Lots of Good News!

I'll put them here in bullet points so you can rejoices and dance around each point with me:

• Our architect Raul is the best, quick and easy to work with.
• I have finalized (almost) all the bathroom and floor tiles around the house, plus the kitchen. Looking at designer sites like houzz  and consulting with friends really helps!
• Our loan got approved - yey!
• I got a new (paying) job, starting this coming month - Hallelujah!
• Got all my favorite songs on my playlist and it's great!
• My son has nice new friends and they have actually visited!
• Lost (and don't want to find) about 13 pounds!
• enough exclamation marks, don't you think?

Flex Your Brain Morning Routine

My son is going through.. puberty. There, I said it. I rather call it 'maturity'. Sticky business, if you ask me. As part of the maturity process we might open our breakfast with a question like "why do women wear bra?" or "how many times do you need to have sex in a week?" - I've been coughing a lot at breakfast lately.

But when my daughter asked me this morning, while tying her shoe laces "why do I feel so alone in the world all the time?" I didn't cough and no one could have heard the tiny cracking sound of my heart. I know she misses grandma, I can guess what Sartre would have said, yet I didn't know what answer to give my 6 years and 3 days old daughter. I certainly know how she feels but why now? and how could she verbalize it so well when it took me a lot more years and a slew of theories to recognize what I felt and name it?


We went for a walk with the dog - always a good way to reconnect with the creator and find answers... or fend them off... As we were walking I told princess I know how she feels (affirmation is good, right?), I told her many writers, philosophers and artists have tried to find an answer for her question because it's a very important one.... and then I had to answer it already, no more stalling, so... so I said I know she misses grandma and grandpa and by making new friends and staying in touch with old friends and family, we can lower that 'alone' feeling. I'm still looking for a better answer. It was an enormous, great question and I'm sure I'll find many more answers through life but I need an answer now, so if you have one - PLEASE COMMENT. What would you have answered?

On our way to school she asked if the sun that shines at grandma's is the same sun that shines on us and how could it be - what an easy question to answer! Thank G-d for 6th grade geography.
And what a beautiful young brain, to think of a unison like that... life is truly AMAZING.

Sukkah vs. Sukkah

See wonderful Sukkah structures at: Sukkah vs. Sukkah

The Surprise Breakfast Saga in Two Mornings

A week ago I woke up to a surprise breakfast. It was on the table, pancakes (even blueberry ones!), fruit, coffee, the whole 9 yards. It was a father-daughter initiative and felt so good on the maternal front... I don't know what I liked more, the food, the partnership, the late sleeping, the cleaned kitchen, the someone-else-cooked...it was just so good all around, a Saturday morning bliss.
You should know now that as part of my renewed effort to wear ALL my cloths, I gave up breakfast a while ago. So this time I made an exception and it was a well worth it one.

This weekend, princess came to our bed and whispered in my ear, it was time for pay back. It was our turn to do the surprise breakfast act on Daddy. Oy.
I got up, cleaned the sink, emptied the dishwasher while thinking of a gazillion excuses, feeling ashamed of my thoughts, more excuses, "OK, how do I minimize the damage now - the kitchen looks so CLEAN!" thoughts... and then I couldn't run nor hide anymore, I had to come up with a plan.
So I made coffee. It is a good start, admit it.

Princess got impatient. She dreamed of three tier pancake stack, with whipping cream, a cherry on top and we weren't on the way of pursuing it. Yet.
Enters the O-so-magnificent daddy, the knight of mornings, Donald  De Dog lazily wagging to follow and offered... are you reading? offered to HELP!

Now I'm not the type to need help. Even in the rare occasion I actually need (OMG, I said it) help, I don't ask for it. It is sooo forbidden in the Wonder Woman Bylaws.
But this time I excepted. In my defence I'll say that THE KITCHEN WAS SO CLEAN. I know you get me. you got me at cleeeaaaan, right?

I'm Back!

Hi there! How are you?
I know it's been a long time but we are finally back from vacation and I promise to write weekly...let's change 'promise' to 'hope'!

So, what's new?

• I weighed myself this morning and the sight was so rewarding and joyful, I had to step down and step up back again. And again. Once more. I would have been standing there still if not for my kids who needs me desperately whenever I'm not right next to them. Did you know that pants, a short shirt, 1 wrist watch, 2 rings and makeup can add 2 pounds (2 pounds!) to your weight? and no, it's not the diamond weight, this I can promise.
• Schools are way under rated. If I was the education minister I would have everyone on the year round system. It's much better academically (knowledge retention), emotionally (emotional sanity of parents and guardians), socially (built in play dates) and organizationally (time wise).
• We found a house and will start renovating soon, TV's only station currently is HGTV. Yes, even hubby watches. And I get to hold the remote - life IS beautiful!
• Still looking for employment, have an interview today, got to go!

Stay calm, be happy, summer vacation is almost over and soon we get Hurricane Erl!
Happy Rosh Hashsana to all of you that celebrate:)
Yours truly, Sarah Brown.

Traveling Home - What a Sweet Delivery

The decision, taking the leap: It starts a few months ahead, about 5 months, short incubation. We are sure we want to go, so why not buy the tickets?
Conceiving: Some deliberation ensue as we discuss dates, some excited phone calls and then we do it - we buy the tickets, finalizing our trip decision, setting it in cancellation fees and expectations.
Carrying: We carry it in our mind for the next 4 months and than...well.. LET THE WILD SHOPPING BEGIN! We shop for gifts of course. Armed with wish lists, needs and wants, we scavenger hunt for just the right thing for the people we love. This task is usually accomplished by me, at times my unhappy little shoppers trudge along.
Nesting: The week and a half before the trip marks several excitement peaks. The kids go berserk, preparing cards, drawings, talking about their past experiences as well as the expected ones, the phones are filled with plans, schedules, advice, serious weather cast, measuring and weighing of suitcases.
Contractions: 2 days before the due date I'm contained. Or at list look that way. Inside I'm all electricity, raw excitement. Don't bother talking to me, I'll either forget it or lock you out. My brain is all but flying, up in the air already, thinking flight procedures, how to get through to the other side with the least bother, on time, no stains on our cloths, everybody happy.
Into Delivery: It's a long flight. No matter how much time it is, it is LONG. The lights are bright as we go through the gate, leaving what we know behind, hoping we won't get bombed, hijacked, kidnapped, food poisoned, spilled on, the bathroom will work fine, the kids won't have ear aches, I won't get a ferocious head ache, no one will get sick in a way we'll need to land for them, the books we took will be interesting and the movies will be designed for kids, the trays will be taken before something spills....you get the idea.
Delivery: We made it. Our heads crown at the plan's door, one by one like a multi sibling parade we step out, my eyes shooting from kid to kid, making sure we stay together. My makeup a paste, my eyes burning, I pray no one got a cold from that loud coughing guy at the front of the plain, right by the air condition shaft.
Clean up: We show passports, lift princess so the passport person see she'd arrived safely and still match her photo. Suitcases are tricky as I turn my head, sprinkler mode, back and forth to see my kids have not been smashed by an over excited passenger, yanking his suitcase while running along the carousel.
We manage to identify (true miracle) our luggage and pull it off the belt, check that we have 2 kids, 1 adult, 3 passports, all our suitcases, all hand bags and the cart to carry it all towards the exit. Almost there.
Vital signs: As we emerge at the arrivals hall, there are no paparazzi waiting for us but the excited murmur and the damp, overjoyed, inspecting stretched-in-a-smile lens of my parents faces. It's fun to see me through that lens. I missed it.
We breath, go to the bathroom and give thanks to the Lord and his skilled pilots who brought us here.

Summer Reading 2

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer- amazing!
Seen the movies, am reading the books, listening the beautiful music by Carter Burwell - enchanting!