This year, the first night of Hanukkah fell out on Saturday, December 24th. This meant that the food stores were crazy busy late in the week, and weren’t open at all on Saturday night or Sunday. We never go food shopping during Shabbos, so the fact that many stores were open on Saturday until noon […]

I’ve heard a lot of bad things about microwave ovens- both that they’re unhealthy to be around while they’re running, as well as making the food less healthful. According to some studies, the very nature of microwaves damages foods, while others say that toxins can leach into foods more easily during microwaving. Those studies imply […]

I’m getting kind of frustrated with my health. I’ve recently been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, but I’ve been suffering with it for months. My health hasn’t been quite right since the hernia repair surgery back in December. In February, an echo-cardiogram revealed fluid on my heart, and I’ve been going to doctors and tests […]

Jack started attending the local public high school last Wednesday, after two years of homeschooling. Up until I pulled him out of school, I’d always had at least one child in school or day care since Hannah started preschool. So that’s about 16 years of being used to a “school schedule” followed by two years […]

It feels like I’m constantly re-inventing myself and having to re-start what I already know works for me. For YEARS, I was able to be very strict about my diet, not really being tempted by the non-compliant stuff in the house for the kids. But somehow, over the past year or two, things have shifted […]

I’m having some dental work done tomorrow, so I did my food shopping today and I plan to do some food preparation tomorrow morning. This way, I’ll have soft, easy to eat, nutritious food ready for afterwards. I mentioned this to a friend today, who offered me some of her Atkins shakes. When I declined, […]

In cleaning up the house, we located a small prayer book called “Aneni: Special Prayers for Special Occasions.” It’s tiny; only 3.5 inches by 5 inches and about 250 pages, with fairly large, easy to read text. It’s very small for a Jewish prayer book, and includes prayers not found in the regular one. Included […]

I’ve always taken charge of my health by trying to eat and exercise right. I’ve been led astray by the “health fads” of the times- like using soy protein powder as a teenager in the 80’s and going vegetarian in college in the early 90’s- but I’ve always been proactive with my health. These interests […]

Yesterday Hannah turned 20. She invited a few friends over for a low-key party. The night before, we made the birthday cake. Passover baking options are limited, especially since Hannah can’t have wheat. Regular flour isn’t allowed, but matzah meal is used in a lot of recipes, especially “cake meal” which is ground more finely. […]

Ever since the first year I homeschooled Hannah, we’ve observed March 14th as Pi Day- as March 14th is 3-14 in America. We bake and eat pies, and learn about circles. Since Jack is doing Algebra this year, circles aren’t part of his math curriculum right now, but it’s still been a tradition for nearly […]