Cheap and easy wood polish

Mix a bit of lemon juice with a bit more of olive oil. Apply. Use immediately and don't make it in advance. Stand back and look at your polished wood in all its glory. Sure beats buying the expensive stuff.

Holocaust Rememberance Day

It begins tonight. It's such a formality, but it's necessary. It's necessary to set aside one day of the year to specifically remember the Holocaust. I feel like I never forget it. Not only do I know stories and names of relatives who died, I feel like it is my mission in life to ensure that the Nazis didn't win. That despite their best efforts, the descendants of the ones who perished, whom they worked so hard to kill, are not only alive but actively practicing Judaism. Not only practicing Judaism, but speaking of the Nazis like ones speaks of the Babylonians and Romans and all other people who tried to kill us. The Nazis are gone, but the Jews - the pitifully small in number Jews - are around. And not only around - but enhancing quality of life on Earth!! How many Nobel prizes have been won by Jews? How much literature has been produced? How about the entire concept of ethics and morality? Who came up with that (well, G-d did, but we are charged with spreading the message)?

So anyway, I lit a 24-hour candle tonight in honor of those I know who perished, the 1.5 million children who perished, and those who perished and there is no one to remember them. Here's to remembering that no matter how comfortable we feel in a society, that society can ALWAYS turn against us. No matter how "cultured" a society, the society can create the most efficient killing machine. No matter how much a citizen of your country you may feel, remember that you will ALWAYS be considered a Jew, no matter how little you actually know of Judaism. Never forget that. We Jews will always be singled out, no matter how much we try to hide. We only have each other.

Gift bag galore

I am now in the midst of nesting (just a few more weeks to go until baby #2 arrives!) and have discovered a treasure trove of baby gift bags I didn't throw away that were given to us with presents for our daughter. They are good gift bags that can be reused. The question is - what do I do with them? I am reluctant to throw them away because they can be reused and they are nice; the only problem is that I have so many and I don't think I have so many baby gifts to give in the near future! We are talking about several dozen gift bags here. What do I do with them?? Any ideas??

Update on Belden's bananas

Belden's has caught up with the rest of the stores in the area when it comes to banana prices. Today I went in there today intending to buy bananas and there they were, those beautiful bananas staring at me at 49 cents a pound.

Oh well - I enjoyed the party while it lasted.

Pesach Insanity

Pesach is THIS WEEK. AAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!!

Unfortunately, Pesach is not one of my favorite holidays just yet. Maybe it will be one day, but I'm not there yet. All the cleaning and worrying over kosher l'Pesach utensils and dishes and food makes me nuts and I feel like it makes people forget the true meaning of the holiday (wow that sounds so Christmas-y). But, there is no getting around it - it is what it is.

At the moment, I am eating straight from a pint of ice cream. Good ol' strawberry ice cream.

So far I have kashered my Pesach silverware (to go to the mikvah tomorrow), got both cars cleaned, had the house cleaned, cleaned the fridge, run both ovens through the self-cleaning cycle, and cleaned the stovetop (to make the cleaning much simpler tomorrow when I actually go to kasher it). I (really my husband) have made room in the pantry for all of the non-Pesach items I need to remove from the counter. Not bad, eh?

Tomorrow, we are going to toivel and kasher everything else - counters, sinks, stovetop. It's actually not as much as it sounds; we have granite countertops and the stove is clean - just need to do a final wipe down and do the kashering thing. And the sinks are stainless steel (nothing like renovating a kitchen with Pesach in mind).

I still have last minute shopping to do, errands to run, phone calls to make - all that fun stuff. I never do seem to get around spiritually preparing for the holiday until I have downtime during the holiday itself (although now with a kid, I don't know how much downtime I actually will have).

Off to bed...it's late...