Remember what Chanukah is all about

 Just read this  on http://www.askmoses.com/ I really liked this response to "Can I have a Hanukkah Tree"

 Remember what Chanukah is all about

Posted by: Lisa, West Hempstead, NY on Dec 28, 2005

It’s quite ironic that out of all the Jewish Holidays it is on Chanukah that people want to “adopt” other cultures and celebrate “like everyone else”.

On Passover we celebrate freedom from slavery. On Purim we celebrate freedom from the threat of annihilation. In the story of Chanukah. however, they didn’t want to kill us or enslave us. All the Greeks wanted was to deprive us of our own identity and make us “like everyone else.” They hated the fact that we have our own Jewish culture and pride. They tried first to persuade us, then to force us, to “adopt” their culture and customs.

We celebrate Chanukah precisely because we didn’t cave to the “peer pressure” and remained dedicated to our own heritage, traditions and holidays. G-d saw our devotion and determination, He performed miracles, and gave us yet another holiday to celebrate with pride and Joy.

On Chanukah we celebrate a victory over “cultural oppressors”. We remember that people fought for our right to practice our OWN traditions. So it would only make sense that when celebrating Chanukah today, you celebrate the miracle by being proud of who YOU are!

Hawaii Weather

Comparison Weather Facts

• On average Pearl Harbor, HI is warmer than Virginia Beach, VA by 11°F.

• Virginia Beach, VA recorded the highest temperature of 105°F in 1918.

• Virginia Beach, VA on average is cooler than Pearl Harbor, HI by 15°F.

• Virginia Beach, VA recorded the lowest temperature of -3°F in 1985.

• Pearl Harbor, HI averages more precipitation than Virginia Beach, VA by 106.4in.

Hawaii? Yup. Hawaii.

So, we just got word of our transfer to Hawaii.  Not sure of any specifics yet, but we know it will not be until after July.  My husband is still in training and his program does not end until July 8, 2011.  But, wow, we are moving to Pearl Harbor, HI.  This is kind of really cool.  I am afraid for Hamlet though.  He might not do to well in the heat.  But, with proper A/C he should be fine.  Might not be able to move him until after October because of the heat.  We will deal with it.  I have so much to think about now. So much to do.  House has to be fixed up.  House has to be cleaned.  House has to be sold or rented.  Need to find a new house to live.  But, Hawaii. I guess it is such a romantic place.  At least in all the movies and photographs. I hope it is close to that.  Of course,  I grew up watching Magnum, P.I. so in my head, THAT is what I think Hawaii will be like.  Oh, wouldn't that be nice to have Tom Selleck to be my neighbor?  Or my house guest? 

Anyway, so after DH is done w/ his training, hopefully, we will take a family vacation.  Then, maybe have some time to be with each other before the big move.  That would be nice, right?

So, here are my other questions/concerns...
Will our family come and visit?  I guess we will see them about as often as we do now.
Can we afford housing there?  Looks like we will be spending about 50% more on housing than we do now.  But, I think we get COLA that should offset the money issues.
I hear the school system is a joke there.  Well, we will not be there for so many years that it will make a difference.  The girls and I will learn other ways.
Is there much of a Jewish community there?  I hear there is a synagogue on base. I guess that will be our best option.  I will miss the JCC and Iliana will miss her friends.  We will have to find some mommy groups.

Oh well, the wee one is awake and screaming.

Update on Poop.

Toddler is now officially pooping in the toilet. YAY! She will even do it in a public bathroom--which is better than some of my friends. Anyway, she is still totally obsessed with her Star Wars toys. She loves her "New Baby Jabba" more than any other toy in this house. Today, we had a melt-down on the way to school because she did not have him with her. She was screaming that she missed her baby jabba and she loved her baby jabba and that he was hiding. Here she is loving Jabba.

Star Wars and Poop

Well, after over nine months of trying and suggesting, the toddler finally pooped on the potty by her own choice. We had been offering her a "new baby dragon" for several weeks and she kept talking about her new baby dragon, but never actually tried to get it.

Then, two weeks ago, Daddy upped the ante. The Galactic Heroes Jabba's Sail Barge was put on the table as her reward for pooping on the potty. She was SO EXCITED when she saw it. The first night, she sat on the potty holding the unopened box and tried, and tried and tried for hours to poop. She would wake up at night, hold the box and try again. We finally had to take the box away from her. Every day she would tell everyone that if she went poopy on the potty , she would get a "new Jabba." No one really understood what she meant, they just smile and nod. Now, this set is pretty cool. It has Jabba the Hutt, Max Rebo on his piano, Droopy McCool, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Boba Fett, and R2-D2.

Tonight, around 8:30ish she finally did it. She mentioned the new Jabba to me, I asked her if she was going to try again tomorrow, she said "no, I try now" She proceeded to take her diaper off and she sat on the squatty potty (baby bjorn). I gave her a book to read and I went to check on the baby that was crying in the other room. While I was changing a diaper, she tells me "I'm Done!" Now, this is what she always says when she is done pooping. I asked "did you poop on the potty?" "Yeaah!" is her reply. And, there it was. A poop. A nice, toddler sized poop. Luckily she has pooped earlier that day so it was not her normal softball sized poop.

So I climbed up onto the top of the cabinet and got the box. It took, what felt like forever, to open the darned thing. But she was so happy when I finally got Jabba out. One by one, she was telling me the names of all the characters. She added them to her other Galactic Heroes and was so happy that she even shared some of the toys with her baby sister. She was up for over two hours singing the Star Wars theme and playing with those toys.

So, when I went back to he room to clean up the poop, the poop was gone. I was a bit confused at first. Did I actually see the poop? Am I going more insane? But then I saw the tell tale sign of little short black hairs. Hamlet. The pug ate the poopies. GROSS. She was so upset at first when she realized they were gone. I told her that Hamlet ate them, YUCK! So, she will be telling the story tomorrow to her classmates (who are at least six to ten months younger than her and will not understand).

Good night.

Breastfeeding Photo Removal

(This was a note on my Facebook page that I decided to put here as well)

So, my Breastfeeding week was started on Facebook with this message.

"You uploaded a photo that violates our Terms of Use, and this photo has been removed. Facebook does not allow photos that attack an individual or group, or that contain nudity, drug use, violence, or other violations of the Terms of Use. These policies are designed to ensure Facebook remains a safe, secure and trusted environment for all users, including the many children who use the site."

They removed the photo of the baby eating on the train. OMG. It is not like I was showing any nipples or anything. Come on, it the photo did not contain any nudity, drug use, or violence. There was no copyright on it either. So, Facebook, what's up with this?

Not sure what bothers me more, that facebook removed the photo or one of my friends reported that the photo was offensive.

Come on people, tell me what is offensive about this photo? Am I too ugly?

So, I tried to report another photograph...just to see exactly how easy it is to do. If you click on "nudity and pornography" you get this window:
This photo does not show any nipple so I am not sure how it violates the terms.

Facebook may remove photos for nudity or pornography if:
* they depict genitalia, bare butts, female nipple
* they contain black-barred or pixelated images of otherwise violating nudity
* they depict sex toys
Facebook will not remove a photo for nudity or pornography use if:
* the photo is simply unflattering
* the individual pictured does not like the way it looks
* the photo does not violate our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities

Do you see any nipple in my profile photograph? I don't.

World Breastfeeding Week is bringing lots of wonderful giveaways. Baby Half off seems to have giveaways every day! It is one of my favorite Deal A Day websites. New items are posted every day at 10am eastern time. Some items, such as cloth diapers, go really fast so it is best to get there quickly.

New images for old photos.

I just got a new photo editing program. Powerful program it is. Yes, very powerful. More images will be up later.

Daylilies in my garden

First photos uploaded...

These first images are my favorite daylilies. I took them from my neighbor's garden in Columbus, Ohio. If anyone knows what type these are, please tell me. I haveyet to find them in any books.



This flower (above) is what was in my garden when I moved in.

Birthday Wishes

Several years ago people started to send e-cards for birthdays. The first few were novel. I would print them out and put them on my dining room table with the rest of my birthday cards. I remember my first card. It was from my grade school friend, Rachel on my birthday in 2001. I thought it was the absolute coolest thing.

I started looking into e-cards and I decided it was the most awesome thing around. I scheduled for e-cards to be sent to my family on all the obscure holidays such as "Sneak Zucchini On Your Neighbor's Porch Night." It was fun. Did I already use the word novel? I still did my best to send a card or call on my friends' birthdays.

Fast forward a few years. Birthday cards that were mailed got fewer and fewer. The ratio of e-cards to cards was about 1:1. My dining table still had some cards but no wear near what they had been years before. I no longer printed the e-cards because they all had animation and printing them just looked stupid. They could not be folded and stood up on the table. E-cards started to get old and stale.

E-cards are rarely received now. All birthday wishes on on my Wall on my Facebook page. Yes, even in the heyday of cards, I never got over 100 birthday wishes. It was nice that so many people took a moment out of their day to write on my wall "happy birthday" or some other saying of the sort. There is still just something about a birthday card.

My husband and I have birthdays that are four days apart so most of our friends used to send our cards on the same day. This year, by the week after our birthdays, we had a total of four birthday cards. Each of us got one from our Realtor and one from our insurance agent. I was a bit upset. Yes, we had just spent a week with my parents and saw my grandmother, so I kind of understand. But there is just something about opening the mailbox and seeing an envelope with your name on it, written in ink by a real hand. You see the stamp and look at the return address label. You know it is a birthday card. And you just have a little bit of excitement. Will it be funny? Will it be sappy? Will it make me cry or laugh or just smile? Or, will there be a gift inside? Photos? Money? Who cares. Someone actually sent me a card!! That means, they either went to the store specifically to buy me a card or they went through their stack of cards and chose one for me. They signed their name, they licked the envelope, they stuck the stamp and they sent it with the intention of me receiving it on or before my birthday. Man, that takes some forethought.





TBC....

What did we celebrate yesterday?

My husband says to "let this go" but I am just over tired and I need to vent about this topic. Yesterday was July 4. Often times, it is referred to as The Fourth of July and people say "Happy Fourth of July!" Maybe it is because July 4 is my birthday, but it always has annoyed me when people say Happy Fourth of July. I mean, come on, we are not celebrating the fact that it is the fourth day of the seventh month of the year, we are celebrating the Birthday of our country, Independence Day. Independence Day is day commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Britain.

We don't say Merry Twenty-fifth of December, do we?

Neh Ohgert!

So, we are here on vacation with family. I have a few moments. Learning to speak Toddler has been quite an adventure. My parents seem to think that my daughter has a speech problem b/c they cannot understand her. Of course, they cannot understand Elmo, so I am not putting too much weight on their incomprehension. But some of the really cute things that I have had to translate on this trip are the following...

Neh Dragons: Daughter One is really into dragons and dinosaurs. My DH has told her that all reptiles are dragons. When the movies (she is addicted) are over, she starts asking for "neh dragons." Neh means More

Ohgert is Yogurt
Dia is Dora --as in Dora the Explorer DD1 loves the little Dora yogurts that have 1/2 less sugar than the normal kids' yogurts.
Ca Daddy Come here Daddy. Usually, this includes a pulling of a single digit until it is just about to dislocate and you have almost no choice but to follow her and join her in whatever toddler activity she doing.
Neh Circle is Ring Around The Rosie
Trade? When the baby has a toy that DD1 wants, she brings a toy to her and says trade
Share When she has nothing to trade, she says Share and does the ASL sign for share.
No Baby DD1 is very concerned on what goes into the baby's mouth. Whenever baby has something that DD1 has been told not to suck on, she yells NO BABY NO!!!
Boo Boo (fill in blank) This is a pretty simple one that I am surprised that my folks did not understand... Boo boo head means "I have a headache" Boo boo knee -- I have hurt my knee.
It is often followed with Kiss... So, we are instructed to kiss that boo boo. We have adapted the boo boo to be Boo Boo Lips I started this when she would not give me a kiss b/c she was having a tantrum. When I told her my lips hurt, she stopped and kissed my lips. Now she uses Boo Boo Lips for a kiss often. LOVE IT!


More to follow...

Win an ERGObaby Carrier!!!

So, I am love with ERGObaby carrier. Only problem is that I have two kids that "need" to be in it. I only have one carrier. I really want another one. So, now that I actually have a blog, I get extra "points" when I mention other people's blogs. So, here is my first attempt to win a new Ergo. Go to this blog http://bit.ly/dd3lOF and read about the Ergo Carrier.

http://www.reviewretreat.com/2010/06/ergobaby-carrier-review-and-giveaway.html

So here I am. Sitting at the computer typing. Typing with only my right hand, as my left one is holding the baby as she takes a boobie-snack. Of course, this would be so much easier if she were not trying to kick my right hand off of the keyboard. Every once in a while, she stops and looks at me. She smiles. She says something to the extent of "ablah blah agah." She latches on again and eats. Yeah. This is awesome.

Blogging for Beginners...

Where do I begin? What is a blog? I think I will use this place as another location for photos of my girls and of my artwork. We will see.