The Think System

It was a good weekend.  Actually, it was a Devon weekend.  I had a little time with Aubrey, but a lot of time with Devon - it made for a very happy little girl ("just you and me?").

Friday night was lovely, all 4 of us went to dinner at the Temple and then services which was the end of year/graduation special services.  Aubrey and Devon both received awards for attendance - not perfect, but over 75% of the time at class.  They liked that.  They didn't really like the dinner - too spicy for them, which was unusual for a synagogue meal, but it did have a bit of kick - yum!  they made up for the lack of dinner by enjoying the dessert after services.  And, Devon and I got to snuggle in bed watching Frozen while Ron and Aubrey watched Black Beauty in the living room.  Saturday morning, Devon went horseback riding (in her new pink riding pants and her new paddock boots), and Aubrey and I went to services (again) because it was her friend Lizzie's Bat Mitzvah.  Lizzie did an awesome job and Aubrey and I had a chat about her (Aubrey's) behavior at services and what she should be doing.  She should not be constantly going to the bathroom and getting a drink and seeing what everyone else who has walked out is doing.  She should be staying in the sanctuary and listening to what is going on (that's how most of us learned the melodies for the different prayers) and if she can't read the Hebrew, read the transliteration when available so she learns what the actual words are so she can participate.  Her  Bat Mitzvah is just shy of one year away and she needs to be able to do a whole lot more than what she can do now - and she won't be just participating, the expectation is that she be able to lead some of the service, in addition to her reading from the Torah.  It's a big commitment and a big responsibility. Anyhow, services were nice and she only nagged me a couple of times to leave the luncheon, which is pretty good for her.  She spent the afternoon at a friend's house and I went home to see what Ron and Devon were up to

guess where we shop!

Devon was hot and sweaty from horseback riding and wanted to go swimming.  It was hot and beautiful out, so I figured what the heck and off we went, just Devon and me. We spent most of the afternoon at the pool, which was nice because there were lots of kids, mostly her friends, there for her to play with and I got to swim a bit and then enjoy some adult company.YEA!  After that, she and I went shopping for new shoes (party and sneaker) and had a successful venture.  We met up with Ron for dinner (Devon said it was okay to invite him) which was very enjoyable, even though she was a very tired little girl, which has been known to bring out the bad behavior.

all dressed up with new high heels and fancy earrings

This morning, it was the last day of Sunday school and the Lag B'Omer (a Jewish holiday celebrating a military victory) games.  It was a blast and we had a beautiful day for the kids to be doing all sorts of activities outside.  As soon as it was over, Devon and I flew over to Pappy's to go blueberry picking and then flew back home to get cleaned up to go back to Temple for the dedication of the new social hall.   I was in charge of opening the gift shop and Devon wanted to be my helper - which she was!  We redesigned the display of kippot (skullcaps) and it looks very nice.  After that, we came home and had a sewing lesson, which she's been begging for, then went swimming again.   Brrrrr, it's beautiful out but you really need to be a kid to enjoy swimming when it's only 70 degrees out and the pool isn't much warmer.  It was a tired by happy Devon at bedtime tonight.

WOW!

Aubrey had a great weekend, too, albeit one without us for most of it!  Saturday night she went to her first Bat Mitzvah party - parents not invited.  And the invitation said "dressy attire" so we had been shopping and found an outfit she was happy with and she looked beautiful!  Of course, much as I "complained" that she's getting so grown up, she reminded me (through actions not words) that she is only 12 and thinks like an adolescent, by leaving the party, ostensibly alone, to go for a walk and returning 20 minutes later with a young man.  She claims she got lost and he helped her find her way back.  I just don't trust her judgment, and was freaked out that I couldn't find her for a while, so to end the party we had a conversation about judgment and leaving places on her own - or even with someone that she doesn't really know, particularly a boy (of indeterminate age in this case) .....just not happening!  Fortunately, this did not take the joy out of her eveningl she had a great time and came home and passed out.  Sunday afternoon she spent at a friend's helping them prepare for their "Kitten Cuddle", an adoption event they were holding to find homes for the (I think it's 13) kittens they're fostering. Once again, she came home (relatively) happy and exhausted and passed out.  Got to love a happy and tired girl.  She was actually nasty when she first walked in the house, and we came to find out she hadn't really eaten since breakfast - it's now 8:30 pm...I'd be nasty, too. The friends said, sorry, they forgot to feed her, and she wasn't hungry when Ron made lunch.  Poor baby.... going to have to start running my kitchen like a third world country - eat when food's available, you never know when the next meal is coming.....

blueberry picking in new sneaker!

To keep with the theme of a happy girl, Devon LOVED grocery shopping with me today.  She got to pick out single-serving containers of Chef Boyardee type meals - so she can have them for breakfast.  She's not a huge fan of traditional breakfast food, and my feeling is if it's okay for dinner, why not for breakfast?  She was very unhappy that Ron and Aubrey dove into the blueberries - she feels very proprietary towards them. We'll probably go picking again next weekend sometime.  The people at the farm said the season will last a few more weeks and they had lots of non-blue blueberries which should ripen soon.  YUM!  And she got one of her favorite treats - to wash the windows of my car at the gas station (oh to be 7 again!).

So, all in all a good weekend.  Busy and we didn't get to everything we had planned, or hoped, to do.  But we had some good quality time together, mostly me and Devon, but all of us had our individual times with each other that made this an unusual but special weekend.  I'm hoping we can repeat it sometime, but it's probably like that perfect date Bill Murray had with Andie MacDowall in Groundhog Day -  happened once naturally and could never be repeated while he was trying to repeat it, it had to just happen.  So I'll just have to focus on the idea of more one-on-one weekends and hope they come out as well.

What's the difference between whining and venting?

It's whining time.

My leg hurts.  Specifically, my left knee.  Two years ago I tore my ACL and meniscus but after a while it seemed to heal and life went on.  I even did a couple of 5k's, remember?  Well, a little over a week ago, I guess, my knee started bothering me again.  Darn.  Figured I somehow aggravated the old injury (not, it's not from playing football).  When I couldn't take it anymore, it is hard to walk when your knee doesn't cooperate, I went back to the orthopedist.  Didn't have to have a new MRI (thank you!), but he explained that the ACL and meniscus don't heal, really, they just stopped hurting and I mostly forgot about them until now when I somehow managed to aggravate them and probably rip them more.  Wonderful.  Supposedly the surgery to repair the meniscus is not so bad, done arthroscopically and just a couple of weeks of crutches and PT, but ACL repair is B-A-D.   Plus, I do not want to have surgery!  So, I'm wearing my brace from the last time and taking Aleve per doctor's orders and keeping my fingers crossed that the knee decides to behave. Please?

I got to my meeting tonight an hour late.  I had it on my calendar for 7 pm - ALL of my meetings seem to start at 7, but go figure, tonight's was at 6.  Nothing like showing up an hour late - you can't even ask questions because you have to assume whatever you don't know has already been covered.  And the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday night, I can't go, busy, so it got moved to Wednesday night....can't go, busy.  AARGH!

And I go to these committee meetings and I give my input and get my assignments and wonder what the heck is everyone else doing?  I love our synagogue - the people we've met are all awesome, the Rabbi is wonderful, we're all starting to make friends....but it's the same small group of people as the core on every committee.  Which is a great way to burn people out.  And then you get people who want programs and events but aren't willing to help out.  I don't get that....not even a little bit?  I think more people would help out if they could avoid the meetings and committees and just do specific, one time tasks.  Others agree with me, so we're going to try to get people to sign up for just that - a one-time, specific, finite task.  How hard can that be, right?

And what makes it even more frustrating is that one of the main reasons I moved us from our old synagogue to the new one (which we love) was because of a lack of programming.  And now they've been doing lots. And they didn't require a mitzvah project for the bar and bat mitzvah kids, something I think is important ...and guess what?  I got an invitation to participate in a mitzvah project for one of the kids from the old synagogue (I think she forgot to take me off her class list).  Good project, too.  Which reminds me I need to sit down with Aubrey and see if we can come up with a general idea of what she's going to do - but I think I need to get the parameters from the synagogue first.  Don't want to plan something and have her get excited and then have to shoot it down.  She's very sensitive about stuff.

Aubrey went to Repticon on Mother's Day.  No, absolutely not with me!  It's a big reptile show at the fairgrounds.    Yuck!  I gave her money to get in and buy a snack/drink and told her she was not to bring home anything alive.  So, what does she do?  She splits the cost of a leopard gecko with her friend and the gecko is at the friend's house.  BUT, she keeps saying it's really her gecko and she wants it here.  To the point of tears when we say no.  Did I not make myself clear about no reptiles coming home to this house? Okay, I'll admit it, I did just roll my eyes.  Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder when it comes to reptiles!  So we've had a lot of anger and weeping because both Ron and I said no to the gecko coming here...although Ron didn't really say it so nicely.  The two of them can really go at it and know just what buttons to push. Made for a lovely end to the evening.

And I am majorly stressed about Aubrey's schooling.  She may not be invited to return to her present school

- we've had some issues there this year, as you know - and it's not like we love the school, although she is reading a lot better and they say academically she's doing really well.  But she did not get into the school I wanted her to go to, and now we're not sure what we/she are going to do.  We have one more school to look at that might be a possibility, but I'm not sold on it from their website.  But I am definitely not sold on the idea of her going to the public middle school either.  That's about the only thing Ron and I agree on about her schooling - we both think she's in for quite the rude awakening - and TOUGH year - if she winds up in the public school.

And of course, Devon has her heart set of staying at the gymnastics place for aftercare next year, even though she doesn't want to do gymnastics anymore.  She just loves the aftercare people and activities.  The problem is, it's expensive because it includes a gymnastics class every day.  Once I told her she's probably not going back, and why, she's been trying to force herself to go to occasional classes.  Which I don't want her to do - I want her to go to the classes if she wants to, not because she feels she has to in order to stay there.  I really need to call the person in charge and see if they would give me a reduced rate for her to go for aftercare with no classes.  I doubt it, but you never know until you ask, right?

What else can I whine, I mean vent, about?  I changed the lock on the snack bin because somehow the snacks kept disappearing.  Of course, neither girl was responsible....and lo and behold, not only are the snacks still disappearing,today the culprit didn't even bother to re-lock the trunk!  I need to get either a nanny cam or a home fingerprint kit.  And as far as Ron is concerned, it's all my fault because I buy stuff that the girls want to eat (?????).  I buy it for the lunches and snacks they have to bring to school.   What should I buy, stuff they don't like?! But now I'm out of stuff and am down to the things that are left because they don't like it...you know, the\flavors of things they throw into multi-packs because they don't sell, or the stuff that looks great but the kids hate and refuse to eat?  It's a losing battle.

Well, at least work is going well.  Not exciting, but nothing really to complain about.  And I guess that's a good thing....I can go there to relax....and whine....I mean, vent, when my co-workers ask me how's it going?  Oh, you mean they're just being polite and don't really want to know?    Don't get me started (again!)

Idiocy or lunacy....is there a difference?

Normally, I try to hide my moments of idiocy from the world, but today I had one of those moments that begs to be shared - so we can all laugh together as we shake our heads in wonderment......

At work, some of the people we call for help require us to provide a code to verify that we really are employees.  To generate this code, you log into a certain link and it gives you a code to provide and a confirmation code for the person to provide back.  It's the same user ID and password you use to log onto the computer in the morning - seems simple enough, right?  I did this once today, and then needed to do it again about 15 minutes later.  For some reason, I could not get the code - I kept getting an error message. Finally, after about 10 minutes of fruitless attempts, I called the Help Desk.  After explaining my problem and five minutes of trying to check stuff and get me logged in, the very nice person on the other end of my call checked a few things, came back on the line and asked me if my password was 8 characters long - they have to be, you know, exactly 8 characters long.  He told me I was typing it in wrong - no way, I say, and then BAM! epiphany, I actually was only typing 7 characters.  Duh!!!!  Yes, I have been a natural blonde most of my life and no longer wonder why those jokes originated.

Fortunately, the day picked up.  Had its ups and downs (doctor appointment for a checkup....did you know I'm overweight?  It's official).....and then off to pick up Ron and Devon to go to the JCC for the Israel Independence Day celebration.  Aubrey felt all grown up since she walked there by herself from school and was there for about an hour without us.  She did pretty well on her own, too.  It was a lot of fun for all of us.

The J had open swim which the girls enjoyed - separately, which made it all the more enjoyable for them, I think - and the girls, along with some of the other kids from religious school, sang two songs as part of the program.  What they lacked in ...shall we say talent?....the kids made up for in enthusiasm.  Devon had a great time playing with her best-religious-school-friend, Jade, and Aubrey met a boy (go figure!) and hung out with him most of the time.  He seemed very nice, but a little too old, sorry sweetie! We liked that he checked in periodically with his parents and actually listened to them....so we forgave him his age for the evening and let them hang out.  I would love for Aubrey to do that - call us before doing something she isn't sure would be okay and then listening to us when we say no.  But that would just be so out of character for her.  Ron and I really enjoyed the "main event" a singer from Israel. And to show one of the differences between American musicians and Israeli musicians, I would have bought her CD

because I really enjoyed her songs and voice, but they were not for sale at the event.  An American act would definitely have had their CDs available for purchase.  Saved me money, I guess, so no harm done.

And I need to save some money these days.  I got a flat tire on Sunday, and Ron had the car towed to our favorite mechanic.  As long as the car was there, they said, you know you're way overdue for a tune-up and timing belt replacement.    That'll be $1500 please.  Ah....no?!  They offered a discount if we did both, since the labor for one is most of the labor for the other, so Ron made a deal and did some of the work - trying to keep the van going for another 100,000 miles, please.  Can I cry now?  Thank goodness tuition for Aubrey is done for now, and most of the summer camps the girls will be at are among the cheapest we've ever done. Of course, I didn't mention that we just had a sick cat which cost over $300 at the vet (no, I not getting rid of my animals!)....Anybody got a tourniquet?  Too bad I'm not allowed to work overtime...

I'm glad for the timing, though.  If the flat or the cat had happened two weeks earlier I wouldn't have gotten my new dining room table (I LOVE this table!).    

And the table makes me happy.  :)  It's never uncovered, though, because we don't trust the girls to not hurt it.  And it's so pretty, exactly what I wanted and Ron let me have it and loves it too, so we're all just one big happy family, except we don't let the girls sit on the new chairs, which they really resent.  Too bad!  They occasionally sit on one but if they're eating I make them move. And I keep them pushed in, (the chairs not the girls) under the table, so the cats don't get to sit on the chairs either.    If Aubrey is lucky, I may decide to let her sit on one after her bat mitzvah.

We just passed the one year mark until that big day.  Aubrey has a friend who is being bat mitzvahed (for lack of a better phrase) in 2 weeks, so she'll get a good idea of what is expected of her when she goes to services.  We've got lots of studying ahead of us!  And this past weekend we all participated in a mitzvah project (charitable project) for a boy who was just bar mitzvahed. The whole religious school plus some others all went to Feeding Children Everywhere and we made over 4,000 meals to feed the hungry locally. I think a lot of the information they gave was too detailed for the kids or too big a number, but talking about how some kids (thousands) get only a school lunch to eat in a day was an effective fact.  I know my daughters think that the school lunch isn't enough food for lunch, much less to last a entire day!   Spoiled things that they are.  I do run what my mother liked to call an "expensive table", which was her way of saying I spend too much on food.  I like to get a lot of fruit, though, and that gets expensive.

Devon went to bed the other night not happy and a bit hungry.  She decided she doesn't like chicken anymore and refused to eat dinner, not even the vegetables, which she usually loves.  Because I know she actually does like what I made, I refused to make her something else.  If I make something for dinner I know one of the girls doesn't like, I'm willing to make them something else.  Devon doesn't like fish, other than fish sticks (and crab legs).  But she always has to taste what I make before I'll make her something else to eat, even on fish nights.  She just flat out refused to try to the chicken, so I just flat out refused to make her something else to eat.  So there!  But I haven't quite gotten to the point where I can send her to bed without her eating anything, so I caved and let her have a couple of cheese sticks and a bowl of watermelon before bedtime.  Yes, I know, my giving in reinforces the bad messages and therefore the bad behavior.  Sue me.

Panic for a minute there....the track point disappeared on me.   Not on the screen, the actual little red track point on the keyboard...Miracle of miracle, I found the little bugger and put what I lovingly refer to as Rudolf's nose back where it should be on the laptop keyboard.  But I digress.

So anyway, Aubrey wants to do something animal related for her mitzvah project, no surprise there, and we've started talking about it to try to come up with a really good idea.  We've also discussed what kind of party we want to have, so we can plan and shop for a while.  I told her the good part is getting to crash other people's parties so we can hear the deejays.  She definitely liked that idea.  Maybe she'll get her big idea this summer - it's a mostly animal summer for her, dog-training camp for 2 weeks, horseback riding camp for 3-4 weeks and the rest at her friend's house with lizards and geckos and dogs and cats and kittens, lots of kittens.  She'll be in heaven!  Devon is excited about her summer, too - take away the dog training and the rest of it matches...so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they have fun.  And I'm loving that I don't have to pack lunch and snack for them for the entire summer, just part of it.  I really hate packing lunch, don't ask me why.  I just do.

Everybody has something they hate, and, for me, it's packing lunch.  And letting the world see I'm an idiot. Or at least I hate knowing that the world can see I'm an idiot.