#BlogExodus #ExodusGram 5773

I love love love love Passover.
It's one of my favorite holidays.

I love the preparation that goes into this one special week of the year.
And I love the spiritual nature of completely changing the way that we eat for one week. I relish the way that it makes us so consciously aware of each morsel that we place in our mouths. I am inspired by the themes of the holiday that give us so much personal food for thought. (Yes, pun intended!)

Last year, I tried out a new way to interpret the preparation for Passover, with #BlogExodus and #Exodusgram.

I thought it was great, and I know that others did too.

So here is this year's #blogExodus and #Exodusgram theme list:

Feel free to grab this image and use it on your own blog to mark your posts.

So what is this really about? #BlogExodus is really what you want to make of it. I've provided topics for the first 14 days of the month of Nisan. What you do with it is up to you -- write a blog post, tweet, Facebook, tumblr, or something that I haven't even thought of yet! Use the hashtag to share your post (I put it into the title). It's a great way to kickstart a blog or rejuvenate your languishing blog or just get yourself ready for the holiday of Passover! I will, again, be posting my #blogExodus posts over at rabbiphyllis.blogspot.com and I will tweet them out at @imabima. There aren't any rules, so maybe you don't like the order of the topics? Maybe you want to write on only a few of them? It doesn't matter. It is what you make of it.

#Exodusgram is a little more interpretive. While I love Instagram (I'm imabima, of course), I know some people don't. So maybe you want to share Exodus-themed photos via Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, Pinterest or....whatever! My #Exodusgram posts will go up on Instagram and then be shared to my tumblr, imabima.tumblr.com. Whatever you do, don't forget to tag with #Exodusgram so we can all share.

The themes are really up for your own interpretation. I was thinking broadly and openly about what makes Passover special and interesting to me. I hope it will translate into creative and inspirational posts from all of us!

Are you going to play along? Leave me a comment here or send me a tweet or just...play along!
At some point in the middle, I will probably do a "roundup" post and I will retweet all the #BlogExodus and #Exodusgram posts through Twitter via @imabima. If I miss your posts, let me know so I can go back and be inspired by what YOU have to say!

*Yes, I know that I put the Shabbat dates there. I don't blog/tweet/Facebook on Shabbat but I will post on Fridays before Shabbat and on Saturdays after Shabbat is over. You can, of course, do it any way you like!

Lost: One Hour

Today we changed our clocks. "Spring forward" is a nice motto, and it's a good memory trick.
The practice of changing the clocks dates back to the first World War, and was a way to maximize energy efficiency. Some people hate daylight savings time, and some people love it. No matter how you feel about it, though, if you forget to change your clocks....well, you spend a lot of time confused.

Everyone always talks about how we "lose" an hour when we set our clocks forward. It's such a sad idea, really, to think of just - poof - an hour gone.

It reminds me how precious time is.
It reminds me how much each minute, each second, each not-lost hour matters.

Time is such a funny idea, really. It's a construct, isn't it? The rabbis created their own setting for time --  basically, they divided each day from daybreak to sunset into 12 equal parts, each one considered a "rabbinic hour" -- these hours are used to determine when one should say each of the various daily prayer services. They're variable, of course, based on the seasons, which is why a person who observes these zmanim (times) needs a specialized listing (or app for their phone) to help keep track. It's also why it's tricky to observe "Jewish time" in a place like St. Petersburg, which is so close to the Arctic Circle. During the winter months, each "hour" is very short. The daylight hours in which to accomplish daytime prayers are minimal! And then in the summer -- the daylight hours never seem to end!

I've often joked at summer camp that we should just set all the clocks on camp to whatever time we want them to be set at. It's such an insulated experience; we could tell the kids they are sleeping until 9am "camp time" and it might only be 8am in the "real world."

When we have control over the time -- why not buy a little extra sleep?
Or at least make it feel as though we're getting more!

We acknowledge the passing of time and in doing so, we sanctify it...we make it holy. We measure birthdays and anniversaries, we pay careful attention to the changing of the year and setting forth the holidays. We celebrate moments, large and small, in order to make something so ephemeral as time a living and sacred part of our lives. Time might fly when you're having fun. But time can be snatched away if we fail to pause and sanctify it.

Yes, we lost an hour this weekend.
And it helped me to remember that time is precious.
It is a gift....it is a blessing.

Your wisdom sets the way on which time and season glide;

Your breath guides the sail of the stars.

Creator of the tide of time and light,

You guide the current of day into night.

As heaven spans to infinity,

You set its course for eternity.

(Rabbi Elyse Frishman, in Mishkan Tefillah)

Lost: One Hour -- Arrrrrghhhhhh!!!!!!

No Worries Here

Cross-posted to Superman Sam's blog...

Tuesday, 2:23pm: Snow is falling thickly outside. Afterschool activities have already been cancelled. I'm in my comfy clothes, working on the computer while Solly naps. When the phone rings, and I see that it's the school, I assume it has to do with the snow.

School nurse: Hi, I have Sam here and he says his knee hurts. And he is worried because it's just like before.

If I tell you that I nearly dropped the phone...if I tell you that I burst into tears...if I tell you those things, I know you would forgive me for losing my cool.

I asked to talk to Sam. In a very calm, small, quiet voice, he said, "Mom, it feels just like when I was first diagnosed."

I swallowed hard.
My seven-year-old knows the word "diagnosed" and uses it properly in a sentence.
We discussed whether he should stay at school or not. With the snowstorm, and only about 45 minutes left in school, he decided to miss gym but rejoin his class for music.

And I called the clinic.
In tears.

They were, as usual, amazing.
As a fellow pediatric-illness-parent-friend said to me, they know every nook and cranny of the cliffs that we are ready to jump off. This one was a pick-up-my-kid-in-a-near-blizzard-and-drive-all-the-way-to-Milwaukee-for-an-MRI kind of cliff.

But they talked me down. He had gymnastics on Monday. Maybe he wrenched it? His joints and bones could be affected by the chemo and this could just be residual effects. It could just be normal-kid-aches-and-pains.

Sam had a clinic appointment scheduled for today, Friday. A regular check-up. The ones that I'm not supposed to worry about. The ones that they told me were just for routine.
That we would notice symptoms if anything was happening.

Tuesday night, he limped around. He took a bath. He snuggled while we read Ramona Forever.
As he went to bed...he said, "I hope it's not leukemia."

I said, "me too."

By Thursday, he was fine. No pain. Except the one inside my stomach, waiting to have a medical professional PROVE to me that he was fine.

I was up all night last night waiting for today's drive to Milwaukee. What would the results say?

It's all fine. He's fine.
Numbers normal.
No worries.

Well, not at least until next time there's a false alarm, right?

Chocolate pudding & a movie at 10am? You know we're in Cancerland for the day.

Purim 2013

This year's Purim was pretty simple.

A lot of hamantaschen were made and eaten.

 The kids wanted to be the characters from the Wizard of Oz. I love the idea of a family theme costume, and we've never done it before...it worked...mostly. Solly would NOT wear a costume at all.

Even without a costume on, I am so glad I got this picture of my four musketeers!

Finally at the end of the Carnival, he let our friend Sam put HIS costume onto Solly.

For about 30 seconds. Just long enough for me to take a picture!

Sometimes Purim is a big blowout. 

Sometimes we just barely make it. 

This year was one of those barely-make-it kind of years.

But you know what? We celebrated, we had fun, and there's always next year!

Costumes and all that hamantaschen....and now we're onto Pesach!

I Love Mondays {Review}

Remember, I'm a working mama.
Many days, I get up and leave the house in the morning and don't return til the night.
Some days, I'm home for part of the day and some days I go into work in the evening.

When I walk into the house around dinner time, I will usually hear this question: "Are you home for the night?" and they don't really believe me until I put on my pajamas.

Lately, I've started to get little notes like this:

Aside from the obvious spelling error...yeah. You get the idea.

Recently, I received I Love Mondays and Other Confessions From Devoted Working Moms by Michelle Cove. It was just the book I needed after that little note made its way into my pocket this week.

It was funny and well-written, and it wasn't preachy. It didn't say that it's easy to be a working mom, or that it should be easy to be a working mom. What it did was remind me that there are a ton of parents (both male and female) out there who are experiencing the same push and pull that I experience. A desire to be with my family and a knowledge that my work is valuable and wonderful and beloved.

I liked the strategies in the book - real words about how to deal with real situations like the wails...."don't go, Mommmmmmmmmeeeeeee"....I liked the personal stories and the anecdotes.

I must admit that I read most of the book while sitting outside Solly's room while he tried to convince me that bedtime was optional. Those moments when I'm not sure that he's ever going to go to sleep...when I wonder what kind of mother I am that my child just isn't interested in going to bed and will he ever go to sleep and can I please go and sit downstairs and watch tv or have, shockingly, an adult conversation with my husband?

So maybe that's why this book struck such a chord with me.

But still, I think that all working mamas can benefit from this book. And even those mamas who work at home, I think you will like it too. Because parenting is hard. And whatever book can help us through it in a supportive way, bringing us together instead of tearing us down...well, I'm good with that.

So when you start to get little notes that tell you not to go to "wrck"...know that you are not alone.
I'm getting them too.

At What Age...

At what age did you get your ears pierced?

I was seven. To make a long story short, my parents had actually said 12. But I bargained it out by learning to ride a two-wheeler.

Yael started an ear-piercing campaign shortly after her fifth birthday.
I hemmed and hawed. It seemed like every day she'd come home with a new story of a different friend who "just got her ears pierced."

With only one girl in the family, I knew that I was not likely to be setting a major precedent if I allowed ear piercing at age 6. (I'm sure I'll let you know when the boys ask for it.)

So I finally agreed.

I asked around and decided that the place at the mall was the right spot.
I wanted someone who did it a LOT and had a relatively vested interest in making their customers happy and keeping them healthy. I called ahead to make sure there would be two people to do both ears at the same time.

Little did I know that Yael did her own research. Are you at all surprised?
On a regular basis, she has been dragging Uncle Josh to the mall (she has afternoon kindergarten so there are lots of open mornings) and visiting The Store Where They Pierce Ears. She's learned names. She's observed ear piercings. She told me all about the chair she would sit in and the stuffed bear she would get to hold. And the way they would mark her ears. And which of her "friends" at the place would help her.

I should not be surprised but I was totally in awe.

And just like that, trip-trap, she plopped herself into that chair, and got her ears pierced.

Lest you think I haven't contemplated the Jewish implications of this ear piercing experience, check this out.

Hamantaschen 2013

Every year we make a lot of hamantaschen. I love them. I love to share them with friends and family.

Many people make amazing themed mishloach manot.
I just give out hamantaschen.

I think it's okay.

So this year we made a lot of "normal" hamantaschen. A few batches of my Aunt Dora's recipe and a few batches of cream-cheese dough. One batch of yeast dough, too.

My brother is visiting from Israel and he helped with a lot of the fun!

Bubbie (my mom) made a whole bunch of filling for us!

Zeyde (my dad) approves

Why yes, they ARE playing with flour. Doesn't everyone?

And as usual, I wanted to try something new.

I was totally inspired by this post from Pragmatic Attic, Midnight Mint Hamantaschen.

But since I already have a chocolate dough that I know and love, my brother suggested that we just replace the vanilla with mint extract. And since I'd already bought the Special Dark Cocoa, I used that too. Just the dough was pretty darn yummy. Then we added the mint ganache as filling and they were outstanding.

Maybe other new ideas coming, we'll see!

If you're still looking for hamantaschen ideas, here are some of my previous posts on the subject.

Great-Aunt Dora's Dough Recipe (a basic, wonderful, forgiving dough recipe)
Yeast Dough
Chocolate Dough
Cream Cheese Dough
Hamantaschen Tips and Tricks
And if you don't like hamantaschen, try these Palmiers for Purim.

P.S. Hamantaschen are GREAT for breakfast. Just ask Solly: