Saturday, September 23, 2006

L'Shana Tovah

It's Rosh Hashanah. Every year for the Jewish New Year, I spend a couple of hours walking in the woods. It's my time for quiet reflection. I think back on the previous year, and think about my goals for the upcoming one. I head to the woods because the outdoors is where I find the best evidence of G-d's greatness. This year, Bigfella came with me. He spent most of the time sleeping in his stroller, but he also sat and looked around at the flowers, trees and river.

I realized how blessed I am. Bigfella and Dyke Two make my life happier and more complete than I ever imagined life could be. I have found a peace and center that I spent years (and lots of money and time with my therapist) looking for. May all of you, the visitors to the Ark, find your center during the upcoming Days of Awe.

I have added some embedded videos to the sidebar. They are ads from 2 of the 3 states facing marriage amendment battles this November. I threw a Canadian ad in too, for good measure, since I couldn't find an ad from Idaho. However, both Virginia and Wisconsin are facing close races right now. In fact, both are considered to be statistical dead heats.

Please watch the ads, send the links to your friends and family in Virginia, Wisconsin and Idaho. Encourage your friends and family in those states to go vote on November 7. Better yet, encourage them to volunteer with the campaigns. If they don't have the time to volunteer, encourage them to write a check.

Judaism has a concept of Tikkun Olam--repairing the world--in order to move closer to G-d. There are many areas in this world in need of repair. Please take action to make sure that we don't take another step backwards with the passage of these amendments.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

there's a reason I haven't updated...

...we're still sick.

Seriously, I seem to have a lovely wheezy presence in my lungs. Bigfella is now on his second round of antibiotics due to the ear infection he developed after the first round of antibiotics didn't do anything to stop the green mucus and chest rattling cough.

He spent the last two night screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night, so we cancelled our first appointments of the morning and went to the doctor.

Poor kid had one infected ear and one clogged ear.

Then, the daycare provider casually mentioned something that made me absolutely frantic. Apparently, they gave Bigfella a cupcake last month. Seriously, a 6 month old was given a cupcake, made with sugar, eggs, wheat and whatever milk or soy was in the frosting and fat used in it! And this in a daycare that has a policy that kids are only fed food provided by their parents. And a policy that parents be informed of all foods that their kids eat. And a policy that the information on the medical sheets be followed. And, yet, we only found out about the cupcake a month after he played with it. It was never mentioned on his communication sheet.

Thank G-d he didn't eat it. Thank G-d his allergies are not contact allergies. Thank G-d he doesn't seem to be anaphylactic to milk or soy.

And, thank G-d that Dyke Two's job is to mediate between angry parents and the schools. She had a lovely sitdown with the director, who was on vacation when the incident occurred. She promised us it will never, ever happen again. She realized that the center is damn lucky that he didn't react and that we aren't the litigious type.