Adventures in Mama-Land

Are your kids bored with typical Jewish children’s books?? I know mine were! That’s actually one of the main reasons I started writing books for Jewish kids.  I was sick of stories that simply repeat the basics:  “It’s Rosh Hashanah, we dip an apple.”  “It’s Sukkos, we sit in the sukkah.”  “It’s Chanukah, we light the menorah.”  I was bored to death of these, and so were my kids, by the time they were two years old or so.  Plus – kids love to read about animals.  I really believe that animals can give us a lot of insight into ourselves and the things we do. That’s how I got the idea for my first animal book – Penguin Rosh Hashanah .  I was sitting on a train wondering what to write for Rosh Hashanah, and I suddenly had the random thought, “Penguins.”  Why penguins?  Penguins, or any animal, really, are the exact opposite of Rosh Hashanah.  And I love it.  Loved the idea of finding connections and creating a very loose, light st...

That Purim was bitterly cold. I was newly divorced with two babies, scared and lonely and tired. I probably wasn't thinking straight, but all I knew was I couldn't afford a babysitter for the night-time megillah reading. So I hauled the kids along, to a friend's shul, basically a tiny storefront deal. The women's and men's sides were separated by a wall with just a few tiny windows for sound. I also noticed that mine were the only small children there. Once the laining began, we crowded in, straining to read along with every single word. There were graggers, but they had to stay silent for the first two chapters. My son, then two, was holding his, but out of boredom, he’d begun turning it around. Click…click… No big deal; we could still hear the megillah. But after a couple of minutes, the woman beside me started shushing. I didn't know what to do. If I took away the gragger, he'd start screaming and really disturb things. Click…click… I felt everybody...

Welcome to the Adar 1st / February 11, 2013 edition of kosher cooking carnival-kcc.   I think this is my FIFTH time hosting the kcc and I assure you, it will be my most slapdash, despite the infinite and amazing potential of an Adar-themed carnival.  However, it would not be complete without a theme at all.  Rather than reaching around to come up with one, which would take more than thirty seconds, I’m going to pick the most obvious:  this month’s theme is… costumes!  Specifically, pictures of me and my family in costumes that I can find in one quick Google search.  Sort of like… the many faces of US.  Enjoy!   general kosher cooking Quick lazy-mama tip:  Just throw a whole bunch of orange things on them and tell them they’re a BIG carrot! Lady-Light presents Tikkun Olam: Don't Eat to Live, Part II posted at Tikkun Olam , saying, "Doesn't seem to relate to any category; it was suggested I post to KCC, so I am. Maybe the inform...

Check out these two costumes, reblogged from sparkamovement , which wrote:  “ Girls’ toddler Cookie Monster costume vs. Boys’ toddler Cookie Monster costume . We’re not joking when we say gender expectations and sexualization start early.” Sure, the boys vs girls issue is interesting, but it’s ultimately irrelevant. Once you start hunting for a ready-made Cookie Monster costume, you've already bought in. Why not an original monster costume more in line with your kid's interests than some corporate marketing exec's???   If you want to be really radical, just skip Hallowe’en and put your money and energy into real holidays that will give your kids something more lasting than a couple of bags of candy.  I say “more lasting than” not “bereft of.”  In case anyone’s thinking of reporting me to CPS for depriving them, you should know that between Simchas Torah and Purim, we really do get plenty of candy.

I am not one for vivid dreams - or, really, any kind of dreams.  But for some reason, here in Elul, I have now had three extraordinarily vivid "King in the field" dreams.  What is this concept? Basically, in the month of Elul, God is very, very close to us indeed.  We finish the book of Eichah on Tisha b'Av with the words "return us to you, Hashem, and we will return."  In other words, meet us halfway.  This month is the fulfillment of that promise.  Turn towards Him, and He will do all the work - bringing you home again. The analogy is of a king - once a year, the king goes out into the field to meet with his populace and take any kinds of requests, however ridiculous. Within most of the theology I've read, there are two "God-concepts" - the God who is immanent (this means near; not to be confused with the near-homonym imminent, which means "coming soon").  This is tangible God - He is palpably everywhere.  The other concept is tr...

Thanks to our pared-down list, we now deliver only 24 shalach manos packages in person on Purim – down from 40 a couple of years ago.  MUCH easier!  24 is such a nice, easy number to make everything come out just right… …100 or so grissini (breadsticks) (4 per package)… …48 or so hamentashen (2 per package; one prune, one cherry)… …48 homemade pink-jello marshmallows…   … 50 25g packages of homemade sponge toffee (somewhat smashed-up)…   …24 little spring chickens, cut, pasted, folded by me and the big kids, with a little poem rolled up inside each one:     (Yerachmiel kindly pointed out that the thing about Esther isn’t true – as Mordechai points out in the megillah, if she hadn’t stepped up to the plate, salvation would have come from somewhere else.  But anyway.) …48 little dip containers for the breadsticks; 24 black bean, 24 chick pea: … 24 Easter baskets, spray-painted gold and silver.  Oy!  I have always resisted the te...

I wanted and wanted and wanted a Purim Shiron / songbook last year, like the one for Chanukah , and then – in the crazy-mad rush before Purim – didn’t get a chance to put one together. Natcherally, the day AFTER Purim, I had plenty of time, so I whipped this together super-fast, and quite a few people have downloaded it already (perhaps for late Purim parties last year?). Anyway, it was a simple matter tonight to haul it out and tweak it somewhat.  All the Hebrew now has vowels, which is mostly a matter of searching song databases and the online Tanach ( here’s my favourite menukad / vowelled Tanach – perfect for copy/paste!). There are translations for every song, but they are not necessarily singable translations.  And I haven’t checked every transliteration 100%. Still – as usual, I hope this little bookie will help somebody, and if it does, please feel free to say hi.  It’s been lonely out here in cyberspace lately. Enjoy! To download this and dozens (hundreds...

…Unless they tell you about it by Tu b’Shvat first!  Since I had kids, it has always been the OFFICIAL rule of this household that Tu b’Shvat is the date by which you MUST choose your Purim costume. More importantly, it is the date after which, you may not CHANGE your Purim costume. Maybe around Simchas Torah, you thought you might want to be an alligator… maybe around Chanukah time, you thought being a chef or a farmer would be cool. But now it’s (almost!) Tu b’Shvat, and if you want to be a flower-selling girl, horsey or ninja,  that’s completely FINE with me. Just decide, and stick with it… because you aren’t changing your mind after today! (By the way, YES, this rule applies even if I have made no actual visible effort towards purchasing or making a Purim costume.  The creative process is complex and meandering, and should not be interrupted at any time!!!) (Here’s me and my sister Sara last Purim!  Catwoman vs Angelic-Woman)    And from the Ar...

(with thanks to Phyllis Sommer’s Ima on and off the Bima for the “Blog Elul” button and meme, which I have not yet participated because I thought I had nothing to say) My friend Sara just wrote an interesting post about strollers , and running after her toddler on Shabbos. Her post reminded me – tangentially – of the olden days, before Toronto got its current eiruv.  I started to write it in her comments, but realized (for once) that my thoughts were totally irrelevant.  “Get your own blog,” I told myself.  But then I realized, “Wait a minute.  I HAVE my own blog.  And this is what it’s for – my random dull reminiscences of bygone eras.”  “Okay, then,” I told myself.  “Why not write it there?” So I am. When YM was a baby, there was no eiruv in Toronto, so young mamas just didn't go out on Shabbos.  By the time we moved to Calgary, also with no eiruv, he was walking, so on Yom Kippur I decided to walk to shul.  The shul was RIGHT across ...

A card arrives in the mail before Purim.  We tear it open, look at the name, and recycle the card:  one more family making a donation instead of sending a mishloach manos basket, box, bag or plate this year.  Not that this is a problem!  By the time we get to thirty-some-odd baskets full of nosh we have to finish by Pesach, I’m happy to forego one or two or a dozen, though you should know that I CHERISH EACH AND EVERY BASKET (just in case yours was one of the ones we got from amazing friends and acquaintances around the community). In fact, last year, when our list was teetering precariously near fifty addresses, I started doing the donation/card routine myself, at least for some folks.  I figure it’s a better way to honour shul rabbis etc., who probably don’t need another basket and might not eat my baking anyway. Which is why I was surprised my mother was so sad to get a card this year from a neighbour who usually delivers baskets.  The neighbour...

Didn’t get a shot of Elisheva in her lunch lady costume last night.  Drat! Anyway,  Gavriel Zev was a super-scary crocodile and Naomi started the day as Belle but later morphed into Queen Esther (yay for Jewish heroes!).       Even the Barbies got in on the action!  This one’s dressed up as a fashion model with a bear on her head…  

(I don’t even know what this facial expression is for…) Hoping your day was leopard-iffic!!! Feline-tastic! I came this close to not having a costume at all.  I could barely pull myself up out of the winter blahs to shlep to Value Village, and once I was there, barely had the energy to wander the aisles for inspiration. I am glad I did!  As Elisheva pointed, this is SO venahafoch hu (upside-down)… “you hate animal prints!” Well, I don’t HATE them, but I sure did have fun mixing them all up like this.  And you can’t quite see here, but I’m cradling a baby leopard; he was part of the costume.  I’m a Leopard Mommy. I also had a pair of fabulous gold leopard- spotted earrings, which you can’t quite see here.  Sara (crooked-halo angel that she is) helpfully pointed out that the earrings should probably be in the MASK ears, not my own… thank you, Sara!!! The whole point is FEELING FABULOUS and really, truly, mostly, I did. Here’s what we ate… includ...

I know, I know… where was this post YESTERDAY??? Well, about twenty seconds before my family was due to arrive for the Purim seudah this afternoon, Naomi requested that we all sing a particular song.  Well, if we were going to try to sing together, we’d need lyrics. (also, wonderful, melodic voices, but let’s not push it – at least I can find lyrics on the Internet!) So I sat down and put together a page of words for a few Purim songs.  Not that there aren’t songbooks out there, but I wanted translations and transliterations, just like we have in our Chanukah book . Of course, I wasn’t able to throw much together in a few minutes, so I spent an hour or so just now putting a better song book together… just in time for next Purim!  (or Shushan Purim, if you live in an ancient walled city) Songs included (transliterations are Ashkenaz except Israeli songs): Ani Purim (I am Purim) /אני פורים Chag Purim /חג פורים Venahafoch / ונהפוך Shosh...