Bullet Blog

• Hi.
• I have absolutely nothing to say.
• Not even bullet-style.
• It's kind of stunning.
• /end of bullet blog.

I'm Grateful For:

• The chickens are laying, again!  It's enough daylight for it.  Yes, I know they say that if you keep a light on in the coop, they don't stop laying, but that's a myth.  I know, because there's a light on in our coop 24/7, and every Dec/Jan/Feb, our chickens stop laying.  And once the time change kicks in, they pick up, again.  So... I'm grateful!
• Getting 'Cinder' and 'Scarlet'.  'Scarlet' just came out a few weeks ago, and I got it from the library (!!), which is HARD to do with new releases, but I also got 'Cinder' to re-read so that I was refreshed on the story... and I'm SO glad, because 'Scarlet' picks up right where 'Cinder' left off.  'Cinder' being a cyber-dystopian futuristic version where Cinderella meets Star Wars (she's a cyborg and loses her whole FOOT at the ball!), and 'Scarlet' being a cyber-dystopian futuristic sequel that adds Little Red Riding Hood and a Wolf to the Cinder story.  What SUCKS is that they only release one of them per year.  So 2012 was 'Cinder', 2013 is 'Scarlet', and I have to wait until 2014 to read 'Cressa' (< which I suspect will add Rapunzel) and 2015 to finish the series with 'Winter' (< which I suspect will add Snow White).  LOVE this series!!
• We're almost at 48 gallons of sap, so I'm extremely happy that... we got a hydrometer.  It was pretty cheap on-line, and now we'll know what we're doing a little better.  Which is good, because we made a few mistakes with the first couple of jars. (((Blush!)))  Luckily, you can always add the too-thick stuff back into the pot, dissolve it, and try again WITH the hydrometer!
• Greg coming over last night to give us a quote on adding on to the house.  He's a builder friend of ours, and we were interested in what he has to say.  We'd like to just extend one end of the house by ten to fifteen feet, to add another bedroom and a school room on.  No bells or whistles or fancies... just so we can have an idea of what we're looking at, and if we can do it.  My house got cleaned up, in the process, so that's good, too!
• The income tax return is arriving (part is here, the other part pending for after the weekend).  It's SO nice to have - I need to sit down and figure out what we have to do with it.  I know Brian's truck needs new tires, and there are a few other things I'm sure he can remind me of... a list would be good.  And you know how I love to make lists!
• Sunshine.  It's hit 50 degrees this week - the snow is gone, and things are drying up very nicely - which is HUGE, when you have critter pens.  Spring and fall can be very icky times, for us homesteaders, but this one was bearable (fall was another story... we were ankle-deep thru November).  Anyhow, it's so pretty out - I'll be able to get out and de-skank the yard from a winter's worth of dog dooooo soon, and that will really make things nicer.  First step to spring, in my chore changes.
• Speaking of sunshine, April begins our Shabbat change... we have our dinner on Saturdays, instead of Fridays, from now on.  That's a grateful, because a church nearby has scrapbooking once a month on Fridays, and in the winter, we can't go... so I haven't worked on my photos since September!  I'm way, way, WAY behind... and now we can go and once a month I can work on getting caught up, again.  And it's nice time for Brian to bond with his boys without me.
• Starting my elliptical chart!  I was waiting for Pesach week to be over... I thought that would be a good time to start up my workouts.  But I'm not using MFP anymore - it just doesn't work for me.  It was overkill... and I don't think watching calories makes a difference, because Brian doesn't watch ANYTHING, and he stays the same... and I haven't watched ANYTHING since V-day, and stayed the same.  You'd think NOT being careful would mean weigh-gain, no?  It's just... plateau-ville.  So I don't see how that helps.  Y'gots t'run.  So that's what I'm focusing on, this time.  We shall see!
• Two weeks off dance class.  Well, we took Pesach week off, because it was Firstfruits, but then we went to go to dance class this week, and forgot that it's spring break for the public school kids.  Too funny - that's what happens when you home educate, I guess!  Anyhow, we went to supper, took the kids to the farm store to see the pullets (I held a turkey, hehehe!), and get some goat food, and then we went home and watched a movie (we're doing 'The Frog Prince' as our faerie tale right now, so we watched the Robin Williams version - the kids LOVED it, and even Brian was busting up.  Robin Williams as a frog is actually pretty hysterical... although I did NOT remember him telling the princess that she was 'bitchy'... OR him flipping her off with his flipper.  Still... it was fun).
• Pretty artwork!  I saw on Pinterest that if you dye condensed milk with food coloring, you can paint with it, and it makes 'shiny' paint.  It was VERY kewl to do - the kids loved it.  And we got some good results, too.  The added bonus?  You can suck on your paintbrush, and it's tasty sweet.  LoL!!  I highly recommend it.!
• According to SpaceWeather, there's a conjunction of Venus and Mars of one degree on April 6th.  Mars being 'war' and Venus being 'Coming Messiah - bright morning star'.  What did I post about yesterday?  Korea being the WAR trigger that brings about the COMING MESSIAH.  So I can't help but wonder if something won't happen on April 6th where Korea is concerned, based on the symbolism of the conjunction.  Hey, if He's orchestrating things... it stands to reason, imho!  I'm grateful for signs to watch, for hints of things to come.

Jews on Korea

Some days when I wake up?  Stuff is peaceful and not much is happening, and I can write as I choose.  Other days - like today?  I wake up and everyone is freaking OUT, all over the place.  I kind of like that, because it means a lot to write about.  Like today.  And it's all about North Korea:

http://thehill.com/video/house/...us-could-make-preemptive-strike-on-nk

  Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday that the United States had the right to take preemptive military action against North Korea if there was “solid evidence” that Kim Jon Un planned to attack the U.S. or South Korea. “If we have good reason to believe there’s going to be an attack, I believe we have the right to take preemptive action,” King said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront.

...North Korea has escalated tensions in recent weeks, declaring a “state of war” against South Korea and threatening to attack the United States. ...The United States has responded to Pyongyang’s posturing with a series of military drills in the region, as well as a repositioning of naval ships in waters off the Korean peninsula.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world...tensions-real-pyongyang-says-us

North Korea appears to have moved a missile capable of hitting targets in South Korea and Japan to its east coast, as tensions escalate. The movement of the mid-range missile was detected by both South Korean and US intelligence, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing military and government sources. “It appeared that the object was a Musudan mid-range missile,” it quoted one South Korean official as saying.

“We believe there is always an open possibility for a missile launch and related measures have been prepared,” ministry spokesman Wi Yong-Seop told reporters without elaborating. The United States has said it is sending ground-based missile interceptors to Guam in response to North Korean threats to strike the Pacific island and other US targets, which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel described as a “real and clear danger.”

Yeranen has a Geula update with many scripture references to 'the ends of the world', which they suggest might hint at North Korea.  It is here:  http://yeranenyaakov./2013/04/geula-update-from-rav-fish.  Mostly I read it as interesting, but some of it feels a little... grasping?  Still... they're watching.  It's more than the Hebrews4Christians bother to do... more than I see out of the Karaites, and FAR more than any church is watching.

Soul Mazal says:

Shirat Devorah wrote today about the North Koreans, and what the Hebrew Sages are saying, too: 

A nation will arise from one end of the world (North Korea?) against the wicked Rome (Christian nations) and will war against them for 3 months. Other nations will join in this war and will fall into the hands, till all Edom will unite against this nation. Afterwards, Ha'Shem will 'arise' against them, as it says, A gigantic massacre in the land of Edom.

Immediately following this 3 month war, the evil leader of Edom will spread out his rule over the entire world. Nine months into that move called the final tribulation and birthpangs of Mashiach, He will get up and destroy all the enemies of Israel and mankind.

Tomer Devorah posted about it, too:

What really worries me about this is that everywhere I look, people are going blindly about their business, seemingly without a care in the world, totally oblivious to the threat. These things come upon the world to elicit teshuva [repentance] from us and if we are clueless about what Ha'SHEM is doing in His world, He may let something go "!POP!" just to get our attention!

Rav Nachmani,ztz"l, the famed Israeli teacher who reportedly accurately foresaw the Six Days War, the Yom Kippur War and the Gulf War, had something to say about Korea, too. It's worth reminding us all exactly what he did say: 

"Do you think there will be peace?  You fools.  About this it says for us, today: "O foolish people and unwise, a generation of crooked and perverse - Do ye thus requite the Lord?!  He, thy Father that hath gotten thee - do you know what will happen, God forbid?  Korea, do you know who is Korea?  Seoul will arrive here.  Not Syria, not Persia, not Babylon, but Korea.  And anyone who pays attention to what's going on in Korea today?  It's for us [Jews]!  The nukes.  It will be very hard for us if we do not make Tshuva (repentance).  Understand this - what is coming will be worse than the Holocaust.  "For a fire is kindled in My nostril, and burneth unto the depths of doom."  Do you know what doom is in Hebrew?  "Sheoul".  The captital of Korea -Seoul.  It will happen here.  "And devoureth the earth with her produce, and setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains;  I will heap evils upon them; I will spend Mine arrows upon them."  What does it mean?  We have left the Lord, we thought we belong to ourselves... as if the LORD does not exist.  And the Torah says you do not belong to yourselves, you are His.  "For by a strong hand will I be King over you."  ... If we don't listen to Him, we will have more and more troubles.  The situation will worsen. 

I have to tell you... I don't hear ANYTHING like this from the church.  I don't hear ANYTHING even about what's going on from the church.  Or the Karaites.  Or Hebrew4Christians (which is the latest/greatest fad and LIE that everyone's all agog over).  And yet the Jews are watching.  They're seeing.  They know where we are, what this means.   They're prophesying.  And NOBODY is listening.

Now I don't know what's going to happen.  Seoul is the capital of SOUTH Korea - the supposedly peaceful side.  Does that mean that they'll be overthrown, merge with NK, and what's there will be used against the world?  I doubt it.  More likely, NK is the trigger, but the coming destruction will be at the hands of those who are aligned with Seoul?  All that's certain is that if they take it this far and don't follow thru, North Korea will look ridiculous in the eyes of the world - and I don't think they're going to let that happen.   I don't know what's going to happen.  I just watch.

But I do know this - Israel and her teachers believe that the war in Jerusalem that is coming is going to start in Korea, NOT Syria or Iran or Iraq.  They believe that it will be a three month war, and that from that, the evil leader (anti-Christ?) will unite the world, which begins the Wrath/Great Tribulation.  Nine months into that will begin the events that usher in Messiah to the earth.

And where does that put us?  Well, the SMS is over.  The hour and a half of silence is over.  The sealing of the Jews is complete.  As of 2013, we're either watching for the trumpet judgments to being (which I see as the Wrath), or we're looking for a rapture and THEN the start of the Wrath.  Either way... the wrath is one of the next top three coming events on the horizon, and according to the Jews, it starts in Korea.  And what is the big global news event right now?  KOREA.  So are we there?  I don't think we could get a whole lot closer, frankly.  Be sober, vigilant... and watch!

In the Dark of Night

I don't know if you're counting the Omer with me or not, but we've made it a week!  We're one seventh of the way thru our trip from... out here, to a closer relationship with Ha'Shem, if we're doing this whole Passover thing correctly.  Because the trip from Egypt across the sea to Sinai wasn't just a nice little walk.  It was a time of transition - the people coming out had been fully immersed in the world's ways, and by the time they reach Sinai, the Bible says they were holy as the angels... they had a HUGE transition going on during those weeks.  And if you consider the reality of duality, the spiritual application of this is that we (people stuck in this damned world) come before Yehovah and remember His salvation at Pesach (both from Egypt - OT - and thru Messiah - NT), and then use the time from Pesach thru the weeks of counting the Omer drawing closer to Him. 

I change the cover photo on my FB a LOT, trying to illustrate where we are in the whole thing.  There's not enough good graphics out there for me, I should add.  But my current picture is of the parting of the Red Sea as seen from the other side.  In other words - the cloud that went before them by day, and the ocean beyond the last of them closing back in on itself, over the Egyptians.  There are no Jews in my picture, just Yehovah-the-pillar-cloud, and the forces of nature in His power.  It's... an incredible picture... I really love it.  But it kind of sparked something in me.  Because I have never 'followed along the Omer with scripture'.  ((Is that how you'd say it?))  I never read what THEY did at the same time as I've counted the days.  And doesn't that seem like something we should do?

So I turned to Exodus, where my Bible says 'Leaving Egypt'.  And it says that from the moment they left Egypt, Ha'Shem went before them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and led them the 'Way of the Wilderness', instead. That took them from Sukkoth (Dwell with the Lord) to Etham (meaning, the desert)... this was like when Messiah was baptised and and the Spirit came on Him in the form of a dove (place called Sukkoth) and then He went immediately into the wilderness to be tempted.  Remember?  Another reality of duality.  We come out of our Passover meal, and... life happens.  My mother shows up with doughnuts, and tries to get me over for Easter supper.  Tempting.  I actually wrote a post about ALL the places they went - it's on the sidebar, called 'My Marah', in case you were interested.

From there (still in that 7-day period of unleavening), they would up between Pi Hahiroth and Baal Zephon.  (Pi Harorth means both 'mount of caves' and 'place of liberty', and Baal Zephon means "God's Judgment".  So between judgment and 'liberty' on the other side.  Between a "rock and a hard place.  Ever hear of that before?  Now you know where it comes from.)  They were between two hard places, with Egyptians coming behind them, and nothing in front of them but the sea.

What happens, next?  Exodus 14:19 does... and it's AWESOME.  It say the Angel of God that was leading them (that pillar of cloud?) came between the Egyptians and the Israeli camp, and protected them.  It says that cloud was dark and ominous and a heavy barrier to Egypt, but it was light and reassurance to the Jews.  Now how about that?!?

Then the Lord had Moses stretch out his hand toward the sea, and all night long  the waters pulled back - did you know that?  It was a sunset-to-sunrise thing.  The night of deliverance... their joy must've been great.  Seeing that?  Watching it happen?  Wow!!

It says that the Divine presence was still a cloud when Egypt was separated from Israel, not a pillar of fire, yet... and it says the water split back at sunset.  Which means deliverance came just as the seventh day began - just as the leavening/life came back into the people.  They did NOT go to bed that night - they were ready to go... and contrary to all those pictures in christian books, the Bible clearly says that the Red Sea parting happened in the dark hours, only.  Israel crossed at night.  It wasn't until dawn that the waters were allowed to fold in on themselves (Ex 14:27), did you know that?  I don't know how I missed this for so many years - I have read this passage so many times, you'd think I'd have seen that!  It says that Egypt didn't know what was happening until morning (vs. 24) and so they were quite a long way behind... that's why they were driving so hard (vs. 25).  But it did them no good.

My header picture at FB is of that morning.  As the sun hit the horizon, the waters folded back in on themselves.  It was over - no daytime crossing, everyone safe on the other side.  What a night that must've been!

I think I'm going to like looking into this journey, further...

How to Feel Old and Stupid

I know... but I've been SOOOOO serious around here, while in real life?  I've just been laughing my gludious off, lately.  So I have to be honest with you and admit that we are having TOO much fun with our Nook Android tablets. 

((NoTe:  My friend V sold me her Nook, and I got an N2A chip for it that turns it into an Android... but you can remove the chip and turn it back into a Nook whenever you like.  Which I don't, because the Android version of it has a Kindle eReader app, and I like Amazon.com FAR AND AWAY better than Barnes and Noble's... and besides, that's where all the games are.  We pick up free games from Google Play whenever we go to McDonald's - usually after dance class, for supper, while the free books I snagged for the week at Amazon are downloading.))

When we got the Nook, it came with Crossword puzzles and Sudoku... which, if you know me, put me in seventh HEAVEN.  My grandma Fern was a crossword puzzle lover, and I helped her, ever since I was little.  She had big thick books of crossword dictionaries under her sofa that confounded me... because it seems INCREDIBLE that books that big were full of words... just words that meant other words.  It was crazy. 

Of course Sudokus weren't popular until the late 1990s, when internet brought puzzles from all over the world to my door.  And you remember when I was into Killer Sudokus and then Kakuros (which... you can't even FIND, anymore, to my regret).  I've always loved problem-solving games, whether word or number.  And they SAY that it makes you smarter, helps with memorization skills, sharpens your left brain, and prevents Alzhiemer's.  I believe it.  My grandma Fern (paternal grandmother) was one of the most rational, logical, and methodical people I knew... she was fully cognizant... while my Grandpa John (maternal grandfather) wouldn't read, wouldn't work puzzles, wouldn't do anything but stare at a TV, and he was slowly losing ALL of his faculties but quick when he got older.  I keep telling Brian that, and shoving games and books under his nose, for that very reason.

We had computer games all of our growing up years.  First Atari - I was the freak of nature little girl who loved playing 'Pitfall'... I sat with a notebook and LOGGED every screen... I made it all the way to the end (and got Pop a patch for his collection), too!  Have I mentioned that I have my grandma Fern's weltangschauun?  Well... I do, and the apple doesn't fall far from her tree.  We got the kids an Atari a few christmases ago, but nobody really wants to reach the end of Pitfall, these days.  Too many newer, higher intensity graphic games out there.

Then came the Nintendo (in the 80s), and WoW.  You have NO IDEA how much time we spent playing Tetris with my cousins at the Cottage every summer... back when there were cousins around and a Cottage we were welcome at.  It was the rainy day thing to do... and I absolutely LOVED Tetris.  To this day, I love Tetris... but the Android version sucks... it's not the same without the controller and Tchaikovski's 'Dance of the SugarPlum Fairies' playing.  We also still have an Nintendo NES... with Super Mario 2 for Brian (I like the graphics of the first one, better... but can't play any game that requires dodging mushrooms for crap.)  We also have Dr. Mario... which is a TWO person version of Tetris... you stack pills in a bottle on top of the matching viruses to kill all of the bugs, though.  VERY fun... Lydia and I have been doing that for about a week, now... she's actually really good.  Owen?  Not so much.  My boys prefer the racing games... they have a thing for ExciteBike.  Which... I have stayed away from motocross ever since Brian tried to teach me to ride a motorcycle in a cornfield.  NOT kewl.

We never did the Playstation thing much (I think we have one, but the only games we have are Crash Bandicoot and the New Tetris), but between Nintendo and Atari, my family did have a Commodore 64 and then a Commodore 128... but I don't remember much.  I liked the Winter Olympics and the Caveman Ugh-Lypics... but they never showed up anywhere else, ever again.  So sad... because they could upgrade Caveman Ugh-lympics, and it would RAWK.  No, seriously.  It had events like 'wife tossing' - where your caveman grabs his woman (I liked Bertha, best) by the leg, swung her around, and let her go like a discus.  It was fun to watch them bounce.  Politically incorrect, most definitely, but fun.  There was dino-racing, fire-making (it was HARD not to make 'em hyperventilate blowing on the sticks!), and more.  It was actually one of the wittier games of the time.

The first games that we got when the tablet came into our lives I can totally blame on my friend Ali (Alidansma).  She told us we HAD to play 'Angry Birds', first.  It came with the Android chip, so I was pretty excited that I didn't have to go find or try to figure out how to download the thing.  It's a great game, in case you never played (...and I'm late to the game on these things, so... who hasn't?)  I made it thru the WHOLE thing... and am kind of peeved that now they've added more levels, after I've finished.  You don't ADD on...!!  I know for sure I'm not going back - I've got 'Angry Birds: Rio', 'Angry Birds: Seasons', and 'Angry Birds: Space'... and I think they have a Star Wars version, too, but I don't see the point of getting more if I'm already overloaded with the thing.

  And honestly, I haven't played birds in a while.  I moved on to 'Bebbled' (stuck on the last level of the X-mas challenge for two months, now...), and 'Jewels'... until Ali told me we HAD to try TripleTown.  Which I happen to absolutely love... and it's really good for the kids, because it requires a lot of forethought and money management.  Not that Lydia needs help with that - my kids HORDE their cash, as it is.  But it's about sound spending practices in order to win.  In Triple Town, you build a city by getting threes: three grasses make a bush.  Three bushes make a tree, three trees make a cottage, three cottages make a house, three houses make a castle, three castles make a floating castle.  Likewise, three gravestone (or bears) make a church, three churches make a cathedral, three cathedrals make a treasure chest.  Three rocks make a boulder, three boulder make a HUGE cache of money.  It's fun to see what you can do with one little square of land.

And up until now, I've kept up.  Okay, not at the role-playing games like Mario or Bandicoot, but... I've kept up.  But we've found two new games, and... my daughter is thrashing my hiney.  I just... I don't know if I'm dumb or if she's got better skills beause she's been introduced to physics earlier via these games, or what.  But I swear to you... I can get it - by myself - but it takes FORever for me to grasp what has to happen.

The first of these is Cut the Rope.  Ho. Lee. Wha.  And yes, I realize that it's been around probably as long as Angry Birds, because I've seen Om-Nom around on the internet.  I didn't know what he was, but I've seen him.  But the other day I was at McDonald's looking at games, and saw 'Cut the Rope' and decided to try it on a whim.  And of course whatever I get, Lydia gets for HER Nook/Android... so she got it, and she's TOTALLY kicking my bottom at it.  See, Om-nom is the little green dude, and he'd like you to feed him the candy.  But it's tied up to ropes, and you need to cut the right ropes to swing the candy over (and score points by getting stars on the way) to Om-Nom's mouth.  It's about gravity and physics and timing and angle and... I guess I'm just too blonde or something.  I mean, I get there, but I have to trial-n-error it to do it, and Lydia?  That squirt just cuts and flies... and she's there.  It frustrates the heck out of me!!  Now she might need me to trial-and-error some so that she can get an idea of what happens, but mostly she just... goes.  And fuddy-duddy, brain-dead Mama is left going, "When did I get old and stupid?"  I thought these games were supposed to enhance my brain power, not suck me dry!!  ((Do *NOT* laugh.))

  My other favorite is Pudding Monsters.  Lydia found it, and got it, but I thought it looked funky.  She let me try it on hers, and I liked the sound effects, and watching the blobs go flying off the table... so I downloaded it last Wednesday, and didn't try it until this weekend, when she said she was stuck.  I... have to tell you, the game has NO instructions, and the pudding monsters are hilarious to listen to, but they don't speak English, and aren't any help whatsoever.  And it was driving me crazy, just figuring out how to play the game.  Lydia tried to explain it, but I swear she was speaking Pudding Monster, because I didn't understand a WORD of it.

Basically, you have these red blobs with one eyeball each.  They're on the Veggie Tales kitchen counter.  You have to connect them to each other, but you can't move them unless you bump them into something else (cups, sofas, fridges, or each other), or they fly off the screen, cuz they're slippery.   There are 'stars' on the counter... and the screen will flash how many stars you need to be on to pass a portion of the level.  So you have to do each level up to four times, to pass it.  I didn't get that.  So the first time, you have to connect them on NO stars.  Then you have to connect them with the combined monster on ONE star, then on TWO stars, etc.  The slimey green has sticky that keeps them from flying off the table.  It. Is. TRICKY!!!  And the monsters talk to you, like they're giving you advice, but you can't understand a word.  It's funny and mind-blowing and... and Lydia and I are just having a BALL seeing who can complete a level first.  Sometimes she gets stymied, but mostly she's all reaching over to move my blobs, and I'm all howling for her to lemme'lone while trying to keep her hands off m'Nook and flying off the board because I'm laughing so hard I can't see. 

MiMouNa!

Guess what?  Today is our first day back to school! AND it's the sixth day of the counting of the Omer (cuz we do it right after breakfast).  AND it's the last day of sugarbushing... the trees were trickling off, yesterday.  But it's ALSO the cusp another big feast day for us! 

Starting at sunset tonight, we have our Mimouna!  I didn't know about this until this year, and only because we were watching our Shalom Sesame (Jewish Sesame Street) video on Pesach, and they had a segment on Mimouna.  Of course I had NOTHING else to go on, so it took a little research, but we are DEFINITELY adding this to our line-up of fun celebrations!

According to Wikipedia:

Mimouna is a traditional North African Jewish celebration held the day after Passover. It marks the start of spring and the return to eating chametz (i.e., leavened bread and bread by-products) which are forbidden throughout the week of Passover.The celebration begins after nightfall on the last day of Passover. In many communities, non-Jewish neighbors sell bread products back to Jewish families as a beginning of the celebration. ...Jews throw open their homes to visitors, after setting out a lavish spread of traditional holiday cakes and sweetmeats. The table is also laid with various symbols of luck and fertility, with an emphasis on the number "5," such as five pieces of gold jewelry or five beans arranged on a leaf of pastry. In Israel, the Mimouna has become a popular annual happening featuring outdoor parties, picnics and BBQs. ...In 1966, it was introduced as a national holiday ...

More than that, I also just read this on Chabad:

On the eve of the seventh day after the Exodus, the Children of Israel found themselves trapped between the Egyptian army and cavalry pursuing them from behind and the waters of the Red Sea before them. G-d commanded Moses: "Speak to the Children of Israel, that they should move forward!"  Nachshon ben Aminadav of the tribe of Judah was the first to jump into the sea; the water split, and "the children of Israel walked across on the dry land in the midst of the sea." All that night, a pillar of fire intervened between the Egyptians and the Israelites. When the Egyptians followed, the waters returned to their natural state and place and drowned them. The Children of Israel sang the "Song at the Sea" in praise and gratitude to G-d. Split Your Sea: www.chabad.org/355840&sc=fb

So not only is it the last day of abstaining from chametz, it's also a celebration of joy because the sea opened up and Yehovah delivered the people!

In other words, we made it seven days with no yummies... now we can bring them back and EAT!!!  AND, today Israel reached the Red Sea, were delivered with miraculous intervention and great joy... let's EAT!!  It reminds me of that t-shirt... have you seen it?  It says 'The Short Version of Every Jewish Feast:  1.) They tried to kill us.  2.)  We won.  3.)  Let's eat!  I would personally make 'Let's eat' number four and insert a number three that says "Praise Ha'Shem!!"  But that's me.

So Mimouna actually started in Morrocco... where they bought a TON of pastries, candies, cookies, brownies, cakes... LOTS of goodies, and invited all of their friends and family over, with much music, dancing, laughing, and sweets!  It's a fun way to bring the chametz (leavened food) back into the house.  In fact, it was so fun, that all across Israel, people started adopting this practice, just because it was such a joyful way to bring back the chametz, and now pretty much everyone in Israel gets into this, from what I read.

Brian *REALLY* wants monster cookies.  I was thumbing through a recipe book my Grandma Fern gave me a few months ago, and saw a recipe for monster cookies, and he's wanted them, ever since.  And I woke up thinking... "I should make them for mimouna!"  But if we're not to have chametz in the house until sunset, how could I?  How could the Jews who hold a mimouna?  Well... now I know.  They use other people who don't keep Pesach.  And y'know, isn't that a great way to bring your beliefs out and teach someone about Torah observance, too?  I'm just sayin...!  So I'm not going to be baking, today - we need milk and shredded cheddar, anyhow, so I'll just run up and get cookies at the store.  There's a market nearby that makes KILLER double chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and M&M cookies... it'll be fun.

And... here's where I make a confession.  I didn't know baking powder is a leavening agent.  I knew baking SODA was, but not baking powder.  So my friend Ellen gave out a recipe this week, and I saw that it didn't have baking soda or self-rising flour in it, so I tried it with the kids.  Isaac and Aaron made a cherry version, and Lydia and Ethan did the blueberry version.  And it ROSE in the oven... I was horrified.  So I had the kids quickly run the baking soda and two desserts OUT of my house... and they've been waiting, for such a mimouna as this!  ((Don't laugh.  You know I'm blonde... and I'm still learning.  Always learning.))  So... with cookies and these *accidental* desserts?  I think we'll be all set!

Sunday Sum-Up!

I haven't actually *posted* in a week - the past seven days of blog entries were either re-posts or re-worked posts... so you have no idea how I'm doing over here.  So I would have to say that it's time for a summary of what we had going this past week, no?

• We've gotten about THIRTY GALLONS of sap from the eight six trees that we tapped (NoTe: apparently two were not maples).  Still, I wasn't expecting that much!  So my stove has been on all day, every day, as we boil down the sap to syrup, with three BIG stock pots full of waiting sap at any given time.  And this was just a trial year - just an experiment on a handful of trees!  Do you know how many more sugar maples we have??  If we were to do any more, though, I would want to build an outdoor woodstove for it.  Honestly?  I've wanted one for years, anyhow.  And I just found THE most beautiful one EVER.  Could we build it?  I'm thinking it doesn't look too terribly bad... and my honey is REALLY good with metal.  So... we'll see if I can talk him into it.  But syruping has been really effortless and fun, this year - the kids LOVE running out with a mid-size kettle to collect sap throughout the day.

• I broke down my Pinterest a little last week.  I thought if I added five boards and broke up the ones I had, it would make them easier to read... you know, instead of 'Holiday and Feasts' have a 'Celebrations' and 'Feasts'... instead of a crazy-long homeschool board, have one for projects, one for useful links.  Like that.  But honestly, five boards did NOT make a difference.  And it took a long time.  Maybe I just need to stop pinning stuff to the dadgum thing, eh?  Or I need five more boards...  how many pins do you think should be the doable limit per board?  I have a limit of 200 with a goal of 100, but... not sure.
• We have been catching up on our charcoal drawings - remember, I dropped poetry for faerie tales this year, and so we're doing our art based on that, instead.  But I didn't do it until after the new year (2013), so we're a bit behind.  Still... it's been fun to sit down and sketch together.  As a 'lighter' week of school... I gave them off for the holy days, of course.
• For the first time in TWELVE YEARS, our bedroom is baby-paraphenalia free.  This week, we took down the diaper-changing station that was the top of our dresser.  I put away the box of diapers (apparently I had a few of each size left over as we outgrew them, and ended up with a full diaper box of diapers... all sizes!).  I turned the wipe/diaper rack into a sock rack for the kids - since now I have two different sizes: big kid socks and little kid socks.  But my dresser has LAMPS and a runner on it... it's pretty!  We also moved the wardrobe up from the basement (heavy mutha!) and set it in where the crib used to be.  We cleaned it up, and had to build new shelves for the inside of it (not sure where they went during the decade or more it's been in storage), but now we have room to put our clothes, again!  And it looks SOOOO different in our room!  Very spacious and nice.
• We also had to completely re-do the kids' computer station.  What. A. Mess.  But there wasn't room at the table for FIVE of them (or five chairs), so instead of having the table against the wall, I have turned it perpendicular, now.  So two on one side, three on the other works better... but it eats up a TON more room.  It will take some getting used to.  We *really* need to add on a schoolroom.  Another bedroom wouldn't be bad, either.
• For those of you on FaceBook, there has been a HUGE explosion of red equal signs all over the  place.  And in the other team's profiles, a HUGE explosion of unequal signs (or red man/woman bathroom signs).  I. Am. LOVING it!!  I keep posting the same thing everywhere:
  

  "The problem that *I* have with this is that I don't like christians expecting the world to hold to Biblical standards. They aren't going to - they're THE WORLD, remember? The fact of the matter is that when you take away their choice, you only set up yourself for them taking away YOUR choices, later.  Yes, I believe in the God-given relationship of man/woman. But I believe in His giving people the choice to obey or not. For these people to foist their beliefs on others is taking that choice away - and the Lord would NEVER condone that. It's stripping people of freedom/free will/choice. And I protest that more than what's being protested, here."

Anyhow, I think this thing RAWKS, and for two reasons:  First, the christians I post this on (who are protesting gay rights) all *like* what I write.  WTHeck?!!?!?  It's freakin' hilarious.  And secondly, it has taken ALL of the attention off 'the Ishtar/Easter week'.  Nobody posting about Lent winding down, or Maundy Thursday, or how to make resurrection rolls or Tomb topiaries (<< big thing on Pinterest, I've noticed).  The gay issue had totally eclipsed the Ishtar mess, and I've been BLESSEDLY free of having to slog thru Jee-zus and Easter pictures.  Until today, of course, but I can vacate FB's feed for one day.  It's. Been. Wonderful!!

• I cut my finger this week.  You know those apple do-hickeys that you push down on an apple, and it slices and cores them at the same time?  Well, I pushed it down into my thumb, accidentally.  It takes real talent to do what I did.  The good news is that the slice was so thin, the skin kind of seamed back together, so it didn't bleed out, much.  The bad news is that it was pretty deep, and bled a lot internally, so the end of my thumb is REALLY, really bruised and sore.  It's amazing how much you need a thumb for, and don't realize it until after the dadgum thing is out of commission.  Take brushing teeth for example.  Ever try to do it without a thumb?  It gets reeeeeeal interesting.

• Our Pesach was a TOTAL hit, this year.  Brian presided most smoothly over our dinner, the food  was delicious (even Ellie got a treat - we gave her the shank bone when we were finished), and we had a really good time.  My mother wanted us to come to her Pesach Seder, but I don't regret our decision in the slightest.  I wrote about several things that went down in that whole fiasco protectedly, yesterday - there's just no point to getting into the gory details out here.  I just feel that the Seder is one of the most holy times of the year - and it's my life, too.  I can choose NOT to have it defiled.  And I can be clear to my children as to why it's so important to be obedient and honor Yehovah.  And while they can consider me 'the brat' for not cooperating all they like, calling and asking to bring doughnuts to my house during an unleavened week just solidifies my allegation that they DON'T keep the feasts in obedience.
• We lost a bunny this week.  R.I.P, Moe... he was one of the first New Zealands that we got, and we had him for five years - that's good, for a bunny.  But it means that Ruthie is going to go soon, too - she's his sister, and we got her at the same time.  I'd be sad, but they've had nice, long lives and have been well cared for.  We almost lost two goats, too - Aaron (5) and Owen (3) wanted to visit the does, and left the gate open.  Brian headed them back my way, and I managed to get them back in the pen, but... wha, it was exciting, for a while, there!
• I told you that we had to have a tree taken down, half of which fell on the goat pen, the other half of which was totally rotted and likely to fall on a) rabbits, b) chickens, c) goats, or d) my daughter's room.  With it being 'March Winds' season, I wasn't keen on that thing being up in the air like that.  So we had it taken down... and as a major tree-hugger, I had issues.  So imagine my issue-full-ness the next morning when MORE tree hackers arrived - these ones NOT hired by me?  Yeah.  They mowed, and what they couldn't mow, they buzzed with a chainsaw, and what they buzzed with a chainsaw they shoved and crunched and smashed with a front end loader.  Brian is happy - he says it's less maintenance we have to do.  I... have issues with it.  Yes, it's clear, but I happen to LIKE my scrub, thankyouverymuch.  And I was still recovering from the loss of the big tree (and shade) in Critter Corner.  Having them come RIGHT on the heels of that?  Not so good timing, for me.
• Lydia has informed me that I play TripleTown wrong.  Apparently it's all about getting points, and dying instead of buying is the name of the game.  She wants points to get horses and cats and dogs and sheep and weird backgrounds... I just want four floating castles in a row, so I can see what comes next, dadgummit!  But she mocks me for spending money on trees and bushes instead of getting cash.  I had no idea that came was competitive until my daughter looked over my shoulder and 'tsk-tsked' me because I only had 4K in cash, and *SHE* has 23K.  Yikes.  So apparently, I had to stop trying to stay alive and just die for the big bucks.  I did that, for one day.  Got 35K in coins, bought the winter background, and... realized that I don't want critters mucking up the game.    So I'm back to spending my cash, again.  PS:  Nobody TOLD me 'Cut the Rope' was so fun!!  I found it this weekend, and now I know where Om-Nom came from.  TOO fun - better than PuddingMonsters, which I've yet to figure out.  The pudding monsters are fun to listen to, but I canNOT figure out what they want me to do.  At least have a shadow on the board of what shape you want me to make out of the pudding, for pity's sake, no??
• I had to re-figure-out Firstfruits, again.  Because every year, I forget when it's supposed to be.  The wording in scripture is... funky.  It says it's the day after Sabbath, according to Lev 23.  So in case you wondered, that DOESN'T mean that Firstfruits was Easter Sunday - that's like SIX DAYS from Pesach, and Messiah rose in three days, right?  So in case you were wondering, here's the skinny: Pesach is a Sabbath, and Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath... they're feastly Sabbaths, so they count.  Messiah arose on Firstfruits, and that's the third day... so if Pesach is the first day, and Unleavened is the second (and that's the Sabbath right before Firstfruits), then Firstfruits would be the third day.  So... okay.  I got it.  Finally.  Yeesh!  Apparently I just have to talk it thru, out loud?

Anyhow, this is getting long, so I'll stop, now.  But as you can tell, we have been VERY busy!  When are we not, really?  What is it I always tell my kids, "only boring people get bored"?  And we never have a dull moment around here!

Week's Wrap-Up

So much has happened this week (while I've been re-posting and not around), that I have GOT to play a little catch up.  I know I mostly don't do NoteWorthy's anymore - leave it to Extinction Protocol - but half of this stuff, HE didn't cover... so that means I got to.  I'm not posting bits of the articles - if you want to look, you will.  But here's the links to everything that's been going on... and some of it's pretty big.

EXTRA-PLANETARY NEAR MISSES ARE INCREASING 
http://www.timeslive.co.za/...three-near-misses-in-one-weekend

EVEN GOLD WON'T HELP, SOON 
http://www.businessinsider.com/faber-gold-wont-be-a-place-to-hide-2013-3

WASHINGTON STATE LANDSLIDE 
http://abcnews.go.com/US/landslide-washington-island...425

WHITE LANDSLIDE OF DOVER 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news...Channel-near-Dover.html

CATHERINE ASHTON DONE BEING EU BIG DOG 
http://www.freiberg.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-chair-is-vacant...m

RUSSIA ON CYPRUS CRISIS (WITH SOLANA MENTION)
http://www.freiberg.blogspot.com/2013/03/already-there.html

OBAMA GIVES ISRAEL GREEN LIGHT ON IRAN? 
http://www.foxnews.com/...green-light-on-iran/

NK CUTS ALL CHANNELS WITH SK AS WAR LOOMS
http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-cut-channels...1398.html

NK: ROCKETS ON STAND-BY TO STRIKE THE U.S.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/29/world/asia/north-korea-us-threats/index.html

PUTIN ORDERS SURPRISE EXERCISE IN BLACK SEA
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/28/putin-orders-exercise

A fine state of affairs, is it not?   I'm just... waiting.  That's what I do, anymore.  Just wait.  Because I know what's coming, I just don't know when, and there's nothing to be done but sit back and wait, at this point...