Thank you! I got some oxyclean carpet stuff and it seems to be working.

"And I say yeah, baby! I wanna be bad! I SAYS, SURF'S UP, SPACE PONIES! I'M MAKING GRAVY WITHOUT THE LUMPS! Aaaaaa-hahahahaha!"

You know what's better than a chocolate donut? A chocolate donut with milk. Especially if it's the first non-chicken soup and crackers solid food one's had after being sick.

I got some oxyclean carpet stuff and it seems to be working.

Whew! Glad to hear it.

BOOM, baby!

In the I-don't-think-that's-what-they-meant department, a listing form craigslist:

Huge Children Sale - (Eagan Community Center)

You guys?

MY SISTER IS ENGAGED!

We are so excited. (And also want everyone to go out and buy/rent Murder Party to support the happy couple).

That's great, Daisy Jane!

Stephanie, I've spilled red wine a dozen times on my tan carpet. (I like reds and I'm a klutz.) Woolite Oxydeep gets it out every time. It's also good for blood (see above re: klutz).

Calli, that's exactly what I got. I did hydrogen peroxide and dish soap first, then white wine, then the Woolite Oxy stuff. I think I got it out although I left it alone at bed time.

A Scene:

My mom was watching some kind of pre-Independence Day TV show. As usual, my guts went 180 degrees in me while listening to it (I was folding the laundry at the time, in the living room). And then I told her that while I think my country has every right to exist, when the "responsible adults" are using the usual arguments (we will die right now if we won't have a country).

Now, I know it's more complicated than that - it's always is. I also know I'm privileged enough not to encounter with any antisemitism because I live in Israel, and it's extremely rare to see it here.

So I said that it needs to change, if the so called leadership don't want to lose me and others like me, who think that Israel should exist, but we're not in 1948 anymore. My mom agreed, and then continue to say that there is a great failure of the education system with "youngsters" who don't know the circumstances on which the country was established upon, and that they can be exposed to "propaganda" which no one can control and that's why nobody's enlisting these days.

We pretty much ended the discussion there.

5 minutes after it my mom calls me from my room (I started then putting the clean laundry back in the rooms): "Little Women is on!".

So much for my whole speech on "stuff that used to work before, NSM now".

I'm also considering going to Combatants for Peace's Alternative Memorial Day Ceremony (Memorial Day Eve is tomorrow). It's a wonderful initiative, IMHO, but it ends very late in Tel Aviv, and I'm not sure I'll be able to do the logistics of finding a place to stay and all on such sensitive day. But damn, that's exactly the kind of activities we need here to bring more tolerance. It's not just our or their pain: losing young people in vain is everyone's problem.

Shir, I really appreciate you posting your thoughts on what's happening in your country, and the rest of the world as well. Yours is a perspective that I wouldn't necessarily get otherwise. I can watch BBC News, but that's not the same as hearing what something is like from someone who's a part of it.

True for all the other non-USAians here, too, of course. Being part of this community has led to feeling part of events in the world that once I would have felt very remote from.

Had to skip because I just read Erin's description of her wedding and reception and it was just too wonderful for me to b=not skip to the end and gush and sniffle. Erin, you're all married and have the bestest pictures and stories to prove it!

Glitter and love and whatnot on us all