taking some time out to update my blog and read others'. Only problem now, is where to begin?!

Ok...me first. I have been super busy since Thanksgiving (which went nicely) at my parents' house. Dave actually thinks now we should be in our house by the end of the year. I can only hope he is right, but I am not holding my breath. If it takes another month, I would be neither disappointed nor surprised. But, the week after T-day, I worked pretty hard to prepare my presentation at the math teachers' conference in Asilomar. It went very well. I had a classroom with about 35 desks that was totally filled by3:10. With 20 minutes to go before start-time, I ended up sending people down the hall to get chairs. I think I had about 50 people in there by the time I started the presentation and then a few more drifted in after that! It was a pretty full house! People LOVED my songs and I sold over 20 CD's! AMAZING!

After Asilomar, I spent the past week helping my mom prepare for the Chanukah party for the congregation. I also found out that we bought a building! YAY! Our little congregation is going to have a home! It's pretty exciting news for the community because the congregation has been around for over 30 years and this is the first time they have been able to secure their own establishment. I think it will go far to tying down roots and getting the younger members more involved. This is especially good for me because I want my kids to get a Jewish education and now we have a place to associate with and not just a group of people.

Anyway, the party was last night and went pretty well. I was tired when I got home though and it was only 9:30!! All in all, it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Not that I expect it be much less busy in the upcoming couple of weeks....especially if Dave is right and we are moving home soon!

I am working with some other moms and we have adopted a family for Christmas. I am spearheading this thing (not that I really know what I am doing, but....) and I need to figure out how to divvy up the purchasing. Probably ought to get on that today! Also, I am on the committee for teacher appreciation at the kids' preschool and this month is my month! YIKES!

Speaking of preschool...Jayden has decided he no longer wants to go to school. When I talked to him the other day, he told me that they (I think he decided it was the teachers and not the kids) always take his toys away. I think there is probably more going on here that I don't recognize because I don't speak "4". But, I hope we can figure it out soon. He's been different at home too. He always has an argument about everything I want him to do. He negotiates everything to DEATH! I am kind of at my wits' end with it. I fear giving in because it will add fuel to the fire, but I don't want to end up with a kid who hates me or worse--me hating him! I need help! The advice his teachers gave me is not really helpful because they said, "Give him power in the small things." Well, I do. "Do you want peas or carrots?" is not a big deal for me, but when he comes back with "I am not eating any vegetables!" I can't do much about that. Taking toys away seems unfair to Eliana, but then it wasn't working anyway.

Ok...clearly I had more to say about Jayden than anything else! HELP!! I need an expert on age 4!!

Where have I been??

No time to update now, but here's a link to Dave's blog (which he doesn't use much) and there are some pics of the kids there.

http://www.cyberprose.com/

Good and bad

So, Mom is home and very tired. She is recovering and feels like she will be up and about by next week. Here's to hoping all goes well.

And now the part where I need some help. Jayden is very into "NO" and "NEVER". Does anyone else have to deal with "I'm never going to eat blah-de-blah ever again" or "I'm never going to wear that shirt ever" or "I'm never going to share with so-and-so (usually Ellie goes in there)" ?

PLEASE advise! His "no"'s and "never"'s are driving me insane!!

Mom is...

...doing fine. She had the angioplasty this morning and seems to be doing well, now. The expectation is for her to come home tomorrow. She expects to be released between 9 and 12, so it all sounds good.

Eliana had some surprises in store today. She decided that she needed to go potty AND SHE DID--ALL BY HERSELF! She took herself off to the toilet, pulled down her pants, took off her diaper and went. AWESOME! But, the best part of this story is not that she did this all by herself when I picked her up from school today, but that she did it again this evening after dinner! In fact, this time, she wouldn't get down off the potty until I suggested that she wear big girl panties until bedtime! I don't really expect her to keep them dry, but it would be totally awesome if she did!

I'll take that good with the bad any day of the week! :)

Halloween was....

...fun. Jayden dressed up as a dinosaur again. I wanted Ellie to wear either Jayden or Kayleigh's old dinosaur costumes and they could be twins, but neither Daniela nor I could find the old costume. Bummer. So, Ellie was Tigger. Dave bought a Tigger costume for something like five bucks at Target when Jayden was a year old. He already had a costume AND wouldn't fit into the Tigger for another year, but Dave bought it anyway. In my frantic search through the millions of boxes at our house, I found it. Funny that I found that one and not the dinosaur....hmmm.

Anyway, Jayden was a dinosaur, Eliana was Tigger, Dave was a clown, and his mom was a pirate. Me...I had no costume yet again. Maybe I'll put myself first one of these years and I'll have a costume, too. BUT....we all schlepped over to Grandma Tess's house to trick-or-treat in Willow Glen. The kids got TONS of candy and some other cute little things too. They had a wonderful time. That's all that matters.

Today, in the aftermath, my mom went in to the dr for a stress test on her heart. She failed. I am waiting news now on the angiogram and potential angioplasty. Fingers crossed on good outcomes!

House news: We got the house measured for carpet today...we WAY underbudgeted for flooring. There will be more compromises in the near future. The drywall guy is meeting Dave at the house on Saturday to re-bid the job. Prices for drywall are only about half of what they were when he bid the first time. We are hoping to save big time here to compensate for the carpeting blunder. The roofer is coming out on Sunday to finish up our last bit of roofing issue. The insulation guys are coming out on Wednesday. YES!!! I SAID THEY ARE ACTUALLY COMING OUT TO PUT IN THE INSULATION! FINALLY!!!

I estimate another 6 weeks or so before we can move home. I hope everyone can hang in that long for a peaceful extraction of all of us from my parents' overflowing house. :)

I picked up a worm today.

I was playing with the kids outside today and Ellie stopped in a panic on the sidewalk while following Shivam and Jayden into Shivam's yard. (Shivam is Jayden's little friend next door.) I wasn't sure why she stopped and was so paranoid until I saw the worm wiggling in the middle of the sidewalk. I don't think she ever saw an earthworm before which might explain the response. But, when I stooped down to look at it, the boys came over too. WE talked about why it was there and why it was wiggling around. Then, I told the kids that the worm needed to get back into the dirt or it would die. So, I picked it up and flung it into the grass (gently of course). We all gathered around it to watch it squirm it's way into safety. The kids were totally fascinated albeit worried that the worm would bite me or something when I picked it up. They all backed up and got all panicky like it was dangerous...I had to try really hard not to laugh.

Other news....house is moving along but in slo-mo. We might be home by the end of November, but no turkey will be served. Things just take too long. :( Day number 585.

567 Days down...

...and only 46 more days to Thanksgiving. I hope we make it! :)

It seems that the end is in sight though. Dave said he is going to take Tuesday off to work on the house with Uncle Gary and his cousin Travis to finish up some of the major things he needs to do to pass the inspection. So, with a whole dang lot of luck, he will manage to get another inspection this week and we will pass and be done. That means it's time to get the insulation guys in; then drywall; paint, tile, and flooring! :) I will be going to Southern Lumber this week to order vanities, countertops, and medicine cabinets for the bathrooms. They will take 2-3 weeks to come in, so we should get them right on time to put them in. I just hope the rest of it goes as planned.

FINGERS CROSSED! PRAYERS WELCOME!

PROGRESS!!!

Yay!! I am happy to finally report progress on our house!! Dave FINALLY finished all the menial tasks that needed to be done before he could call for an inspection. Hallelujah! The city made him write (by hand) a letter explaining why he needed to extend our permit AGAIN and this time they told him he had to have an inspection by the end of this month. PRESSURE!!! He managed to finish this weekend so he could get the inspector to come this week. I am so excited by this progress that I can hardly contain it!

I went out shopping yesterday to see what fixtures I like and I am ready to purchase vanities for all three bathrooms as well as the countertop/sinks. I am not terribly particular about the toilet upstairs, but I would like it to match the downstairs ones. I know what faucets I want, and I am ready to purchase paint and carpet. I think all that is left of great import is doors and a railing. YAYAYAYAY!!! A little more work and a few more weeks and we might actually be moving back home! Dave will be needing to call the insulation and drywall people this week as soon as he knows when the inspection will happen and if he passes, we can get those guys in to get the work done! :)

Yet another birthday...

...gone by. Today was my 35th birthday. Not sure why 35 seems so significant. I guess it's that age when the doctors think pregnancy, calcium intake, and mammography suddenly become so noticeable. To me, I don't feel any older or different than I did 20 years ago. Well, except for the obviously largerness of me. I do feel significantly larger than I did then.

And, I feel more in control of my emotions than back then too. Just the other day (Friday to be exact), I was shopping for work pants (I've gained yet another dress-size since I last worked) with my mom. While I was in the dressing room trying on about a gazillion different things, another woman came back to try something on. The saleswoman said, "Would you like to try those on, Young Lady? Right here, Honey."

Now I am not one to take kindly to "Honey" and "Sweetie" but, this woman takes the cake! She put on the nastiest tone I have ever heard someone use in a clothing store to an older saleswoman and exclaimed, "I am NOT a young lady and I don't like to be called Honey! I don't want to be humored. I just want to try these on!" Now these words all on their own are not too bad, but with the nasty tone, they were SOOOOO RUDE!

My mom and I looked at each other in total shock and disbelief. But, instead of ignoring the woman's rudeness and letting it go, my mom pipes in with, "She was just trying to be nice." Now, she said it in a very non-challenging tone with just a hint of "calm down" in there. The woman shouts (shouting now), "Shut up and mind your own fucking business, you Brainless Twit! You have no idea what my problems are so just butt out. Stupid fucking brainless twit!"

I chose to maintain my silence, but the giggles would not be suppressed...mom and I had a nice laugh over that. I guess I have learned some humor in the last 20 years. I recall a time I would have responded to her and there would have been no point but I would have argued until I got myself all worked up into a dither. Of course, I would have said, "At least you got two things right. I have no idea what your problems are (not that I care) and you are certainly not a lady--young or otherwise!"

I guess the big benefit to having a brain and a blog, is that I get to have the last word anyway! Yay for me! :) Maybe I haven't matured as much as I thought HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :D

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little Miss!

Today is Eliana's birthday. We had a pretty fun day hanging out with my brother. Since it was a non-work day, Dave took the opportunity to work on our house. I hope he gets done with his stuff soon....he keeps telling me just a couple more days but no matter how many days he works, there is still a couple more days worth of work. It's very frustrating! Anyway, he was working on the house, so Jeff and I decided to take a trip to Ikea. Jayden was super excited because he was finally able to play in the kids area. Last time we went, he wasn't potty-trained yet. So he had a great time there. Eliana got to go shopping with Jeff and me. We looked mostly at chairs and wall units...something we are both interested in. However, we found the kitchen tables and household accessories interesting too. Jeff ended up buying plates, glasses, and cutlery since he had nothing to put in the kitchen. He still needs major necessities like pots, pans, cookware in general, actually! But, at least he can eat his take-out on real plates! :)

We wrapped up the day with a simple dinner of yummy hamburgers and cupcakes. Ellie and Jayden enjoyed those all over their little faces. Good reason for their bath right now! Well, that and the fact that their first day of school is tomorrow. I'm pretty excited for Jayden. He will be in the big-kids class. I hope he gets really into learning his letters and numbers and wants to start really writing them and putting sounds together for reading. Eliana is going to start the itty-bitty kids class tomorrow. I hope she loves being there and doing art and playing with other kids her age. I have no academic expectations for her--just for a pure love of learning.

As for me, I have a busy week ahead! Tomorrow I return again to the classroom. I am teaching just one class of Honors Geometry at Notre Dame High. I am blessed that the class is 7:50-8:30AM M-Th...well Thursday is a block day so class ends at 9:15 but that is really close to 8:30 :) Anyway, I have my class; then I have to go to the kids school to see them off to class; pick them up at noon. Wednesday I only have my class then we have play-time. Thursday though, I have my class, then pick the kids up at noon, then I have my first Hebrew High class that night. I have never taught Hebrew High. Basically it's religious school for high school kids...but I have to teach a Jewish ethics class...not my strong suit! Ok that sounds bad....I am a very ethical person, just not sure how strong I am at teaching it. I hope mostly to be a facilitator and let the kids run the class. We'll see! Anyway, the rest of the week (Friday) the kids are in school again on Friday. Then Jayden has a b-day party to go to on Saturday morning (the boy's birthday is today) and Eliana has a party in the afternoon on Saturday (that little girl's birthday is today too)--popular birthday day! :) And lastly, Sunday...we get to relax...until...we go to the Back To School BBQ for the kids' preschool! Like I said...busy week! Well...best get it started with getting the kids out of the bath and ready for bed. :-)

Walk with God, Uncle Rick

Yesterday was Uncle Rick's memorial service and the family celebration of life. Some might find it difficult to celebrate the life of one who was so addicted to alcohol that even his closest family members felt distant. But, Uncle Rick was a happy soul with a loving heart and a smile that wouldn't quit. We had a wonderful day with family and friends sharing stories of Rick and things we remember best. I chose not to share my story of Shayna and Jessie barking their little fool heads off at him and the eventual bite Shayna blessed his hand with, but it was nice to hear other stories.
I think the best part of the day was when we hooked up with Dave's brother Wes over the internet with the webcam. He is stationed in Korea and couldn't make it out for the funeral. He was overjoyed to see us all together and shared with us the one thing he remembers best about Uncle Rick. They used to play their guitars and sing together. The craziest song ever....it's about a bird and his pecker....and his broken pecker....don't know the song? Me either really, but it was a favorite of Uncle Rick's and he used to play it any time he pulled out his guitar. So, anyway, Wes pulls out his guitar and finally (after much cajoling) agrees to sing it for Rick's daughters Sonya and Kristie. Well, EVERYONE gathered around for this performance and only AFTER Wes sang for us, did anyone tell him that the room was PACKED! Poor Wes...pretty sure he was embarrassed by the shear number of people listening to him. But, he was a good sport about it.

Toast to you, Uncle Rick! You are loved and missed by family and friends. May your soul rest peacefully in a place happier than you were on earth.

So much happening...

and yet surprisingly little to say.

Dave is getting used to his new car. I can't say he is particularly excited about it. Perhaps it's the timing (he wasn't ready), or maybe the outrageous sum of money that we can't afford, or I suppose it could be that he really loved his truck; but, in any case, he is not nearly as excited as one should be when they purchase their very first brand new car. Honestly, I think I am more excited about it than he is.

Jayden is challenging me daily. I need to hunt up a book on 4-yr-old behaviour so I can figure out what makes his little head tick. I am not good with the little ones...I hope when they are teenagers I will have a better handle on how to deal with them.

Eliana is an angel. She is such a happy child it makes me smile to just think of her. Which is good because I am going to start school next week and I will miss them both terribly while we all adjust to new schedules! Plus, I am going to be gone to LA next week for a couple of days while I record my songs on CD. I am pretty excited and nervous all at the same time! It's a whole new world for me...the music biz! More info on that next week.

Thank you ...

to everyone who was able to join us in our big birthday celebration today. Jayden and Eliana have been bouncing off the walls all afternoon from the excitement of having so many friends visit and spend the day with us. The pirate cake, decor, and treasure chests only added to their excitement. And spending the day in the pool with friends was too much fun for words. Ellie sat with my mom in the rocking chair at bedtime talking non-stop about the rocket ship that they launched up on the roof. Ok...so you can actually see the little plastic toy rocket sitting on the awning from the bedroom window, but still, she talked about swimming with everyone and all the fun they had. Jayden talked about all the fun he had swimming with his friends in the pool and about his pirate birthday. He must have said "Thank you for my really great Pirate Birthday party that I shared with Ellie" to Dave and me a hundred times since everyone left today.

We played three of the games that Jayden got for his birthday today. He wasn't crazy about Crocodile dentist because he didn't want to get bit and apparently he lost one of the bean bags from his Tic-Tac-Toe bean bag game already. I will have to hunt that up before the trash goes out. But, he LOVED the Diego numbers matching game that he got. He is even learning to be a little graceful about not winning. I hope he learns that soon!

All in all, it has been a very exciting day. Not all of the excitement was for the kids though. Dave and I left the kids with my parents for a couple of hours while we went car shopping. Yes, I said cars. Dave's truck broke-down AGAIN! He thinks he blew a head gasket. If that's the case, he is not getting it fixed! Plus, as I said in a previous post, I am not fixing that POS again! I was rather hoping it would wait until the house was done to announce its demise, though. In any case, Dave was hoping for a used Prius with carpool stickers. Since those are so rare these days and outrageously pricey for the ones you can find, we looked at the new Prius' today. I really liked what I saw! I think what we save in gas money from his 4Runner will pay most of the payment on the Prius. We didn't buy anything today, but it gave us a great place to start seriously thinking about what to do. We are still torn between a used Prius at a lesser cost, a new Prius for just a few thousand more (really a difference of only 2K-3K), or a cheap used something else until we can really afford a new car.

UPDATE: We bought a 2007 Prius today. It took FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!!! I have never purchased a new car before. I didn't know it was an ALL DAY adventure. We are glad to be home with our new baby. :P

Playmates

Jayden has made friends with the boy next door. Shocking, I know! My open-hearted, friendly, happy, out-going little boy made a friend. ;)

Yesterday, he wanted to go play with his little friend so badly, he asked every 20 seconds if he could go play. Finally, it got to the point where I forgot why I was telling him no and said he needed to put his pants on (he doesn't like to wear pants) and shoes. Then he could go ask if his friend can play for a half-hour outside. Well, I'll tell you! No one has ever seen a little boy move so fast! He got dressed, shoes on, opened the front door and ran next door before I could blink!

Not one minute later, he was running back to our house. I met him on the step and he had a funny look. "What....", I started to ask. "He's not home!", Jayden wailed. And, no sooner did the words fall out of his mouth than did the tears start pouring out of his little eyes. He was absolutely devastated that he couldn't play with his friend. We went inside and the sobbing continued for another 10 minutes before he could finally get a hold of himself. I forgot that Jayden's buddy has swim lessons on Wednesdays. I knew I was saying no for a reason, but I forgot what it was. That was it.

I took the kids out to dinner at Red Robin as planned and after a good meal of grilled cheese, french fries and chocolate shake, Jayden was a happy kid again. When Daddy brought them home, Jayden's neighbor friend was standing outside the truck before Jayden could even get his buckles off. They had a great time playing for a little while before the sun went down and they had to get to bed. All in all, it wasn't a bad evening. I suffered a terrible broken heart for my baby though. Playdate rejection is difficult for us at all ages, but to see your children suffer heartache causes much more damage, I think.