BOOK MEME.........

t's this month's Book Meme. Here we go!

1. Name one book that changed your life:

~~~~~I'm thinking THE CELESTINE PROPHECY.....I read it at the recommendation of my hubby, when we first started dating (again after a break, long story). The whole concept of life having no coincidences was a really good thing for me to hold onto at the time and has helped me see things I may have never seen had I not been open to their reason.


2. One book you've read more than once:

~~~~~It would have to be CLIFFORD'S SPORTS DAY.......it was the ONE Clifford the Big Red Dog book that we hadn't packed after the mistake of taking my kids to see a production of Clifford LIVE! on stage. My little guy was obsessed and for about 6 weeks straight, we read CLIFFORD'S SPORTS DAY every night before bed.................. "Hi, I'm Emily Elizabeth, and this is my dog, Clifford. Last week, I took Clifford to my school's sports day. Clifford had never been to a Sports Day before." AARGH!!!


3. One book you'd want on a desert island:

~~~~I'm thinking it would have to be any book that would have the words SURVIVAL ON A DESERT ISLAND in the title.....


4. One book that made you laugh:

~~~I read this book recently that was called I think TURN LEFT AT SANITY. It was a trip, about this woman who had inherited a brothel from her great grandfather; she ran it now as a B&B, but her old aunts still lived there, former brothel employees. It was a laugh and a half!

5. One book that made you cry:

~~~~hmmmm......can't think of one off the top of my head.

6. One book you wish you'd written:

~~~~I don't know if that's ever been a dream of mine, to wish I had written any sort of book. Just not in me.

7. One book you wish had never been written:

Mein Kampf by what's-his-name, the dead guy;----I'm with BakaDiary on this one!

8. One book you're currently reading:

~~~Currently reading TENDER AT THE BONE, by Ruth Reichl. It's cute, nice book. I got it and a few others from a friend before I left the states.....she said take whatever I want from her shelf, so I helped myself. :)


9. One book you've been meaning to read:

~~~~~I want to read the EXODUS again. I read it years ago and felt then and there that I should be living here in Israel.

10. Tag five people:

hmmmm......I think I'll tag the last 5 that commented on my blog. Let me go back and check who they are...........

Mia

bec

gali

evan

liza

GO FOR IT GUYS!!!!

Brain FART!

Ok, so I'm doing pretty well with my hebrew. I still need and want to go to ulpan, but I am not at a loss for words when trying to communicate. I have people that I speak to 95% in Hebrew, and can spend the day or evening with them. It's low level talk, but good!

Anyway, left a message on the babysitter's voice mail the other day, and woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the mistake I made. Here is what I said,

"Shalom, medaberet Susie, ani yodaat sh'at MESUKAN aval ani....."

for those of you who are not rolling over laughing right now, I used the word MESUKAN (dangerous) instead of the word ASUKA (busy).

I meant to say, "Hi, it's Susie, I know you're BUSY but I...."
Instead I said, "Hi, it's Susie, I know you're DANGEROUS, but I...."

OOPS!!!

hubby, in the kitchen making coffee, hears ilan coughing and says, "got a cold?"

me, not having drank my coffee yet and sitting here on the cozy new couch with my laptop replies, "Only for the last 3 days!" (I know, sarcastic tone, not nice)

upon second cough, hubby adds, "you shouldn't give him cereal if he has a cold."

me, in my mind, with more sarcasm than before, "thank you doctor!" but no, I didn't say it. I decided to be nice.

:)

fyi about spam

Have you ever actually EATEN spam??? I mean really, ok tuna fish comes in a can, and I can handle that when doctored, but SPAM....blech. Did you know that in Hawaii, they love the stuff! It's even on menus in resturaunts..........spam loaf (sorry bec), spam sandwiches, spam-ghetti, spamsagne, spam sushi, etc.

update: OMG! I just came back to link to the official SPAM website andI am blown away! There is a fanclub, a spammobile, a museum, aargh!!! What is this world coming to???

Turns your stomach doesn't it???? And as a result, we avoid it, at least I do. Except for now, I really haven't ever paid much attention to the little tin box cans of the meat stuff. I know I've probably walked passed it in the aisles of Publix a thousand times, but never noticed or paid much attention.

And to email spam and blog spam, I do the same............only now I have a moderators button that allows me to get rid of it! :) hee hee, and I do. Thanks to those who have read said spam and have not fed the fury. This is not a place for that and I appreciate your understanding of what I have created here.

Hope you've enjoyed my little analogy. Hugs to all, have a nice day!

ps. NEW COUCHES ARE COMING TODAY!!!! (happy dance!)

Frogs in college...

Ok, the boys are being really funny these days or I'm being a better listener.

This morning, during a round of leap frog, played with plastic frogs:

Aviv: ok, ilan, put the green frog here, and the yellow and blue frogs go behind him.

Ilan: what about the red frog?

Aviv: he doesn't go right now, he has to go over there.

Ilan: yeah, this one can't play, he's in college.

hee hee

Out of the mouths of babes....

Got my usual wake-up nudge this am, by my 3 year old.

"Emah, I'm hungry! I want some cereal!"

I replied my usual, "Shhhh...go to the living room, I'll meet you there."

He left, then came running back in,

"Emah, where is Aviv (his 5 year old brother)????"

My usual resply, "Probably in the living room..."

So he finally left me, but I knew I was still doomed and would have to roll out of bed sooner rather than later ( literally roll, as we are still sleeping on mattresses on the floor). Anyway, I laid (lay, layed?) there as long as I could, and was treated to a real funny that I overheard from the living room....................

Ilan(3): "Aviv, what are you doing?"

Aviv (5): "shhh, leave me alone, I'm meditating."

Ilan: "stop, kids aren't allowed to meditate. Only growdups do."

Aviv: "no, starting from 4 you can meditate. you can do it next year"

Ilan: "oh, ok."

hee hee................love it!

No excuses....just haven't blogged....

Well, one good excuse is that I've been busy with the kids............ went to the Israel museum today; made ANOTHER conglomeration of glue and recycled crap for them to display on the coffee table before it mysteriously disappears one night while they're sleeping. Oh, and made some yummy bread and walked around the cool bread exhibit!

We've also been to the programs a few times at the mall: science stuff, a comedian funny guy, and more glue projects!

Yesterday we even had a playdate with a new friend, she's the daughter of friends of my in-laws and their kids are the same age as ours! Very cool. My boys have missed having friends to talk to. They have played numerous times with kids of friends of ours, but said kids don't speak english. So my kids who talk non-stop have been hushed, it's wierd.

Gan starts in 2 1/2 weeks. We are ALL looking forward to it!

Still no lift, but I have been actively researcing and have found a contact with the main ship carrier or something like that from china. they are the ones who are trying to help us get our stuff back to israel from greece. Just making me wonder if I mistakenly put anythign that might have melted while sitting who knows where, and most likely not with a/c in the port in Greece for the past month. aargh.

And that's that. Oh, and we have couches from the 'laws', but they are MOST uncomfortable, so we will be looking for new ones this weekend. It doesn't help that we are also sleeping on a mattress on the floor, so essentially there is nowherein our house to get comfortable.

ok, my rant is over, thanks for stopping by. next time my thoughts may not be as random.

...brought to you by the builders of CHELM...

Ok, so I've told you how much we love our home, right? Let me tell you more.....we're in the new section of Mevasseret Zion, a town just outside of Jerusalem. From my windows and mirpesot (patios--yes, we have 3!), we can see the skyline of the city of Jerusalem. [not the old city skyline that you see in postcards, but the 'new' part of the city, all that is outside of the WALLS. ]

Anyway, this particular view is incredible......and as the sunsets over the mountains, wow, THIS is why we live here and not in Tel Aviv. So back to our place...........it is an apartment, but it truly does not feel like it. The kitchen is huge, and I have all new white appliances! fun. The cabinets are a beautiful light brown with silver handles, and the sink is white to match.

The living room is spacious and has a dining room space attached, all one room. The beauty of it is that we can move furniture if we have guests and need more space either in the living or dining room. There are 3 bedrooms downstairs, and a loft space and another open room upstairs that we will use for an office. It is spectacular in it's description, and once we get our stuff, it will feel even more perfect.

So why the CHELM title??? Let me tell you............there are a few things in the building of this house that just baffle us. Here's my list so far, and I'm sure there are more:

• The 'corner' cabinet in the kitchen that has a lazy susan thing built in was not placed on a full corner; instead it is next to drawers and the cabinet door does not open all of the way because of the door handles, and of course, the lazy suzan thing that is supposed to spin all the way around, only comes out half way.
  
• The refridgerator space is placed next to a wall so that the fridge/freezer doors bang into said wall if we're not careful.
• One of the bathroom doors did not close when we got here, the door jam was put up and completely not leveled or anything.
  
• There are 2 lights in this tiny bathroom, one over the sink, and one over the tub---they put a double switch in and put each of these lights on their own switch. (not such a big deal, but read on...)
• The bathroom in the master bedroom (which is so small it's hard to call it that. Plus, when you think about it, when there are small children in the house, let's be honest, it's really the slaves quarters!) Anyway, this bathroom is right next to the 3rd mirpeset. We were trying to figure out which switch was supposed to control the mirpeset light, since there is only one switch on that wall. We figured out that BOTH the bathroom light and the mirpeset light were on the SAME switch, on opposite ends. What does this mean? This means that if the mirpeset light is on, the bathroom light is off; if the bathroom light is turned on, the mirpeset light goes off. There is always one light on.
  
• The incredible UPSTAIRS that we have is essentially 2 huge open rooms in an L shape. If they were not cutting so many corners and building this place so cheaply, they would have put in at least a simple bathroom (toilet/sink) up there so that one of those room areas could be closed off and used as a room. but no, so it will be neutral space, no biggie.
• The height that the plugs are placed around the house varies. In some areas, there are plugs 2 feet from the floor like in most american homes, then smack in the middle of the dining room, there is a plug waist high/ bizarre.
  

So you see this is what we're dealing with.........the builders of chelm. Hope you had a good laugh! That's the only way we're able to deal with it all.....it's amazing how far a sense of humor can take you!

Have a great day!

Home.....

yes, we're HOME...........home in our OWN home (ok, we don't own it, but for as long as we do, this is our HOME). Can I say that again, OUR HOME............

...ahhhhh....sounds so nice, feels even better!!!

We have moved most of the stuff over here from the 'laws' house, but there is always more. And, since we bought the washer/dryer in the states, we're still doing laundry over there.

Anyway, this is what I've been up to.........and I'm exhausted.

We took a break yesterday and spent the day with the kids at the beach. Hubby started work today, so we figured it would be nice to hang together before he starts.

And that's that. No word on our lift; they've received our 80% deposit, too bad we haven't received 80% of our stuff, but it doesn't work that way. oh well.

Hope all is well with all of you..............