A week of Smachot!

So, um, I can't believe I forgot to tell all of y'alls!

First, Narda and I had a WONDERFUL night out, A DATE. As in - JUST US. It was SO lovely. We really need to go out and do stuff like that more often. Even though we talked about Malka much of the time, that was fine. We had a yummy dinner, some lovely wine, we went to one of the fun bars we went to about oh, 7 years ago when we first started dating, and then we walked around the West Village for a while, just holding hands.

Because you can do that downtown in NYC. Hold hands. It was SO nice. And the weather was perfect, so it was a lovely night out.

Secondly, um, TOMORROW?

Miss Malka Palka Pooka Palka goes to the Mikveh. At 9am. I'm going in with her. But I get to wear a swim suit. MP3? She gets the ULTIMATE dream come true - LOTS of water, and her nakey tush-tush! What's really great about it? The Rabbi from the Shul where I work, AND the Rabbis from the Shul where we Daven will ALL be together, as part of her Beit Din. So this will truly be a joyous occasion.

SIO

Don't let Malka's naps linger past 3pm, or you are SCREWED.

It's 7:12pm, and she's not even "CIO," it's more like: "SIO," Scream it out.

Ugh.

It's kind of funny, though, because the kid is TIRED; so she fades out, kind of falls asleep, and then pipes in with: "OH! AND ANOTHER THING! LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE TIME I WAS PISSED OFF BECAUSE MY SIPPY CUP FELL OFF THE TRAY!" And then she calms down, and pipes up, etc.

And then she just SCREAMS - but it's more because she can, and has recently learned that lovely behaviour. She KNOWS that I'm the "sucker Eemah," more so than Narda, so she's testing me - Narda won't take that, so she calms down faster for her. Malka knows I'll go get her, so I'm sitting by my resolve.

Sigh.

In the end, it's all kind of funny, but in the moment? it SUCKS! She's totally sleep trained, and even went down for her nap VERY well today, but then she napped 3 HOURS, and woke up at 4pm, so I should have known to get her up earlier, but um, I "rested my eyes" for a bit, and we BOTH woke up at 4pm.

Ahhhhh, her highness is asleep. 25 minutes, not bad.

If you* over-brine your chicken breasts...

Rinse it, broil it, turn it into chicken salad.

*Not, um, that I, er, would PERSONALLY know about that or anything, but I'm just suggesting here, for, um, those, that, er, MIGHT either use too much salt in their brine, or leave it in too long.

I'm just saying...

Blogging for LGBT Families Day.

So today is the day that we "Blog for LGBT Families."

We are SO blessed to live in NYC. I cannot even begin to tell you about the "durm und strang" that so many families like ours have to go through, just to be able to take their OWN CHILD to daycare, or the hospital, or to be taken seriously.

Thursday, May 17th, Malka Palka Pooka Palka was officially, and LEGALLY adopted by her two Eemahot. She was ALWAYS in our hearts, but now she is on record, too. BOTH Narda's and MY name will be on her birth certificate.

We are SO blessed.

Our judge said that she wished that we could just get married, and that once it's legal, to keep her in mind, "I do weddings, too!" she said.

I still want to get married to Narda. You know, in that whole legal way and all, even if we are married in our hearts. Our Rabbi will marry us, but we kind of want to wait for it to be "kosher" all around, you know? And besides, Malka will make such a CUTE Flower girl!

Tomorrow, Narda and I celebrate 7 years together. We count our first kiss as our anniversary. LOTS of things have changed since then. We were YOUNG, we were idealistic, we weighed less. But we didn't have the lovely fur balls, our home together, or Malka. We've both learned and grown so much in the past seven years, and I look forward to the next 70+ together. Even though we annoy each other sometimes, and I drive her batty sometimes, (and um, vice versa, my love), I wouldn't wish for anyone else to spend my life with.

Summer '09, we're going to Florida!

Sorry, honey, I know we haven't discussed this yet, but um...

HARRY POTTER IS COMING TO FLORIDA!!!!!!!

So, yeah. Summer '09. Vacation is planned.

Support Live Theatre! (And Malka's Eemahot at the SAME time...)

Go see Radio Golf. It's an amazing show, up for 4, that's FOUR Tony Nominations, and, well, it's just not as popular as Wicked. but it's still pretty great!


So go see it, and go tell your friends, and your friends of friends of friends to go see it.

Thanks.

Arts and Crafts!

the colors look MUCH better all mixed up!
Originally uploaded by shellipsm

I have been swamped at work, and at home, so I haven't had much time to post, but I'm still working on a lovely response to a few posts ago, where I get to share all that I adore about some of my fellow IVP...

So I leave you with some of Saturday morning's activities...

(shhhh, don't tell grandpa, this is his father's day card!)

My running list of shit that pisses me off...

In my bag, I have a pen that I keep handy, and a Metro-North receipt that's blank on the back.

When I think of, or encounter a randomly odd or disturbing thing, I write it down on the back of that little receipt.

Here's my list:

-People that clip their nails in public - UGH - EWWW - GROSS - leave it in the bathroom, folks!

-People that talk LOUDLY on their cellphones in quiet places, and then look at YOU rudely when you seem annoyed.

-Next3l. Ugh. Enough said.

-When the cats INSIST on using the litter box the SECOND I clean it.

-Improper comma usage.

-Calling people "troops." Um, they're HUMAN BEINGS, not some random technological term. But if you feel better saying that there are currently 3500 dead TROOPS in Iraq, than so be it. Just KNOW that a troop is a PERSON.

What's yours?

Jack Sprat...

Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so betwixt the two of them
They licked the platter clean.

So that is life at House Hydrangeas since Monday. Malka Palka Pooka Palka, being UNDER 2 years old, needs FULL FAT foods for her brain development. That's full fat dairy, full fat cottage cheese, full fat yogurt, you get the picture.

Eemah, however, needs low or NO fat foods. Because, well, Eemah needs to lose a few...

WW is going well. I found myself wanting to cry this am when Narda left for work, because I thought she had left without saying goodbye. I called her on her cell phone to ask her why she hadn't come downstairs (I was doing laundry) to say good bye. There was hurt in my voice, and a quiver in my lip. She said she had gone downstairs, but I wasn't there, and to open the door. I did, and there she was; she kissed me good bye, and gave me that look of: "Oh, my silly baby."

I FORGOT what it's like to let a few emotions come creeping in. Because, you know, I was eating them away.

Silly me. So yeah, it SUCKS, but it's working already. I HATE having to account for what I put in my mouth, but there's NO other way. I simply cannot be trusted around food. Sad, really. But I'm glad I went back. It feels good.

I'm going back...

To somewhere that can help me find a sense of control, and keep me accountable.

It's been a long time since I've counted points, and I think that might help me.

I'm off to Weight Watchers tonight.

I hope the leader is a good one...

Small Victories...

As you all know, I tend to worry (*just a smidge*...) about Malka's development. Mostly about her talking, but I'm sure it's all fine. but I still worry. Because, you know, I inherited that "Jewish Worry Gene" (JWG) from Bubbe, z"l, and I'm her Eemah, so of course I worry about every silly little thing.

In addition to English, I speak to her mostly in Hebrew, and we kind of do a half-assed sign with her, plus she gets a lot of Spanish at daycare, and also from her babysitter, "Tia Raquel" (one of her teachers at daycare).

So this morning, as we were hanging out in the living room, she stops dancing, gets "that face" on, and then... and then... and THEN! She SIGNS BATHROOM! All! on! her! own! And I ask is she's making a poop. She shakes her head no, but continues to sign bathroom.

YEAH! Communication. it's a "good thing."

We are SO Kosher!

We are LEGALLY Malka's Eemahot.

More to write, our judge was AWESOME.

I'm exhausted, having been up since 5am (see previous post...), and yes, I have to do the dishes.

You see, to answer Cali's question, it appears that I'm always "doing" the dishes, because I typically do them towards the end of the evening. After I put Malka to bed, around 7:00 or so, the LOGICAL thing to do would be to do my chores FIRST, then chill out for the rest of the evening, right? But all I can do is plop on the sofa and chill for a bit, FIRST, as the Cheeky can WEAR an Eemah OUT!, then usually do my chores before I go to bed - that includes the dishes, cat litter, and tidying up. Sometimes, however, "the box" has pretty colors and sounds to lure me from duty...

So yes, pardon me, while I watch "Lost: The search For Answers," and do the dishes during commercials...

Oh no, he didn't!

Oh, yes, he did.

And I understand WHY - Narda had JUST tossed him off of her head with a stern warning, (he likes to munch on her hair, which admittedly, may not be a pleasant sensation at 4:30am); Quincy had been chasing him for a while, and that just stresses him out; although the litter boxes are clean, they haven't been "totally dumped and washed" in a while; he IS 15 years old; he tends to go once every 36 hours or so (which his vet is QUITE proud of, the ability to concentrate urine is a good thing in small animals), so he REALLY had to go.

He peed on my pillow. Except my HEAD was still ON IT.

So needless to say, here it is, 6am, and I've already showered, done my hair, and am in the process of doing laundry. I never KNEW how much one could accomplish between 5:00 and 6:00am when properly motivated....

Poor little guy. He LOVES snuggling on my pillow with me, so this was a serious need. Narda, alack and alas, doesn't see it that way. She sees this as an opportunity for Cougie-Bear to "go to that special place." I just see it as a need to scrub out the litter boxes and get a refill for the Feliway plug-ins...

NO Freaking WAY!

I SO thought it would be Melinda and Blake.

Wow.

I'm SO confident in Melinda's talent, however, that I look forward to seeing her ALL over the map.

But still.

WOW.

I've been working on the response to the "Friendly little meme," but now Lost is on, and I have the rest of the dishes to do, so I'll have to finish it later.

And think good weather thoughts for us tomorrow, it's a BIG day!

She made me do it...

My dear Jennifer tagged me, and since the dishes need to be done, I figured I'd answer this instead!

"Seven Things You May Not Know About Me."

Hmmm, I tend to share a LOT on this blog, so it's going to be a bit tough, but here goes:

1) I spent a good chunk of my 20's as a bulimic. I even had a "bulimia buddy." This guy named Rob and I would go out to dinner, then excuse ourselves to our respective restrooms, come back to the table and exchange breath mints. (sick, sick, sick!) I look back at pictures of myself during that time, and I was thinner, but SO unhappy. I'm still working on some of my food issues, but I've been "purge free" for about 5 years now.

2) The main ringer on my cell phone is Copacabana, by Barry Manilow. I saw him in concert when I was in High School. With my parents. I LOVE me some Barry Manilow. 'nuff said.

3) I had sex with a guy. It was my early 20's, the "affair" lasted about 3 months or so. He was a friend from my theatre program in college. I didn't want to be a lesbian, and tried to give the whole "straight thing" a shot. Needless to say...

4) I went to a community college for my first two years of college education. After I graduated High School, I lived in Israel for a year. At the time, I had still wanted to be an actress. The last 3 months there, I had an internship with the Beer-Sheva Theatre, and we took Comedy of Errors, the MUSICAL, in HEBREW around the country, and I was a general PA (production assistant). I fell in LOVE with technical theatre right then and there, came back to Portland for the summer, and went to Kingsborough Community College (I had auditioned for NYU, but they took one look at my academic record and pretty much laughed - I was WAY too busy doing theatre to focus on academics in High School). And then transferred to Hofstra after getting my Associates degree.

5) I was OBSESSED with the Movie: Escape To Witch Mountain. I recall being enthralled with the lead actor, Ike Eisenmann - I WANTED to be his ESP sister. I think I even pretended to HAVE ESP for a while after seeing the movie. I would tell friends that I would "know moments before" my mother would call me in for dinner. Looking back, I had a WILD imagination, and that's just one of the bonuses of being an only child, I guess. I still get flashes of the movie in my mind on occasion, and I really think it played a huge part in my desire for a sibling when I was younger...

6) Bambi and Watership Down ruined me. To this day, I CANNOT and WILL NOT watch a movie where an animal is the main character. This includes Lassie, Old Yeller, Flicka, Flipper, Charlotte's Web, you name it. I'm too afraid of them getting hurt. I don't know WHAT I'll do when Malka wants to go see movies like that - maybe Mommy Narda will have to take her, because I'd just be covering my eyes and hyperventilating the entire time.

7) I THINK I'm a good bowler, but I'm just OK. I was on the Broadway Show Bowling League for a while, but I mainly enjoyed bowling because it's one of the few sports where you can drink AND smoke at the same time...

OK, I now tag the following people:

Cat
Miss S
Jen and Cait
Marisa
Mason
Adam

Enjoy!