Saturday, October 31, 2009

I Don't Need Much...

Frattura, fresh LaundryImage by pizzodisevo via Flickr

I don't need much to feel good. Not happy, but content...
Maya is finally asleep, after a day of much running and coughing. My husband watches TV, my son is in his room (nothing new here) and I am alone in the living room, with my new laptop and a pot of strawberry yogurt. As the forecast for tomorrow is rain, rain and more rain, I've put my laundry to dry here, in the room, on a drying rack and the room smells deliciously of clean clothes. I sigh with content as I anticipate the few hours of reading I have ahead of me. I intend to start the fourth book of Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files". And maybe later I'll drink a cup of ginger and hibiscus tea. What else could a mortal like me ask for ?
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Friday, October 30, 2009

Finally, Autumn
















I think I can finally say that autumn is here, in Israel. Until this week, it was so hot, we had a chamsin (hot wind from the desert bringing sand and dust), but for two days now it has been raining. Me and Maya (although sick again, poor baby) had a lot of fun watching the rain from our living room windows (facing the sea), made a lot of pictures and gave up when the strong wind came with such a force we tought it would blow the windows in...

Conversations with Maya

The ForgiveImage by Pensiero via Flickr

Whenever Maya sits on the toilet, minding her business, she gets all philosophical. Today, for example, she was having a poo - I absolutely need to stay with her during the process - and, abruptly, she said:
"Mum, is it true that girls have smaller wee-wees and boys have bigger ones?"
(Since she started going to the kindergarten, she also started noticing the anatomical differences between boys and girls)
"Yes, baby, they do" I answered.
"Then, when I am going to be a boy, I'll have a bigger wee-wee and I'll pee like a boy, the other way round."
Oh, sweet God! No comments.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Double D (Only For the Ladies)




I was blessed (or cursed) with...ahem...a big chest. The women in our family share this gene, but if we'd had a contest, something like "Who's got the biggest ballobas, anyway", I think I'll win without a shade of a doubt. Because I try to live naturally and not to appeal to agressive methods when it comes to my body, I never thought of getting breasts reduction, so I suffer quietly and try to find the appropriate garment, that is, the brassiere that will fit and won't make me look like I have a huge block of some sorts glued to my front. And if this isn't enough to add to my trials when I have to buy a new bra, there is the price issue. Here, in Israel, a regular bra's price ranges from, lets say, 8-10 dollars to 50 dollars tops. But, if you need a double D, as I do, well, for a good bra you have to pay 100 dolars!!!! I don't know how it looks for you, American ladies, but when the minimum wage in Israel is 1000 dolars, 100 dolars is an awful lot for a bra. That is what I paid today for my Triumph bra. Gorgeous, but very expensive. I had to buy it on my credit card and I reallly feel bad for spending this amount of money, but I didn't have a choice...


Oh well, this is water under the bridge already, but still, it is discriminatory. The same goes with clothes' sizes. There are special "big sizes" shops where everything is soo expensive! I know because I wanted to buy something from such a shop when I was pregnant and huge, I saw a nice feminine blouse, but I almost fainted when I saw the price. It is so not fair! Why somebody that is weight challenged has to wear shapeless tents because he/she couldn't afford a decent piece of clothing...It is beyond my understanding...


Anyway, I really do hope that Maya won't have such problems (weight or big breasts, that is), because, as you can see, she likes her clothes to be nice and cosy...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Life Begins at...44?

Free SpiritImage by mandolin davis via Flickr

Yeah, I had my birthday last week. I am oficially 44 now...I was so depressed before my birthday, kept thinking about old age, kept having flashes with old and wrinkled bodies (shudder), kept looking up the net for brain enhancing natural remedies. But you know what? Things changed...My fantastic husband bought me a fantastic laptop that can be used as an ebook reader and I joined a gym! Today I had my first meeting with my personal coach...of course I am not going to mention here the embarassing moments when I had to "hop up" on a scale or when I actually see with my own eyes what is my body mass index...No...I am going to focus on the merrier moments, when we built together my "fitness program" and I started on exercising. The gym I joined - "Holmes Place" is situated here, in Ashdod, near the sea, near the beach. So I focused myself and my breathing on the beautiful scenery and I made a mental note to myself that I am going to take every lesson they had in the studio: yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais. After four years of just sitting on the side and playing "mummy" for my gorgeous baby, I am going to enjoy every moment at the gym. And did I tell you they have water aerobics, too?
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Monday, October 26, 2009

The Power of Mummy's Touch



As you all know by now, my daughter Maya is a very energetic child. I should say, a ball of energy, sometimes. And when she's tired, she's even wilder. I already know her, so I also know what do to, how to help. Because the problems usually appear at bedtime, when she declares, emphatically, crossing her arms on her chest: "I will never ever go to sleep!"


Today, in the evening, as we had a power shortage and my many candles came in handy, we sang and declamed poems and had a lot of fun. Afterwards, when the power came back, we read "Cinderella" - we have a beautiful pop-up book and then put on her favourite music CD - "Mozart for Babies". But she was so agitated, just couldn't settle down. So I started to gently rub her back, then her tummy, her legs, murmuring a silly word - play that she loves. It is something that my grandmother used to do when ever I had a tummy ache: she would rub my tummy and said the magic words that would take the pain away. The words in Romanian are:


"Bongoiese, gozu iese
Din ograda Nicoresei
Dintre toate Shtefanese
Ptiu, ptiu sa treaca."
The English translation would be:
"Bongoiese, the trash is out
From Nicoresei's yard
From all of them Shtefanese
Spit, spit, let it go away!"
A bit of nonsense, but Maya likes the sound of it, and together with the rubbing, it helps her settle down to sleep.
Needless to say, she was "out" in five minutes...
(in the post's picture is Maya when she was aproximately two months old)

Papanashi - for Michele

Papanasi - yummy Romanian desertImage by anaadi+ via Flickr

I've known the writer Michele Hauf through her books first, then I started reading her blogs:
http://dustedbywhimsy.blogspot.com/
and
http://vampchix.blogspot.com/
In the last post of her blog, she writes about dumplings. Well, dumplings are a subject very close to my heart, as my grandmother used to cook us sweet cheese dumplings, or plum dumplings, in Romanian - papanashi, in Hungarian - gombocz.
I continued the tradition and of course, I cook them to my family whenever I have the occasion, but, as Michelle says, dumplings are best eaten in winter, because they will fill you up and warm you. Now, the sweet cheese dumplings can be cooked both ways, you either boil or fry them. Since eating healthy is an issue this days, I boil them. But, of course, they are absolutely delicious if fried.
I'll post here the recipe , of course you can change the quantities, but the result will be the same: a delicious dessert.
Papanashi
Ingredients:* 2 eggs* 2 spoons butter* 300 g sweet cottage cheese (if you don't have sweet cottage chesse, use regular cottage chesse and add sugar, aproximately one cup sugar to four cups cottage chesse)* 3 spoons semolina* 1 spoon flour* salt* bread crumbs
Preparation: Mix well the cheese, eggs, flour, semolina, salt. Make balls as big as a walnut and flatten them between your palms. (or leave them round, I do). If the cheese is too watery, you can add more flour and semolina to the mixture. Place them to boil in a sauce pan with salty boiling water and leave them until they surface. (15 minutes at a small fire). Melt very little the butter in a pan without burning it. Drain the cheese balls, put them into the pan with the melted butter, sprinkle generously bread crumbs and sugar. Serve very hot with jam and sour cream.
If you want to fry them, you have to make dough balls, flatten them and make a hole through them, them fry them in hot oil until they are golden. You can also make smaller bals of dough and fry them and put them on top of the holey ones, as you can see in the picture. Also, you should add some baking powder to the dough, it'll make the dumplings fluffy.
Bon appetite!

In the end, I just want to say; Grandma, where ever you are, I know you watch over me. I love so much and I miss you every moment of my life, and I so sorry I didn't tell you more often how much I loved you.


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Sunday, October 25, 2009

I Love Sunday Mornings

christian exclaims, “damn, that’s a good cup o...Image by svanes via Flickr

I love Sunday mornings. The house is quiet, my husband and son are gone to work, Maya is at the kindergarten. I walk barefoot on the tiles (it is still hot in Israel) with a mug of cofee in my hand and I mentally prepare my "to do" list for the day. Put on the washing machine. Go buy some fruit. Go see how much do the charge for a month at the gym. I don't have to cook because we still have loads of leftovers from yesterday. Fish and baked potatoes. Soup for Maya. Tabouleh salad, eggplant with mayonaise. Great. I'll worry tomorow about what to cook. Today is Sunday, a new week and in the evening I have a reflexology appointment...
Isn't life just great?
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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Nice Things Keep Happening...

Description unavailableImage by ThaRainbowRaider. via Flickr


As you know, I had my birthday two days ago. At first, I was feeling really depressed because time flies and I am not that young anymore...But nice things have been happening so I totally forgot about being sad. First of all, we had our friends for dinner yesterday evening. I didn't want any party so we had a nice meal with our friends. They are Maya's godparents, I know them since I came here and we've been together through a lot.

But here it comes the best thing: my husband. I don't know what has hit him, but he bought me for my birthday a gorgeous laptop, tiny and that has a rotating display, and it can be used as an ebook reader also. I've been reading my ebooks at a very old laptop that is heavy and it becomes really hot after a while and its battery doesn't work properly and it also makes a lot of noise when trying to cool down...But the new one! It is a work of art. I'll post soon a picture, to see I am not exageratting. At it has a beautiful bronze color. And also, brace yourselves, my husband gave me as a second present a subscription for a whole year at the gym of my choice!!!!!!!!!!!!Before I had Maya I used to be a fitness freak, I went to the gym almost every day for 2 hours. Now? I am overweight and depressed and my metabolism has slowed down to the speed of a snail. But this bleak period is near its end, and I cannot wait...

What do you say about this? I kept asking him if he has a mistress or something because I simply got overhelmed by his presents... But I decided I don't care, I will enjoy my presents and be quiet....A laptotp! Gym, here I come! I don't dare to hope, but maybe, maybe the bout of bad luck that we had lately is OVER?!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Birthdays and Memories

Pétalas minhasImage by Miriam Cardoso de Souza - Caxias do Sul-RS via Flickr

My birthday came and went away, just like that...My husband was very sweet as he took a day off from work to be with me... We had breakfast at a cofee-shop in one of Ashdod's mall's, then he accompanied me to the doctor's. At noon we took Maya home from the kindergarten, she was over the moon when she saw her daddy, during the week it is ussually only the old, boring me. All in all, a nice day.
But today I remembered another birthday of mine. My 18th. The one I will never forget. Because on my 18th birtday I fell in love for the first time. My first love and my first kiss. The memories still send shivers through my body, they are sharper as ever...I remember that kiss as if it was yesterday: my lips touching his, and a feeling of..elation, like my feet left the ground and I was floating, dizzy and happy, on a cloud of pink cotton candy. I still can hear the loud boom-boom of my heart, the fireworks in my stomach, I can still fell the saltiness of my tears mixed with scented breath, the way his palms cupped my face, the autumn wind in my hair, the warmness of his body...It was simply magical, as an 18th birthday kiss can be.
And even though that first love of mine ended in tears and I was left with a broken heart, I am grateful for that unique moments, for the beauty of loving for the first time, for the sweetness of that first kiss, for the feeling of being ALIVE.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Magic of Fairy Tales

Little Flying Diamonds (damon) - HarpienImage by Lynn (Gracie's mom) - I'm here & there via Flickr

As I've written in an earlier post, my daughter Maya discovered the magic of fairy tales. I am so proud of her, because I take it as I sign that she is more mature now, ready to face new challenges...I think fairy tales play a very important role in a child's development. For now, we stopped at "Snow White", I have to tell her this story every night, at bedtime. She likes also "Little Red Ridding Hood" and a Romanian tale "The Purse with Two Pennies" ( a very approximate translation), tale written by Ion Creanga, a Romanian writer. His stories are great and I grew up with them so I want Maya to know them as well. I found a very good article about Creanga in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Creang%C4%83 , you should read it, it is interesting, and you've got links to some of his stories that were translated in English.
There is also another guy, Petre Ispirescu was his name, and this guy didn't go beyond the fourth grade in school and her parents wanted him to become a priest, and surprinsingly, at some point in his life he started collecting Romanian folk tales and he published them and until today his books contain the very best Romanian folk tales, with all its characters, princes and beauties, dragons and witches...The stories are fantastic and I cannot wait to read them to Maya. I think it will be good for her to know a bit about her parent's roots, even if she was born here, in Israel. besides, Romanian folklore is really fascinating. Take a glimpse here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklore_of_Romania

That is for today... I'm headed to bed...Big day tomorow. MY BIRTHDAY.Oh,noooo!!!
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Beads and Sorrow


There are beads and sorrow scattered

all over the floor

at our house,

in the morning.

I sweep them with my broom

when cleaning

but the sorrow is so thick.


In the afternoon the dolls have their tea party

on the sofa

and the sorrow is simply shattered

beadlike and colorful

by my baby's laughter


lets thread them, sorrow and all

there are some pretty necklaces for the dolls to wear.


Sunday, October 18, 2009

Good-Bye, Dooby!




















































































































It was a sad day for our family today, as we said our good-byes to our dog Dooby...He was 16 years old and very sick, so today we took him to the vet to be put to sleep. It was a difficult decision to make, but he was so sick lately, not eating, not being able to stand on his feet, not being able enjoy life, really...And my husband and I had decided some time ago that we'll put him to spleep only when nothing could be done for him, when we'd see him suffering. We reached that point today...and now the house is empty and I surprise myself standing still and waiting for his pitter-patter on the tiles...
It is sad to see a pet die...Dooby was a very good-natured dog, and even if Maya caught him in his last years of life, she loved him and we really owe him the fact that Maya loves animals, especially dogs, of course...He suffered stoically when Maya fell on him when she learned to walk, he let her pat him and take him to walks and sometimes pull him to strongly, he never complained. He loved her and watched over her and was too happy to receive from her bits of half chewed food. As you'll see from the pictures, they play important parts in each other's life. They were together almost all the time...
At least I now one thing. That Dooby taught us about unconditional love, as he loved us with his life and never asked for anything in return...I will never forget the way he used to leap and jump on me when I returned home from work. I think me should all learn from our pets...to enjoy life, to grab everything that it has to offer us, and to love without asking to be loved back...
Good-bye Dooby ! You'll live forever in our Souls...















Friday, October 16, 2009

I'm Back!...With Snow White and Some Vampires

...and it was still hot. [Explored!]Image by Brandon Christopher Warren via Flickr

I am not feeling better...in fact, today I felt worse...This bug or whatever it is, it gives me a hell of a time. But I couldn't stay away from my computer anymore. I started having withdrawal symptoms, like "writing" stuff in my head...
I didn't have time to think about me being sick, as Maya didn't go to the kindergarten this week, she was coughing like possesed, we didn't sleep for three nights in the beginning of the week because she kept coughing and waking up and throwing up...But thank God, she is feeling better now, after a lot of medicine and syrups and stuff. She is such a good girl, she took everything I gave her, no matter how bitter and didn't complain, not even once.
So, I had her at home this week and that meant no time to do anything else, just taking care of her. I managed to keep her quiet from time to time, she started enjoying tales, and now I have to read to her, each and every night, the same story - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Now and then she agrees to the "Little Red Ridding Hood" also.
And me? In between tales and playing the nurse I managed to read a few books. Oh, and I didn't tell you that I won a book at a book give-away. It was here http://www.42scifi-fantasy.com/index.html
that there was a contest, and I won! I got the chance to pick a book of my choice and I am now in the possesion of a copy of "The Tel Aviv Dossier", a book written by Nir Yaniv and Levi Tidhar. You can read an excellent review here http://blog.42scifi-fantasy.com/.
Apart from this book, I've read Jeaniene Frost's "Night Huntress" series and I must say I loved the books. And Bones, the vampire, OMG, forget Edward Cullen, he's a pussy in comparison with Bones, he's a real badass and an exquisite lover. If you didn't read the books, go grab them, you won't be dissapointed. There are four of them right now and the authors plan on another series, with characters from the Night Huntress. As I entered a new vampire-oriented phase in my reading, I am reading now Colleen Gleason's "The Gardella Vampire Chronicles". I am not very keen on historical, and in this series the plot takes place in the 19th century London, it is like Buffy the vampire slayer with her stake hidden in her coiffure, but, why not?
It is strange, all this me loving vampire literature...and no, it didn't start with Stephenie Meyers. As I said before, I was born in Transylvania (Romania) and we studied about Vlad Tzepesh in our history classes. Everybody knew he was a ruthless ruler and well known for his cruelty. Strangely enough, he was the good guy for us. The Romanian leaders had had the reputation of corrupt bastards since...since before the Romans conquered Dacia, and Tzepes had a very "personal" way of dealing with corrupt boyars. It is said that during his rule there weren't any locked doors in Walachia, because there weren't any thieves either...There is even a saying, when things go wrong with a politician or another, the Romanian just lifts his gaze to the sky and says:"Oh, where are you, Tzepesh, my Lord..."When later, all this Dracula stuff came out, it was hilarious, but hey, whatever it took to keep Vlad Tzepesh's memory alive...Speaking of which, I liked the way Mrs. Frost introduced the guy in her books, and I think it is the first time when I am not angry of the way a writer uses and links the vampire myth to the Wallachian ruler.
As you can see, I missed writing in my blog...so, no matter how I feel, I'll try to come and write some more...And I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Now, off to bed, my back is killing me...
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Saturday, October 10, 2009

It Finally Got Me!

One of the viruses that Maya befriended at the kindergarten and brought home, that is...I know I had them lurking somewhere in my house...and now one of the buggers got me...
I am so sick! Every bit of my body hurts, I have a sore throat...I just feel like crawling under the bed covers and re-emerging after a week of early hibernation. I don't know what am I going to do next week, as I'll be at home by myself, with Maya (still coughing) and my son with his broken leg (actually, he broke something in his foot).
I hope it'll pass quickly, as I have a lot to sort out in my life...
I don't know when I'll be able to come here, to blog...soon, I hope.
Until then...

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Sssshhhh!!! Quiet!!!! Please?

Silence is sexy.Image by LunaDiRimmel via Flickr

Our Sukkot holiday was doomed from the beginning. Maya's ilnesses, Darie's broken leg, Dooby's problems. And now, it's me. I have my "monthly indisposition", a "condition" that keeps me in bed for two days at least, with short trips to the ...bathroom, only.
I lay on the bed in the bedroom...Maya is playing at the computer and I listen to the noises that come from the street. We live above a very noisy street, and for three years have been living across a buliding site. When I open the window in the morning I feel the full blast of the noise almost phisically, and my nerves just strech and vibrate, annoyingly. I try to block it out, but there are busses, trucks, horns, a child's shrill cries and a crane, workers shouting.
My dream?
A remote island. Quiet. Only the ocean's waves, the wind rusling the trees' leaves, the sounds of nature surrounding me.
For more than 20 years, since I've left my small and quiet hometown in Romania, I've been living in noisy locations. Cluj was a busy big city and after the December 1989 Revolution it filled up with people coming from the near-by small towns and villages, lured by the glamour of a life in the big city. I lived in a shabby one-room apartment, where on one floor there where 12 apartments and privacy was an unknown notion, I knew when the neighboors took showers, f****ed their wives (or beat them), I knew what food they cooked and I even knew if it was raining outside without looking through the window, because I had a huge hole in my bathroom ceiling (don't ask why, it is a mystery up to this day). I updated then to a two rooms apartment and I thought I'd had my share of peace and quiet (it was a building with expensive flats) until I discovered that the couple that lived above me (doctors, with a small kid) loved very noisy, very late night parties. I learned to sleep with earplugs back then and I used them until Maya was born...
After I came to israel I discovered that I'd be living in a small but noisy country...I am absolutely thirsty for some place quiet. Even something not that remote that my dream island whould do. Any ideas?
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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Hope Is My Middle Name

Puddle 1Image by Mr Jaded via Flickr

I have to admit it, today was a better day that the last..hm...the last "few" ones. Our dog Dooby is feeling a tad better, not wheezing like an old, almost broken engine, still peeing the house like there is no tomorow. But I decided to simply accept it this way. He is old, he'll die soon (unfortunately) and if I have to clean after him for a while, so be it. Mind you, I am not that optimistic after I clean pee nr. 20, but thank God here in Israel we have tiles all over the apartment, and not wooden floors.
Another reason I feel better is because my son's motorbike's got stolen. Yes, you've heard me. STOLEN! And I am happy about it. He bought it four months ago and this was his third accident...I know he took a loan to pay for the bike and to fix it but he'll pay it up and he'll stay alive. That's the most important thing. We tried to talk him out this motorbike stuff after each and every accident, but he didn't want to listen. So I thought I'd have to smash it to little pieces with a hammer or something, because I couldn't let him ride it again. But God helped us all and somebody stole it! I hope they'll never find the thief...
It rained today. During the day it wasn't the nicest sensation because the weather is pretty hot and you got the feeling you're in a greenhouse. But it the evening! It was pure bliss and paradise together! I opened all the windows and let the fresh air tumble in, paying havoc with my wind-chimes. The smell of fresh air and rain always make me think about my childhood in Romania.
Also, today Maya had her first jump into puddles experience. We took her to the pediatrician and when we got out the alley between the houses was full of fresh, shiny puddles! My husband wanted to stop her but I said that there is no greater pleasure after the rain that to jump into puddles, so I took my baby and showed her how to properly do it.
So after a day like this one, please, allow me to fell hopeful...

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Monday, October 5, 2009

What Can I Say?

count your blessings,Image by ashley rose, via Flickr

It is decided. I am having a shitty month, a shitty week and a hell of a life. So here I am, felling sorry for myself, as usual... Maya recovered from her puke bug but the bug evolved to a diarheea bug, so that's why everything is shitty at the moment. And my son had a motorbike accident and broke his leg...Yeah, I know, shi...I mean bad. Now you see what I mean.
What is to write about?
Moreover, today one of my "friends" asked me if I want to go out with the kids, she has a daughter, older than Maya (6yo) and even though I wasn't in the mood, I said, what the heck, what could possibly happen to make things worse than they already were. Well, you'll be surprised...I forgot that this lady is the "know it all" type and that we cannot have a civilized conversation because it is usually a monologue, her monologue. First of all, her kids are the best behaved kids in the Middle East (and Romania, she is Romanian like me). I remember that she was absolutely shocked when I told her that, when Maya was a baby, I used to prepare large batches of fruit and vegetable purees, freeze them in ice-cube trays and use them according to my baby's desires. She gasped and told me that she NEVER has fed her children food that was FROZEN and that she never has heard of such a criminal act as freezing baby food. And the lady is true to her word. She cooks for her kids every single day, every single damn day!!! Today, when I told her that Maya has diahreea and that I'm feeding her according to the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) she said that I am not doing the right thing and she recommended only water, no food, for as long as the diahreea lasts. I told her that she should take a look at Maya, she's so skinny that if I'll give her only water she's die of starvation. And the truth is, the BRAT diet works wonders for my baby, she is feeling much better, no emergency visits to the toilet this evening. So, I returned home feeling worse and now that Maya is sleeping, I am here, in front of my beloved PC trying to figure out a strategy for copying with my life.
The Jews have a saying "Change places, change your luck". Maybe my luck changed when I came to live here, maybe I should've stayed in Romania. The truth is, I was happy there, no matter what others say, no matter how bad things were there, I was at home, where my roots were, where I had friends and family. I still feel connected to that place somehow, because, at the same time, I feel root-less, suspended between two worlds, one real, that I don't belong to, and one imaginary, the world of my fantasies and memories, and I feel that I don't belong to that world, not anymore. Does it make sense? I hope so, even though I don't really know what I feel, not now anyway.
Another random thought now...thinkink about premonition and mothers. Yesterday my son went out at aproximately 8 o'clock in the evening. I went to bed somewhere around 11 o'clock, but I wasn't able to fall asleep. I am an insomniac, you know (but that is for another post). At aproximately midnight I was wide awake and went out to check if my son was at home. Strangely, he wasn't...strangely, because usually on week-nights he doesn't stay out late (he has to go to work the next day). I returned to bed and waited to hear his motorbike...and waited, and waited, and prayed saying "God, just help my son to get home in one piece". I felt that something wasn't right. I heard the door at 1 o'clock but didn't want to pry on him (he is 23 yo and doesn't like to be treated like a baby - his words, for me of course he is still my baby) and I almost instantly fell asleep, knowing he is at home... In the morning it was different, when I received the news that he broke his leg, but I knew that God listened to my prayer. It we look at it from the optimistic point of view, he broke a leg, it could've been worse, much worse...
The conclusion? I have to go now...To count my blessings...
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Friday, October 2, 2009

Urban Fantasies and Jewish Holidays

BooksImage by cathepsut via Flickr

Tonight, in the Jewish world, it is the Sukkot Eve, the beginning of a holy day much loved here in Israel, by adult and children alike. It is the Feast of Tabernacles, and if you want to know more about it...I would recommend you my book, but it is written in Romanian, so just go to Wikipedia, they have a good informative article about the holy day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot
We are really lucky, you know, being a mixed (up) family. We got the chance to celebrate both the Jewish and Christian holidays...And Maya loves them all.
Speaking about Maya...unfortunately she's been sick again. Do you remember I've told you she trew up on Wednesday evening, while I was at the dentist? Well, it seems that it was a virus, after all, and not the result of a temper tamtrum (as it happened before). Because, Thursday, after she came home from gan she started throwing up...and it ended on Thursday night, after she didn't have anything left in her stomach. It was awful...She doesn't like to vomit, it is undignifing for her, so she heaves and cries...and she agrees to vomit only if I hold her. In my arms. And she throws up over my shoulder. Weird, huh? So I have a pretty nice way of doing it. I take her in my arms and I sit on the edge of the bath tub, this way the you-know-what goes directly into the tub and I can wash everything afterwards, including myself and my baby...But hey, anything if it help her feeling better.
So no Sukkort dinner for us, as Maya is only just recovering from the bug. She told me that at the gan one of the kids threw up in the trash can, so I tend to believe it was something she picked up from there. No suprises here...
Funny how lately I end up writing about Maya's ailments... But as I told you a million times, this is my life now, less glamorous from what it used to be when I was a journalist...I also write here not to entertain, I wanted to have a place to be with myself (and my virtual friends) to sit and "chat" , to share my worries, my feelings, my problems...
Back to Earth...so, as being Sukkot now, we have a 7 days holiday - Maya from gan and hubby from work (me, as a staying at home mum and slave for the rest of my life, I have no holiday) and if everything will be fine, I do hope we'll go out a bit and have some fun...
And before I'll go do see what's Maya been up to, I must thank from all my heart to Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews, two awesome writers. Their books helped me to keep my sanity in this period of distress (and stress) and also to evade into the fabulous Universe of their urban fantasies, to draw some strenght from their badass heroines. My Ladies, my heart and admiration go to you!
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