Technology Fun ... Again...

I may be behind the times, but when I went clothes shopping with my teenage daughter yesterday (...trust me - I'd rather be Pesach cleaning.... I'd rather have root canal actually....), I was entranced by some liquid crystal glass dressing room doors. I'd never seen such things before.

When you pass by, they are clear doors and the inside of the dressing room is completely visible. When you step inside the dressing room, a motion detector triggers an electric current in the glass which renders it opaque. I wish I'd had the forethought to video the process for you (but I was a bit worn out from shopping with aforementioned teenager). Thankfully, I found a YouTube clip of just this phenomenon.

Have you seen this before?

Scene on the Web - Don't Think These Things Don't Happen

I wouldn't believe half this stuff, if I hadn't experienced a good number of these when I sat shiva for my father - INCLUDING the one where a visitor asked how old my mother had been.... (she was in the kitchen at the time....).

Sometimes less is more.

Purim at KAJ / Breuer's - The Choir Sings

For the past several years, the choir of KAJ has performed a medley of Lewandowski Purim songs for the enjoyment of those people who choose to stay a few minutes after mincha in shul on Purim afternoon.

Pesach Cleaning Finds - Part I

All right.
So, some part of Pesach cleaning has to be fun, right?

If it's not fun, we need to MAKE IT fun, because, as I remember Rav Schwab z"l telling a women's shiur many years ago, it's a mitzvah to come to the seder and feeling simchas Yom Tov, NOT wiped out, so clean accordingly.

This feat can be accomplished in many different ways.

First off "Staub ist kein Chometz" [German for "Dust is not Chometz...." - doesn't it sound more FUN in German ;)?] This means - step away from the windows, the cornices, the chandelier, the draperies (you heard me, Avram) and if you didn't do those before Purim, then they can wait until after Shavuos.

Joey, as a child, when cleaning his room used to have a rule that any interesting find he made during cleaning, he would don. This made for some wonderful Pesach cleaning photographs that without even asking, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have permission to share with you. But there's an idea for you, anyway.

Now my area doesn't yield such finds that are exactly wearable. I mean, on which body part would I put the 11 month old (dead) check for $23.99 from my insurance company? Sigh....

I DID find though, a fun sized candy bar (that may also be 11 months old.....) that I am definitely going to eat (as an experiment of course). I will let you know if chocolate goes stale in that time frame as soon as I do my important research.

I also found a sizable sum of cash whose origins I can't recall, but that will be long gone after Aisles 1 & 2 of my Pesach shopping spree have been traversed.

We also finally got down to counting and rolling all the money in the "spare change vase". Yes folks, we put it off so long that the little box grew to be a ten inch by five inch diameter glass vase, which we now know is capable of holding $65 in assorted coinage (Aisle 3 of the Kollel Store right there......).

I also reclaimed one nail scissor, two nail clippers, three plain white number 10 envelopes and about 8 CDs without any identifying labels on them......

I'll keep you posted as cleaning continues because I know that you are all just on the edge of your seats.

So to summarize: GO FORTH AND CLEAN BUT HAVE FUN!!! (and report to me in the comments section any "fun finds" of your own!)

Joey's Purim Grammen 2012

He was kind to me this year.
I only had to edit out one line ;)

Food Photo Friday - Purim Dessert

This was Jennifer's idea, and I thought it might be particularly fun for the younger set, while still yummy for "children of all ages".
Which Purim Character Cupcake would YOU choose? And why?

Group Purim Shot - Those Not "Blog Shy"

Happy Purim - The Early Returns

Just a few table photos to start you off.
First off - remember the corks I was looking for? Due to the largesse of several blog readers and others, we managed to amass enough for my new set of place card holders. Thanks to Eric and his nifty exacto knife kit (yes, a whole kit!) for making them so sharp and neat.

Good Shabbos To All

Gragger-ganza?

An idea began to take shape when I discovered a photo of this unique hand-carved gragger from Poland, circa 1933.

The annual Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Succah Hop and Chanukah Pirsum Project, always yield wonderful results. I got to thinking that you may all have interesting graggers in your possession that you'd like to share with our readers.

Hence the inception of G6's Gragger-ganza (if you've got a better name, I'd love to hear it!)

Send your photos, along with instructions as to how/if, you'd like to be credited to guesswhoscoming2dinner@gmail.com

The Gefilte Fish Play

If you haven't heard the term "gefilte fish play" or "gefilte fish book" yet, don't worry - there's a good reason for it. It's because I made it up. But mark my words, it'll catch on.....

You may not have heard the phrase, but you know the type. I call them "gefiltes" because not only are the boys' names always Fishele and Klonimos and the girls always called Freidele or Chaya Sarah Bracha, but the mother is always in the kitchen making gefilte fish - never meatloaf or pasta.

The books aren't so bad. That is, if you can get past the fact that they are seldom well written.

The plays really irk me. I think they are more than harmless. I think they are harmful.

I bring it up at this juncture because this is the time of year that many Bais Yaakovs have their annual show which usually features a play. (For a related rant that would be funny if it weren't so sad, see IcebergCarwash's blog post here with a photo here.) In the old days these plays always had the "token" handicapped child and familes with exclusively female children, but they have evolved. They were initially designed, one would assume, to protect our children from the harmful effects of secular plays, which are fraught with bad middos and negative messages. Unfortunately, in the process of getting away from plays with (ostensibly) GENTILE protagonists behaving badly, we now have a whole slew of plays with JEWISH subjects exhibiting horrible middos (which sometimes turn around at the end of the play through the most overt hand of Hashem).

I myself acted in a Sisterhood Play many years ago that centered around a women's Tomchei Shabbos Fundraising Tea, which featured a fashion show. There were two tables on stage - the "young women's table" and the "old women's table" and the inanities and insults uttered by these women throughout the play - all in the name of comedy of course! - were shameful. I hated that play. I hated the way frum women were portrayed - insulting each other's clothes, families, etc.

I am told that several years ago, a Bais Yaakov nearby put on a tragedy. The nature of this tragedy? Just weeks before Pesach, the protagonist's cleaning woman QUIT! Can you imagine the horror?? The whole play was drawing parallels between this woman's situation and shibud Mitzrayim..... need I say more?

I had the joy of attending a gefilte fish play recently that featured the inspiring message of a girl who so badly wanted to get into the right seminary (so that her life wouldn't be forever ruined), that she stole another girl's test and switched the names on top (good middos so far, wouldn't you say?). This forced the girl whose test was stolen to become an accountant (can you just imagine??!?!). But it all works out in the end because Hashem gets involved about 20+ years later and the accountant's daughter (who is dangerously close to going off the derech) accidentally hits the wrongdoer with her car and causes her great bodily harm (not death of course... she has to do teshuva and recognize the hand of Hashem before the curtain closes).

Is it me? Would any one else rather see simple old fashioned plays with harmless plot lines, than be forced to witness examples of our brethren behaving so badly? Pass the chrain. I may need some help swallowing this down.

Wishing Everyone A Golden Shabbos

It's all about compromise.

I'm not crazy about using the votive candles on the Shabbos table, because even though they look beautiful on Friday night, we can't move them on Shabbos morning when they've burnt out and the effect is lost.

Avram isn't as excited about using the gold charges as I am. He feels that they take up too much space on the table.

Don't they look lovely together though? Everybody wins. Everybody is happy.

I sure hope the Shabbos Malach enjoys the results.

Pre-Purim Planning Progress (say THAT three times fast!)

We are getting closer to our Purim (the lighter "P word") festivities.

Remember that at our house, we strive to entertain you enough that you don't need to get dangerously wasted in order to have a good time & get a bit confused. {this might be an appropriate juncture to urge everyone NOT to drive with even a BIT of alcohol in their systems and to beg every parent to know WHAT their children are doing, WHERE and WITH WHOM throughout the day!}

That said, we have:

• bought a few shalach manos essentials (you might expect me to be big into the "theme" thing, but I am quite the opposite),
• baked three flavors of hamantaschen (prune, apricot and tart lemon),
• managed to freeze several batches of haman men before they had their heads bitten off by hungry progeny,
• extended invitations to Purim Seudah and received confirmations/responses from {cough, cough} most of them,
• and now... the latest news... we have finally secured costumes! (no, I'm not going to tell you what they are, but I promise you that unlike last year, you will be able to recognize Avram when he walks into shul)

It seems that all I need now is the meat (not as easy as it sounds nowadays....) and wine corks (don't ask me why - just send them over if you have any to spare, o'kay......?).

Two Out Of Three Aint Bad

So I told you to stay tuned for the Shabbos Report and here I am true to my word.

Something interesting happened this past Friday night.

During the course of the meal we discovered that two out of three of our new Shabbos guests were readers of this blog, but they had no idea that they were coming to the G6 house when they accepted the invitation. Usually, things work the other way around! I often get messages from blog readers that are going to be in town and would like an invitation, but seldom does a reader only discover that they are at our house during the course of the meal!

We also had a bit of fun coming up with "Questions You Never Ask At The G6 Table"

• "Are the flowers on the table real?"
• "Is this cake from the bakery?"
• (I totally forgot to add "May I stack these dishes?")

Motzoei Shabbos Shirayim (aka Food Photo Friday Part II)

The zebra cake was both beautiful and delicious. The company wasn't half bad either. Stay tuned...