iPhone adventures

I am blogging from my new iPhone. I spent 30 minutes typing in all of my contacts. I didn't want to waste gas driving to AT&T just for a few addresses. I do wish I understood how this thing works a bit better but I'm learning. I would have spent my morning downloading iTunes rather than doing it once my phone arrived. I like starting fresh with a brand new phone. I can be very picky about what I put on. My friend Marci let me borrow a case for it until I can buy my own. It is comforting to have a case on this extremely newfangled gadget. If I wanted an iPad this is a close second. The tactile thing is still a bit frustrating but I will eventually have a stylus and that will help. I've had lots of help with this new acquisition from family and co workers. There is a slight learning curve but like most apple products they had the consumer in mind. So far my favorite thing to do is pinterest. Marci showed me her kindle App and that looks pretty cool too. Well I have to get on with my day.

Easy Homemade Wonder Clay!

I saw this idea somewhere (most likely Pinterest) and I just had to try it. It was a three day process (which I wasn't expecting) so hopefully, you'll be more prepared than I was for the time it takes to make these. I will say that the clay is sparkly white and beautiful when it dries. It takes paint well and when I have the time to cover the pieces with Modge Podge, they will be shiny and beautiful magnets.

 

I'm sure most of you that read this will want to make different ones, but these are for Hanukkah and I had these just for this reason.

First step: Buy the stuff: Get a large bowl, towel, cornstarch, baking soda, water. I did not use food coloring. I saw one recipe call it "Home made porcelain" and it really could be called that, as white and pretty as it is. 

Then you mix the cornstarch and baking soda and water together. Stir it until there are no lumps. Here's the weird part: Microwave from 4-6 minutes. It was more like 6 minutes for me. It will be more solid, but there will be some liquid in the bowl. IT WILL BE VERY HOT!

Get a towel, and wet it lightly. Cover the bowl and let it cool. This took a while, but I'm not sure how long because we went to my sister's house while it cooled. I'm pretty sure it will take the better part of an hour. I then used gloves and kneaded portions and added corn starch to make into pliable dough.

You can see that Zee is like his Eema, because he didn't like the feeling of the baking soda on his hands. Tzipi wasn't bothered at all.

 

Here are the cut out pieces. I preferred the way they looked when I used my hand to flatten the dough, the rolling pin was just too hard to use.

Here are our painted ornaments. We had a lot of fun. The dough was dried overnight. You can put it in an air tight container to keep it from drying out and have clay to play with. It was well worth the effort and I encourage you to try. I really needed some magnets for our fridge. Now I just have to glue the magnets on and we'll be set! 

Please email me if you liked this post! Or if you have my number, give me a text! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy Crafting!

Crochet Latkes

I'm doing a speech on my favorite story: The Hanukkah Guest by Eric A. Kimmel. It's a funny tale about an old deaf and blind babushka and her visitor. So I came up with a cute idea and I'm crocheting a bunch of latkes for the story. When I have a big pile of them, I'll add a picture of them on a platter.
Here's my pattern, chain 6, bend at third chain, connect first chain to last chain with slip stitch. Chain 3, Double Crochet twice in each stitch until you come full circle. Slip stitch to finish. Hope this makes sense. I've never actually came up with my own pattern and written it down before. Happy Crocheted Latkes!

Modest Fashion

If I had a nicer camera, you could tell more detail on the fabric and things, but I'm using a Blackberry. Hopefully you can still get the idea. I thought I'd start taking pictures of my clothes and Tzipi's for inspiration. For me, it helps keep me thinking about something fun; fashion and creativity, for others it might inspire them to understand how important it is that we respect ourselves enough to keep our bodies covered. I am blessed to have a very modest family and the older generation understands that its the inner man that needs to shine, not our flesh.

The skirt that Tzipi is wearing was made out of a more grown up velor, but it works with many of her existing blouses. We don't have a huge selection of shoes, so she's wearing the only nice pair of dress shoes she owns. (Recently purchased for a wedding). I have taken about 6 skirts that were size 7 women and cut them to fit her. It is an easy alteration, but it works!

This skirt is one of my favorites. It has a nice silk lining and is very comfortable. The sweater has tiny threads of iridescent shimmer throughout the knit. I wore a beautiful shawl over it when we went to Temple the evening this picture was taken.

Here's me in my sheitel (wig). I love this skirt, but because it's real leather (suede) I don't wear it very often. When it gets warm it smells like leather. Which is a nice smell most of the time, but after a while it gets to be too much. Excuse the big ugly heater vent next to me, Avi was working on the heater. Zee took the picture. He's got a great eye! The brown sweater I'm wearing was my mother-by-marriage's, but she shrunk it. I love it. It's warm, but light weight. So I'm really getting into the whole layering thing.

I took a few pictures but Tzipi was not in the mood. She looks a bit shapeless here, but the skirt is really very cute on her. The hoodie she picked out at the thrift store has a black and white butterfly that matches nicely with the 50's polka dots. She's wearing a turtle neck as well, but she wanted to wear the hoodie too. The skirt has gores and is very flattering on her, but she just would not cooperate for a picture at 6 in the morning. It used to be my skirt. I'm glad I can repurpose some of the clothes I can no longer wear and she can get some use out of them. 

So hopefully in the next few days I'll post some more of our ensembles and you can see how much fun we're having being fashionable and modest. :-)

I'm ready for Sukkot

Although my heart is saddened and I would like to stay in bed for the rest of my life... I have two children that don't need me to do that.

So I go on. Yom Kippur was beautiful at our local synagogue. I'd never been to a service with a Cello and Piano. It was beautiful. I am so glad that I was able to reflect on the past months and try to come to terms with things. It was a very beautiful evening.
 
Like always, Sukkot follows quickly behind. This year I dreamed we would have our own Sukkah. Well thanks to Darla and Lance's amazing generosity, we have a temporary dwelling. Unless I'm mandated by G-d to eat outside and spend time outside, I don't. So this is a great time of year for me. I'm forced to breathe fresh air and be in nature. Bugs and dirt I am not keen on, but it's worth dealing with them to learn the lessons G-d has for us outside.

In Israel there isn't a lot of space, but they still understand the necessity of following this mitzvah.

So I'm looking forward to being in our Sukkah and eating together.

We'll be celebrating our 11th Anniversary. I can't believe it's been 11 years. I'm going to make it through this. Some how.

Daddy

This was the temporary marker after he was buried.

I'm not sure you can see this is the picture, but he's buried next to a tower.

 

Yesterday was excruciating. But it was good to know that he was buried and his body was resting. Just like we don't throw away bread after we have blessed it, we bury Torah scrolls when they can no longer be used. There is a holiness to things that have holy and sacred purpose. I believe that because the breath of G-d was residing in a body the body maintains that holiness and therefore will forever be sacred. I know that the breath has returned to its origin and will have a new purpose, but my Daddy's purpose on this planet was sacred and will never be forgotten. 

I wish that I'd been able to hear stories of my Daddy from the people at the funeral, but I couldn't face the people that feel I have rejected their maker and become a Jew. They do not understand who I am now and I am a powder keg of emotion. My mother does not need me to hurt her more than I have already. Until I can deal with this and be of help to her, I must keep my distance. My goal is to be like my father, and he would not have been happy for me to say everything I was feeling yesterday. I did not have the strength yesterday to keep my tongue and in order to honor my parents, I could not attend the gathering after the funeral. 

My body is still repairing itself from losing a child and I am a mess. Please forgive my absence and continue to pray for healing.

Blessed are You, L‑rd our G‑d, King of the universe, the True Judge.

For 8 weeks I've been trying to accept being pregnant. Then Friday I learn there's no baby, just a blighted ovum. The nausea, the cravings, the care I took in eating 71 grams of protein, the prenatal vitamins, all a waste. 

So I had gone back to accepting that I was done having children. I'm happy with two. I was trying to make room for three. Now I have an empty space.

Avi comes in this morning and starts saying such sweet things about me. I'm thinking he's consoling me since I am in the process of miscarriage.

No he's about to tell me my father is dead. At 55.

My daddy, my favorite guy, my hero. Gone. I can't call him when I hear weird car noises. I can't call him when I need a sane voice. I can't call him when I need to hear his wisdom. I can't smell of his cologne (or was it aftershave) after he hugs me so tight it hurts because it's been too long. 

I can't sit in his lap and hold my breath so I don't crush him with my huge 5 year old body.

I can't hear him talk to perfect strangers as if they were his best friends.

I got to eat lunch with him one day when I was at work. It was my last time with him. I will cherish that forever. I expected to meet him at the Asian place across from where I work. Instead he's leaning on the building outside my door. I want to run to him, but I don't. I just slowly walk to him and act as if it's the most normal, common thing to do. People look at me when he hugs me and kisses me and puts his arm around my shoulder. I just grin like an idiot.

He taught me how to wait with patience. He taught me how to hold my tongue. He taught me how to work hard. How to be loyal and cherish family. I doubt all the words he said to me would fill much of a book, but each word was carefully chosen and thought out.

I hope I can be like him when I grow up. Good bye Daddy.

How I yearn for winter...

I love the cold crisp clean air.

No more bugs. No more pollen.

I love feeling warm in my home and looking out of the window to see the cold dark day.

The urge to bake and create grows deep within me.

People are in a state of anticipation for the holiday and family gatherings.

Winter makes me happy. Summer makes me yearn for cold days.

Fall is the announcer, preparing Winter's way. "Better prepare, it's almost here!"

Spring is a wonderful time of newness and growth, but winter makes you appreciate it so much more.

Busy but unproductive at the same time!?

Tzipi is such a tom boy. She got to shoot Zee's bb gun for the first time, and she's a great shot!

Don't worry, Avi is with her the whole time and we are teaching her all the necessary rules to bb gun safety. But she is definitely more interested in it than Zee is. 

oh, and see this? This is my nightmare. The stupid idiotic dryer is the most complicated piece of machinery ever, when I know most dryers are not. The back doesn't come off. You have to disassemble the entire thing, top and front and take the entire thing apart and the stupid dryer element is 80 bucks. THEN one of my clothes lines broke with clean wet clothes on it. This is a little thing in the great scheme of things, but right now it feels freakin HUGE!

Too Embarassed

Ok. So I really need to work on my room. I had it pretty organized for a while, and then I had my birthday and it became the dumping ground. I really SHOULD take a before picture, but I just don't think I could bare showing you how bad it's become.

So I hope that I can get it all organized and cleaned this weekend. I'm really tired of the mess.

Will she get it done? Tune in next time, for another exciting chapter of Neesnovellas.

What a good Dad

I'm sorry that they are lopsided photos, but I just wanted to post them quickly and I don't know how to edit them like Leelee does. Anyway... Tzipi was really eager to practice her chosen profession with her Abba. She washed his hair, put a towel around his neck and had him sit in a chair. He let her trim just a little.

 

He looked in the mirror, gasped and said, Oh it's wonderful Tzipi. I don't think I'd be trusting enough to let her practice on me. 

He's such a good Dad!

A new post!

There's no particular order to this post. I took these picture before and during our trip to Austin. This was Bunny sitting in the grass while we were waiting for Leelee to come get me.

I'm not sure you can see the bird, but there is a bird on this table and he steals a big huge conglomeration of french fries.  

This was our dinner in the hotel. It was so delicious! See the box? Scroll down to see whats in it.

Zee made this and I'm not sure if you can see that it's 3D! It's awesome!

This is a lamb. Tzipi made it. So adorable!

See how Hans' legs are stretched out. I love it when goggies do this.

See Polly? We love her.

I told you! They are amazing. Strawberry cupcake and a carrot cake cupcake (say that really fast).

Here is Lazer looking out of Zee's window. He's such a good kitty. (Even if he is the biggest scaredy cat in the world).

I thought these tiles were beautiful. I took pictures.

The tiles were on our tables at Chilis. The food was amazing. Too much food, but it was so delish! 

OK, Leelee... you gotta blog about the Historical Marker we stopped at. I'm so tempted, but I want YOU TO! I think the whole story is so awesome!

My Birthday

I never take pictures during the times I wish I did! Oy! So I'm taking pictures after the fact. I think my mom may have taken some pictures.

The cards and bookmarks from the party.

Flowers from Avi (and a new vase) and Flowers from my Dolores and Cheryl.

The neato organizer from Leelee.

the Deckard Clan

It was so sweet of my mom to offer to throw a party when I turned 33. Typically parties happen for big years (30, 40, etc...) The challenge was that I have so many people that would come and it was just hard. I tried for two months to find a place big enough to accommodate everyone without freaking people out. I could have done it at the Temple, but that would have made people uncomfortable. I could have done it at a restaurant, but then people would have to eat. So I gave up and invited only a few friends from work and had it at my home. It was intimate and nice.

Mom got me some great clothes. I will try and get some pictures of the clothes.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes.

33 has started out really well!

Love you!

Oh Goodie!

Guess what? I need to do laundry. And my dryer needs repair. Ugghh.. Which means I am very grateful for the fact that I have a clothes line, but golly what a lot of work! On my birthday the same load of clothes stayed in the "dryer" (or should I say the spinner) all day long (and now need to be rewashed). And even though our front yard is the greenest on the block, our back yard looks like it's never known care or love. I think I have an orchard of baby apricot trees in the back yard. YIKES! So I am looking at a day of in and out and up and down and heave and ho! Better get it started.