The World Ignores; We Are “Sweet and Sour”

In the International news I see NO mention of the drama which is gripping Israel this week: the expected return of Gilad Shalit (held in captivity by hamas for over 5 years) on Tuesday. For every Israeli, no matter what their political stripe, the hope that Gilad’s parents will soon see their son, and that he will be free, is very sweet indeed. Because we all know (especially those with sons serving in the army), that “There but for the grace of G-d, goes I”.
But unfortunately, this deal is VERY sour as well. Over a thousand terrorists are due to be released from Israeli jails in exchange for Gilad. The pain of their victims’ families is also ours. In addition, the fear—no, the CERTAINTY, that these released animals (apologies to the animal world) will in large part return to terror, the knowledge that this exchange increases the chances of further kidnappings, makes all thoughts of CELEBRATING Gilad’s release too hard.
I would love to CELEBRATE. But I can’t. I do not blame Gilad, nor his parents. Gilad, I pray, will go on and have a happy life, if his captivity has not traumatized him too much for that. But if we as a country hope to go on and have a happy life, the time has come to end this madness of making kidnapping Israelis so valuable. The time has come for a change. We need to stop giving college degrees to the terrorists in our jails, but instead to start giving the death penalty to those who wantonly murder our citizens.
And I ask, why does this human drama not make the news, but Turkey’s talk of reprisals against the soldiers who boarded their ship does? Simple. Israeli captives are not news. The hamas’s ignoring of the Red Cross is not news-worthy. It does not fit in with the Israel-as-evil-occupier script.

Drawing the Line

I prefer that Ricki, on leaving the house in the morning, should be clean, neat, and dressed tastefully. In addition, she needs to wear clothing that is acceptable in our community in relation to tnius (modest dress).
However, sometimews I grant her a bit of leaveway, letting her wear outfits that I don’t especially like, but which are “passable”.
HOWEVER, sometimes I have to draw a line, balancing her need to learn appropriate dress and her need to be as independent as she can. Yesterday morning was a case in point. She had choosen to wear two blouses, one on top of an utterly unrelated and unneeded blouse, both of stretch material. These blouses are a bit tight, ie they look great under a vest, but are absolutely horrendously horrible by them selves. Worn alone, they show every curve and every pound. I told Ricki in no uncertain terms that she had to remove the extra blouse, and add a vest, OR choose a different type of (looser) blouse. She refused, and trounced out of the house., So I waited until I could see her (from the window) exiting the building, and called to her that if she didn’t return home to change I would go to her school and “tattle” on her to her teacher. No arguing, just a statement of fact. Thank G-d, it worked (saving me a trip to the school and saving her from stares in the street), and she acquiesced, returning home to change. As she went out the door a second time, she reaped a few extra kisses and a hug.

PS An easy fast to all those fasting tonight and tomarrow (Yom Kippur)

Special Exposure Wednesday (Even though it's Thursday....)

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This is Ricki in a photo from a family trip this summer (for more on the trip, see HERE).
(You will find more of "Special Eposure Wednesday" HERE.)

Interesting (?) Sidenotes on myself.

1) Growing up I toyed with the idea of a profession: oceanographer (I still love the ocean today and I used to scuba dive)/ doctor (But I didn't have the grades for this)/ librarian/ stunt pilot. Eventually I became a nurse....
2) I love purple food: beets with horseradish/ beets/ red cabbage
3) During college, I ran around with a bunch of drug-users, even though I was "clean". Once when at a music concert, someone new to the group saw that I was happy, and asked the leader of the group "What is SHE on?" Answer: "Oh, Rickismom? She gets high on life....", True. On life and also climbing in the Rockies.
4) I liked the Beatles, but also Ian and Sylvia/ Renaissance dances/ Swan Lake and Sherazad /blues. Today I listen to a very wide range of music.
5) A big part of my growing up was during the years of the civil right movement. My parents were politically conservative, yet very pro civil rights. My Dad bucked the norm when as head of the chemistry department; he hired a non-white teacher who he felt was the best candidate for the job. We sat at the “black” soda fountain (see HERE).
Therefore it should not surprise you that my first husband was black ( an Ethiopian Jew).

Repentance? REGRET?

Gee, I guess that even Ricki is getting into the mood for the-soon-to-be-upon-us Yom Kippur. (Yom Kipper is a day when we confess our sins and try to make amends.) She had carelessly gotten some tipex (typo white-out paint) on the tablecloth in the living room and she went ON HER OWN INITIATIVE to get a brush to clean it up. And she worked hard, until every last trace was gone.
Now THAT is definite progress!

A Conversation

Ricki reported this conversation to me this evening. She and a friend in the after-school program were conversing:
FRIEND: You have to bring the money for the trip tomorrow.
RICKI: NO I DON’T! Don’t you understand?!? I am not going because I threw my mom’s jewelry out the window!

So that DEFINITELY shows that she understood. Later she told me that “next time” she won’t throw my stuff out the window, because she DOES want to go on the next trip…
I am just left wondering if she is including in her self-ban getting into my closet as well…..

CPAP

We have the results from Ricki’s sleep study of a few weeks ago: definitely NOT good ones! She has an oxygen saturation level blow 90 for 18% of the night, including as far down as 78%. Tonight our ear doctor rechecked her: there are no further surgical options beyond her initial surgery (adenoids removed in 2001), so it looks like we will soon be purchasing a CPAP machine…..

Ricki’s Fallout

Ricki’s “fallout” for the holiday was what she let fall out of our window, and the repercussions that incurred.
Last week I saw a GORGEOUS pair of earrings in a store near where my married daughter works. I hesitated to purchase them, however, as they are definitely a bit (OK, a lot) on the long side, much longer than what I am used to wearing.
Arriving home, I regretted not buying them, and asked my daughter to pop in to the store and get them for me. She did, and she handed me the small bag with the earrings (luckily NOT expensive ones) just as the holiday started Wednesday afternoon. Since I have real jewelry (ie, expensive stuff)* for Shabbat and holiday wear, I quickly stashed the tiny bag with the earrings into my closet.
Lo and behold, this morning I realized that they were gone. First I ransacked Ricki’s schoolbag and jewelry box, and not finding the contraband, I demanded from her to inform me of the jewelry’s whereabouts.
“I threw it out the window.”
Apparently, she was near the window, and as someone entered the salon, she was afraid of being caught red-handed, so she simply pitched the stolen goods out the window. I searched downstairs for the glossy strands, but found only one of the pair. The other was long gone….

Now this type of thing has happened more than once. But today there was a difference. Ricki had MONEY in her school bag. Her afternoon program is traveling to Jerusalem one day in the middle of this week, and I had given Ricki 40 shekels to pay for the trip. I informed Ricki that she would return the money to me, in order to pay for the stolen earrings. As a result she would thereby need to forgo going on this trip with her friends. I hate to do it to her…. But I love her so much that I simply CAN’T not do it. She will needs to learn that taking and losing the objects of others will simply not be tolerated.

*(which , by the way, I keep WELL HIDDEN from Ricki)

Holiday Fallout

I blew my diet moderately over the three day weekend…..at least only moderately. I didn’t walk that much either. Not such an auspicious start to the new (Jewish) year, is it? But I DO feel that a REAL weight loss plan includes a few MILD breaks here and there (like on holidays)….because, GOSH, you have to be NORMAL. The important thing is to keep the breaks MILD, and SHORT. I worked very hard not to gorge on the days leading up to the holidays (and believe me, it is hard not to sample …and sample again… when you are in the kitchen 2 days straight cooking…..), and while I could have easily eaten less over the holiday, I didn’t do too bad. (It goes without saying that even my overindulgences are a fraction of what I USED to eat on holidays……) I’ll see tomarrow how much extra “baggage” I brought into the New Year. (And any that there may be, I fully intend to take off PRONTO! The reason for this post is to keep me honest and not let me ignore any slip-ups.

PS: Went and weighed myself early- gained about a kilo. Let's see how fast I can loose it! In the meantime, I sat down today and made a calorie-plan to hopefully keep me VERY good through the upcoming holidays in two weeks.

The Slice of Cake

On Saturday morning I walked into the kitchen and found Ricki helping herself to a sample of the shabbas cake. (It is pretty traditional to have some cake on Shabbat morning.) Now Ricki is welcome to have a piece of cake once a week (not more), but I eyed her a bit warily, trying to unobtrusevly check the SIZE of the piece she was cutting. I was ready to intervene if she would cut a huge chunk, worthy of 3 portions (or more), as she is prone to do. But to my surprise and delight, I noted that the piece she carefully cut was actually on the scant side. Gosh O Gollies, is she really finally learning what a normal portion is???

Smarter Than I

For once, Ricki was smarter than I was. On Friday evening Ricki joined me for an evening hour’s stroll. However, on returning home, I realized to my consternation that in our absence our grandson had pushed some big chair behind the door of the house, and the door could only be opened a scant ten centimeters.
Upset that my daughter had not been more careful at straightening her son’s mess, I started calling her name, hoping that she would hear me and come open the door for us. I was upset, and my emotions got in the way. I let my emotions, rather than my common sense prevail.
Ricki, however, did the obvious. She told me “Move over”, and reaching around the door’s edge, pulled the wedged chair free and out from behind the door (where it was caught between the door and the wall behind it).
That’s what I get for NOT THINKING.

Dancing in the Rain

Well, the first few light showers have already come, a welcome change after the hot summer days. Last week as the first rains started, Ricki went running to the window to watch. And then she did what I KNEW she would: she grabbed an umbrella, stepped out to the porch, and started dancing in the rain. Once this would have bothered me, it not being normal, appropriate behavior. Today I can accept better that my daughter does “strange” things, including showing her exuberance (which all the rest of us are too bashful to share…).

Ricki Writes….

It seems, from what Ricki told me on her return from school today, that someone important at her afternoon program got engaged. So Ricki promptly colored a drawing with balloons, and wrote there:
“(Wishing you) an explosive mazel tov. You should have a lot of married children. Thank you for the borekas. You’re a great lady.”

“Leave Me Alone” / My Twin Sister

Ricki and I were on the bus today, on our way to Ricki’s exercise class. There was a woman on the seat facing us, who, on seeing Ricki smiled and said “Oh how cute you are.” Ricki rewarded her with a growled “Leave me alone.”
And I don’t blame Ricki. I told the woman that Ricki, as a teen, does NOT enjoy being spoken to as a child. And guess what? She understood…..

* * *

I was in a store I haven’t been to for a while, but where I am a regular customer. As he was ringing up the purchase, the owner paused and saidf:
- “You have a twin sister? With a special needs child?”
- “You mean the overweight lady?”
- “Yeah”.
- “That is ME!”

BTW

BTW, I just added a picture (which only now became available) to my post of Aug.12

Feeling Like a Marionette (or: the Asterisk)

[Image: lady on electric wire "puppet strings".]

Today I felt like a marionette, being pulled this way and that by…. Electricity… or the lack of said item. For quite a while (months), the safety switch in our electric box has been shutting off our electricity with what seemed to be impunity.
This safety switch, designed to prevent serious electric shocks, will automatically switch off the power to the entire household when any breakage of normal circuit occurs. If this happens when you are plugging in or starting use of an appliance, it generally is a good sign that said appliance is KAPUT….. So you unplug the offending item, flip up the safety switch, and return to regular living. (If it is a major appliance, especially a refrigerator/freezer, there is of course a scramble to get it fixed….).
But then there are those frustrating occasions that the power shuts off without there being an easily identifiable culprit. So then you have to unplug each appliance in turn, until you finally can figure out which electric-run item is wrecking havoc on your otherwise well-planned day. Since my house is chock full of electric gadgets (some of which are aging appreciably), and reaching the plugs of several of my major appliances involves standing on chairs and yanking pretty forcefully, this all can be quite time-consuming.
But for the last few months, the safety switch has been rather capricious, turning off our power at whim. No offending item could be identified, each time it seemed that a completely different item was causing the short circuit… and the item whose removal from the socket would allow the switch to go up would often run without trouble a few minutes later…… We tried several times to “fix” the problem, and it finally stopped… only to return with a vengeance this morning.
This morning, after accompanying my husband to the health fund, and running to the post office, I returned home at n10 o’clock, ready for breakfast. I was ready… but the fridge wasn’t. The electricity had gone off, and I set about trying again to determine what was causing the shortage. After disconnecting each and every appliance, one by one, I gave up. I finally called an electrician. But he said “Before I come, save yourself some money. Unplug EVERYTHING and THEN try to flip the switch up. Then as you re-plug in the items, you are likely to find your problem.” I thanked him, and putting an asterisk by his name in the phone book, I followed his advice. [Only unplugging everything was not that simple, as my daughter’s room on the roof has a few nearly inaccessible sockets.] When I tried to re-plug the fridge in, the power went off. But maybe it was simply the extension cord? (Our refrigerator came, for some reason, with a cord that won’t reach high enough to the socket located next to it.) So I pulled the fridge out of its corner, to a lower socket, and plugged it in sans the old extension line. It ran OK, so I quickly scrambled out to buy a new extension cord. I returned, plugged the new extension into the regular socket, and POOF the current shut off again. Deciding that cold food being a priority, I returned the refrigerator to the plug in the hall, waiting for my son in law (who IS an electrician, but was away at work) to arrive in the evening. But then, when I went to make lunch the use of two other appliances AGAIN cause the power to fail. Obviously, this was getting complicated…
Finally this evening my SIL figured out what was wrong, did a temporary fix, and will buy the parts needed for a full repair tomorrow. But all in all, much of my well-planned day flew out the window. But since it WAS 9/11, I have to keep it all in perspective, don’t I?

Remembering

I wish I had something truly profound to say about the loss of life at the World Trade Center (and other sites) ten years ago. I don’t. It is beyond me. I remember the tremendous shock that afternoon (here in Israel it was afternoon when the disaster occurred), when I heard of the towers falling. With a numbing disbelief at the power of a few evil people to wreck such carnage and suffering, I stayed glued to the newscasts.
Here in Israel we are almost used to terror attacks, but in truth, one never (and SHOULD NEVER) gets used to it. True, our losses are smaller, but when the numbers lost are compared to the total population size, we in Israel have suffered higher losses. Now, I am not hoping to take the “most suffering” title. But when I look at America, and how they correctly realize today that such atrocities are exactly that, I wonder how can these same people (a section of them) shrug off and do not understand our efforts in Israel to combat and contain terror. I should think that all those who are appalled at the disasters that occurred ten years ago would realize that fighting terror is serious, and must be done.

YU-HOO! Minus 60!

I have lost so far 60 kilos (thats 132 lbs)!!!
And boy does that feel GREAT!

WHAT in the WORLD?!? (Stopping Childhood Obesity)

In Britain, (see HERE )apparently a couple is being threatened with losing custody of their children because they (the children) are overweight.
WHAT???!??? True, parents need to try and curb their children’s overeating, but it does not always work. As much as I try to help Ricki make good food choices, she can not be watched 24 hours a day. Ricki can recite all sorts of great phrases about wanting to eat healthy, but (as occurs with many adults) when temptation arises, she capitulates.

My mother encouraged me to eat healthy, and I finally did, from age 57……

Even though they watched these kids at home, I am sure that they didn’t shadow them at school. [And I am SURE that having a social worker observe their mealtimes REALLY helped these kids feel GREAT. (I am being facetious here…) Maybe we can set up foster homes for all kids who don’t exercise, too…….]

If England (or any other country) wants to stop the childhood obesity epidemic, let them try THESE efforts:
1) Forbid all TV, magazine, and billboard advertisements of sweets, fried foods, and soft drinks.
2) Outlaw the placing of snack foods/ soft drinks near the check-out isle (which generates a lot of impulse buying)
3) Insist that package labeling of portions be a full-sized portion. (Yeah, just how many people do you think eat only one bar of a 70 calorie trail bar, when they are sold in packets of two to a package…..and once you open the package, the second bar starts crumbling up and falling out…)
4) Have “snack” machines in the school that sell only bottled water and low-fat cartons of milk.
5) Offer FREE weight-watchers (or similar) at the school, with available vouchers for off-school sessions for those too embarrassed to go at school.
6) Maintain more sport facilities at school, and encourage after-school use.

Shadow Shot Monday: Light and Stone

[image : closeup of rock]







[image: rock with lichen, and shaddow of leaves]


Both of these pictures are from Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park.