The Key to Good Hollie

Hollie is what my Grandpa Al called the traditional Sabbath bread also known as challah.  You know, that gutteral "ch."  Hollie to me is actually Holly, who is a new friend of mine.  (Hi, Holly!)

This week is the first Shabbat after Passover and an old but only recently popularized custom is that of the "shlissel challah" or , key challah.  The idea is that you bake a challah in the shape of a key, or, alternately, bake a key directly into the challah.  One of the explanations given is that the key will open up the gates of heaven for the next 7 weeks until the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. 

Early this morning I remembered the shlissel challah, whipped up some dough, and even got the big kids to shape some loaves.  Glad they fit it in before the bus. 

I wonder if Grandpa Al knew of this custom or learned about it during his youth at Chaim Berlin Yeshiva.  For some reason, I doubt it.  But I know he would have chuckled at the joke my dear husband Stango offered up this morning as I pulled out the last loaves from the oven.  Something that I should do more often.  Shlissel while you work. 

no keys in here, but these are the loaves shaped by the 3 children shown above.  Nistar's is the top.  Ezra's is the bottom left, with help from his big sis.  Eli's is the bottom right.

Kinderlach's challahs baked and finished product

will be needing this spare house key!

for those who care about sepsis, indeed we wrap the key

I do the traditional three strand braid

wow, I had a manicure last week!

peekaboo, I see you, key!

I braid from the center.  See the key?

moving right along...

almost there

I flipped it over after braiding

I also shaped one in the shape of a key.  I brushed the loaves with an egg-oil-chopped onion-salt mixture.  Yummy onion taste, thanks again to dear Leah Shemtov for that tip

Whelp, that's all folks.  Thinking of Grandpa Al, and Grandma Martha, all of blessed memories, since I mentioned Grandpa Al above.  Hope they enjoyed my handiwork!  Good Shabbes to everyone on the planet and in the past in the future and all the energy bodies everywhere.

Here are my Grandma Martha and Grandpa Al, at my bat mitzvah, sitting in center.  Other dear family members include, from left to right, by couple:  Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Murray , Aunt Henny and later husband Dave, aforementioned Grandma Martha and Al , and Grandma Mayme and Grandpa Archie .  May all their memories be for a blessing.  Miss all these good people.  What a nice representation of families.

TBT: That's Throwback Thursday for the Techno-Challenged

If you don't know what TBT means, and you're interested, or at least want to brush up on your iPad, iPhone, Facebook, Internet, Ebay, Etsy (you never heard of that, huh?) skills then I suggest you contact your

Friendly Neighborhood Tech Coach.

Main Line Tech Coaches.  Alas, that's for another day.

For now, it's Thursday, and my TBT is my dear Stango and I on our honeymoon in Hawaii.  It was March, 2002, just a few months after our wedding.   This photo is from our 7 hour boat ride out into the Pacific along the Na Pali Coast.  From a distance, we viewed the forbidden, private island of Niihau.

May I take inspiration from this photo that we go as soon as possible to another resort vacation filled with exploration and adventure.  And that we have clean, fresh, new clothing to wear at it.  And that we can get back into the shape we were in here.  It's 2014...plenty of Gen Xers are fit, in shape, and healthy.  Forget Gen Xers, what about all the Baby Boomers and Between the War Babies.  So many people are taking good care of their physical health, whether it's walking, swimming, yoga, pilates, Zumba, spinning, barre method, elliptical machine, whatever!  No excuses!  Now that we relived our freedom at the seder(s) as Passover just passed over, and some of us have been renewed (those who celebrate Easter and other spring festivals), and we enter into warmer weather, let us all take a pledge to ourselves to be more active physically.  We have it in us.  I know the food is so delish but we could put down that 2nd portion of food and say we're full and now it's time for physical activity.

At long last.  A photo from the Stango Loony Affair.

Stango and Loony, March 2002, Na Pali Coast, Hawaii

Happy Passover

There are two videos I would like to share with you.
And one illustration, shown at the end of this blog post.

The first is a Happy Passover message from me and Levi.  He is enjoying his egg matzah tam tams already.  Wishing you and yours a happy holiday!  May it be sweet.  Considering I need a quick food to give him, and have no cooked food yet like roasted carrots, sweet potato or zucchini, the tam tams are good.  Soft enough like Joe's O's (Cheerio's).

The 2nd is the most appropriate message from Mr. Marley.  It is the time of our Exodus. I actually posted this video in the past.  But that link no longer works.  Movement of Jah people. We are all moving towards our freedom.  Jews and all people alike.  Let's speak nicely, be kind, and help each other out every day.  Let's share ideas and listen to one another.  Let's follow the good word and love the earth we inhabit. Let's respect all creatures.  Let's be positive and walk away from evil, bad words, and negativity.  Let's rise up against our oppressors.  Speaking of which, and I thank my friend Leah for reminding us to think of this today on the eve of Passover, my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Overland Park, Kansas. 

Finally, here is a drawing I am sharing that was sent to the Nunever.  It was done by an anonymous fan of his drumming.  Talk about it all coming together on one wacked out frazzled Candy man (look at the dude's tie). It's a lot of band music references -- as if the illustrator is thinking that these are *the most* important music influences out there -- but I can see that the illustrator is trying to take it to another level.  All things together and connected I agree.  Gotta wonder what his very official-looking notes are on the right.  Very Wall Street, I would say.  Who knows, this person could be a Kellogg or Wharton graduate.  My interpretation is that this is what happens when the candy man at shul forgets his kippah and has too much candy.  Remember often times the candy man and kiddush club guy is one and the same.  So, just remember whatever you do, take care of your shoes.  And wear something on your head to shul, dude!

From an Anonymous fan of Noah Lehrman

Chillin at Home...In the Year to Come

Who needs Passover cleaning when you have your own in-house entertainment to distract you?

This is most of us, yesterday, with a friend visiting from out of town.  Got to love the 8 year old boy handling the baby, and the punching and silly moves he makes the baby do.




Yep, you caught Stango playing that classic tune "Bashana HaBa'ah" ...just makes you wanna kick back to earlier days on the kibbutz, at Camp Ramah, or when you could only see 2 tv channels in Israel.  Nowadays I wonder even if Israeli kids know this tune.


Thanks to all the Israeli soldiers for defending our country.

from npr.org

Xanadu For Getting Your Spirits Up

My old colleague James Altucher is to thank for reminding me today about how much I loved the movie "Xanadu."  He posted eloquently about a topic I thought about lately:  heroin.

I guess it's out there more than ever because of Philip Seymour Hoffman's recent tragic death.  Or because of the article in the NY Times last month entitled "Prescription Painkillers Seen as Gateway to Heroin."  Could also be due to my conversation with a doctor friend who specializes in addiction, who has seen time and again the quick slippery slope people fall down into heroin addiction once their doctor prescribes them painkillers.

James' thoughts are how to produce a natural high similar to that created by heroin.  He has a lot of good points:  stress-out for short periods of time, working out, socializing, eating at least a modified paleo diet, hot spicy foods, fewer grains, sex, laughter.  Sounds about right.

Painkiller addiction scares me.  Opiates scare me.  I tried to avoid the Percosets after Levi, but I figured they couldn't hurt if I took them for just a couple of days.  That was 2 days too many and the after-effects lasted more than a week.  No thank you.  Let's not get into too many details, shall we?

Nancy Reagan was effective with her brain-on-drugs campaign, by keeping kids like me far away from street drugs in high school.  But 1980s Reaganomics also made the drug companies stronger.   Today we hear stories of problems with on-the-spectrum kids taking Ritalin and Adderall these days (remember last year's national story about a kid who committed suicide in conjunction with his Adderall addiction?) and adults taking OxyContins.  People don't take these drugs seriously enough, and yet off-label drug use is rampant.  Are pharm parties real or made up?  I like to think high schoolers are smarter than that, but it is pretty easy to access stuff which is powerfully addictive due to our nation's licensed doctors who write prescriptions.  And then they freak out over issues of marijuana legalization.  I don't get it.  It's all about money in the end. We live in a Capitalist society, I guess is what people argue.

Back to happiness and Xanadu.  I loved dance and rollerskating, so as a child of the 80s, I naturally loved this movie that flopped at the box office.  Of course I was already in love with Olivia Newton  John because of Grease.  My cousin bought me the record for this movie because she knew how much I loved it.  Back then I didn't appreciate the architecture used in the film, but the Pan Pacific Auditorium was a Los Angeles architectural icon that was destroyed in a fire in the 1980s.

Like James, I listen to the theme song from Xanadu (and watch the awesome choreography) and feel totally pumped.  I hope you do too!

Xanadu was filmed here.  source:  Wikipedia

People Are Strange When You're a Stranger

Happy Monday, everyone.

I decided to be low-key and not offer advice to people, etc.  But I just did it again, and I wished I held back.  But if I don't want to be a stranger.  And I think I have good info to share.  Who knows where things will lead.

So, I am going to still hold back a lot but offer up advice in a kind, happy, good way.  And know when to shut up.


Why I had a poster of Jim Morrison hanging in my college dorm room is beyond me.
It should have been Jerry Garcia.
At least this photo is a bit more modest than the famous bare-chested one of him.

   

Rashi Mincowicz, Of Blessed Memory and SITM

"Unimaginable heartache" is what my friend Rachel just told me when I mentioned the sudden passing last week of Rashi Mincowicz. z'l.  She was 37.  Married and a mother of 8 children.  It was a huge shock.  She was named for her grandmother who also passed away at the age of 37.  She ran a Chabad house.  I can't even get into what that means, but it's all good.  Clearly she had beautiful taste - look at this photo of her and her beautiful family.

But the style is just the surface.  She wrote a beautiful email to her family last year when her aunt passed away regarding how to deal with loss of a family member that has been shared with the public.  And it is very deep.  Way deeper than the beauty you see on the surface in the picture above.

Rashi lived in/near the town of Alpharetta, which is where Phish played numerous times.  So I recognized that right away.

Her children have no mama.
Such sadness.
Look at that sweet little baby next to her.

Do what you can and support them to help with household help.

Music isn't the thing we do when someone passes away in the Jewish tradition, but I am posting this anyway.   A lot of special people go to see Phish.  And they were all right near Rashi at the time in Alpharetta.  They play Silent in the Morning (SITM).  I don't know what the words mean exactly but it's a pretty tune.  So, I dedicate this to Rashi Mincowicz whose neshama (soul) should have an aliya in shamayim (have an honor in heaven) and continue to glow, sparkle, and offer "resounding echoes" of bracha (blessing) to her family.

Rainbow Hamentaschen? Go for it!

If you're a Jewish mama like me, you've seen these rainbow hamentaschen trending on Facebook these past few weeks.

From Kitchen Tested

What can I say?

Kids...there is NO.WAY.I.AM.GONNA.MAKE.THESE

The recipe itself as well as my friends who have ventured into this den of self-inflicted pain echo the same warning signs. They take time.  They aren't easy.  And that's all I need to conclude that they are not for me.  No ounce of Jewish mothering guilt will get me there.

I love to bake, but I dread the annual hamentaschen baking.  My mom didn't make them growing up, so I decided it would be a good thing to share with my kids.  But, yet again, I learn that my mother was a very smart person back then (she's still very smart).  Every year when the hamentaschen either open, ooze out their jam, make a sticky mess, or any combination thereof, I utter the same thing:

You Nasty Expletive  *@A#  %*^ three-cornered Eastern European Purim cookies.
You jerky Haman's pockets.
May there be an ugly curse on you, Haman's Ears.

So, while these rainbow hamentaschen look stunning, this year I will enjoy the hamentaschen that everyone else made from the shalach manos packages we receive.  And I will eat them with a smile.

Rock N Roll Resort Contest for a FREE VIP Weekend

This music festival coming up this April 4-6th in "The Mountains" (if you are Jewish and reading this and from the east coast  you know what mountains I am talking about.  To my Santa Monica SparklingSister, sorry to be so New Yorky!) called Rock N Roll Resort is having A CONTEST FOR A FREE VIP WEEKEND

Here is the Link

https://facebook.antavo.com/DOW/F/?oid=tI

Click on that to enter to win a free weekend for two.

And to all you Yidden, yes of course you recognize that town name of Kerhonkson!  You can betchyer bottom dollar that there's only one thing there that you would know of.  And that some smart person renamed the former Granit Hotel (didn't people just say "The Granit?"  Didn't Aunt Sherine used to go there?) as the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa hotel..  I never went there, but it was one of "those places in the mountains."

Actually it looks like you can go there for Pesach this year!

So, Nu, the real question is...for the winner of the Rock N Roll Resort, will you find a minyan and can they get me kosher food?!?  (I am sortof joking.  Sortof not.  Maybe so or maybe not. Was this the life I sought?)

)

Oh yeah, if I win, (Cuz , yeah you bet I entered this even though The Wolfman has his kung fu testing that Sunday and we really can't miss it but I would love to win this!) I will figure out the (kosher) food thing, the shul thing, and the convince the husband thing cuz it's something we won and you know how much live music makes me happy and it's something we love to enjoy together, and good thing the baby loves his mama and he will come along with us no worries there and by the way mom and dad if we win can the kids come to you for Shabbes that weekend?)

I hope I didn't just jinx our chances.

Relationship Building in the Age of Social Media...Simple Smiles and Good Times

Who else is fed up with Facebook friends?  People who you haven't seen in years, people you have never met, people who you danced with at a show once?  All those photos of dinners in Wine Country, at Disneyworld, on the ski slopes.  You weren't there.  These aren't real relationships.  They are virtual and fun, but these friends aren't calling you to find out if you got over the stomach flu.  Who makes phone calls anymore, anyway?  The voyeurism of Facebook, Twitter and other social media may be fun, but it's not a real deal live relationship.

Just the other day, Stango and I were chatting about the idea that it's time to cultivate REAL relationships.

Time to have real tea.

Time to stop texting, because you can't text an intonation.

Time to learn from the Green Bubbie!



Here's an oldie but a goodie about relationships.  Not very solid relationships, but they probably were solid at one point.  Such a classic newbie tune.  Reminds me of when I began to fall in love with my favorite band.  Good times.

Stuck in the Middle With Fill in the Blank

Thanks Bob Lefsetz for referencing this tune today.




Been wondering where I've been, eh?  (That's the Canadian eh)

Been trying to not really care about the little stuff.

There's a lot of little stuff out there.

At least the baby's clean, the boys are in the shower and Nistar is on her way home from gymnastics.  That's what matters in my tiny corner of the earth.  You don't need to care about any of that, but I do, and I'm glad.  The question is why in the world would I write this all on a blog?

No clue.

Baby Levi.  My Nova Scotian roots ain't too far away.

If Not Now, When?

It is lovely to see Pete Seeger quoting Rabbi Hillel's famous words.  There have been so many posts all week about Pete.  He was a giant.  I was grateful to have said to him directly:  "Thank you."


 

Thanks Pete Seeger.  We'll be seein' ya.

Pete Seeger at the Strawberry Festival in Beacon, NY June 2010  Photo by yours truly

I Must inquire, Mr. Salinger, can you still have fun?

Today is the 4th anniversary of J.D Salinger's death.  Us Jews call it a yahrtzeit.  Even though he wasn't Jewish, Salinger's father was.  Close enough.

You should watch the documentary about him.   You really should. I liked it.  Then again, I am no film critic.  I told a friend that I watched it; she said she heard it got bad reviews.  I don't care.  I liked seeing all the interviews.   I liked envisioning eating popcorn made with brewer's yeast with Jerry, which is what he did with one of his young girlfriends.  That would've been fun.  But then again that never would've happened cuz I wasn't a good writer.  As such, Salinger wouldn't have been terribly interested in me. 

Here is my own sweetness at the library last week.  I hope he and all of my kinderlach will love Salinger's many works.  And that they will read more than just Salinger (which is what I basically did in high school.  That and Cliff's Notes for the rest of the stuff).  And that they will be better writers than me.  

And why the blog title, you ask?  Cuz I was listening to Wilson from 12/31/91 today, a show I should have been at in Worcester when I was a college sophomore, just after the prime of my wannabe Salingeresque youth, but wasn't.  And boy is that Wilson so much fun.  The blog title comes from Wilson.  A lot of modern-day Holdens have enjoyed that one.  Please me have no regrets that one comes straight from my baby Levi's mouth.

Which leads me to the whole Wilson-Seattle football team thing that Trey got going.  I love these guys.

Here's a look at Wilson from last summer.  The very day when Levi, the sweetness above, was born.  Not like Trey knew that.  But hey, it's all connected.

Salinger's 4th Yahrtzeit Approaching

On January 27th to be exact.

Which is 1/27.

For those of you who have followed my antics here, you might recall my fondness for the number 127.

Here's one time I mention it.

Here's another, earlier, time I mention it.

It's a lucky number for my mother.
Her first name is Sarah.
127 is the age when our biblical matriarch Sarah passed away.
It's the number when you add up its digits gets to 10.
And who doesn't love a perfect 10.

So, why is it that I missed that Salinger passed away on 1/27?
Read about my fascination with Salinger books.

J.D. Salinger drawing that appeared on the cover of Time Magazine

I just finished watching the Salinger documentary from last year
All Americans should see this.
We all loved and love Catcher in the Rye.
You may think I am biased, since my college advisor and favorite professor, Stephen J. Whitfield, appears as a commentator in the film.
But I loved this movie even before I saw him in it.
No, I didn't know he was in it.

I do believe strongly that the sporadic release of Salinger's remaining works from 2015-2020, as noted by the film, will play a strong role in creating positive energy in the world.

It is a good thing!

There is no doubt in my mind that larger questions of religion and God existed for Salinger.  His Glass family practices a religion, after all.  Seymour commits suicide.  Salinger's father was Jewish and he helped to liberate the camps.  He served as a counterintelligence officer soon after the war.  He tried catching Nazis.  He married a former Nazi and soon divorced her.  I wish I could have had Jerry Salinger over for a shabbes dinner at our house.  I think he would have liked my challah.  I hope he would have had fun.  I just had some popcorn with brewer's yeast on it.  Good stuff.  But what about warm chocolate babka?  That would be good, too.

Forget about the music I love affecting so many Americans for the good.  (for the moment, at least!)

J.D. Salinger's books affected so many Americans for the good.

And, disturbingly, as noted in the film, they affected not just one but 3 Americans for the bad in their assassinations or attempted assassinations of famous people.   That concerns me but as Salinger said to his fans, he isn't a therapist.  He did good for the world by writing what he wrote.  And it will be so exciting to read the rest of his goods in the next decade.  The Glass and Caulfield families will finally rise to their fullest potentials in American literature.

I imagine little Suzy Greenberg, a girl who said she wants to be a sociologist but it was suggested she should get checked by a neurologist, must've read Catcher and related to Holden just as much as the next girl.


I loved reading about the Glass children (was it Franny or Zooey?) when we lived in New Haven, envisioning myself on the very platform I used to ascend when I commuted to Manhattan from there in 2003.

Thanks, Mr. Salinger.
This blog post comes from a good place and the best of intentions.
I only claim to be an ideas person who wants good in the world.

Bar Mitzvah Standard Stuff and Jam Cruise 13

Next year, Jam Cruise will celebrate 13 years.  They just came back from their 12th voyage, and I am looking at all the fun photos from this music festival on a boat.  I doubt I will be able to make it to next year's voyage, but I am calling it here and now that "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang, which was the go - to Bar Mitzvah song of the 80s when I was attending those parties, should be played.

I just read about some dude in the New Yorker who runs some really successful marketing company and he just had a Bar Mitzvah party for his company.  So it's not like I'm the only one who thinks up these good ideas.  Difference is that guy is a gazillionairre with marketing finesse and I'm not.

The happy memories of dancing away to Celebration are making me smile...and that's what important!

Nursing my Baby is a Real Privilege

Not only have all of my babies nursed successfully, but I love to nurse.  I am really fortunate in this regard.

I missed it during the 6 year break between Ezra and Levi, but time allows you to forget and the memory got hazier with each passing year.  

So it was like seeing a really good old friend again when I had Levi.  All the warm fuzzy feelings came rushing back with nursing baby #4.  Going back to La Leche League meetings is so enjoyable!  Chatting with my sister Reba about how much we love nursing our babies is a real happy thing.  

And now Levi is nearly 6 months.  Gd willing I will have many more months to nurse my baby.  I like nursing this size baby.  A newborn is more challenging.  Time is flying and I hope I can ride this wave for as long as possible.  

The skin that you think you might see and think is my naked body is definitely not a breast.  And even if it were, what you see in a typical fashion magazine is a lot more risque.  But still, if you know me you know I strive for modesty and that doesn't look like breast to me.

School Notes Purge: Both Sides Now...It's Life's Illusions I Recall

"Moons and dunes and ferris wheels." - Joni Mitchell

Here's a bunch of stuff I recently purged from my elementary school files.

From my first summer at camp, summer 1981.  I loved this stationary so much!

This stationary is still blank.  Nistar will use it this summer.  

This was from a friend who had a boyfriend in 5th grade.  I stopped getting letters from her after a while.  Years later I found out my mother had intercepted.  She saw that this might have been a bad influence.  

More boyfriend talk but my mom didn't intercept Lauren's letters.  I wonder why. 

And from the school year around this time. 

Looking back I know I was sheltered, innocent, and good-natured.  I was scared of anything too sketchy and trouble-making.  When I heard of public high school and that it was like a "jungle" where people forced you to do drugs, I was pretty scared.  I am glad I was the way I was.  I did ok in school and I had nice friends.  I'm pretty happy about that.

I saved so many notes and papers from my childhood.  Over the years I have been whittling them down.  I keep thinking I should save them for my children and grandchildren. Um... Seriously, Rach?

Now that I have memorialized these items in perpetuity (or, for as long as Blogger exists) I feel sortof ok with trashing my stuff. 

And even if these pages are deleted, I really don't think I benefited from saving all they stuff.

As is often the case when I purge of stuff I have zero use for, I feel lighter and  freer.  New energy can flow in.  Speaking of which it is time to get to the gym and do some sun salutations.  Namaste to the recycling guys for picking up all my extra paper this week!

My Baby Keeps Waking Up

It's so sad.  He can't seem to sleep.  He threw up all over me.  He's making silly noises with his mouth.  Will he go to sleep any time soon?  It's almost 1 in the morning.

Why not shluff to this...

Concert in Central Park.  Now that would've been fun.

This is from at least a month ago.  Levi's wearing helicopter BabyLegs.

Or this

Jews and Phish In the HuffPost

My favorite band and my lifestyle come together, from my vantage point, at every show I attend these days.  So I was pretty psyched to see coverage of this very topic - my thoughts validated - over the weekend in the Huffington Post in One. Epic. Article.

I'm glad, glad, glad that there are good writers out there like Josh Fleet, the author of the article (full disclosure:  we are friendly IRL).

I'm glad, glad, glad that there are good news blogs out there like the Huffington Post (full disclosure:  I have never met Arianna).

I'm glad, glad, glad that there are good bands out there like Phish (full disclosure:  I stood behind Trey and Fish once at a friend's wedding. I don't know them, but my friend does).

Phish plays great music.  They are remarkable musicians.  That goes without saying.  I have said that here before.  Jon Pareles has already noted this in the NY Times.  "Remarkable musicianship" was his exact phrase a few years ago.  I am not making this stuff up myself.  But they about more than good music.  They have a message and I hear it loud and clear (as per the aforementioned HuffPost article).  It is about so much:  the light, kindness, youth, human decency, silliness, folklore.  The 4 guys are a bit nebbishy in a good way.  They remind me of guys I know.  They seem like great, decent guys.  And their fans are great, decent people who happen to love great, decent music. 

Speaking of their fans and acquaintances, how awesome is it that I ran into Big Josh (who maybe people should call instead Mensch Josh.  Stango would call him Reb Josh) and Shmeeans at MSG last week?   (full disclosure:  I am friendly with this Josh, too, IRL  And Shmeeans, well, we've met but never really hung out)  Shmeeans is currently on Jam Cruise, something which sounds so fun and, incidentally, where Fish is right now with his band Pork Tornado (yeah yeah you like the treif stuff, I know).  I have heard Shmeeans' band Lettuce and all I gotta say is that dude knows how to rage it proper.

Josh said we should all smile in the picture.  I guess I should have smiled.  I look pretty ridiculous here.

Need a Smart Mama Head

It's a real skill to know how to manage your children's stuff.  And by stuff I mean the craft products, school projects and toys both big and small.  For years my friends have told me they just get rid of it when their kids are asleep.  And this is what I have done. Do you think they noticed the other day when their shrinky dinks were gone? 

But it's not easy and I continue to feel I am failing in this department. I don't want to get rid of the good stuff, but I don't think there is too much good stuff. But my children do. 

My kids seem to have a ridiculous amount of creations. More than the average suburban kids.   They dwell. They think a lot.  They value their junk. I can't stand it!  I want a clutter free home.  I don't like seeing nubby pencil stubs, pieces of yarn, scraps of paper, foam balls collecting lint balls.

And in true form of life mimicking art, when I look at my own possessions I see a lot of extra junk hanging around.  I have a whole box of photos from 2003. I have old journals, oodles of CDs that need to be burned, my high school and college papers I still haven't recycled.  

As I mentioned recently I try so hard to stay ontop of all this.  I am mindful of decluttering and have the right intentions.  I have been this way my whole life:  I recall being so proud of my clean desk drawers before Passover when I wax 9 or 10. I wanted my mom to see how good of a job I did.  

And yet it never seems to be enough.  I have friends who are much neater, tidier, on top of their stuff.  

Ever grateful for my own uniqueness I am grateful for what I have.  

I have friends who are huge slobs, packrats who can't part with a 20 year old sweater (or 5), leave their candy wrappers strewn about, don't use their garages because they are filled with their junk.  

I go through this exercise often:  at least I am not *that.*. I think the trick is to surrender to the flow and stop comparing.  Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.  Be in the moment and still be mindful of your stuff. And remember to always take care of your shoes. 

(John Lennon wheels video)

Levi Gravy

How's By You?

My Sparkling Sister

Just because I can...

 

These are my dear friends who live in LA.

Dude, what is the deal with your blue face!?

xoxo love and miss you Adam and Ashira!

More from The Land of Purge

They make everything look neat, tidy, and current.

But do they know of the Whole Phamily? Nope. In the land of nod it's the whole family.  In the land of purge we are the Whole Phamily. 

A few weeks ago I got rid of 10 bags of unnecessary stuff, and yet the stuff keeps coming.  Aside from the fact that we might move later this year, I prefer to keep things minimal. I loathe when things pile up. I learned well from my mom  get rid of stuff you don't use.  I wish I could do better.  I admire friends who really do live minimally.  Less is more is powerful  Extra stuff isn't good for one's feng shui (wow, now that's a blast from the past!)

A tip of the hat to my blog title post

Goodbye to the following:  

I tried teaching Nistar how to make these classic barrettes from my childhood.  Ixnay on that one.

This is a kippah Nistar made at camp. Nice effort.  Stango wore it a few times.  She agreed to get rid of it. 

This is a wallhanging Nistar made for me.  Complete with an original baby picture of me she cut!  No, she didn't ask!  Don't have the heart to throw away yet.

This silly hat was sitting in the boy's kippa box for years.  It is now relegated to its proper spot:  the dress up box.  Which only gets used these days when we have preschoolers over.  

The hat maker is some famous company.   It is from my husband's youth.  Note the old school handwriting inside the hat, identifying my DH as its rightful owner.  As if other kids brought this type of thing to camp.  I guess Stango was long-outside the box.  

This isn't my house but our friend's where we recently visited.  Love this minimal, clutter-free room.  An

inspiration.  

Totally inspired now to finally get rid of my high school and college papers.  Over the years I have been whittling them down but it is finally the time to recycle it all.  Considering I was a poor writer in college, there is zero reason to save that junk.  Maybe I will keep one or two papers.  That is it!  

Boy that's gonna be an awesome feeling! 

Thank you Mrs Hollinger! And belated Happy Hanukkah

The best art teacher ever.  Hands down. My mom saved this for years.  And now I have saved it for years.  And now I put my 2nd or 1st or 3rd grade project in the garbage.  Wait wait. Maybe my children will say, "why don't I have some of mama's original artwork from when she was a kid,"

Nope.  Just asked the 10 year old.  "Yeah mama, put it on your blog. Perfect solution."

We Built This City...

On rock and roll, you hum?  No!  On compost.  Kudos, congrats, kol hakavod to New York City for running a pilot city compost program.

While visiting my sister Reba this week I saw the bins along her street.  Naturally the neighborhood is the perfect place to try it out:  she lives in a part of Brooklyn where you have a lot of organic food pushers.  So glad NYC is moving along with this.

Further to my music reference above, I am happy to report that my end of year visit to Manhattan was wonderful all around.  It was fueled by the music that I love best.  I saw friends and family both at the shows and in the times in between. We went to museums, consumed many a brunch, walked through Central Park with the kinderlach, and hung with the cousins. Levi did well with his mama out two nights in a row and I was grateful to my sister and brother in law for facilitating that.  Sadly I didn't allow my children to watch a movie on New Year's Eve, and that was a break with their tradition.  My children were acting way overtired so I just made them to to bed by 10.   Why I couldn't get it together for them to be sitting at a movie by 8 I don't know why.  Oh right I have a baby.  But what about my Stango help?  Obviously I failed in delegating and giving him some guidance.  Gotta work on that. 

While I would love to wax poetic about how Madison Square Garden is the most festive, fun, youthful, for-kids-of-all-ages-perhaps-15-and-over celebration in all of New York City, I gotta get dressed and make school lunches.

And just because you should see the greatness of what New Year's Eve could look like


 And here's to 30 years of Phish (didn't see it yet as I didn't go to the New Year's show)



If it was the secular New Year that means that Chinese New Year is coming up which means it's time to make Marci's "chinese New Year's cookies!"  I have had the ingredients for a while now.

Oh, so much to do...
And just because

Blues Brothers On New Year's Eve Would be Fun!

So many people were disappointed that Phish didn't cover a whole album, as has been their custom for the past many years, on Halloween this year in Atlantic City.   Well, why not stay broken from tradition and make up for this on New Year's Eve as part of their annual "prank?"

And do a cover of the Blues Brothers soundtrack?




At the gym today I listened to it, and yep, it could totally fly!

Maybe they should do an abridged format.

But I can just picture it:  bring out the Giant Country Horns



Who would cover Aretha, though?





If Clapton and Jeff Beck already covered Shake Your Moneymaker, why can't Phish?





And how about Shake a Tail Feather...the ultimate!



I mean, pulease!  Isn't that just custom-made for Fish?

Phish is My Church, With Some Sweat To Boot!

That's a line I have heard so many times over at shows.
Said mostly by people who don't go to church.
At least regularly.

Not the choice of words I would use, but I like to be provocative.
You actually thought I would say that?

But you could fill in other words, too.

Phish is My Zen.
Phish is My Temple.
Phish is My Services.
Phish is My Child's Pose.
Phish is My Creme Brulee.
Phish is My Monastery.
Phish is My 30 Foot Yacht.
Phish is My Minaret.
Phish is My Delicious Dish.

For those who go or don't go to houses of worship, one thing that those who see Phish repeatedly over the years have in common with prayer services is a set liturgy.  We know the songs, we love the music, we know the words (or don't, and just hum along).  It is a familiar feeling of coming home, a sense of happiness and elevation to a more meaningful level of life that draws us again and again to see this great band.

And for the newbies, the uninitiated among us, that first show can also be a sense of homeyness, comfort, joy.

And this is one of many reasons why I am so grateful for Phish.  I plan to run the Midnight Run (um...Just learned the fee is $65!  Fer realz!?!?  I could get to a show for just a little bit more $!  Alas, I really am looking forward to running in Central Park.  It's been a long time)  next week on New Year's eve (no NYE Phish show for me; but I'll be there for some shows earlier in the NYE run).

I haven't run a 5K in a while.  So at the gym just now I gave it a test run.  I played some Live Bait and I was set.  All I needed was a Wilson, Tweezer and YEM and I got there with minimal pain, and maximum gain.  So happy to listen to my favorite music and do a leisurely 5k on the treadmill.

And if you caught my SNL reference above, check out Mr. Alec Baldwin.  'Tis the season, after all.





I imagine that link won't last long. Lorne, I hear ya on protecting your Intellectual Property, but can you give this mama a break?

My Husband Finally Watched Netflix!

There is limited time to devote to a show or movie, but I enjoy kicking back and watching something good.  Lately, it is "Freaks and Geeks."  How embarrased would I be if I met Judd Apatow and Paul Feig, the creators of that show, and was like, um yeah 14 years later I am watching your show and it's totally rad; you guys are da bomb; I wanna be from Lake Winnipesaukee and tell you that you're wicked cool.  Good thing I have no meeting set in the near future at my local Coffee Bean to chat with Judd. 

 My husband is more selective. He rarely watches anything. He misses the good old Eddie Murphy comedies, he says. Most evenings he is at the computer reading a research article on the brain.  I guess I have it ok.  Better that then action movies or ball games.  Stango loves his work in the field of Neurology and doesn't stop learning after-hours.

So you might imagine my excitement when I saw the Netflix screen opened to something new!  Here's what I saw:

Seriously?  A brain talk?

I hope my husband enjoyed what he saw, and I hope it not only contributed towards his bettering the world but also, ultimately, our bank account!

Don't Pretzel My Buttons

And don't think I'm so clever, either: it's the name of the OPI nail polish I just got.  Kudos to the witty nail polish color writers.  Takes on a whole new definition of Hallmark card writer.  It was Concealed Light, Levi and I at the nail salon.

CL was such a great helper with the baby and reminded me of Miriam in this week's Torah portion, Exodus (Shnmot in Hebrew) who was a midwife and helped out her own mother as well.  Okay okay my daughter isn't quite catching babies as they exit the womb, but she did hold my baby while I was getting the mani.  

Coco, the ever chic Korean proprietor of my nail salon, questioned if it was ok that my 10 year old was holding him.  Clearly she didn't know that Jewish girls (and boys in my home) are employed at a young age to assist in childcare!  Let me give credit where credit is due and say that Coco was also an awesome helper.  She held Levi while I was getting my pedi and Concealed Light was getting her manicure.

Ultimately it was because of Miriam's prophecy that she and her mother Yocheved cared for, in secret, the Jewish baby boys, and saved the entire Jewish people.

Go girl power right from the start.

Like the color?

What's a Whole Phamily blog post without some music.  So, enjoy Bob Marley's Exodus," have a great Shabbes and enjoy your manicure if you got one this week!

Bottega Veneta can be Hippy Chic

Or, in Case You Thought I Was a Card-Carrying Hippy Chick...

My mother has good taste.  She told me about Bottega Veneta when I was a young girl, and when their store opened in our mall she told me that it was a fine place to shop for handbags.  I am so grateful to my mother for planting the seeds of the finest of taste.

Only recently have I learned about the company's history and the workmanship that goes into each piece.  That's what you get for reading The New Yorker.  No, I can't post a link to the great article, as Conde Nast is highly protective of their Intellectual Property.  Ya know what, good for them!

Bottega's classic butter-soft leather woven bags have a distinctive look which has been copied many times over.  You know the look, but you just don't know that it's Bottega.  These bags are the ultimate understated elegance.  One need simply only to say Bottega and nothing else.  No flashy labels, no flashy logos, no flashy nothing.  Their artisans, working out of a small town in Italy, are trained and apprenticed to hand-craft their bags.

Indeed, their company motto is "When your own initials are enough."

I don't want a Kelly bag.
I don't want a classic quilted Chanel bag.
Louis Vuitton totes?  So passe!
One day I would love a big ole Bottega.

Advertisement from back of  a recent New York Magazine 

 I was blown away to see the above ad.  Just as my 5th grade teacher taught me, if the ad is on the back of the magazine you know it's important.  Check out how they are making home furnishings now.  And look at that pillow.  I'd take just the pillow alone!

Last spring I had the opportunity to visit their Manhattan store on 5th Avenue.  What a lovely ambience.  Some older women were in there buying Bottega luggage.  As if!

Take a guess as to who now owns the Bottega company?

Gucci.

How Bout Dem Apples?

Earlier this fall I went into Ezra's class to do a taste test of various types of apples with the first graders.  I brought in Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji and Braeburn (note my executive decision to capitalize the Names of the Apples).  I got the idea because in a conversation with Ezra, the Wolfman's Brother, I realized he didn't know that there were different kinds of apples.  Plus I wanted to find a reason to do something in his class.  It's good when your mama comes into your class to do something.  In 1982 or so my friend Rachel's mother came in to my 3rd grade class to make something called moon bars.  It coincided with a Space Shuttle launch.  They were yummy and chocolatey.  And then my classmate Marlene's mother came and made what was called ambrosia.  It coincided with nothing.  It was coconutty with oranges and marshmallows.  It was gross.

Surprisingly the kids chose Granny Smith as their overall favorite. I thought it would be Honeycrisp.  A little boy named David, one of Ezra's friends with a huge head of black curly hair, was wearing green that day.  He kept wanting more Granny Smith.  He was even wearing a green kipa.  It was so funny!  Coincidence or not?  Who knows.

  And now I can declutter by posting a photo of the lovely thank you note from the class.  I especially love how Nate, a soft spoken boy with light brown curly hair, signed his name.  First grade is so sweet and Ezra is fortunate to have Mrs. Laytin as his teacher.