Today is the Jewish New Year, so I just want to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  May it be filled with joy, prosperity, good health and all good things.  Thanks for reading.

The family went apple picking yesterday!  My parents came for a visit for the Jewish New Year and we kicked it off with a trip to the apple orchard.  We started this Fall tradition about 4 years ago.  We bundle everyone into the car, drive to our favourite place (Mountain Orchard) and pick a ridiculous amount of apples.  The kids really enjoy picking the apples and filling the bags up.  This year there were a lot of apples with hail damage so we had to work hard to find ones that were in good shape.  There were still a lot of trees full of apples if you walked far enough from the main trail.  We picked MacIntosh, Cortland and Honey Gold.  Yum!  I also bought a big jug of fresh pressed apple cider which is mostly for me since no one else really likes it.  I guess now I need to start baking – apple pies, apple cakes, apple muffins…

Amy Winehouse is in such bad shape she is making Britney Spears’ meltdown last year look like model behaviour.  Here is a picture that I saw of her today on Perez Hilton’s page.  We have watched this beautiful, talented woman completely destroy herself over the last year, and no one is doing anything about it.  This woman obviously has a very severe addiction and will not last much longer the way she is currently living.  I cannot understand why her family/loved ones are not committing her somewhere to ensure she gets some help.  I feel so awful for this poor young woman and am horrified with what is becoming of her.  I pray for her and hope she soon gets the help she very obviously needs.

I try so hard to be as good to the environment as I possibly can be.  I have my reusable shopping bags that I try to remember to bring with me each time, and I recycle as much as possible.  We have a composter which cuts down on our garbage.  I buy biodegradable poop bags for my dog.  We are currently going through a major clean/declutter in the house and are bringing carloads of things to goodwill and other charities.  My latest brainwave was bringing in a travel mug to work so that when we go for our daily Starbucks, I can use my mug instead of the disposable ones they provide. At the same time, I don’t feel like I do nearly enough.

I am always open to new ideas and suggestions on things I can do to make this world better, so feel free to share…

I have kind of realized something lately…blogging is a great way to avoid working on my book.  I get that I am supposed to be writing at least a chapter a month…I also get that I haven’t touched it in 6 months.  My great excuse is that I have no time.  But really, I seem to find time to update my blog most days.  If I could just channel my blog writing time into book writing time I would be done the darn thing already. 

Another realization I have come to is that most other bloggers are also avoiding working on their books.  I wonder how many would-be novelists are out there?  I am always surprised by the number of people I meet who are thinking of writing a book, or actively writing a book.  I wonder how many of us will actually finish the book, and have it be good enough to get published?  I think it is a total pipe dream for me but I will hold on to the pipe dream because I think as far as dreams go, it is a good one. In the meantime, I will keep working on my blog .

Sometimes a bitter song is just the best kick-start to your day.  I love the songs that are sung by angry women, all powerful and cranky.  Songs like Hit ‘em Up Style by Blu Cantrell are awesome.  The best bitter song ever though is You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette.  It was her first hit off the Jagged Little Pill album and I have to say I didn’t really care for any other songs off it other than Head Over Feet which was like the anti-bitter song.  You Oughta Know is just so raw with pain and anger…I love it.  She must have been really ticked off with the guy she wrote it about.  I don’t have anyone in my life I am that angry at but wow, it just feels like I could when I sing along to that one.  And the lyrics are humourous as well…humour and bitter is a great combination.  The best moment I ever had listening to the song was in Israel with my husband driving in a car with my cousins, and that song came on the radio.  They were both singing along in the front seat of the car while my husband and I looked at each and giggled because we were pretty sure they didn’t understand what they were singing…especially the line about “going down on you in the theatre”. 

They just are…why is that?  I think it starts pretty early, it is almost a competitive thing.  One of my neighbours was telling me about this time that she was waiting for her kids at the bus stop, after a day that looked something like this:  Woke up, got the kids ready for school, put them on the school bus, did child care for the morning, worked in her second job all afternoon, and rushed home to get the kids off the bus.  Not an easy day.  The afternoon and evening were filled with kids’ activities, preparing dinner, homework etc…  Another neighbour was also at the bus stop, and looked down and noticed my friend’s freshly painted toenails.  Instead of saying, “Hey! Nice toes.”  Or “Wow, your toes look gorgeous!”  She said the following:  “I wish I had time get my toenails painted.”  Girls are mean, even when they grow up.  Why is that?

I love going to see psychics…I don’t do it often, but yesterday I went to see my favourite psychic.  She is an amazing woman who lives elsewhere but comes into town once a year, and takes appointments.  This was my second time seeing her, and again she was just wonderful.  I find her to be a very genuine person, and she is very insightful.  She always gives me a lot to think about.  She isn’t the type of person to make grand predictions, instead she tries to give you clarity about things you are confused about or worrying over.  It is a really great experience, and I am thankful to have found her.

OMG! Love love love!  And more than that, the hubby love love loves too.  This show is awesome!  It is totally a bit too out there and kind of gross sometimes…but really cool and fast paced and well written.  The dialogue is absolutely brilliant.  The characters are so well scripted and we have only seen two episodes.  Anna Torv is so pretty and vulnerable, but smart and tough.  I love the way JJ Abrams creates these incredibly strong intelligent female leads…Joshua Jackson is to die for.  He is so funny in this role and always has the best lines.  His sardonic delivery is amazing, without him I am not sure if the show would be nearly as good.  John Noble is brilliant as Walter Bishop – it must be so hard to play that role…treading the line between genius and insanity.  I even love Kirk Acevedo as Agent Charlie Francis…you just know there is some good back story coming from him in later episodes.  This is the only new show I have bothered to watch so far and am I ever glad I did.  Needless to say it is now on my PVR schedule, and should be on yours too.

I have never been allergic to anything, that I know of anyway.  Mid-August I woke up one day with dry itchy eyes.  I also started sneezing, a lot more than normal.  It was weird, but I assumed I was tired and my nose was feeling sneezy.  A week later I woke up with a cold.  My eyes were still itchy, my sneezing increased and it felt like I had a head cold.  After 3 weeks of this, someone pointed out that it sounded like allergies.  An allergy to what I asked?  Apparently ragweed.  This is pure self diagnosis, but more than a month later I am still sneezing, blowing my nose and rubbing my eyes.  If it rains a lot it seems to clear up for a day or two but then comes back again with the sunshine and dry weather.  Can I just say this sucks?