Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Our tech world


Who reads blogs? Or are blogs for old people like me? (over 50) Is it ok to comment on someone's blog, someone you don't even know?


Is My Space for the the young people....younger then me, for sure. I don't know any adult on My Space. Maybe I'm just not "with it." At least I've heard of it.


Who watches You-Tube? I love it. It's for all ages. The sick minded, the rock and roller, the artist, the people who should be working but are on You Tube instead. Oh, am i talking to you!


I don't have an I-Pod.

I don't know how to Text Message

I've heard of X Box, but not planning on getting one of those either.

I can IM, but don't really know the lingo. Well, I do know: ttyl and lol.


We do live in a high tech world. I'm starting to sound like my gramma, she use to complain about not knowing how to use the video player.


ok, if you read my blog, you have to leave comments. Unless, you are too old and can't figure out how to do it. If you're too young, you're probably texting a message on your phone, while listening to your i-pod, and then playing X Box.


ttyl,

s


PS. does anyone have an old video player so I can play my BETA tapes?





Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Everyone wants to hold sophie


Isn't she just the cutest thing!!!! Adam, you're cute, too! Notice his shirt...it's Eric's groomsmen shirt. Last time Adam had dinner over at Eric/Heather's he wore the wedding cruise t-shirt. Adam's definately in the marrying mood.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Desperate Doggies



Last week, Buddy had Frankie over for the weekend. Frankie is Adam's and Ileya's puppy, a shiba-inu. At first, Buddy only wanted to sniff Frankie's tush, but Frankie immediately put a stop to that nonsense. No one was smelling his butt unless that dog is a she. So Buddy kept his snout to himself, most of the time. They did having fun, each would take turns peeing on the same spot, each would try to sneak into my lap, and mostly each would try to snuggle closest to me in bed. Of course, Buddy always won...

Sometimes Eric's dog, Jenson, will come over. We really don't like Jenson over because he prefers to pee all over my house, like Buddy. We kept Jenson for 2 months. Now he goes to Fort Worth when Heather and Eric travel. Now, Heather's dog, Shadow (a black shiba-inu) is the sweetest dog. Buddy loves this dog's butt the best of all. We've also had Shadow spend the night, he doesn't shed nearly as much as Frankie. Heather's other dog, Hike, a big gentle dog, is in love with Sophie. It is the funniest thing, when ever Sophie is around that dog, he will not leave her side. We can pick up Sophie and walk away, Hike follows every step. He even sits right next to her, where ever she is, putting his paw on her car seat. I'll post pictures tomorrow of our last shabbat at Heather and Eric's house.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Grey's Anatomy-what's your take?


While Grey's Anatomy is one of my favorite shows to watch, I was disappointed to see how the bone marrow storyline played out. They should have taken this important mitzvah and made a public statement about it. They could have used it to educate it's audience and perhaps encourage them to be screened to be a donor. As most of you know, my son Eric has donated bone marrow twice. This is no simple process. Once the initial swab test is done and there is a potential match, then the donor goes through extensive DNA testing to make sure the match is perfect. After the match is established, there is still more testing to make sure the donor is in top health and able to undergo the procedure. This step can also include injections over several days to promote cell growth. Finally, the week before the procedure, the recipient goes through chemo to kill her blood. There is no turning back for the recipient, without the transplant there would be no way to live. Fifty percent of donations work. For the recipient, it's a last resort. For the donor, it involves either a surgical donation or one similar to giving blood. Eric, my son, was only a candidate for the surgical procedure. This is done under general anesthesia. Eric's donation was partially successful. "Francis", his recipient, accepted his bone marrow, however, there was not enough. Eric underwent a second surgery, which proved successful. Now, one year later, as Eric is making plans to meet Francis, he has found out that she has been back in the hospital. The meeting has not be set up. Most of these tv doctor shows are far from the real facts. But they do entertain and I just have to remember it's only tv.

This is what the vegan heart doc had to say:
"Grey's Anatomy is one of my favorite shows, not for the fact that it has anything to do with medicine, but that it's got funny and interesting plot lines. However, I hope that those of you who aren't in the medical field don't get the impression that Grey's Anatomy resembles any sort of medical reality.Surgical interns don't scrub into surgeries. They spend their time on the "floors", taking care of pre- and post-surgical patients, doing the "scut" work. They don't date their supervising physicians, let alone socialize with them. Saying things like, "I'd like to get a chem panel, CBC, and CT of the head" doesn't make you look smart in the real world. And since when do orthopedic surgeons and obstetricians supervise surgical interns? They don't.The most recent plot line pushes reality even further. The surgical interns are sent out to a mass casualty in Seattle. One intern finds a man crushed by a car, and without any tools, she's asked to save his life. Conveniently, she has the head of the department of surgery on speed dial on her cell phone, who talks her through the process of drilling holes into the man's skull in order to reduce the pressure in his brain. I would have preferred seeing her stand by as he dies. That's reality -- interns don't drill Burr holes in brains.Another subplot is that intern Meredith Grey, the main character, falls into the river. She's eventually pulled out of the water by her boyfriend McDreamy. Having been under water for at least several minutes, if not longer, she is in cardiac arrest. CPR is performed for what seems like an inappropriately long period of time. She is pronounced dead. Then in previews for next week's episode, you see one of her co-interns insist that CPR is continued, that not everything has truly been done. Let's just put it this way -- after prolonged CPR, the odds of coming back are exceedingly slim. This sends an awful message to the lay public, that you're not really dead, that you can't give up on CPR ever. A message that will take away from the dignity of dying patients everywhere.Medical shows are fiction. But writers need to realize the impact of their scripts on how people perceive medicine. "

To learn more about bone marrow transplant, go to: www.giftoflife.org.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Mommy, Baby, and Me





I almost stepped on this little guy as I walked into my backyard. The momma was on one side of the sidewalk and baby was right at my step. The baby ran into the bushes and up the tree. They are so cute when they are little. By the time we move into the house, they better be gone, though. We are going to clean out their nice lush overgrown flowerbed and send them on their way.
It's been a long week of not feeling well for me. I'm going to attempt to go back to teaching tomorrow, though my voice really isn't up to alot of talking. Unfortunately, we cancelled our trip to see Josh in Tucson this weekend. I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to travel being this run down. I know he's disappointed, as we are.
So what did I learn this week while I was home: Rachel Ray has her own TV show, not just the cooking show on the Food Network. I only watched it one day...boring. She did make a yummy looking baked eggplant which I plan on cooking one of these days.
Eddie is on this quest to find Buddy, my doggie, a new home. He doesn't get it, I'm not getting rid of Buddy. Everyday he tells me about potential parents for buddy. I just let him go on and on, but in the end, I know I'll win. I'm the boss.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Have you done your good deed today?

I am so excited to tell you about a mitzvah project that I am doing with my class. There is a blog post that I love to read: http://www.africankelli.com/. Kelli works for world health, travels to many exotic, third world places around the globe. She is going to Mozambique next month to work at an orphanage. In addition to working there, she is bringing the kids "goodie bags" filled with little necessities that we all have an abundance of.....soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, washcloths, stickers, gum, bandana, (toiletries) etc. Each of my students is putting together a goodie bag, along with a personal message on a handmade card. We are translating the messages from English to Portuguese....a website that Kelli told me about. http://world.altavista.com/

If any of you would like to put together a goodie bag , just let me know and I will get it from you. All items need to be packed in a quart size ziploc bag and include a card with your picture on it. Hotel size toiletries work great, so if you have alot of these from hotels past and want to donate them to our class, that would be great!

sleepless in sugar land

I am on drugs. Why, b/c I have this stupid cold. Just when I was going to bed, I took some cough medicine, and BAM, I was flying and itching the entire night. So what does one do all night:

1. I listened to eddie snore
2. I listened to buddy snore
3. Waited for the dryer to go off
4. Played on the computer, read blogs
5. Drank some hot tea
6. Heard a scary noise: it was buddy going out side
7. Got back into bed and repeated steps 1 and 2
8. Played solitaire on the computer
9. Got back in bed and this time woke up eddie from coughing
10. He left for work
11. Heard a mouse in the attic from the exposed roof which is being replaced
12. Jumped out of bed
13. Once again, drinking hot tea.

I'm on drugs, still!

I'm going to work to give those kids back their cold.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

sick day

Would you believe i have been asleep in bed the entire day....was up all night with fever and a sore throat, today i still feel pretty bad...fever, headache, sore throat, stuffy nose,.....i could do a commercial for nyquil.

After watching this video, now i'm totally nauseated. This is not for the squeamish, but you will definately want to be a vegetarian now. http://www.meat.org/ I knew about the animal cruilty, but didn't know that even sick and injured animals go to slaughter.....ones with sores and infections

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Food for thought

I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but i'm on this new eating kick. As many of you know, i was a vegetarian for many years. Animal protein is my weak point, i really don't like chicken or meat, but I eat it to get the protein benefits. The more time i spend on the internet, reading my favorite blogs, the more i've been reading about raw, vegan and vegetarian diets. It totally makes sense, and i do prefer vegetarian. So little does eddie know, but i'm going to start sneaking some of these new recipes back into our meals. http://www.aniphyo.com/. Another good website is: http://www.alissacohen.com/about_press.html. Watch the Tyra Banks video and you'll be converted. I guess if we went vegetarian, then we wouldn't have to put 3 ovens in the new kitchen. (2 meat, 1 dairy). Eddie didn't adapt to that suggestion. Ok, so for now, baby steps. (he's already use to me eating all of this weird stuff, anyway). We did have a great lunch: grilled onions and portabello mushrooms, topped with mozz. cheese, sandwiched on Milton's bread. Yummy.

So this is how my friday night shabbos dinners are:

Ileya eats only organic chicken, no beef, no diary.
Adam, Dana, and me are also lactose intolerant.
Eric and Heather won't eat hydrogenated oils or artificial sweeteners.
Dana can't eat gassy foods b/c she's nursing.
Eddie and Philip have high blood pressure: no salty foods.
Roz can't have nuts, seeds or msg.
Yetta can't have sugar and prefers low fat.
Jules needs low fat and heartburn friendly.
Josh hates fish, except for gefilta fish.
Sophie just wants the boob.


1/2 of us are lactose intolerant
1/2 of us are low fat
1/2 of us are organic
1/2 of us have heartburn

I'm the cook, so i get to pick the food:

My next shabbos dinner i'm serving water and lettuce. Organic, of course.

Friday, April 13, 2007

TGIF


Now that school is back in session, i don't have the luxury of spare time. Well, actually, I should b/c I only work until 12:00. But my days fly by....either going to physical therapy for my neck or doing things for the new house. Yesterday I was like a kid in a candy store: we picked out all of our appliances, faucets, sinks, knobs, etc. It was a one stop shopping place, which made it easy. Of course, as undecisive as I am, I will change my mind on several of the things. I'm still shopping...

Our current house continues to show and we are in the middle of putting on a new roof. It's a big mess and Buddy barks the whole time at the banging. Yesterday he spent the day at work with eddie, you know he's very good at shipping and handling. His specialty is protection, he makes a wonderful guard dog. Get too close and he'll either bite your hand off or lick you till your whole face is wet and sticky.

I'm off to school...

I know....boring post. More later.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Here's to your health!

I didn't realize so many people were reading my blog until i missed a few days. So where was I????? I was busy taking care of my body, doing what every person over 50 needs to do. Yesterday I had a colonoscopy. For those of you who have already had one, I don't need to explain myself. Basically, it takes 2 yucky days. No pain, just a nusance. The hardest part for me was not eating. I was sooooo hungry, you can only drink so much apple juice and chicken broth. My nurse said a very important thing to me: it's better to have 2 bad days to catch something early (such as a polyp), then the alternative of many bad days if it is left and turns to cancer. Thank goodness, perfect results. Dr. Mark Kudisch (who i highly recommend) didn't even have to take any biopsies.

Friday, April 6, 2007

Shabbat Shalom



Tonight we had the pleasure of spending shabbat, with all of the family at Gramma Yetta's place. The only one missed was Josh, who was at the U of A Chabad House tonight. Sophie loved all of the attention and of course, she was an angel. Check out her socks, they look like mary jane shoes, but they are really socks! They are from my great friend, Kathy, aka: Tic Toc the clown, mosaic artist, photographer, and quilter. Best of all, she's my dear friend and favorite resale shop buddie. Look at her website: http://web.mac.com/kathyzieben/iWeb/Site/Mosaic%20Art.html

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Spring is here












Over the weekend, while at the new house, I noticed a duck sitting in one of the trees. Later that day, I found 7 large duck eggs in the nook of the tree, resting among the down feathers. Today I went back to check on the eggs, and sadly, some animal had found the eggs and ate all of them. All of the eggs were totally gone with the exception of one piece of shell in the nest and a piece on the ground. I suppose that this is witness to the food chain.



While spring is in the air, so many of the roses are starting to bloom around the house. Also, I found one of my favorite flowers blooming: irises. My fig tree had alot of figs starting, however, I think the birds have already starting feasting on them. The tree must be a great gathering place for the ducks, there were 8 of them in the yard today. I love my new yard.






Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Surprise



Every year I am pleasantly surprised when my Amarylis blooms. I forget that they are planted in my yard. Before we move to the new house, I must definately dig up the bulbs and take them with me! They are too pretty to leave.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Passover in Arizona


Look who made the "Arizona Wildcat Newspaper"
"Engineering sophomore Josh Grosman waits for the ceremony to begin at last night's Passover Seder at the University Park Marriott Hotel." They had about 300 people at the seder. You may read the whole article at: http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2007/04/03/News/Students.Celebrate.Passover-2819658.shtml
Today I learned how to add a picture! My goal is to learn something new each day, whether it's computer related or just basic knowledge.
Again, we have much to be thankful for...Eddie went to MD Anderson for a video scope. The doctor said this is the best his throat has ever looked. Hardly any irritation from reflux, and of thank goodness, no signs of cancer.

Monday, April 2, 2007

These are a few of my favorite things

Today I decided to start my blog site. This is actually my second attempt, I somehow erased my first post. This will be a nice challenge for me, since I am not computer litterate.

So, I started my first day off from school doing all of the things I love to do. I slept late, walked on the treadmill, bought flowers, and baked. I made: Passover Egg White Kisses and Passover Rolls for the seder tonight. This batch I decided to add cocoa to half of the kisses batter, this gave them a wonderful chocolate flavor. I did not get to do any crafts, gardening, or resale shopping, but there's always tomorrow...

I'm so proud of Dana and Philip having the seder tonight. This is their first Passover in their new home. The table looks beautiful, all set with her grandmother's china. Miss Sophie was an angel while we made gefilta fish yesterday. It was a stinky mess, but well worth the effort. Thank you to Ellen who came over and showed us how to make it.

Happy Birthday to Heather, my newest daughter in law. I love saying that....we have gone from Eddie, Sharon and the 4 boys to Eddie, Sharon, 4 boys, 3 girls, and one baby granddaughter. I feel so blessed, while at the same time so sad for loosing my brother, Alan, only 4 months ago.
He will be missed at the Seder tonight.

Happy Passover to all.
sharon