Yeah, that!

Totally took this from Hope's page - but I WHOLE HEARTEDLY agree.

Chag Orim Sameach!

Happy Chanukah, aka - festival of lights.

May the glow of the Hanukeah (Menorah) fill the darkness with light.

And enjoy the Sufganyieot and Latkes. I hope to make some, but I did pick some up from the Kosher market, just in case...

Flooded...

So on our way home from Shul Saturday, I get a text from a random number that says: "u need to call me." And I'm thinking, huh? And then there was also a voice message. it was from the super.

Ruh-Ro.

The pipes under the upstairs neighbor's bathroom leaked, and flooded 5i (us), 4i, 3i, 2i, 1i, and the basement. Woah.

So basically, although we have cement ceilings, it is a porous substance, and in the "seams" between the cement ceiling pannels, water came pouring down in the kitchen, living room and in Malka's room. Oddly enough, it wasn't in the bathroom, at all. Fortunately, we are friendly with our super, so he sent the porter in to mop up the water from the fllor, so that our floors wouldn't be damaged.

There is some damage, some warping of our hardwood floors, but it could have been SO much worse. There's damage to the walls in our kitchen, the ceiling in the kitchen, Malka's room and living room. The kitchen will need to have the sheetrock repaired and to be re-painted, the wool rug in our hallway was soaked, but I think we got it up in time, so hopefully our apartment won't smell like wet sheep.

I'm working from home today, so I can deal with the stream of people coming into the apartment to assess the damage, and I have to upload all of the pictures and attach them to a report, as the damages are part of the building's responsibility - Luis, our super, thinks the problem is with the back up stopper - you know how when you take a bath, that hole in the stopper control that is the "overflow" protector - when you fill up a bath, all is well, but then when you actually get IN, and the water goes down the overflow thinggy? Well Luis seems to think there was a structural problem in the installation in the one for 6i, so hence, the problem.

Ugh. NOT what we wanted to be dealing with this weekend.

Here's a link to the photo set...

Things I NEVER thought would come out of my mouth...

"No wiggling on Eemah, please."

I just had to share that.

I blame Bri...

Because of this post, Malka now DEMANDS that we sing it. "od-pa'am" (again) and again and again.
Go on - see if YOU can keep a toddler away from it...

Because Sewing Machines are people too!

Maybe it's been the active marathon sewing I've been doing lately, but my little Elna is having a bit of heart burn.

She's going in on Sunday, and I may not see her for a week! GASP!

Le Sigh.

It's probably a timing thing.

I'll miss her while she's out...

It's SO Spicy!

Go here. Buy Spice Tins for those you know and love. They are SO awesome.

As I spent MANY moments this past Thanksgiving cursing my cupboards and the LACK of spice organization, I'll be getting a set for myself!

Chanukah is early this year. December 5th - so it's not too early to shop!

Union Square Farmer's Market. The day before Thanksgiving...

Union Square Farmer's Market. The day before Thanksgiving...
Originally uploaded by shellipsm

Happy Thanksgiving.

I give you this lovely shot of the Union Square Farmer's Market from yesterday. Because today? I'm POOPED. I baked 3 pies last night, and have been cooking since basically 3pm yesterday. I've JUST sat down. But thank goodness for Narda, as she's on Malka duty.

So enjoy the wine, the turkey, (or to-furkey), family and friends.

And if the family is a bit tough? Enjoy the wine. I know I will...

Quilt A Long Week 1!

Here's my first block!

You can join here

sending out the love sos...

Hope, Megan, and Quinn could use some love and warm fuzzies right now - go send some, OK.

Love you ladies.

I can do this!

So lately, I've been coveting some of the mad quilting skills of some quilting bloggers and flickr quilters. One of them has decided to do a relatively easy "Quilt -a-long." I'm SO IN! I just organized all of my fabric, and I have a bunch, so I'm sure Narda would be thrilled to see some of it dwindle...

AND.... I have a genuine, bonafide crafting playdate with Stephanie this Sunday, so I'll be able to get LOTS of my pieces cut.

So come along and join in, won't you?

Before and After

Before and After
Originally uploaded by shellipsm

Ayup - Malka's first hair cut. Cut at home, by yours truly. Strapped in her booster seat, in the living room, on-demand Elmo, a pacifier, and she had NO idea what was going on.

More pictures at flickr - but the face shots, as always are friends and family only.

Her hair desperately needed it. And now we should gain a bit of our morning back, too!

The INfertile Mother...

Mel asked some of us to talk about the cost of infertility.

Ready? Are you sitting down?

In 2002, we decided that the time was ripe to begin our journey towards "family." We had just purchased an apartment, and were firmly planting "roots." We had previously discussed having kids, and were glad that we were both on the same page. Narda had absolutely no desire to be the "uterus for rent," so it was up to me. In order to do so, however, I had to quit smoking. So I made my new years resolution for 2003 to quit smoking for good. Having read Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking, ($24.99), I chose a date. December 31st, 2002 would be my last cigarette. EVER.

And it was. (oooo, remind me to tell you about the evil Beyotch that I became for about 3 months afterwards, too!) EEK.

We then had to look at sperm, aka, "Man in a can," and we spent about $150.00 in signing up for profile viewing. Which kind of sucks, since we discovered that there's only about 20 African American Sperm Donors in America. Seriously.

Then we had to figure out what the heck we were doing - so back to the book store we go - Add on another $24.99 a few times for some good books - like - Taking Charge of your Fertility, The Essential Lesbian guide to conception and birth, etc. etc. etc.

The we found a GYN in NYC that would do IUI's for $150.00 per pop. Because you see, my insurance at the the time didn't believe that we "had been trying for a year already," as we don't have sperm at home, and they wanted 12 months of receipts of donor insems before they would agree to pay for IUI's. They wouldn't pay for sperm, or IVF, or drugs, but they would pay for IUI's. We also bought about 10 vials of Sperm, at $300 bucks a pop, plus $150.00 to ship, plus paid to store it in NYC (you know, for those last minute insems) at $400.00 per quarter. We also bought BOXES AND BOXES AND BOXES of OPK's at (oddly enough), $24.99 per box, and HPT's at, oh, anywhere from $6.00 to 12.00 per box. And then there was more sperm, at $285.00 per pop, shipping at $149.80, ultrasounds at $125.00 each, we moved our IUI's to the place that our sperm was stored, and they were awesome, and felt awful each time it didn't work. Plus, there were cabs to and from insem appointments, esp. when they were mid-work day, and those were about $12.00 each way. And then you add in all of the bottles of wine we went through on "home insem" days, and the sushi and beer for when it didn't work, and after about 16 cycles of donor sperm IUI's that didn't work, we average that we spent about $25,000 or more in total that never got me knocked up.

We spent less than $10,000 in adopting Malka. And she is the best thing that ever happened to us.

So even though NY State has an infertility mandate, insurance companies STILL have biases against lesbians and single women.

Write your congressperson, won't you? I did.

Makado!

You know, as in “Malka DO!” I must remember to set my alarm even earlier these days, as we need 20 extra minutes just for Malka to put on her own fucking pants. If we even DAIN to do certain things for her now – like all of the important ones – brush her teeth, put on her pants, buckle her into her booster seat at the table, we are confronted with the worst tantrum known to man kind, because, you know, “makado!”

And the pure bliss and glee she exhibits when she DOES put the “aforementioned fucking pants” on properly? Priceless – you’ve NEVER seen another human being more proud.

So yeah, we just have to get up even earlier now. Because there will be battles of the wills when it will be "because I said so!" But for now? Letting her learn and be proud of that accomplishment is worth the extra 20 minutes on my alarm clock.

I should be inspired...

Narda and I are TOTALLY addicted to any and all television program about "those multiple kids shows."

I'm watching one now, in fact. One mom, 13 kids, 9 daily loads of laundry, 15 dinners prepared, and I'm kvetching about one sink of dishes.

I'll go skulk off in shame now.

And go do the dishes.

While I work on crafty project #37 this week! (I promise to post pictures of "the crafty" soon.)