{36 Reasons} Family Rules

Have you ever seen these beautiful "family rules" canvases and prints?
I am always adding this to my "to do" list. Maybe I'll make one out of a quilt. Maybe I'll do some decoupage. Maybe I'll buy one....one of the reasons I haven't done it yet is that I can't quite decide exactly what rules I want on the list. And do I discuss with the family? Do we all decide what rules to choose? Frankly, I have been paralyzed with indecision.

Yesterday, I reframed some pictures and I had one frame left that was originally set up to have 3 4x6 pictures in it. I suddenly realized that I didn't need to use the mat that had been included with the frame, and I could just use the frame in its whole. Silly me.

So I began to muse on what to put in the frame, and this is what I created:

It's 10x20 - a very odd shape.

I made it so simply - I used Picasa (which I love) to add the text on a blank picture, and had the three pictures (the text, and the two family shots) printed zip-zip at Walgreens. Voila! And because it was simple, inexpensive, and just get-it-done, I didn't worry too much about the choice of words. I picked the ones that seemed right today. And that's all I can ask for.

Blessed are You, our God, Ruler of the World, who has given us creative energy and skill, who has caused inspiration to strike, and who has brought me to this day.

Whose Project?

Just a day ago, Mara posted about a deal on Amazon.

She does that a lot and I try really hard to say, "I don't need that."

But this was a good deal!!!

And I thought that these would make some good birthday presents as well as rainy day activities for my little artists. So I bought them. And, amazingly, they arrived this morning! When they arrived, I quickly swept the box out of sight and said, "it's for a rainy day..." Sam was very helpful to point out that it was sprinkling outside, and therefore it WAS a rainy day.

So we opened them....and had a great time all day with these crazy things.

And of course, this is what I made today...

Whose project was it, anyway?

Painting is Fun!

I thought it would be fun to paint some posters to hang in our sukkah....and I had the brilliant ridiculous idea to make the kids' handprints...you know, for posterity and all that. So much for the handprints.

What a messy idea!

Then we went back to painting with brushes, which occupied the little people for quite some time!

Stay tuned for finished product pictures, which ended up laminated and hanging in the sukkah.
See other people's Best Shots over at Tracey's place.

Hard at Work...BSM

We got some large-size posters suitable for coloring and my kids thought it was great fun to color something so large...I thought it was a hoot to let Yael sit on the table to color. (so did she)

See more Best Shots here...

The Bumpy Path...WE #6

This week's prompt up at Wrapped Emotions was a chance to feel our surroundings...to make crayon-rubbings of various textures in our lives.

I was so excited that I bought a new box of crayons and carried them around in my purse all week.

But it was in my office that I actually did the rubbings...because I was sitting at my desk and I noticed how a few of the books sitting right in front of me had nice textures in the covers. I am a big fan of books, and there are always some laying around my office (along with the bazillions on the shelves!). After I did the three books, I "felt up" every single cover in my office and didn't find any others with fun textures, so I started wandering around our offices, crayon in hand, hoping no one would notice me...I rubbed an etrog box (to hold the citron we use for the holiday of Sukkot), and I rubbed the sign on my door (hence my name) and I basically enjoyed the experience of looking at my office in a new way.

Here are my rubbings:

I do like the second picture, of the first book I rubbed: "How each of us can change the world." (Extra points if you can identify the book I rubbed....leave a comment) Such a powerful idea that we can all change the world. Judaism tells us that if we save one life, it is as if we have saved an entire world. I think this applies to all aspects of "saving the world." If we reuse one grocery bag, it's a start. If we save one bottle of water from a landfill, it's a start. If we blog on blog action day, it's a start. What can you do to save the world?

The whole world is full of texture. It's up to us to take care of it.

See more Wrapped Emotions participants here...and stay tuned for a big wrapped emotions surprise!

Legal Grafitti...Wrapped Emotions #5

This week's prompt at Wrapped Emotions is much less intense than last week's...and I think it was at a good time for everyone. I've read some of the posts already and it seems that joy is an often overwhelming theme. Last week we "unwrapped" ourselves and the relief seems almost palpable...

So here's mine. Simple, graffiti-like, full of the emotions of joy and release. As the holiday season drew to a close this week, I felt a great weight lifted off, and an ability to just sit for a moment and be...Shabbat came well-ready, well-timed this week. Ups and downs and all arounds...I'm glad to just sit and color!

(I painted the brick-like background in my journal first, as a "canvas" for the graffiti -- I'm a literalist, what can I say. It didn't come out quite perfect, partly because I pulled up the tape too early in my impatience to see how it looked!) I had to use the flash to get the photo to turn out so I don't think you can see all the small words in the white lines (they're also upside down)...the words are: focus... connect... wonder... pray... wish... grow... hope... seek... question... sing... try... wings... fly...

This week's Torah portion was the first of the year...And God made the world...

...and it was very good.

See more Wrapped Emotions here....

Do They Like Me? Wrapped Emotions #4

This week's prompt at Wrapped Emotions made me pause and consider....

As you can see from my "about me," I am a rabbi. This means that I am constantly in the forefront of my congregation, constantly the person to whom they turn for words of advice, words of wisdom, lifecycle events, holiday celebrations, and more. One of our great rabbis, Arnold Jacob Wolf, once said that if 50% of the members of your congregation don't hate you, you're doing something wrong. We are also told to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." While in my intellectual self, I know that these are laudable goals for me as a rabbi, I also know that in my emotional heart, I want them to like me.

There, I said it. I want them to like me. (I wonder how many of my congregants actually read this blog? Anyone lurking out there?) I think this extends beyond my "job" though, and into my life. I've always wanted people to like me, to be happy with me, rather than dislike me. Sometimes I'm sure that this did not serve me well (think middle school) but overall, it makes me a generally happy person who is happy to do for others as often as possible. I suppose it is part of what makes me "good" at my job. (and by the way, I'm not the only one who feels this way in the clergy. Here's an interesting article, although not totally relevant to my life, that gives a bit of insight into how we feel...)

The past few months, and coming to a head this week, I have been dealing with someone who decided that she didn't like me. It's a long story and of course, confidential, so to paint broad strokes, it involved a life cycle event and a congregant-friend, and some decisions that I made regarding the life-cycle event and this friend's ex-husband. I believe in my heart that what I did was right, and today's event (mostly) played itself out beautifully. But I have indeed lost my friend, who no longer "likes me." I struggled with it all through Yom Kippur. I struggled with it all week. I struggled with it all day.

And now I'm done with it. I have to be. I'm not even sure where the ritual is in this (I know that was part of the prompt) but I also know that I've told myself that I'm going to be done with this. I think the ritual is in the writing, right here, right now, I'm done with it.

Someone doesn't like me.

I'm sure there are more out there, people who just haven't told me yet, but in this world, I know, this person is now out there, not liking me.

And I have to believe that that's okay.

How to let go of it? I tried my hand at some art, of course. (Thanks, Melody!) Using my trusty new journal, I ripped and glued and stuck and just mucked around, all with the intention of "letting go" of this need, this fear, of being un-liked. (As I did it, my husband's PC Magazine was on the table, and the cover headline caught my eye: "Who can you trust?" At first, this seemed in total to belong in my art. Trust is, after all, possibly one of the most important parts of this. But thinking more, I decided just to use the word "trust?" because I thought that the whole sentence perhaps illustrated that I hadn't quite done the letting go that I was working on!)

Here's the result:


And you know what? I do feel better. Much of this occurred, by the way, before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The day that "does not atone for the sins of one human being against another until they have made peace with one another" (that's from our liturgy for the holiday)... and I couldn't do it. It was too fresh, too raw. But I don't have to wait until next Yom Kippur to let it go....

See more Wrapped Emotions folks here...

Art and Seeing

For our motzei Shabbat activity (after Shabbat ends, on Saturday night), we had the unexpected pleasure of an hour or so out...my m-in-law was home with the kids, and so we dashed out to see the Highwood Fine Arts Festival, a very small art show in our own small town. While much of the art was nice and somewhat ordinary, we were delighted with the art of Inna Deriy, who paints with pigmented polymers on stone, wood, and canvas. Let me tell you, it leads to gorgeous colors and beautiful images. I am not even really sure what a polymer is (I know I wouldn't eat it!) but I know what I think is beautiful.

I wasn't able to find a picture of the small piece that we bought. It has the image of tree trunks. I love images of trees...I think trees are so incredible and wonderful as a symbol of longevity in nature. I also love the Jewish imagery of the Torah as the Tree of Life, and I also love the idea of a family tree. Overall, I'm a tree girl.

I did find this image, though, and it is quite beautiful. There is also a story about it that the artist's husband shared with us while we perused the booth. He said a blind woman was walking through an art fair they were doing once, and she bemoaned that she couldn't really see all the art that her companion was describing. He offered to let her touch this painting (at the time it was all white, with just the texture of the image -- it's hard to see in the picture here but all her art is very textured), and as she ran her fingers over it, she said, "oh, it's tulips!" but they hadn't even told her what it was.

It is amazing how our senses work. Many people who have full functional use of their eyes are "blind" to the world, not seeing beauty or love....or not seeing problems in the world. This story was a beautiful reminder that we shouldn't always just see with our eyes...