The Toddler Effect

Most of us start each new year with the intent to do all of the stuff that we meant to do but didn't in the previous year. We'll pull some awesome prank for April Fools Day. We'll host a fabulous barbecue and not for get to put out the smores at the end. We'll send out our holiday cards on time. We will remember ALL of the family birthdays. More often than not it goes wrong somewhere along the way and we make the same promises again the next year. If you'd like to break the cycle I have a suggestion.  Add a small person to the mix - a toddler or preschooler perhaps.

People constantly ask me about the changes that Miss M has brought to our lives. Usually this is followed by these words - "I could never do it." But I have to say that aside from the obvious changes - changing diapers, worrying about babysitters, and cleaning crayon off the walls, etc - there is one that is more basic. You have another chance and a new reason to do all of those things that you put off before.



So this year as the Jewish holiday of Purim approached, instead of saying that we really should make hamantashen - we did it. Hamantashen are cookies that are filled with fruit, nuts, chocolate, or whatever else you like and shaped like a three cornered hat. Usually you give them to friends and family as gifts. They are yummy.



I'm not sure why we never get around to making them most years. We're probably too busy with other stuff.  But this year we made up for it with 3 batches. I made a test batch with one dough and then I used another dough to make some with the girl scouts and more with my family. Most of them are long gone.



And that's not the only thing that we did for Purim this year rather than just thinking about it. We dressed up. Purim is a holiday that is celebrated loudly with treats and fun and costume. For this reason it's usully described as the Jewish version of Halloween. It' really not but I see where the impression comes from. Costumes and treats. And this year we did both.

What made this year different?  Why did we get dressed up? Right now we've got a preschooler in the house who is obsessed with Minions and princesses and her joy and excitement is infectious.  What you see here in the form of Princess M and her Minions is the toddler effect.

Passover Lessons Learned

This was Miss M last year at Passover.



 Here she is this year.



She is wise to the matzah.  She is counting the minutes until the holiday ends.  No, wait, that's me!

Anyway, this year was interesting because it was the first time we're doing Passover in the new kitchen.  We're learning a lot for next year.  Mostly, the issues are organizational.  It's also the first time that I've done a Seder in about 3 years.  Way too long.  I feel like I lost my touch. 

Notes from this year's Seder:

The yummy Carrots with Almonds that nobody got to eat because I forgot them in the microwave.  I didn't remember that they were there until 24 hours later.

I got no Charoset (ceremonial and delicious mixture of apples, walnuts and wine).  Next year I need to make sure that someone is populating my plate while I am in the kitchen.

I need to find the box with my Seder plate.  It's missing since the construction.  Other things are missing too but this is a big one.

Brisket is good.  It also cleans up well and re-heats well.  Win!

I'm sure that there is more that I'm forgetting but this is a good start.  Those damn carrots are still killing me.

Happy Valentines Day

The best thing about having a little girl around on V-Day...



is dressing her in cute outfits covered with hearts.  Later we'll add a bit of chocolate to the mix and it will be signifigantly less cute.

Happy, Happy

Happy New Year to you all and Happy 7th Blogiversary to me.

How did you celebrate the arrival of this fresh, new, year? We celebrated with a last minute party we threw together last night followed by a lot of relaxation today. All very good things.

 

 Now it's on to 2013.  After an extended break from knitting I am definitely back and my to-do list is long.  In fact, you an blame the lack of posting for the last few weeks on yarn and books.  They command every free minute.  Happily that means that I have lot's of finished objects to share in the weeks ahead.  So here's to considering the year that was and the year that will be.

Thanksgiving in New York... Again

We survived another Thanksgiving trek to New York. We visited family and friends and had lots of laughs and good food.

We also did a wee bit of sightseeing. So who is buried in Grant's Tomb anyway?

We also checked out another little spot in Harlem. Care to guess where we went?


We really had a great trip.

Happy Hanukkah

May the candles burn bright.

Halloween 2011

Yesterday was Halloween and it was unlike any that Bruce and I had experienced before. The best way to describe it was an intersection. On the one hand we had Miss M who is not yet ready for Halloween and trick or treating. On the other, we had DQ and Stink who went trick or treating with friends. They don't need us to take them around anymore. Not only that - DQ didn't even need a ride to her friends house because another friend drove her. (I'm trying really hard to get used to that)



I'm still waiting for DQ to turn our pie pumpkins into pumpkin bread but Stinkette and I couldn't let the holiday slip by without making jack-o-lanterns so we went and got 2 bigger pumpkins for that purpose and carved them on Sunday. Stink used one of the templates provided with the pumpkin carving tools to create a spooky tableau with a crow. I shamelessly ganked an idea from another blog and featured Miss M's hands in my creation.



Here are all three of our girls last night. A zombie, a vampire, and a sweet baby girl. Miss M had a costume this year too but I'll share that tomorrow.

A Sweet New Year

Last week I took a few days off to celebrate the Jewish New Year. As always it was filled with friends and family but it was extra sweet this year because last Thursday Miss M was three months old. She's been having ongoing weight issues so we had a scheduled weight check at the pediatrician and the news was great. Our girl is well over ten pounds now! This means no more weight checks since she is firmly in the normal weight range for her age. Yay! Normal I'd punctuate a statement like this with a picture of our girl but she has a cold and red noses and eyes aren't terribly cute. Hopefully I can remedy the situation late this week.



I do have pictures to share today and they're from another great day over the long weekend. On Saturday DQ and I went to the Fall Fiber Festival & Montpellier Sheep Dog Trials. All through the long drive there it threatened to rain and I was really not excited about dashing among the rain drops as we shopped for yarn. We went because there was some specific yarn that we needed to pick up there. (more on that later)



We were really happy we went though. The rain held off just long enough for us to enjoy the festival and began on the drive home. Before that we had a lovely lunch including sweet potato fries for DQ and fresh lemonade for me. Yum. We saw sheep and some familiar faces. I also bought a bit of yarn in addition to what I went for. It seemed silly to do all that driving and not shop for real. ;) Besides, Miss M needs a nice warm hat to prevent any more colds this winter.

Monday, Monday

It was another softball weekend. One in which I had the pleasure (or misfortune) of watching Stinkerbelle's team warm up as the sun rose both days. It is just plain wrong to have to get out of the house before 7am both days to sit in frigid temps.

I couldn't even knit until it warmed up a bit but finally I was able and over the course of the weekend I finished my TTL 2010 Mystery socks and a whole book.



Sadly my productivity at the tournament didn't extend to our team's bats. Let's just say that we were certainly not the strongest team there and leave it at that.

Although we'd like to have done better, I don't think that any of us was too sad at leaving the tournament early on Sunday. Most of the girls were looking forward to perfecting their costumes. For Stinkette and I it meant an unexpected opportunity to carve 2 of our 4 pumpkins. Can you guess which one I carved and which one Stinky did?



It's safe to say that the real highlight of the weekend for Stink was trick-or-treating with her BFF. What a haul they brought home! Too bad that much of it isn't compatible with a metal mouth. I'll have to break it to her gently.

Themes and Examples

I'm back at work again after a holiday weekend that became longer and busier than expected. It's all good but I am exhausted after being out late last night seeing Jackson Browne in concert(one of the last minute things).

It was a holiday for me and we celebrated Rosh Hashanah in a big way by hosting a sit down dinner for 23 in Thursday night. I didn't exactly plan on such a big feast but once the ball started rolling it didn't stop. Thank goodness that the weather was gorgeous and we have a large deck.

The best was when we were in services on Thursday and DQ came to me with a big grin on her face. She was sitting with a friend who mentioned that she didn't have any special plans for the evening and my daughter, being every bit my kid, couldn't let that be. She asked if we could invite them and pointed out that she was just following my example of making sure everyone had a place to celebrate. How could I say no? Thankfully we had enough food and everyone had a good time.



The other big theme for the weekend would be softball/baseball. On Saturday DQ and I went to see the Nationals play. We were given the tickets at the last minute (thanks Deb & Steve) and it was a nice surprise. DQ hadn't been to a game yet this summer. It was a gorgeous day and we really enjoyed the game even if the home team lost. We were more upset that Teddy lost again. Poor Teddy.

Then on Sunday we watched the debut of Stinkette's new team in a double-header. We lost the first and won the second but it was a great day regardless. Stink is thrilled to be on a "select" team and her skills are improving every time she takes the field. I can't wait until her next game.

ECF - Hamantaschen Edition

Last weekend we celebrated Purim. It's yet another Jewish holiday that follows the general outline: they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat. The twist on this one is that it's observed a lot like Halloween. Those who choose to do so (not me) get in costume and we go to hear the Megillah read while the adults get smashed. Really, at our shul they beak out the blender right in the sanctuary. Margarita anyone?

Anyway, the other thing that Purim is known for is Hamantaschen which are 3 cornered cookies filled with whatever you like. The shiny red filling is raspberry, which my girls made for me. For themselves they used chocolate chips and marshmallows. Yum!

Have a great weekend!

Newly Minted Photographer

Happy Hannukah or Chanukah or Hanukkah or however you choose to spell it. We celebrated in the usual way by lighting candles and eating latkes with friends. We played games and of course there were gifts.

DQ got a bunch of stuff including a pair of boots that she was obsessing over. Hubbo got NHL2K10 which will keep him very busy trying not to get his butt kicked for quite a while. I got an ice cream maker which, if I'm not careful, will go a long way towards padding my hips.

And Stinkerbelle got a camera. She was very excited and took pictures of everything she saw. I'd share with you but this she then deleted most of the best pictures except for screen shots of Lady Gaga she took of YouTube videos. The only two worth much are the picture of the cake and this shot of the artist herself.



Now that she's got a camera I think it's going to be lot's of fun. We can annoy the rest of the famil with our constant picture taking TOGETHER. Yay for family togetherness!

Big Plans and Improptu Hanging Out

The title of this post pretty much sums it all up and it was really all very good.

Going into the weekend we had plans to belatedly celebrate Stinkette's birthday. I spent days working on a cake in my spare time and this was the result. It was supposed to look like a softball hit a birthday cake. I was sure it would come apart but thankfully it held together and thrille Stink and her friends.


I wish I had better pictures of the party itself but it was in an arcade-like place with dim lights and black walls. Not good for taking pictures so they all look like the one below - only worse. it was great fun though. They just turned on the games - skeeball, Pac-man, dancing games, pool tables, Wii, air hockey and more - and the kids had the run of the place all by themselves.



The big plans also included a softball game on Saturday morning (they won - yay!) and a Girl Scout field trip on Sunday.

We rounded out the weekend with a bunch of stuff that was vey last minute like a quick trip to the pool and a lovely dinner out with good friends. It was all very tiring and wonderful.



We finished the weekend with a very low-key barbeque with friends at our house and as soon as our guests left we fell into our usual pose of recline in the living room exhausted but happy.

It's amazing how a super busy weekend feels so much longer sometimes. It's like the time stretches to fit all the stuff in. What was the high point of your weekend?

On Food

Last week's Ten on Tuesday topic was Ten Foods You Hate. I put it off because I was in the middle of a pre-Passover love affair with food and I assumed that the holiday would inspire my thoughts on the subject. Living on a restricted diet for 8 days - it goes way beyond no bread - gets old really fast and makes you start to hate the few things that you can eat.


This year has been a bit different though. After so many years of celebrating this holiday as an adult I think I may finally have gotten it right. The proof is in the fact that on this 6th day of the holiday I'm not hating it yet. Sure there are things that I'd love to eat right now that I can't. I would really love to step across the street and grab a treat in a venti cup with a nifty green logo on it. But I won't.

The secret to our success this year is that I've been exploring a few of my cookbooks and stepping out odf the box a bit. We are still enjoying the old favorites like apple fritters (dinner tonight) and sweet & sour meatballs but we also added more yummy stuff. Homemade macaroons from this recipe are divine and disappear in a flash. These are not the squishy macaroons from a can. These are crispy and fabulous.

Above is strawberry glazed chicken with strawberry salsa from a new favorite book, Passover By Design by Susie Fishbein. That's also where I found the recipe for brownies so moist and delish that you'd never know they're for Passover. Seriously!

While the family and I are handling passover much better this year we're still looking forward to the end of the 8 days when we can return to our usual favorites. There are a few things that I won't eat at any time of year though. Here are the 10 foods I hate:

1. Cilantro - this tastes so foul in my mouth and it spoils anything it touches.
2. Seafood - aside from tuna and the occasional salmon (both very infrequently) I stay away from just about everything that comes from the sea. I just don't like it.
3. Pork - it's not really a religious thing exactly. I do like a sprinkle of bacon on a baked potato. I just think that because it was a taboo growing up that my aversion to ham and all things pork is ingrained.
4. Fresh tomatoes - I love tomato paste, sauce, juice, and sun-dried tomatoes (YUM!!!) I just don't like tomatoes fresh. I think it's the seeds and squishy stuff.
5. Bananas - I know I ate them as a kid but as an adult I can't even stand the smell of them.
6. Watermelon - I think it's a texture thing
7. Mushrooms - I've tried to like them and I just don't. No good reason.
8. Gouda Cheese - I love cheese. It's a real weakness of mine but I do not like smoked cheeses at all.
9. Lima beans - Ick.
10. Iceburg lettuce - this just bores me. Give me Romaine! Give me Green or Red Leaf Lettuce! Give me Mesculun or Spring mix. Just keep the Iceburg please.

Z is fo...

Zaydie.

You can spell it any way you want and it still means the same thing.My grandfather, one of my favorite people. Below you can see him with my grandmother, who he has adored and treasured for the past 67 years. Can you believe that he just turned 90? Many people in his building had no idea.

There are also pictures of him with DQ who considers him her hero and has often written school papers explaining why.

This is a little late because Z could also be for Zithromax which I am currently taking for bronchitis. Thankfully I'm starting to feel better so I look forward to starting the new year better than I ended the old one.

As my family and I prepare to ring in the new year late tonight I am happy to say Z end to a year that was not one of our best. Hubbo is back at work, my girls are doing great and a very big and happy event is now just one month away.

I wish you all a very happy New Year full of hope and promise and all the good things in life.

Cookie Season

It was a wonderful weekend full of the usual errands and a few parties. Stinkette and I put together several plates of cookies to take with us to the parties. We made Brownies, Mini Black & Whites, and Glittering Lemon Sandwich cookies and added a little chocolate gelt to the display. I'm really happy with how it all came out and so was everyone who sampled them.

I was busy working on several projects this weekend and they're making great progress. Apparently I was seduced by knitty bliss and suddenly my to do list exploded with plans to create many hats to distribute to select relatives when we go to NY. I even started pulling together the yarn from my stash and my LYS. Then reality hit and I realized that I need to finish granma's sweater, grandpa's socks and the last 7 kippot before we leave early on Friday. What was I thinking? Happily my feet are firmly rooted in reality again. The hats can wait.

Day of Atonement

Isn't scheduled posting wonderful? I'm actually in services today observing Yom Kippur with my family. We set this day apart by forgoing all electronics and concentrating on each other instead. It's kind of a thoughtful day and we really enjoy it. I find that my girls really crave "family time" and I love that about them. They just can't get enough.

If you see me I may be wearing a certain turquoise sweater that is fresh off the needles. That would probably account for the silly grin I'll be wearing on an otherwise serious day. How can you not grin when a long term project successfully reaches it's conclusion? And fit's like a glove I might add. I'll remember to add vanity to the list of all that I am atoning for. And teasing too since you'll have to wait for next week for the official modeled shots.

To all those fasting out there I hope that it's an easy one.

Holiday Prep

For the past few weeks I've been busy planning and preparing for the Passover holiday. I visited many supermarkets - some 4 or 5 times - and collected all kinds of special foods. I dragged out all of my recipe books and tried to cobble together a menu that would work for everyone. Saturday night, we all sat down to eat the festive meal and I was amazed to realize that I got it all done. Brisket, sweet & sour meatballs, 2 kinds of chicken, veggies etc. It all made it to the table reasonably hot and good. I am so relieved.

I'm also relieved because this Passover was accompanied by a bit of dread. My dad has been gone for about 6 months now and I finally understand what a gradual process mourning is. It comes in waves and it's triggered by odd things.
I invited all of my friends to the first night seder a few months ago because I wanted to be certain that our table was full. No empty seats! I thought that if my house was full of people then I wouldn't notice who was missing from the table as much. I also altered the menu for similar reasons. My dad was always the one to carve the turkey so this year I eliminated it. The thing is, I assumed that this was all my issue. My girls and husband support me but, for the most part, they seem ok with things.
As I prepared for the holiday I realized that my girls are still very aware of the void. DQ asked about having an empty seat at the table. She wanted to preserve grandpa's spot. I declined because I couldn't face the empty seat but I was surprised and touched that she wanted it. Stinkerbelle started asking about who I called on That Night. The questions were so unexpected but I answered her questions.
Through all of the holiday prep I heard over and over from the girls about Passover a year ago (I think) when the girls spent a day with my dad. They both recalled eating Passover coffee cake, orange juice and chocolate and and hanging out with him all day. It's not the kind of day I'd expect to create a lasting memory but it has.

Knowing that my girls were missing my father as much as I was made the holiday prep kind of bittersweet but it was comforting too.

Washington's Birthday at Mount Vernon

I admit that usually,holidays like Presidents Day just mean another day to do errands, watch a movie or vegetate at home. Today was the exception. A while ago, someone told me that Washington's Birthday is a really good day to go to Mount Vernon because admission is free and they have special events. Why not?

As you can see above, there were a lot of people who had the very same thought. This was just a small part of the line waiting to get in when we got there before they even opened.

Here is the great house itself. I took this picture standing on the bowling green. You can see the podium flanked by 2 flags at the end. A bit later in the day, there were reinactments on the green and the dignitaries (including Washington!) sat there to watch.

The forecast for the day was rain. We almost didn't go because of that but I'm so glad that I ignored my misgivings because the day was gorgeous. It did rain- but not until we were in the car heading home at about 2. This picture of the cupola on top of Mount Vernon shows the blue sky and puffy clouds.

Here's another perfect place to appreciate the day. This is the back porch of Mount Vernon. I can totally see why Washington called this place his paradise. Can't you feel the serenity?

Don't you wish that you had such sweeping views of the Potomac from your back yard? You can just barely see a few heads at the bottom left of this picture but, in reality, the lawn behind Mount Vernon was filled with people. Children were running around and everywhere you looked people were taking in the views. Not only was the day mostly sunny - it was warm as well. We walked the grounds jacketless and even ate lunch al fresco.

We finished our tour of the mansion just as the demonstrations were taking place. We found a great spot to observe. There were a bunch of other photographers there including one who used to cover this event for the Army. He was retired now and just taking pictures for his own pleasure (with a kick-butt Nikon) but he gave me a few pointers on what to shoot and where. It was so helpful and I had a great time.

Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without fibery stuff so here's the Spinning Room. Heh! This is still a knitting blog after all.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

This was my house last night. What you can't share with me are the accompanying giggles, screams and general ruckus. DQ's birthday was kind of low key this year so I told her she could invite a few friends to belatedly celebrate her birthay and the new year. What a night - 5 tween/teen girls and one little sister who was very worried that she was being left out of the fun. It was a little noisy.
Today marks the start of the new year and my blogiversary. Two years! That's way longer than I ever would've expected to stay at this. In honor of both occasions I'm thinking that I'll make a few knitterly prmises rather than resolutions since resolutions are often broken before the words are out of my mouth.

1. Be good to myself. I enjoy knitting for others but I would love to be a little selfish this year and make a few things for myself. I could use a new scarf, hat, sweaters.... stuff. I'm not abandoning the list of stuff I make for friends and family but I'm going to try not to let myself get lost in the crowd.
2. Challenge myself. This really means breaking out the Barbara Walker books and graph paper. I was looking through my books the other day for the perfect pattern and hubbo suggested that I just put something together myself. That stopped me dead in my tracks. Who me? He pointed out that I've been knitting a while and I ought to be able to come up with something myself. He's right, I should. I have ideas in my head and I need to get over myself and work some of them out for better or worse.
3. Reduce the stash. You saw this one coming. The stash has become unmanageable and really needs to be addressed. Besides, how can I buy more yarn if I can't find a place to put it?
4. Find a name for this blog that feels more like me. I've never felt entirely comfortable with the name of the blog. I'm not knitting for anyone else - I'm knitting for me. I knit for many reasons - for comfort, to feel a connection to the past, to honor my grandmother, to express myself, and just because it makes me happy. I need to find something that expresses me better and reflects me. Any ideas?
5. Become a better spinner. I need to keep taking classes and use what I learn in classes to inprove the consistency and quality of my spinning.

What are your plans for the year ahead?