What a Mess!

Cleaning and getting ready for Passover is such a mess!....I have to do it in between working so today I left the house like a bomb went off. I think it is funny that all this cleaning and moving of things actually makes the the house more of a mess!

out with the "sold" contraband

In with the new!

Getten' Ready!

I have been a planning fool!...this year, so far, I  am ahead of schedule. I even got to the Passover store early enough to get all my dry goods before it feels like the last plane out of Saigon!...(For those of you too young to get that reference, it is related to the panic and horrific end days of the Vietnam war when the US was pulling out and anyone who had collaborated and worked with the Americans were trying to escape, as the Americans tried to get themselves out.) I have planned the meal, went through all the recipes and figured out what will be needed...(aka the  list)                         

 I was so early that there were these nifty Bedikas Chometz sets for 99 cents!....feather, candle, wooden spoon and large wide mouth bag to deposit those wayward crumbs!...how cool....

Additionally I have gotten a bit crafty too.... this is the first year with the exception of my husband's very secular brother there will be no family (except the hubby and I) at the home Seder...I managed to wrangle some Bu-Jews...some UU-Jews...and some non Jews to join us....I see it as a mitzvah to be hosting this second night Seder...

I decided that for this rag tag array of adults, I am going to try and make it fun...I found a Haggadah, The Santa Cruz Haggadah that is jewishly intact, the 15 required rituals are there, but it it full of fun and meditative extras...if there was a crowd for made for this Haggadah the ones coming to my abode second night are the ones!

I also saw online a novelty called "A Bag of Plagues"...well I decided this would be an interesting Passover favor to hand out to the guests...but I'm not about to fork over the crazy money being asked for such a trivial thing...no! So I went ahead and made my own! and yes ...after all is said and done, they are cheaper.

This was a fun activity...I usually order little plastic prizes for the little kids I see in my mental health therapy practice....behavior modification type work...so I just went to town on the Oriental Trading  web site http://www.orientaltrading.com/

I found little bead jars that worked wonderfully for the "blood" and "lice." When my husband came home and saw my hands all red...he paused and said, with a certain you look like you have gone mad eyes, "what ya doin' honey?..."Making Blood!" A little kosher for passover red  and blue dye, dish soap and potato starch...whala BLOOD! Lice was a bit harder, so I am claiming some Sephardic heritage and used broken pieces of wild rice...if I needed I guess I could have gone out side and found some tiny pebbles and that would have worked too.

So over the past three days I have packed up the dining room (yea hooray we are moving with in a month!) and un-packed all the dishes for the holiday and put them in their place! I'm a moving, packing and now Passover cleaning fool!..If I can catch my breath I will check in again...off to work...yes I still have to work.

Saturday Night Date

Well we know how to have a hot time on the ol' town.... yup we spare no expense! Shopping at the Costco on a Saturday night with my honey...what beats that! All joking aside, really ...I love shopping with my husband, it makes it so much more fun.                  I learned recently that the Costco nearest to us has an amazing array of kosher food. The entire on premises bakery is kosher dairy. They had a pretty good cheese collection,  along with pre-packaged prepared foods.... and they also had an ok collection of Kosher for Passover stuff as well... never mind that a lot of their grocery items were also kosher as well... who knew! 

Mazel Tov

Mazel Tov To Me!...

ok how arrogant is that...but it is how I feel...Today, April 1st 2011, is the third anniversary of my dunk...of my choosing to join the Jewish people!

Shabbat Shalom!

That Time of Year!

Hope you all are well....for those of us trying to "get it right" the count down is on!...I have started cleaning and eating down the food stocks...but I must admit I am concerned on a number of fronts...Yes, the usual convert lament about all and any holidays, but this year we have two....yes two more issues to throw into the proverbial kosher for passover stew....

We are trying to sell our house...and hardly no family to celebrate with....

First the house...

We completed the year of mourning for my husband's mother this January and about a month or so later sold her home, my husband's childhood home....So with that we have purchased the home of our  dreams, on the water in the town in which we live...one problem...we already have the house we currently live in!

So for the past month we have been trying to get rid of this house! The real estate lady keeps telling me "keep your house neutral!".. meaning make it so anyone can see themselves in it. Well this is impossible once I start the great change over. I'm a busy working person and have little time, so I start moving the passover storage boxes within a two week time of the actual holiday. But this year I need to be quicker...and more organized. This is a very tall order! So this year I think I'm going to try some sort of plastic covering for my porous surfaces...(note to self...when redoing the kitchen in the new house... solid stone!)

Buy my house!...It is in our local Eruv!

So the no family issue makes me sad. My daughter moved across the country to the youth alternative living city of Portland! (any of you see the mini comedic series protlandia?...) My husband's youngest is studying abroad and the oldest is staying put in Boston. With the exception of my husband's brother a secular Jew, and his partner a lovely man from Japan, my husband has no relative in the area and hardly any relatives anywhere!

So in an effort to get a seder  that I can enjoy preparing, I have decided to focus on a second night gathering. A lot of folks who are not religious will do a first night but not second...so I can do a mitzvha and have a second night seder for me and invite folks who would more than likely be done with the passover stuff.  This is coming along....I have 9 folks including our selves so far and am still waiting on a few others. ....

But what to do about the first night? My fall back is Chabad...but that is a bit out of our element....I am going to try and hint harder over the next few day... wish me luck!

Just Because!

Check Out This Cantor!

ok I'm biased...this is Cantor Ethan Leifer the Cantor of the Merrick Jewish Center...where I am on the board....take some time to check him out, he is truly gifted!
This video is from a concert held at our synagogue a few weekends ago....there are some other videos from the event on You Tube if you would like to hear more.
He is talented, but he also has been very lovely to me....he has taken the time to hold Hebrew classes which I have attended, and bluntly where I was the slowest learner in the class. He never was anything but supportive of me and I am grateful to him for that!