Moonshining

They say that if a pregnant woman, in her 9th month, eats an etrog it's a segulah for an easy birth. So, my dining room table is now littered with etrogim from the holiday and I'm getting ready to go out and pick up a couple of bottles of vodka. With plenty of sugar and at least 6 week fermentation, I should have some good etrog liquor. Granted, I'm due well before 6 weeks time, but I can always sneak a few sips here and there in the middle of the fermentation process.

I am so happy that the Chagim are over and, as enjoyable as most of it was, I'm looking forward to moving on with the year. I should be taking down the decorations today but I'm fighting to stay awake to update the blog before I plan on trying to take a quick nap. The second part of Yom Tov was definitely not as fun as the first part.

Shabbat Chol Hamoed started out really, really great. Pidgeon and I had a lot of fun just being the two of us, and I love eating in the Succah over the Chag. It was very, very hot though on Shabbos day and I was sweating a ton in the Succah. We also didn't have the AC on so it was pretty hot in the apartment too. I managed to take a nap though and when I woke up, was feeling anything but refreshed.

The baby suddenly felt very heavy in my stomach. I tried to wake it up by jiggling but nothing. So, I got out of bed and went into the kitchen to cut up some fruit. I made a plate for Pidgeon and together we ate some fruit. I thought the sugar would wake the baby but again, I felt nothing. Concerned, I decided to dig into a huge piece of chocolate tart that I had left over from the first days of Yom Tov. At this point, normally, the baby would be going wild inside of me. And still, nothing. Not even a movement.

That's when I started really freaking out. Shabbos was over in 10 minutes so I put my feet up and waited for Pidgeon to daven before we called his Mom. She told us to go to Shaarei Zedek immediately. So, we got dressed, grabbed all my medical paperwork, and drove to Shaarei Zedek. Pidgeon's Mom met us there and we went to the 9th floor where a midwife took my vitals and told me to try to relax. I was in the middle of a panic attack so relaxing wasn't really going to happy. My blood pressure was very, very high, so she immediately put me in an area and hooked me up to the baby monitor.

I was relieved when we heard the baby heartbeat and the midwife, concerned about my blood pressure, told Pidgeon and his Mom that they had to sit outside so I could have some "Mommy and baby time". She thought that would relax me - it did the complete opposite. I still could NOT feel the baby moving, even though I could hear the heart beat, and my panic attack worsened. I started sweating through everything and I felt like I was going to throw up, but they had closed the curtain and the garbage pail was out of my reach. I started crying, I hated being alone, hated not being able to feel the baby, and all I wanted was Pidgeon to come and help me. About 30 minutes passed and the nausea was getting much worse, until finally a Dr. came in to do an ultrasound. It was amazing to see the baby moving on the ultrasound but still I couldn't feel a thing. 

The Dr. said it was a number of reasons, one being that she moved (although not, unfortunately, out of breech position) and between lack of space, all that amniotic fluid, an anterior placenta and ALL MY FAT (I swear she said that), it was no surprise that I couldn't feel the baby as strongly as I had.

Bullshit.

This baby is super active and I have felt it moving and punching and swimming very, very clearly. But, in this new position, there wasn't as much room to manuever so I need now to learn what's normal movement for the baby.

Anyway, they wouldn't let me leave until I was confident that I felt the baby. But, I wanted out of that room, away from all the women in labor and with Pidgeon and his Mom. So, they let me sit outside with them both until I was confident that I felt the baby. We were there for over an hour before I felt 3 swift kicks. At which point, I got my discharge papers and was out the door as fast as I could! I was wiped and emotionally drained. I thought I could just come home, relax and calm down.

Unfortunately, Pidgeon had other plans for me. About an hour after we got home, Pidgeon got sick. I mean, really, really sick. It turns out, he somehow caught a stomach virus, and we were up all night together. At 6:00 a.m., he finally felt well enough to try to get some sleep, and I passed out next to him. I couldn't believe we had all this drama - back to back - in one night.

Sunday, we were supposed to go to a Pideon HaBen in the morning and a family Succah party in Beit Shemesh at night. But, we were at the Dr's office first thing and she diagnosed Pidgeon with a highly contagious stomach virus and made sure that everything was okay with me (i.e. my blood pressure had returned to normal). By the time we finished with the Dr.'s, we were both so exhausted that we just got back home and crashed. But, Pidgeon was finally really hungry and we had an errand to run in town. So, we made the HUGE mistake of going to Cafe Rimon Dairy for something to eat. We had no problem getting a seat and the service was fine, but towards the end of our meal an American family with 2 teenage sons and 3 year old twin daughters sat down at the table next to us. The father decided to park the double stroller right next to my seat, thus blocking the pathway for the waitresss and anyone else that needed to pass. We finished our meal, paid the check, and then got up to leave. I couldn't get out as the stroller was in my path. The man saw me struggling and, rather than just get up and move the stroller out of the way, he said "it's better for you to go around" and pointed around the restaurant. 

Now people, had he moved his stroller, it would have been a straight shot out of the restaurant since we were sitting on the periphery. But, he was indicating that we basically weave our way in the opposite direction until we can get out. Well, I was PISSED off. But, I have a problem with being assertive and, I tend to end up aggressive and since I didn't want to start a fight, I decided to be passive aggressive. 

I started bitching and moaning and saying to Pidgeon "Oh, it's BETTER for me that I should shove my way through these table." Whack, my stomach hits some poor lady in the head. "Oh yeah, it's BETTER for me to hit this nice lady in the head with my stomach". I continued as I tried to squeeze my way between tables. At this point, the guy decides now's a good time to stop being a lazy ass and move the stroller (granted, we're at the other side of the table now). And his WIFE, who has been pregnant at least 3 times, says to him "don't worry, sit down, she'll be fine."

The insensitivity of people! I left feeling very frustrated and pissed off that they had the nerve to be so rude. I vowed to learn the proper way of being assertive without being aggressive so that I'm never in this situation again. As you can imagine, by the time we got home on Sunday, we needed to spend the rest of the day just taking it easy.

Monday was a short whirlwind of a day. Pidgeon went to shul with his Dad for Hoshana Rabah and then we joined his family for a big breakfast in the Succah. Afterward, we ran some errands for them before Simchat Torah and Pidgeon went to Orange to deal with his cell phone problems. I spent an hour waiting for him in the car while he dealt with Orange. It wasn't fun. We got home with barely enough time for me to do some work, shower, pack and get dressed before we moved in with his folks for the Chag.

The second day of Yom Tov was a lot of fun and FULL of family and friends. I made it to shul Simchat Torah night and watched as Pidgeon got his Hakafah. We were in the downstairs Minyan at Chovevei and my Father-in-law brought my nieces and nephews some candy bags. My nephew ripped into his and ate all the stuff he liked right away, and then left us holding the bag so he could run around and dance with the men. There were a lot of Americans at the minyan and pretty soon, some women came into the women's section and moved chairs around so they could dance. I'm not one for dancing on Simchat Torah - and especially not 9 months pregnant - so I stayed in my seat and kept watching. Suddenly, an older Anglo gentleman approached the Mechizah and said "I can't take this anymore" and took my nephew's candy bag. I was pretty shocked and didn't know what to say, until I saw him trying to divy out the candy amongst his grandchildren. This was where my new assertiveness comes in, but I was at a loss for words! 

Fortunately, his daughter/daughter-in-law saw my face (she was in the woman's section) and told him that it wasn't his to take and he had to give it back. He threw is back at me and I told him that I didn't think my nephew would appreciate him stealing his candy. He made a face and then walked away.

Chutzpah!

I couldn't wait for the Chag to be over, so I could just get back to some sort of routine. We spent the day with family and friends and then, once it was all over, Pidgeon and I decided not to go home. They have Hakafot Shniyot with LOUD music by our apartment, so we decided to stay at his folks another night. We did go to Aldo on Emek Refaim and picked up 2 movies from Videon. We were planning a quiet night watching movies and relaxing at home.

Well, I have NO idea what was in that ice cream, but by the second movie I wasn't feeling so great. Pidgeon was also feeling nasty and we couldn't believe we were sick again. At Midnight, I started throwing up again and it wouldn't stop. Fortunately, Pidgeon's Mom knew what to do and sent him back to our apartment to pick up my Pramin. I was a dishrag by the time he got back with the medication but at least it stopped my throwing up. Then, Pidgeon felt terrible that he ended up in another toilet in the house. We both dragged ourselves to bed at 2:30 a.m. and I said I was done with food.

We spent the day yesterday trying to figure out what the heck happened the night before. Because we were both so weak and exhausted, we left the Succah up and went about our day. We both had appointments out of the area and I practically fell asleep waiting for my hematologist to show up. Fortunately, the meeting was quick, and we were back home and relaxing in no time. I have a ton of backlogged work to catch up on and managed to do some of it while Pidgeon was out. I made us a quick salmon and salad dinner and we were asleep 2 hours earlier than normal.

Today, I'm hoping to still take it a bit easy but don't know how that will pan out. I have a SuperSol delivery coming in the afternoon and the Kablan coming to look at the leak in our bathtub. We also have our last childbirth education class tonight and supposedly it's some birth video. Just what Pidgeon is looking forward to doing tonight!

Well, I'm off to try to take a quick nap before I really have to get my day going. Hope everyone had a wonderful Chag!

Yom Tov from Baka!

It's Complicated

Just call me Puff Fatty. I have no idea what happened but, seemingly overnight on Monday, I went from pregnant to puffy. I put on 3 pounds in less than 12 hours, my legs resemble tree trunks (pine, not oak) and my face was absolutely huge. It was a bit terrifying, so I went online to find out what the heck was going on.

It looks like I'm suffering from a typical pregnancy symptom called edema. Which, basically, is the swelling of the extremities. The blood pools around the legs and ankles and, depending on diet, your feet and hands can swell too. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't able to take off my rings. That made washing for bread a bit difficult, but I remembered learning a long time ago that people who wear rings every single day on the same fingers don't necessarily have to take them off to wash because it's not considered a Chatzizah as it has become almost a part of the body. Wish I could remember where I learned that - or if it's even true - but I figured why bother asking a Rabbi when I can just paskin myself.

And, depending on the reason why you're puffy, the "solution" varies. I think it had to do with the fact that we spent majority of Monday in a car. So, I made every effort to get the blood circulating by doing lots of errands in the house, getting up from my seated position, elevating my feet when I was on the couch or on the chair, etc. I also drank a TON of water, which I actually do normally every day (I have always been a big water drinker) and decided to not add any extra salt to my food. Then, around 8:00 p.m., I laced on my walking sandals and Pidgeon and I decided to go for a walk.

It felt so great to just be outdoors, in the cool Jerusalem night air, moving. It felt good to just really move, at a normal pace for my belly bump. We, of course, had no destination when we left the house so Pidgeon offered to take me to Emek Refaim and "buy me a treat". Well, I'm like a 4 year old when I hear the word "treat" and started imagining all the yummy goodness he could buy me. Which, sadly, defeats the purpose of a healthy walk if I end up eating some high caloric ice cream (which was what I was craving).

Well, fortunately for me, we ended up at this impromptu flea market down the block from Burgers Bar. Now, it's the 9 days, so I felt bad about buying but figured that it was okay if I really found something nice. There were a lot of jewelry tables set up, but I didn't really see anything in particular that I like. I'm actually obsessed with earrings that Britney Gastineau wears on The Gastineau Girls so I was looking for similar earrings and didn't find anything. But then, we came upon this really cool table with beaded wired animals. The artist made all these animals out of wires and then "colored them in" using different beads. There was this really cool cobra that stretched clear across the table, two beautiful red crabs and lobsters, some scorpions, a black and white lamb, etc. Well, I have had a turtle fetish ever since I inherited my first and only pet Turtle, Angus

There was a small, purple turtle that was really pretty already out on the table, but I kinda like my turtles green. So, Pidgeon asked the woman running the booth about a green turtle, and sure enough there was a beautiful green turtle with red eyes, just waiting for me. That was just the treat I was looking for! So, Pidgeon bought it for me and they wrapped it up in a really nice paper and we headed home. I figured, one good treat deserves another, so we stopped off at this new frozen yogurt store sandwiched between Tal Bagels and Aldo Ice Cream. We samples the yogurt (it tasted like frozen yogurt with a bit of an after taste kick) and Pidgeon got himself a fruit juice smoothie and I just abstained. We walked home with our treats and realized, when we got through the door, that the excursion took us more than an hour! Perfect amount of time for me to be on my feet.

I rested a bit and then decided to get started on dinner. I had found Alaskian frozen pollack the other day, and in my mind thought it would be a good fish to bread and fry like shnitzel. So, I got to work on breading and frying and imagined a great dinner of pollack shnitzel with some leftover quinoa and roasted curried cauliflower. Well, I don't know if it was the fish or my crappy non-stick frying pan, but what I ended up with was basically little fried fish bits and fried breading. It looked absolutely nasty, like a bomb exploded all my fillets. But, Pidgeon insisted that it would taste great, so I just spooned out some quinoa and topped it with the fish bits.

It actually tasted okay, it just wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as I had hoped. We finished dinner in time for a rerun of How I Met Your Mother in Hot Stars and decided to relax for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, we've been trying to join the online shopping group of CityDirect. Any New Yorkers reading this will think immediately of Fresh Direct except CityDirect is more like a hybrid between Fresh Direct and Urban Fetch.

Ah, Urban Fetch. I freaking LOVED Urban Fetch when I lived on the Lower East Side. I would order movies, pints of Ben and Jerry's, cold medicine when I was sick, cigarettes and once I bought a big box of glow in the dark condoms. I don't know why I did it, I never used them, didn't even have a remote reason to think I would need them, but I wanted to see what would happen if I bought them. Nothing happened, the delivery man brought them with all the other stuff I ordered, and I kept them in the back of my underwear drawer. Fortunately, my 90 year old Grandfather (at the time when we lived together and I was all about the Urban Fetch) never found them, and I tossed them out when I moved to the Upper West Side a couple of years later.

But, I digress.

So, we've been trying to become members of City Direct so we could order our groceries online. Now, fortunately, we're at a position right now when we can actually find time to go to the grocery store, but figured this would come in handy P"G when the baby comes and we both just can't get out. Plus, I already order my fruits and vegetables from our local green grocer, so figured why not get everything else online.

We had some problems setting things up, but then Reut the most amazing Customer Service representative in ALL the land, called and walked us through the process.

Now, I love online shopping and I love food shopping, and this just combines my two passions. I literally spent an entire hour just putting together our food shopping list for delivery this afternoon. I didn't order any of the fruits or vegetables from the shuk, but was VERY happy to see that you could order baked goods from Marzipan. The great thing about this was that I was able to find items I didn't even know existed, like whole wheat puffed pastry, and a cheaper brand of edemame. I kept the list pretty small, just what we need for the next few days, just to try it out. The best part was that I knew, before even placing the order, how much money I had already spent. For people like us, who are on very strict budgets, that was just brilliant. This way, I knew what I could and couldn't afford, and even decided to get rid of certain items this month because I didn't really need them.

I was a bit perplexed when the site didn't ask me for payment information, but I was so caught up on the site that I forgot about my shot and was late getting the icing process started. We went to bed and I figured I would call Reut in the morning to check it out.

We slept in a bit, which was nice for me since I was so tired last night, and I called Reut to ask about payment information. Turns out, after the delivery and once they know we're satisfied, a customer service representative calls and asks for credit card information. That's fabulous! Now I know that I don't have my credit card information on their servers, which makes me very happy. She called me again a few minutes later to tell me that some items weren't available, or the brand I wanted was available but they had a different brand instead, and I was very happy with that. And, within minutes of hanging up, my delivery was here.

The delivery guy was very nice, he unpacked the groceries for me out on my kitchen counter, and I gave him a little tip and he was on his way. It was just a pleasure, and I'm looking forward to P"G using this service again.

Meanwhile, I've spent my morning watching four back to back episodes of Denise Richards: It's Complicated. I gotta say, it's pretty addicting, and I'm all about the E! programming these days. I have about 6 more episodes to catch up on, but I'm thinking there's more drama to come and it's very entertaining!

Well, Pidgeon just got back from his morning out, so I'm going to go and try to figure out what's for lunch.

Yom Tov from Baka!

Food is Love

I grew up in a household where food = love. You know the type, when you were 6 and you broke your wrist and the Dr. had to twist it back in - without anesthesia - to set it and you screamed your head off and almost fainted in pain, your Dad took you straight to Baskin and Robbins for a double scoop treat. Or, when you scored really high on the GRE, you parents decided to take the whole family out to a big celebratory dinner at your favorite kosher restaurant. And, you ordered everything you ever wanted from the menu. What about when you were feeling down about the crappy dates you'd be out on lately, and your Mom looked the other way when you reached for a box of chocolate donuts and then handed you a pint of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream to instantly make you feel better. Or that first Shabbos back home from the awful Zionistic sleep over summer camp and your Mom cooked you your absolute favorite Shabbos foods and then Grandma popped over with her famous potato kugel that she only makes on special occasions.

Yeah, that's the home I grew up in. Well, as I got older and my waistline expanded, I realized that maybe I didn't have the best relationship with food. So, I decided to try to get control and ask for hugs instead of bags of Hershey hugs when I needed emotional comfort. Its been working well, thankfully, and I'm doing my best not to perpetuate what I learned at home into our new home. That being said, I'm not always successful. We joke about how food=love, especially when Pidgeon comes home from a long day and I immediately ask him what I can give him for dinner. I give him a hug first, so he recognizes the difference, and then I make him a fantastic meal. But, on Friday, I realized that Pidgeon needed more of a pick me up than my wimpy little arms could provide. And so, I decided to bake him a surprise batch of vegan brownies.

But wait, you might be asking, since when are you vegan? We're not. I could never be a vegan or a vegetarian. I love meat. But, we are on a big time budget and when I rummaged through the fridge looking for the 2 eggs needed for my brownie recipe, I discovered a lone egg and no applesauce to substitute. So, I hit the internet and found a recipe for vegan brownies that called for maple syrup instead of eggs. I decided, since we had a huge bottle of maple syrup that I wasn't planning on using any time soon (no pancakes for this preggo), to try out the recipe. I shooed Pidgeon out of the kitchen and told him I was making him a surprise for Shabbos kiddush. He was curious and excited and happily went to his room to do some work. By the time the brownies were baking, the fabulous scent drew Pidgeon out of his room and into the kitchen. He was thrilled and the brownies were delicious! I warned him that this was a pick-me-up that I won't constantly resort to, but I knew that he would really enjoy his treat. He really did.

Sometimes, folks, a brownie is exactly what the Dr. ordered for some much needed mood elevation.

Shabbos was very quiet and relaxing. We ate Friday night dinner at Pidgeon's parents home and for the first time, I had to give myself the shot away from our apartment (well, except when we were at my parents, but that doesn't count). It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, especially since everyone was lingering over dessert and we were able to slip downstairs to his bedroom quite easily. We walked home around Midnight and the streets were much more crowded that usual, which really means that the summer is here, and it was nice to get home and not have to do a shot before going to bed. With the AC humming softly, we both fell into a nice sleep.

Shabbos day we were home by ourselves, which is exactly how I like it sometimes. I still don't understand how we manage to have 2 1/2 hour lunches, but it was a lot of fun. I had to read Abraham Cahan's Yekl for class this week and, since I'm a huge Cahan fan, I really enjoyed the story. After a quick nap, we decided to escape the artificial air and sit on the back porch.

It was so nostalgic for me. In Queens, on a long Shabbos afternoon, I would wake up from my nap and join my Mom on the front porch to read, gossip, watch the people going up the block to the two shul's in our vicinity, and just relax. We wouldn't go inside until dusk and the bugs started to bite, or if our stomachs growled for some Shalosh Seudot. Pidgeon didn't grow up sitting on the front porch Shabbos afternoon, he was usually fast asleep with the latest SciFi thrilled next to his pillow, although his parents do have a beautiful garden that they entertain in.  I think he enjoyed the hour and a half we spent outdoors, if for no other reason than there was a fantastic breeze and the fabulous scent of fresh flowers growing in the air. When Shabbos was over, I was a little sad since it had been so enjoyable, but was looking forward to the start of a new week.

We also decided, as our Saturday night activity, not to see Sex and the City but the head over to the Mamilla mall which is right outside the Old City walls. We hadn't been there yet, but the buzz is strong and positive, and we thought it would be a fun evening. Little did we know that the rest of Jerusalem thought the same way! It took 30 minutes to just drive down the block and into the parking lot. I was shocked by the lines of cars, in both directions, that seemed to stretch for miles. We also had an alternative reason for going to the Mall; I had a 300 shekel gift card to Mac that I wanted to redeem and figured now was as good a time as any to get me some fun stuff. 

We parked and quickly made our way to the shopping center. We hadn't realized that the Mall was basically an outdoor one, and on such a beautiful evening, it was perfect! We passed restaurants that had long waits and were bursting at the seams! We saw a Rolodin, Aroma, Cafe Cafe and a Cafe Rimon. For some reason, the line at Cafe Cafe was the longest. We noted upscale retailers like Tommy Hillfiger, Bebe, and H Stern and of course the requisite Michal Negrin store. The shopping was a tourists dream! Imagine, you could go to the kotel, walk back through the Old City, and stop at the Mamilla mall to get anything you would have gotten in the center of Town. Pretty soon, Ben Yehuda might become obsolete! 

Well, we went to Mac and it turned out that my card expired in February. I was a little upset, as that gave me only 4 months from my birthday to redeem the card and I was told I had a year. The woman was very helpful and got on the phone with HQ to see what they could do. We decided to check out the other shops while she was on the phone and we stopped into the Body Shop so I could buy myself some nice bubble bath. I hope it does what I'm looking for, because sometimes you just want to spend a few hours soaking in a hot tub, with a glass of apple juice, some scented candles and your Nora Jones CD. Afterwards, the hunger bug struck and we hopped into Aroma for some take out sandwiches. We were fighting the clock as I had to be home for the 11:00 a.m. shot and it was getting precariously close to the time we needed to leave. We stopped back at Mac and the woman told us that I could redeem the card but could spend no less than 300 shekel. I ended up getting a palette of 4 eyeshadows, a pencil sharpener and 2 sponges for 316. Fortunately, the extra 16 shekel didn't break the bank. We then quickly stopped into the Steimatzky, which was GORGEOUS, and didn't find the book Pidgeon is desperately looking for. Anyone who knows where we can buy a Brandon Sanderson novel in Israel, please let me know! It would make Pidgeon so happy to have!

We made it home with 2 minutes to spare and then, after the shot, enjoyed a lovely midnight snack with some CSI: Miami.

Today, Pidgeon is off helping his Uncle move offices and I'm home working on one of my thesis stories. I hope to get the bulk of it down today so I can have at least something else written that I can edit into shape. 

If you're in America, here's hoping you're spending the day at The Salute to Israel Day Parade. Show your pride and wear blue and white! We here in Baka appreciate it!

Yom Tov!

New Years Eve Countdown!

I'm getting so exciting about New Years Eve! If I were back on the Upper West Side, I would join my buddies over at BangitOut and drink in the New Year at Heartland Brewery. I'm actually a huge fan of Heartland Brewery because they make the most amazing pumpkin beer! I highly recommend on your next New York City trip during Autumn, to check out one of these great locations for pumpkin beer. It's yummy!

But, since pidgeon and I are going to be here in Jerusalem for New Years Eve, we decided to host a little shindig of our very own in the apartment.  We've already heard of some parties in Tel Aviv at Mike's Place and other's at people's apartments, but we're going to stay home and keep things nice and relaxed. I actually feel like a teenager since my parents are coming in on December 30th and will be in Tel Aviv toasting the New Year with my brother. It's the one night they'll be in town but won't be in Jerusalem. So, pidgeon and I decided to have a house party and hopefully clean up before the folks come our way on New Years day.

We invited a few people already and hopefully we'll round out the crew at a couple more. It should be fun, and hopefully not too un-Jewish of us :)

On to something a bit more interesting, like the fact that I've been fighting tooth and nail to get a driving test in this country. My incompetent driving instructor claims that 1) it takes 3 months before they can schedule you an exam (this is crap, as when I gave him my forms to submit to the Misrad Rishui, I was given a date during my trip to London that I ended up missing because my incompetent driving instructor never informed me that I had a date) 2) People need to take exams in groups of 2's and 3's and he doesn't have anyone else who is learning how to drive on an automatic vehicle (again, I think that's absolute garbage. You can't tell me that every single one of his students is learning shift. He just isn't interested in giving me a date because he's an asshole)

The problem at this point is that I can't find another driving instructor to take care of me because this one already submitting my paperwork. It's annoying because, had I known he was such a jerk, I would have found myself a different driving instructor and driving school to take care of me.

Either way, I'm still driving around town with pidgeon just getting familiar with the roads. I've had a driver's license for more than 13 years at this point, it's just a ridiculous formality the government is putting me through. I'll be happy once it's over and done with, so I can move on to the next government crisis that I'm sure will be coming down the pike. 

I started smoking again, which is really, really bad but seems to be the only thing I do these days that can relax me. The good thing is that I've moved from the more expensive brand (Marlboro) to the cheaper version (Camels) and that's making a bit of a difference on my pocketbook. Since we're still on the we-have-no-money-for-food kick, I'm trying to do my bit to keep our expenses low. The good thing is that nicotine is a natural appetite supressant so I won't need to eat as much. (Although, in truth, the last time I smoked in earnest I really didn't lose any weight, just maintained).  I have to take a picture of our fridge, I've never had a fruit and vegetable bin this empty before. We have one eggplant in it - that's it - nothing else. Pidgeon and I shared the last grapefruit for breakfast this morning. He promised to take me to Rami Levi today in Talpiot for some provisions, but we have dinner with his parents tonight so I doubt that will really come to fruition.

Pidgeon and I are playing name that Christmas caroler and he's doing an AMAZING job! He guessed WHAM! for my Last Christmas, Alvin and the Chipmunks for The Christmas Song and now Bruce Springsteen for Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Not to worry, I'm going to play him the Otis Redding version of White Christmas and we'll see if he'll be able to get that one! I'll  be shocked and impressed if he does as he knows that I absolutely adore Otis Redding.

Yes people, we are Jewish (Modern Orthodox too!) but I just love Christmas songs! What can I say, I'm THAT girl! We're doing Chinese and a movie on December 25th, as tradition with me and will hopefully continue with this new family of ours that we're slowly building.

It's 2:00 p.m. and I'm still in PJ's. I think I'm going to go and take a shower and get dressed and get ready to greet the world today. Here's hoping everyone is enjoying the fantastic SNOW that has blasted the Northeast and Northwest! We hope all the kids home from school are making snow angels, snowmen and having great big snowball fights! I, for one, am truly jealous!