Strawberries!

As you're probably aware, it's strawberry season. Which I love, since it's one of my favorite berries. So yesterday, for the second year in a row, we went strawberry picking.

Dear daughter was really excited about picking the strawberries; she says the word in a funny way that makes it just that much better. She got her own bucket and a set of instructions from Dad and off they went, down the row, picking shiny, red strawberries.

I followed behind with Cargo #2 in the stroller, who totally wanted to get in the dirt and was frustrated that he was strapped in.

After about 15 minutes, Dear Daughter wanted to be with me and so ended her strawberry-picking adventure. We made our way to the shady tree where there was a large wagon on which to sit and a swing set. And our snacks to eat.

We spent the rest of our time waiting for Dad to finish picking strawberries while we enjoyed the shade. Dad picked two bucket-fulls. I chatted with a couple who came to the farm 55 years ago to pick; they didn't know that people still pick every weekend. I watched a dad get pretty close to the end of his rope as he wasn't able to tear his little son away from the little red two-door car...for maybe 20 minutes, the dad called, "Hennnnnnry.....Hennnnnry - don't you want to go pick strawberries? Look, mommy is picking berries.....lets go....Hennnnnnry..." And the kid would get out of the car, close the door, the dad would breathe a sigh of relief, the kid would stand outside the car and say something unintelligible about continuing to play with the car. Watching the relief on the dad's face as the kid got out of the car, hopeful that they can now go, and then have all hopes be dashed as the kid got back into the car....was too painfully funny.

Afterwards, we went into the market and picked up a bunch of farm-fresh veggies. We only bought local produce, since I'm pretty sure I can get Florida green beans at my local store.

Dear dad and I were up until 1 am or so making jam with our strawberries....yes, jam. Which we tasted this morning. And it is very very tasty.

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!!!!!!!!!

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...

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...

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.

Observations from the first month of work

In no particular order, here are my observations from my first month of work:

1. It's important to remember where you parked. Leaving work and then spending 10 minutes looking for my car, trying to remember which floor I'm on, is not my idea of a good time.

2. Coffee is awesome. (remember I have two kids, and they are still not sleeping through the night every night...)

3. My window view in my office is awesome. Being outside during Houston's beautiful and too-short spring is even more awesome. Don't be jealous.

4. I am surrounded by paperwork. This must stop.

5. The brain officially begins the weekend on Fridays at 2 pm. After that, I am useless.

Speaking of....

Current politics

I try to stay away from politics, and I don't even watch the news or spend too much reading it because I find it depressing, but there are two issues this week that have really sent my heart racing that I cannot ignore.

So, Houston Ima will go out on a limb here, proffer my political opinions, and then get back on track with random posts about my not-so-exciting life.

Issue #1:
The healthcare overhaul in America

I work in healthcare, not as a clinician, but from the business perspective. It's so obvious that healthcare needs an overhaul that a blind person can see it from a mile away. But the overhaul that is in Congress right now is NOT what the industry needs. It is totally misguided. Over the last few days, I've been telling people that I wish Obama (and his aides, and the rest of Congress) would sit in my seat for a couple of days. I don't mean nice conferences and meet-and-greets. I mean, do my job. I mean - actually examine the problems plaguing this industry. My entire job is based upon the fact that the whole system is flawed. It's not only about the uninsured, while that is a big part of the problem. It's the system. The hospital-insurance-physicians-clinical staffing-medical supply issue. It's trying to figure out how to manage costs when the medical supplies keep increasing. It's trying to figure out how to forecast revenues when you don't know when (or how much) insurance will pay. It's trying to figure out how to staff a nursing unit when you don't know how you'll pay your people. It's trying to figure out how to get the health IT to actually be efficient and effective instead of cumbersome and slow. Obama - sit in my boss's shoes. Sit in the supply manager's shoes. Get out of the ivory tower and actually have to wonder how you are going to pay for a doctor's appointment.

And this whole business of ramming this healthcare bill down America's throat - without Republican support - totally smacks in the face of American democracy. He-llo? Wasn't the whole point of the party system, of the rules set up in Congress - to prevent a select few from pushing their agenda? If the healthcare bill passes without an iota of Republican support, and if we assume that elected Congressmen represent the will of the people, so we can assume that half of the people in this country do not want this healthcare bill. Yet the Democrats are going to force it anyway?

Is this democracy? Is this the democracy my parents came here for?

Hospitals and doctors are scared because they don't know what is going to happen with healthcare. And I don't want my hospitals and doctors - who are responsible for saving lives, who hold life and death in their hands - to be scared when they are working on me or my loved ones.

I'm thoroughly digusted by it all, by the myopia of the Democrats, by the myopia of the Obama administration, and frankly by us Americans, because if this was happening in the 1960s, there would be thousands in the streets of Washington protesting this government mandate. Now? It's like we're sheep, just waiting for the political fallout to be over. I am disgusted by this stubborn push to pass this bill without actually lifting the head out of the sand and properly analyzing what is going on.

Here is my proposal: All those who voted for our current president should be made to follow this mandate and go to Obama-affiliated hospitals. And the rest of us should be left alone.

Issue #2:
The furor over Israel

Biden visited Israel waxing poetic on Israel being an ally, it's wonderful, blah blah blah. Israel announced it's going to begin construction on homes for Jews in East Jerusalem. World anger ensues.

Um - why?

Since when is East Jerusalem not a part of Israel? Oh, I know. Pre-1967, it was part of Jordan. Then Israel captured it in the Six Day War, annexed it, made the city of Jerusalem whole again, and moved on with its life.

Did Israel expel all Arabs from East Jerusalem, like the Arabs forced Israel to do in Gaza in 2005? Um, no. Arabs living in East Jerusalem became Israeli citizens (if they wanted to, which is in total contrast to the Palestinians who live in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere who remain refugees because those countries specifically did not offer them citizenship; so much for Arab brotherhood...). So if Israel, a sovereign nation, chooses to build in Jerusalem, which is its capital - what right does the rest of the world have to tell it what to do? Because it pisses off the Arabs?

Arabic children's programming which teaches kids about the beauty of becoming a suicide bomber and blowing yourself up to kill Jews pisses me off. Does that piss off Obama/Biden too? Because I don't remember them talking about it...ever...

The US thinks it is so high and mighty that it can tell Israel when to build or not build, because it may threaten the (non-existent) peace talks (talks used as a euphemism because the Palestinians aren't interested in a two-state solution anyway) but inflammatory children's programming does not threaten is so beyond the ridiculous that it's just hilariously funny.

Hillary Clinton has absolutely no business telling Israel what to do. Lets not forget that she smooched Suha Arafat (and where is Suha now? Probably helping lots of Palestinian poor kids with all of her money...I am sure...), so her credibility is totally down the toilet when it comes to this issue.

Lets not forget that money talks (in both good and bad ways). And when Israel announces construction projects, it's probably going to hire Arab laborers (who are probably out of work right now). So I am not sure that protesting this is really in anyone's best interest...

America - stop slinging mud at Israel and focus on domestic problems (see issue #1). I am 150% confident that Israel will do just fine for a while without US opinions.

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Whew, I am done.