How to Deal

I needed more than just one day to deal. Last Wednesday morning a friend of mine lost her life due to a senseless act of violence. It breaks my heart to see how the media has sensationalized this and made it a "story."

(In this entry I will not name names for the privacy of the family.)

I will not speak of that but of my friend who is dearly missed. She was the type of person we should all aspire to be like. Her heart was enormous and filled with love for all of her friends and family be they two legged or four. I remember my first visit to her house and my sheer surprise at the number of animals wandering around. I asked if she was dog/cat/rat sitting for friends. "No." she happily answered "They are all part of our family," she added as a huge smile spread across her face. (I will always remember her smile that just radiated love and pride in whatever she was speaking of.) I loved that these animals were not just "pets" she had but family members she would welcome into her home and heart. She always had room for more. Her love for her children was boundless. You could tell this by that I smile I mentioned which would be ever-present when she spoke of her children. I always enjoyed listening to her share her special words and praises of her sweet and charming kids. (Miss B has been close friends with the youngest for five years now. This child has grown up to have the same open, caring heart and loving personality of her mother.) My friend was always there for any in need. She was an active and valued member of the community here.

Please send warm thoughts and prayers to the family members who miss this loving and very much loved woman, mother and friend.

Time Out

Due to personal issues I will be taking a time out today. Just not in a happy blogging mood. I will try to be back to my regular self ASAP.
Love to all.

So Che -More like So Chuck

I had a great weekend filled with friends and fun. My Mcfriend and her family came to town for her conversion on Sunday which was awesome. I tried not to cry but failed as the happy tears rolled down my cheeks. Congrats Mcfriend to and Lil Mc too. Later we went to the used bookstore to waste time before meeting up with the Es. Miss B was so cute with Lil Mc. She went to the coffee area of the place and successfully ordered and paid for cotton candy smoothies for herself and Lil Mc. They sat down at their own table and drank their smoothies together while looking at a book called First Thousand Words in Hebrew. They were so good just talking and playing together.

We caught up with the E family at Cosmos and all of the kids played together in the toys so the adults could chat. Those of us who had sandwiches got apple slices as a side to give to the kids. I have never seen kids rally for apples like these three did. Big surprise of the night: The kids were kind of cleaning up the toys as they played. By the time we left there weren't that many for us to put up. Mrs E told me about a Panel Discussion going on Monday evening. I had planned to go but......

This brings me to Monday. Mr C and I went for lunch with a friend (Press Guy) and normally I wouldn't bash a place of business but in this case I will make an exception. We were supposed to be dining at a little place downtown called SoChe. My experience there Sosucked. First off, I was really hungry at 11:30am so by the time lunch rolled around at 12:30pm I was starving. I practically ran to this place. Mr C ordered a burger, Press Guy ordered a sandwich, I asked for pasta with veggies. (Does any of this sound complicated to you?) After an hour passed with me still sipping my water, I started to get mad. I felt like tackling the waitress and biting her, I was so hungry. Ten more minutes pass and the waitress approaches our table with a scared look on face as she tells me, the angry-hungry one, my food is not finished cooking. Apparently there was an incident in the kitchen and the manager was cooking for the day and they were out of pasta. She knew this from the get-go and didn't warn me until I have wasted over an hour in this place. Grrrrrrrr! She offered to make me a flat bread sandwich for free. I asked if Mr C and Press Guy's food was finished cooking for her to just bring it out. She did and shortly after brought me something the size of an envelope with chunks of mozzarella on it (my downfall), one tomato slice cut in half and dried leaves sprinkled on it. It was not a meal but an appetizer and a sad one at that. I ate it anyway since I was so hungry. Seriously that waitress could have put something in front of me and told me it was poison and I would have devoured it. Afterwards I was still hungry and unhappy. Last night my stomach was in knots from the mozzarella. (the whole lactose intolerance thing got in the way) I should have known not to eat it when the waitress informed me it was fresh but at the time I didn't care. Well, we live and learn or at least I hope I do.

Finally, It's the Pics

I haven't had much going on lately so I thought I would share more cool pictures of PDX.

Here are the Portland pics I wanted taken. I thought Chinatown was soooooo cool. I told Miss B all about it and now she is campaigning for us to take her there so she can decorate her new room (when we move) with all things symbolic and nature-like.

Now on to those pics...
Chinatown





On our last evening in Portland we went to a nice dinner and then indulged in a little Ben & Jerry's sweetness. On the way we came across this guy. I wonder what he used to get all silvery?


And to end our evening and trip we walked back to the hotel and I spotted police car flashing lights. At first I thought "somebody is having a bad night." Then I realized it was a parade. Wooooohooooo! We would get to see a parade before we left. Well here is a pic from the parade we watched pass by.



Whow! Totally didn't expect that one did you? I didn't either. Half of these ladies were making the march topless but wouldn't you know the batteries on our camera died after the first picture was taken. I have never in my entire life seen so many female naughty bits in one place (that I did not want to see). Crazy enough, we watched the whole parade march on by. The funniest part for me was the drunk people partying across the street trying to encourage more to take off their shirts, like it was Mardi Gras or something. I kept feeling like I should have some of those kiddie beaded necklaces to throw.

Overstimulated and Underestimated

Two words I hate and I hear them everywhere from almost every child's mouth and yes mine says it too, "I'm bored." When I hear a kid say this I really want to stand them in a corner for an hour but I don't. It literally drives me crazy to hear this. Today in a world of visual entertainment such as: Movies, TV, video games, not to mention computers and the Internet we still have children all over crying those two maddening words. What happened to going outside to play, drawing, reading a book, and forget using the imagination. Have we held our kids hands for so long that they feel we should constantly entertain them? Today we have birthday parties that seem more like a 3 ring circus. I remember my childhood birthday parties consisting of a cake and a sprinkler (sugar the kids up then let them wear themselves out). I don't remember once uttering the words "I'm bored" during these types of parties. Yet I can't count how many times I have had kids tell me they were bored when presented with so much more. Has our generation forgotten our childhood when our parents instructed us to "just go play." We figured games out for ourselves without constant assistance from the adults around and we seem to have turned out alright. Why do we seem to be underestimating our children and their capabilities?

Book Review: The Saturday Wife

Preface to the review: Let me begin with the fact that I have never given an actual review before but with so many books and readers out there I thought my reviews/opinions might help others. Please give me some feedback (either through comment or email) and let me know if a book review helps you.

The Book: The Saturday Wife

The Author: Naomi Ragen

The Premise: Modern day young orthodox life experiences and the main character,
Delilah's struggles between her desires and following tradition.

My Opinions and Comments: I checked out this book from the temple library months ago and about a fourth of the way through I realized I didn't like it. Normally, I love anything by Naomi Ragen (I highly recommend The Covenant if you haven't read it yet.) but this one left much to be desired. Still by the time I had made it half-way through I felt committed to completing the book. I had hopes that maybe something would happen to change my mind. Nope, I still didn't like it and here is why: The main character Delilah, although very real and not the usual Ragen martyr, disgusted me with how shallow she was. She was everything that drives me crazy about people. Delilah was materialistic, scheming, cruel, and willing to use and then stomp all over everyone and anyone , including her husband, to attain the social and financial standing she desired and felt entitled to.

After making life altering mistakes during her college years Delilah prayed and begged if given a second chance she would change her wild ways and become the perfect Rabbi's wife.

She met and married Chaim Levi, an aspiring Rabbi, not because she loved him but to prove to herself and others that she could be more than just poor Delilah Goldgrab. Once attaining the coveted title of Rebbitzin she still found herself wanting more. Delilah pressured Chaim into taking a position at a congregation that had been black balled for ousting a past Rabbi to satisfy their own selfish needs. Poor Chaim, always wanting to make Delilah happy complied with her every wish. He struggled to give her all of the excess of material comforts that she demanded and still Delilah was left wanting and Chaim miserable feeling as if he hadn't done enough for her.

It was quite painful for me to read this story of how one person destroyed so many lives during her quest for financial and social status.

Recommendation/Rating (Scale of 1 to 5 *s): Pass on this one. ** (2 stars)

There's No Place Like Home

We are back and even though the humidity and crazy high temps are killer, I am happy to be here. The one thing I find ironic is: the entire time I was in PDX the weather was awesome, chilly in the mornings and evenings and somewhere in the mid 70s for the better part of the day. Then I woke up this morning to hear
-what was that?- yes, RAIN and lots of it. Pretty funny!

I really enjoyed my time in PDX. The food there is outstanding and the shopping is even better.

More on the food: Although we were eating at some of the more upscale places (Thanks Computer Co!) Mr C and I did stop at a couple of non-chain affordable eateries. Downtown is full of places like these yummy and sometimes a little greasy food stops. ****Places to go: Old Town Pizza and Ford's (sandwhich shop)

Shopping: Downtown has some cool little shops to browse through but I love my malls. Let me restate that: I LOVE MY MALLS! It is a sick obsession of mine that anytime I am visiting another city or state, I HAVE to hit the local malls. I found the one closest to our hotel the first night I was there without the aide of a map or other helpful directions. I just knew it was there. I told Mr C (and it's the truth) I can smell a mall a mile away! I liked this mall so much I went back and got Miss B some goodies from the Coach and Kate Spade Stores.

The traveling was okay but I am serously hating Southwest Airlines right now. Remember the brand new, super cute, pink luggage? Southwest ripped a hole in the back fabric of it. I was so PO'd! I went to the baggage complaint area and informed them of their crude mishandling of my luggage. Can you believe they tried to question whether it might be considered normal wear and tear at first. What the heck? Normal wear & tear is getting your luggage dirty not ripping holes in it. They then told me that they could send it to their home office to be "repaired" but it would only get a patch slapped on it and end up looking "ugly." I really dislike Southwest for their disregard for my property and if I ever have to fly SW again I will only bring a carry-on. If any of you frequent flyers/travelers have experienced something along these lines and have some advice, please let me know. I did file a complaint/report with Southwest and took pics of the damage.

More Awesome Portland Pics

This is the enormous swimming pool at the private school we are looking to get Miss B into.


More views from the Spirit




We walked past this after getting off the boat and I could just imagine the many trips
Miss B will want to take to play in the fountain.



I thought this fountain was too cute and had to share a pic of it with you guys. The street that this fountain is on has like three other fountains on it.


Mr C and I were walking down the street and I spotted this cool window display.


There have been many other things I wish I could have gotten pictures of to share but I think I might have to get a camera of my own since Mr C continues to have a death grip on "ours." He refuses to relinquish it to me for even a second. Grrrrrrrrr!!!!

Here are a couple of things I might have taken pics of: -like the many petty-cabs I have seen with wacky characters driving them. One was being peddled by a guy in fishnets and a tutu. Chinatown was cool also but Mr C neglected to capture those lovely sights. Grrrrrr again.