ABC of Me

I was inspired by Susannah Conway's post and so many just popped into my head, but the rest. I've been working on this post for almost a week. Its hard to come up with a whole alphabet of stuff. So many things fit with a lot of letters and then there is Q, Y, and E. Gah. So here is my finally complete list minus the great photography Susannah has because its late and I'm not awesome like that. I'm awesome in other ways one of which is calling for me to take the clafouti out of the oven and dessert wins every time.

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Happy Anniversary To Me!

Ten years ago I was getting into my beautiful dress and preparing to start my life anew as a missus.

Its been a joyful, weird, tender and tough decade but I can't imagine it any differently.

Shabbat shalom!

Recipe: Ginger and Tumeric Tea

I was at Erewhon and ran across fresh tumeric. Not knowing what I would do with it, I bought a bunch and brought it home.

Tumeric is a wonderful anti-inflammatory, helps with tummy troubles, helps keep the flu away and there are numerous studies right now to learn about its anti-cancer and anti-alzheimers properties.

I've been drinking ginger tea for my colds and congestion so I decided to combine the two and see what happens.

A few quick notes. First, I do like my ginger tea spicy so you might want to dilute the tea or use less ginger and tumeric. Second, tumeric stains. It can turn you kitchen, clothing and hands bright yellow. Make sure you aren't wearing your favorite shirt and wash utensils promptly.

Ingredients

1 oz. peeled and sliced fresh ginger root

1 oz. peeled and sliced fresh tumeric root

4 cups of water, divided

Raw honey to taste

1. Place roots and water into a pot, cover and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Strain off the tea, reserving the roots. Stir in raw honey to taste.

4. Add remaining water to the pot, cover and bring to a boil.

5. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Strain off the tea and discard the roots. This tea will be weaker than the previous batch but still enjoyable.

Dealing With Death

So, what do you do when your five year-old is fixated on death?

Shira has become obsessed with it from asking when people will die to creating elaborate stories about toys who have lost all of their families. 

There have also been sleep and behavior regressions lately.

This started when my mother was ill and in the hospital. The girls wanted to see her and Aba and I responded that she wasn't well and we'd see her when she got better. Then Grandma was admitted to the hospital and we responded with , "Grandma's in the hospital and we'll see her when she's home." Then she wasn't up to company so we waited a bit to see her. 

Then my step-father passed away and we went to his memorial.

We visited Grandma and spent four days with her and hope to visit again shortly. During that time we went to the zoo and on the way there I mentioned seeing the bench my aunt dedicated to my uncle's memory. "What?" Shira asks. She then realizes that two people she knew had passed away.

Finally, we come home and Aba has a medical test that requires him to be under anesthisia. 

Now she's creating stories where Lovable (her bunny) has lost all of her family in a fire and she (Lovable) wasn't able to save them. Or her horse is all alone because everyone in her family got sick and died. 

So far we've just been listening and not making a big deal about it but I'm starting to wonder if we should be doing more.

Hello 2012!

Since I last saw you:

• Chaya got an ear infection which caused immense crying, grumpiness and sleeplessness. I, naturally, kept telling her to "just sleep so you'll feel better" before I noticed her holding her ears while screeching. Yeah, that's a great mom moment.
• Shira's become obsessed with people getting sick and possibly dying. This is due to my step-father passing away, my mother being in the hospital (Baruch HaShem she is home and doing well), her realization my uncle passed away 18 months ago, everyone having doctor's check-ups. 
• Aba's been diagnosed with an ulcer. He has also finally accepted that medicine alone isn't the solution for his digestion woes so I've been pumping him full of bone broth, probiotics and trace minerals. He's slowly coming around to the "old wives cure" of cabbage juice.
• The girls and I have started a few things around the house to make things run more smoothly. I'll be writing about those later.
• I've started a knit-along on Google+ for the Ruba'iyat Mittens. I'm using some wonderful alpaca yarn my dad brought me from his trip to Peru.
• I've started Project 365...again. One of these years I'll complete it, but I'm doing better than 2011 where I didn't take a photo on January 1.
• Tomorrow I'll be starting the e-course Emerge. Its a 4-week journaling and photography course. I'm considering joining in on You Are Your Own Muse in February.

Our calendar is pencilled full for the rest of the month and I have a bag full of yarn and cameras. I hope to have a lot to share with you over the next couple of weeks!