Pre-Pesach purge

I have not yet begun cleaning or shopping for Pesach, but a thought occurred to me, and the thought alone made me feel productive. :-)

Since there is a lot of cleaning to do before Pesach arrives, perhaps this is a good time to go through one's things and purge. Particularly in the kitchen area since that is the area that receives the most attention. As one goes through the cabinets, consider whether an item is worthwhile to keep. A wedding gift never used? Purge. Something you bought that you thought you'd use but haven't yet? If it's been over a year, purge. If you totally forgot about an item, that's a good indication that you don't need it - purge. Or perhaps there is a better place to store the seldom-used item. But the whole point is to simply get rid of stuff - whether by donating it, giving away to friends, or throwing it away (my least favorite option, especially if it's usable or recyclable).

The same is true for clothing, books, toys, linens, etc. Pretty much anything can be purged.

I'm a fan of a clutter-less home. I like more "white space" in my life; I don't need to fill my life up with useless things that don't do anything (I am soooo results-oriented). I also think that the less stuff there is, the less there is to clean, PERIOD. And that's a good thing.

Productive Sunday

Nevermind the fact that we parents slept in until 9:15 am (yes, that is correct - I know it is shocking to the other parents out there - I have NO IDEA how our daughter let us sleep in that long but she did not make a SINGLE peep and she was in the crib the whole time!!) so we got a late start to our day; we managed to make this a VERY productive day. By productive, I am specifically referring to crossing off one thing from our to-do list that has been on that list for months now.

Not only did I make pancakes, not only did my husband attend a shul board meeting, and not only did our daughter take a nap (during which we perused the newspaper, actually spent time talking to each other, and picked up pizza for lunch), but we also went to IKEA and bought a bookcase.

IKEA is just bad news for us. I know that there are many who love that store, and I can see why, but for us, visiting IKEA is like one of the levels of Dante's hell. It is overwhelming, it is always crowded, it is like a giant maze, and while it holds great promise, when you see the products up close, you realize that many times they are very flimsy and then you don't want to buy them and then you wasted all that time driving all the way there, finding a parking space, finding that item, etc etc.

I got inspired by an article in Parents magazine and made a decision: we are going to buy a bookcase for our living room from IKEA, we know the quality ahead of time so we WILL NOT be disappointed, and this will solve our problems. There, the decision has been made. We checked the stock level at the store ahead of time (yes in stock!) and made a plan: we go in, we get it, we check out. Before the evening is up we assemble it and we rock on.

And we accomplished each little task. We went there, found a parking spot, found the item, checked out, sent the daughter to play with the grandparents, and we assembled it. Voila!! Done. It is a gratifying feeling.

Post Purim

Purim came and went. With the help of several friends, I was able to create costumes for us that received great reviews from others. The theme was "A Pea in the Pod" (for obvious reasons)...my daughter went as Pea #1, my belly was Pea #2, I was the pod, and my husband was the farmer who harvests the peas. It worked out! I bought green t-shirts for me and the kiddo, bought fabric markers (another first!) and wrote the words Pea #1 and Pea #2 on the shirts, and then I bought green beans and hot-glued them onto our shirts (front and back). They didn't stick the whole night but that's alright. I bought green fabric (seasonal AND on sale!!) and "made" an overlay for my jeans skirt by wrapping the fabric around the skirt and then using safety pins to secure it (um, I don't sew). It stayed on the whole night! Can't say as much for the green beans that were on our shirts. My husband borrowed a plaid shirt, donned his cowboy hat (he's a Texas farmer) and dug his knees into dirt to give the jeans that farmer look. Overall, we made a cute family.

For mishloach manot, I got last minute inspiration, again with the help of friends, although I did have to ditch my plan of making hamantaschen because I ran out of time. I bought green boxes of apple juice, mini boxes of raisins, and then I boiled a frozen bag of peas and put some in ziploc baggies. I made labels with an image of two babies as peas in a pod, wrote a little message, and hoped that everyone would get the theme, especially once they saw our costume. I thought it was cute! Cute and cheap. Love it.

The Purim party at our shul last night was a blast, even though I overdid it and my back was sore last night. I'm alright now.

Now it's time for the Pesach craziness....

Purim - letting it go

You would think that having been at home, not working, for the last almost 3 months, I would have thought of the most amazing Purim costumes and mishloach manot packages for this year, but you would be wrong. I have not thought of anything and I can't seem to make my brain cells work any more on this topic. I feel like they need to save the thinking for Pesach and impending new baby arrival, and cannot be spent on Purim planning. First I thought we'd do a theme for the mishloach manot, but then I couldn't come up with food items that fit the theme, and then I just had no clue. And I definitely can't come up with a costume (except for maybe the daughter's costume - I think she has one...) for me or the husband. It's pathetic!

So that's it. I have come to the conclusion, and am actually relieved, to have a low-key Purim this year...it won't be memorable, it won't be show-stopping, it will be a lovely holiday on our way to Pesach. That's it. I've made peace with this.

Craft: Bat Mitzvah Memory Book

This week I made a Bat Mitzvah Memory Book for a young lady in the community whose Bat Mitzvah is this Shabbat. I got the idea from looking at my own Bat Mitzvah book, and it made me think that my book doesn't really reflect my personality, or capture my thoughts at the time, or anything like that. It was a book I insisted on buying from a Judaica store, but I don't know why I made my parents buy it because I remember not even being thrilled with it at the time. I wanted this young lady to have a place where she could capture this moment in a creative way, so I spent all week looking up information online, getting ideas for the content, and then crafting away. Behold, my very own Bat Mitzvah Memory Book.

A woman's work

I attended an event last night which showcased women entrepreneurs in the neighborhood, and I have to admit, I was very impressed. The women were all very creative with what they were selling and I was impressed with how the women, most of whom do not have typical 9-5 jobs in an office, determined to make money doing something they loved to do. It was actually rather inspiring and made me think of what I would do if I wasn't working in an office.

(Although the thing is that I actually love my job and I love the office environment - when I'm in the office because usually I would be at a client site - so I would definitely miss that if I were to exit that world.)

It was nice to see women being resourceful with their time and trying to provide something new and creative to the world. What the event also showed me was that these ladies' marketing reach was rather limited, given the attendance at the event and the fact that I had no idea all these little businesses were going on. I thought these ladies needed more exposure to the rest of the Jewish community - even competitors! - and that, these days, it's easy to do that.

Maybe I can organize something myself to promote all these and other hidden businesses in our community, because it's a shame that these talents aren't being recognized for what they are...

Challenge of the week - accomplished!

I would have been sorely disappointed if I would not have been able to achieve last week's challenge, but fortunately my instincts proved me right and my spending was reined in. Not only did I successfully complete last week's challenge, but I have money left over. Yay! For groceries, the key is buying inexpensive ingredients that can create gourmet meals (and knowing where to shop); for the other items, it's really just all about prioritizing and analyzing (as in, do I really need a new pair of shoes? New skirt? etc). And combing through my fridge and pantry to come up with new uses for what I already have and not letting it go to waste (a big money drain) (which would require me to eat fruits and vegetables, something I need to work on anyway). Keeping up maintenance so that I don't incur expensive repairs in the future. All good stuff.