"Full of Germs"

Ricki is still throwing things whenever she suspects that she might get away with it. (ie, unless I warn her in advance NOT to throw it). On Friday I saw a newly-thrown apple core next to the computer and called her over. “But it has worms* and is full if GERMS!” she countered.
That didn’t help her. I made her pick it up anyway, germs or not…..

*(it didn’t)

Catch-Up

Well, preparing for Passover has left me NO time for the computer. Tonight I am finally logging on, simply too tired to work. I will continue tomarrow. Basically I am done, just a few odds and ends to do, and catching up on cooking. I am going to sleep late- but at least am sleeping in (until 7:30???).

13 Days Left…..

My title has my Jewish readers (if any are left at this point in the frantic days leading up to Passover….) scratching their heads in bewilderment. After all, there are only (after today) 4-and a-half days left until we reach the seder* evening, houses hopefully chometz-free**, and festive holiday foods bubbling on the stove. The amount of work involved is tremendous, and there is little else dominating our thought this morning.
But this morning, I discovered luxury. I awoke at the normal time (6:40 AM), and remembered that Ricki has no school today. That means no bus to catch. So I turned over and slept another hour.
I have 13 more I-decide-when-to-get-up mornings left until Ricki returns to school after Pesach (Passover).

*seder evening: the first night of Passover, the seder is held, a festive recitation of the exodus from Egypt.
** chometz-free: before Passover, we empty our houses of all leavened bread and product ("chometz")

Magic Marker Monday- Prayer Book Cover

[image: prayer book cover on flowered chair.]
When Ricki started her new school, I was told that the arts and crafts teacher guives them nice, "grwn-up" projects to do. Well, that CERTAINLY is true! This praqyer-book ciover is what Ricki came home with last week, Don't ask me how she made it; I have NO idea!
You can find more of "Magic Marker Monday" HERE.

SOOC Saturday-The Story-Teller

Pictures: Ricki reading a story to one of her puppets.

Find more of Straight Out of the Camera at the button below:

The “Hidden Garbage Can”

I’ve mentioned several times how Ricki often throws stuff behind chairs, etc. Yes, for almost a year we have been calling Ricki to pick up her trash and she is STILL throwing it..... )
Well, this is what I found behind a chair I had swept behind just a few days previously. Note the bread.
Maybe I need to do some type of prize/reward system, since a year's worth of natural consequences just isn't "doing it."
How in the world will my house be kosher for Passover if Ricki throws bread into every nook and cranny???????

Like Any Older Child: Reading in Bed _Special Exposure Wednesday

SHECHEYANU **

For those of you following our kitchen saga* (see HERE and HERE).

SHECHEYANU!!! I FINALLY have a functioning kitchen with ALL of the following:
running water, pipes IN the walls, and full set of cabnits, and filler between the tiles. My kitchen is fundementally done.


* In short, a year and a half ago, the pipes in my kitchen where exchanged to runs running out a window, not yet imbedded in the wall. And in early January work started in my kitchen to redo it.
** "Shecheyanu " is a blessing thanking G-d for letting us reach this time and date. It is uaually said on certauin festive occaisions.

Intimidation

Today my husband was sitting in the window waiting for Ricki to arrive home from school. She was late, and he was worried. Suddenly we received a phone call, from “R”, the activity director from Ricki's former afternoon program (which Ricki decided she didn't want to attend).

“Did you know that Ricki is here?" She querried.

So I went to fetch Ricki, who had NOT really wanted to go, but had been intimidated by a classmate to do so.(Apparently this classmate is rather overbearing and bossy.)
Which shows just how vulnerable Ricki is.
IKES!

Special Exposure Wednesday- The Chef!

Ricki frying an egg:





Find MORE of "Special Exposure Wednesday HERE.

She gave Herself License…..

I was planning today to write about how Ricki hasn’t stolen borekas for a whole week or so. Progress. (GRIN) Real progress.
Don’t worry- she didn’t.
But imagine my happy balloon deflating as I saw Ricki extracting my VERY EXPENSIVE camera from her school bag this afternoon. In the morning I had caught a shot of her frying an egg (I’ll post it tomorrowhopefully), although by the time I had fetched the camera, the shot was not as good as what I had wanted to photograph. Then I must have left it in sight, and Ricki simply gave herself permission to make off with it, and took some 50 pictures at school today.
I am only happy that the camera came back in one piece….and that she isn’t (hopefully) stealing borekas.

Update:

Yes, it was definately easier keeping the diet today (after 6 hours of sleep) than yesterday!

This is a twenty-minute video , and is worth every minute!!! The speaker was born without fibula bones, and today is an athelete (and more). Her talk is on disability-society's view of disability, and the need to encourage in ourselves adaptability.

Have to Make a Change…..

Yesterday I did something I haven’t done for a LONG time. I binged. I was working hard, tired (not enough sleep), and just ate and ate and ate.
But the thing is not to be angry at myself. I have to analyze what happened (too little sleep….), and make an appropriate change. Hopefully I will update with the results!

Reminiscences

On Friday evening Ricki and I took a stroll after the evening meal. She was actually in a good mood, not complaining too bitterly that the walk had become rather extended. Suddenly, she asked me:
“What was it that I made in Gan (preschool)?” She went on to describe a craft she had made and brought home, wanting to discover the correct word for it. Than she went on with her reminiscences. She dug up from her memory the name of her first grade teacher, and laughed about something that had happened a few years back. It was as if I could “see” her memory working, stretching.
I will have to call her first grade teacher and tell her that she was remembered…..

The Carpetbagger

Ricki has a tendency to look like a carpetbagger: someone carrying their life’s holdings in some bags. Each day as she goes to school, she assembles TONS of “must-take” stuff. It becomes, in practical terms, her school bag PLUS two other bags full of junk.

I used to fight with her about it, but lately haven’t, as she would generally not want to give in, and fighting only made her miss her car.
Now her teacher wrote that they are making a campaign with prizes for Ricki, to only bring ONE bag to school. What can I say? As I wrote the teacher: “I am VERY VERY pleased…..”

Special Exposure Wednesday- The Photographer

You can find MORE of Special Exposure Wednesday HERE. This is a picture I took of Ricki, busy taking photographs at her nephew's brit. And this picture below is one that she captured!(Of her sister bending over to talk to her baby.)

Progress

This morning Ricki wanted a fried egg, and discovering that there were no eggs in the fridge, she offered to go to the grocery to purchase some more. Although fearful that she would snitch borekas (even though the grocery man would keep an eye on her, and write them on the bill), I was very busy, and reluctantly agreed.
Guess what? She didn’t take any pastries, and the one candy she did buy (yes, without asking first) she did show the grocery man to write on the bill. This isn’t ideal, YET she felt very proud that she had not succumbed to the impulse to stuff herself in the store, and I guess that this is progress.

PAIN

My body “ain’t what it used to be”. While my knee pain has gone away (the only good side effect of having less time to walk, I guess….) my shoulder and arm have gotten much worse,. To the point that I have decided to return to the doctor.
Fat people don’t generally like going to doctors. We are told the terrible painful truth (that whatever ails us is usually our own fault….). And many doctors have trouble seeing the person below the overweight, and treating us as people.
So the fact that I am returning to the doctor is telling. More so is the fact that any movement past 45 degrees hurts my left arm, including simply holding a cup of coffee. (How I can clean for Passover like this is anyone’s guess…..)

Post-Purim Post

Sorry about the non-posting, but this is what I meant when I said a while back that I would be posting less until after Passover. I have had a hectic week. Work continued (finally!) on my kitchen last week, and on Friday morning we made a quick dash to Jerusalem and back, to join my oldest son’s celebration of his new baby boy’s birth (circumcision). Then Sunday was Purim, and tonight I decided I would do no more than clean up.
Purim was very nice. Soldier–son was here for most of the day, as well as his 2 younger (and non-religious) brothers. Also two married sons and their families dropped by. And, as usual, everyone got along FINE. I am so proud of my crew for loving each other and looking past labels.
Ricki was partly well behaved, having listened nicely to the megillah reading (of the scroll of Ester). She was more of a pest as regards the abundance of sweets, and needed firm reminders that she was not allowed to eat whatever she desired! Her niece was puzzled at some of her misbehavior. At age 4 plus, she knows that Ricki is older than she is, and was surprised that she could misbehave. She doesn’t yet realize that Ricki is “different”, but I suspect that she will realize within a year. At some point we take each grandchild aside and explain the situation, outlining the attitude we expect from them as well. This has worked well in the past.
So to those of you in Jerusalem (where it is still Purim), hope you have a happy and safe celebration!
[REMEMBER, NO drunk driving! (The wife of one of my married sons returned by bus to her house, as her dear husband “sleeps it off” on my sofa…….) (To those who don’t know, Purim celebration involves, generally, some consumption of wine…..)]