as i was leaving my parents house last week, my mom handed me a box of ribbon candy that she had received from a neighbor. “i will never eat this” she said,”please take it!” i mean, what’s a girl to do?

while driving home (with the ribbon candy securely on the seat next to me) i tasted some of it and remembered that i had eaten it before. there was orange, peppermint, lime. it was like an old friend. i was hooked.

over the course of this week, i have managed to eat the entire box. this is in part due to the help i received from friends (thanks ray). i received so much help in fact that after about 80% of the precious candy was gone, my friend and i curiously began searching the internet to buy more ribbon candy. we searched and searched. can you believe this stuff is sold out? so…where does a person go when they’ve exhausted google? ebay!

in our search for ribbon candy, we had this funny exchange with a seller. remember, the candy was almost gone…we were desperate!

dear ebay seller,

“can you just end the auction now? we SOOOOOOO want the ribbon
candy…we love it more than words could ever express. be a pal. happy
new year. p.s.-do you have any more?”

i’m happy to report that the seller not only had more but she was willing to sell us a box set! she apparently shares our passion for the ribbon candy.

“i’m so glad you love ribbon candy as much as i do. you’re exactly the
kind of person i was hoping to reach when i listed it. thank you,
again, for your purchase and i hope it’s arrival is just the beginning
of a wonderful new year.

what would we do without ebay?

they are now reporting that as many as 20,000 have died in the asia quake. what a devastating event!

the red cross and other humanitarian aid services are mobilizing. help is coming in from the us, canada, australia, etc. you can donate now to the american red cross international response fund by calling 800-435-7669 or online at www.redcross.org.

i just read about the major destruction and confusion going on near sri lanka after a major earth quake hit 100 miles off the coast. the quake was the largest in over 40 years and created a series of large tidal waves (some as high as 40 ft) that took more than 1500 lives. they are speculating that the deathtoll will rise to about 3,000 as the day goes on. apparently, the prison was also destroyed leaving over 200 criminals to wander the streets. what worries me the most i think is the damage this will do to the already questionable sanitation in india. i pray that these people receive help from the world so that they can avoid diseases that come with natural disasters.

every year, on christmas, the jewish federation of metro detroit organizes a mitzvah day. voluteers are organized into groups to serve over 30 social service agencies in the detroit metro area.

two years ago, i volunteered at a domestic violence shelter where we decorated the house for christmas, and made christmas dinner. the looks on the kids faces when they opened the door and saw that the house and tree had been decorated was priceless. luckily, costco donated lots of toys so we were able to wrap them and put them under the tree for the kids to open. (thanks costco).

it was funny actually, to watch a bunch of jewish people try to make christmas dinner. i think we did pretty good except for the ham. after we were done cooking, the volunteer coordinator came back to the kitchen to see how we were doing. we showed her all the food we made for dinner: the turkey and stuffing, salad, mashed potatoes. while she was clearly impressed and appreciative, she also had this confused look on her face. very politely, she asked, “where is the ham?” “the ham?” we panicked and then looked back in the refrigerator. it was only then that we noticed a foreign piece of meat wrapped up in the back of the refrigerator. who knew? but they were still very happy with the meal and it all worked out ok.

this year, i went to vista maria in dearborn. vista maria is a private, non-profit community center for adolescent girls in need of help. while there, we visited, talked, played scrabble and did crafts with the girls.

i was so impressed with the volunteer coordinator who prior to us volutneering provided a history of the program and its mission. i’ve gone to mitzvah days before that we just went in a served meals or did whatever was needed but didn’t really learn about the agency or its mission.

we learned that vista maria was established in 1883 by the sisters of the good shepherd but has its roots in france. in the late 1930’s the need to increase the facility became apparent. after receiving help from the salvation army to raise money for a new building, the ford family donated 50 acres of land.

vista maria

*mitzvah is a hebrew word meaning a good deed.

tv.cream.org readers were polled and the list that came out of it is a walk down memory lane.
i wish i could go shopping and buy all these today. especially the merlin!

i guess some people felt that re-electing b*sh wasn’t enough of an embarassing statement to make to the world. in fact, Time Magazine felt it was necessary to name him Person of the Year. then again, hitler and stalin are also former recipients of this title so i guess he’s in good company.

happy hankkah (hanukah, chanukkah, chanukah, etc.) everyone. i’ve been forwarded this link from all my jewish friends this week. thought i should share….