I finished college in 1999. I moved back to MD in December, moved in with Michael two weeks later, spent New years with him and his friends, conceived Dorian that night (oops, yay!) and we had our HandFasting in March 2000.

In 2000 I also had my first BIG job (full time in my field) and also left it to move back to Fla. I kicked Michael out and he moved back to DC later that year. Dor was born in September.

On 9/11/01 I was in bed and my good friend Mandy called me up and told me to turn on the news, so I did and I was on the phone with her when the planes hit. I hung up with her and immediately tried to call Michael (who at the time was working across the street from the Pentagon) and Matt (who was/is NYFD) and finally got through hours later. In Oct 2001 Dor and I moved back to MD.

In Feb 2002 we moved back to Fla. Malachai was born in August. My mom was diagnosed with cancer this year and on her 49 birthday had major surgery to remove it. We took the twins and the boys to Orlando that week so they wouldn’t worry about her and so dad could be with her. She started chemo following and was in remission for a few years.

In 2003 Erin died. Michael and the boys were in bed. I was downstairs with the rest of the fam, and then matt phoned me and we chatted for a bit. I remember telling him it would be today, and mom yelled up that stairs and told me to come down NOW so I hung up on him and ran down. That was that. We took the auto train up for the funeral and I think we drove back down.

We had an apartment in 2004 (I think) and moved out when the leave was up because I was pregnant and we didn’t have room for another person in that apartment. We moved back in with my family to help out (mom was sick by now) and wound up staying until after Eshiva was born in Feb 2005.

In Feb 2005 Michael, my dad and myself all quit smoking. I got an IUD My mom never did stop smoking and the cancer came back this year.

2006: We were living in West Va, and I drove down with my MIL and the kids two weeks before she died. That was in Sept 2006. You guys got me through that. Michael flew down and then we drove to MD for the funeral, went to WVa and packed our shit and moved back to Florida to take care of everyone. We’ve been here since.

I think we’ve been in a holding pattern since then. I have been learning to tattoo forever now, took up knitting somewhere in there, and a crapton of other hobbies.

In 2010 the twins graduate high school, and I think the dynamic of the house is going to change, esp. if/when Sara gets into Rollins and Michael gets into FSU. I’m kind of bracing for that lol

I have to say, I am pretty excited to see what the next ten or fifteen years brings. Dorian will be 18 in 2018, Mal will be 18 in 2020 and Eshiva will be 18 in 2023. I expect the US to pull out of this recession (is it a depression yet?) by then, and I can’t wait to see what new technology my kids help invent I can’t believe it’s been ten years, the time has flown, except when it hasn’t, which wasn’t too often. I think we’ll have this thread going on again before we know it.

I was just lamenting in a friends blog that Baltimore calls to me like a siren in the night… and has done so for thirteen long years now, but I know, at the end of the day, I am home where I am. I told him that I hope he finds himself where home is soon too. Purpose of sharing here? My life may not be where I expected it to be at all, and home might have turned out to be far far away, but it certainly has been a grand adventure so far – I expect it to remain so. Bonne Vivant!

Serves at least 8, possibly more

[u]SAUCE[/u]
ginger root (a thumb-sized piece or larger, to taste), grated (I use a microplane that almost grinds it but not quite)
1 – 2 cups of soy sauce (I start with a cup and add as needed)
1/2 C maple syrup (the real stuff, [u]not[/u] Mrs. Butterworths – you can sub sugar if you don’t have syrup)
a pinch or two of kosher salt

[u]STIR FRY[/u]
8 chicken tenderloins (or 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts), cubed into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces
a couple of zucchini, cut in half, then slice
1 each red, green, orange peppers, sliced into bit size pieces
broccoli florettes
1 large sweet onion, halved and sliced
a couple of carrots cut into medallions
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
3 or more garlic cloves, to taste (garlic grates amazingly with the same microplane that you used on the ginger!)
S&P to taste
2 – 4 T stir fry/wok oil OR olive oil

8 cups cook rice OR 8 servings of thick spaghetti or udon noodles

optional:
just buy frozen stir fry veggies
add canned bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, whatever else you want!

[b]Sauce:[/b]
Mix all ingredients in a large measuring cup (I usually measure right into a glass 4 cup measuring cup), whisk together. That’s it!

[b]Prep:[/b]
cut chicken and put in a bowl, pour sauce over *but reserve about 1/3 C!* Stick in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but if you can do it over night it’s best! If you didn’t have enough sauce to cover the chicken, pour in some more soy sauce.

cut all your veggies and have them ready.

[b]It’s time to cook![/b]
Heat up your oil in your wok or large deep saute pan. Not too hot, but it should sizzle if you put a drop of water in. Dump your chicken in, add some garlic and stir until cooked through. Remove from pan, but leave the extra sauce and yummies. Now add a little more oil if needed and start adding your veggies and more garlic, the hardest ones first (they take the longest to cook!). Usually this means carrots & broccoli first, then onions, peppers, zucchini and mushrooms last. Salt & Pepper to taste during the cooking process.

I like to cover mine for a bit and sort of steam it as well as stir frying it.

Once your veggies are done, add your chicken and pour your reserved sauce over the lot of it and give it a good stir, make sure everyone has flavour and is heated back up.

Serve over rice or noodles. If you use noodles, put a little soy, ginger and garlic in the noodles too – it gives it a little something special.

As you can see, this uses a ton of soy, so get the low sodium if you can.

option: get skirt steak and slice in place of chicken

ingredients:

1 or 2 rotisserie chickens (depends on how much chicken you want – I used one though)
2 cartons (8 cups) chicken stock
1 cup heavy whipping cream OR half and half
1 – 1.5 sticks of butter
1 cup of AP flour
4 – 6 cups frozen or fresh veggies (green beans, corn, carrots, peas, potatoes, celery)
salt & pepper to taste

biscuits (make em fresh or pillsbury, whichever is easiest for you)

1. pick the chicken(s) and set the meat aside.

2. melt the butter in a large pot (like a stew pot)
3. slowly whisk in the flour. this should make a thick paste.
4. slowly whisk in the stock. it should stay thick until the end of the first box, maybe the beginning of the second box.
5. add the cream or half and half. you should have a very rich and creamy soup now.
6. add the chicken, give it a stir
7. add your veggies. yep, all of them.
8. salt and pepper to taste.

That’s it! Let it cook for another half hour or so if you used frozen, about 15 – 20 min if you used fresh, or until everything is cooked and hot.

Set in a bowl with a biscuit on top or on the side, or crumble crackers over to make a “crust”.

One day, we all showed up to middle school and some kids were popular, while others simply weren’t. As someone who was never lucky enough to sit at the cool kids’ lunch table, I always wondered just what it took to be popular. It was an ephemeral and intangible quality, but it was impossible not to notice that the popular kids all seemed to have the right clothes, the right hairstyles, and they certainly didn’t do dumb things like get good grades or play clarinet in the band (like yours truly). Popular kids may have been blessed with the perfect crimped bangs and the trendy Guess jeans, but it turns out that they may have lucked out in the genetic lottery, too.

via Is Popularity Genetic? | Healthy and Green Living.

I was never popular. Nurture vs. nature? Who knows. I didn’t care about the latest fashion or the newest cool thing. OTOH, I had one outgoing parent and one very introverted parent. I like to think I take after both, but the mix I got didn’t lend itself to the popular crowd traits either.All in all, it’s an interesting read.

Very cool book. A little out of my price range, but a very cook book. Pictures on link maybe NSFW – it shows some bottom, so I think it is NSFW, but it’s not genitals or anything.

12/20 – Did you know my sister is awesome? For the low low price of 15$ (I’m going to give her more, the kids were suppose to help) she is cleaning the kids room, which includes getting rid of all the crap I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of (I kept tallying it up in my head *sigh*), putting away the stuff they use, and sweeping. ??She is amazing and I love her. ??Lest you think I have done nothing while she slaves away (and earns some dough!), I’ve sorted all the kids clothes, gotten rid of didn’t fit (in bags to donate tomorrow), threw out what was damaged beyond repair, saved a couple shirts to make into patches (the sleeves were holy or didn’t fit, but the design was fine) and put it all away. Now I’ve got cornbread in the oven

12/13 – Really, Everyone? Eshiva brought some kind of stomach bug home from school last Thursday. She didn’t go to school on Friday. She had a fever and was vomiting and diarrhea, you know, classic stomach bug. No one else had it all day yesterday so I thought it wouldn’t spread. ??I was wrong. Malachai got it, and he didn’t understand at all that even though he was so thirsty, every tiny sip made him vomit again. Poor kid. I have something like ten towels, five top sheets and three fitted sheets to wash. He also didn’t quite reach the trash bin at all – I get that, he didn’t want to move, but I hate sick laundry.??Michael got home around 11 – he was queasy and he has it too. Yep, he has some bedding to wash as well. ??So far, knock on wood, I don’t have it. Let’s keep it that way. Neither does Dorian. ??I am going to try and take him to the Channukah festival at shul today. The other two can’t go, and I feel a bit like Typhoid Mary and I I’d rather not get everyone around me sick, but… they were really looking forward to this. We’ll see what happens I guess. ??I had also wanted to go out today with the fam, but I suspect my biggest baby will be in bed all day. Understandable, and I am “glad” he only gets sick on his day off, but why the fuck does he only get sick on his day off??? It also magically coincides with when I Have big chores to get done. Grrrr

12/12 – Kitchenaid Mixers are the bomb. I totally said that. So, I picked up a slicer/shredder attachment for my Kitchenaid instead of buying a new food processor and ohmigodyay! Not only did it mean one less gadget in my kitchen, but I think it works better than the processor did! We shredded ten potatoes in no time last night, plus four onions. ??So if you’ve been thinking about getting one, do it!??I also have the grinder, which I don’t use even weekly, but when I need it it’s amazing. Fresh ground chicken and beef as a fraction of the cost. Plus it’s awesome for chopped liver, which is also stupidly expensive to purchase pre-made. ??I’ve been eying the pasta maker, but I don’t think I’d use it often enough to warrant buying it

test test test test test

test test test test test

test test test test test

I picked up the slicer/shredder attachment for my Kitchenaid last night to replace my busted cheap ass food processor (I had a great ancient Cuisinart, but the bowl broke and I couldn’t get a replacement, so I picked up a cheap ass Hamilton Beach one years ago) that I had to Mcgyver to make work (I was missing that square oblong thing that makes the slices/shredder disk work). I got smart. I was gonna spend 50$ anyway, so I figured I’ll save counter space with an attachment instead of a whole new appliance. Yay me! Yay Gram for giving me money for it So I can now easily shred my potatoes and onions for my latkes. I am using a recipe from the Vegenomicon this year and the ones I made last night were amazing! I want to add some spinach and feta to them – anyone think I can still deep fry them, or will I be better off in a pan?

Eshiva is home puke-y today, so I’ll be able to clean and cook in between making sure she is ok.

Everything is wrapped. Gram & Zaide gave me a check to go buy for all the kids so I went to Target last night and didn’t spend half the money and I think they now officially have WayTooFuckingMuchTM. It’s all good – we got new wooden play food for Eshiva for the kitchen set, Dorian got some Star Wars stuff that Michael picked out for him, so I’m sure he’ll love it, and we got Malachai FunKeys on clearance. He is way into anything involving online right now, and these you plug into the USB and they unlock games and stuff online. I think the rest of their money will go to clothes. They are growing way too fast.

They each have about 12 things to unwrap, but at least 4 of those things are for all of them, and I wrapped everything individually (like Dad got Mal two Goosebumps DVDs – they got wrapped individually instead of together). I am trying not to feel guilty over being so commercial, but… I bet this is the last, or one of the last Channukahs with the great grandparents, and I want them to enjoy it. I know “stuff” doesn’t make the holiday, and it wont. We’re lighting everyone’s menorah this year (so we’ll have at least four going lol) and having people over most of the week. I’m pretty excited about it actually.

I hope Eshiva is feeling better by Sunday – the kids are supposed to sing at Chabad on Sunday, and they wanted to go the the Channukah festival too.

Channukah is almost here! First of all, my yearly link Anyone else celebrating it? It’s early this year, Dec 11! My dad is going out of town the next day, for the weekend, so we’ll be doing it up big the first night I think.

Sara wants to make sufgoniyot (jelly doughnuts) this year, because you know we have to get fat to celebrate the miracle of finding oil

I need to make latkes – last year my uncle made some with spinach and feta and I think I might get his recipe this year. They sounded delish.

We’ll celebrate Yule this year as well, but I haven’t really thought about what we’re going to do just yet. Channukah looms large on the horizon Brisket, latkes, sufgonyot, latkes, latkes, latkes…. mmmm latkes.

Speaking of Channukah, we had adult Hebrew school this morning (the Rabbi runs it once a month while the kids are in) and today was… Channukah! Quelle Suprise! I always feel so smart when we leave, because I know what he is talking about We also spoke with another Rabbi and took care of HS tuition (which we can’t afford right now) and I was going to pull the kids out, but they will remain, and I will let them know when we have our feet back under us. I know I bitch about Chabad… I don’t feel like I belong there, like we are Jew-y “enough” to be there, and that we have to cover up (which I would do anyway, it’s the proper thing to do – I jsut resent *having* to do it) but those are *my* issues and they have never, never turned anyone away and I can get behind that. Recently a homeless Jewish man died in the community and they took up collection to bury him in the Jewish part of the local cemetary – his family wanted nothing to do with him. Things like that make me feel good about being connected to them. I might not be Jew enough in my own eyes, when compared to the ultra Orthodox there, but good people are good people regardless of faith. They are good people. I offered my graphic design skills in barter, but I know they have someone who does that already. I don’t really have any other skills to offer, so… I offered what I could.

If you are looking for someplace to donate to this season, and don’t care if it doesn’t match your faith, please consider donating to Chabad of Coral Springs (and please make your donation in memory of Phyllis Johnpoll). If your faith does matter, please consider Delrey School (please make it in Erin Johnpoll’s name) or UCP directly (this does not directly benefit Delrey school, again, please make your donation in Erin’s name). None of those make you feel good about yourself? Please pick any charity you desire and send them at least a few dollars. If you give back to the Universe, the Universe gives back to you.

In other news, I lost my shit with the kids yesterday. Their room is still a mess, as is the living room. They will be cleaning today before we do anything fun. Oh yes, they will. The dogs have fleas. I got Program tabs and Capstar tabs and once they arrive they will be administered, the house will be flea bombed and hopefully they will stay uninfested for a long while.

Today is a laundry day, joy! Not so much. I wish the mail came today. I am expecting a check. I need to give dad back 155$ (for the flea pills), set some aside for our dinner, buy Dorian some shirts, buy two new bike seats and two water bottle holders. I think it should stretch far enough to do that

I need to get back into writing every day.