Of the three suitcases I brought home from my trip, one was heavy with my latest kitchen gadget--a cast-iron griddle. (The guitar didn't arrive on time; it's a long story.) After getting the griddle home it had to be toveled (immersed in the ritual bath), dried carefully, scrubbed and dried again, … [Read more...]
This is the Way We Wash the Floor
June 29, 2008 by
Like so many other things, we decide whether or not to have paid cleaning help based on outside expectations. If everyone in the neighborhood has cleaning help then we need it too, right? There are worse ways to spend one's money, and doing without can be foolish in some circumstances. But overall, … [Read more...]
Teaching our children: Modeling is not enough
June 20, 2008 by
In my post Trusting Our Children, I wrote about things that children learn on their own. So what do we need to teach them?I hate to disappoint you, but I don't have the answers. I can't, because they will be different for each family. Leora will make sure her children appreciate art and can express … [Read more...]
Kosher Cooking Carnival #29: Pre-Passover Edition
April 7, 2008 by
Welcome to the April 7, 2008 edition of kosher cooking carnival. Here are the previous editions: #1,#2,#3,#4,#5,#6,#7,#8,#9,#10,#11,#12,#13,#14,#15,#16,#17,#18, #19,#20,#21,KCCMetaCarnival,#22,#23,#24,#25,#26,#27.#28 Thanks to Batya for all of her hard work on the KCC. She will be hosting … [Read more...]
Australian-Israeli protests sexist Nazi artwork
March 9, 2008 by
One of the best things about making aliyah is getting to know people from all over the world. Our English-speaking community consists of Australians, Canadians, South Africans, and Brits the English.The daughter of our Australian friends took an extended trip to visit her grandparents. While there … [Read more...]
Basic skills for children
March 5, 2008 by
Over at Conversations in Klal, ProfK writes about whether children (read girls) should be taught basic homemaking skills. In The Fine Art of Being a Balabusta Part I, she concludes that there's no point teaching girls to sew because the women she knows sew do so mainly for pleasure. Working mothers … [Read more...]
FLYing and landing
January 17, 2008 by
I discovered Flylady when I was pregnant with my fifth child. She took the best of SHE, imbued it with her own unique style and transferred it from a filebox to the internet.Flylady immediately got rid of SHE's biggest problem. She says that the index cards made you feel guilty, and guilt keeps you … [Read more...]
Book Review: Life After Housework
January 10, 2008 by
The idea that someone could write a book about cleaning techniques was a revelation to me. I bought Is There Life after Housework in the local used bookstore because I couldn't resist the title. The author, Don Aslett, explains everything you need to about cleaning your house. If you are thinking … [Read more...]
For those with low housekeeping standards: She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel
January 2, 2008 by
If you are depressed about your housekeeping standards, you might take comfort from the memoir She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel. It's the sequel to "A Girl Named Zippy." Zippy's father decides to lower the ceiling to save heat, and his family is so impressed by this improvement (". . . we … [Read more...]
Fitting Housework into Life
January 2, 2008 by
When I had only two children, born eighteen months apart, I didn't spend a lot of time on housework. My oldest enjoyed scattering toys around the house, crumpling any paper he could find, and biting his baby brother when I got distracted for a moment. My husband and I developed a system to manage … [Read more...]
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