Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Happy birthday Israel!

Israel is 62 years young. In its 62 years it has become one of the most powerful, innovative countries on Earth, and it's incredibly beautiful too. I'm excited about what the next 62 years will bring. I am proud to be a Zionist!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Someone's upcoming birthday

I just received the "Your 11-month old: Week 3" email from BabyCenter regarding my baby boy. It hit me like punch in the stomach that my little baby is turning 1 very soon.

I am not ready for that yet. I haven't taken enough photos, not enough videos, and we haven't even gone to JC Penney for formal photos. I haven't kissed his little baby toes enough, and I honestly don't think I've enjoyed his babyhood enough to be able to let go and transition into toddler-hood.

Big sigh. Where have those baby days gone...

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The first time is the hardest

I won't mince words here: I forgot to pick up my daughter from school today.

The caregiver who picks her up every day has been reminding me for a week that she will be unable to pick up the little girl due to a prior commitment. Each time I assured her that it's not a problem; between me, my husband, and my parents, someone will fetch her.

The problem was that the task of communicating that need to someone - anyone! - literally, 100% slipped. my. mind.

Until my cell phone rang at 12:41 pm today and the teacher calmly told me that Yael is still at school, and are there plans for her to be picked up or should she nap at school?

I was so mortified I almost fell over.

Fortunately my mom was available and swooped in to pick her up. I called the teacher back and with all of her experience she could tell I was about to lose it on the phone. She tried to calm me down. I called my husband and told him I get the "worst mommy of the day" award, and he tried to calm me down. My mom called from the car with said daughter in tow, and she tried to calm me down.

I need a drink...did I say that out loud? I didn't articulate what type of drink...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Lost Cheese: A Story

I know it's been a long time since my last post. I'm sorry. I got busy. But I've thought about you often; I haven't abandoned you in my mind.

I do want to share with you why the 2nd days of Pesach will stand out my memory.

The Sunday in the middle of Pesach, my husband made matzah pizza - very tasty - with our large block of mozzarella cheese. We were planning on using the rest of the cheese on Tuesday morning to prepare mazta lasagna - very tasty - for lunch with friends.

On Monday night, as we were cleaning up the kitchen, my husband was staring into the fridge. He turned to me and asked, "Where's the mozzarella cheese?"

One of the oddest questions of my life.

So, slowly, I gingerly replied, "Is it not in the fridge?" Apparently, it was not.

Hm. Now this was surely an interesting problem.

With Pesach being Pesach, there were limited hiding spots for this cheese. Our cabinets were taped off and it was not in the fridge. We looked at the trash can. I ventured, "Perhaps you threw it away?" It was a possibility, not a great one, but one nonetheless. We are talking about an enormous hunk of cheese. This amount of cheese, you remember. I think it sparks your tactile memory.

Not so with my husband.

In the morning, my husband emptied the trash and actually sifted through it. No cheese. Now this was becoming even more interesting.

(Since we discovered this problem Monday night, it gave us time to think of an alternative entree. Which ended up being disasterous. We were saved by the alternate to the alternative entree. Thank goodness we bought lots of eggs on Sunday.)

Being the domestic goddess-wannabe that I am, I usually have a solution for challenges. This one left me hanging. We decided that given enough time, the cheese would start to smell and we'd sniff it out. Not the ideal solution, but what can we do? We knew the cheese didn't wander into the bedrooms, and not into the cars, and not into the taped-off cabinets. It just wasn't visible to the naked eye.

We lost our cheese.

The ending to the story is that I found the cheese yesterday - an entire week it was gone missing. I found it in the aluminum foil/baggie drawer. When I pulled it out of the drawer, my husband looked at me and said, "Obviously. Because I put it in a baggie when I was done making the pizzas and I must have put it all back in." Without realizing he was holding a giant block of cheese.

This is how I found cream cheese in the pantry. And ice cream in the fridge.