Satisfaction/Yael Chamay February 4, 2011

  Satisfaction: the contentment one feels when one has fulfilled a desire, need, or expectation

  

  2 o’clock in the morning and I am sitting in the sofa waiting for my challah to finish baking, it is already Friday.

  You might think I am crazy, especially if I need to go to work in just a few hours.  You see, during my day my brain

  is busy and full of noise, work noise, traffic noise, kid’s noise, husband noise, house noise. So I find that when the

  entire world in sleeping I am entitled to create my own noise, well more like my own silence.

  I don’t do this often (stay up so late) but when I do, it somehow gives me a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment,

  silence…….. funny enough just from this little corner of comfort I hear my son snoring, my husband joining the snoring

   chorus, my daughter talking in her sleep and me, laughing at how funny it all sounds. I decide to just go to each room

  and give everybody a kiss as they sleep.

  I walk to the boys room maneuvering not to step on the clothing that is thrown on the floor, I just stand there

  watching them, so amazed at how beautiful they are, how their bodies full of energy rest for the night and how in

  just a few hours they will fill the space with smiles and commotion. I kiss them on the forehead and pray to G-d so

  he can forever protect them and guide them.

  I continue to my daughter’s room but she is not there…… she is in my bed next to my husband, what a precious

  moment, she is resting her head on her father’s shoulder, he snores and she is having a full conversation for which

  I cannot understand a word. I slowly walk her to her bed, tuck her in, and kiss her also on the forehead, praying to

  G-d to watch over her and give her infinite blessings.

 

  I glance at my husband from the door as I am tempted to wake him up so he can share with me this moment,

   luckily for him the timer of the oven beeps, reminding me that the challah is now ready. And if I wake him up he

  will for sure think that it is time for some “midnight action”. Thank G-d for the oven beep…….

   As I stand all alone in the middle of the night, the silence after all the noise, the midnight life that a household

   experiences when nobody is watching, a silent prayer that only a mother can share with “Bore Olam”, the smell

  of Shabbat in my house, and the smile on my face as I go to sleep just for a few hours.  It all gives me a sense of

  satisfaction.

  I didn’t stay up for much longer, I made sure the lights are off; the doors are locked, and that the alarm is set for

  5:30am.  It is my time to sleep,  next to my husband joining him on the never-ending snoring choir, and believe it

  or not……. yes the snoring part after so many years together……… 100% SATISFACTION.                                 

    XOXOXOXOXO

A Winter Vacation January 20, 2011

A winter trip

So winter vacation came and with a lot of planning we are set to go.

3 families and 3 cars loaded to the roof with ski equipment, coolers, blankets, gadgets and smiles that can light up any dark sky.

You would imagine that once on the road the goal was to drive straight to Vermont (about 3 ½ or 4 hours drive) but as organized as we are, we planned a stop at COSTCO and purchase all the food needed to feed this bunch. Oh boy ……. Let the kids out of the car and into Costco……. Result: 8 kids stacking all sorts of things on to the carts. “We need cookies, how can we not get this chips” as they put stuff into the cart, Shiri and I took them out.  An hour later we are on our way. But an hour later into the road trip….. ” I need coffee, I need tea, I need to pi, and can we stop?” So we pulled at the rest stop .

Finally, we arrived.  The view was amazing, white powder dressing up the trees, the roofs filled with snow; you can clearly see the ski trail.

We rented a very nice house that can accommodate all of us. Everybody grabbed something and we ventured inside , the kids ran in as I make a silent  prayer  for a clean environment ( you never know what you get when you rent a house from a website). To my surprise it was exactly as the pictures but only with one surprise.

The owner of the house was a cow collector, yes I said COW, I am not kidding they had cows in pictures, cows as stuffed animals, kitchen gadgets, door stoppers, cow vacuum cleaner, cow broom, cow dust pan, cow wall paper, cow pillows, cow light switch, entrance cow, cows on top of the fire place, even a cow manikin in the middle of the living room (that Ron was scared of so Shiri had to turn it facing the wall). It was a cow invasion.

I declared myself the designated cook, I am the only member of the crew that is not ski friendly ,I needed to get some office work while on vacation plus I was going to take ONLY ONE SKI lesson just to have it checked on my bucket list. I was pretty happy with the indoor cow environment.

I have to admit I was petrified of taking the ski class, I am a control freak and the day of the class I was getting the butterfly on my stomach feeling. How will I stop, what if I fall, what if I need to pi in the middle of the mountain, what if I am so uncoordinated  that I will not learn at all. STOP ! Think positive, you can do it, one class what is the worst that can happen? Think of something else!!!!!!!

I am happy to report that I took the class, my mind was set to nail it, I did not fall, I did not freak out, I did not pi at all. I was so surprised and confident, it felt SO GOOD.  Learning to ski…. CHECKED

We spent 5 days in the cow house, eating like pigs (I fed everybody from schnitzel, hamburgers, matzo ball soup, pasta & deli sandwiches with the help of my sous- chef Shiri). Tal even made cookies, yummy .

At night we played Pictionary and found ourselves screaming the answers before the sand clock completed the minute.  A shesh besh  match between fathers & sons was the highlight. The fathers thinking that they have more experience and can conquer any opponent ( ha ha ha) , kids putting on a Kippa to win the match ( luck is needed at this point) . My husband losing the game to and my son   …… priceless.

As the trip came to an end and with sad faces to go back home, we all bonded, friends & family, we had a great time. The cows did not follow us home (thank G-d).

Next trip ….. Laufer’s/ Sofer’s please lets pick a tropical location  xoxoxo.

From any family trip you will always get great memories, and with time these are the stories that your kids will remember and cherish forever.

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IMAGINATION/ Yael Chamay January 17, 2011

It has been a long time since I wrote a piece for the blog. As always I have been all over with a very busy schedule. But you already know that. I have so many ideas on things I want to write about that I don’t know what to choose.  But I flipped a coin so here it goes

In my very limited free time I love to watch TV, I am a junkie when it comes to OPRAH, the home makeovers type of programs and reality shows ( this last one according to my husband is a waste of brain cells, but I just cannot resist. Between the Millionaire matchmaker & Gene Simons from Kiss…. just to name a few)

So I was watching a certain program on TV of a team that comes to your house and renovate a room for you, ONLY ONE ROOM IN THE HOUSE. All of a sudden my husband tells me ….. Yael why don’t you apply for  the show? You might win a kitchen renovation, you never know. You are always complaining that you have no room in the kitchen? …..

OMG he is so right, did I tell you that I talk to my  pots when I take them out of the closet ( they are all stacked up and to take one out something always falls on me) or that I always take out the wrong container lid and curse at it till I find the right one.

In less than a millisecond I was in fantasy land. Oh can you imagine, they take over and throw this wall down, and push this outside , and install  a new floor, and change for wider windows,  and give me tons of storage place, build me an island, with some stools so we can all gather in the kitchen and chat with the kids as I cook, install a music system so I can sing as I cook , new appliances will be nice, might as well expand to the dining room since it is next to the kitchen and make it a bigger open area with cool light fixtures and a bigger table that can fit tons of people, a long buffet where I can serve food & entertain guests . Can you imagine?

My husband tabs my shoulder in order to bring me back to reality not so harshly and with  a very big smile tells me  …. Honey I think you should first send the application to the show so you can actually win.

This is so typical of me ( and I bet you are the same) , I was so happy for  a few seconds, I savored the entire remodeling and imagined every detail in my head , and yes I had also a big smile on my face .

I once heard someone say that having happy thought increases days to your life and happiness to your soul.

Boy oh boy…. my soul must be dancing and hope to live a long life

PS. I did send the application to the TV show…….. you never know

הרצאה בנושא משמעת ואחריות December 19, 2010

ישראל הקטנה

AT The JCC of the greater Five towns

מזמינים אתכם להרצאה בנושא משמעת ואחריות עם הפסיכולוגית חינוכית -חלי ברק

שתערך

ביום שלישי

DECEMBER 21TH

בשעה 8:15 בערב

Social hall באולם ה

JCC of greater five town, 207 grove ave, Cedarhurst, ny.

משמעת ואחריות
בהרצאה יוסברו מחד הצורך האנושי בגבולות, ומאידך הקשיים בשמירת גבולות על ידי דמויות הסמכות (הורים, מורים) בעידן המודרני. אנו בתקופה המעבירה מסרים סותרים של צורך בסמכות ומשמעת מחד, וצורך בדמוקרטיה מאידך. בהרצאה נכיר את הפרשנויות האישיות שיש לכל אחד מאתנו על ‘המשמעת הרצויה’. במיוחד נתמקד בציפיות הלא ריאליות שיש לרבים למשמעת מלאה, מהירה, ‘מחייכת’ והגיונית. ציפיה ל’משמעת פנימית’- אחריות, במקום שאינה אפשרית. ציפיות אלו גובות מחיר יקר של כעס מיותר המפחית מיעילות תהליך המשמעת. בהרצאה יוצע מודל ציפיות ריאלי המתאים למשמעת לילדים בגילאי הגן ועד גיל ההתבגרות. נדבר על טכניקות מרכזיות ‘לדבר משמעת’ עם ילדים (בבית/בכתה), להיות ‘קשים לבעיה ורכים לבני האדם’, לשמור על גבולות אך בדרך הומניסטית ומכבדת.

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עלות הערב 15 לאדם

לפרטים נוספים ניתן לפנות לחלי

516-569-6733, ext. 205

 

Challahs for Shabbat December 1, 2010

Hello everyone,

As we assume you all know Salt & Pilpel is a social voluntary initiative that tries to connect and bring together Israelis and Jewish Americans.

Since many new Israeli and Jewish families have recently moved to our area we thought about a nice welcome activity. We would like to offer you all (new and old families) a new activity which goal is to create new relationships and to bring us closer together – making and delivering of Challahs for Shabbat .

Imagine our own hand made Challah industry that we all can enjoy and  take part in and that will allow us to welcome new Israeli and Jewish families to our  community.

Once a month, close to Rosh Chodesh (beginning of a Hebrew month), on a Thursday evening, we will gather 2-3 ladies in one of the houses to prepare Challahs together. We will than distribute the Challahs to other Jewish and Israeli families. We’ll roll our sleeves, knead the dough, braid it, laugh, get to know new people and make a few families happy. Then the freshly baked and packed Challahs will be distributed to other families.

The activity will allow you to learn how to prepare a fresh and tasty Challah as well as host (a few weeks later) the same activity, pass on the knowledge to others and prepare new Challahs with them.

We will distribute the wrapped Challahs together with a welcoming note to the new families (different families each month).

This Challah baking and welcoming  activity will require a number of volunteers each month – one to drive and distribute the Challahs, one to host Challah baking meet-up, and a few to prepare the Challahs and wrap them.

We will be happy to hear from you about new Jewish and Israeli families.

So what is it about?

• A different and unique opportunity for a social gathering.
• A good recipe for Challah.
• Creative idea and fun family activity.
• Opportunity to host a similar meeting in your home.
• Doing a Mitzvah and sending Challahs to new families – a warm and friendly welcome!

We hope that this activity would enable you  to participate as well as contribute and take an active role  in our community while enhancing  connections and relationships  with other  members of the Jewish Israeli American community.

We look forward to hear your comments and see your registration (please circle the relevant items and email us back):

1. I Would like to attend and prepare Challahs.

2. I will be happy to host a Challah baking meet-up at my home

3. I will be happy to volunteer to distribute the Challah

Name:______________________ e-mail or phone no.________________

We hope you all enjoy this venture along with a fresh Challah for Shabbat .

Please feel free to forward this message to your friends and family !

Paterson Great Falls November 21, 2010

Paterson Great Falls in New Jersey are a natural wonder. These falls, the largest ones in the Northeast after Niagara Falls, powered manufacturing plants here to create the cradle of the industrial revolution in an America trying to become less dependent on British manufacturers.

The Falls are viewable from Haines Overlook Park on the south and Mary Ellen Kramer Park on the north. Drive-by viewing is available from McBride Avenue where it crosses the river just above the Falls. A footbridge over the Falls gorge (historically, the eighth such bridge to span this spectacular chasm) also serves as an exciting outlook point from which many have captured the famous Falls rainbow. A visitor’s center at the corner of Spruce and McBride Avenues, in the heart of the Great Falls Historic District, provides a historical overview of the falls and the industrial and cultural history of Paterson.

For more information:  http://www.patersongreatfalls.org/

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Hebringlish and a bit of Yiddish November 16, 2010

 

Jewbilation (n.) Pride in finding out that one’s favorite celebrity is Jewish or that your offspring is marrying a Jewish person. Torahfied (n.) Inability to remember one’s lines when called to read from the Torah at one’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah. (OR from the Hagadah at Passover) Matzilation (v.) Smashing a piece of  matzoh to bits while trying to butter it.   Bubbegum  (n.) Candy one’s mother gives to her grandchildren that she never gave to her own children. Chutzpapa (n.) A father who wakes his wife at 4:00 a.m. so she can change the baby’s diaper. Deja Nu ( n.)  Having the feeling you’ve seen the same exasperated look on your mother’s face, but not knowing exactly when. Disoriyenta (n.) When Aunt Linda gets lost in a department store and strikes up a conversation with everyone she passes. Hebort (v.)  To forget all the Hebrew one ever learned immediately after one’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Jewdo (n.) A traditional form of self-defense based on talking one’s way out of a tight spot. Mamatzah Balls (n.) Matzo balls that are as good as your mother used to make . Meinstein  - slang. “My son, the genius!” Mishpochadots (n.) The assorted lipstick and make-up stains found on one’s face and collar after kissing all one’s aunts and cousins at a reception. Re-shtetlement (n.) Moving from Brooklyn to Boca Raton and finding all your old neighbors live in the same condo building as you. Rosh Hashana-na-na ( n.) A rock ‘n roll band from Brooklyn. Yidentify (v.) To be able to determine Jewish origins of celebrities, even though their names might be St. John , Curtis, Davis, or Taylor. Minyastics (n.) Going to incredible lengths and troubles to find a tenth person to complete a Minyan. Feelawful (n.)  Indigestion from eating Israeli street food, especially falafel. Dis-kvellified (v.) To drop out of law school, med. school or business school as seen through the eyes of parents, grandparents and Uncle Sid. In extreme cases, simply choosing to major in art history when Irv’s son David is majoring in biology is sufficient grounds for diskvellification. Impasta (  n.)  A Jew who starts eating leavened foods before the end of Passover. Kinders Shlep (v.) To transport other kids besides yours in your car. Schmuckluck (n.) Finding out one’s wife became pregnant after one had a vasectomy. Shofarsogut (n.) The relief you feel when, after many attempts, the shofar is finally  blown at the end of Yom Kippur. Trayffic  Accident  (n.) An appetizer one finds out contains pork(

 

A season sale November 10, 2010

Dear friends,
A very talented friend of ours, Ofra Rozenblat,  will be selling her beautiful creations this Friday. Click the attachment for details.
Pop in for coffee, cake and art – join the fun!

I sound just like my mother/Yael Chamay November 3, 2010

 

I was in the middle of giving my daughter a lecture of why she needs to be a good student in school and why completing homework is so important, when it suddenly hit me ……. I sound just like my mother.

All of a sudden all my childhood memories stormed back. It was just yesterday that my mom came from a parent / teacher conference and I was being punished for a week.

• I could not talk on the phone ( Mobil phones not invented  yet)
• Cannot go to the street and play with my friends ( comparable to going downtown nowadays )
• My cassette player was taken away (equivalent today as “ IPod”)
• No TV ( No MTV )
• No sleep over with friends  (OMG)

Back to the present day, my focus shifted completely, I need to call my mom and ask for forgiveness, I truly made her suffer in my teenage years.  I had (and still have) a very close relationship with my mom but I did tons of crazy stuff that drove her to the edge.

She always told me: Yael whatever you do now you will pay for later ……“KARMA”.

I don’t want to pay! I don’t want to go through that! Is KARMA knocking???

My oldest kid will have his driving test soon, so now every time I drive him anywhere I am being analyzed for my driving skills

• Mom , you need to actually stop at the sign
• Mom, you didn’t look both ways
• Mom, are you in a rush?
• Mom, you are too far from the sidewalk, park the car closer
• Mom, the other car is too close , keep your distance

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Dear Mom

Sorry for driving you crazy when I was a teenager.

I could list all the stuff I did (but then I will run out of paper).

I am sure Karma is in my house, living in every room & sleeping within my children. Can I please ask for the recipe to get rid of it?

 

 

Apple Picking October 14, 2010

Last Saturday we decided to enjoy the fabulous weather and go out for an Apple and Pumpkin Picking.

We drove to Sugar Loaf enjoyed their lovely annual Fall Festival http://www.sugarloafnewyork.com/fun/2010/03/38th-annual-sugar-loaf-fall-festival/ and continued to  Apple Wood Orchards to pick apples http://www.applewoodorchards.com/index.html

We all had a great time !

Now we need apple recipes … do you have any ? if so, please share….

 

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