Chanukah with the Goat Rodeo

My big 2 in 2006

Tonight, at sundown, Chanukah begins.  No, it's not Chanukah just yet (much to my children's dismay and Facebook's confusion).

I'm going on the assumption that everyone knows what "The Festival of Lights" is all about.  I realize, based on my friends' experiences discussing Chanukah at their kids' schools, that this may not be an accurate assumption.  If you really have no idea about the story of Chanukah, you can always set up a consultation with Rabbi Google.

Luckily, if that's too much effort, the Maccabeats exist.





Chanukah, like nearly every other Jewish holiday, can be summed up as, "They tried to kill us.  We won.  Let's eat."  It is NOT a major holiday at all.  People seem to think it is since it occurs around the same time as a major Christian holiday, but it's actually a pretty minor holiday.  It is NOT the Jewish Christmas (which doesn't even make any sense).

We celebrate in the standard way--lighting the menorah (aka hanukkiah) every night at sundown for 8 nights.

Our family has quite an extensive collection of hanukkiot.

There's the large silver one we bought right after we got married (pictured above).

There's the electric one Bubbe gave us the year before.  It doesn't fulfill the mitzvah (Chanukah candles must burn to do that), though, so we put that one in the window and use it in conjunction with another one.

Anyone who has Jewish children in any sort of religious programming/schooling will tell you we quickly collect far more hand-made hanukkiot than we can use.  We have two clay ones the big girls made in their pre-school Sunday school program 7 years ago.  We had sand ones the big 3 made as part of their yeladim group, but the sand didn't hold up well after being stored in the attic in the Great Big Box o'Chanukah.  What was carefully crafted layers of pretty color sand became a giant mess the following year.  One year, they made some out of painted wood blocks.  Those fell apart before we were able to pack them away.  Last year, they made some out of a long piece of metal, dominoes and nuts (as in nuts and bolts, not food).  They went into the box as hanukkiot  They came out this year as a jumbled mess of parts.

To celebrate, we light the menorah (I usually light the silver one and the kids light the electric one.  The big girls take turns lighting theirs each night) each night, say blessings and sing songs.  Of course, Chanukah hasn't even started yet and I've been randomly bursting out into Sivivon* for more than a week now.

Here's a tidbit you may not have known: traditionally, women don't have to work while the Chanukah candles are burning.  Here's another tidbit: Our hanukkiah holds regular shabbat candles which are about 5x's as thick as the usual Chanukah candles.  ;-)

We eat traditional food cooked in oil to remind us of the story of the oil.  The most well-known ones include latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts).

In our house, the kids get one gift each night, more than one if there are enough.  Some people plan out exactly which gifts to give their kids on each night.  We usually just plan for the first and last.  Back in his youth, my husband got "useful" gifts on some nights (the family cats usually gave him socks or underwear).  That's not our thing, though.  Our pets aren't allowed anywhere near the lingerie department.  The kids usually get toys, books, electronics and/or clothes.  This year, among Journey Girl dolls, DS games, dresses, books, and all things Harry Potter, my middle daughter asked (and will receive) a bath mat.  I don't understand it, but she's fascinated by those plush ones, so we put it on her wish list and Mémé bought it for her.  I can't tell you how thrilled she will be.  I also can't tell you why in the world she asked for one in the first place.  Well, she IS my daughter.  I guess that should be sufficient to explain all.




*The lyrics are slightly different in Israel.  Nes Gadol Haya Sham (A great miracle happened there) becomes "Nes Gadol Haya Po," in Israel (A Great Miracle Happened Here).  Dreidels are also slightly different to reflect that change .  The letters correspond with each word: Nun (Nes), Gimmel (Gadol), Hey (Haya), Shin (Sha), but the Shin is replaced by Pay in Israel.  

We're Thankful for...

Over Thanksgiving lunch (we had to do lunch since my husband worked on Thanksgiving, as always), we talked to the kids about gratitude.  They told us they were thankful for each of our immediately family members and when they were done with us, the younger of our twins added, "And J.K. Rowling."  Her twin sister agreed and added, "and Harry Potter."  My son agreed.  When we asked the 2-year-old, she insisted she was not thankful for Jo Rowling.  She is, however, thankful for Dobby, Hedgwig and Luna, so that's Ms. Rowling by default.  

I suggested the kids let Jo Rowling know they're thankful for her, so they each made cards for her.  

G-d bless Pinterest!  We headed there and found some inspiration.  

This was E. (younger twin)'s card inspired by this.  She used magazine pictures for the feathers and the boxes from our stuffing and apple pie.  She used the inside of the apple pie box for the body and the background is a page from an extra phone book (I've since opted out of the phone book since Google exists).  

This one is courtesy of my son.  I can't find the inspiration now on Pinterest and I didn't think to save it at the time.  Sorry.  He used recycled magazines and sequins--lots and lots of sequins.  

Cover

Inside

This one's from my oldest.  This was her inspiration, but, in the end, opted to stamp dots and draw and color circles rather than use finger prints.  The outlined it all as well.  Then, she cut a circle from cardboard and added googly eyes.  

Front

Inside

Up at the top, you see one all of the kids made.  I saw this and thought it was perfect for our 4.  So we traced and cut out each one's hand prints and then they each decorated their own hand print.  They each signed the back of their hand print.  Well, the toddler scribbled and I printed her name.  Hey, that's what she meant, even if she doesn't know it yet.  

The toddler did NOT want to let hers go.  "Dat my hand," she screamed when I tried to put the card in the envelope.  I had to explain that we were sending it to Dobby and Hedwig.  Only then did she agree.  

I included a note of thanks to Ms. Rowling as well.  Just before I sent it, I added another quick note explaining that turkeys made from hand prints or cutouts are common for Thanksgiving.  Not being American, I could just imagine her receiving that first card and wondering what in the world was wrong with us.  

We Americans really are weird, aren't we?

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Wordless Wednesday: Halloween 2011

Trelawney & Hermione's dad

I actually dressed up for Halloween this year for the first time in at least 10 years.  I went as Professor Trelawney and had a blast.  My husband humored me by wearing a name tag which read, "Dr. Wendell Wilkins." 

When I rounded the Goat Rodeo up in the yard to take pictures, I had my middle daughter (aka Luna) take a few pictures of the husband and me, since we're always the ones behind the camera.  She complained that her father stuck his tongue out in one photo, so then we both felt compelled to make faces at her.  I think this is our new favorite picture of the two of us.  I may need to work this into our New Year cards.  

Nothing says, "Happy New Year," quite like this:

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Wordless Wednesday

The Goat Rodeo Runs Head-first Into Chaos

This time of the year is so rough.  It's one thing after another.

In this area, schools go back just after Labor Day.  We homeschool, so that doesn't affect us too much, but that's also when dance classes, Hebrew school, Girl Scouts, and other extra-curriculuar activities start back up.

This year, all four of the Goat Rodeo were old enough for some activities and they all had something that caught his/her eye. I am among the least organized folks in the world, but even I went so far as to create a spread sheet to organize which classes were available which days and times.  I even color-coded them by age-range.

When we finally settled on classes/groups, then we had to start shuttling back and forth to them.

Soon after the start of classes came the high holidays.  Just as you start to get back to normal after Rosh Hashanah, a rogue Yom Kippur appears.  So you fast.  It's very effective (Don't be fooled.  I'm not a gamer, but my husband is).  Once Yom Kippur ends, you breathe a hugh sigh of relief (and stuff your face) only to realize Sukkot is just around the corner.  Because the baking of Rosh Hashanah and fasting of Yom Kippur weren't enough, now you need to build a house.  Not just any house, one which meets very specific requirements for what it's made of and where it rests.

Add into all that the fact that writing and computers are forbidden for a good deal of time during the holidays.  What you're left with is very little time for thinking breathing blogging.

Costume Roundup

I've noticed my old costume posts are getting more hits than usual.  With Halloween right around the corner, I figured I'd share them again.

For Purim one year, my twin daughters were Night and Day.

For Halloween a few years back, I made my son a Flying Monkey costume and his baby sister was the cutest Wicked Witch Of the West.

Last Purim, the whole Goat Rodeo donned their best and headed for Hogwarts.  We had an owl (which is a costume I created for Halloween and need to blog about), Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Luna Lovegood.

There are other costumes we've made over the years that I want to blog about, but just haven't yet.  Check back, though, and I will.  I love coordinating costumes.  Over the years, the kids have been lions and tigers and bears, three blind mice and the farmer's wife, characters from the Wizard of Oz (including my son as the most adorable last minute munchkin [I realized Halloween morning that the costume he was supposed to wear didn't fit and threw the munchkin one together] when he was 2), and a box airplane costume which didn't coordinate with anyone, but was very cute, a Toothfairy, the Princess and the Pea, Baby Bear and Goldilocks.

Mothers and other lesser creatures

I recently spent time with a friend who confided that her husband tells her repeatedly that she doesn't do anything all day because he works outside in the heat and she stays home with their two year old.  He threatens to kick her out of their house because, in his mind, it's really only his since he's the only one who makes any money.

There was a list of other hateful things she hears often which tear her down for being a mother.

It's only this Mother's Day, after hearing about those hateful things, that I truly appreciate my husband's views on motherhood.  Even in situations not nearly as extreme as that first friend, I've heard stories from other friends about snide remarks their husbands have made or expectations they have which clearly show they don't believe their wives are their equals.

I've never heard a negative remark from my husband about my lack of a paycheck (and I should point out that, before we had kids, my salary was the highest of the two).  He doesn't expect me to serve him food, much less serve him before myself.  Hell, he doesn't even expect me to cook dinner (he's the better cook).  He is not at all the type to refer to parenting the kids as "Babysitting."  Even though he works full-time outside the home, we split the cleaning duties.  He changed diapers (cloth diapers even) and gave baths without complaint (well, without excessive complaints about the diapers at least).  When he was still home, bedtime stories were his thing.

I've had the luxury of forgetting how some folks view mothers in a negative light.  My husband respects me and motherhood and for that, I'm particularly thankful, this Mother's Day more than ever before.

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Wordless Wednesday: Hogwarts Hebrew School

Purim was this past weekend (long story, but it's another one of those Jewish "They tried to kill us.  We won.  Let's eat," holidays only add costumes, noisemakers, yummy cookies and drinks for the adults).

Our synagogue did a fantastic Harry Potter themed Purim celebration.  The kids received letters inviting them to attend Hogwarts Hebrew School.  At one point, our rabbi referred to it as, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, Wizardry and Talmudic Studies."  Ha!  The kids came dressed as their favorite HP character.  They were sorted into houses.  They took classes and had Quidditch practice.

I arrived at Hogwarts complete with Harry, Luna Lovegood, Hermione and an angry pink owl.  The three biggest ran around the entire time shouting spells at their friends.  The youngest just shouted at me on occasion because she didn't get nearly enough sleep the night before.  

You see that one dressed as the always bizarre Luna in the middle?  That's my E and she's ALL about Harry Potter.  All the kids love it, but E lives and breathes those books.  She remembers the smallest details too.  She got the highest score possible in her "History of Magic" class at the Purim celebration because she remembered things word-for-word from the books.  I was super impressed.

Wordless Wednesday

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Valentine's Day Revisited & Redefined

valentines day
Originally uploaded by rebecca anne

I hated Valentine's Day. As a teenager, I boycotted it. I donned all black and bitched about stupid made-up Halmark holidays.

To this day, my husband and I don't celebrate it. When it comes to companies encouraging people to spend insane amounts of money to honor a painful pagan fertility festival, I still feel as snarky as I did when I was 16.

Once I had kids, though, I found myself longing for the Valentine's Days of my youth, the ones full of glitter-covered hand-made cards and pink cupcakes with red sprinkles.

This year, our homeschool group had a Valentine's Day party with a card exchange. The kids had a blast. I had a blast. It was so much fun and helped put me in another frame of mind.

While we don't celebrate it, I still found myself missing my husband today even more than usual. That longing made me feel the first itch of pitty for myself.  But how can you feel sorry for yourself when the little people in your life insist on addressing Valentine's Day cards to everyone they've ever met?  Watching a little friend tote your youngest around so sweetly through nearly the entire party tugs the corners of your mouth in an upward direction.   When your son demands to give his Hebrew teacher his very favorite brand new Toy Story Valentine pencil, you simply can't feel down.

I think I've found a way to reframe the day so that I can truly enjoy it.  Instead of the sappy jewel-incrusted anti-single-fest Valentine's Day has been forced into, I found myself enjoying time with friends and watching my children doing the same (only their interactions contained far more screeching and hanging upside down than mine).  It made me thankful for it all--my friends, my kids, my situation in life, my husband (even if he's not here), my marriage (which can survive these absences time and time again) and yes, pink cupcakes with edible heart decorations.

Thank You Friends! [EXPLORED]

Originally uploaded by FrozenBlizzard

It's my party and I'll completely ignore it if I want to.

or just bitch and moan. Whatever works.  The bitching moaning and crying never seems to, so I'm opting for just ignoring it this year (right after I finish dedicating a whole blog entry to it).

The husband was supposed to be only a few hours away for training starting just days before my birthday.  He would be there for a full month, so that also would have freed him up to come to our youngest's second birthday party as well.

Well, apparently, there's a change in plans. And so I sigh and moan and hope maybe there's more to this than meets the eye (no, my husband is not a transformer), but go on the assumption that there's not and my birthday is just going to suck.

I'm the type who always gets bent out of shape about birthdays.  This year, though, I don't have any plans and the more I think about it, the more I think I just don't want any.    Despite that photo of Mr. Grumpypants the pissed off feline up there, I'm really not depressed.  I just think it might be best to skip any celebrations.

So, I think I'm just going to pretend it doesn't exist.  I won't mark it on the calendar.  I took it off my Facebook profile.  I'll avoid my usual birthday count downs.  While I didn't plan on telling the kids, the oldest saw me type my birthdate to sign up for something the other day and she remembers it.  She keeps telling ME how many days until my birthday.  Gee, thanks a lot, kid.

I'm really not even feeling particularly upset.  I'm just exhausted and I really can't see how we could anything to celebrate, so I'll try a new approach. I don't want to get myself worked up with hopes for anything, so I'll just try this and see how it works.

Sellabr8ing Han-oo-kah, Ur Doing It Rong

These lovely ladies were seen in line at a Chanukah event.  There were about six of them all decked out in Xmas sweaters, Santa hats and giant red and green bows.

After witnessing (and being baffled by) this little inappropriate fashion show, the children had a request.  They would like to wear this at an Xmas party.

*****

Latkes and music

I want latkes.  Chanukah* is only two days away and I'm already drooling over the thought of latkes.

On Facebook, a friend posted some Chanukah songs and another protested that it's not Chanukah yet.  The first friend pointed out that, if the goyim can listen to Xmas music two MONTHS before their holiday, then we can listen to Chanukah music two days before ours.

I must agree (and laugh).

*There is no one translation from the Hebrew.  Some people spell the holiday "Hanukkah," but I prefer "Chanukah," because it's closer to the actual pronunciation.  It's not a soft H sound.  It's that guttural "Ch" sound from the back of the throat.  Angelica said it best in Rug Rats, "CHanukah!  You gotta CHHHH when you say it." (5:05)

Shabbat Shalom

I'm signing off for Shabbat.  Before I go, though, I wanted to share this Matisyahu song "Miracle," for Chanukah.  We're only a week away and I love this song.

Miracle

Enjoy your weekend.  

The Levels of Halloween Candy Eating

There are different steps to eating Halloween candy (or swiping it from your kids when they're not looking).

Step 1:  OMG!  Reeces/Twix/Snickers
   Yay chocolate!  This stuff rocks!  Nom nom nom.   Taffy?  Starburst?  Pixie Stix?  Milk Duds?  Oh hell no!  Throw those suckers out.  I've got chocolate.

Step 2:  Those are gone.  On to the Milkyway and 3 Musketeers.
  Not as good as the stuff I already scarfed down, but yay, more chocolate!  Nom nom nom.  There are still Pixie Stix and Taffy in here?  What cheap bastard thought these were a good idea? Moron!

Step 3:  Dude, where's my chocolate?  (Search through bag/bags hoping to find another Reeces, but with no luck.  Settle for whatever's there).  Well, Milk Duds are technically chocolate.  Nom nom nom.

Step 4: Find Reeces you hid from the kids, but forgot about.
   My life ROCKS!  Yes!  Chocolate.  Nom.  (only 1 nom since there was only one Reeces)

Step 5:  Surely there must be some more Milk Duds in here?
   Find 3 more packs of Milk Duds.  All is right with the world.

Step 6:  Oh hell!  No more chocolate!
   Reach for the Tootsie rolls.  Further down on the "Technically chocolate" scale than Milk Duds, but they ARE on the scale.  Pop a few of those.

Step 7:  Starbursts aren't so bad.
    Open them all and eat only the Strawberry.

Step 8:  Other Starbursts aren't so bad and I guess Taffy is okay.
    Eat the lemon Starburst and any tropical ones you find.  OpenTaffy, but not the Banana.

Step 9: Find one last remaining pack of Milk Duds
  OMG!  There IS a higher power.  Yay.  Chocolate!  Nom nom nom.

Step 10:  Screw it.  Nom nom nom
     Eat pretty much whatever's left.  Tootsie rolls go down first, followed by Starbursts (be sure to compare because the Mango looks a lot like the orange, but is higher on the "Yum scale," so must be eaten first), then Bubble Gum and finally Taffy.

Step 11:
    I suppose Pixie Stix and Banana Taffy are technically edible.

    If you make it to Step 11, call for help.
  


I should probably add a Step 9B:  Screw this.  I'm buying my own chocolate.  Buy a bag of whatever Halloween chocolate is still in stock and on sale for 75% off.  Do not proceed to step 10 until entire bag is gone.

Nothing says, "Happy birthday, baby Jesus," quite like this.

This is an actual Xmas ornament I found today at Hobby Lobby.  Um...er...why?  Hobby Lobby is run by the same type of Christians who get their panties in a wad when people want to respect ALL faiths by saying, "Happy Holidays."

How dare you show respect.  That's wrong!  That's a war on Xmas.  

Showing respect is an act of war, but declaring that one of your holiest holidays is really "All about the Benjamins" is okay?

This leaves me itching for a little caroling.

"For unto us a child is born.  Unto us, a son is given and his name shall be overshadowed by cheap ornaments hanging from a pagan remnant as we celebrate his birth."

Reminds me of another song I rewrote last year in honor of the Xmas season.

(to the tune of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus").

Your own inflatable Jesus.  Santa blown up on your lawn, deflate at dawn.

They're As Different As Night And Day

I'm continuing in my collection of clever, yet cheap (frugal if you're feeling more refined) costumes.

As I've mentioned, I love coordinating costumes.  One year, for Purim, my daughters dressed as Night and Day (actually, they did that for 2 years and I recycled it and improved it the following year when I was hugely pregnant and didn't feel like creating something too time or work intensive.  When I say, "Hugely pregnant," I'm not exaggerating.  See?  That picture was taken at the Purim party.  My daughter was born a few hours later.  I kid you not!  

So I hope you can understand why I went with a costume that was completely free and could be thrown together that day.  

Night was super simple.  She wore her favorite black dress (which I got for $3.24 on clearance at Target the year before) and black tights that we had on hand.  I just rolled scotch tape and taped on yellow paper stars which she cut from construction paper.  She wore a star necklace she had.  I had a star of David plastic ornament in with my crafting supplies, so she grabbed that, put pink tissue paper in it and tied it to her wrist.  I had yellow star-shaped ribbon which I cut and added to her shoes and tied around her wrist as a bracelet.  I had hair gems I bought ages ago, but never used.  They're basically just gems with the firm end of velcro on the back, so that it stuck to her hair.  She also wore a headband with stars on it (which she just grabbed from her closet).  She made her own mask from a paper plate and we glued a stick to it.  

I went into labor at the party and we actually wrote down the times of my contractions on the back of that mask.  And yes, I still have it.  :-)  

close-up of the bling

For Day, we went with lots of bright colors--think sunshine and rainbows.  She wore a dress I made her the year before.  It had lots of grass and flowers (and fairies) on it.  We pinned a blue cloud baby blanket around her shoulders like a cape.  It was pinned on with a butterfly pin that once belonged to her great great aunt.  She wore lots of flowers in her hair and all the flowered jewelry she could find--including my favorite set of my own jewelery (which made her feel oh so special).  She wore rainbow knee socks (which I scored for pennies on after x-mas clearance) and her brightest shoes (croc knock-offs which were $1 on clearance).

The costumes were a huge hit.  They won the costume contest that night and they had a blast.  

Day and Night in a race at the Purim carnival

Those remain, to this day, probably my favorite costumes we've ever done.  You wanna win a costume contest?  Go with these.  

Dressing the Goat Rodeo for Halloween

I am the queen of bargain Halloween costumes.  I love making unique costumes and being crafty, but hate spending money.  If we're sharing our collection of crowns, I should also point out that I'm the queen of procrastination.  So I don't usually have months to work on these costumes.  In many cases, I had to throw them together at the last minute (ask me about how Jack Skellington became a munchin just hours before trick-or-treating).

I was inspired by Dollar Store Craft's to feature some of our cheap costumes.  I'm going to do a series of posts on the topic.  This is my first.  It didn't cost us a cent.

Costume:  Flying Monkey

Items:
1 brown hooded sweatshirt or sweater
1 empty ribbon spool
1 red t-shirt
1 pair of brown pants
2 sheets of black craft foam or 1 sheet of cardboard and black paint
1 sheet of brown felt
1 sheet of beige felt
a few safety pins.
hot glue

If you have the shirt and pants, the rest of the items can be found at the dollar store.  You could also use a brown sweatshirt and a brown hat and those can both be found at the dollar store.

My son had brown pants and we borrowed his sisters' brown hooded sweater.


I cut out circles for the ears and put the smaller one inside the larger.   I bunched them a little bit and pinned them from the inside.  I cut strips for a tail.  I covered a piece of wire with felt and glued it with hot glue, but I found the wire was unnecessary.  You can just cut out the curly shape and pin that on the shirt or pants.  I found pinning it to the shirt worked better because it didn't pull his pants down.

I used a red t-shirt for the vest.  I cut the sleeves off, cut the bottom to make it shorter and cut it down the center.  The discarded portions of the t-shirt were used to make the hat.  I covered a ribbon spool (the cardboard circle that ribbon comes on) with the leftover fabric and hot glued it on.  I then pinned it to the hood on an angle.  That hat was the most difficult thing for me to figure out.  I was so thrilled when it was done.

For wings, I searched for pictures of bat wings and then just quickly drew that on black foam.  I cut those out and pinned them to the vest.


I purposely pinned on everything to the pants and top so that they could be reused again.  We got tons of compliments when he went trick-or-treating.  It was hysterical to follow from behind and see those wings bounce and the tail swing.

As an added bonus, I'll throw in my ridiculously simple wicked witch of the west costume too.  Since my son was a flying monkey and I do so love coordinating costumes, his baby sister went as the wicked witch.

I'll get you, my pretty.

I used the big girls' black dance skirt as a shawl over her shoulders.  I dyed a dress black, but it was really a waste of time.  You couldn't see it at all.  She wore knock-off baby legs which we had on hand and she wore the rocking Jack and Lily skull shoes we had on hand (I won them from a blog contest).  She actually wore those same shoes last year for Purim when she was a baby pirate.

Then I found a problem--the hat.  I couldn't find any witch hats in baby sizes and my attempts at making one failed miserably.  This year, you can find some toddler-sized ones in the Target dollar aisle.  Last year, though, no luck.

So I hacked into a decoration from the Dollar Tree.  You know those corny plastic depictions of a witch that you can make appear has smacked into your car, your door, your wall, your tree, or your mother-in-law?  Well, we had one that we bought about 10 years ago.  I cut the hat off that.  It was small enough to work.

It didn't cost us anything at all.  Black baby clothing is very difficult to come by, so if you want to create a witch, try raiding your closet or even your older children's.  Our older daughters had tons of black skirts from which to choose.


Both of their costumes were a big hit and didn't cost us anything.  We were able to raid the closets and the craft bins.  If you do need to buy the materials, it still shouldn't cost you much at all.

Not a great picture, but this is SO my son.
It's also very flying monkeyish, don't you think?

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This Place Feels So Unfamiliar, Yet I Know It Well.

"I think I used to belong here, but the only way I can tell is that I miss you still and I cannot find you here..."

And so it begins.

The husband has reached his destination.  I'm here.  I'm doing the sole parenting thing.  I'm surrounded by people.  I'm lonely.

I ate dinner in the sukkah last night at shul and sat alone.  There were more people there than I've ever seen at sukkot, yet I wrangled the kids by myself.  Idiot me didn't think about the hell that is a buffet dinner with 4 children, especially one who needs a high chair, but someone else always gets the lone high chair first.  The youngest was in "fine" form and people laughed as I tried to carry two plates of food while herding her with my foot.  :::sigh:::

After countless people gave me amused looks and outright laughed at me (I haven't consulted my rabbi, but I'm fairly certain beating people isn't shomer shabbat, which is good, because I very well might have otherwise), a very sweet woman (also mother of 4, but hers are all grown) jumped up and carried my plates to our table.  I could have kissed her if I wasn't busy trying to keep the youngest restrained (remember, someone else beat me to the high chair).

The kids opted to move inside after the flies started winning the battle for dinner.  So I rounded up all our things (which was cumbersome and frustrating) and the youngest (who was also cumbersome and frustrating) and made my way inside--to the lone table in the back.  The kids inhaled the rest of their food and ran to play with their friends.  I sat there alone (with the youngest, but since her dinner conversation leaves much to be desired, I'll consider myself "alone").

I had hoped to sit and chat with a friend, but her baby exploded, so she had to rush off.  I took the youngest to the play room where a friend and a new acquaintance were, but they soon filed out to head back to the festivities in the sukkah (to which I tried to return, but the youngest made that difficult & I didn't want to distract the others).  So we headed back to the playroom where I cleaned up all the while feeling very sorry for myself.

At shul after services this morning, I thought I heard my husband's voice and it took me a second to realize that wasn't possible.  That was a let down (and not in the good milk-spraying way).

Gah!  Just gah!  It's only just begun.  GAH, I say (this time in all caps, although I'll forgo the use of excessive punctuation to show my displeasure).  

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Teshuvah, Tefillanh and Tzedakah

From Chabad.org

Teshuvah: Repentance (Returning)
Tefillah: Prayer
Tzedakah: Charity

It is only through these that we can honor Yom Kippur to its fullest.


A recent Jewish Treat declared, "At this time of year, tzedakah, charity, is particularly potent to avert an evil decree."

It suddenly occurred to me that Yom Kippur begins TOMORROW evening (imagine a gasp of horror here) and more than a mild panic crept over me.

Tzedakah!  I haven't given nearly enough tzedakah. 

Then I stopped to think about it and calmed myself down.

You see, every single time someone asks for sponsors for a walk/ride/some other fundraiser, I donate.  Whether it's a good friend who asks directly or someone who posts on Facebook that their co-worker's second cousin is doing some sort of walk/race/ride/painting farm animals pink to raise money for a charity, I donate.

I've been there.  We do the March of Dimes March for Babies every year.  We have been touched by the work of one organization and so we walk to support them and help prevent others from knowing the pain we have known.  I understand that, whether it's Prematurity, Diabetes, Cancer, or any other of the long list of illnesses, every one of these people who puts their time, effort money and heart into these fundraisers has been touched directly.  I am so very thankful there are people in the world willing to walk/ride/whatever else to help support these organizations--to help make life better for others.

When I think back to those who I've supported as they walked, biked, shaved their heads, ran, etc., I realize that I am fulfilling the commandment to give.  I also am so very thankful to realize that, even though the destruction and hatred in the world can be heartbreaking, I know so many wonderful people trying to make a difference in the world.  In supporting the causes they hold dear, they help support my faith in humanity.