New Page-------New Day

We had company for dinner last night, the middle of the week. It feels different than having company for dinner on the week end. I am trying to figure out why that is. I went through the same cooking process,choosing a menu, shopping, cooking, damage control to the condo. But it was a more casual feeling. I think that I will do middle of the week entertaining more often. It's like it's a school night mind set. True, you don't lounge around as long after dinner, but that's OK. You don't drink that extra glass of wine, because you think that you can sleep later the next morning. You even stay pretty much on your diet. You don't say,"well it's Saturday, I can have that extra dessert". At least , I didn't say that.

Mid week entertaining might be a good thing to do more often. Another benefit is that we get a really nice meal mid week, with the possibility of some great left overs. I am going to think this through more carefully. There are only two week end nights to chose from to entertain, but if I go to the week days, I have five. I like to have company for dinner. There is good food, new friends, old friends, talk,laughter. Sounds good to me any day of the week.

It's never too late to just start planning my next dinner party. Pick a day ,Monday through Thursday is opened.

I still don't have my mini iPad home. This is really inconvenient for me and, it has shown me that I am much too dependent on it. If I had a smart phone, I probably wouldn't miss the mini  so much.I feel deprived. Many times during the day, I wanted to check something or look up something, and mini wasn't here. How spoiled I am. What's so hard about going into my "office" and using my desk computer. I will stop whining about this. There are more serious issues in the world.

Like my favorite NBN site. The buzz right now is about buying appliances in Israel. This month is a good month for that, I learned. But , beware. Doorways are smaller than some units and getting them into the house can be a problem. I guess Americans like things bigger . Being small is not such a bad thing. Ask me sometimes. 

Another issue right now is traveling with a cat. Poor cat . The cat in question is larger than a small dog and the owner won't put  her in the hold. My advice is to just fold her into the travel case and go for it.

I am so glad that we are between these Jewish holidays so that I can catch up with the real problems of NBN. This shows me that my inconvenience of not having my mini is insignifigant when some people are giving up their life as they knew it and moving to another continent. I will stop complaining . For a day, at least.

It's never too late to just walk into the second bedroom, use the computer and remember how lucky I am . I forget sometimes.

Some times you do things just because. And you can't expect other people to understand. Well, daughter number two, just completed an event, that she ran . That isn't so special. But the event was 100 miles. She did it and she won. Can you image. It involved a two day event, round the clock. Her shoe size, because her feet swelled , went from a 9 to a 10. That is two sizes. One might ask why she did this and the answer would have to be,"because it was there". She feels great. I just mailed her my Wonder Woman pin. She earned it.

My kids do things like this. What kind of an example are they setting for me. Another child, just finished sailing from the west coast of this country to Hawaii. He did not see land for days. If I could spell "meshuganah" that is what I would say. But these kids, are responsable,polite, caring, self supporting, adults. What's not to admire. So they do things a little differently than most. Maybe we taught them something when they were growing up. I'm going to take a lesson from them. All four of our kids hear their own drummer. That's what we wanted.

It's never too late to be special and different. I want to be like them when I grow up.

These Jewish holidays are keeping my Nefesh B Nefesh group emails from me. They don't post on holidays. It's enough that I don't get a message from them on our Friday,but now it has been at least 4 days without a message. I wish that we could arrange to have a holiday when we go in February. I hear they really know how to celebrate. I think February is a slow Jewish month. And it is a good thing that we won't be there for Passover in April because everything, I understand, stops. People take vacations, business hours change. I guess eating Matzoh can be a challenge .

I've never been anywhere where mostly everyone is like me. I wonder what that will feel like .I've never lived in a Jewish neighborhood . I don't think that I have ever had close neighbors who were Jewish.

It's never too late to learn how to say, in Hebrew, "can I borrow a cup of sugar."

For the last couple of days, I have gotten up at 3:30AM. I would just wake up. As far as I can know, I am not worried about anything that would cause me to do this. I hate getting up this early. Especially with nothing to do. Then, I don't want my body to get used to getting up at this time.

Well, I slept through the night last night. And I think it can be labeled, Sabbath peace. Maybe there is such a thing, after all. Our services last  night were held in an outdoor, buggy environment and I still found peace? I have to give credit to somthing for my good nights sleep. !

I used to be the person that mesquitoes didn't bother. Last night , the mesquitoes were equal opportunity biters. We celebrated Sukkoth, under the stars. I admire our fore fellows for doing this and I now have to admit , that I am with those who want to sit in airconditioned comfort and pray about living in a three sided  dwelling.

AS a child, we had a Sukkah,and I ate in it. This was New Orleans. I don't remember bugs. I also only remember my Grandmother eating with me. Where was the rest of the family? I never thought about this . They were probably eating in the dining room, where at least there was a fan. I was either afraid to tell my Grandmother no, or I was practicing for when I sat in Florida , on a sultry night, where the bugs out numbered us.

It's never too late to do this outdoor service once a year. Beside the religious signifigance of eating in a portable hut, I learned to appreciate sitting in a bug free room. Electricity is a good thing.

I can't sleep. I am worried. I am having withdrawal issues. My mini iPad was taken away for repair. I have never been separated from it since I gave it to me as a birthday present. I tried bringing it to Best Buy, but the person assigned to me was over 50 and he wasn't helpful. The person who has my mini right now usually comes to my house and with faster finger tips than I can ever hope to acheive, has in the past fixed what ever I've done to  my desk computer. He took Mini home with him. That sounds ominous.

That mini has every thing about me on it. Last night, I couldn't read my book, because it was on my kindle, which is on my mini. I knitted instead. That was OK for a few rows, but I really wanted to read.

I was restless without my mini. It was like having one of the kids not call home when they were going to be late  .I woke up at 3:30. I would have reached for Mini and written my Blog, or checked my bank balance. Instead, I had to come into the "other" bedroom and use my desk top. It's not so bad being back on it. I can adjust the print size !  Maybe it's not all bad. I was getting adddicted to that mini and a bit possesive. Maybe I have to break those ties and get out more. It's never too late to stop thinking of my mini as a personality. I'm the person, it's an electronic device.

I am doing a Mitzvah by going to Israel. I have invited a friend to visit with us for a week and in turn she invited a friend to come with her. Yes, we will be crowded, but just think, now we will have a Florida happening in Israel. They are excited about their trip and I am excited about all of us being in Israel. Who knows, maybe they will come back and visited us.

I give up. My iPad wins. I am having a battle with it. I think that I am a responsible owner, but obviously, it, this iPad doesn't think so. I went to best Buy with it ,to see why it was misbehaving. The young man listened to my complaint, took me aside where we could have privacy and showed me what to do to correct my way of doing what ever I wanted to do. I said that was wonderfully smart of him and I went home. 

Maybe I should just move into Best Buy. Maybe my iPad doesn't like our home. Maybe I feel like throwing it across the room. It will not do what I want it to do. Period. Can a electronic device hate it's owner. Here is what I want to do. I want to copy from my note pad onto this site. That is how I do my Blog. I write it and transfer it to the blog site. Except now, my note pad doesn't want to be copied. It will repost an old Blog. 

I need another tutorial. I am getting embarrassed about going to Best Buy so much. I try to go to a different kid each time, so I don't get a bad reputation. If I can't remember what the last kid told me, I can still remember faces,and go to a different associate each visit.

It's never too late not to want to start my day feeling frustrated. UGH.

I did it. I bought our tickets to Israel. I had heard that the airlines, after three o'clock on Tuesday's have the best fares. I've been watching  at different times of the day, and on different days, and I think that I heard that one incorrectly. Last night, about  nine-ish, I found a really good fare. I had to call my daughter for advice. Did I have enough time to transfer, is this a good price,should I do it. All affirmative. So I bought them. Then I was so excited that I couldn't fall asleep. I can always take a nap today.

Our Israeli house guest is still with us. We are holding her hostage and plan to adopt her. She is that kind of young woman. I am trying to figure out if she is like this because her family is very cosmopolitan,speaking several languages,traveled, or, if because she went away to school when she was fourteen,or, because she is training to be a professional golfer. Probably a combination of all of these things. Her parents can be proud of her.

As long as I am on a holiday theme, I just as soon keep going. Holidays brought out the worse in my parents. If they were going to have a fight, it would be 30 minutes before we left to go to Shul.  My father's shoe lace would break, or my mother got a run in her stockings, or my shoes needed polishing. Or , even worse, my Mother smeared her nail polish. Holidays were like that. Because appearances meant everything to my Mother, the fuss stopped at the door. She probably continued it after they came through the door from the street side. She sometimes punished us by not talking to us. I hated that.

I have written about this before, but I am always reminded of my day ,in New Orleans, observing Yom Kippur. I have such a vivid picture of all of the kids of my Beth Israel Congregation, standing on the open area in front of the Shul, holding bottles of Coca Cola, waiting for our families to finish the last of the service and break their fast. The sun had long since gone down and the street lights were on.  Our services went on and on. People walked in and walked out. People talked. I bet most people were not even on the same page in their prayer book. AND, you always sat in the same seat. Men on the first floor, women upstairs where we could spy on the men. The actual building was like a Greek palace. It was not handicap assessable . Who could do all of those stairs just to get into the building? And then the woman had this narrow, twisting staircase to get to their seats. 

Last night the weather person on TV got really excited about a cold front coming our way. I suspect he had to have something to say to us. We haven't, Thank God, had any hurricanes to get excited about. Our weather has been pretty routine for Florida. Hot , with afternoon showers, or very hot with torrential downpours. It's what we expect and we accept this. 

I am excited about the approaching Holidays. I am also a little superstitious. Maybe more than a little. We go to one Doctor for Bob, who spends ten minutes with us. He looks at the lab report like it is really telling him something, then he takes Bob's blood pressure sitting down and standing up. Then he tells us to see him in four months. Here is where I get superstitious. If I don't go into the exam room with Bob, the news might be bad. So I go in.

It is an amazing time that we live in. It is 7:07AM, I am sitting up in bed, in Florida,drinking coffee that originated some place in S. America, I had it ground and shipped from Chicago, and I am, via the internet, making a reservation to be picked up at the Tel Aviv Airport next February. Come on, is this a miracle, or what.