OMG! My blog works again!!!!!
Sorry for the tech-no-logical deee-lay, folks. We had so much to tell, so little functionality.
Since the blog went down, i am out one job and onto some hefty student loans.
Unfortunately, i don't have any jokes to tell quite yet, because i have finals till tuesday.
rap at chall later, then!
catching up
We are just getting back into the swing of things, now that i'm done with finals. Turns out a few things went undone while we were studying so hard.
"I'm going to eat breakfast."
"Good luck, there's nothing in the kitchen."
"No bagels?"
"No"
"No cereal?"
"No."
"No english muffins?"
"We have some old hamburger rolls."
"Let's go to the store."
After food shopping, we will post our illustrious Christmas list, full of things you can purchase for us were you so inclined.
All I want for Christmas...
Here it is, the big list of all my secret desires. Hopefully Santa is reading the blogs this year, because everyting I want is way too expensive for anyone I know to buy me. The most coveted item on my wish list really isnít here on my list, actually. What I really want is a roll-top desk, one that I can put in the corner of the kitchen to have a place for my computer and books that is not the same place people sometimes want to put plates of food. Since this is a perfect-match-to-our-kitchen type thing, though, I think this is a present that only my loving husband could pick out, and only if it exists. Everything else that I want, though, is on this list, so if you want to get me a present, expensive or moderately affordable, hereís the whole kit and caboodle. Enjoy my awesome taste!
Expensive things:
My first wish is for a video ipod to accompany my long hours at my new gym which unfortunately is not equipped with personal tv service. And even though wanting two similar gifts is really decadent, Iím also hoping for one of the new ipod shuffle because itís much lighter and cuter than my mini so better for running, if I ever get back on the road again.
One day Iíd like to get a new digital camera ñ one that is small and simple so that I can fit it in my pocket and take pictures of my cute puppy whenever he does something cute. I donít want the most expensive thing, just something really little, like the Cannon Sure Shot or smaller.
Medium priced things:
Iíve been eyeing this Penguin critter cardigan at JCrew. I even tried it on at the mall! I take a size medium.
This is a good gift, as well is anything from this store.
We also need a small radio for our kitchen so that I can listen to Marketplace while Dan uses the only household radio to listen to the baseball game.
Small priced things. I mean, inexpensive:
a martini set (shaker and glasses), as well as some wine glasses.
Also, I have a whole list of books and dvds on my Wish List at Amazon.com
Checkitout!
It's a good thing we're married
Leah: "I'm throwing away this pillow, it grew mold."
Dan: "No, it was just left on the hammock too long. It's not mold. It's just bleached by the sun."
Leah: "Then what are all these black dots on it?"
....pause....
Dan and Leah simultaniously: "Sunspots?"
it's a camera and......
I thik i may have found it, the one that i've been looking for. Check out this pink camera and soak up the hotness.
breathe again
Eh. I'm done with my first semester of grad schooling today; my last classes were Tuesday, but I had a couple more things to hand in. Now that's done, and I feel a very pleasant sensation of freedom. Now all I have to do is finish up a couple websites, and do all my Christmas shopping, and make Christmas cookies, and clean the house so it'll be presentable should we wish to have some sort of party. See, it's practically a life of leisure now! Leah is fairly leisurely as well, having finished her schooling for the (calendar) year a week or so before I did, so we get to enjoy each other's company again for the first time in a good long while. The only trouble is, we're afraid we'll be so busy enjoying we won't get anything done. So we made a schedule. Just watch, next thing you know we'll be models of efficiency!
Also, it is far too warm for the middle of December. I am not pleased.
let the dead bury their dead
This week I traveled to New York for a double-header funeral. My maternal Grandfather passed away over the weekend, and just as we arrived in Riverdale we got the call that my great-uncle on my father's side also passed away. Good think we had packed out black suits, although certain members of our party, imagining they would depart the same evening, were stranded without necessities like a toothbrush or second pair of underwear.
My grandfather had been very sick, and his death on Saturday came as a relief for him and for everyone. I had worried privately about how my Grandmother would react to his death, since for the past 65 years she had been dedicated solely to her husband. She handled herself well, however, in the matter-of-fact way characteristic of her, that signifies that Things need to be Done because the constant burden of daily living involves Doing Things. At the funeral home the director asked us if anyone wanted to have a moment with the casket before the service started. My grandmother snapped, "I think we have to identify the body." When the funeral director opened the casket, I almost expected to see a half-decomposed, bluish carcass; Jews donít embalm bodies, you see, and I had never actually seen a Jewish casket opened. My grandfather, however, looked sleeping and peaceful, like the last five years of dying was behind him and he could finally get some rest. "It doesn't look like him," my grandmother said, "He looks so thin."
"He looks thin lying down," my mother said. "He was always sitting up before when you saw him. That's why he had all those double chins."
My grandmother kissed my grandfather on his forehead. "He's cold," she said. "I paid extra to have him refrigerated." She looked at him again. ìOkay,î she said turning away and walking towards the door, ìIíll see you soon.î
The second funeral had a bit of a jovial atmosphere, if only because my fatherís family cannot stop cracking a joke every thirty seconds. My great uncle was buried at the same cemetery on Long Island where the rest of my fatherís clan is buried, and after the internment we went and visited my paternal grandfather.
ìWell Dad,î my father said, ìNow Zamís here too, and Alice right over there. You can all get together and play cards.î
My fatherís cousin yawned. ìIím so tired,î she said.
ìYou can sleep when youíre dead,î said my uncle.
ìIíd rather sleep now,î she said.
ìIíll wake up when Iím dead,î my father said. ìIíll do other stuffÖ Iíll cleanÖî
Neither death came as a big surprise; my great uncle was 82 and had cancer, and my grandfather was 90. Two funerals in two days meant three meals eating in moving cars, two in funeral processions. When I got back I was sick to my stomach from all that driving and eating. Iím very glad to be home, back with Dan and Rascal in the center of life.