Reilly's Photoshoot For Rosh HaShanah, Accompanied By the Promise Of A Treat

In sum:

1. Reilly didn't like it, though she was a begrudgingly-good good sport for a treat.
2. When Reilly ran despite that "Momma" actually wanted her to come in order for her to get her tallit and kippah off, Camille started playing with the tallit and panicked "Auntie Nicole".
3. Reilly got her promised treat once she came (and had to be bribed with a treat to come) and got the tallit and kippah off.
4. With the photo that was used in the card, "Momma" had a total of five photos that she took.

לשנה תשע״ז טובה מ"אמא" וראיללי!

By the way, "Mimi" ecstatically kvelled when Camille demonstrated that she learned "Lie down!" last night. Also, may 5777 be the year in which a certain person finally enters (or, especially if he is who "Momma" thinks that he is*, reenters) "Momma"'s life and enters Reilly's life!

*He could be any of a few given people, though "Momma" thinks that he knows that she's referring to him. 

Like Trump & NATO, Brexit & The EU—Which Will Cost the UK More Than It Already Has, Including Scotland

The EU shouldn't really miss the UK if the UK goes through with the (as Fox News dubbed Brexit) "divorce"—after all, the UK is playing games and has already reenergized the Scottish independence movement (and Scotland wanted to remain a member of the EU, thus voting "Remain" on the Brexit referendum). With Scotland reconsidering the independence that it hasn't had in almost 310 years and wanting the rejoin the EU, May and others should consider Scotland alone as a factor to call off its divorce from the EU.

Besides, the UK is doing the EU as Trump wants to do to NATO: divorce it and leave it vulnerable, and leave itself vulnerable in the end. NATO and the EU weren't founded after the Holocaust in Germany for no reason (Keep in mind that the Holocaust was still going on in Russia, especially since Stalin had implemented his "Final Solution" plan—and ended up learning how "Final Solution" plans work out in the end five years later, as if he shouldn't have learned that when the Holocaust ended in Germany—and Godless and Anti-Semitic Stalin's gulags did not close until 1960, and the Holocaust therefore lasted a total of an all-the-more-startling 38 years.).

As for the EU? It might teach the UK a hard lesson and not take it back—after all, why should the EU take back a UK that thinks that it can stand without its for-now fellow EU members? After all, it took France and other modern-day EU (and modern-day NATO) members to end the Holocaust in Germany, didn't it? Then again, the motive for the UK leaving the EU (and Trump wanting to leave NATO) does have to do with Anti Semitism (and other racism and xenophobia). By the way, the UK also has a legacy of treating Holocaust survivors and others whom made aliyah, and sabras miserably after the Holocaust—thus being no better than the Germany and the not-really-an-ally USSR that it fought.

Update:

In other words, welcome to Hell, Britain, and a Hell that is of your own making. https://t.co/J6Fca5SrQW https://t.co/PZy35YsHt3

— N.V. Mara Czarnecki (@Nickidewbear) March 29, 2017

Reilly the Trickster & Camille Getting "Lie Down" More & More

Two days ago, Reilly decided to bring back an old trick: "peedie" right in front of "Momma" on purpose. Needlessly to say, "Momma" worried that Reilly might have another UTI—and thus, Reilly had to go see the vet—and the vet pointed out Reilly's trick really quickly.

Long story short, Reilly rang the bell to "go potty" and not to—as she sometimes does—ring the bell to get attention. Therefore, she later decided to get back at "Momma" and to not even ring the bell the second time, and she "peedied" on the hallway carpet both times—and the second instance occurred when "Momma" was going to get socks to use to restuff one of the toys that both Reilly and Camille received for Chrismukkah (Fine timing, Ri; fine timing.).

As for Cam, she's getting "lie down" more and more—notwithstanding her stubbornness that she uses to act like she doesn't know how to "lie down"—and as "Auntie Nicole" types, Cam is (or was, and is again) napping on her favorite chair and snuggling with "Froggie" (whom "Auntie Nicole" restuffed with parts of a sock and arm-tiringly resewed, and whom Cam effectively reunstuffed). Now, "Auntie Nicole" has to go restuff the other toy.

By the way, "Momma"/"Auntie" Nicole is not doing any giveaways or free promotions of the book on Camille when it comes out—too many people got free copies of the other books without spreading the word about the books to their friends and/or buying copies of the other books, and that doesn't help "Momma" be able to provide as much as she can for Reilly (especially without a certain person in her and Reilly's lives).

Cam's Learning To Lay Down ("Lie Down")! Other Notes As Well

On Camille's birthday, Camille is learning "lie down". If Cam can fully and succesfully "lie down" without having to be prompted by treats right in front of her first, "Mimi" will be impressed 🙂.

Meanwhile, on th not-so-good notes:

1. Reilly "peedied" in the house twice today, and once in front of "Momma"—either Reilly is (as "Auntie Michelle" thinks) entering her "terrible threes" or (as "Momma" thinks) jealous of Cam and trying to reclaim alpha status (since she perceives that she lost it), has drunk more water than usual, or has a UTI (🙁).
2. As Camille and Reilly get older, "Momma" is re-reminded that everyone else is (or at least quite a few others are) getting married, started on having families, promoted at work, living out other dreams that they've had, etc., while "Momma" and Reilly are not getting younger. Meanwhile, "Momma" just wishes that a certain person whom might be "Momma"'s helpmate and Reilly's "Daddy" would just give her answer as to whether he thinks that he is one or the other way. After all, for example, another case of trying to roll Reilly this morning failed again.

Guess Who (Sort-Of) Turns Two Tomorrow?

Happy Birthday, Camille! Meanwhile, her Hebrew birthday isn't until Nisan 6 or 7, 5777—so, she technically remains two for a little longer—either way, she got used to when we brought her home on June 7, 2015 to live with her match (aka, her twice-removed cousin Reilly. "Auntie Nicole" is verklempt with watching those old videos, meanwhile):

As The Old Jewish Saying Goes, And As I've Lived Especially Of Late...

What's keeping calm when you're Jewish? What's not worrying when you're Jewish?

As for me and being a Jewish Christian, I get the whole "Do not worry", "Come to Me, you whom are weary...", "Cast your cares...", etc.. Notwithstanding that (and here goes the "Oh, you of little faith"):

1. Having Cerebral Palsy and IBS affects worry for good reason.
2. Having OCD/Anxiety and ADD affects worry for good reason. By the way, I'm actually not the first one to have made an observation regarding whether OCD/Anxiety is inherently Jewish, and I was joking about that more to cope with my own OCD and wondering (so much for Jewish humor, as I got a hard time for making that observation)—the schtick about (I kid you not) OCD being a "Jewish disease" (as Dr. Avigdor Bonchek phrased the schtick whether OCD is Jewish) has been around for a long time. To be fair, look at, e.g., B'midbar 7 alone—having to be perfectly scrupulous about the right number of the right offerings like that could cause anyone to worry—then look at Vaiykra 11 and B'midbar 19—I myself (assuming that I'd survived birth and even had some part in Jewish life) would be washing and extra washing all day. Then try the fences around Torah. Overtime, that has to get embedded into one's genetic code and/or brain chemistry—thus, I think, part of why God desires mercy over sacrifice and obedience over burnt offerings, as His point seemed to be that ritualism as opposed to simply living by faith (e.g., "walk[ing] humbly with your God").
3. Getting the amount of hate that I get (as I probably will over the observation above, for example), whether rightly or wrongly, affects me to always worry for good reason—even, e.g., who's going to unfriend me on Facebook or unfollow me on Twitter, thus reflecting online how what they think of me both online and offline? After all (as Curt Schilling of all people stated), people online are who they are offline and what they would be offline "if they could get away with it" (which he stated after two of his daughter's high-school classmates used Twitter to send her rape threats.

I could give more examples, though I think that three examples suffice—especially as I brace myself and bide to see how many more instances of Example Three will happen even over the next couple of minutes, especially in regard to Example Two.