Ridiculously Proud

of myself.

I'm on a diet (weight watchers - which I'd recommend to anyone trying to lose weight), and doing pretty well. I'm getting ready for my weigh in today, but in the last month I've lost almost 10 pounds. But that isn't what I'm so proud of.

I'm proud that I called my mother-in-law before shabbos and said, "Hey, I'm kind of worried about staying on my diet," because I know you made a lot of unbelievably fattening foods, "so could I bring a veggie platter?"

I'm proud because it's really hard to say to your mother in law, "hey, I don't trust you to make food I can eat, so I'm gonna bring my own." But I did it, and I basically stayed on program. So I'm proud of myself for making the call, and I'm proud that I was pretty good.

Yay me!

Time Warner Cable is sponsoring first books for children.

Maybe I'm cynical, but it sounds to me like Philip Morris sponsoring anti-smoking ads.

I had a great day today at clinical. It was my day at antepartum - so I spent a couple hours with a pregnant woman, sat in on her genetic counselling session (which, by the way, was really interesting) and saw an ultrasound - which was cool, but kind of makes me feel like a moron, because all I could see was the hands and the spine. There was lotsa other stuff to look at, and the tech kept trying to show us what stuff was, but she could have been making it up for all I could see. Well, I guess that one of those things you have to see a really lot of before you can recognize what's what.

Also, I came up with an awesome Chanukah present for Tzvi tonight, so I'm really excited.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). It was boring, and kinda sad - except for when a new mom and dad came in and got to touch their babies, and the dad (a big BIG) man was so sweet.

We discussed something interesting in class yesterday that I didn't even know about. Apparently, Orthodox Jews wait longer before going to the hospital. I mean, I always new to wait as long as you can before you go, but apparently it's a Jewish thing... Italians will go at the first sign of labor. My teacher was saying that when she practiced as an L&D nurse she would look around and see who to care for first. She was like, "You know, if a woman's still smiling I knew that it wasn't such a rush. But if there was an orthodox Jewish woman, sitting there with a smile on her face like all is well, I knew this woman needs a room right away, she's gonna have a baby really soon."

One is not more right then the other - Jews would rather be relatively comfortable at home and be in and out of Labor and Delivery, whereas Italians would rather settle in to their L&D room. Who knew?

Crocs Rocks

Today was spent in post partum. It was interesting, but didn't speak to me like L&D and the nursery. I mean, it was nice taking care of the mom, and all, but not nearly as exciting or as cute.

In other news, I got pink crocs, which I am TOTALLY obsessed with. For all those who don't own a pair, make the investment. They're kinda ugly, but they are the most comfortable pair of shoes I have ever owned. I'm tempted to buy the boots too. And the scrub shoes. In every color. Buy crocs.

Maternity Today

I spent today in the nursery, which was so much fun. I got to give a baby his first bath, and get him dressed and bundle him up. It was a real bonding experience.

Then I had my maternity test, which I aced. And after class, I was the last one in my room, and my teacher actually sat down in the desk next to me and talked. Just chatted, about stuff. We talked about Weight Watchers (We ended up in the same meeting) and about how much I'm loving maternity, and can't wait to do it. It was so great. I feel a little bad, because a lot of my class really dislikes her, because she's a tough cookie. She's very strict, and very hard, and has really high expectations, but I love her. I feel like she could be my friend, my mentor.

Then I had my psych test, which I barely studied for, but I'm pretty sure I did well. And then I cut the rest of class, because she wanted us to sit around for an hour before class, and I'm just sooo tired from studying.

Thats all for now. Layla tov.

Another one

I saw another delivery today. It was very different from the first. I mean - the idea was the same, but this one had a little trouble getting out. And you know how you know the baby's okay from the cry? Well, he didn't cry for what felt like an eternity, but in real life was probably only a few seconds... but long enough that the mom was like, "why isn't my baby crying" and she was so scared, asking "Is my baby okay?" But, he was okay, and mommy and daddy were so sweet, and so happy (which was another difference from yesterday - yesterday there was no one with the new mom). It's scary down there in labor and delivery, but it's such a wonderful place to be.

I just watched a baby being born

and it was unreal. I watched the birth of a gooey baby boy. When I got to Labor & Delivery she was 7 cm dilated (that was at 10:15) and at 11:45 she gave birth to a boy. It was totally crazy. She pushed out the head in, like, 4 pushes, and then the rest of the baby kinda just fell out. Like - they drs were like "Don't push" (because they were suctioning the baby) and he came out any way.

I didn't get to stay for the stiches afterwards, I had to leave, but I'm so glad I got to see it.

I can go on about the miracle of child birth. But everyone knows it. And I can't possibly put in to words the way it made me feel. This is what I want to do with my life. I hope to see many many more baby's born, and this was the first.

I wonder if this is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. Like, the details. Will I worry about the boy? His mother, who was bipolar, was obviously not very prepared - she had no one planned to pick her up from the hospital, and she didn't have a car seat that would be ready when she goes home. Who will this boy grow up to be? Will he develop normally? Will he grow to be a good guy? Will he be healthy?

I supposed I'll learn not to worry too much.

Readers Beware

I've started my maternity nursing class, as I've mentioned, last week. My warning is this: I went to nursing school so that I could be a midwife. That means that I am already obsessed with my class. So - expect a lot of posts about pregnancy, labor and delivery, post partum, and the newborn.

Today was our first active day of clinical, and it was SO awesome. I was in postpartum, and was lucky enough to spend the whole day with my clinical instructor, who is the clinical nurse specialist and lactation consultant on our floor. We walked around and I felt a couple uteruses, at different stages, which was awesome.

I'm really impressed with the hospital. In most cases, people want to go to the city to go to a great hospital. But the maternity unit at SIUH is unbelievably impressive. One of my patients told me that even if she were to move to the west coast she'd come back to Staten Island to deliver her next child. The doctors are great, the nurses know a TON and are SO sweet.

The only bad part of the day was at the end. And warning - a little gross. Another student did a postpartal assessment of a mother who JUST came up from the delivery room, and she was very swollen - she couldn't close her legs because of the swelling. The student, who is 40-ish said to me, "I'm glad I never had children." Ummm... hello? Swelling goes away. This woman has a child. Get some perspective. I hope she doesn't become a maternity nurse.

Orthodox Jewish Culture

Nursing has gotten really into cultural awareness. However - the textbooks aren't written by people of these different cultures, and so usually the things they write are bastardized form of the truth. At least when it's about Judaism, I can't speak for the other cultures, but I imagine it's true.
I just started my maternity class (which, by the way, is the last one, and the reason I've gone through the others) and, while reading the chapter on cultural awareness, was shocked with the truth, clarity, and conciseness of the Jewish part.

"In Orthodox Judaism, for example, it is a man's responsibility to procreate, but it is a woman's right, not her obligation, to do so. This is because, according to Orthodox Jewish law, the health of the mother, both physically and mentally, is of primary concern, and she should never be obliged to do something that threatens her life."

Impressive, no?

So, I'm sick. And I have no doubt it's because I stressed myself out so much about my psych paper and nursing final that I lowered my immune defenses.

I'm bored. And movement makes my head hurt.

Any fun websites for me to look at?

MIA Partner

Well, it seems her computer crashed. Thursday. And she told me Sunday.

It's hard for me to believe that she couldn't get to any other computer to email me in the meantime. None of her friends have computers? She couldn't get to school? Give me a break.

Either she's a moron, or she thinks I am.

I told her that I'm sorry, and had she emailed from another computer to let me know I would have happily worked it out with her, but since she didn't, I finished me paper. Would she like a copy of the article?

Apparently she doesn't. Or maybe her computer crashed.

FREAKING STRESSED

So my completely annoying psych teacher gave us a paper to do comparing media coverage of a psych report to the original journal article. Fine, right? Right. Except that she's making us do it with partners, who she paired us up with. So the paper's due Monday, and my partner wont FREAKING get back to me. So I've written 4 pages (out of 5) on my own, and if I dont get anything from her I'm going to finish the report on my own and not put her name on, and I'm gonna feel really bad about it, but I shouldn't because she wont help me! We had agreed to have it done by last monday. When it wasn't done then she was all, "well, i want to have it done by wed." Fine, Wed came and went and she didn't send me anything (since I said I'd put our work together because - frankly - I don't trust her to do it well). I told her I abolutely HAVE to have it done thursday night, because I have a final in my nursing class on monday that's worth 40% of my grade, and Thursday night came and went, and nothing. It's now Friday, and I've TOTALLY lost any semblence of patience.

And I'm really a patient person.

Stupid psych!

I'm sorry it's been so long, but things have been kinda busy.
I have a new nephew, Zevi, or "Z-Funk" as my wonderful husband insists on calling him.
He's really cute:



and I made him really cute booties:

Photo Credits: Wonderful Husband

and I'm in the middle of an awesome sweater, for my favorite nephew.

Anyways, they've been living with the in-laws, so I've been busy spending time there, bonding with the beautiful boy.

Alas, they are leaving soon, and back to school work it will be for me.

Well, it was a busy week, but I still managed to do the switch - I am currently blogging from the beta version. They main difference for me is the homepage - it's nicer looking. Also, when you go to "Edit Posts" it also shows how many comments, which I don't think regular blogger does.
You can do a lot of fun stuff with your template, which I tried - the coolest thing is the color shuffling tool - it randomizes the color of different aspects of your blog with the colors that you have already chosen - the only issue is that if you changed your template (like I did), you lose those changes. They keep a copy of your old template so you can go back, which I did, because I couldn't figure out how to keep the things I changed (like the comments opening on the page, or showing only new comments) in the new blogger.

So, my busy week... I had my first pediatric nursing test, and got an A (yay!!) which was really exciting. Today I went to an information session at SUNY Downstate for their RN-BSN program. I was really nervous, but I spoke to the credit/gpa evaluator person, and she said that I was "competitive" - which is really Really exciting.

And, of course, all of my classes decided to give papers due over the chaggim, so that's been fun trying to get done, especially since there are NO MORE SUNDAYS.

So, thats what's been happening. I haven't seen my husband for a week because of classes and studying, and tonight is long slichot, so he's gonna be out for a while... maybe we'll get so spend some time together over Rosh Hashana. That would be nice.

I'm doing it

Okay, After this post, I'm going to take the plunge to try better blogging. So, if I dissappear, you'll know that I'm lost in the world of Betas.

Better Blogging?

So, there's this Blogger in Beta thing, has anyone tried that? I'm always in to trying things in beta, but they said that if you try it you can't go back.
So, please - let me know if you've tried it, and what you think.

School is Cool

So, I'm back at school.

Yay.

No, really -- so far so good. My nursing teacher's great, and my clinical instructor is really sweet. Last year's pediatric nursing class had a terrible teacher, and apparently they weren't so happy with her, so she suddenly took a sabatical, leaving us with a GREAT teacher. I'm also taking History of the Soviet Union, which is actually really interesting. My teacher doesn't seem sweet or anything, but she's really interested in the subject, which makes for great teaching. I'm taking Abnormal Psych, which SHOULD be a good class, but the teacher's REALLY boring. Really, really boring. 3 people got up and left in the middle of the first class, because she's so boring, and it's a night class - once a week, which means that it's from 6:30 to 9:50, which is like FOREVER. And it's forever of my longest day... I start at 8 AM and have only one hour - 5:30-6:30 break. So by the time I get there I'm exhausted, and I have to sit through her monotone, it's not the greatest situation.

Anyways, at least pediatrics is good - that's the most important thing.

More About Israel

Family Time:




Town, on Motzei Shabbos:


Angels for Lunch:


Old City Day:






So, that was our trip in picture form.

I know, it's been a really long time, but I was in Israel, and didn't have any time to post, and then I got back on Tuesday, and was so tired... and school started. Okay, no excuses, I'm back.

So, we spent 8 days in Israel. Which is really short, but enough to remind us why we want to move there. We stayed in Yerushalayim the whole time, and were completely busy, it was the perfect vacation.

Here are some pictures:

Me'ah Shearim:


KFC:


Fair on Emek Refaim:


Falafels in town:


Guy davening:


Meeting my friend who made Aliyah in 2nd grade:


Israel Museum:


Yosef & his breakfast:


More later...

Shosh has a fun meme up on her blog. So I copied it. Here goes:

1.Grab the nearest book.
2.Open the book to page 123.
3.Find the fifth sentence.
4.Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.

The book closest to me was "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory. A great book for historical fiction lovers. I couldn't put it down. Carried it everywhere.

So, here's goes, page 123:
"'Hear this, Mary. I am playing my own game and I don't want you interrupting. Nobody will know anything until I am ready to tell them, and then they will know everything too late.'"

And you'll have to read it yourself to find out about her game.

It's been awhile

since I last posted. There hasn't been much going on. I've been working, sometimes, at the local day camp... making their newsletter, working in the office, teaching a crocheting elective... not doing much, but thanks so the extra money we're going to be able to go to Israel this year. I'm so excited. Especially after reading this.

I had a wedding last night - it was great and all, but I think I got food poisoning, which is less than fun.

I've been working out a lot this summer, which is good, because I haven't done that in a loooong time, and it's really not healthy to not have exercise. I started at the college, but the gym there stinks. There are 3 working treadmills and 2 working bikes and 1 working stair master, and you constantly have to wait for other people to get off. In the weight room there's only one set of 10 lb weights, because they don't expect girls to come in (and--i should add, laugh at us when we do). Also, in the cardio room, there are mirrors on all the walls, so that you have to stair at yourself while you're red and sweaty and gross.
So, we started going to a real gym, and I LOVE it there. There's a complete lack of mirrors by the cardio stuff, which makes me feel completely anonymous. There are TVs, which makes everything feel easier. AND there's a 30 minute express workout, which is like Curves - exercises every muscle in your body with step between each station. It's great. Oh, and they discourage body builders from going there, so that you're not working out near these scary huge people, and they're not using all the equipment. And it's HUGE, so there's never any wait for anything.

Wow, I just wrote a really lot about going to the gym. I'm gonna stop now.

Gay Pride Parade

I promise, I'm not a liberal. I'm a republican... but...
I just saw a sign in my shul yesterday to contact XY&Z organizations to do whatever they can to stop the gay pride parade in yerushalayim. It gave me this terrible fear of what's going to be. There's a terrible feeling against gays in our community-- and I understand, they're an abomination according to the Torah, but what does that mean for us? Does it mean that we should scare them away from the community? Make them hate our religion because of what we did to them as teenagers? Or should we embrace them, just tell them that they are not allowed to act on their gay inclinations.
I can only imagine the feelings of the gay teenage boy - of course, no one knows he's gay - and how must he feel, seeing that sign in his shul. And oy, what's going to happen at the parade--which, let's face it, is going to happen. What kind of massive Chillul Hashem is going to be? How much can we NOT afford to make a chillul Hashem at a time like this?
I dont know, maybe Hashem wants us to make a Chillul Hashem about some thing like this. Does this count as today's avodah zarah? How do we decide something so huge?

Vacation is a beautiful thing

Seriously, gorgeous.
I had two friends over for shabbos, which was really nice. They stayed 'till Sunday morning... it was really nice - I got a chance to hangout, like - fun hanging, and I got to talk, seriously, about life, religion and other important things.
Sunday was spent with Tzvi, which is always a pleasure. Monday the plan was to see Superman in IMAX 3D, that didn't really work out for us - it was sold out. Of course, by the time we got there I was so totally dehydrated, after the gym and the 800 degree weather, that I just couldn't walk outside again. So, we saw the Da Vinci Code. We agreed to disagree with the critics, we liked it better than the book.
Tuesday's kinda a blur. After coming home and barely being able to move I overslept. Then I went out to lunch, and when I came home I dont think I moved much. Oh, except to clean the bathroom. I got all this energy around 5ish and scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom, changed the shower curtain liner and everything.
Wednesday was a great day, except for my failure in sneaker shopping. I went to the gym, came home and showered, and then 3 of my friends came over and we hung out for a while, it was so nice.
Today was kinda boringish... spent the whole day making the Young Israel Day Camp's Newsletter... not done yet.
Tomorrow should be a pretty chilled day. I'll probably wake up late and excersize in the house, since the gym's closed on Fridays.
That's it.

Summer

Parenting

I'm not a parent, so if you're gonna read this and criticize me because I don't know what I'm talking about, agreed, so save your breath.
However - here are my thoughts. Parents today are spoiling their kids. I filled in for my friend today at the day camp office. A parent called to find out if their kid got Youth Corp (meaning they'll get paid more because the government is paying them). I learned that this parent calls every day to find out. Another parent called for her daughter, a counselor, because she doesn't like her group. The parent told the camp that if they didn't change her group the counselor would quit. The camp said, "So quit," and she did. Someone else told me that some of their 7-year-old campers wont sit on the floor.
If I was a counselor, and didn't like my group - my parents would say "deal with it." It would be up to me if I wanted to see if they would change my group. It would be up to me if I wanted to quit. My mom would NEVER call for me.
If I was a 7 year old, my mom would say, "get over it, sit. You're in camp, you listen to your counselor."
What happened to that mentality?
Now, when a kid does something wrong, it's the counselor/teacher/principals fault. How did this happen? My parents generation didn't do it, and my generation seems to agree that this style of parenting is totally ridiculous. So what happened to that generation in the middle?

Happiness is...

I took this photo on July 4th. Behind the American Museum of National History is this really cute sprinkler type place for kids - they were all over running around. So, while our friends waited for us to meet them at the museum, my husband and I stopped to take some pictures of the kids.

Photos

So, my husband found this great website Photojojo, and they sent me to another fun site, Photo Friday. Photojojo is a biweekly newsletter of fun stuff to do with your photos. Photo Friday is a weekly challenge for photographers, from children to professional, of something to capture. So - I'm gonna try it. I'm totally a novice, but it's fun.

New York, New York

So, I went to Maryland twice over the last month, for a bridal shower and then, last night, for a wedding. Both times it occured to me that every road leads to NY. When driving south, you go south to Trenton, then south to Philadelphia, then south to Baltimore. But the second you get on the road in Baltimore going North, you're going north to NY.

It always makes me feel good when I'm on my way home, like - yup, I'm going the right way to the right place. It's a warm fuzzy feeling.

Anticipated Sequels to the Children's Book "Everbody Poops"

BY MELANIE MINZES

- - - -

Everyone Lies

Everyone Hates Brussels Sprouts

Everyone Has Premarital Sex

Everyone Dies

Women's Vote

I'm in class now. Yes - I'm in class and blogging, but I'm blogging about class, so I guess I'm kinda paying attention. We're learning Women's History, watching a documentary about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Imagine being in Seneca Falls. Stanton reads the changed declaration of independence, to include women, and adds a "Bill of Rights," including the right for women to vote. What is your reaction? Wouldn't you think there would be cheers for this idea?

There weren't. There was mumbling. Everyone there thought she was crazy. Even the women who helped put together the Seneca Falls Convention for Women's Rights. Mott, one of these women, said, "Lizzie, you'll make a fool of us." The person who backed her up in this declaration was Fredrick Douglas, former slave.

Can you imagine? People really thought she was crazy to ask that women should vote! It was another 75 years before this right was given. It's impossible for me to understand Here are these women, getting together to fight for women's rights, and they think she's crazy...

Weddings

We went to one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to tonight.
The guys is Tzvi's friend, and he's had a tough time over the past couple of years. His first wife was, um, lets say - a life lesson, and his mom died two years ago. I've spoken to him a couple times, but I've never seen him look so happy.
He spoke under the chuppah, right when he came in. He explained that the yellow rose he was holding was his mother's favorite flower, as well as what she walked down with at her wedding, and the song, "Sunrise, Sunset" the song she walked down to. He then spoke to her, something along the lines of, "Even though you're not here, I know you're watching down on me." There was not a dry eye in the house.
Fine, so that part wasn't happy - that was heart wrenching. But watching him with his new kallah, and dancing with his friends - that was happy. Also happy, his brother is getting married in two weeks, his father is getting married in August, and his younger brother's Bar Mitzvah is this year. So, this was the first of many simchas coming up for the family, and there was just this total happiness surrounding everything.
The kallah's family is conservative, so the first half of the wedding was for the orthodox group, and the second half was for the conservative group. And watching the two of them dance together, there was so much love, so much happiness, so much looking forward to the future.

Who are you? Part II

Believe it or not, this question just came up again.
I'm taking two summer classes - Women History/ Femenist Theory and Sociology of Marriage and Family. It's actually working out very nicely, because I was able to answer questions today in history because of the reading I did last night for soc... very convinient.
Anyways, point it - in my soc class, my teacher (Dr. Sigler, a Jewish old crazy man) handed us index cards and asked for information - name, contact information, marital status, and he asked us to answer 4 questions - the first one, "Who are you?"
He read a few of the answers, most people tried to answer, to discribe themselves. He read mine, too, and there was a resounding "Oooohhh..."

Who are you?

That was my issue when I was in Israel for the year. You don’t want to answer that question the typical way, “I’m a nurse/lawyer/CPA. I’m so-and-so’s daughter/wife/mother. I live where ever.” So, how does one answer that question?

The question cannot be answered. However, after hours of pondering this question, I believe that who a person “is” is a collection of his or her actions and reactions. How a person behaves, and how a person reacts to other’s behavior is their essence.

Any alternative answers?

Freedom

Oh, the wonderful feeling of not studying. No, I'm not done with finals, but I did take my nursing final, which is the only one that I really had to study for. I'm hoping my computer teacher will tell me I dont have to take my final (I need a 13 on the final to get an A. gimme a break). I'll review a little for sociology, but she gives a review sheet that has everything we need to know - and there's no essay because we just handed in papers.
So, while I'm not truly free 'til Wednesday... I feel as though I am.

Finals

The reason why I have not been blogging.

My nursing final is on Thursday, Friday I have computers and Wednesday I have sociology - but I'm not so worried about the last two.

Here's the picture I tried to post last time:



Isn't she the cutest EVER?

I got a 94 on my nursing test yesterday! It seems that 94 has been my lucky number this semester. Lots of 94's. I'm very proud of myself.
Sunday was my niece's 2nd birthday party, and she's just the cutest girl in the entire world. I'm tempted to put up a picture...
Here she is:











Oh, you mean she's not there?
Right, that's because Blogspot wont let me. It keeps resetting or something. So instead of a picture of my REALLY cute niece with frosting all over her face, you get a bunch of empty space.

Sorry.

Academic Integrity

Please, tell me if you think this is fair:
My nursing teacher gave us an online quiz, to take at home, on our own time, sometime over the next week. Then she sent us an email saying she expects academic integrity from all of us, no friends, no books. This is a class that means a lot to everyone taking it, which means no one would ever do anything that could make them fail, but she could never know. I mean, I guess if she see's that you took an hour to take a 16 question quiz, but that's it. So, is it fair of her to expect academic integrity?


Truth is, the quiz was pretty easy, I just think it was wrong of her to ask. I remember in high school, if anyone ever wanted us to do anything at home, they automatically made it open book... because they knew at least some people would do it anyways...

Asking for academic integrity on quiz taken at home gives the dishonest people an unfair advantage.

Shabbos

So, we went to my sister and brother-in-law's for shabbos in Woodmere, it was so nice. We went to their shul, Aish Kodesh, which is SUCH a nice shul. Physcially, it's beautiful. The doors are bronze, and very detailed, the mechitza is made out of one-way mirrors, so that the women can see what's going on, and the Aron is beautiful. The nicest thing, however, was the everyone sang together. No one groaned when the chazzan tried to sing... they sang with him, enthusiastically. And when the Rabbi spoke, people listened. Tzvi went to a mens seudat shlishit at the shul, and he said everyone sang there too, and people crowded around to hear the Rabbi speak. It was just a really nice change.
Of course, it was also great spending time with my sister and Michael. They're always fun.

Accent: New York, I suppose... but not a strong one.
Booze: Sea Breeze, Black Russian
Chore I hate: Cleaning the bath tub
Dogs/Cats: Big fluffy dogs. I hate cats, except for Zoloft - who sheds like crazy, but is just as her name suggests.
Essential Electronics: My beautiful baby ibook.
Favorite Perfume/Cologne: Hanae Mori
Gold or Silver: Anything silver colered
Hometown: Staten Island, NY.
Insomnia: All the time (said in the voice of the kid from the sixth sense)
Job Title: student
Kids: None yet. And no, I'm not pregnant. And for the next 15 times you wonder, "Is Minna pregnant?" No.
Most Admired Trait: Ummm.... I take tests really fast, people in my class hate it cause I make them nervous.
Number of Sexual Partners: Just my baby.
Overnight Hospital Stays: 1. When I was a baby, I spiked a high fever, and convulsed while I was eating corn, so I choked and turned blue. But my daddy saved my life.
Phobias: spiders.
Quote: Like a midget on a urinal, you gotta stay on your toes.
Religion: Judaism
Siblings: 1 sister and 2 sisters-in-law and 3 brothers-in-law.
Time I usually wake up: Mondays and Tuesdays - 6:30. Wednesday - 8:30. Friday - 8:00. Thursday, Shabbos, and Sunday - whenever the phone rings, or Tzvi wakes me up.
Vegtable I Refuse to Eat: Tomatoes. I love tomato sauce, but hate the texture. Avocados too. Are avocados veggies?
Worst Habit: Laziness
X-Rays: In camp, I popped my knee cap off... They x-rayed that. It was gross... all the liquid that is usually under your knee camp went in to the rest of my leg.
Yummy Foods I Make: 40 clove of garlic chicken... I made that this shabbos, it was really yummy. Turkey Salad. Tollhouse Cookies. I don't know... generally if I follow directions, the food comes out good.
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Boro Park

If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this first: Arrest Sets Off a Protest by Orthodox Jews
What is there to say?
On one hand, I can understand the beginning of the argument. The guy was deaf, couldn't hear the cop, and the people who stood up for him were right - considering the circumstances, I agree that there was use of excessive force.
But talk about excessive force. Burning a cop car?
It makes me sad because they should know better. They should know that they're going to be judged based on the fact of their Judaism. That people will see it and think poorly of Jews. How could someone burn a police car and not think of the chillul Hashem that they're making?

My name is jewchick, and I am SO grateful that I am not an alcoholic.

I'm taking a psychiatric nursing class, and one of our assignments is to go to an open AA meeting and write an observation paper. So, today was my trip to the AA meeting. It was exactly how it sounds in books, or in movies. There were the guys who have been sober for 25 years, the guys who just got out of rehab, and the guys who were drunk yesterday. They talked about everything that's gone on. The guy who spoke told about getting high and drunk in highschool, then on his job as a construction guy working on elevators (which, by the way, doesn't make me feel very safe), about losing his wife and his daughter. He's been sober for two and a half years, and just got back with his wife three months ago. It made me really happy that his story had a happy ending.
The most interesting thing to me was my reaction. Going in, I was like, "okay, this is a little scary, but it'll be fun - even, maybe, funny." After sitting there, and listening to everyone's stories, I feel totally different. It was kind of a bittersweet experience - hearing about the guy who was contemplating suicide was really sad, but everyone's reactions to him were sweet. They all reminded him that he was at the meeting, which meant that no, he doesn't want to kill himself, he just wants the pain to go away. And while everything out of everyone's mouth sounded completely cliche, you know, "a day at a time," or whatever, it was cliche in the most honest, most sincere, most caring way.

I am so pathetic

So, I didn't sleep Monday, or Tuesday night, but I slept last night. So, I thought - "hey, maybe I'm getting better. Maybe I can go to class today, maybe my nose will start to heal, and the white dead skin will go away. Maybe I'll be up for going out to dinner tonight, maybe I'll even get some pesach cleaning done. Maybe I'll be able to enjoy this beautiful weather."
So, I showered, moisturized my face, got dressed and went outside. About a half hour later, I came home, got back into pajamas, and I am currently lying down on the couch.
I hate being sick.

How nerdy are you?

Happy Anniversary To Us...

So, today was our 1 year anniversary. A year ago right now, we were at our wedding... probably dancing, not having any idea what time it was... or maybe at this point Tzvi was singing Eishet Chayil to me. Whatever we were doing at exactly this moment, today we did not celebrate... we were supposed to go out for dinner, have a nice night, but instead I spent the day lying on the couch, not doing much except for blowing my nose and eating chicken soup.
Pretty sad way to celebrate an anniversary, no? But we're gonna make up for it later this week.
Anyways, on a happier note, a year of marriage. Crazy, no? What's insane is that when we got married, I didn't realize how much I would love him. I mean, I knew I loved him then, but I didn't realize how much it was possible to love someone.
Does everyone feel that way about their marriage? I'm the youngest person in my nursing class, and most of the older women in my class are divorced. Did they feel this way? Was there ever this love? If there was, how did they lose it? Didn't mean to go there, but it makes me sad when they talk about their ex-husbands.
I definately got lucky.

:)

I was in 4th grade when Alin came to my elementary school. She just moved here from Israel, so her English wasn't great. She was in 4th grade English, but 5th grade Hebrew. We made friends easily, as kids do. She lived in the next neighborhood over, but she would walk in sometimes on shabbos. She lived here for about three years before her family moved back to Israel. On her last shabbos in America, she walked into the neighborhood, and we spent the afternoon together, hanging out with our friends. It was right before she was going home when she told me that on her first day of school I smiled at her. This was, obviously, something I had no recollection of. She told me that my smile on that first day, when she was so nervous, meant everything. It meant that everything was going to be okay, that she'd find her way in this scary new place.

I'm not trying to pat my back, or say that I'm a wonderful person. I didn't smile at her because I wanted her to feel good about herself. I could have been smiling at someone standing behind her.

All I'm saying is smiling is good.

Uncle Jesse

I'm watching Full House. Yes, I'm a 22-year-old watching children's television, let's get past that.
Uncle Jesse is wearing a blue and white sequined suit.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that wasn't cool in 1987, was it? I may have only been 3, but I think I'd remember seeing something so painful.
And why is he the hot guy? I can't imagine going gaga for a guy who says "Have Mercy" and not much else. And his "great" hair is kinda creepy looking. And it's kinda creepy that he's so crazy obsessed with it.
Am I missing the 'hot' part?