Mortimer's Mom

Ending with a Splat

Alternative title for this entry: I think I broke my butt.

Last night, I was thinking I had nothing to write about for my last NaBloPoMo entry. And then, just like clockwork, because I was actually feeling much better from the antibiotics and I A) left my house, B) went to work and was somewhat productive C) hired a new very promising worker, I proceeded to slip on a patch of ice while getting in my car and fall flat on my rear end. It's a lucky thing I still have some padding back there, but seriously, ouch!

My sunglasses flew one way, my phone the other and I actually couldn't get up on my own. Luckily, the store owner next door was just getting in, so she helped me up. I'm fine, though I'm pretty sure I bruised my tail-bone, and I can't pick up BB to put her in her crib, but I think if I crack open my Mommy's Time Out bottle for Shabbat tonight, I'll but just fine!

So there you have it. Then end of daily postings. There is no way in heck I'm going to manage to keep this up in December with the busy selling season. And also, unless we start discussing my private parts, I'm pretty sure I have nothing left to share. So come back for asinine commenting on my daily life, cute kid stories and some obscure TV talk Because with the strike, I'm resorting to Brit TV downloads, and I can make you discover all new shows!

Too much information?

Seriously, have I left anything out? I don't think there is anything I haven't shared at this point!

I should have timed myself a bit better, have it end on the last day of November, but I'm not that organized.

I seem to remember a question having to do with integrating Chinese Culture/Heritage, and about other Jewish families with Chinese children.... So, let me say, this to me is one of our big failures at this point. We live in a city where many, many people juggle dual identities, and our daughters are prime examples: Half Jewish, Half French Canadian families. How we are going to fit the Chinese identity in there is completely undertermined at this point. My kids are already learning English, French and Hebrew and will be fluent in all 3 by grade 4, so I really don't see how we can fit Mandarin in there, at least not for the time being.

I know it's not a great solution. But it's our reality. At this point, it's more important for them to feel at home among their Jewish and French Canadian peers. That is not to say we are doing nothing. We keep in fairly regular touch with their travel groups and clearly, we have a very special bond with The Flintstones. And there is in fact a group of families who are Jewish and adopted from China. We participated in a lot of their events. We will make a point of keeping in contact with them and trying to form friendships with some of those families, so the girls get to know other girls in the same family situation.

Ultimately, we are probably going to fail them in that respect, at least at this point. Luckily, we live in a very diverse city, where they see Asians every single day. One of our employees is Chinese and has offered to be a tutor of sort to Dumpling. We might start that up next summer, after she turns 5. And we'll probably look into other activities at the Chinese community center. The big problem right now is that most of those activities are on Saturday mornings..... not very conducive to Synagogue attendance!

Full Disclosure

Back to the questions! (I still have no voice, but heck, I can type!)

The next questions were about my weight loss surgery. I have NEVER blogged about it. I'm not hiding it, it's just an uncomfortable topic for me.... So before I tell you anything, let me make a big ol' disclaimer: it worked for me, it doesn't mean it's right for you. This is my personal experience, I am not advocating for or against it in any way.

OK, so if you remember the Retro Friday posts, I was not a fat kid. I was not a chubby teen. I mean, I was no skinny minnie either, but I was an athletic and healthy person. I skied a lot, so I had larger legs than most of my friends, but we could always share tops. I got my first ulcer as a teenager. In High school. At the time, the doctor thought I was putting too much pressure on myself. I really don't remember much about it. I remember being sick at the dinner table and upsetting my mother. I don't think she believed me when I said I was in pain. I mean, teenage girl gets up in the middle of the dinner hour to throw up, most parent's wouldn't jump to ulcers right away....

Over the next few years, I began having other symptoms, lots of gut pains. Very very long story short, I was diagnosed with: stomach ulcers, duodenal ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome and at one point, irritable bowel disease. From the time I was 19 to the time I was 29, I was constantly on some sort of medication (Losec being one I remember fondly). Nothing worked. I would get it under control for a few months, and then I would have another "episode" and end up in the emergency room, begging them to fix it. They kept telling me they couldn't exactly figure out what was wrong with me. I did find one home-remedy that worked: I ate bread and pasta. Somehow, keeping my stomach a little full all the time kept the cramps and pain at bay. So i ate. For 10 years. And I got bigger, and bigger and bigger. By the time I was laying on the OR table, I was a size 22 and somewhere a little over 240. I know, you find it hard to believe.....

I was very very depressed. But not the way you would think. I wasn't depressed and therefore eating. I was depressed BECAUSE I ate. Finally, after years of fighting with the doctors, one of them actually listened long enough to figure out that I in fact was not an over-eater or emotional eater and that I could stop eating, but whenever I did, the pain got to be too much. He was a GI specialist but he had an idea.... I went to see the gastric bypass specialist. The idea was that the surgery would effectively cut off 80% of my stomach and should, in theory, take away the problems (ulcers, stomach cramps, etc) I AM NOT SAYING THIS WILL WORK FOR YOU! This is what they thought might work FOR ME. Ironically, I wasn't big enough to qualify for a Bypass. They wanted me to gain 15 lbs. I wouldn't. So I went on the waiting list.

And then something incredible happened. The surgeon was going to switch from standard bypass to doing it laperoscopically. He needed a Patient #1. Someone who was big enough to operate on, but not big enough to risk complications. So they called me. We had just opened the store. It was the worst possible time to do this. I thought about it for about 5 min and agreed. I had the surgery a day before Christmas in 2001, 3 weeks after my conversion.

The surgery went well, but because I was Patient #1, they had to cut me open to check their work. That didn't go so well. In the hospital, I didn't react well to the meds and had crazy fights with the nurses over the IVs (because of the holiday period, I had to stay in the ICU for days because I couldn't be transfered). I finally went home after 5/6 days, but it was short lived. I believe I had 42 staples. During my first shower, I looked down for the first time. And there was puss oozing out between the staples. I almost passed out. I ended up back in the ER, where some resident popped the staples without giving me anything (can you say ouch?) and declared that I had a wound infection. They cleaned me up and sent me home. I took a turn for the worst. I ended up back in the hospital for almost  a week. Turns out one of the stitches on the pouch had popped and the tiny amounts I was eating/drinking were leaking inside of me. They fixed it, but they couldn't close me back up. That's right. I had an opened wound. For about 6 months. I had to have it cleaned daily, have a wick inserted to drain out the fluid. I had this on my wedding day. They thought my husband to clean the wound so he could keep it clean on our honeymoon. Romantic, right?

So here is the thing. The surgery went well but the complications were harsh. A wound infection can happen after any surgery. it's not specific to this. But an abdominal wound infection.... yeah, it's horrible.

Now for the good stuff. I was a size 22 the morning of the surgery in late December. I got married in May and I was a size 12. 10 dress-sizes in 5 months, doing nothing more than walking. I didn't take up exercising, I wasn't allowed because of the giant whole in my abdomen! On my wedding day, I couldn't believe I was a 12. I was over the moon. This was almost my high school size. But I kept loosing weight and by the time I was done loosing, I has settled at a JCrew size 8. I had never owned ANYTHING from JCrew, and now I was their most popular size (which sucks btw, because everything is always gone in size 8!) I even went down to a 6 for about a year when Dumpling came, because I was spending so much energy chasing her around, but those days are gone and I'm back to 8. I don't care. i really should exercises. I did yoga for a year, but mommyhood got in the way. I have all the same excuses everyone else does. I should do it for my long-term health, but I don't need to exercises to stay thin.

OK, so here is where I get all serious. It changed my life. I couldn't do any of the things I am doing today if I was still lugging around that extra 120 lbs. That's a whole entire person. But the main reason it worked for me is that I wasn't emotionally attached to the food. I didn't have a lot of work to do on myself or my psyche. I went to the support meetings, I saw the therapist, but in the end, my problem really was a physical one. I personally  know someone who paid a lot of money to have surgery in the states and is bigger now than they were before. Because it is possible to put weight back on. And if you don't work on why you eat, you will eat. tiny little amounts at  a time, but you will. and you will put the weight back on.

I eat like a skinny person now. I never have seconds, my portions are small. Think LeanCuisine size. There is nothing I can't eat, though very rich or very sweet foods will make my head spin. I metabolize the sugar/fat so fast, I get dizzy right away. So I have 2 bites, for the taste, and then I'm done. I don't feel hunger, ever. I'll know it's time to eat from other cues: lightheadedness, fatigue, etc, but hunger pains, I haven't felt them in 6 years.

The best part though? It's not the skinny jeans or the strapless dresses. It's the fact that since the morning of the surgery, I haven't had one pain. Not one cramp, not one ulcer. nothing. the theory, it worked for me. Clearly, I am much much happier as a skinny person. But really, I'm just happier as healthy person (ironically written from my sick bed!)

no voice

I lost my voice. We had a GREAT holiday party with the staff, but unfortunately, it was the nail in my coffin. What could have been a gib bad cold is on the verge of turning into something else. I can't stop coughing. There is a 300 pound weight on my chest. I have a prescription for antibiotics but have been asked by the doctor to give it 48 more hours before taking it, just in case it turns out to be nothing. 48 hours. he's got to be kidding. I'm giving it til morning, and then, that's it.

I really want to get to your last questions, but I need to postpone again. Yeah, I'm that girl. the big tease....

I just love this newest Britney rumor

Seriously, if you buy the rags and think any of it is true, hopefully, this one will make you see the light. I won't even bother linking, because it's sooooo stupid, but there a rumor out there, since this weekend, that Brit Brit is adopting. Twins. From China.

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHA!!!!!

OK, I've regained my composure now. Seriously, how funny and crackpot is this idea? She's not 30, she's single, she coocoo for coco-puffs, and I won't even go into the extensions.... But just for one second, humor me and imagine what would happen if indeed, this rumor were true and Britney found herself at the White Swan with her Going Home Barbie and a set of twins.... What do you think would happen on the boards? Would they bedazzle her a lady-bug sweatshirt, or would there be a unified uproar? Because I would love nothing more than a thousand outraged red-thread ladybuggers taking on crazy Brit Brit.

OK, we'll get back to reality now. It's the staff holiday party tonight and I'm hoping to be clear-headed enough to participate in the festivities. Back for more answers to your questions tomorrow.

something smells minty

maybe it's the menthol I rubbed all over everyone chests, or the lovely menthol-laced tissues, or even the menthol-smelling Nyquil-immitation medecine..... Whatever it is, the smell is powerful enough to get through the nasal blockages...

And speaking of which, where is it written that when you become a mother, you will be responsible for the nasal passages of little people, including the irrigation of said passages, but worst, the removal of obstructions??? Really, my mom manual had no warning that I was going to have to de-clog tiny noses several times a day for days on end!!!!

Perspective

I spent most of the day feeling a little sorry for myself. The Cold has taken over the house. One incident of puke, 2 boxes of tissues, not to mention the rags (it's easier on the kids noses to just let them walk around with fluffy facecloths to use as hankies), a trip to the drug store (yeah! apparently, Canada escaped the cold-medicine withdrawal, and I was able to purchase kids' cold medicine)

Anyhow, I felt pretty crappy and gross and sorry for myself. Then, Mortimer's Dad suggested we watch a move we just got from zip.ca (think Netflcks, but Canadian). We saw God Grew Tired of US. How can I possibly feel sorry for myself for a stupid little cold after this? I had seen their story before on Oprah, and I always read whatever I come across about the Lost Boys. But this documentary... wow. Puts our consumerism in perspective doesn't it? If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I urge you, get your hands on this documentary. It's mind blowing.

I've been to many, many countries, and really, China is the closest I've come to feeling totally lost. And I knew about electricity and toilets and running water.... I just cannot imagine what they felt like during those first few  months. I am truly in awe.

But now I'm going to crawl under the covers with my NyQuil.... I just won't feel sorry for myself.

this week kicked my butt

Holy crap this was a long and hard week! Every one in our house got some manner of cold symptoms: Dumpling and I had scratchy throats and exhaustion, Mortimer's Dad and Beach Ball are of the seriously runny nose and nauseous variety.

Somehow, I managed 4 of the 5 window displays (no pictures yet, camera must be located). And I finally figured out a puzzling problem I had been having with a box of paper snow globe cards that has been sitting in the store warehouse since early October. I also attempted to hire a part time worker for the holidays, but so far, every applicant has either a) not attached a resume to their email b) written me an email using "U" "PLZ" and "IM INTRSTD" c) has failed to notice the location of the store in my ad, even though I wrote it THREE (3) times, once in CAPS, in the TITLE of the job post..... So needless to say, there have been no interviews

I haven't given up on answering your remaining questions, I just needed a bit of time to get through this week first. But I'll get back onto it, I promise!

And while you are waiting, why don't you head on over and congratulate Herb on a year of blogging!

Confessions

So my BFF Debberroo thinks she's the only one hiding things behind closed doors.... Ha!

Here, for her benefit and cheering up, I come clean and show you the piles of messes that are in my house.... But before I do, let me say this: *I* and I alone am the messy one in our house. My husband is a neat freak and we have a very nice cleaning lady 2 mornings a week. Between them, they manage to wrangle me a little. Were it not for them, these piles would be everywhere!

Front Hall:

Nothing says Welcome To our Home like: 4 Rubbermade Bin covers. Bins not there. Covers been then 3 months. At least they are covering the Countdown to China calendar. We went to China LAST FEBRUARY!!!! The calendar is covering a metal death-trap sled that we purchased at an antique show in August.....

the shoe bench.... Where clearly no one sits to put on shoes..... because it is covered in: Books, notepads, tissue box, a cupcake box (no cupcakes), cardboard boxes that were protecting the floor. Notice the neatly rolled yoga mat. My last yoga class pre-dates Beach Ball's arrival.

The fruit and veg baskets... Contents: 4 brown/bruised bananas, 1 bag of crappy apples, a box of Swiffers, a pile of assorted kitchen linens, including aprons, dishrags, etc.

The view out of our kitchen window.... Notice it snowed today. On top of the patio furniture. Because we ARE NOT prepared for winter. The toys aren't put away, the cushions are still on the furniture, the changingroom curtain is still dangling in the wind...... I am in charge of "big jobs" around here, and this job always gets the best of me.

And finally, the one area where even the cleaning lady fears to thread...... My craft room:

If I'm going to sew Loopy some curtains, I might need to clear off a small spot on the table.....

See Deb, you are not the only one! So, still BFFs?

I will not be defeated

No matter what, I am going to post every damn day of this napoopooblo thing, even if it means a sucky entry on me phone, from bed, where I am lying, exhausted. I did 2 of the 5 holiday windows today, but I'm coming down with a cold, there is snow on the ground, I don't have my snow tires yet, there is disention in the ranks at one of the stores.... Even cupcakes can't fix this. I'm going to bed. Enjoy your turkey!

Email on the go, sent by TELUS

don't worry!

I know! It's past 10 PM, I ALMOST didn't post today......

I ws busy hawking my wares at a shopping party.There were free cupcakes. And a really, really tacky dog fashion show where the heaviest dog was a good 5 or 6 pounds, and the "mommies" all had matching outfits... Including Fur coats and Cocktairl dresses..... oh yeah, it was quite the show! In hindsight, not really the right crowd for our stuff, but did I mention that I came home with free cupcakes. From the fancy place that I love. And she didn't give me the tiny ones that she was giving as testers... no no, she gave me 3 sets of 6 GIANTS gourmet cupcakes...

sort of makes up for the fact that I worked til past 9 pm and didn't see my kids for one minute today....

gotta go... cupcakes are calling!

8 things Meme

Lest you think I'm all serious and spiritual, I bring you the 8 Random Things about Me Meme that Beverly tagged me for last week. I'll get to the rest of the questions, including my weight loss surgery a little later this week.

1. I spent a year living in Austria after highschool. You knew that. But you didn't know why: The Sound of Music.
2. I also spend a semester in Venezuela.
3. I don't get tanned, ever. Not even after a semester in Venezuela.
4. I studied Russian in University, I can sort of still read it and maybe understand a word here and there, but the only thing I can still say is "I studied Russian in University but I don't speak it very well". Except I can say it REALLY WELL, which leads to all sorts of confusion!
5. I eat a small piece of parmesan cheese almost every night. Except on nights when I eat a piece of cake, which is not often.
6. I used to wear a pink bunny suit to teach skiing to kids. Get your mind out of the gutter! A very big, very unflattering bunny suit, that also fit 6' tall guys.
7. I hate wearing socks. I resist every fall, until it's waaaay past too cold to be barefoot. Then I stay barefoot in my warm boots.
8. I write notes on the top of my hands. I have a fancy phone, a laptop and a notepad in my purse at all times, but I still write things on top of my left hand almost everyday.

I guess I'm supposed to tage people.... Instead of tagging the usual suspect, about Debberoo, Jules, Elise, Katie J, Jenny, Susan (persimmon/pink), Elizabeth and Meg. All recent commenters. I won't bother linking, in case they don't want the traffic. if you do it, let me know, I'll send the readers your way.

and now for The Why....

With regard to my last post, let me just say, we are FAR from being good observant Jews. We just really try to make it work for us and it does play a very very important part of our lives. And we constantly adjust.

Now, the Why....

My parents are French Canadian and were raised Catholics in a very Catholic province in the 1950's, when schools were run by nuns and kids had to learn "Le petit Cathechisme" by heart. So like most people of that generation, they turned away from that. They themselves didn't practice. My mother used to take us to midnight-mass every year for Christmas, but it was totally about the choir. She would find which church was playing a choir she liked and we would get tickets for that mass. I was baptized, did my first communion and confirmation and went to private catholic high school. Yet the only churches that I ever entered were in Europe, on vacation. Even my high-school, though run by priests and nuns, didn't have religion anymore, we had Moral Education.

My father's family didn't live in the city. They all lived in the country, where we now have our country house. It's a small town, where the locals speak French and the populations swells every weekend and holidays. But it is also a town that was very welcoming to Jews, who set up their summer camps there and went skiing in the winter. When I was a kid, there was a kosher butcher on the main street of the village, and the fabric guy on the second floor was also Jewish. I know this, because going there was referred to as "allez chez le juif" (going to the Jew's). But it wasn't pejorative. it was just what they called him. It's weird. Anyhow, I realised years and years later, during my conversion, that the prized soap that my mother used to get stains out of clothes and that she could only buy from that store was not only Kosher, but the cute red or blue dots in the middle of the bar were to indicate if it was the Milkish or Fleishig soap!

So I was pretty familiar with Jews, of all kinds. There were the totally assimilated families, with the fancy cars and big houses around the lake, and the totally orthodox families who would walk by on Saturday on the way to services, wearing all black. It was never a strange sight to me. Actually, I was very curious about them.

Then, I must have been 12 or 13, I read Anne Frank. My life changed immediately. I couldn't understand. I was horrified. I felt a connection that I have never been able to explain. How could it be, that your life would be threatened only because you were Jewish? That made no sense to my young teenage self. So I started reading other things about Judaism. And I longed. I wanted to belong. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to be a part of it somehow.

Luckily for me, I spoke excellent English and I worked as a ski instructor for my uncle's ski school. So, starting when I was 14, I spent every Sunday teaching Jewish kids to ski. They didn't come on Saturdays (apparently, I only had observant students!), but I was one busy girl on Sunday! I loved the kids and they seemed to like me. I ended up babysitting for a lot of those families on Saturday nights. Eventually, once I was old enough to work, I got jobs working for their various families. At 16, I worked as a mother's helper in Ottawa, the first time that I came to learn all about keeping Kosher, attended a Bris, became a Shabbas-Goy, the person who does things on Saturdays that Jews can't do. I also worked in a factory-store owned by another family. They were Sephardi. That's how I learned about the differences between Ashkenazim and Sephardi Jews. I also ended up babysitting a lot for that family and helping the kids do their homework. I was great at the French homework, the Hebrew was another story!

I would accept any invitation these families extended to me. They especially liked hiring me to babysit the kids on nights when they had things going on, like Passover, Rosh Hashana, etc. By the time I got to college, I was very well versed in Judaism. I also spent the year after high school in Austria, near a salt mine where Hitler hid stolen art. I read everything I could about the Holocaust. I tried to go visit the camps, but I couldn't arrange it.

I studied languages in College and the very weird thing was that most of the other students learning German were Jewish. I became very very good friends with 4 or 5 Jewish girls, one of whom was the daughter of Survivors. Every time I got to visit her house and speak to her parents, I felt like I was in the presence of..... I don't know, there are really no words to explain it. It was that same connection I got from reading Anne Frank. I could feel it in my bones, the connection.

I felt that connection one other time. After college, I went to visit one of my friends (Jewish, of course!) who was working in D.C. One afternoon, I went to visit the Holocaust museum. I spent hours watching videos from the Shoa Foundation Project. And then I walked into the room of shoes. If you have been there, you know what I am talking about. There you stand, the walls filled 25, maybe 30 feet high, with shoes taken from their owners. I must have stood there for over 30 minutes. I couldn't move. I felt like I had to make up for it someone, I had to fill one of these pairs of shoes.....

After college, except for my job in the airline, I only worked for Jews. I didn't plan it, it just happened like that. First Mr. C, then Mr. G, who introduced me to Mr. K, and then to his cousin, Mr. N. I was shocked when I took my job at the airline and I found out I no longer had Passover as a holiday! I had never worked passed 2 pm on a Friday! I belonged. I remember once, a Rabbi came to the office to distribute Hanukkah candles and he left me a box. I tried to explain to him I wasn't Jewish and he just laughed and said "Nonsense! you'd be perfect for my nephew Shlomo!"  And I used to buy lunch at a little Kosher Deli around the corner from another job I had and for the entire 2 years, I had to repeat to them over and over again that in fact No, they couldn't introduce me to Hymie, or Yaakov, or whomever the newest marrying-age guy was....

So yeah, by the time Hubs and I had that faithful conversation at the bar, and he said he couldn't be serious with anyone who wasn't Jewish, when I said I couldn't either, I meant it. 100%. I hadn't really known before then, didn't know there would be a conversion, didn't know what the details were going to be. But I knew that I was going to live my life as a Jew. I just hope in some way, I can fill one of these shoes one day.

(As an aside, during our fertility treatments, they insisted on testing me for CF, since my husband has it. It turned out, that I am a carrier of CF, although no one in my family as far as we can look, as ever suffered from it. Here is the kicker, there are two main genetic mutations of CF, commonly referred to a French Canadian and Ashkenazy Jew. Take a guess. Which one do you think I carry????)

So, I'm Jewish!

A couple of different questions related to my conversion. I was going to write two posts about it: the How and the Why. The Why is a much, much longer post. I didn't convert because I married my husband. Well, I did, but it's not the only reason. It was a very long time coming. But I'm not sure that's a post I can write today. So instead, let me start with a very brief recap, and then the How.

I met Mortimer's Dad on New Years eve. We hit it off over a Blue Rodeo song. He was living in a different part of the country, in town for the holidays. We called each other A LOT. We had a date 2 weeks later. I never went out with anyone else ever again.

On our second date, at an Irish Pub, he told me he really like me, but he just couldn't see himself being serious with someone who wasn't Jewish. I told him neither could I. There, that was it. The day I finally decided to convert. We had been on 2 dates.

At first, it was totally hypothetical. We just talked about his upbringing. He grew up Traditional. Went to services with his grand-father every Saturday, ate Kosher at home. When the time came about a year and a half later to look for a conversion program, we looked into the different possibilities. You can obtain a recontructionist/reformed conversion after a couple of classes and a small donation to the Rabbi's fund. There is a great Conservative program here that we seriously considered: women can wear pants, they don't necessarily refuse you for living together and it's fairly short, less than a year. And there, there is the Orthodox program. It's long (mine ended up taking just under 2 years). It's very, very strict, and a lot of people don't finish it.

But looking down the road, at our future lives, our future children, I just couldn't do a  program that wouldn't make me Jewish in everybody's eyes, that would make our kids not Jewish. Because if you convert Conservative for example, Conservative Jews recognize your conversion, but Orthodox  Jews don't.

So the long program it was. Weekly classes, Synagogue attendance, skirts only, Kosher in and out of the house (I bought so many dishes!) I learned to read Hebrew and to pray. I learned a LOT of rules. So many rules..... the first vessel and the second vessel and the third vessel... that's only to make tea on Shabbat! It took a bunch of trips to the Mikveh to cleanse my new dishes (the old ones couldn't be made Kosher).

There were times I wasn't sure I was going to get through it. The level of observance they expected from us was extremely high. Modern Orthodoxy was frowned upon. It was "Frum" or nothing. (that's a Yiddish word for observant)

Then, I got the call for my weight loss surgery and I just couldn't imagine something bad happening to me and not being Jewish. So I went to the Rabbi heading the program and asked him if I could please be converted before I had my surgery. I think that sealed the deal for him. I was righteous enough (this is a big deal, being a righteous convert)

I was converted on Dec 6 2001, on my father's birthday. The actual ritual of conversion is simple: go to the Mikveh, prepare yourself by bathing, get inspected by the Mikveh-Lady, dunk in water several times in front of 3 Rabbis, say a blessing, get a Hebrew name. Mine is Haya (life).

After my conversion, we still had to wait 6 months to get married. The program requires it. I got to lose a bunch of weight during that time. For the first year after we got married, I still wore skirts every day and I even covered my hair, though with cute hats, not a wig. But eventually, it just wasn't right for us. I have to admit, it was much, much easier being "modest" in dress when I was very overweight. Because as cute as the size 6 skirts were, I wanted cute tight jeans.

So we settled on something that works for us. Our take on modern-orthodoxy. We keep strictly 100% Kosher at home, with symbols on everything, 2 sets of everything, double ovens, double sinks, the works. We observe the Sabbath the way a family with 2 tiny kids can: we don't make it to services very often, the kids just squirm too much, but we lay low at home. We have Shabbat dinner every Friday night. Dumpling knows all the blessings, she's even started saying the Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals), which is really heartwarming to watch.

In the end, we'll end up somewhere between Traditional and modern-Orthodox Jews. We eat pasta and fish outside the house, we attend services as often as possible, more as the kids get older and can stand it, we teach them the values and traditions of the Jewish faith. But they are converts as well, and ultimately, it will be their choice when they turn 12.

PS: in case you are wondering, I wrote this post BEFORE Shabbat! Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and post-dated posting, I can have it appear in the middle of the day, when I'm actually no where near the computer!

you'll have to give me 24 hours

I had every intention of writing the first part of my conversion post today.... but alas, it wasn't to be. I am still swimming in website updates and french labeling to satisfy the language police, so I have been working harder these last 2 weeks than the last 2 years combined.

Its freaking BB out. She is not liking it at all. She keeps looking at me, tilting her head and asking: "Wo'k?". And then when I come home, if I leave the room even for one second, I hear "Wo'k?"  So to keep things a little more stable, I have packed up a tons of products that I have to work on (creating French label that look like they are part of the original packaging) and brought them home. It's still work, but I'm guessing that working in the playroom with her doing a puzzle is going to be better than working at the store. On the one hand, I do get more done when I'm not interrupted every 5 seconds, but she's really clearly reacting, so the work will have to be done at home.

I'll work on the conversion post and put it up on the weekend. But only AFTER I watch the first episode of Project Runway 4...... I have my priorities!

How I came to sell Knick Knacks (answers part 3)

Susan of Persimmon and Pink asked how we came to own a gift store and what makes it successful....

It's a weird story, sort of.... I studied languages and communications in University. I graduated with a BA in German and Spanish, with a minor in Russian... yeah, super useful! Actually, it was. I worked my way up from writing documents in the industrial real estate business,, to a communications job in the sewing industry, which lead me to a job as a corporate communications officer for a printed circuit board manufacturer and split my time between NH/Boston and Montreal. It was UBER boring stuff! I ended up on the first level of management in the airline industry. If you think printed circuit boards is boring, try managing the publication of a manual on the transportation of dangerous goods. In 4 languages. (see, it came full circle, I got the job because I could read 4 of the 5 languages the book was in)

How I came to leave my job in the airline is actually more pivotal than how I came to sell gifts. I was 27-30 when I worked at I*TA. I was management. I was a woman. The only other women in my department were support staff. The only other person under 35 was a man. So any meeting I went to, I was referred to as "the Girl" (they loved to ask me to get them coffee). Even though I was the only person who understood that the future of that publication was on CD or on-line, it was like talking to  a brick wall. I worked super long hours, and the level of frustration was immense. Then, I met my husband, who was finishing up  law school. Eventually, he moved back to town. Then, my grandmother died in the summer of 2000. I had just turned 30. And while I took 3 days off to deal with her death, my boss took my most recent project, slapped his name on the cover, made a presentation and claimed the entire thing as his own. I quit a week later.

While I worked there, hubs and I had enjoyed the perks of the travel discounts (cheap flights, very cheap cruises, etc). Whenever we traveled anywhere, we loved to explore the little shops. While he was studying for the bar, I spent a year doing volunteer work for an after-school program for under-privileged kids. I went on interviews, I looked for a job, but really, I took time to give back (and live off the unemployment that I had NEVER collected once in my adult life. I got 7 months of pay out of it). Eventually, I came to a few realisations: I didn't want to go back to the airline business. If I was going to do communications, it was going to be on some sort of independent basis, because we were going to get married and have kids, and I wanted to work AND be home.

Then hubs took the bar and started his internship. And he hated it. The hours weren't good for someone who's health is not good. And he had chosen immigration law, which was possibly going to put him in close contact with people who had health issues. Somehow, in the summer of 2001, we hatched a plan to open a store like the little stores we visited everywhere. I really don't remember an actual conversation. It was more of a "what if" or "we really should look into"....

It was a big summer for us. We bought a house. I was on the tail end of my conversion program. And we started talking about where we would put a store, if we did it. We were debating between 2 neighborhoods, and one day, the crappiest, tiniest dollar store went out of business. We didn't know what we were going to sell, we didn't have the faintest idea of where to start, but we found the landlord and signed a 1 year lease a week later. It was so tiny and so cheap, no matter what, a year of rent wasn't going to be tragic.

When the time came to figure out what we were going to sell, we looked through our house for all the cool knick knacks that we had bought together. We figured out who made the stuff and hunted down the companies. When we opened 2 months later, pretty much every thing we sold in the store was something we had bought ourselves at some point. That sort of stayed our thing. If we wouldn't buy it for ourselves or to give it to someone we know, we won't order it. I think that answers the second part of the question. We don't sell something just because it's a "hot" item. A rep tried for 2 years to get me to carry some plastic shoes that were going to take over the world (turns out the first factory is local), and I just didn't feel it. Sure, we could have sold THOUSANDS of those ugly shoes and made a ton of money, but it just wasn't right for our store.

It's been 6 years now. We closed the first store last summer when we moved it to a completely new area. We also opened up the big store in the touristy area 3 years ago..... and then the on-line business.... it's crazy. We just didn't want to work in our respective fields. We wanted flexibility to be home and take care of our kids. We wanted jobs that would allow us to have fun, and be doable for MD's health.... who knew it was actually going to work? (actually, nobody knew. everyone thought we were totally insane. you can only imagine the conversations MD's family had with him.....)

One interesting note: I was at the store, painting the walls, on 9/11. If could have been in the airline business. The person who took over my job ended up spending months down there.....

Answers - 2 of ??

Here we go with the next questions:

Sparky asked about Disney... What are your top three "must see" things in Disney for kids? What are your top three "don't bother" things in Disney for kids? Do you think it is insane to take a two year old to Disney?

• We took Dumpling once just before her 3rd bday, and just now, at 4 1/2. She had a good time the first time. But this time, she was in HEAVEN. BB had a good time, being jsut over 2, but she still slept a lot, and she was terrified of the characters. I don't think it's crazy, you just have to go at their rythm: half days at the park, nap, then pool activities or something like that. You cannot do an entire day at the park, even with a nap in the stroller, it's just too much.  Top three musts are lame, but really, we did them over and over and over again: Small World and Tea cups, and anything where you can see their favorite caracters, even if they don't want to go up close (Winnie the Poo comes to mind). Dont' bother with: The Jungle Cruise. LAMEST thing ever! Don't bother waiting for character-meets in the big tent at Mickey's Toontown... find another spot, the lines just arent' worth it (we didn't even step foot inside). Don't bother with Epcot. It's totally over their heads.
  Last tip: make restaurant reservations. for Lunch AND dinner, for every day that you are there. Because if you don't feel like the counter stuff, it's impossible to find a seat in a sit-down restaurant. Better to have the reservation and cancel it if you don't feel like it anymore. Make them long in advance. We tried to make lunch reservations when we got there on the first day, and there wasn't a single restaurant in the park that could seat us. Ditto with dinner, we ended up having to book at the Japanese pavillion at Epcot, which was the absolute furthest we could have had to go, and NOT kid friendly at all.

Katie J asks: What was your favorite holiday as a kid? As an adult? Where are some of your favorite vacation spots? (With and without kids.) If you could have one super power, what would it be?

• For sure, has to be Christmas. But not because of the reasons you think. We would spend the entire holidays "Up north" at the country house, where all my cousins lived year-round. I would ski on Christmas morning, the slopes completely empty, it was heaven! Today, I like Sukkot. It's a very festive holiday that involves no gifts, but it's an entire week of festive meals, in the Sukka, which I get to built and decorate. My kids think it's the absolute coolest, and I guess that's why I love it so much.
• Vacation Spots.... We went to the Amalfi Coast on our honeymoon and I would go back there any time! Just fabulous. Argentina was also wonderful. Closer to home, the Martitimes are great: Nova Scotia and PEI. We were supposed to go spend a week in June before hubs got sick. My default favorite go-to though is and always will remain Miami. It's got sun, sand, and fabulous shopping, I can be there by lunchtime and I know my way around.
• The superpower one has me stumped. I don't think in such terms. I guess the power not to need sleep. I would get so much more done, and I could watch every single TV show known to man!

Answers - 1 of ??

Well, there are some interesting questions, and I certainly can think of a bunch of new topics! So in the name of fairness, I will start answering in order. Some will get short answers, some longer, and some will get their own post topics.

Harry asked: Are there any good sushi places in Montreal? What kind of shoes does Mortimer's Dad wear? Are there insane people in Canada that accost you in the super market? Are Uggs popular in Canada?

• There are some amazing sushi joints in Montreal, most of which I don't go to..... in general, sushi is very pricey here, and the top quality joints aren't exactly Kosher-friendly. (A side note on my level of Kosher-ness: we eat outside the house. Fish, dairy, vegetarian. In certain very rare circumstances, chicken. Steak at Moishes because that's a whole other story.) But I don't eat seafood and I only eat "Kosher" fish: scales and fins. So it's sort of pointless to go to Atami or Azuma, where they are re-known for the eel or other fancy non-kosher stuff. We do occasionally go upmarket to Juni or Ginger, which are sushi, but more like fusion..... you can't go wrong with Kaizen, and we often go to Mikado, which has several nice locations.
• Mortimer's Dad's shoes.... As herb can attest to, MD mostly wears what I lovingly describe as is "retard-shoes" (spare me the PCness, I know, but trust me, the shoes warrant the name). They remind me of Kramer's shoes in that episode of Seinfeld, where everyone thinks he is "challenged"... I hate these shoes with the passion of a thousand suns. he thinks they make him look cool...... you be the judge.

the thing is, he has LOTS of other shoes: loafers, lace-up, even really nice Italian mules from our honeymoon.Everything from Ecco to Hush Puppies, to handmade in Italy. My favorite are a caramel-colored lace-up retro pair I call the bowling shoes, which we bought in this super hip store in South Beach. Yet these are the shoes he wears everyday....

• There might be insane people at the supermarket, however I have managed to avoid them. I did recently have an encounter much like the one Figlet recounted, except the crazy person accused ME of being off my meds.... we had just gotten back to our parked car, a Volvo station-wagon was double-parked and blocking us in. I noticed there was a passenger, so I walked over to give a little wave and indicate that we wanted to leave. The lady looked at me, screamed RELAX and kept cursing in her car. I turned around and got in our car, sort of puzzled. First, she slid into the driver's seat and put the car into gear. But instead of moving out of the way, she pulled more along side us, got OUT OF THE CAR and came up to Hub's window and screamed at me that I forgotten to take my meds and what the F was my problem..... The whole thing was very weird, because we were actually parked in front of a pharmacy, and I can only imagine what the river of the car was getting for her inside!
• People do wear Uggs. But the big fad is past, that's for sure. However, people here where Uggs out of necessity: it gets cold, and we get lots of snow, so warm and comfy boots are the  only way to get through the 3/4 months of winter. I myself own two pairs. Orange regular Uggs, and some tan tailored (ie not slouchy) ones with a little pocket on the outside and a zip on the inside. I would say that I wear them every second day in winter. But if I wear them to work, they are to-and-fro wear only, I keep shoes at work, or I bring a pair that matches my outfit.

I'll tackle AmFam too in this post, and keep the rest for the coming days:

Are you really going to try to get a TV gig?

How is Mortimer's Dad's health at the moment?

What are the big sellers at the store for this holiday season (I am a very sucky gift buyer, so that is totally a selfish questions.)

• Truth be told, probably not. I would have to actively pursue that, make calls, bug people, and frankly, I am waaayyyy too lazy and too busy to do that. Whenever I get an opportunity related to the store, I do mention it to the TV people. And there have been little hints here and there, but I just have too much on my plate. Someone did suggest podcasts and I have to say, I'm considering it. I just have to figure out how to do it, the format, what to do it about.....
• Mortimer's Dad is fine, thank you very much for asking. That June episode was freaking scary, but he bounced back to his regular health status and seems to be none-the-worse. Of course, we are always on our toes, and it's certainly putting the thoughts of a #3 on the very very back burner, but for now, he's great.
• Best sellers... that's hard. We sell things that make people laugh and have some real use, but really people come to us during the holidays for gift-exchanges, gifts to people they don't know etc.  Our all time best baby gift is the Babywr*pper. As for holiday gifts, the Fr*ed collection is always very popular, especially this, and this and this. (Am making the links vague, because I don't want my personal blog to get the hits for people searching for these things) If you are looking for kids, you cannot go wrong with any of the Pl*a*y Scenes. The wine bottle totes under Kitchen/Barware are very very popular, as are most of the products in the office section.... (end of product placement!)

I'll continue with more answers tomorrow. Thanks for playing along!

all the cool kids are going it

so my lack of eating cereal isn't exactely intesting, is it?

My blog posse is either A) decluttering or B) opening up for questions. And because I am starting to lack creative thoughts, I will admit that today, I made the kids sort through all the basement toys and we are giving away 2 huge boxes. So all that's left now is to say: What to you want to know? I can't think of anything that I haven't covered in some way or another, but since I really don't know what to write about, and it's only Nov 12th, I'll answer whatever you guys want to know.

Revelation: I cannot eat cereal

This is sooooo totally random, you'll have to forgive me.

I cannot eat cereal. Something really weird happens when I eat cereal. About 10/15 minutes after I eat it, I get totally dizzy, somewhat nauseous and I have to lie down for an hour. Not exactly practical after breakfast.

I don't know why this happens. At first, I thought it was the milk, as I am lactose intolerant. But it happens also with lactose-free milk, and on the rare occasions when I have attempted with soy milk, I had the same problem.

Then I thought it was the sugar, since I like to eat either Captain Crunch, Fruit Loops, or the old fashion large block of Shredded Wheat (with a healthy serving of sugar on top). But I have tried Special K, Special K with berries and the Almond/berry crunch cereal that I actually found really tasty, until the side effects started. I recently even tried with Shredded Wheat plain, with no sugar at all. Still happened.

But I have no wheat allergy, I eat every manner of wheat in a thousand other products. So why can't I eat cereal? Have you ever heard of such a strange thing?

Visit with the Chinese Cousins

This afternoon, we had our almost-annual visit with Dumpling's travel group. Usually, it's in the summer, but with 3 families having new little ones, somehow, it never happened.

The person organizing it ad decided it would be a halloween costume party, since it was only a week after. Dumpling was very excited for yet another excuse to leave the house in all her princess-grandness. Imagine her surprise when every single other girl there, save for one, was also a princess. All total, 10 girls. 1 hippie, 1 Fairie (BB) and 8 princesses, in all manners of fancy dress. In a wooden pirate ship, walking the plank. I wish I couldl show you pictures, but I have to see if I can find a way to not show you the other kids first....

So it was interesting to watch the interaction. Dumpling didn't seem to remember the girls, but was veyr happy to play with so many little girls just like her: Princesses AND Chinese! She did recognize her buddy Pebbles Flinstone and seemed a little protective of BamBam. There is a definate closeness there, they have their own way of playing. What's interesting is that with every visit, it takes Dumpling and Pebbles less and less time to warm up to each other. It used to take about 20 min. Now, about 5/6 min after getting there, they were holding hands and running around like best buds. Which is great, because we last saw them about 2 months ago.

The floors, by the way, are fixed and look great. The furniture will be back soon and I'll show you some pictures. Or maybe I'll make you wait til I do the trim-paint and the wallpaper in the living room....

Denied Wine at Disney

Regular readers are familiar with my penchant for a little glass of Vino after the kiddos go to bed. It's that or illicit drugs, so we'll stick to the wine! As long as I don't go over one bottle per week, I think I'm OK.

Anyhoooo, while at Disney, it was sometimes a little..... tiring. The girls were not always good (shocked! I know you are!) and after the fireworks, I sort of felt like a little sip.... So I walked the two kms from our building to the main building (the Polynesian is a series of independent long-houses, which is really pretty) and I went to the store to purchase a mini bottle of wine. I should have gone to the bar, I'm sure none of this would have happened. But I often only drink half my glass, so I thought buying a small bottle and corking it for the night would be a better idea, so I went to the little store. I grabbed 2 bottles of milk (hubs' drug of choice) and a tiny bottle of wine for me, and walked up to the cash.

The cashier, who was in her mid twenties, grabbed my  Disney Card. The card that opens your door, lets you charge any and all purchases, and lets you into the park. The card that has ADULT printed right on it and is actually linked to your finger-print when you enter the park. But apparently, the card that cannot provide your birth date.

Clerk: I can't sell you the wine without ID

Me: Ha! You flatter me! But seriously, let's just ring it up.

Clerk: No, I need to see ID. We have to ask if you don't look over 21.

Me: Ha! I have TWO kids!

Clerk: I'm serious, I need to see your ID.

Me: It says right here on my card ADULT.

Clerk: But this could be your mother's card.

Me: ?!?!?????????

She wouldn't budge. I paid for the milk and walked the long walk back to my room, totally not believing that at 37, I had been unable to purchase a small bottle of wine. I know at 27 I would have been flattered, but really, at 37, I was just dumbfounded. And a little pissed that I was being kept away from my wine (remind me of this if I ever start drinking more than the one bottle per week)

So I walked all the way back to the room and put the girls to bed. And watched something or other on TV. But I still couldn't let it go. So I grabbed my passport and began the long walk back to the main building. Except as soon as I stepped out of the room, some 12 year-old running laps in the hall body-slammed me and knocked me to the ground. Ensued the stupidest conversation with his stupid parents who suggested that *I* should have looked into the hall before I stepped out of my room. I wondered aloud what would have happened if my 4 year old had been the one walking out and the stupid father answered "she probably would have been smart enough to look in the hall first"... Yeah, 'cause when I walk out of a hotel room, I make my kids peek both ways down the hallway to make sure it's safe!

Another hotel guest who just happened to be leaving his room at the same time saw it and proceed to chat me up while we walked to the main building. Unfortunately, the store clerk was now gone, so I couldn't rub my ID in her face and show her that I am in fact 37, not less than 21. So I went to the bar to buy my wine. Where my walking buddy thought he would be really funny and told the waitress: "You can't serve her, she doesn't look old enough!" Ha! Funny! Really Funny!

I bought the wine, had 3 sips and went to bed.

TGIFF

yes I realize there is an extra F in there.... just work it out, it's a common F-word.

so the thing you can't see really well in the cellphone picture is that she had about 25 of these pigtails all over her head. Baby-Medusa!

We are in exile, AGAIN, and have taken refuge at the Kibbutz of the North. The floor guys were really apologetic about the problems (seems cleaning products stuck between the boards are seaping through and causing a chemical reaction) but we have to stay out for another 48 hours. I was looking for my good yoga pants everywhere. I found them in the bag still in my car, that I haven't unpacked since we stayed at the grandparents. They even still had pre-worn underwear in them.... yeah, I'm totally on top of things!

The last time I worked this hard, cerebrally, was when I used to edit documentation in my airline days. With the stores, I've done some crazy-hard work with openings and movings, but it's almost always physical work. This project was purely cerebral and frankly, it kicked my ass. The repetition of ajusting picture sizes over and over again, the tediousness of hunting down witty product descriptions, the ENDLESS phone calls back and forth with the new man in my life, the web-guy..... I know it's not actually finished and we still have a lot of stuff to adjust, but man, this is the closest I'll come to child birth.

Tomorrow, I will entertain you with the story of how I got carded at Disney....

Grandma did my hair...

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we are live!

After months of planning, weeks of programming (not me), days of coding and uploading, we are live. people, I don't do this often, but I present to you, my work.....

Edited to add: and for anyone who wants to do early holiday shopping, use the code "mmblog"   A little gift from me to you!

I am SUCH an idiot!

I can't believe I'm going to admit this..... I am sitting at work, juggling the website and the translations and all the other crap work that I gotta get done and I'm thinking I would really enjoy listening to music, but I left my iPod at home....

{pausing to let you contemplate what an idiot I am}

yeah. I just got it. the iTunes is ON THE COMPUTER........ press play, you moron!

Fun with hats

Rather than bore you with yet another episode of "Mortimer's Mom stresses out and loses her shit over bubble-floors and now, the language police" I will give you one of the canned posts I wrote before I left, in case I had nothing to write. I promise you, it's better that what I could produce today....

------------------

Amy over at Grrltravels wrote a post a few weeks ago about playing restaurant with her kids. I too am of the "play while I sit and watch" school of parenting much of the time. Don't get me wrong, we play boardgames and I do tons of arts and crafts with them, but there are days when I seriously don't feel like it. So I sit on the couch and we have tea parties. The girls serve me like the Queen that I am! Because she is quite Disney-princess-yfied, Dumpling calls me "Your Majesty"....

An other game we love to play is dress-up. In her room, Dumpling has a giant drawer full of old clothes, along with a dozen princess dresses and a whole bunch of jewelry and shoes. This can provide hours of entertainment. The other day, we were in the basement and I seriously wanted to watch Oprah (with Seal and Heidi Klum, fyi). But they weren't feeling the tea party. So I grabbed the basket of winter hats and mits that I was getting ready to bring to the front hall, and hilarity ensued. take a look:

  So I would say, sitting back on the couch and watching them play can be a very good thing once in a while. Even if it does make me the Evil Queen, or Ursula the sea witch....

just a tad more complaining

so the floors... ya, they are not done.... less War and Peace, more Chick Lit, but still, bubbles here and there.... we are not pleased. He offered to come back tomorrow, but that meant not sleeping at home tomorrow night. Frankly, the girls would have flipped out. Our night at grandma and grandpa's house was not restful. BB woke up in a panic, which in turn made Dumpling wake up and wail that she missed home. Resolution? I slept on the bottom bunk with the Roll-and-Kick doll known as BB. Fun!

So instead he is coming back friday and we will hightail it to the country for the weekend. he'd better get it right this time, or else, I might just lose it!

Adding to the stress is that we scheduled our new fancypants store website to go online this week. So I have been working overtime coding and categorizing products in the database and weighing and measuring every product we sell for the automated shipping-cost thingy...... it's a real bitch.

And just to make sure the end of the day was the cherry on the sunday, the kids and I got flu shots this afternoon. My arm aches and both girls cried in some manner, with Dumpling taking the Oscar for dramatic performance by a faking 4 year old.

aren't you just thrilled I'm blogging every day?!??!

In Exile

I am posting from the pull-out couch in my parents' basement, where we have been forced into exile until the floors are fixed. They worked on them today, hopefully we can return home tomorrow.... fingers crossed!

I haven't slept here since the ice-storm of 1998..... man, that was a whole lifetime ago! Before my husband, before my weight-loss, before the kids and the stores... Even the room is different, since it was before the fire at my parents' house....

The biggest problem with the timing of our Disney trip is that everyone signed up to do NaPoBloMo and I have about 500 unread posts waiting in my Bloglines! Maybe I can do a bit of catching up tonight...

home.... not quite

this is my first real post of the November post-a-day thingy... no more cell phone photography (sorry Herb!)

Sooooo Disney with a 4 1/2 and a 2 year old.... is tiring. Thankfully, BB is a great napper, who managed to fall asleep in her stroller, on the armrest of the bus, on the monorail, really, anywhere. She can't, however, sleep in a big bed. No matter how many pillows and cushions you put around her. Because she moves so much, she kicks everything off, and then, somewhere in the middle of the night:THUD. She falls on the floor and wakes up in a panic, which wakes everyone else....

There were tantrums (Dumpling), not eating (Dumpling) many many magical Disney moments (Dumpling!), more tantrums (BB), LOTS of eating (BB) and not-so magical moments of being afraid of the characters (BB!). The Polynesian is very, very nice. So close to the Magic Kingdow, really swell rooms and decor, though the breakfast food was quite plain and not very non-meat friendly (sausage AND bacon AND ham, with a little egg and biscuit....)

If/When we go again, I would stay an extra day, but break it up in the middle with a non-park day. I would have loved to hit Target, and I'm sure the kids would have liked more time at the pool.

We are back home, but not for long. The floor refinishers, you see, screwed up somehow on the last coat. And now, we've got a nice Braille floor. It's like War and Peace for the blind, there are bubbles everywhere. So he must come back tomorrow, resand and refinish the last coat. So we can stay tonight, but we are kicked out again tomorrow night, off to the grandparents..... I'm sure that's going to go over really well with the kids who were really looking forward to sleeping in their beds......

Oh, and they blew a fuse. The Faux-Tivo Fuse...... I watched Grey's at the hotel, but I missed Gossip Girl and The Office. I will have to hunt them down online..... At least it's the Amazing Race tonight.

Back to regular posting tomorrow. Now, I gotta answer all my email.

The last supper

Not historical, but still! The time has come, the magic is starting to wear off....

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Waiting for Woody

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First the parade....

Then dinner with Cinderella! Somebody is in heaven....

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