My childhood, revisited

My mom loves to tell the story of how she knew she needed to stop swearing in front of me when I was a child:  I was three years old and cleaning my room, and taking forever. I didn't put a book back unless I read it first.  I couldn't put a puzzle away until I'd put it together. My mother, after being with me for over an hour, finally said, "Michal, I have a life to lead.  It's time to be done."  Three year old me, sitting on the floor with a puzzle, didn't even look up but said, slowly and casually, "In a minute.  I only have three more f*&%-ing pieces."

The way my mother tells the tale, she was at least happy that I used it correctly!

Flash-forward to today.  Jonathan and I have curbed our use of all negative words in front of the kids, or so we thought.  Until Xander's teacher pulled us aside today to report an "incident":  another child wanted to play with a toy that Xander had, and the teacher told him that he needed to let the other child have a turn.  Xander was not happy about it.  And as he handed the child the toy, he very heatedly told him, "You suck!"

And what did his teacher say to us?  At least he used it correctly. :) 

(For those who are curious: that's what Jonathan tells bad drivers instead of cussing them out.)

Really interesting slideshow

Called "Where children sleep" - the article is okay, but what I thought was fascinating was the slideshow with the pictures of the rooms.  Part exploration and part social commentary: they're all so serious, it makes me think that what makes kids feel happy has more to do with feeling loved than where they sleep. On one hand, if a Bedouin shack is all you know and your family has lived there for generations, it's your culture.  On the other hand... it's still a shack in a desert.

Crazy crazy crazy

Our real estate agent scared us silly last week by saying that we had to list our house on the market ASAP if we ever wanted to sell it by June.  Then Nicole's husband, another real estate agent, pretty much told us to de-clutter in a major way if we wanted it to show well.  Get rid of furniture, take down all personal pictures, remove any decor with Judaism, etc.  So last night I drew up a list of stuff to sell.  This morning  I posted on Facebook and sent an email to the Cinci homebirth list and the HUC listserve.  And the day was insane.  Six different people came in and out to buy things and take them off our hands.  Our basement is much emptier, which is fabulous because soon we'll have to move down our bookshelves and book boxes.

Also this evening, our new tenant arrived!  Her name is Rebecca, she's an HUC student, and she's going to be staying in our guest room all year in exchange for childcare and light cleaning.  I think it will work out beautifully for all of us.

A productive but insanely busy day.  And I will admit, exciting but emotionally tough at the same time.

Hooray for a fabulous day!

Finished the last of my spring Incompletes, fit into jeans one size smaller, cleaned the house, chocolate fondue with Nicole and David, Tot Shabbat at temple, children both asleep by 9pm, and now blogging and Mad Men on Netflix. Even the cats are purring contentedly. :)

10 minutes of yesterday

Sammy Snake was hungry, Xander said. 

His new home.

My mom had sent over some stickers in the box.  Here Xander's "sharing."

Arcane abbreviations, books, and Xanderbug. In that order.

Today I've been "chasing footnotes" so that I can write a paper and finish up my very last incomplete.  I love doing that... I feel like a super-sleuth.  Today's joy:  Seeing the reference "Yad Hil. Ishut 13.5" everywhere.  I had no clue what it meant.  My best guess was on the last word, with "I" meaning and, and "Shut" meaning Shealot v'tshuvot, literally "questions and answers," probably responsa from the Middle Ages.  But after some serious searching, I found out that Maimonides' 1170-1180 law code Mishneh Torah is subtitled "Sefer Yad HaHazakah," "Book of the Strong Hand."  And "Hilchut Ishut" is a section of it!  I still didn't know why the book was subtitled that until I talked to the head of library, who knows all things Jewishly esoteric.  He told me that Yud Dalet, the letters that make up the word "Yad," stands for the number 14 in gematriya, Jewish numerology.  And of course... the Mishneh Torah has 14 sections.

In terms of fun reading, I finally finished all five books in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.  It took me a while since each book was over a thousand pages.  For spoilers' sake I won't say anything except that it was an excellent fantasy series, and well worth reading if you like that genre.  After such immersion in a magical world I needed a dose of reality, so along came Stephen Bloom's Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, all about the Hasidic Jews who founded the AgriProcessors kosher-meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.  It felt more memoir than journalism, and was nice to read, but didn't leave me with much lasting impact.  I'm now currently on Catherine Hezser's The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine, which is admittedly slow academic reading but which I find really fascinating.  I've already talked to my thesis advisor about possibly including some of the articles in his syllabus the next time he teaches the World of the Rabbis class.

And lastly, something cute:

This morning Xander was screwing up his face and making ppbbthhht noises.  

"What are doing?"  I asked.  

"I have a hair on my tongue," he told me.  He stuck out his tongue as far as it would go and tried to scrape off the hair with his fingers. 

A minute or so later he took his fingers out of his mouth and resumed playing.

"Did you get it?" I asked.  

His reply was perfectly timed, so matter-of-fact: "No.  I ate it!"  

The circle of life

Last night one of the fixtures of my Long Beach Jewish community, Andi Joustra, passed away.  I still can't believe it.  She co-taught with my mom for 21 years, I carpooled with her more times than I can count, and I grew up with her daughter.  I think I'm still in shock, it hasn't quite sunk in.

The circle of life is constant, however, so even while I reel from the death of someone I loved, I must also welcome to the world someone who I may come to love - a hearty mazel tov to Rachel and Evan on the birth of their new son Jack Henry.  Xander and their oldest son Liam are old friends, and Rachel and I get together as much as we can.

Another school year is about to begin: I've finished three out of my four spring incompletes, we just got invited to the HUC welcome-back-picnic, and I'm figuring out a schedule for my school and work hours.  Summer went fast.

A few pictures to mark the passage of time....

Ari's inspiration to roll over was Pumpkin, the little orange kitty cat.

Xander playing on Daria's bike this afternoon ("Mommy, her bike is PINK!!").  I met Daria's parents at the park a couple weekends ago... I was pushing Xander on the swing and all of a sudden heard a couple speaking Hebrew behind me.  Turns out they're Israelis new to Cincinnati, and we hit it off wonderfully.

And finally, here is Jonathan on his 41st birthday wearing the gift I got him, a Utili-kilt.  He got very strange looks from everyone that day, but he and I were meant to be together... he didn't bat an eye, and wore it proudly.

Book technology

Check out this article on the University of Chicago's new library system.  In addition to the regular stacks, millions of books are kept underground, and robots do all the retrieval.

 A High-Tech Library Keeps Books at Faculty Fingertips — With Robot Help

And if you don't want to read the whole thing, here's a video of how the system works.

You'll never catch me with a Kindle... but this kind of technology is more than welcome in my book!  

[yeah, bad pun, but I couldn't resist!]

Now this is my kind of class

I found this class description in the HUC course catalog from 1973-1975:

Human Relations/Contemporary Jewish Studies 2

            Sexuality, Judaism and the contemporary Jew: an examination of data on sexuality available from interdisciplinary sources; consultations with physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists; ethical and religious implications of the new sexual research; relevant Judaic sources (in Hebrew and English); course will draw on materials and films prepared under medical school auspices dealing with the general theme of “human sexuality.”

            For students who elect to do at least half their readings in Hebrew sources, this course will qualify for required hours in Hebrew reading, as indicated in the new curriculum.  Other registrants may complete the course for general elective credit.

Sexuality with a Hebrew credit?  I so went to rabbinical school in the wrong era.

Indian food and spit-up. The highs and lows of life.

We had a very full weekend, complete with Jonathan's birthday get-together at an Indian restaurant, kid socializing with Yasha and Eden, a visit to the Mini Cooper dealership to see the newest model, swimming with the kickboard Auntie Tasha gave Xander, and a bounce house with Keren and Dalia at the J.

Unfortunately, pictures of all that have to wait.  I'm currently at home with two sick kids.  Socializing = sniffles, apparently.  And the baby's deep in the throes of teething.

Which would all be fine, I don't mind that at all.  I just feel sorry for them.

Except.... I have spit-up in my hair.  :(  And Jonathan doesn't get home for another two hours, so I have to wait to shower til then.