We Have/Had Lice..... We Think

It's day #2 at school and we've already had a lice scare. A little boy in Riley's class came to school yesterday complaining of an itchy scalp and "gnats" in his hair. The teacher looked at his head and immediately called his parents and sent him home (with a few choice words to boot). We all received notices that the boy was only in school for about an hour and we should all be fine. Should that is.

Tonight after bath time Riley's hair still looked a tad grainy. I wasn't sure if it was the mounds of sand that she came in contact with throughout her day at school - or if it was the all-to-familiar nits. I called a girlfriend who in turn sent her husband (who's had lice more times than he can remember as a child) over to pick and probe Riley's scalp. Within minutes I got the bad news. It's probably nits. While I wasn't about to take any chances that it may be sand, off I went to the pharmacy to pick up the super fun shampoo and nit remover brush.

I shampooed both girls hair. I had them play in the bath for about 15 minutes while the "stuff" did its magic on their hair. While they were in the tub, I changed both their sheets and towels. Then I rinsed their hair and brushed it out with the fine tooth comb. The girls sat still and were amazing. They didn't cry or complain that I was hurting them. What troopers. In the end the entire process took about an hour after diagnosis. While I could have used that hour to sit on my ass in front of the TV and veg with my husband, I feel good knowing that they have clean scalps and no possibility of head lice.

Until next time...

Back to School

Today was the girls first day back at preschool. They were so excited to go that they woke up early, ate a great breakfast, and got ready in a jiffy. Riley is now in the Star class and Sheridan is still a Duckling. Of course it wouldn't be the Perlman family without a little illness. The girls are on antibiotics for a few days as they've been heavily coughing for the last two weeks. I was a little afraid that they may not go to school today, but Matt promised me that if they were still coughing, we could just slap a surgical mask on them and send them to school. Thank goodness they were feeling much better! I had a great morning of dishes, laundry, more dishes, and organizing the closets. It was fun... and quiet!

Dresses courtesy of Aunt Sandy & Uncle Geoff

Online Shopping

I am an online shopping junkie. I love my favorite stores in the States, and with the benefit of having our APO address, I can order just about anything and have it sent to me here in Israel. I also LOVE to get a bargain. For those of you who do most of your shopping online, here are a few websites to help you save even more money.

Before you go to your favorite online store - ALWAYS go to www.ebates.com first. By starting your shopping here, you will save anywhere from 2 - 15% on your purchases. I've been signed up here for the past 2 years, and every quarter I receive a rebate check from them for anywhere from $35-$50. Not bad, right? If you don't already have an account - sign up and reference me. We'll both get $10 in our accounts. Ebates has almost every store you can think of... Zappos, Gap, Banana Republic, Landsend, JCPenney, Nordstrom, etc...

Other websites to check out for money saving coupons are www.naughtycodes.com and www.mycoupons.com. You can even use coupons from these websites for your purchases done through ebates. It's great - discounts and rebates for every purchase!

Hope this helps save you a few shekels.

Let's Go To The Movies

After two years of living in Israel, tonight we reached another milestone. We went with a bunch of friends to see our first movie in a movie theater, The Bourne Ultimatum. Wow, what a blast. Interestingly enough, you don't just buy a ticket for a movie and then go in... it's assigned seating. You look at the screen and choose your seats. Since there were 4 couples who went, one of the husband's went early and bought all the tickets for us.

We got there early to collect our tickets, buy popcorn and candy, and find our seats. As a side note, had he been here, my father could have eaten his fill of his favorite candy, Jew-Jew-Bees (pun intended). In keeping with true JST (Jewish Standard Time), the movie, which was supposed to start at 7:45 pm, didn't actually begin until about 8:15pm. The movie was action packed, filled with car chases and high body count, and lived up to Matt's expectations. It ended at 10 pm, and all of us were so pooped that we didn't even go out for a nightcap, we just went home.

"The" List...

The rumors turned out to be true... the infamous Bid List made its way out into the world of Diplomatic Security spouses. Matt returned home with the list in hand after a long day evacuating more Americans from Gaza. What a good husband - he made a special stop into the Embassy just to print out the list. Of course, I'm sure he was just as anxious to see what was available.

Are inquiring minds dying to know what's available next year? While we won't divulge what will be put on our list now (we don't want the parents freaking out that it could be an "icky-Stan" or another Middle Eastern tour...), we will say that we're definitely looking at some African posts, South and Central Asian posts, and even a few in Central/South American. For those of you who'd like to visit us in Europe... sorry, there won't be any European places on our list. But we're still here in Tel Aviv for another 9-11 months. Make your reservations now - our guest list is rather long!

Wish us luck - this process is nail biting and nerve wracking. We'll keep you posted.

Our recent outing

Last Sunday we went with some friends to the Soreq Cave, the stalactite and stalagmite cave north of Jerusalem. The cave was discovered in 1968 by accident after a blast in a near quarry. We watched an old movie of how the cave was discovered (which was all in Hebrew) and then had a guided tour of the cave (also in Hebrew). The girls had fun looking at the stalactite and stalagmite, but their real treat was their strawberry popsicle at the end of the tour.

Eating Ice Cream

L to R: Gabby, Kit, Riley, and Sheridan

Apparently this is the ONLY way to eat chocolate ice cream...

Blast From The Past

Last month I got a surprise e-mail from my college roommate and sorority sister, Gretchen, who was planning a 10-day whirlwind trip to Israel. We haven't talked or seen each other since October, 1997.

This past Monday we met up in Jerusalem and spent a few hours walking around and reconnecting. What a treat!

Sheridan Sleeping

The girls finished summer camp last week, which left a 4 week gap before preschool begins. We've been doing daily activities to keep busy, but we're definitely off our regular schedule. As such, Sheridan has been napping at different times... and in different places. The girls WERE playing together until Sheridan laid her head down.

The Cousins in Jerusalem

Here are a few photos of the girls with their cousins Zoe and Mo in Jerusalem. Thanks for the pictures cousin Melissa!