Layout and Pesach Bonanaza

Passover is still going on and we have been enjoying the time together! I've been off this week and little E has started to become acquainted with her "baby school," which I'll talk more about in a later post if y'all are interested. I have a lot of feelings about sending her to someone else's care, but I do think this is the best arrangement for us for now, and I'm trying to follow my "one little word" and actually take things one day at a time.

I wanted to share some older layouts today that have been sitting around gathering dust. This first layout is about the different seasons in life--at the time I created it, I was struggling with infertility and job-hunting. Now I have a baby and a job, so the season has definitely shifted!

There's a pull-out pocket containing more journaling. Man, I love those Lullaby thickers. Need about 700 more packs.

This next layout is about one of the items on my unofficial "bucket list," which is writing a book. One day, one day. Maybe when E starts napping?

This last layout documents our "second wedding." See, we were that unorganized couple that realized two days before our wedding that we needed to fill out forms and all for our religious ceremony to be legally valid. Oops. Add to that the fact that it's considered a special thing in Judaism to not see each other the week before your wedding (maybe it's a "protect the groom" maneuver--ha!), and I didn't want to risk losing any specialness, so we decided to just do a second wedding at City Hall after our first wedding.

Sounds like a great plan, but just try to get married in the 3 days before the deadline for filing taxes jointly. Long lines, people. But nevertheless, we got civilly married, jeans skirt and all.

I used Lawn Party, my most favorite Studio Calico kit to date, on this one. Yum.

Before I go, I wanted to answer a few Passover questions. Many of you wanted to know what's up with all the tinfoil. Basic answer is that the surfaces you eat and prepare food on during the year aren't kosher for Passover. So unless you get all new countertops (which might not be the worst idea, come to think of it....) you just cover up the surfaces with foil, and you have yourself a nice and kosher, albeit spaceship-looking, kitchen for Passover. We block off cabinets and fridge shelves so that we don't accidentally eat something tasty looking that's probably better than matza:) And we do keep special dishes and platters and everything just for Passover.

And before I really go, I couldn't leave you without a picture of the munckin. Here she is looking all business with her stuffed bear. Oh my heavens.

So tell me, how many old layouts do YOU have lying around?

Four days away....

We are now a mere FOUR days away from Passover, or Pesach as it's called in Hebrew. Four days, people.

Why do I keep emphasizing the length of time? Because this is quite possibly the craziest time of year for Jewish families. We go through all of our food, organize it into "kosher for Pesach," "not kosher for Pesach" and "really not kosher for Pesach," which is basically anything like bread and crackers (that we then get rid of). We clean our entire house top to bottom, and scrub our kitchens to make them kosher for Passover cooking. We also spend a little bit of time dreaming of the wonders of matza pizza and those awesome toffee-bar-things I made last year. Mmmmm.

source

After that, we cover our entire kitchen and dining area with tinfoil and block off all of the cabinets that we aren't going to use for the holiday. We haul out the storage bins that contain measuring spoons, platters, spices, oven mitts, and everything else we used for Pesach last year.


We pull out the haggadahs we use at the Passover seder, especially the one I use, which has the most detailed illustrations.



To top if off, S and I are doing all of the food shopping for the seders and holiday meals, and I'm trying to get the munchkin and myself outfitted in nice springy clothes for the synagogue.

And did I mention all of this needs to get done in the next four days?

We did take a few minutes to re-watch The Prince of Egypt.



Have you seen it? It always reminds me of the purpose behind the holiday. I love the scene where everyone walks out of Egypt towards the desert, awed by the events of the day, cautious in their new freedom. It reminds me of the miracles I've seen in my own life.


So if I'm a bit scarce in the next few days, you know why. And if YOU have any questions about Passover (or if you have no clue about half the things I'm talking about), feel free to ask!

Pesach adventures

If it seems like I've been talking about holidays A LOT lately, you're right! It's major holiday season over at the Starr household. It seems that it was only yesterday when I was happily hoarding my mounds of candy from Purim, and now the kitchen is all cleaned and scrubbed for Passover, the leftover cookies and cakes from Purim donated to Ike down the hall.

This photo is from last year, but the view hasn't changed much:


Hmmm-where did I put those mixing bowls last year? They're quite nice, aren't they?

Aluminum foil. A (Pesach) girl's best friend.

As you can see.


Pesach, aka Passover, is where we celebrate the Jews being freed after hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt. At the seder, I'm always amazed at the many stories of redemption in Jewish history--the many, many incidents where you wouldn't think we'd make it out, but we did. Since my grandparents are both Holocaust survivors who actually experienced losing their freedom for several years, seeing them read the words of the seder has extra meaning.

As I read in article recently, Pesach is G-d's way of telling us: I saved you. And I will save you again. (from Chabad.org)

And if I drop off the face of the earth for the next few days (unless you're in brooklyn, in which case, come say hi!), you now know why! On the first and last days of Pesach we follow similar rules to the Sabbath, where we don't use the computer, write, etc. Just a whole lot of quality time:)

And since I'm digging around my house for ideas, what's YOUR favorite non-wheat snack?