Nothing and Everthing

Sniffles Strike Back

This year it feels like we have been plagued with illness. Must be the third or fourth time the children have been sick in the past 6 months. Fortunately it has been nothing serious, but it sure isn’t any fun!

Right now both the boys are sick. JA started coughing last week, and he is still going strong. Now SA started coughing. Poor little guy woke up last night at 4:30 coughing away. He was so bad off I gave him some cough medicine and we cuddled together while he went back to sleep. Hopefully he’ll be feeling better tomorrow, because if he has to miss religious school he’ll be pretty upset. He loves Mrs. B and his class!

Maybe I’ll work on getting some extra vitamin C and such into our diet.

Today’s Mitzvah: Since I was up with SA last night, my dearest husband let me sleep in. He also instructed the children to make sure they didn’t wake me up. My husband does this for me a lot, which I really appreciate. Being able to get the extra rest I need, when I am woken up in the middle of the night means a lot to me.

Mitzvah Idea: Smile and say hello! I can’t begin to recall how many times I have been in a bad/sad mood for whatever reason, then someone randomly walking by will say hello and give a smile. When that happens it almost never fails to help lift my mood. This is actually something that is difficult for me to do. I am a very shy, introverted person, and rarely make initial contact with others, but really I should do it more. Smiles and words are free/unlimited, so why not use them with abandon? You just never know when they might brighten someone’s day.

Shabbat Shalom

Article on Mitzvot from MyJewishLearning.com. Enjoy!

Posting Pause

It has been a long day looking at houses and not doing my school work. Since I have an early class tomorrow I will take a blogging break until tomorrow.

Invisalign

I am now on my second set of Invisalign aligners. These are small plastic trays, which look very similar to custom teeth whitening trays, except instead of lightening they slowly move my teeth over time to make them straighter like braces. Every two weeks I get a new set, and in theroy in about a year and a half  I’ll have nice straight teeth!

The fist few days of tray 1 was terrible, my teeth hurt and I wondered if I had made a mistake. There were even  times I wasn’t sure I would be able to take them out! Unlike regular braces you remove the trays when you eat, then put them back in when you are finished. After the first few days though, it’s been easy. If anyone is considering adult orthodontic treatment I would highly suggest looking into it. As a diabetic, who is prone to dental problems,  I am thrilled that I found a convenient way to finally have straight teeth.

And about now you are probably wondering what in the world this has to do with mitzvot, read on and you will see.

Today’s Mitzvah:

My particular dental case is extremely complicated. It will  probably take twice as long as normal, and will require many more dental visits than normal. I’ve heard many stories of dentists that would have turned me down flat, but my dentist took my case on without hesitation because she knew how important this was to me.I am thankful for a dedicated dentist who cares enough to do something difficult because it is in the best interest of her patient.

Mitzvah Idea:

Thank the service people in you life. There are so many people in your day to day life that provide you with a service. And while we are often quick to complain, we typically don’t tell them when they’ve done a good job. Take some time to let them know. A thank you written on your receipt, a word of appreciation at the check-out counter, a card saying thanks, and maybe even a small gift. Recognize their hard work, dedication and positive impact they’ve had on your day.

Mitzvot Mirror

Had a very interesting discussion tonight on mitzvot at shul. We talked primaily of tzedakah, often translated charity, and gemilut chasadim, or acts of loving kindness. Part of the dicussion concerened the levels of tzedakah, with the second highest being where both the giver and the reciever are unknown to each other.

In that vien I have decided to tackle my mitzvah theme for the month a little differently, but hey I often have trouble following directions so what did you expect? Rather than write about what mitzvah I did for someone else, I want to focus on  mitzvot others  have done for me. Again I will not name names, but those kind souls will know who they are. This also ties in quite well with my personal theme of being positive. Who can be negative if they are always counting their blessings?

Each day, at the end of my post I will post a mitzvah box, and by no means will I be able to include all the mitzvot done for me in a day, but I’ll include at least one or two. I’ll also add a mitzvah idea that one could easily do. There are many opportunities to do mitzvot every day, so do one today. Not only will you be happier, but the world will be a better place because of it.

Today’s Mitzvot:

There are people who are always willing to step up and keep an eye on my children at co-op when I need them too. Sometimes I must run to an appointment, or run an errand and they never hesitate to be my child’s designated person while I am away. Maybe this doesn’t seem like much to some, but for me it is a blessing and makes my life so much easier.

Mitzvah Idea:

All around this holiday season you will see Angle Trees, Toys For Tots boxes, food drive boxes and so on. Use them! Try to set aside 10% of your holiday gift budget to fill the needs of others during the holidays. Involve your children. Let them choose a toy for a child of their own age, or pick foods (nutritious, please!) they would like to eat. Then let them put on the tags, or place in the box. Talk about needs and wants, and how having been given much, we are responsible to help others.  Make tzedakah a holiday tradition, it’s one of the best gifts you can give them.

Shocking I know…

but as evidenced by the three four lonely blog posts I managed for November, it’s clear to all I was not successful in meeting my 30 posts in 30 days goal for NaBloPoMo. Basically when it comes down to it, more often than not, my perfectionist tendencies kept me from posting as much as I could. In fact I only give this post 50/50 odds of seeing the light of day.

Alas, I am a NaBloPoMo failure, but you know what? It’s OK. I really don’t have to do everything, or do it well, trying is enough. So, there ya’ go.

But I do think I will try again in December. Next month’s NaBloPoMo blog theme is Mitzvah. Given one of my goals it to be more positive, maybe consciously doing a mitzvah, and writing about it each day, will help me in becoming more positively focused.

…the theme for December is MITZVAH and it comes with a challenge: to give something, to someone, every day of the month, and then blog about it. The goal is to act with kindness, obviously — I don’t want to be responsible for people giving each other black eyes. Your gifts can be as large as volunteering or donating to charity, or as small as a kind word to someone who needs it.

Here’s to a new month, to mitzvot, blogging and positivity.

Thanksgiving Eve

Thanksgiving is upon us once again, and this year we have much to be thankful for.

Like my wonderful family:

My husband, the love of my life, who loves, protects and provides for us all.
K our eldest daughter who is kind, funny and always a pleasure to have around.
C, shalom aleichem.
For sunny, vivacious, wonderfully artistic A, who we will miss terribly when she leaves for college.
For A who is clever, loyal and dramatic, his ingenious solutions always save the day.
For S who is creative, loves her friends and always has a hug and a smile ready to cheer you up.
And S who is witty and  loving, his curiosity and wonder always make me smile.

I am also thankful for my mother who takes such good care of everyone; my grandmother who always counts her blessings no matter what the circumstances; S my stepfather who is always ready to lend a hand; and my sister L for being my one and only sibling in the whole wide world. And of course my aunts, uncles, cousins, our great friends, and the many others, too numerous to mention who make our lives special.

Life is not always easy, but G-d has blessed us in so many ways, big and small.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanks to the GUESS Homeschool Science Fair Sponsors

Thank you to the following homeschool-friendly businesses for supporting the GUESS Homeschool Science Fair and the young scientists of Hampton Roads!

Green Olive Tree is an internet company based in Portsmouth, Virginia and owned and operated by a homeschooling family. They offer a broad range of internet services, from reliable web hosting to corporate infrastructure solutions and server administration.

SKS Science supplies homeschoolers and other educators with all the science supplies you need to turn your dining room table into a proper laboratory. Browse their site for test tubes, bottles, face masks and other lab supplies and books.

Book Exchange is the largest used bookstore in Eastern Virginia. Unlike most musty and confusing used stores, this one is clean, bright, inviting, and has a huge selection of used homeschool books. There’s always an interesting curriculum find on these shelves!

Folkmanis Puppets makes the most delightful animal puppets available outside Santa’s workshop. Meet their most unusual creations like llamas, Chinese dragons, ostriches, flying squirrels. Unusual materials create realistic textures, and they all move in very realistic ways. Irresistible.

The Happy Scientist, Robert Krampf, hosts an online wonderland for budding scientists. With online science lessons, experiments to try at home, a science photo of the day, and new content added all the time, you’ll love setting your kids loose on this site.

Mad Science is Hampton Roads’ premier provider of science enrichment classes for children. Summer classes include “Crazy Chemistry” and a space camp developed with NASA! New homeschool science classes are being offered in Norfolk and VA Beach, with more planned for fall.

Moore Expressions is a homeschool bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA. They sell used and new homeschooling curriculum, host a support group, and publish a newsletter called the Bayith Educator. They are the premier source for homeschooling books in the Hampton Roads area.

Norfolk Karate Academy offers classes in Tang Soo Do (Korean karate) and Gracie Jiu Jitsu (Brazilian grappling and self-defense). With classes for children, teens, and adults, it’s a great way for anyone to get in shape and kick things in a socially acceptable way!

Brooks Systems offers standalone software and web applications that check legal compliance in all municipalities in all fifty states, and create truth-in-lending documents for residential lenders. Using Brooks for your automated mortgage compliance, you can be sure your loans are safe.

eScienceLabs creates boxes of joy for science loving homeschoolers. In each kit is a complete science experience — from individual lessons to full years of high school labs. Hands-on science kits are the answer to your laboratory woes. Everything is in there: test tubes, goggles, and fun.

Mariner’s Museum has amazing programs for homeschoolers learning about maritime science, history, and even pirates! Their spring homeschool series features lessons about the Civil War. Visit Mariner’s Museum for historical exhibits and educational programming.

Virginia Air and Space Center was host to the homeschool science fair this year, and delivered awesome science classes for homeschoolers from their education department. The VASC is the educator resource center for the NASA Langley Research Center.

Balancing Act

What made me think it would be a good idea to take three classes and homeschool three children all at the same time? Don’t get me wrong I enjoy my classes and I enjoy my children but the workload for either of those by itself is enormous, so combining the two things becomes monumental.

It doesn’t help that the semester is winding down, so I have numerous tests, projects, papers and portfolios due. The children are also involved in so many things, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Co-op, Park Day, Religious School, Services.

So how do you balance it all or can you? More importantly if I can, do I really want to?

NaBloPoMo

Due to extreme peer pressure, which I am of course immune to, however this time I decided to indulge it, I have signed up for NaBloPoMo. This means I am going to make a valiant attempt to post one blog post a day for an entire month. True it is not as arduous a task as the NaNoWriMo, but I have quite enough going on right now, thank you. Writing 50K words in 30 days is nigh impossible, so I will assuage my guilt by writing blog posts instead.

And we’re off!

Thanks RA for posting about it!