I Must Admit...

Now, I'm going to be perfectly honest and say something that some people may find shocking. I hate fast days. On the Jewish Calendar we have just too many. And for me one is too many, too.

On a fast day we can't eat or drink, unless we have some medical condition that requires it for life-saving reasons. And thank Gd, I'm healthy.

I'm just a terribly lazy kvetch without my food and drink, especially water and coffee in the morning.

And today is a fast day. Fast days go so slowly... It's Ta'anit Ester, the Fast of Esther which leads into the Holiday of Purim.

I quite often cook on fast days. I love to break the fast on vegetable soup, so I make some. Today I'll make a lot of it, because I'm giving containers and jars of it as Mishloach Manot, the food gifts one is commanded to give on Purim to friends.

So, that's my rant for the day. Sorry...

It's A Good Thing I Get Up Early

Just as I was getting into bed, alarms went off in my head:

"Oops! Tomorrow's Ta'anit Ester, the Fast of Ester, and I forgot to drink extra water!"

Then, another part of my brain replied:

"I get up early enough to drink some water before starting the day."

And that's what I did.

Tzom Kal

Have an easy fast 

sitting around, fasting and visiting

Today I'm a cheap date, no food. It's Ta'anit Esther, the Fast of Esther. Two hours to go.

Now to try to take my mind off of things.
We'll start with Jacob's new Joke Blog.
Here's a must read from West Bank Mama, Is It OK to Wait For A Bus?
A Bissle Babke writes a very good article about teaching, Labeling Children.
Some words of wisdom from Dad Talk.

--There seems to be a problem with the blogger comments, so some posts I wanted to comment on will just have to live without--

It has been years since I've read a "parenting book," as my baby is 23 years already, so I really enjoyed seeing A Mother in Israel's list of recommended books.
Marallyn did it! Find out what!
~Sarah~ asks us to please continue to say Tehillim/prayers for Gittel Chava bat Pesia.
Eve Harrow is blogging; hat tip to my husband.
Read Cosmic X's great post about Eretz Yisrael.
The Beak Speaks about India.
For those who want to participate in the Jblog Purim Special, visit ezzie for details.
Check Jewish Blogmeister for what's new on the jmusic scene.

Crazy Dream

The latest Carnival of Education is up, and it really has some great posts, so take a gander. When I saw it, I remembered that I had a very peculiar dream last night.

Yes, it was about work, and as a woke up from it, I kept telling myself that I had to blog it. As the sun goes higher in the sky, the dream seems less relevant for the blog, but I wonder what it all means. So if you're good at interpreting dreams, please help me out.

I teach in the English Room, not the homeroom classes, and that's the setting of the dream.

When I walked into the room, I noticed that they had fixed up some things and put up a new white blackboard, and then I took a look and realized that the board wasn't new, it had just been moved to the back wall. That meant that there was no white blackboard in the front of the room for me to write on.

I then ran out to find someone to complain to, but the person I found thought it was funny...

I could use my usual cups of water and then delicious coffee, but it's a fast day, Ta'anit Ester, the Fast of Esther was move up, since Purim is on Sunday. I'm terribly thirsty; I think that the mouth rinse the dentist gave me has salts in it. The beginning of a fast is always the worst for me.

kvetch, kvetch and more kvetch

ps Picture Contest: Extra credit for anyone who can explain the picture connection!