SuperIma Sunday Check-In: MOVING!!!

Hello, friends.  I am exhausted.  But not just any exhausted.  Moving exhausted.  And not just any moving exhausted.  Moving back HOME exhausted.

Moving is a ridiculous expenditure of physical energy.  Your whole body aches after an entire day where all you did is spend two hours unpacking dishes (seriously? how?), spent seven thousand dollars at Target, hung three pictures, and reheated some pizza for your kids on paper plates.  But this time, all of that feels SO GOOD.  Because we're home, folks.  Why, just this weekend we had no less than five friends help us out with the kids so we could make a big push to unpack. (Hi, Sarah, Allison, Elle, Susan, and Steph!  We love you all!)

Columbus, Ohio isn't paradise, but for us it just feels right.  All the moving exhaustion in the world can't ruin that.

Even though my bathtub looks like this:

(trading the opportunity to bathe for makeshift counter space)

I got to see this for the first time in almost two months, which really made my heart sing:

'

(a cluttered desk of my VERY OWN)

But the real payoff is this - MY KITCHEN IS BACK!!!!

(David is terrified of the knife strip, which is just the way I like it.)

Oh, man.  I am yawning like every two seconds writing this horrible post adorned with even more horrible (cell phone!) pictures, so let's save both of us the pain and wrap this up, shall we?

We know two things:  1.  My house is still mostly a disaster and 2. I'm still a person working on a writing project on a kind of deadline.

Here's my SuperIma Check-in.  Each day at naptime I'm setting my timer for 45 minutes and working on moving-in stuff.  Putting away clothes, unpacking stuff, organizing, etc.  When the timer goes off, I'm sitting down to write.  The house will be unpacked and organized in weeks instead of days, but for the sake of the sanity and self-worth department I'd say it's worth it.

What about you, my sweet Supers?  What are you going to do for yourself this week, and what has to slide to let you do it?

While you're thinking about that, go visit my sweet friends Amanda, who is wondering if spring is really on its way, and Shannon, who has a really good question about date night that I'm still waffling over.

You're doing an incredible job.  Keep up the awesome work!

SuperIma Sunday Check-in: Ima's Day

*Sigh*  Ima's Day is always so hard on me.  I know that some people have a really wonderful relationship with their mothers, and other people don't.  And it always makes me really wonder - what does it take to be a good mother?

 I mean, on Mother's Day, I always think about how I've done so much for my kids - gestating and giving birth to them, for starters, and then feeding them and keeping them clean and ALIVE each and every day. And sometimes entertained.  But then I think that all those things are really something I *have* to do, not something that it's awesome that I did.

How do I make sure that I have a really strong, lasting relationship with my kids?  If I really get to thinking about it, words like, "trust," "respect," "involvement," and "dependability" knock around in my head, but that fails to answer the questions of "What if they do something I hate?" or "What if I don't like them?" or, maybe worst, "What if we just don't get along?"  I'm pretty sure parenting means I'm supposed to do all those lofty things I just mentioned anyway, but oh my G-d, it is so, SO hard.  I know.  I've seen it happen.

*sigh*

Anyway, I'm sure it would all be a lot easier if I wasn't 1. Exhausted and 2. Resentful.  I had two big dreams for this Mother's Day.

Dream #1 - No one would ask me about food for the entire weekend.  For example:  "Leigh Ann, do we have food for the kids?" (translation - Leigh Ann, please prepare and serve lunch to the children, after you've made sure they all wash their hands with soap and water and are sitting quietly at the table.) or: "Hon, what were our plans for dinner?" (translation - What are you planning to cook/have already cooked for me to heat up.)
Reality #1 - I worked all week to get food ready for the weekend, but still had to potchken over at least two meals a little bit.  Also, I prepped and packed breakfast for this morning (for David's mother) and am gearing up to cook dinner for this evening (because David is swamped with a last minute project.)

Dream #2 - No one would ask me about clothing for the entire weekend.  For example:  "Leigh Ann, do we have clothes for the kids?"  Translation: "Leigh Ann, please locate and assemble appropriate and clean outfits for all three of the children, and bring them here, so I can dress/play with one of them while you dress two."
Reality #2 - I've already done two loads of laundry and retrieved three separate clothing items.

Now, I'm not full-on complaining.  David gave appropriate respect to Mother's Day this year, and treated my camera (to a new lens) and my right hand (to that daughter's ring I've been wanting to go with my two sons' rings.)  And people have said "Happy Mother's Day," and I've gotten cards.  And yesterday I got to leave the house for a whole morning to do some writing.  (Yes, I did have to do damage control before and after.)

Also, one of the blogs I follow posted this:\

I was sitting on a bench
while in a nearby mall,
When I noticed a young mother
with two children who were small.

The youngest one was whining,
"Pick me up," I heard him beg
but the mother's face grew angry
as the child clung to her leg.

"Don't hang on to me," she shouted
as she pushed his hands away,
I wish I'd had the courage
to go up to her and say...

"The time will come too quickly
when those little arms that tug,
Won't ask for you to hold them
or won't freely give a hug."

And SERIOUSLY?  I know it's supposed to make me appreciate my kids more, but it just made me feel SHAMED for not wanting to pick my kids up sometimes.  Because I'm sure, like me, that that poor mom in the mall had been up since 5 AM and had already picked up her kid five million times that day.  And she probably also hugged and kissed and loved on him too, but that one judgmental lady in the durn shopping mall wanted to butt in and tell her how to be a good mom. 

This is all very disjointed, and I guess it's just an emotional day for me for a lot of reasons.  If any of you has any thoughts on any of this stuff, I'd love to hear them.  Unless you're telling me to stop complaining and go be a mother instead of writing this post.  Then I'll delete you, because it's my blog and I can do what I want.

Oh, right!  We still have to check in.

Well, we're moving this week (!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so it's going to be all about organizing and planning, making arrangements for people to sit with the kids so I can unpack (oh, luxury!) etc.

Also, I have to finish my book.  But who cares about that?  It's just a silly thing I'm doing.  What's really important is that we have clothes for the kids.

I'm going to try to shower every day this week.  I think that's the best I can do.

What about you, SuperImas?  How has your week been?  What are your goals for self care this coming week?  What are you going to be more relaxed about to let it happen?


You're doing an incredible job, Supers.  Keep on keepin' on, everyone.


(Also, please go visit Shannon and Blessed Little Bird, two of my most favorite ladies in the whole wide midwest, who checked in even before I did this week.  Love you two!)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

(The requisite 2011 Ima's Day shot.  I had to swap heads to achieve a shot where Ashi wasn't glaring too much, and Rami wasn't screaming at the horror of sitting on my lap and being asked to smile.  But then they gave me kisses and it was okay.)

SuperIma Sunday Check-In: The Epitome of Fed-Up

Nesyah hasn't been sleeping.  At all.

That's not true.  She's sleeping from about 8:00 to 1:00.  Then she wakes up and decides that she wants to hang out.  So she stands up in her pack and play and yells - literally, yells - until someone gets up to get her.  We're talking full on tantrum.  And  bringing her to bed with me doesn't work, because she doesn't want to sleep, she wants to play.

Now, we are a Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child family.  It's always worked for us in the past and we think that Dr. Weissbluth is a genius.  We really don't have an issue with letting kids cry a bit (unless they're sick or there's something else wrong, obviously.)   But during this transition time, we're all sharing a room, which means that if Nesi wakes up, everyone wakes up, and I'm the only one with a hope of sleeping through it.

Last night, I was up with her, playing, from 12:45 to 4:15 AM.  I tried to sleep on the living room floor while she played, but she pulled my hair and scratched my face.  She finally looked drowsy at 4:15 and we were both able to fall asleep on the living room floor.  I slept for another few hours, thanks to David watching the kids, but when I woke up?  I'm not going to lie.  I kind of felt really angry towards Nes.  I kind of hated her a little.  And I definitely didn't want to see her or deal with her.

That really freaked me out, so I called my sister, and she said that I needed one full night's sleep.  And that she and my brother in law would be happy to have Nesyah stay the night.  So, at 6:45, off the Princess went. It's not even 9:00, and I am SO SO excited to tuck in and sleep until 6:00 when I have to get up and go retrieve her.

I'm pretty sure I'll love her a lot more tomorrow.  Just saying.  I'll probably love my sister about 1000 times more than I thought possible, too.

Also!  My Important Friend in The Publishing Industry wants to see a FULL MANUSCRIPT *jaw drops to ground*

Last week, if you remember, my SuperIma Sunday goal was to write like a madperson and get him two chapters.  I did it, thanks to my incredible team of beta ladies, and he liked it.  But I just barely got in under the wire.  Like, we're talking late Friday afternoon.  In order to accomplish that, I did lots of super easy dinners, laundry went unfolded, and I only vaccuumed once.  Eek.

It's going to be another few weeks of that.  Everything's gotta slide.  But I'm so, so excited. More on that later.

What about you, sweet Supers?  Did you meet your goals last week?  What is on tap for this coming week?  What's going to slide so that you feel a little more you-ish?

Also, please visit my sweet friend Shannon, who I've never met in real life, but who unfailingly posts a SuperIma Sunday check-in.  She's got an incredible giveaway going on, which you should enter, and she's basically the most popular blog on the whole world wide web*

*or, rather, she should be, and she's getting pretty close.

SuperIma Sunday Check-in: Passover Knocked-Out Edition

I'm grateful that this seems to be becoming the trend here on the Frugal Ima SuperIma Sunday Check in: I love you guys.  LOVE YOU.  I think that the vast majority of everyone who reads this blog volunteered to be a beta reader for my book, and the cockles of my heart were totally warmed.  And even though I put out the call for readers just a week ago, I've already received three sets of feedback, and two of them were super-detailed and fabulous.  That's fast, people, and that's love and support.  So thank you, truly.

Our Seders were INCREDIBLE, and thankfully started before 7:00 each night and were short and sweet.  (They would have started earlier, but one or more of our family members may have pushed back the time a little.  So, our fault.)  We traveled for both of them, meaning that our kids got to bed around midnight both nights, and then woke up at their usual 5:30 (Why?????)

On Tuesday, after the two seders, everyone in our family fell asleep on the living room floor at some point.  We stayed in there vegging and watching TV all day, and  I didn't get ANYTHING done on my writing.  It felt so strange to me to get absolutely nothing accomplished, as in N-O-T-H-I-N-G.  Not even a load of laundry.  Clearly, it was necessary.

Then, on Wednesday, all the kids came down with a cough and general ickiness.  Asthma Boy (AKA Rami) is still wheezy and even losing his voice a little.  No one has slept well all week.  Last night, I was awake with one or the other at 1:00, 3:00, then up for the day at 5:00.  I am beyond exhausted.  Even as I type this, (9:13   PM) two out of three are up.

This is my mantra:  The children are a blessing.  I will miss this when they are grown.  I believe it.  I really do.  Just one night of sleep would help me believe it a little more.

This week has got to be a buckle-down-and-write week.

I still have 7,000 words to go till I hit my goal, but that's really an arbitrary number.  I'd say I have at least 3,000 to 4,000 left to tie up my story, write up scenes I've dreamed up by really have a sketch of, etc.

That's about 800 words a day, plus a lot more editing.  Everything has got to slide in order for me to do this.  Everything.

What about you, sweet Supers?  What are you going to do to make a little room for you in the craziness of this week?  What's going to move to the side to let you do it?

You are doing an incredible job.  Hugs.

SuperIma Sunday Check-in: Maybe Possibly Big News (?) Edition

I guess if it's only "Maybe, Possibly" good news, then it's not really news, huh?

Anyhoo.  You know how I was doing all that writing for pleasure for my Project 365?  The very writing I promised to spend 15 minutes a day finishing up during my SuperIma Sunday check-in last week?  Well, not 12 hours after I declared that promise, a friend of a friend of a colleague who is poised to be in an Important Position in the Publishing Business emailed me asking for a summary of it (called a "query letter" in the Publishing Business, if you're keeping track,) and then shortly after reading it, the first two chapters!!!!

EEEEEK!

This Important Person who read the query letter told me that it was "all kinds of win," which is a phrase I'm pretty sure has never been used in reference to me or anything I've done before.  That is really awesome, I guess, even when you consider that I never even really planned to ask any Important Publishers to consider printing my drivel, and thought maybe possibly it would one day be quietly posted to Amazon in Kindle format for $2.99 for some bored teenagers to accidentally one-click purchase.

The only catch is that I should probably finish the durn book and clean up those first two chapters REALLY well before I send them in, right?   So, who wants to beta read for me?  Anyone up for a little amateur YA scifi romance something-or-other?

*crickets*

Also, there is the typical ho-hum pre-Passover mania going on. I made, like, four dozen matza balls today, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

This week, I'm going to finish my writing for pleasure.  Hopefully.  Probably.  If you'll beta read for me.  And my kids will probably watch a lot of TV.  (um....it's a holiday, right?  So that's okay?)

What about you, my awesome SuperBeta readers?  What are you going to do to make your life a little less crazy this week?  Let your spouse clean up after seder?  Eat matzah PB&J all week?  Something non-Passover related?

And what's gonna slide?

I adore all of you.  You're doing a great job.

P.S.  Everyone PLEASE go read my fellow SuperIma Shannon's blog because not only is it riveting and hilarious, but she's kind of bummed that she's slipped inexplicably in the Technorati rankings, and there's only so far my 20 clicks over to her page can go.

Countdown to Passover: Making Matzah

Yes, I know.  I'm crazy. 

But here's the thing:  My kids have been getting really excited about the Passover story.  Asher has been asking a lot of questions in response to the dramatic retelling on Shira's Passover CD, and I've been happy to answer.  He seemed especially intrigued by the idea of the Jewish people's having to pack up and leave their homes so quickly, probably because of our recent move and sojourn.  Our family is in a very in-between place, just like the Jewish people leaving Mitzrayim, and so our conversations revolve around how the two situations are similar.  His curiosity and insight are remarkable, at least I think so.

Anyway, after writing this post about the value of Doing Without, I realized I was really moved by the part of the Passover story that chronicles the panic of preparing for a long journey in haste.  I pictured parents with babies strapped to their backs and children tugging at their ankles, deciding if the clothes on their backs would be enough as they slung unproofed dough into hot ovens.  Doing the best they could do.

Then, when I was writing my review of Shira's Passover CD, I ran across this blog post where she encourages us to make our own matzah, and to do it the Kosher-for-Passover* way - from the minute the water touches the flour, it has to be done in eighteen minutes or less, lest the flour has a chance to rise.   "Okay, Shira, I love you, but you are TOTALLY NUTS," I thought.  Then I kept reading.  The picture she painted of a family pitching in and bonding over the rushed steps was really enticing.  Plus, she says the matzah tastes AWESOME compared to the boxed stuff.  And, of course, it's way more frugal than the $3-a-box stuff at the store.  I was sold.

This morning, after Nesyah went down for her nap, we set our timer for eighteen minutes and got to work.

We sanded down our rolling pin to remove the chametz.


We mixed three parts of flour with one part water,


and mixed it by hand to form a ball.


We rolled it out as flat as it could get, and then rolled it out even flatter.


We poked it full of holes so that it wouldn't puff in the oven.


We slung it into a 525 degree oven on a couple of upturned Pyrex dishes that had been heated right along with the oven.  (Shira's dad recommends lining the oven with red bricks.  Awesome and authentic.  And frugal!)


We took it out after five minutes and let it cool.


We ate the matzah.  A lot of it.


Because of the way it fell on the Pyrex, some of the edges had a perfect jelly pocket (boxed matzah doesn't have that!)


As we worked, we kept saying, "hurry up!" and telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt like we were really there.  Asher thought it was awesome and is still talking about how we had to hurry to bake it before Pharoah changed his mind.

*Since we decided last-minute but before we have actually done any Passover cleaning to try our hands at matzah, we did not do the preparatory steps you have to do to make it truly KLP, like kashering bowls and utensils, scrubbing down the oven, etc.  If you are making matzah for use on Passover,  you should use kashered surfaces and utensils and make sure to thoroughly sand down your rolling pin and change your parchment paper after each eighteen minute batch to remove post-18-minute mixture, and frogs, from your surface (after all, we ARE still in Mitzrayim!)


  Also, it's custom to refrain from eating the matzah before the actual Seder, which we transgressed. Obviously.


Even though it's not practical this year because of our sojourn at the non-KLP Chez MyParents, I definitely plan to bake all our own matzah next year.

Does your family have a matzah-baking tradition?  Would you like to try to start one?

Frugal Jewish Education: Using Jewish Music to learn about Passover (ShirLaLa Pesach)

Oh, my.  Can you believe that the first Seder is just a week from today?  Passover will be here and gone before we know it, if you can believe it.  One thing that is really important to us is making sure that we make the most out of every holiday at home, so our kids both know what is going on at the actual celebration and are excited about it in the weeks leading up to it.

One of the best things about the Seder is all the songs and prayers that are unique to the Seder.  Who doesn't love a rousing rendition of "Dayeinu" or " Adir Hu?"   The excitement and warmth of sharing the same songs together year after year is what makes everyone feel like they belong.  However, the abundance of songs can also be scary, especially for kids whose list of Jewish song repertoire consists of "Bim Bam" and "HaMotzi." 

This means that one of the best ways to involve your kids in holiday celebrations is to teach them the music that goes along with them.  But maybe you didn't pay perfect attention during every minute of every riveting Sunday school lesson when you were eight years old, maybe you are a little older than eighteen, or maybe you haven't gone to a full seder each year. What if you don't know all (or any, oy!) of the tunes or words well enough in order to pass them along to your children? 

Well, Shira Kline has you covered. 

Shira is a woman who is as passionate about Jewish music and Jewish family education as I've seen anyone.  If you play her Passover CD in your house and car for the week leading up to Seder, I promise you that you and your family will be familiar with and excited about the tunes.  Here it is:

Just one more thing.  Now, if you're like me, you've anxiously downloaded a bunch of CDs about which others have gushed, "No, really, you don't even realize it's kid's music! Seriously!"  And then you copy that sucker onto your iPod and excitedly plug it into the computer and WHO WERE THEY KIDDING?!!?!  Because anything that drones on about colors, the alphabet, brushing your teeth, or clapping your hands is kid music.

So, you know I'm telling you the truth when I tell you that you don't even realize that ShirLaLa is kid's music.  Well, half of it is - the honest-to-goodness kind, that instructs our sweeties to "shake your tushies" and make froggy noises.  The other half, however, is just great Jewish music.  She and her awesome band have recorded the old-school, straight-up Seder songs to a mildly rockin' beat so that singing the same old songs is actually really fun.  She even recorded the Festival Kiddush and Candle Blessings without background music, as you would hear them in someone's home.  She really, really wants to give families the tools to step into Jewish traditional celebrations knowing their tunes.  Especially for only $8.99 for 20 tracks... It's an incredible thing.
In case you're still wavering, here's my track-by-track review (since we've been listening to this nonstop for a couple weeks now and I could do it with my eyes closed anyway) :

1.Pesach Bamba - Sung to the tune of "LaBamba", Shira has one of these on every holiday CD.  It incorporates sweet verses about Pesach between choruses. 

2.Hal’l'l’l'luyah - Another song Shira has on every holiday CD, with "Halleluyah" as the chorus and holiday-specific tidbits in between.

3.Let My People Go - A song about Moses and Pharoah.  The chorus encourages the children to sing "No, no, no!" What kid doesn't like that?

4.Building Cities  - Er...we usually skip over this one.  Not so grabbing, maybe?

5.Listen King Pharaoh  - another song about Pharoah that encourages kids to shout along.  Love.

6.Frogs - A contemporary classic.  The one that starts with, "One morning when Pharoah woke in his bed..." Includes real frog sounds, a highlight for my little ones.

7.Hallelu  - Shira tells the story of the actual Exodus and crossing of the Sea of Reeds with a backdrop of "Hallelu" - the same tune my fellow hippy-dippy Reconstructionists like to use for Psalm 150.  She ends with "Kol Haneshema Tehallel Yah."  Your kids listen to this, and they'll know it for shul too.

8.Miriam’s Song - Debbie Friedmans, z''l.  Lyrics have been slightly modified to go "...and the children dancing with their timbrels..."

9.Elijah Rock - The classic gospel tune.  Love it.

10.Kadeish Urchatz - The "order of the Seder" tune as you grew up with it.

11.Mah Nishtana - The Four Questions sung to the traditional tune.

12.Lotsa, Lotsa Matza  - A song about all the foods we eat on Passover.  (Matzah, chicken, matza balls, gefilte fish...)  We've made up movements to go with each food.  SO fun.

13.Dayeinu - Traditional tune.  My kids are OBSESSED with "Dayeinu," especially Rami.

14.Passover Game  - Each verse gives "clues" to guess which Passover thing she's talking about.  Asher loves this one.

15.Who Knows One? - A rendition of "Who Knows One?" with different voices for each answer. NOT traditional.

16.Bashana Haba’ah - a fun, upbeat tune.
17.Candle blessing for festivals - Debbie Friedman's z''l tune sung a'capella.

18.Kiddush for festivals - Traditional tune sung a'capella.  Really great if you don't yet know how to make Kiddush for Chag - the same tune goes for all of them!

19.B’tzeit Yisrael - A short version of Hallel, sung in many homes.

20.Adir Hu - Old school, straight up "Adir Hu."  Still awesome.


So, what are you waiting for?  Go do the download and blast this sucker as much as you can for the next week.  Any CD that can teach my kid to do this in (seriously, no joke) less than an hour total of singing along has my ringing endorsement:



(Full disclosure: Shira hasn't compensated or asked me to do this in any way, shape or form.  She doesn't even know I exist, actually, which now that I think about it makes me kinda sad.  Shira, are you reading this?  If you are, let's have a lady date.)

What Passover music do you love to share with your family?  Do you have any more recommendations for us?