Meme

I was tagged by The Lovely Ms. BagelUnderTheCouch to do this meme... I don't have the heart to pass it along to 6 more unsuspecting souls, so if you like it, go ahead and tag yourself!
The meme is "Six Weird Things about You."

1. I'm not Jewish, yet I'm hoping to make aliyah. (Okay, this one was self-evident to anyone who reads my blog, but still-- it qualifies as a weird thing!

2. I defer to my pets when they claim parts of my house, and I get to use the areas they don't claim. For example, Indy spent her days on my vanity table, so for 6 years, I almost never used it, so that I wouldn't be in her way.

3. I can barely stand to pass by a fruit tree without picking and eating some fruit. I restrain myself in Florida's orange groves though, because I don't relish the idea of getting shot.

4. I have a weird phobia: I am absolutely terrified of ice cream trucks! I am not kidding. When I hear that sinister, tinny song, slowly creeping around the block toward me, I am certain that the driver is coming to murder me with a knife. I close the shades, lock the doors, and hide in the closet. I know, it's weird. I have made a little progress with this phobia over the years, but let's just say you will NEVER see me buying ice cream from an ice cream truck!!!

5. I like to eat raw dough: pizza dough, bread dough, whatever. Especially if I can dip it in cinnamon and sugar. Yum!

6. I love it when people are late to meet with me or pick me up, because then I have more time to get ready (since I'm almost always running late myself!)

That's it for my weird side. If you have stuff you'd like to share, do it! And let me know if you did the meme. :)

Falling Asleep to the Sound of Waves

Actually, this post has nothing to do with the title, but it sounded poetic, and since it's what I'm doing, the title works. :)

Lots of things have happened since I last wrote, so I will pick and choose some highlghts. To start, I'll write about the last night of Hanukkah at the St. Thomas synagogue. I forgot to bring my cable to connect my camera to the computer, so I can't post the photos yet. I'll try to post the photos I took, sometime soon.

The St. Thomas synagogue is the oldest in continuous use in the western hemisphere, and was built by the island's Jewish population, which was Sephardi at that time. I also learned the the US Virgin Islands have had 3 Jewish governors over the years. The Paewonski family, a very prominent family here, is Jewish and years ago one of them was a governor here. The Paewonskis are still members of the St. Thomas synagogue. I wonder if the long-standing presence of the synagogue, indeed, on "Synagogue Street," has assisted in making the Virgin Islands less anti-semitic than many places. I have no way of knowing for sure.

Interestingly, since the synagogue is Sephardi (actually, it's now Reform, but since it was built in the Sephardi style), it has a different seating arrangement from that found in Ashkenazi synagogues. The congregants sit on two sides, facing one another, (men and women together), instead of facing the bimah. The floors are covered with sand, as I think they always have been. There is a lot of wood, and it's all solid mahogany, harvested long ago from the VI's mahogany rainforests. The wood is my favorite part, but there are also beautiful hanging candelabras, shabbat candleholders, and of course their Hanukkiah.

I didn't realize that visitors to the island are welcome to bring their menorahs right into the synagogue and light them alongside the main Hanukkiah, but it was a beautiful sight! There were 5 or 6 menorahs on the table, and of course it was dramatic, being the 8th night. The rabbi welcomed visitors to come up and light them all at the same time as the Hanukkah blessing was recited, so apparently this is an old tradition. Otherwise, I imagine visitors would have simply left their menorahs in their hotel rooms.

I was a little disappointed that the rabbi didn't talk about Hanukkah much that night; instead, he kept to the weekly Parsha (Torah portion), but that was also interesting. The synagogue was renovated not too long ago, and in the course of the renovation, the historical society determined the need to cover up the incredibly beautiful interior walls, which were made of brick, stone and coral. They made the decision because the mortar in the walls was crumbling, due to being mixed with sand and molasses. What a shame! A lot of charm was covered up by white plaster. I wish they could have kept it the way it was. Still, it was a nice service, and I'll try to post pictures later.

Here's a kitty-rescue story:
My mom and I found a little kitten, about 8 weeks old, near Mom's house last week. She asked me to help it, which turned out to be really healing for me (and hopefully, for the kitten, too!) This poor little guy was in terrible condition. He was meowing pitifully from under a truck, and when I picked him up, I saw that he would become a beautiful long-haired cat, if he received some TLC and medical care. But he was far from beautiful at that moment, because he was very ill with some kind of respiratory infection and he was filthy. His eyes were glued shut by the infection and a lot of dirt or cement, his nose and mouth were covered by cement and dirt, as were his paws. And his behind-- I'll spare you the details, but I promise it wasn't pretty. While I gave him a very thorough bath and blow-dry (poor guy!), Mom bought him cream. He wouldn't eat, and we decided to take him to the island's no-kill shelter for care.

They have been giving him excellent, quarantined medical care and tons of love, and the manager even took him home over the 4 day weekend so she could provide round-the-clock care for him. The vet won't be back on the island until Friday, so I won't be here when he's tested and immunized, and therefore, I can't take him home. He has to be tested for feline leukemia virus, and if he has it, he will need to be put to sleep. (It's one of the understandable exceptions to the no-kill policy, since the virus could destroy all the island's unvaccinated cats.) So let's hope he tests negative! Though there is no way I could keep him, the shelter manager let me know that since he's so young and is a long-haired cat, he will be "snatched up in no time at all." Great! I'll go back to visit him again, just to check in and give cuddles (for the 3rd time... :))

On that note... this laptop battery is about to die, so I'm signing off. Goodnight all, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Home For the Holidays

Hi All,
Truffle and I arrived safely in St. John, US Virgin Islands yesterday. Already, I'm feeling my mental health improve. It's great to be with family, and I'm too busy to think about Indy's passing very much. It's hot here, but hey, who am I to complain? Especially since my family is fighting over me :). It's good to be home.

Last night I stayed at my brother's house, which meant sharing a king-sized bed with my niece (age 4), and nephew (age 6). It seems like such a big bed should hold us with no problem, but I had forgotten that my nephew becomes some kind of gymnast as soon as he falls asleep! He's not an easy person to share a bed with, with all the dramatic flailing, kicking and moving from one end of the bed to the other. And of course they wanted me to sleep in the middle, "so they could snuggle" me. Oh well, at least it's nice to be loved, even if I got no sleep! But tonight I'm definitely staying at Mom's house instead.

Today was spent with the kids, doing various fun crafts-- assembling a gingerbread train, etc. And tomorrow will be more of the same- these kids have high expectations of our time! Tonight, Mom had her annual Christmas party at the gallery, a success as always. :) (If you would like to view my mom's artwork and gallery, you can visit www.coconutcoaststudios.com.)

I'll be trying to get to St. Thomas on Friday for the last candle lighting of Hanukkah, at the BEAUTIFUL St. Thomas synagogue. I'll write more about that later!

Hope you're all enjoying your Hanukkah and/or Christmas season. And what the heck, I'm feeling generous: if you're African-American, I hope you're enjoying Kwanzaa, and if you're Muslim, I hope you recently passed a PEACEFUL Ramadan. Note the emphasis on 'peaceful.' :)

A photo of Indy

Here is my Indygirl sleeping.
Good night Sweetness, and sleep well until I see you again.

What a Week

I can't take much more. I've about had it with veterinary offices. They've mostly been nice, but 6 vet offices and 9 vets in one week (no exaggeration) is more than anyone should be expected to take standing up.

I was able to have Indy euthanized here at home, in bed while I held her. It comforts me to know I did the right thing for her, but I miss her so much. Occasionally I break down and have a good cry. Her passing was peaceful (except when the vet sat on my bed and broke it, just before administering her final dose of narcotic). Of course it was very hard for me, but it seemed to be completely pain-free for her, which is what matters. I just couldn't watch her suffer while she improved outwardly a bit, only to become ill again and die in pain in the very near future. If there had been any medical way to save her and heal her of the heart disease, I would have done it. The cost was not an issue. But to give some comparison, humans with similar cases of advanced heart disease are candidates for heart transplants, and the veterinary community just don't do those for animals. If anyone is interested in what her heart disease involved, you can read about it here. Another thing that consoles me was learning that it's very rare for a cat to live to be 6 1/2 in this condition; most die between ages 2-5. So I was very fortunate to have her with me for so long.

I ended up burying her in the back yard, not in the front. I couldn't handle the idea of her being buried in the unprotected front yard. After she passed away, I was manic for hours; I didn't cry and I could not stop moving. At 1:30 a.m. I had to take Tylenol PM just to slow down. I buried her with soft linens and catnip, and yesterday I planted a garden of lilies on her grave. I'm going to buy a personalized plaque that reads "Indy's Garden."

I'm doing OK... Crying, like I said, but healing, too. I keep thinking I see Indy out of the corner of my eye, or start to buy things she likes at the grocery and pet stores, or starting to change her water/food/litter, and when I realize she's not here anymore, it's hard. I think Monaco, my other kitty (a feral cat at heart), is getting tired of being picked up. Other than that, Monaco seems to be handling Indy's passing fine. I allowed all the animals to see and smell Indy's body, which I hope was a good decision. I did this even though the vet who euthanized her suggested against it, saying it might stress Monaco. But since Monaco gets very stressed when she can't find Indy, I think it would have been more stressful for her to be searching and meowing for Indy for who knows how long.

Of course, Truffle was not exactly respectful toward the deceased, what with thoroughly sniffing and snorting over Indy's entire body, then trying to dig up and trampling upon her grave. But appalling as it was, that's just what puppies do.

We apparently couldn't exist a day in this household without some pet drama, so last night Angel started hacking very frighteningly. This morning I took her to the vet, and he said (thank You, God!!!) that it's not her heart, it's some kind of upper respiratory illness, and he prescribed antibiotics. Let's hope Truffle doesn't get whatever viral or bacterial nasties that have caused Angel's white blood count to surge upwards. I just can't take any more.

And Truffle and I are boarding a plane in 6 days, so she had better not get sick!! Though I did obtain her health certificate today, so whether she's on antibiotics or not, this puppy is getting on that plane with me. Truffle is a wonderful puppy, but I was getting burned out with all the intense veterinary care as early as a two weeks ago, and things have only intensified since then. Add to all this the fact that Truffle has now decided that it's OK to pee on the rug, just as a special treat to me. Pleasant.

Someday soon, for my own as well as my readers' sake, I hope to be back to my witty self. Maybe that will happen when I'm on vacation. (December 19th through 28th, if I'm not mistaken). I also seriously need to get back to work. I have done precious little to earn a living in the last 6 days. This is no way to run a business.

My precious Indy is gone now.

Thank you all for the kind words you've given.

The vet didn't have time to come tonight, so Indy is still hanging in there.

Other big things have happened, too. Today Indy drank water twice, all on her own. And much more incredible: she used one of her hind legs. I was skeptical that the "collateral artery" generation could be so quick, but apparently it is! The feline body is truly amazing. She is still in a lot of pain, even with pain medication. But maybe it will subside? I will find out tomorrow. She doesn't walk or even sit up, but there was a major exception:
I took her out in her wicker basket-bed to the front lawn, because it's her favorite place. I wanted her to spend time in the sun and enjoying the outdoors for the last time. She became quite restless, and tried to get out of the basket. I set her on the grass, and she immediately RAN about 15 feet to the front door!!! I was in shock. One of the sad parts is that I know now that she must have felt vulnerable and terrified outside, even though I took her out as a special treat. So I got her situated in bed again, and I've been trying to decide how to proceed.

When I talked with the vet who does housecalls, he said he had to deal with an emergency, so he couldn't come over. But he also questioned my reasons for euthanasia, saying that maybe she could even live up to a year. So I need to talk with the specialists tomorrow and re-assess. IF she could have quality of life (walk, eat, little pain), I'd be so happy. But if not, I think it's best to put her out of her pain sooner, rather than later. I will know more tomorrow morning.

The Reasons

Indy and I had a relatively good night last night, and this morning she awoke and actually drank water on her own! It was a beautiful and hopeful sight. But I know the right thing for her, not me, is euthanasia. Watching her get a little better is so cruel and deceptive. The vets told me this could happen. She could stabilize, and possibly even regain use of her legs (through the amazingly fast growth of what are called collateral arteries, I learned).

But it's all temporary, because heart disease is the main problem. It's like a cruel joke. So at the moment, I need to use this blog to remind myself why euthanasia is the most humane decision.

• She is in terrible pain whenever she's moved, even with the pain medication.
• She's in pain and moaning even when she's not being moved.
• She will die within a matter of weeks or months, no matter what treatment she receives.
• If I wait, her death may come at a time when she's alone, and/or could be very painful, due to a seizure, stroke, liver or kidney failure (all due to blood clots), or cardiac arrest.
• If euthanized, she will have a peaceful and presumably pain-free passing, and will not suffer, and her final moments will be at home with me, not alone, or being raced to some veterinary facility so that they can euthanize her upon arrival.
• She is weakened and she refuses any kind of food.
• She is humiliated by the indignity of all this-- not having the strength to wash herself, use the litter box alone, or even sit up.

I have a neighbor who opined that I need to do this "when it's right for me." I don't agree with this. I need to do what's right for Indy, not me. God gave humans dominion over animals, and we're charged with their care. So when it's right for Indy, it's right for me, too.

If you pray, please pray that I'll have the strength to do what's right. Even though I may not feel ready.

Indy Likes Butterflies

I'm here in bed, lying next to Indy. She seems comfortable enough, lying under the covers with her head on the pillow. She has put out her little forelegs and is pushing me with her paws. I think she's doing this to be close to me, and because she doesn't have the energy to "make biscuits" on my arm like she usually does. [Note: I now realize that she's leaning on me for leverage, to prop herself up.] So she's just here, lovingly staring at me and purring. She knows the end is near. She has stopped eating and drinking. (I'm administering water through an oral syringe.) I've cooked her favorite foods and bought her favorite cream, but she'll have none of it. She just wants love.

I'm planning to add a biography about Indy to this post a little later, once she's gone to sleep. For now, let me get back to loving my little one.

A little later:
Indy doesn't feel sleepy, so I'll write while she's staring at me. There is a lot to write. Indy's real name is Indianapolis 500, which is what I call her when she's naughty. She liked to race around the house like a Formula One racer as a kitten.

We have a very sweet relationship, and whenever I leave overnight, upon my return we have a ritual: she takes me through the house, and makes sure I will pick up on all her established cues to do things for her: she walks to the bathtub and meows, which means turn on the bathtub faucet just a little bit so I can have a drink. She meows at each closed door, to tell me to open them please, and watches me do it, one by one. She sits on the kitchen step-stool to remind me that's her perch to request cream in the mornings. Then she walks me to the front door and asks me to let her out (even though I rarely grant her this request, her philosophy is that it never hurts to ask. She's a go-getter that way.) Yes, Indy runs a tight ship around here! one of my ex-boyfriends said she knows she runs the house, and I guess he was right. (Since he's history, apparently he minded this arrangement. But it suits Indy and me just fine!)

I used to have a hamster named Oliver, which terrified Indy. One time, Oliver actually ran under Indy seeking safety (?), and Indy ran away. I never claimed to have genius pets. Until the day Oliver died of a brain tumor, Indy was afraid of that hamster. (My other cat, Monaco, is a different story. When I introduced Oliver to her, she promptly put his head in her mouth and tried to take a bite. Just her was of saying "Thanks for the snack, Mom!")

I've been reading a pamphlet the vet's office gave me yesterday about grieving the loss of your pet, and it says you should remember the pet's whole life-- not just the death and dying portion, or just the good parts. The pamphlet says you should remember the good as well as the bad times. It's in that spirit that I share the following.

Both my cats have their claws, because I believe it's an act of barbarism to have a cat's claws removed. This is another way of saying that my furniture looks like hell. I bought a $4000. "Rowe" sofa set, but these little hellions treated it as if it were their own personal scratching post. Which is why I've stopped buying expensive furniture.

Indy loves to sit outside under the gardenia bush and spy on me. I have no idea what she thinks I'm up to, but there must be some major action going on in her mind. Sometimes she races out of her little hiding spot as if being pursued by ....nothing.

When she was a kitten, she was quite the climber. One time she almost caught a squirrel (which is pretty ironic since she was afraid of a hamster). She used to climb up and get stuck in the back yard tree, and in the arbor. I still bear scars of her scratches on my forearms from rescuing her from high places.

Of course, mine are primarily indoor cats, and are only allowed outside with supervision, so she's had many more indoor adventures. Probably her biggest adventure was moving with me from California to Florida, 5 years ago. Actually, Indy was a good traveler. But I wonder what she thought when Monaco, my "scaredy-cat," got out of her carrier on the plane. She raced around under all the passengers' feet, looking for an exit at thousands of feet in the air.

Possibly the craziest adventure could have ended up tragic: when Indy was a kitten before I knew better), I used to burn candles next to my bed. She sashayed past a lit candle, and her long fur caught on fire. I saw the plume of smoke, so I hit it off of her to extinguish the fire. It was effective, but I had also hit Indy right off of the table and several feet away, onto the floor. She looked at me indignantly, not understanding my sudden change in behavior, then she sniffed at her singed fur (she never actually got burned), and looked back at me as if I had put this terrible singed smell on her when I hit her. It was quite an evening. I now have only unlit candles for decoration, and my shabbat candles are on a high shelf.

I have decided to bury Indy's body after she is euthanized. She and I have discussed it at length today. She will be buried in the front garden, and it will be called "Indy's garden." It will be landscaped with butterfly-attracting flowers, because she loves to watch butterflies. And she loves that spot, although I don't usually let her out there, since it's not fenced in. It also happens to be right outside my bedroom window. I think it will be a good final resting place for her.

Did I write this before? I have found a vet who will come to the house for an at-home euthanasia. If Indy and I are ready, he will come over tomorrow night. Also, I have scheduled for my handyman to come over tomorrow to dig a grave. I think Indy is almost ready, but I still need a day to be with her and prepare emotionally.

I don't want to prolong her pain, but at the same time, this has all been very sudden. Yesterday, I thought the event would occur sometime next week. This morning, I settled on it happening on Monday. Now I've probably moved it up to tomorrow. So I don't think I'm dragging my feet. But it's honestly more heartbreaking to see her suffering in this condition than it is to imagine her gone from me.

I write these very painful things as if separated from my emotions, but there are many emotions here as well. For some reason, I don't seem to delve into them much in my writing.

Indy is the one being who knows me most intimately, and loves and is completely dependent upon me. She sleeps snuggled up against me, she can anticipate my actions. I don't know how I am going to live without her warmth and friendship.

My precious Indy

Indy is beside me now, resting with a lot of medication. The specialists confirmed what the emergency vet said. I have this weekend to decide how to proceed, but Indy's options are not good ones.

She almost certainly has an aortal blood clot, which has caused her hind legs' paralysis, but that's just a symptom of her advanced heart disease. Very optimistically, she could potentially have a few more months to live. But she will probably remain paralyzed, and even if she regains the use of her hind legs, her heart disease is terminal. She will die soon regardless, unless it's God's will to heal her miraculously. So I have decided that I don't want to put her through months of pain, medication and humiliation, just to die anyhow within a few months at the very most.

I will keep her with me this weekend, and we will enjoy each other. She will have a chance to say goodbye to the other animals. I'll give her everything she wants. But I can't prolong her pain and misery. She deserves so much better than that. I promised her today that every decision made, will be made with her interests at heart, not mine. I am tempted to keep her with me longer, but she has no quality of life. She can't go to the bathroom without my assistance, has no appetite, can't walk or jump, has no interest in much of anything besides having me hold and pet her. So that's what I'll do.

It's hard. When I start crying, it upsets her, so I have to stop or cry silently. I think she understands quite a bit of what is going on.

Indy

My precious 6 year old cat, Indy, woke me at 3 a.m. Her hind legs are paralyzed. I took her to the emergency vet, and they said she most likely has acute heart disease, which caused a blood clot and is cutting off the blood supply to her hind legs. The vet who examined her has never seen a cat recover from this. I'll take her to the specialists in 45 minutes. I've cried, prayed. I have her in bed with me now, and I want her to stay with me forever. She has had a heart murmur when she was a kitten, and it has returned. Please pray for Indy and Monaco (my other cat, who is distraught) and me.

Thank you.

A Family Christmas

OK, so I've put this off as long as I could. Time to write about going home for the holidays.
I'll be making my annual pilgrimage to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, just 12 days from today. I'll stay with my family, which means I'll stay with my mom until we have our traditional holiday blow-up, then I'll go and stay with my brother and his wife, sleeping in their children's playroom.

I have a great time with my family every Christmas, even though I don't believe it's spiritually correct to:

• Use a Christmas tree, since that's just a pagan tradition
• Celebrate the birth of Jesus in December, since He was probably born in an entirely different season
• Commercialize the Advent of Jesus

Having made these excellent points, let me just admit that I am the biggest hypocrite and transgressor of these ideals that's ever existed. I'm shameless. My family has to beg me --to no avail, of course-- to stop buying so many gifts. People in the airplanes "tsk, tsk" me, as I schlep into the cabin with rideable toys and 5-foot-long train sets in tow. I kid you not. On more than one occasion, I've even brought live Christmas trees on the plane.

And my hypocrisy has of course multiplied exponentially with the birth of my precious niece and nephew, T.J. (6) and Lily (4). I will deny them nothing. For several years now, our family has fostered the idea that I am:

A.) Mickey Mouse's girlfriend (because I live in Orlando, but what on earth does Minnie Mouse think of this setup?!), and

B.) Close personal friends with Santa Claus. So if the kids are misbehaving, I get on the phone with them and say: "Have you been good? Because Santa and I will be talking later on..." and they instantly change their behavior.

These lies are made all the easier by their living on a tiny island, so all of the toys have to be sent in-- some by Yours Truly. I'd like to say I'm repentant of this obnoxious trail of materialism and deceit, but I can't stop!!! I'm sure I need a 12-Step Program.

Anyway, in case you're wondering, I was raised in St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands. I was born in California, and my family moved to the VI when I was 8 years old. My mother bought and administrated a Montessori school there (in addition to the one she owned in California), and my father was an inter-island airline pilot. It was a very interesting place to grow up. It's beautiful and has tons of history, but some pretty bad things also happened back in the 70s and 80s on the island of St. Croix.

Going "home," as I call it, really isn't going home at all, since I never actually lived on the island of St. John. But since that's where my family has lived for about 20 years, it feels almost as much like home as St. Croix. Well, not really. But it does have the benefit of being a safer and even more picturesque island, and lacks the intense emotional baggage that St. Croix holds for me, so in a way it's better this way.

Anyway, I'll be trying my best to blog while I'm there, although I tend to stay very busy with family functions and spending time with the little ones. But many interesting things always seem to happen there, so I intend to take my blog friends along on a virtual vacation!

Incidentally, the island's hotel rooms fill up with a kajillion Jewish visitors during the weeks just before and after Christmas-- Is anyone in the Jblogosphere going to be in St. John?! If so, I'd love to meet you!

Yaakova in Mosaic Form

Here's my likeness in mosaic form. (Hat tip: PsychoToddler)
It seems rather widened, but I don't know how to change that. (Other than a diet, I mean.) :)

Here's a random question: I wonder how the word "mosaic" came to be linked with an art form. Does anyone know? There's the Mosaic covenant, Mosaic law, but Mosaic art? (I don't think Moses had a lot of free time to be perfecting this art form...)

This and That

Hey there bloggers,
The daily goings-on:

1. I heard back from Mr. Saudi guy today, and I think things may be moving forward. For some reason he didn't get my long and excruciatingly detailed email yesterday, so I re-sent it (as in: re-mailed; Not as in : resentment Oh, the fun of semantics!). He didn't appear to have a problem with having a female Realtor. We'll see...
2. I worked very hard under the kitchen sink: disassembled all the pipes, used an auger and a "plumbing bladder," unplugged the massive clog, reconnected everything, and "Voila!" It works. Hip Hip Hooray!
3. Last week my great-uncle said he will try and get a letter from a rabbi for me soon (necessary for my aliyah). A really big Hip Hip Hooray!!
4. I went to a Realtor's luncheon today, a new condo project. As usual, I wanted to ask the Developers if they could spare some of the crack they're using, since they must be on something pretty good to be asking such high prices in this molasses-slow real estate market. It was a nice luncheon, though.
5. I've been making my 2007 goals, which are pretty important for me this year, since I'm turning 40 in March. I'll be OK with that, as long as I've accomplished some big things to show for having been alive these last 40 years. (For my 30th birthday, I finished college and acquired my first house. Since I don't have a husband or kids, I try to make really tangible evidence that I'm accomplishing something in this world!)

So here are my personal goals, to be accomplished before March 16, 2007:

• Finalize my aliyah paperwork and go through the interview at the Jewish Agency in Miami.
• Purchase my plane ticket to go to Israel in late Spring 2007.
• Solve my hair issues. (Long? Shoulder-length? Blonde? Darker blonde? Style?? Arggghhh!!!)
• Lose weight. (I'll spare you the details.)
• Have my new, dynamic, international business plan well underway. This includes my vastly improved website, advertising on several British websites, advertising in an expensive and risky venue here in Orlando, delivering my PowerPoint presentations to U.S. and U.K. audiences, and possibly flying to the U.K. and Ireland (as in, "the Republic of...") in order to promote my real estate services at trade shows and the like. Whew! I'm getting tired just writing all that.

Well, I guess that's it for the night. Maybe tomorrow I'll write about my annual pilgrimage to family for Christmas.

Very interesting...

Today my company sent me an interesting "lead." A "lead" is a potential client, who I need to contact. And hopefully sell something to, or list their property for sale. All regular real estate stuff.

But this lead was different for me, because he's from Saudi Arabia, doing business in Kuwait. He is (or appears to be) the Principal in a major corporation with very major holdings, though of course I won't mention names. I was going to return the lead to my broker and say "no thanks." But then I was required to explain why I'm refusing this incredible lead. (Gentle readers, please just guess why, don't make me spell it out...)

As I was writing my "no thanks" email, I realized that I'm the only one in the office who would be able to turn it into a sale. Actually, that's not true: there's someone far more capable than me, who trained me, but he won't do business with Arabs. (No, he's not Jewish either.) So basically, either I do this, or our office loses the lead. So because of this (and since I didn't want to explain to my broker why I wouldn't accept the lead), I decided to give it a shot, and see how it goes.

To be honest, this guy probably won't even want to work with a female Realtor. But I went ahead and accepted the lead, and have done a bunch of work for Mr. So-and-So today.
I felt pretty conflicted. But then, after I accepted the lead and did all the work (yes, after! I swear!), I decided to take a quick look at the money I'd make.

Oh my goodness. Boy oh boy.

I'd most likely make somewhere between $100,000 and $306,000 on this single transaction.

Do you know what that would do for my ability to make aliyah??!!

Maybe being this guy's Realtor wouldn't be so bad.

(I'm such a martyr!)

A fun meme

As long as I'm wasting time, here's a fun meme.
I'm hereby tagging Baleboosteh, Maureen and Bagelunderthecouch to do it next!

If it's in bold, I've done it......and you?

Things I've Done:

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse of the moon.
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

And the band plays on

Ahh, Christmastime... the endless parties, food and drink. I went to several recently that I'll blog about now.

On Thursday, I attended what turned out to be an important event for me: a meeting/holiday party for the Orlando International Council of Realtors.

I should explain that one of the reasons my blogging has been so light lately is that I've been working very hard to break into the British real estate market. (Meaning, Brits who buy vacation homes here in Florida.) I have a brand-new business plan and I'm pretty excited about where it could take my career.

So going to the OICR meeting/party was crucial, and they just happened to have the first-ever delegation of British Realtors visiting Florida from the U.K.. I shmoozed my way through the entire group, handing out business cards at a record pace. The British Realtors seemed really nice and professional, but ...OMG. We are definitely a "people divided by a common language." They use many of the same real estate terms as us, but with different meanings!! We're finally ironing it all out via emails, thank goodness. (Especially since they intimated some very frightening figures to me-- as it turns out, we have two ways of saying exactly the same thing, but their way of saying it makes it sound, ahem, twice as expensive. So I can stop hyperventilating.)

Anyway, it was a good event for my career, and the next party was my company's annual Christmas extravaganza on Saturday night. It was a "wow" event, and the company has grown so much that the restaurant hosting us had to rent the lobby of the Bank of America next door just to hold us all.

I decided it was definitely a night to glam it up, so I showed up in a shortish black velvet dress, rhinestone chandelier earrings, necklace, bracelet and purse, and a big, glitzy ring. Hey, the company Christmas party only rolls around once a year. When else will I use all my glittery stuff?

Upon arriving at the party, I made my way to the open bar. (No, this is NOT my normal behavior.) In the past, my company has provided cocktails from 7-8 p.m., and we're on our own for drinks for the remainder of the night. This year, they changed the plan, but nobody bothered to tell me. So I rushed in at 7:55, grabbed a seat, sprinted to the bar, and got 2 vodka drinks with the drink tickets provided to me. (In retrospect, the tickets should have been a tip-off that they had a different system this year. But I was so frazzled by coming alone for the first time, having trouble finding the venue, then parking, and arriving late, that there was not a lot of clear thinking going on in my brain. All I was thinking was: "This is an intimidating event. Everyone else probably has a date. Give me my full allocation of cocktails so I can endure the evening!")

So there I sat, with my two vodka-and-cranberries before me. My broker came over to greet me and said "Have enough to drink!?" How embarrassing...

In the end, I had a fantastic time, but I'm not sure how much was because the party was so great, and how much was due to my general inebriated state. In any case, it was the first time I've actually gotten up to dance at a company party. A group of us single women danced together, so it wasn't too risky.

The weirdest part about the evening had to be the breasts. Yes, you read it correctly. Apparently, several of my colleagues decided to have some pretty obvious er... enhancements made this past year. I mean, a person would usually have to watch Baywatch reruns to see this much cleavage. Enough said.

Okey-dokey, on to the next party: Last night, I went to an intimate (ie. small) dinner party at my German friends' house. They had a "German Christmas" theme. Now I'll admit that I'm usually wary of Germans being anti-semitic, but these friends are very supportive. [One time, they were with me when a Christian lady said that I can't mix my Christian and Jewish backgrounds. After she said that, my German friend privately said, "The devil is going to ride that lady's dead body straight to hell for judging not only Christians, but Jews as well!" (Ha ha ha!) I totally couldn't believe he said that! So as a result, they've definitely earned my appreciation.]

Last night's dinner was delicious, despite my contributions. (Granted, it was pretty scary, cooking German food for Germans.) I made Gluehwein (hot mulled wine), potato strudel, and brussels sprouts cooked in beer. I recommend all but the last, which, even though they were cooked in beer, still tasted like brussels sprouts.

Well, that's it for my weekend. It's Monday now, and I'm blogging from bed, too tired to get up and work. And now I have a clogged kitchen sink to contend with.