Four More Days ....

Until we leave for Israel. We will be gone for three weeks and we certaintly have each day packed fun with lots of adventures.

And speaking of packing ... what a (I wish I knew a yiddish word that I could insert here) that my husband has been about my over packing. Admittedly, I am terrible when it comes to foreseeing how much clothing, etc, I/we will need on any trip that we go on, but this is even more frustrating because 1) we are going for 3 weeks. 2) there are the kids to consider and they will be getting dirty alot and will be all sweaty, so that means they will want to change their clothes; 3) there's me - I don't want to have to wash my clothes over and over again especially because I airdry my clothes and if I get to take more, there are so many cute little outfits that I might actually get to wear. Ok, maybe not, but who knows, we might be able to actually enjoy a romantic night out and I can wear that something sexy that I've been holding on to, like FOREVER. I've also lost 20 lbs and so I am finally able to fit back into all those cute outfits. Yea for me!!! 4) and this is a big one, we are not staying with just one or two families. We are traveling around constantly and staying with many folks (doing the couchsurfing thing), so it's not like I can bring a few things, hang them up, do wash every few days, etc. Well, the way hubby looks at it, that's all the reason why to limit our clothing. To him, there is no need to have 12 pairs of socks, or underwear for the kids, or to have 12 tshirts/shorts for each kid. I should only bring half of that and just keep washing them. And you know, it will probably be ME doing the washin. I'm just sayin'.

So you see, we are having a slight tug of war over this. And I hate to see the expression on his face when he sees all the shoes I am bringing for the kids and I. But hey, there are the Crocs which are great for water (Natalie & Noah); the hiking sandals (all three of us); sneakers (all three of us); and my nice flats (one or two pairs - uh oh, I'm ducking).

There are the toiletries, including travel curlers, hair dryer, brushes, hairbands, hair products; there are the electronics (his lap top), camera, portable dvd player, videocamera, and natalie's early birthday gift - a metal detector - figured we could sneak up to an archaelogical site and search for old coins (just kidding) - nah we will try it at the beach. It's really quite small and very portable, something we picked up at Target; there are the four sleeping bags; a bag full of stuff that folks in Israel wanted us to bring to them; and of course thank you gifts for everyone's generousity.

Well the good news is that we will have a mini-van in Israel just to carry all this stuff around. We found these really nice folks who wanted to do a carswap, so they got ours and we got theirs.

I'm kinda thinking that this is going to turn out like a National Lampoon vacation. Hey that's a great idea. Maybe afterwards, I will show them our videotapes, our pictures, our diary and whatever else we managed to used to document our family fun, and who knows, maybe you will soon see a trailer of the next National Lampoon movie - Israel, starring us or at least base on the true adventures of the Selvins!!!

Tim Russert, Your Presence Will Be Missed

To say that David and I were stunned to hear the news of his sudden death would be an understatement. We didn't know him personally, but like millions of other mourners, we were very sad to hear of his passing. I can't say exactly why it's affecting me the way is, but he just seemed like a gentle, warm human being, that I respected very much.

I have always enjoyed listening to his commentaries and news reports and as the moderator for Meet the Press, I found him to be honest, fair, and respectful of others. Unlike some of the other political news shows, whose guests and moderators will often leave me feeling tense because of their aggressive and juvenile behavior, Tim Russert's charm, intelligence and directness without being a bully, made a difference with how I viewed these types of shows, the issues, and the guests. With him at the helm, the tone and direction wasn't angry or antagonistic but displayed a maturity and professionalism often lacking today, in politics and journalism.

His wake was today in Washington DC, and I wish that I had the opportunity to go and offer my deepest sympathies. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to but just watching it on the news this evening, brought tears to my eyes.

His presence will be missed.

Our condolences to his family.