Happy Purim Memories!

I love Purim.

Ever since I was little it was one of the holidays I most looked forward to and enjoyed.

At school we learned about Purim, had fun celebrations, and had no school on Purim. We exchanged mishloach manot baskets with classmates and danced in the gym with the entire school.

I always planned an amazing costume for shul. I was an astronaut, a turtle, a hamantashen recipe, and many more!

At home the spirit of the holiday continued. My family gave numerous mishloach manot baskets to friends. We thought of creative containers and baskets each year to hold our treats and I loved helping fill them.

But, of all the Purim memories I have from the past 22 years is the memory of the Sunday we spent baking hamantashen. We made a ton of them. And it was a well orchestrated production. The table was prepped, being covered in wax paper, and floured.

I remember getting frustrated when I couldn't make my triangle right, or if my perfect ones stuck to the table and were ruined. I loved choosing the flavors and watching them get gold and crispy in the oven. And the smell, was divine. Think sugar cookie mixed with a hint of orange and fruit fillings. Amazing.

I then took pride in organizing the baked hamantashen on the dining room table to cool and await distribution. I would make pattens using the colors of the filling as my muse. I loved watching our poodles eye the treats and think of how they could jump up to the table.

These memories I will cherish forever.

And these delectable treats, I can enjoy these little treats each and every year!

Happy Purim!!!!

Ringing.....

Before I started seeing my amazing audiologist back in high school I used to have awful tinnitus on top of all my other sound processing issues.

Within a few months of wearing my sound generators my tinnitus was gone. What a change. It's amazing how annoying frequent ringing in your ears can be. Think really, really, really, high pitched ringing in your ear..... yeah annoying.

Now a days I only get a short bout of tinnitus when I am really congested.

I would like to say that for the last 40 minutes my ear has been ringing. First I thought the battery in my sound generator had died, nope.....

I would like to state for the record, I really HAVE NOT missed this.

At all.

That is all.

Ha, I should have begun this post 35 minutes ago. The ringing is beginning to subside, still there but at a much lower less annoying volume.

More Local Stops

My goal for this year was to slow down and enjoy each "local" moment on my trip around the world. While I still have a massive amount of excitement about graduation I am working to find "local" moments through out this semester to appreciate and cherish.

Yesterday I had a chance to cherish an important part of being a senior. Senior pictures!

Let's start by saying that I was having an amazing hair day.

Okay, that has been said.

Otherwise I think they will turn out really great. It was the standard, "knees over there, chin up, eyes over here, wait chin back up..." You know...

The photographer was very nice and I hope to have some nice shots. I get to choose one for the yearbook and then we can order other ones for ourselves.

All in all a worthwhile stop on this local train I call life!

Dear Coke

**I need to "vent" about a new coke-a-cola ad airing on TV these days. It's the one that shows a little person working out to help a heart get back to being full and fit. These ads say Coke is supporting the American Heart Association's Red Dress Campaign. Well, I have an issue with this....**

Dear Coke-a-Cola,

I will admit, I have never been a fan of your drinks. One, I don't think they taste good. Two, I think they are filled with you know what. And three, I think you try to get people to drink things that are so bad for them!

I now really don't like you or your drinks. While I admire your company's decision to support a noble charity such as the American Heart Association's Red Dress Campaign, I cannot believe you are telling people to buy coke, drink it, and in turn you'll support this charity.

It may just be my personal opinions, but advocating that people drink a soda laden with calories, sugar, and dyes (or artificial sugars, chemicals, and dyes) and in return you will support an organization which seeks to help prevent women's heart disease and help those with heart disease and heart conditions seems just plane WRONG.

If anything, you could be adding to the number of women who have heart disease. Women who live, yes live, on your drinks. I am not saying Coke is the main reason behind the crazy health issues people face in our country, but I am saying you aren't helping much!

I cannot even offer suggestions. Well, that is a lie. I have one, but you won't like it. It is to STOP MAKING AND SELLING CRAP. Yes I just said that word.

If you believe in helping prevent heart disease, how can you market a product that can contribute to the disease?

That is all, I just think you're company needs to sort out its priorities.

Sincerely,

Tamar

I heart....

taking pictures.

I have decided it's my hobby (well, one of my hobbies).

To help myself learn some more about it and see other people's photos I joined a photo blog contest.

I hope I win....

I never really win much of anything....

Either way I love taking pictures...

Bumblebees Don't Know

The first blog I began was a way to journal about my trials and triumphs with Central Auditory Processing Deficit (CAPD) as I began college. Well, eventually I stopped keeping up with that blog and eventually moved to this blog. I decided to move over some of the posts about my life with CAPD and how it effects me to this blog. Here is something I wrote basically describing CAPD and me.

I was diagnosed with a Central Auditory Processing Deficit, Hyperacusis, and Tinnitus on April 15, 1998. The diagnosis helped explain to me and my family why school and life had been so difficult. It gave a reason for why I was getting easily overwhelmed by sound and why school was getting more difficult. Because my brain didn’t process sound well which meant I was missing much of what was said. We now know that this was likely caused by many sinus infections as a young child which caused my brain’s ability to process sound to be compromised. Although my ears work fine I often come across as someone who is hard of hearing. During my early years my brain was not exposed to sounds and did form enough hearing pathways. The last ten years has been a struggle to overcome this and learn how to live my life to the fullest.

I changed after I was diagnosed. I stopped being the free spirited, carefree kid I was before. Before that day nothing stopped me, then suddenly my life was brought to a screeching halt. I suddenly had “issues,” I had to visit specialists, I became embarrassed about who I had become. I denied that I had these problems and let the diagnosis define who I was until I saw that having CAPD was one more unique part of who I was.

I know “own my disability” telling friends, professors, and even university admissions board about the LDs I have overcome. Here at AU I am thriving due to an amazing support program they have, including a separate application process, special college writing classes, and free tutors. Owning my disability has changed my life for the better, and I now can live my life no longer afraid of having to hide my “issues.” Sure at times I get down in the dumps and do the “poor me” or “why not someone else” but I know that that attitude gets me nowhere. Holding my head high is the only way to get through life, if people do not accept me and my “stuff” then they miss out on meeting the individual behind it all. It has taken me a long time to understand that and it has allowed me to meet some amazing people along the way who have helped me see who I really am and how to live life to the fullest!

“When life starts to get to me my mom always says, “Bumblebees don’t know.” This is because aerodynamically bumblebees shouldn’t be able to fly; yet they do. This reminds me that even though I was told that I couldn’t do certain things, I did. Knowing this, I get up each day and work hard at school, at work, and dance. When I do these things I am flying.”

-- From my AU essay

Stay tuned for more about my life with CAPD

How much snow?

On the local news this morning they tried to give everyone some perspective on just how much snow has fallen so far this winter (I say so far because it is snowing again outside right now).

So.... between Washington D.C. and Boston between the first day of winter and now a whopping 30 billion cubic meters of snow has fallen.

That lovely 30 billion cubic meters is enough snow to:

- fill 12 million olympic sized swimming pools

- raise the surface level of Lake Superior by 14 inches

- and fill 30,000 Empire States Buildings

Um wow. One for the record books for sure!

It does leave many wondering if Global Warming just means warming......

The Frozen District

Let the dig out begin! I dug out this afternoon to see what the state of the neighborhood was. The roads are covered still and the side streets are much worse for wear!

Come lets take a little walk around AU Park...

I hope you are wearing your sunglasses, today. It sure is bright out there.

A very peaceful Massachusetts Ave. Calm before the storm? How about calm after the storm?

Some snapshots of the neighborhood. I love the bus pictures. No buses are going anywhere. So the sign is great as is the "next bus?" sign. Next bus? Maybe next month?

I dub these, the snow crates....

I ventured to the local market, it was suprisingly not too picked over. I got what I needed: coffee and tissues (and a few other items). Now I am watching the superbowl (and The Sound of Music) and willing AU to close tomorrow. If they don't we will be the only school (university and grade level) open in DC and surrounding area. Even the Federal Government is closed. I am sorry, if President Obama can have a snow day, I should get one too!!

***edited to ad: AU is CLOSED Monday! Yay for snow days in college!***

Snow-my-goodness!

Well this storm delivered what was promised! A perfect "meteorological bomb" it was for sure. AU canceled classes beginning at 12 on Friday (my class was at 3:30!) and the snow began a bit before than. And snow it did. We did cook shabbat dinner and hold services - that is one shabbat I will remember!

Anyway, the snow is tapering off. There is about 26ish inches out there now. WOW! The blizzard winds have helped blow records away, it's crazy.

I spent a good 2 and a half hours outside - so much fun!

This was last night - So beautiful but so much!

The same tree this morning. Around 8am there was 16 inches. There was so much more yet to come!

TADA! A winter wonderland!

The maintenance crews at my building were busy attacking the snow around lunchtime. It was so amazing to see walls of snow that the snow blowers left behind.
My lift ticket great in this picture because it provides you some great perspective of how deep this snow is! It came up to the middle of my thighs, and I think there was more snow under my boots!

That imprint? I fell... the snow is too heavy to even try to make snow angels. Getting out of the hole my body left was also pretty tough to climb out of!

I met up with Eli and Brianna to have some more fun in the snow. Brianna also knows the Hafters so we couldn't resist taking Flat Gabe out to have some fun in the snow. We even helped someone get their car unstuck and saw other cars get stopped by 2 down trees!

This would be one of those downed trees. This snow may be pretty but it is heavy wet snow and I am so happy to have power! I am surviving with out Direct TV and have hooked up to the wall for regular channels (I need to be able to watch the Super Bowl!

And what do you do after 2.5 hours in the snow?

Drink hot cocoa....

and...

Watch movies!!

What a weekend and it's only Saturday night!!!!

Coming Attraction?

Well, sequels are popular these days.

The weather has taken notice....

DC Snowpocalpyse made its big time debut in DC on December 19th. I sadly missed it and all its 2 feet of snow glory.

Well, I may be able to catch the sequel.

Tomorrow could be the release of the DC Snowpocalypse II. If the weather people are right (insert laughter there) we could end up with close to 2 feet of now again!

And since sequels have to pack a little something extra - this snow storm will have white out conditions and blizzard force winds!

So we shall see. If this storm lives up to its hype. I am well stocked, food, water, toilet paper....