Sunday, April 26, 2009

Great Comedian: Bea Arthur


I just heard that Bea Arthur(1922-2009) passed away Saturday.She died of cancer at the age of 86. I can't believe she was 86. I guess when you get to middle life you start to realize that you are in the age you actually grew up with actors and actresses watching these shows. When I was growing up most of the actresses I never heard of.

Bea Arthur was on a show called Maude. She had a dry sense of humor. It was a spin off of All In The Family.

All In The Family I hated. Because Archie treated Edith terribly. Edith was portrayed as a dim-whit. Maude was a comedy, but at the same time brought up issues that were a concern for all of us.

Those were the shows that were great. I know I must be a prude. But now a days everything goes. Too bad.

What I remember her from is the Golden Girls. You can still see the show on lifetime.

The show was a bunch of older ladies living in Miami. They all lived in a house together. They were not ready to go to a retirement, or a nursing home. They were not in wheel chairs. They were a bunch of lively ladies. Yes, they even talked about the SEX WORD..., and had love interests, boy friends and even found them in bed with another man.

I loved the show. It was so funny. Sometimes with dry humor. Sometimes mad-cap and not raunchy.

You can catch it on lifetime. Or on youtube.

We will miss you Bea, I looked forward to every Saturday evening watching the show.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Myrtle Beach Fire



I am so ashamed of myself for not posting about the fire near my house. It was national headlines. Nothing ever happens in the sleepy town of Myrtle Beach. But we did now. What a terrible way for our town to get publicity.

Apparently the fire started in Conway SC and spread to Carolina Forest up to the highway on 31. It did not go pass the bypass 17.
The fire extended to N. Myrtle Beach to Barefoot Resorts( very expensive homes).
The fire from the wind may be going up to Nixon Crossroads, in Little River.

The fire they say is headed toward Nixon Crossroads. That is near my parents home. I can't get a hold of them right now. But I am sure it won't impact them because my parents live off Business 17. Nixon Crossroads is on the back roads heading toward Longs and Loris.

The bad thing is I noticed that the weather has been getting warmer here. The weather reports they don't expect rain in the next few days. This is awful for the folks still waiting to see if their house can be saved.

I can't believe I am the last person to know. I have been so busy with school that I did not have time to even notice what was going on. Instead I had my nose in a book.
I had contacted a author yesterday. He asked how was the fire going. I then realized the fire must have been pretty bad and made national news.

Wednesday night,I saw smoke rising on the horizon not thinking anything about it. Thinking ok it is a small fire. I never heard fire engines or any such emergencies.
Then David and I went to Blockbuster to return a movie. He said, oh my gosh there is a fire. I thought a small bush fire perhaps. Then the smoke was thicker and thicker as we were driving. I told my son it won't touch us. It is a small fire.
It looks like the fire is at Carolina Forest. But when we got home I am ashamed to say I never put on the news. I went back to studying.


This morning when I went into work and saw the headlines. Yes, it was pretty bad.
2500 people evacuated, 68 homes gone and many acres damaged. This afternoon I went into the fire station to reserve a room for our next book club. The secretary and I were talking and she told me that they think the fire started with one man on Saturday. The fire got away.

You see in S.C. you can start a fire outside your home. When I first heard of this when I moved here. I thought are they crazy. In NJ there is not such thing. You would be arrested.

Anyway the fire department thought they put out the fire. But on Thursday the other fire department suspected that the other fire department did not douse the fire enough and it spread to what happened on Thursday morning.

This is only rumor. I don't want to start anything but this is what I heard.
You can see pictures and the article on the Sun News.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Home Stretch




Just another week to go for anatomy and physiology and then the rest is a piece of cake. Anyone knows that has taken A/P is one of the harder courses to take.

This is the home stretch. I Just took a test on Monday on the heart, respiration, lymph system, and blood vessels. On the test I came home with a 94. Oh, Happy day

I celebrated with my son today. We saw a movie with Nicolas Cage. It was apocalyptic type movie. I don't like movies like that but David picked the movie. The acting was good I just don't like movies when the earth is coming to the end.

I totally forgot our teacher gave all the students a chance to get extra help for the practical. I can't believe I did this. I must have gotten wrapped up that this is basically the end. The last test is a take home test. I knew this morning to come this afternoon at 3 PM for a practical review. I just totally forgot how stupid, of me.

I tried to contact the teacher but the wavenet account again is not working. Wavenet is a email that works through the school only. Well guess what it is not working. It seems it never works when you need it. But what do you want from a 2 yr. school.
I hope I will be able to get a hold of one of the science teachers. Not only to be able to get some extra time that I missed. I never talked to the teacher to schedule my practical. I was hoping to see her to make a appointment for the practical.

I have some free time tomorrow to study and a day off on Sunday hopefully that will help. The last practical I did well. Because I stayed and able to review the models.
Seeing the models and seeing it on paper is two different things. The hardest thing I have is the white blood cell. The book looks different from the models they have in class.

I am not complaining it is my fault. Wish me luck. You won't be hearing from me for about a week.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Mailbox Monday

Marcia from The Printed Page is going to get a kick out of all the books I received last week. The mailman was pretty busy at my house last week. The neighbors are going to get suspicious. Thank goodness I am not married. So no one can spill their suspicions to cause a problem, if you know what I mean. I received a ton of books. I am not sure which one to start with first. I am still reading the Midwife through all these books I have been sent. Here is my list:

The Air Between Us by Deborah Johnson
The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel
The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover
Matrimony by Joshua Henkin
First Darling of the Morning by Thrity Umrigar
The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris
Things I Want My Daughter to Know by Elizabeth Noble

The above books I won from Book Club Girl in different drawings she had.

Admission by Jean Hanoff Korelitz
Darling Jim by Christian Moerk
Follow Me by Joanna Scott from Hatchett Book
Honolulu by Alan Brenner
The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks
A World I Never Made by James LePore
The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark
Pictures at the Exhibit by Sara Houghteling

Thank you from the authors that sent me copies to read and review on my blog. I will be attacking them soon..Now that I will be finished with school next week, and decided not to go to school for the summer. I will have plenty of extra time(I hope) to read some of these.

I also received several books from Schocken, it is a part of Random House. It is published for Nextbooks.
They publish Jewish interest books mainly non-fiction:
The Jewish Body by Melvin Konner
Maimonides by Sherman by Nulland
Raising a Jewish Child by Anita Diamant and Karen Kushner
The Life of David by Robert Pinsky
The Murmuring Deep by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

I entered a contest at Schocken Books. I was told I entered too late. But they would send me one, because I have a blog. I asked them if they have other Jewish books to review to let me know. I have been wanting to review for my other blog, Jewish Rantings. I have been wanting to get my foot in the door for this. But that many books at one time.I was hoping like other agents they would write me and ask me if I was interested in certain titles. But I can't look at a gift horse in the mouth, can I? I am very thankful.

Thank You Schocken Books.

Friday, April 17, 2009

My Thoughts On The Kindle 2

I thought I was going to buy a Kindle. But, there are a few things stopping me at the present time. The price of a Kindle is $359.00. How do we know that the price of a digital book is not going to increase? Digital books, there is not a charge for the classics, best sellers are $ 9.99 -$14.99. There is not a guarantee that the prices will stay the same. I don't mind paying the huge price if the digital books are a bargain. But if they increase in price that I would not be happy.


The other thing is that I want to see if the price goes down after it has been on the market. When something goes on the market. I like to wait at least 6 months before purchasing to see how it works out. Like Vista there were many problems with it. Once the kinks were worked out it is working much better.

I would like to thank everyone that posted their thoughts on the Kindle 2.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Has Anyone Heard About The Kindle


I did not think I would think about buying a Kindle. I am seriously thinking about it now. I went on to Amazon.com and it looks impressive. I would like to hear back from anyone who owns one. Please tell me what you think. To buy one is $359.00.

What I am worried about is the price of the digital book. The price for one ranges for classics as no charge. The hot sellers go for $ 9.99, and other books for $14.99. But what happens when the kindle catches on are the publishers and Amazon raising the price??


I like the idea, of storing many books on this small thin device. It is has computer capabilities.

Just not sure if I would get use to not having the physical book and having a digital one. I saw a few comments from readers that loved it.

I would love to hear from others what their thoughts are on the Kindle. Please let me know.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Preparing For Book Club Celebration



Our book club is reading My Father's Paradise by Ariel Saber. You can read the review from the New York Times here.


Our book club had a hard year with members being sick or having surgery. I have talked to a few members and looks like most everyone are on the road to recovery. There is one member that may still have surgery.

Our book club did not get the chance to celebrate our 4th yr. Birthday. Since I am hosting and I choose how I want to run this meeting this coming month. I will have time to organize it.

I had a brain storm, not realizing the book I picked is Father's Paradise. The book's setting is in the Middle East. Next month is Israel's Independence Day.
The books location is in the middle east. Many middle eastern Jews came from Iraq, Iran and other middle eastern countries to come to Israel. This is a tie in to prepare for this book club.

In Israel during Israel's Independence Day is a day of celebration. They have a bar-b-que with the family, and friends,and bon-fires in the evening.

I will see how many people plan to come first, and then take it from there.
What I am hoping to put together some Israeli dishes. Then order the rest from the restaurant. Some falafel, Israeli Salad, Hummus, and pita. I would like to attempt to make a Moroccan Carrot Salad. Then to top it off course a birthday cak

Then like always I was able to get some book favors for the table for everyone. I received book marks, coasters and differents prizes from book club girl. Then from book reporter I won 12 copies of books from my book club. All this was perfect timing.

I probably should be talking about leaven food right now because of Passover. But I should start planning.

I hope this can be done.

I know these girls would not go for this as they are older but some israeli music and dancing would be fun. But most of the girls would not go this far.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Great Resource For Book Clubs






I visited Harper-Collins website and found a great book club source idea. I don't know how long it has been in existence, but it is new to me. It is a great book club idea.

The publisher's website allows you to view the whole content of a book for the entire month for free. This month they are featuring Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. Each month they will feature a new book title for the whole month. This is a great source for clubs to sample the books before getting to the meeting.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Buy My Little Red Book For your Pre-Teen Or Teen





To all my readers:
this is quite unusual to post this. But because I did review and post my thoughts on My Little Red Book I decided to post. This is a very important book for pre-teens and teens. There was a time that this was not discussed. But now it is the time especially with the release of the book. It has been making the rounds on the talk shows and newspapers.

If you are a Mom, Aunt, Friend or what ever to a pre-teen or teen. Get this book for them. You won't be sorry. You will cry, laugh out loud or just say oh, my g-d did that happen to her too!

If you are interested you can read my post here

April 2009
TV and Book Tour and Op-eds,

Well, my request to keep things flowin' was certainly granted! This past month has been filled with cool new ventures that are turning My Little Red Book from a collection of stories into a project with a larger mission.

I've been speaking at libraries, middle schools, high schools, and health workshops. The picture above is from a talk I gave for the Real Life Real Talk program in Rockland County, NY, where the girls stayed afterwards to read the book, and were too cute to be left unphotographed. In New Haven, CT, The Color of Words, a teen video workshop, has adapted My Little Red Book to video format! The girls in the program spent the past month interviewing one another about their first periods to make a documentary which can be seen here. They are now reaching out and interviewing women in the community that they admire.

Men, too, have been getting involved! For an amusing five minute break, check out this video where guys talk straight face about their very own first period experiences.

In honor of International Women’s Day, The Huffington Post published an op-ed that I co-wrote with Elizabeth Sharpf, the CEO of SheInnovates, where we discussed the lack of affordable and accessible sanitary supplies and its worldwide impact. The comments blew me away. Women engaged in a dialogue around the best solutions for the problem, promised to raise awareness, and even explained the repercussions of not covering sanitary supplies in the food stamp program here at home. The more issues that come up, the more we are able to help.

Publicity has been bigger than ever. The New Yorker Book Blog did a lovely review of the book. And on March 16th, the book was featured on the Rachael Ray Show. She was so into it! She even showed footage of stories she collected on the streets of New York City! Check it out (and see me wearing makeup for the first and last time).

Until next month!