There are Jewish blinkies on the internet!

A friend from one of my boards found these.



Who knew? I guess I am not as savvy on web as I previously thought. . . and big thanks to Linny1974!

Why No Jewish blinkies or tickers?

For those of you unfamiliar with online message boards, there are such things as blinkies and tickers. If you are a regular visitor of message boards, you undoubtedly have seen blinkies and tickers, which most people include with their online signature.

A blinky is a cute little graphic that has a funny saying or tells people something about yourself (sometimes more than people REALLY need to know) and/or something you like. Here are some examples:


A ticker keeps track of things. An anniversary, birthdays, pregnancy, even the number of days and weeks you have breastfed. Popular on the pregnancy/parenting message boards are tickers that chronicle conception efforts. Here is a typical ticker:


You can search the internet and there are THOUSANDS of unique blinkies and tickers but I have NEVER seen a Jewish blinkie. Through various message boards I have visited, I have seen literally hundreds of Jesus/Christian blinkies but never a Jewish blinkie. If someone can take the time to create a blinkie that says why can't someone else create a cute little blinkie with a Star of David that says Shalom? Or L'Shana Tova?

I feel discriminated. And I challenge someone to find a Jewish blinkie for me since I am tired of looking.

Temper Temper!

Based on the daily reports we receive from daycare and his behavior at home, we know that Noah has a bit of a temper. But tonight he made the ill-behaved children of America proud. If there was an award for best tantrum for a child under the age of 1, Noah would have won. I'd even go so far as to say that Noah outperformed ALL of the kids at his preschool. There are actors who spend their entire careers trying to muster performances like the one Noah put on this evening.

It started off like every other Sunday night. We were at my parent's house for dinner. Noah dined on cantaloupe, a boca burger, half a hot dog, and some banana. While we ate, Noah crawled around on the floor. And then he got pissed about something. At first we thought it was a poopy diaper but we changed his diaper and he kept carrying on. Eventually, Noah was screaming and crying and ROLLING ON THE FLOOR KICKING HIS ARMS AND LEGS!!!! Dan and I were frustrated, but it was so funny watching him carry on like this. To try and get him to calm down we put him in the pack n' play and let him scream. Usually he calms down. Tonight he kept on screaming. We ate dessert while he screamed and then picked him up five minutes later. He stopped crying for a minute, we put him on the floor to play, and then he picked up right where he left off. . . screaming and rolling on the floor kicking his arms and legs. Granted he was tired, but tonight's performance was worthy of Masterpiece Theatre. If I had videotaped it, Noah would have an agent by Tuesday. It was THAT good.

Noah is a fabulous kid 95% of the time, but we have had tantrums before. It has even been suggested that the tantrum's are how Noah expresses his frustration with not being able to speak. The solution (I guess) is to continue pushing Baby Signs. Maybe Noah wanted steak instead of hot dogs and didn't know the sign for steak.

Three hours, one headache, and three advil later we are still not sure what set Noah off. At least he is sleeping soundly.

My mom made the paper!

Arizona Republic did a really nice article on my mom and her volunteer efforts with the American Cancer Society. The print edition included a picture but I added my own here.

The article is in today's paper and here is the link!

We're so proud of her!http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0827volunthero27.html

I HATE Cragislist.com

Craigslist is a huge website to buy,sell, and trade items.

Friends have used it before and RAVED about.So I went to craigslist looking for some play equipment for Noah. Twice I have found items I wanted to purchase and made the necessary arrangements with the seller. And TWICE the items were sold to someone else AFTER payment/price (and in one case pick-up) arrangements were made. In the second case, I told the seller how much I wanted the equipment but that I needed a few days to workout pick-up. She sent me her phone number and asked where we lived. When I asked if I could come buy on Saturday she said that the item had been sold. What's wrong with people? I WENT to craigslist because friends have raved about it and I just keep getting burned. For all the good experiences I've heard these experiences have definatley made me think twice about buying here.

So pissed right now!

Daycare News

This was the first week o f school! Yeah! But for Noah there is not much difference between school and camp so it was business as usual for him. Or so we thought.

At our preschool, you cannot move out of the infant room unless you are one year old and walking. They can fudge the walking requirement but by state law they cannot fudge the age requirement. No big deal. Noah will be one in a month and we've known that he will be moved up regardless of the walking. He's getting more confident with standing unassisted but I'm not sure he be walking in four weeks. To get Noah and some of the other kids ready for the new classroom we've had talks with the teachers about sending them over there from time to time just to get them used to the surroundings. Noah, being the stud he is, spent a few hours each afternoon this summer in the one's room so he knows what to expect.

On Tuesday, I got a call from Noah's teacher that he was playing on the toddler playground with the big kids. Apparently he was screaming while the other kids wanted to nap.

An hour later, I received a call that he was invited to have lunch in the one's room because he was having such a good time. Needless to say, I was thrilled with my big boy!

Until 4pm.

I ran into the mom of another little boy in Noah's class who informed me that it was more than just Noah's screaming that was keeping the other kids from napping. I went upstairs, called the teacher and she confirmed the story. Noah was crawling over to the cribs, pulling himself up, and trying to shake the cribs so that SOMEONE would play with him. To prevent him from doing this, the teacher used a combination of toys and furniture to create a barricade between the cribs and the rest of the room. Noah figured out how to get through the barricade. His teacher told me that even she was impressed when he did this. After he tore through the barricade he was sent to the playground. I'm hearing this story and all I can do is laugh at the thought of him doing this.

Both the infant room teacher and the teacher in the one's room said that they have never seen a kid this ready (this early) to graduate. Since he can't make the move officially for another month, it has been mutually agreed upon that when appropriate Noah will be splitting his days between the two rooms. The thing is, his antics at daycare are starting to make him infamous with the other teachers and the other parents. I feel like people look as me funny as though I am "THAT mommy." The mommy of the kid who won't nap and tries to rally his friends to join him. And that was just on Tuesday. On Friday he had a hissy fit when he finished his lunch and couldn't reach the food of the little boy sitting next to him. And no, Noah is NOT a food thief. They ALL steal food but my kid is the only one who screams when he does it.

It's time for me to make a confession

There are certain things in life that I am embarrassed to admit that I like.

I like the Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network. There is something about Meredith Baxter Birney (mom from Family Ties) on a Sunday afternoon that I find entertaining. For example this past week I enjoyed her talents in "A Woman Scorned: the Betty Broderick Story" and its sequel "Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter," about a woman who shot her ex- husband and his MUCH younger wife. Just this morning I was again able to watch her in the movie "Darkness Before Dawn" which chronicles the downward spiral of a couple and their heroin addiction. What made these films so appealing is that they WERE BOTH based on true stories.

I also dig movies that are geared towards tweens. Basically anything with Hillary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Katie Holmes, Mandy Moore and/or Anne Hathaway (for the record, I cannot STAND the Olsen twins). These movies are so saccharine and they always have happy endings. They're light and they require VERY little thinking. I will not pay money to watch these movies in the theatre but if they're on HBO I'll tune in. Last week I watched "First Daughter" while Dan was at basketball. It was SOOOOOOOO stupid and yet I watched it form beginning to end.

Neil Diamond. He rocks. Plus he looks like my dad but with more hair. But besides that, I just think he is cool. Although I do have a problem with openly Jewish singers who make Christmas albums. But the Jazz Singer sort of balances that out for me.

I'll add more as I think of more.

Speechless

So I heard on the news yesterday that two of the jurors on the Michael Jackson jury are now claiming that Wacko-Jacko is guilty (um, duh?) and that the jury foreman pressured them into acquitting him and that they regret their decision. They also said that they went along with the other jurors only when it became apparent that they would never convict Jacko. To quote one juror, "No doubt in my mind whatsoever, that boy was molested, and I also think he enjoyed to some degree being Michael Jackson's toy."

I am speechless. That has to be the stupidest damn thing I have heard in a LONG time. But these two jurors have also parlayed their experiences into a book deal so I shouldn't be surprised, right?

I have faith in our jury system because I do think it is the best in the world. And let's face, no one has really come up with anything better. But it appalls me that a guilty man can go free because these two yahoo's lacked a backbone. How many boy toys must Jacko have before people realize that something is wrong? And if he is so into helping children, how come he only seems interested in helping little boys? And while we are on the subject, when was the last time you saw a little girl riding the carousel at Neverland Ranch?

And is it just me, or does he have a piece of scotch tape holding his nose in place?

Swedish Meatballs and Fries

Yesterday we went shopping at IKEA since we wanted to look around at some of their toys for Noah. After hitting the toy section we decided to get lunch at the restaurant. All of the kids meals were $.99 so rather than give Noah bits and pieces of our meals, we got him is own lunch. While a good portion of his meal ended up in the floor, a larger portion of that same meal ended up in his mouth. Noah CHOWED on Swedish meatballs, French fries, lingonberry sauce, and some kind of sauce they smother over the meatballs. He even got a cute little kids cup with a straw (which he drank out of). I have never seen Noah eat like that before but he really enjoyed everything. Needless to say, we purchased a big bag of Swedish meatballs on our way out at the IKEA Swede Shop.

A new baby!

And before we go ANY further. . . .NO, Dan and I are not having another baby.

A very dear friend of the family became a grandma tonight and I got to be at the hospital for the baby's birth. Jillian Elizabeth was born via c-section tonight at 8:16 and she is adorable. It was so neat to be on the other side of the delivery room!

It also made me realize that while I loved being pregnant I am not ready to have another baby. Noah will be an only child for at LEAST another year, if not more.

What would you have done?

Dan and I decided to meet for lunch this afternoon at AZ Bread Company. We had a nice time and while we were there we saw a group of moms having lunch with their kids and one of the little girls is also in Noah's daycare class. She has also picked up Noah's habit of yelling/screeching for no apparent reason other than to hear the sound of her own voice. Sorta annoying, but at this age there is not much you can do about it.

Well, Alexa's mom was trying to finish her lunch, pack up their stuff, talk with her friends, and get out of the restaurant. All the while Alexa is screeching for the entire restaurant to hear. On the way to the door Alexa's mom stopped to say something to one of her friends and Alexa proceeded to let out a huge scream. Which led an older woman to snicker under her breath. Alexa's mom finished her conversation, looked the lady square in the eye and said "do you have something to say to me?" The color drained from the lady's face and Alexa and her mom continued to walk out of the restaurant. . .after stopping again to chat with Dan and I for a moment. The older woman (who was sitting behind us) wisely kept her mouth shut.

I don't know what I would have done. Granted, the restaurant was noisy to begin with but Alexa was being loud and god knows I hate it when kids misbehave in public and the parents don't do anything. At the same time, Alexa is only a baby and I give her mom credit for confronting the snickering old lady. She shut her up FAST.

Blogging about your job=No job

I was reading the latest issue of People magazine yesterday when I came across an article about Nadine Haobsh. Apparently she was an associate fashion editor for Ladies Home Journal and thought it would be cool to start blogging about her job. Then started gossiping about office affairs between co-workers, beauty editors snagging endless freebies, etc. All fun and games until Ladies Home Journal figured out what she was up to. About to be outed by a local paper, she went to her boss to "confess" and resign, since she had accepted a better offer at Seventeen magazine. Instead, her boss fired her and Seventeen rescinded their offer.

F***ing DUH?

How stupid do you have to be to realize that if you dish the dirt about your employer and it it gets back to them that YOU WILL BE FIRED?!?!?! Especially when the dirt you are dishing makes them look bad. Yeah, we know that there are perks to every job and that working at a magazine you will receive tons of them (for more details, read The Devil Wears Prada). But the general rule of thumb is that you keep your mouth shut. I like blogging, but I love my job (and my paycheck) more. . .

For more details, here is an interview she gave to MSNBC http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8702723/#storyContinued