Me, Myself, My Life

Today my friend Karen celebrated her 50th birthday.  We did what most girls do when one is celebrating a birthday….We took Karen to lunch and went shopping!  Boy did I get some great bargains today.  I went to all my favorite stores….Coldwater Creek (just returned some stuff there!  I’ve been shopping online with them for two weeks now!), Ann Taylor Loft – Great bargains, a brown skirt for next winter and a tank top and cardigan, Kohls (just picked up some stuff for Jillian), J Jill – a pretty top to go with the brown skirt and then we hit the Talbots outlet where I got a skirt and sweater.  I think I’m all shopped out for a while.  We really all had a wonderful day.  Spending time with friends is always a great day!

OK.  So I am trying out this new blog place.  So far so good.  It has lots of features some of which I’m not sure I will ever use.  I will play some more when I have more time but I am up and live!  Let me know what you think.  I’m still a little unsure.  Maybe if I figure out all the features I’ll feel more comfortable.

Modern technology definitely has its pros and cons. Throught modern technology I was able to enjoy Jillian’s shopping trip to New Jersey with my mother right along with her. They went to get a dress for her to wear to her Bat Mitzvah. Every dress they tried on that they liked they took a picture with Jillian’s cell phone and text messaged the picture to me. I was able to be at work and shop along with them. It was truly enjoyable. Here are the results of the shopping trip. Jillian made out well! I absolutely am indebted to my mother for taking the time to spend with her doing this.

Now for the cons. Matthew stayed home during vacation week to look for a summer job. He went for a haircut, put on nice clothes and went to the mall in search of a store looking for a hard working kid. At each location he was told they don’t take applications in person anymore, he needs to go and fill out an application online. I thought that was aweful. How do we teach our children the right way to dress and act in these situations if they are just told to fill out an application online. How do they get to know the child they are hiring. There are no first impressions, no personal touch. I thought that was terrible to do to a kid looking for his first job. I just don’t understand it.

Today I am driving 4 hours to have dinner with my parents and then driving 4 hours back home.

In the words of Gnarles Barkley…..

“Does that make me crazy?Possibly”

In living so far from my parents we have come to realize that we all need to make some sacrafices in order to see each other. It is not the first time we are doing this round trip meal deal! We do it quite often.
This week is school vacation week and Jillian in visiting with my parents. We are dropping her off with them tonight and picking her up from them on Friday. This week Jillian and grandmom are going shopping for her Bat Mitzvah outfits. I’m hoping Jillian will take a camera with her so I can see how she looks in all the pretty dresses she tries on! I know this will be a special time for both of them. I can’t wait to hear all about it.

Every few months I will take my camera and do a self portrait. Yesterday was my day for a new one. The weather was perfect and I was outside trying to capture the beauty of the crocuses before they fade away. After that I decided to just play and snap shots of me. Well after about 15 snaps I found one I liked and could live with. Of course I edited it a bit to make it more pleasing. For those who don’t know me or have never met me….here I am. Or in Hebrew we say Hineni. Here am I!

I just wish to thank my friend WendyP over at Scraplovers for the following link…. www.weffriddles.com I love riddles and brain teasers but these are too much. I am up to level 24 of the first batch and I’m stuck for the 3rd or 4rh time since starting these. It has been so much fun though. DD and I sit at night and work on them for an hour or two. She usually gives up before me though.
I consider myself a somewhat intelligent person yet these are not for the overthinkers of the world. The answers are usually right in front of you so you can never find them. I know it is so important to use your brain on a regular basis. I think there are enough of these riddles to keep my brain going for quite some time. I did feel really good last night when DD and I whipped though about 3 of them in a row in less then half an hour.
If you love a good puzzle then you will enjoy this website. It is truly time consuming but a lot of fun!

Once again I am slave to my kitchen. I think I cook more this holiday then I do the rest of the year. I am now on my second batch of brownies for Matthew and I have a big pot of soup going. Aaron is at the grocery store again getting the rest of the stuff for dinner. Tonight and tomorrow night are Yom Tovim (holidays)again. Tonight we will have a roasted chicken and a mushroom farfel stuffing.
It’s been nice having the extra time off and having the time to spend cooking. I love to cook and bake but most of the time it feels like a chore. I have made some interesting meals this week and I have really enjoyed them and the process.
The best part of the whole thing is that the house smells yummy!

How often do we do this? Am I the same person I was yesterday, last week, last year or even the last decade? Where have I been and where do I want to go? Every day I seem to ask myself these questions. What do I know about myself and what is still left to be discovered? First I must say, with each passing day there is something I discover new about myself, through a glance in a mirror or a conversation. I discover things about myself while reading a book or listening to a song. Some things I know have not changed, my love of my family and my religious heritage and beliefs. These are the pillars of my existance. The roots of me that keep me firmly planted. I don’t think I’d be able to withstand life’s stresses without the grounding support of each of them. Yet….through them I am able to make changes that make me an ever growing and changing person. I will not be the same person tomorrow that I was today because of something that I learned today that will effect the outcome of my tomorrow. This phenomenon will make my life forever interesting and evolving. The moment you stop learning, exploring, believing or dreaming is the day you might as well stop living.

It is 6:00am and I am the only one awake. My husband is sleeping soundly and so are the kids. I’m the only one who needed to get up and shower and go off to work. The kids are off from school and Aaron will do some work at his cart job and keep up his job hunting. I am searching out possibilites at work of getting hired in a permanent position. I am looking for a job in a different dept. I love what I’m doing and I’ll miss the people I’ve been working with but I do not see myself answering phones all the time. I need something that will be mentally stimulating. My boss is helping me get a position in the Education and Outreach Dept. I am hoping that comes through. That is ultimately where I would like to be. Arranging seminars and creating bulletins and newsletters. It does sound like fun. I’ll know more later today.

Back to work, back to routine. The first two days of Passover are over and now I have to return to work, the kids to school. What a busy schedule. Today I talk to my boss about becoming a full time employee. I don’t know if that is what I truly want to do but just in case we need the health insurance. It will also open up some overtime possibilities. Hopefully there will be some kind of opportunity for me there. Time will tell. I just cannot see myself answering phones every day for the rest of my life….although it is a good job. I guess I just have to see where this path might lead me in the future. Who knows….It can blossom into something fun….anything is possible.