Location, location, location
Growing up in SoCal, wanting to be a Rose Princess and ride on the float in the Tournament of Roses Parade is a common dream of many little girls.
For the past ninety parades, one lovely young woman and her court have represented the Tournament of Roses at the parade and a variety of social events.
For little girls growing up in St. Paul, they dream higher. Waaaaay higher!
Little girls in St. Paul dream of being the St. Paul Bouncing Girl.
For the past 71 years, hundreds of fearless women have been tossed in the air by the St. Paul Bouncing Team, earning the title of Bouncing Girl.
It’s all a matter of location!
Another Submission to the “I could NOT make this up” category
A new vending machine is on the horizon.
Candy bars? Nope.
Soft drinks? Nope.
Gotta love L.A.
Making A Difference
What did you do today that made a positive impact on the world?
It could be something small (like using good manners on the road) or something really big. But not a day should pass without leaving the world a bit better than when you first awoke.
I am always amazed with the ingenuity of young people who see a need in their world and undaunted by doubt or fear of failure, pursue a solution with great success.
Take Marni and Berni Barta. In 2002, these thoughful sisters founded Kid Flicks — an organization that provides movie libraries to pediatric departments around the country. Inspired by their friend who used movies as a way to pass time while undergoing treatment for Leukemia, the sisters realized that the movies they had outgrown could make a true positive impact to kids being treated at the same Pediatric Oncology Department of the Los Angeles hospital that had helped their friend. Their instinct was a good one, they discovered, as the hospital’s Child Life Specialist told them that “movies are the first things kids ask for when they are in the hospital.” This experience motivated them to collect as many movies as possible to donate to as many hospitals as possible. Thanks to solicitation letters, direct donations from movie studios and production companies, collection drives at schools, synagogues, other organizations, and individual birthday parties and mitzvah projects, as of January 23, 2008 Kid Flicks has donated 28,700 movies to 287 different hospitals throughout the United States and South Africa. It is their hope to provide every Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Department in the country with a Kid Flicks movie library.
I can’t help but think that when Peach celebrates his first birthday in April, there would be no better way to thank God for his health than to ask our guests to bring a DVD to ease the sufferring of other children. Peach wants for nothing. We’ve got toys galore.
These young woman serve as an example of Rabbi Tarfon’s teaching: “It is not your duty to complete the work. Neither are you free to desist from it.” (Pirkei Avot 2:16)
Blessings
Thou Shall Not Covet.
Probably one of the hardest commandments as it truly goes against human nature. Isn’t that the main reason for the failure of socialism? I want what she has…as long as I have more.
Since I was a girl, I have loved Sydney Taylor’s “All-of-A-Kind Family series. WIth only one sister to call my own, Taylor’s stories of these five sisters (and their baby brother) caused me to fantasize about life with a house full of girls.
But three separate events in the past few days have reminded me that in fact PC and I actually have three sisters and I am so blessed to have them in my life!!
Event #1:
When she received the Evite for PC’s surprise party, Pepgiraffe made arrangements to fly into town for 45 hours in order to celebrate with him. Her response: “I’d fly in for you.”
Event #2:
When having a stressful day this past week, Syl took time away from my precious niece (on several different occasions) just to chat with me. Her response: “I love you.”
Event #3:
When having a discussion about an important family matter, PC’s sister (any ideas of a good moniker for her??) shared her feelings with me. Her response: “even though it was hard, being honest with you is very important.”
Beernut and Peach, consider yourself warned! Who you choose to marry (may that happen in its approrpriate time!) will not be just your wife or my daughter but a sister to Poppyseed as well. So choose wisely!
sur-PRISE
I pulled off the biggest event of my life (birth of three kidlets notwithstanding) and I am still floating on air.
Let’s start at the beginning…
January 29, 1968 — at 8:05am, weighing a mere 4 pounds, 9 ounces, PC entered the world.
And we have known each other 27 of those years.
But how well does one really know another person?
PC’s 40th birthday has been looming large for…oh, about 7 years now…and I’d always planned to so something really special for him. A surprise vacation — without the kids — to one of the places he’s always dreamed of visiting.
The cloud forests of Costa Rica
or the amazing coastline of Belize
or perhaps a little skiing at Jackson Hole
And then I got pregnant…
Which meant that my plans to whisk PC away to an undisclosed location would not be just like the movies. In fact, it would not come to be at all. At least, not for now.
With plans to take the trip once Peach has been weaned, ideas for some other significant way to mark PC’s big day began to take shape.
Party?
Yes, a party would be a great idea. Who doesn’t love to be surrounded by friends and family?
Location?
A little trickier. PC loves sushi! His favourite sushi place, California Beach Sushi, would be the logical place for a bash. However, PC’s friend, Chef Hide, said that with a group as large as ours, he wouldn’t be able to give us the same VIP treatment he gives to PC when it’s just a group of 2 or 4.
So sushi was out. Location TBD…
Type of party?
Billiards and games? maybe…but it’s been done before and I wanted this to be something really different. And fun.
Ah-ha! A scavenger hunt! That’s easy enough to do and fun as well. Except with three kids, our current run of plagues (lice, illness, rodents…remember?), a congregation, and so forth, it was soon clear that Frume Sarah would need just a little help.
Enter Watson Adventures. They put the hunt together and ran the evening so that I could just participate along with our guests. Location: Downtown Disney. A birthday celebration just would not be complete without dessert so we finished the evening at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen. [My selection is not listed on the menu but I would highly recommend the S’mores Up ’cause anything with toasted marshmellows is yummy!]
For a first-person account of the evening, read what PepGiraffe has to say.
The best part?? PC had NO idea. I really mean NO IDEA! In fact, I had kept so quiet about the entire production that PC was convinced that I was letting his milestone birthday pass with nary a celebration. Which really ticked him off!!
Hey PC…did ya really think I’d forgotten about you???
Happy 40th birthday, Love!!
The True Meaning
The problem with language is that we sometimes overuse a word
to the point that it is rendered meaningless.
I know the definition of the word ‘kvell.’
So how come I didn’t know that what it really describes…
…is the sensation of your heart beating right out of your chest?
Sometimes a mint is just a…
It is a perspective thing. I must be incredibly naive because I would never have looked at this and thought: crack!
Is it just me??
It turns out that Jamie Lynn Sigler is Jewish. You know…Meadow….from The Sopranos? [I’ve never actually seen the show, but I’ve heard of it!] Anyway, Siegler made big news this week because she recently went on a Birthright trip and apparently had a meaningful experience.
“But it was only touring in Israel, during her recent visit to the country, that she said she felt a true spiritual and emotional connection to her roots.” (read more at JTA)
I think Israel is great. And I also think that a trip to Israel can make a big impact on one’s Jewish identity as well as forging a connection to the land itself. And thanks to the foresight and generosity of a few HUGE benefactors, young Jewish adults between the ages of 18-26 who have never participated in a peer Israel program can travel to Israel for a free 10-day trip.
So what seems out-of-place???
The free part. Birthright is meant to give just a taste of Israel to people who would otherwise not be able to make the trip. I’ve gotta think that after six years on a critically-acclaimed television series she might not fall into that category.
How awful!
Decisions.
Peach has now been on the outside longer than he was on the inside. At almost 9.5 months old, his days are filled with much adventure. And very little sleep. And he is drinking me out of house and home.
I had wanted so much to nurse exclusively for this first year. By that I mean, no formula. I don’t have anything against formula. I just had this as a really important goal. The older two kids were supplemented with formula from the very start. Everything was different with Peach. He roomed in with us for months in his little Co-sleeper. I wore him in his sling almost exclusively during his first three months. My frozen milk supply was plentiful.
Or so I thought.
Somewhere along the way I must have gotten complecent. Not pumped as often as I ought to have. Or maybe the back-to-back bronchial episodes have had something to do with it. Certainly the decongestant had an effect.
So after much thought, I resigned myself to the reality that I can only pump as much milk as I am going to pump. Can’t force more milk just by sheer desire. I packed a canister of formula in Peach’s school bag and hoped for the best.
It so happens that he hasn’t needed it the past two days. What he has done is eaten more solid foods than usual. And tonight, mostly out of sheer desparation, I introduced Cheerios. Damn, I love those things! Beernut has a 3-D book presentation due on Friday and I needed a distraction. You would have thought it was the second coming. Peach was trembling with delight. What’s more, the Cheerios occupied him long enough for us to finish the first part of the project AND eat dinner.
So for now, he is still a mama’s milk-exclusive boy. Maybe having made the decision to supplement has relieved some of the stress…who knows.
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Frume Sarah is Shabbos-observant -- in a Reform way, that is. Please note that from Friday afternoons until one hour after sundown on Saturday evenings, Frume Sarah will be unavailable, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath.
Comments made during this time will be held in a queue, to be moderated afterwards.
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