And.... Erev Pesach in My House

I suppose I didn't want to leave the blog with such a cynical feeling going into the holiday.

Just a few hours before the holiday begins, Ben and and Yemima are napping, Eden is "resting" in her room - singing hagaddah and Dudu Pesach songs quietly, and I am watching the Pesach rolls bake.

Not making seder definitely takes a load off. Tomorrow's salmon is marinating quietly in the fridge, ready to be baked tomorrow morning, and salad can be done tomorrow morning also.

Looking forward to a week of vacation - for both me and Ben! - ahead. Yummy food, new beginnings.

Wishing all my (less than 10?) readers an enjoyable, restful, and insightful holiday of spring and freedom.

Pesach in my house

Many Orthodox Jews are extra stringent about getting rid of all chametz over pesach. Has something to do with karet as punishment - being cut off from the community. Always very scary, out there on your own.

This usually involves a great deal of heartache and raw skin on your hands, use of great gobs of cleaning solution and scrub brushes.

Me, you know I like a good efficiency. And I don't like heartache or raw skin.

Here's how we do it in the Gold household, circa 2010:

Rule #1: Have a baby that year, which enables you to say things like, "I just can't do that. I'm just not up for doing X,Y,Z - I didn't sleep well last night."

Rule #2: Catch a bad cold the week before Pesach. Usually helps with #1.

Rule #3: Have one spouse take on a major project at work, clocking 50-60 hours a week, for the two weeks before Pesach. Always helps with rules #1 and #2. Better that it's the spouse who usually does the oven and fridge, enabling #4.

Rule #4: Have the cleaning lady do the oven and fridge. Best NIS 150 ever spent.

Rule #5: Don't clean where there's no food. Like Yemima's room. She doesn't crawl that well and can't reach the cookies on her own. Nuff said. Quick peek - oh no chametz? Great. Check.

Rule #6: Spring cleaning waits until retirement, when it can last the entire spring. Oh well.

Rule #7: Close off the freezer. Who needs a freezer over Pesach? I'm not cooking ahead, can get plenty of fresh meats, and since I'll be home all week, leftovers won't last very long. So, no need to scrub at the frozen chametz in the freezer.

Rule #8: Who needs lots of things over Pesach? It's only a week!!! We make do with lots of fresh fruits and vegies, lots of matza meal and eggs, cheese and yummy matzah cookies.

Rule #9: Eat kitniot. Higher taxes for living in the Jewish state have to be worth something. It's not my problem that my great-grandparents were born in Europe. I chose differently.

Rule #10: We really mean it when we declare any chametz still in our possession worthless and null, as the dust of the earth.

Off to look for ways to make the seder fun for my five year old. She doesn't know the mah nishtana yet, and clearly, I'm not pushing her (If I'm not pushing myself, how can I push her?). Let's see if she can complete a Pesach bingo card!

PS. Ben just read this with me and says that I'm a great lister. Hah! He doesn't know the least of it.

Sorry - make that enumerator. See what I get for marrying an editor? And Ashkenazi to boot! Well, at least one of those we can do something about...

31 reasons you shouldn't feel mom guilt

Sarah sent me this link.

My favorite:

18 Tossing their artwork. After you've saved the truly superior thumb pots and the especially sentimental glitter collages, you will still have a heap of crafts the size of Mount Etna. Fill up a big black Hefty bag after they're asleep, pour yourself some wine, and then watch Hoarders. You'll feel better instantly.

Travel Meme

I love getting tagged.

Thanks, Dr. Savta.

I'm not one so big on "bests" and "worsts" - I mean it's all relative, right? So i modified this a bit (also why I didn't use my friend's new meme site. But you should).

I'm not tagging anyone. But feel free to take it!

Rules: Fill in the following questions & tag 5 friends (try friends who travel a lot).

• A really great trip…
  Our senior trip to - I think hiking in N Carolina? Gosh I don't remember. I'm also not sure how many people who were there actually read this blog.... Anyone remember the nudists in Asheville? Not sure if I'm remembering that right either...
  Also our stint up in the Italian Dolomites.
• A really awful trip…
  When Ben and I thought to go out for dinner on Yom Hashoah, just because it was the one night we could both get away. Right...nothings open.
• Important things lost on a trip…
  I left my coat in the airport in Rome. However, Ben got his wallet stolen on the subway.
• Important things I forgot to take on a trip…
  I also can't think of anything! Maybe something like my glasses.
• Thing I miss most when I’m away…
  My bed, kitchen, bathroom.
• Thing I miss least when I’m away…
  The mess.
• Favorite travel partner…
  Ben
• Place I hope to travel to someday…
  You know, I have no real interest in any particular place. Give me quiet, serenity, privacy. Perhaps a swing in back. Cool air. Yummy food (that I don't need to prepare). Maybe some snow and a fireplace. Interesting town. Books.
  
  
  
  

Executive Decisions

I'm going to wake up tomorrow and regret this.

I cut Yemima's bangs tonight.

This is how I feel.

"I'll spare you the suspense: I did a terrible job."

It was one of those really really rash decisions, made in the time after shabbat when Ben hasn't gotten home from shul yet, Eden's complaining of a tummy ache (hint, too many shabbat snacks, not enough vegies), Yemima's tired enough to go to bed and there isn't enough hot water yet to run a bath for her and stave off the inevitable.

I just got sick of brushing it out of her eyes again. So I plunked her down in the high chair, got Eden to hold her hands and SNIP. Done. Then straight to bed. I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning what it really looks like.

My other executive decision: To put Yemima to bed without a bath. Her hair has gotten long enough that it doesn't get knotted up from a day of sleeping on it. I daresay it's longer than mine!

Some other news, just to keep y'all in the loop:

Eden received a bike from her Grandma Lila and Grandpa Irv for her fifth birthday. 2 wheels, training wheels, helmet and all. Boy oh boy is she excited. Now watch me be a great mommy and schedule time to take her out with it.

Yemima's eating all manner of solids. Vegies, fruits, etc. Seems to prefer to to formula actually, which means that we'll be following up with some proteins soon - beans, chicken, etc. We might wait on the eggs and dairy, just to be safe.

I'm going to bet that Yemima will be crawling by Pesach. This morning when I went to get her when she woke up, she was on her hands and knees all ready to go. And on the floor in the living room - that girl moves. Little Toys of Eden's: Watch Out. Also, she did not pull herself up, but was able to keep herself up standing against the bath tub tonight. (Please don't tell me it's bad for her hips and knees to let her do that. If you are going to tell me that, you may as well keep your comments to yourself, it'll only annoy me and I'll lump you together with tipat chalav nurses.)

We are celebrating the retainment of our sanity after 6 months of this by going out to dinner tomorrow night. (Also some nice things about Ben's job. Ptu Ptu Ptu.) Whew. I'm excited and nervous - are we actually going to leave our 6 month old with a teenager? What if she cries? I mean the baby, not the teenager. I sincerely hope Yemima doesn't drive her nuts. Actually, I sincerely home she doesn't see her and Yemima sleeps perfectly well. I'm looking forward to spending lots of money on good food. That's not to say anything about Ben's birthday (coming up) and our 7th anniversary (coming up a little later).

Hmmm nice things to think about.