My husband - who I must say is wonderful himself - also has really nice benefits at work, many of which I'm still trying to understand. One of which is the concept of the "floating holiday" - it's not exactly a vacation day, because he can't carry it over from year to year, and it's not really a holiday, but it's nice of his company to force him to take a day off whether he likes it or not. Today, my husband took his floating holiday. We put the baby in day care an extra day today so we'd get more done, as we were talking about going to Ikea to look at some furniture for our (now finished!) attic. Instead, the baby (and I) had been up since 4:30am after finally getting to sleep well after... more

So it was nice and all to have Thanksgiving, but thank you G-d for a long weekend! I am thrilled to have a moment to breathe after this crazy, crazy week and ridiculous day. So, I'll breathe for a moment, figure out what to cook for Shabbat, and blog more later.
Hope everyone had a happy Turkey (or non-turkey) day!

Things I'm thinking about today -

Why is it that if I consider myself one of those parents that doesn't let their kid watch so much television, that I find myself watching more PBS programs than anything else? Why is it that the days of staying up to watch Jay Leno are a mere memory, and I consider it a late night if I stay up to watch the news at 10 o'clock let alone 11 pm? Why is it that I'm wasting any of my brain cells watching television or even analyzing the amount that I watch?

Things I'm doing today -

Paying... more

So I finally got off my butt and paid the outstanding bill to Newsweek after our subscription had run out, and this week we got our first issue in recent months. There's a short but interesting article on organic/ kosher issues, and a taste of how things work in the Jewish world. Enjoy.

By Lisa Miller Newsweek

Nov. 20, 2006 issue - In the beginning, God told the Jews what not to eat: the camel, the coney, the rabbit and the pig; the eagle, the vulture and "all creatures in the seas ... that do not have fins and scales" (Lev. 11). Most famously, God said: "Do not cook a young goat in its mother's... more

And since Cheese Blintzes were mentioned in the article I brought earlier, I've been craving them! If you've never had cheese blintzes, or have only tasted the kind you buy in the freezer section, these are definately worth the effort! I try to make a nice Sunday brunch and serve from time to time in the summer, and they are a traditional food for Shavuot - a holiday which is not coming up any time soon. But who needs a special excuse for a good dish? Usually blintzes are fried again at the end of the recipe - after filling. This recipe doesn't call for eggs in the filling and doesn't need to be fried again,... more

This was an interesting article published recently on Interfaithfamily.com a site that anyone involved in an interfaith or intermarried family should look at. It has some good resources, especially for families who find themselves in that situation.

I would hope - as I know we all do - that things have changed in the adoption world since Dina Beach Lynch was growing up, but it's still a perspective that we should keep in mind.

Cheese Blintzes: An Adoptee Discovers Her Jewish Roots By Dina Beach Lynch

The gray fireproof box stood on the top... more

This quiz went around the internet a while ago, so many of you have probably seen it already. But for those who haven't, it's a fun quiz to do online which tells you based on your answers which religion matches your beliefs. Obviously take it with a grain of salt, but it is interesting to see what religions come up on the list, and the questions that are asked are decent as well. I'd say the quiz is superficial, vague by necessity, and doesn't destinguis very well between Conservative and Reform Judaism, not to mention the other movements of Judaism.

Beliefnet is a pretty well known site,... more

Okay, so recently, my husband decided he was unhappy with the state of affairs in the house (read: not organized enough, not getting dishes washed fast enough, not getting laundry put away at acceptable speeds) so he's taken over the running of things around here. I'm interested to see how long this will last.

On the one hand, I applaud his efforts. He really has done a totally amazing job in keeping up with chores that were really neglected in the past, and amazingly hasn't complained much about the way I do things around here.

On the other... more

I've posted about people who say the wrong things to us - I think we've all been in fun situations like that. We all know people who just tend to say hurtful things, or have found ourselves in the company of acquaintances or even strangers who seem to put their foot in it so easily.

And then there's another breed of people, and it's that group I'm having a little trouble understanding. Some - I hate to say it, but mostly women I know - who in conversation about a potentially awkward topic choose to say some words quietly or barely audible. I'll give you an example - I was talking with the mother of a friend of mine who was chatting about how her granddaughter had "noticed that Anna... more

When Anna came to us, her case was being processed for adoption. In fact, she was designated fost-adopt, meaning that while she was a foster child, the direction that her case was headed was officially toward adoption. There were no relatives interested, and the details of her case indicated that there wasn't going to be a chance of reunification, even if her birth mom did resurface. In fact, the district attorney working on the case assured us that Anna wasn't going anywhere.

While there were some small ups and downs and lots of hurry up and wait time, we were pretty confident that Anna's adoption would go through. And, thank G-d, it did.

When we were placed with the new... more