Purim Shpiel

With Purim around the bend, I thought I'd get Freida familiar with characters from the Magillah and peak her interest with the gist of the story. One morning this week we whipped out some card-stock, markers, and old discarded toilet paper rolls (which made these guys super easy for her little hands to grasp), and got on the Purim-puppets bandwagon (yes, I know Queen Esther looks like a transvestite - it was 7am!!).

She knew a bit about Purim from some songs (and by "a bit" I mean she knew Vashti had pimples and we yell at Haman), so I thought I'd clear a few things up with here. Boy, was I ever in for a surprise... She was so disturbed from the tiniest little hint of hatred in the story. She couldn't handle the fact that we don't like Haman, and she really didn't want to contend with discarding Vashti just because she wasn't all that pretty. She kept going in to grab Haman and give him a big hug! I was so shocked!! Here I thought I was being a good mom and teaching my little love about the Persian miracle, only to wind up feeling like I left her in the wake of utter disturbance...! And believe me, I didn't teach her anything meagerly grave - in our version, Haman was sentenced to a time-out.

After I finished up that awkward little class, she wanted to Skype my mom and do her own puppet show for her. In the middle she started giving Haman and Vashti hugs, so my mom gave the explanation a shot. It came out like this, "Haman was mean to us, that's why we don't like him anymore." Really? Is that what I'm teaching her? I mean I know that concept is important, but should I really be teaching her that at 2 years old? Anyways, the fact that it didn't go down so well taught me a good lesson in parenting... But at least she had fun with these little guys!

For now we'll just have puppet free-play, sing happy songs, and try again next year. :)

A Western Wonder

Apologies dear readers, for my intense lack of posts! It's been a busy weekend...

When I settled down in Southern California some few years ago, with my sister and her family a mere 397 miles away in Scottsdale AZ, I thought we'd be seeing lots of each other! Turns out, we only managed to get together a few times a year - her family managed to load up the minivan when the kids were off school for an extended weekend once a year, my husband and I made it an annual tradition to drive out and be with them for Rosh Hashanah, and she and I met up at my mom's in Skokie with the kids every summer (bonus points were when my parents flew out west on a holiday and we all got together in one place or another).

We chat non-stop each day, and talk about how lovely it would be if we actually lived near each other; able to spend the days together (Freida and her son, Yudi, were born 7 days apart 2 years ago). I never thought of making the trek out there alone... the whole thing just seemed so daunting!  (Isn't the gas the same price as an airline ticket? Don't they say that desert-stretch is much too long to attempt alone? Is there even highway patrol in Yuma? Other cars on the road? Isn't driving such a waste of a vacation day? etc.) You see, when we do the drive in September we rise at about 4am and hit the road in an attempt to keep Freida asleep for most of the drive, and to make sure we get there long before sundown on the eve of the Jewish New Year. I never thought to try the drive myself - in daylight - until the opportunity presented itself.

After breakfast on Sunday morning I threw some heels and an outfit + a PJ tee, and toothbrush in a gym bag, filled the tank with gas, kissed Freida and the Mr. goodbye and headed out for my wild west road-trip - solo. Turns out, cruise control and the Republic Tigers make for fantastic travel-mates! 5 hours flat from my door to hers - it was a breeze! I made it there early enough to help with setting up for the event she was hosting (the reason for my random rendezvous) within minutes I was piping some cupcakes and bubble-bathing my delicious niece and nephews - some of my all-time favorite pre-marital activities! There was something so magical about being at home sharing breakfast with Freida while talking to Shterni on the phone, and then ringing her doorbell, in Scottsdale, well before the dinner hour...! It was a trip that needed to be done if only for the purpose of experiment.

I woke up at 7am this morning in Arizona, brewed some coffee to-go, pit-stopped for petrol, and was home just in time to reap the advantages of a toddler's two-hour nap (my (very generous) Mother-in-Law agreed to be with Freida today and had just put her down as I walked through the door!). A little tidying-up, a hot shower, some lunch and it was as if I never left. Plus, hearing Freida cry "Mommy! Oh my goodness!" upon seeing me come to get her when she woke was well worth the trip alone! ...Even though I won't deny freaking out just a wee little bit when I cruised past this sign:

Anyways, I'm so super excited with my new discovery! I hope to pack up a few days-worth of clothes every once in a while and travel the west with Freida much more often than we're used to. It's quite literally not much more than a skip, hop, and jump...!!

For now though, I will be getting to bed and catching up on lots of lost shut-eye... I'll be back to proper blogging tomorrow (got some great things to share!!).

Work-Life Balance

This was much too important to not post here on Freidafroo. This may be an age old issue, but it is most definitely prevalent in our era and our society... Shockingly, it's not spoken about all that often in any sort of practical terms - though the problem threatens to ruin us as a people, and as individuals. Not having a proper work-life balance can have ill effects not just on the "worker's" well being, health and sanity, but it effects that of their spouse, children, family, and friends. Here, Nigel Marsh, best-selling author of Fat, Forty, and Fired, and Overworked and Underlaid, challenges the very core of the problem and lends us a few simple ideas that can drastically improve our rapidly diminishing quality of life. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdpIKXLLYYM&feature=player_embedded]

The Force of Volkswagen

This is by far my favorite Superbowl commercial I've seen in years: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0]

Aside from the fact that the folks over at VW totally deliver (in marketing as well as in manufacturing!), this little boy is quite the talented actor!!! Just plain adorable!

Weekend Round-up!

Greetings from freezing Chicago!

Sorry I've been MIA over on the blogesphere; we've been busy with heaps of family events and parties! Thankfully we made it to that white winter wedding (it even made the evening news!) in one piece (minimal skidding involved!), and we made sure to party hard with the adorable bride and groom (you can view some pictures of the wedding party here). I haven't had much face-time with my computer this week, apologies for the lack of posts! But here are some links from around the web that I've been meaning to share with you all:

- Dwell Studio now does mobiles.

- PASKEZ Teeny Bits Cookies featured on the Not Martha blog!

- A new and useful mom-in-the-kitchen app.

- Dreaming of springtime in this awesome bracelet...

- An easy ode to Valentine's Day.

-  The most adorable little French bow-ties.

Wishing you all another fabulous weekend!! Stay warm my cold-weather compadres!