A small start with glass painting and my daughter took off with her painting one day of her mid-term break…
Let’s keep moving – doing things that we enjoy and that give us a sense of success in what we accomplish!
As the old saying goes… practice makes perfect.
A well known phrase – so why is it so easily forgotten?
My “Move” this week was to start practicing. As usual, getting myself to buckle down and do it was the main hurdle. In my mind, I picture myself incorporating Hebrew and English letters and words into various things I want to make. So much easier in my mind than in action – my writing Hebrew letters is painstakingly slow. Somehow in my 40-something year old brain I forgot about practicing.
So, today, I started with the letter Aleph – the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and a letter that has a numerical value of 1. A great starting place for step number 1 
This letter is rich with deep meanings… but more about that in the future.
Drawing the alephs brought back memories of practicing…. practicing letters and penmanship, practicing cursive italics with pen and ink, practicing flute, practicing math problems. As I practiced painting א, I realized that skills that I admire in others don’t flow from me more out of lack of practice than out of lack of talent. If I could spend more time engaging in and practicing the things I like, I know I could be very successful in them!
I think this is, in many cases, the division point between children learning a new skill and adults. Children are taught and expected to spend time “practicing”. Adults don’t need any less practice for developing skills, they just have other expectations and responsibilities to attend to that tend to decrease ability to put time and attention into “just practicing”. So many of us have this inner drive to constantly be accomplishing something all of the time, that it is difficult to take a step back and do remedial practicing.
So, while my “big move” for this week may seem like a very small thing (especially for an adult), I am eager to see where starting to practice will take me.
Moving along with Made-a-Move Mondays
- DebBee
This week I made Foccacia bread, per special request, for an event with over 100 participants.
As I want to do and give my best, I am posting my Foccacia recipe (on a more normal scale) here to share with you. It takes a bit of work, but is soooooo worth it!! Make a move to try it and Enjoy!
Stand mixer with paddle attachment, dough hook optional
In mixer bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and allow to proof (let it sit for 5 – 10 min). Add olive oil, canola oil, salt, Italian seasoning, and garlic. With paddle attachment, mix in 3 cups of flour – start at slowest speed and then increase mixer speed to medium to whip the dough until it begins to leave the sides of mixer bowl (approximately 7 – 10 min.)
Mix in 2 1/2 cups flour by hand or with a dough hook and knead until smooth.
Dough should be soft but not too sticky. If sticky, knead a little more flour in. Allow dough to rise until doubled in size either on lightly floured counter with large inverted bowl over it or in large bowl, covered (with plastic wrap or damp tight-woven towel) to keep dough from drying out. Rising time will depend on warmth of location (approx 30 min to 1 hour). If using regular active dry yeast (instead of quick rise), punch dough down and allow to rise again.
Divide dough to size desired (see below) and either roll flat with rolling pin or press out flat with hands to shape of pan.
Prepare pans by oiling them. This recipe is enough for two 13 inch pizza pans. Type of pan is up to you – the picture below is an 8″ square pan with just over 1 pound of dough (recipe would fill 3 of these pans).
Allow dough to rise in pans approximately 30 minutes (again loosely covered in plastic wrap to prevent drying – can oil the plastic wrap to prevent sticking).
Coarse Kosher Salt and Crushed rosemary on top. Using 2 – 3 finger tips, poke lots of ‘dents’ downward in dough.
Garlic/ Tomato Foccacia: First I lightly rub a little olive oil over top of bread dough. Sprinkle a little Coarse Kosher Salt and Crushed rosemary on top. Press fresh garlic cloves (cut in approximately halves depending on size of each clove) down into dough. Press thin slices of tomatoes onto dough. Using 2 – 3 finger tips, poke lots of ‘dents’ downward in dough.
Other topping ideas: Diced red onion, basil, thinly sliced and/ or roasted peppers, pesto, olives, ….
Bake breads at about 385 deg F until golden brown on top and slightly brown on bottom (approximately 20 – 40 min. depending on size, thickness and quantity in oven)
Cool on racks.
Enjoy!
בס”ד
I did it!! I made a move!!
It wasn’t easy to break out of my habitual “would-could-should” rut and life in ‘side-tracked city’. But, with the help of my commitment to “Made-a-Move Mondays” and getting my daughter to pull me into my workshop… “Are you coming soon?”…
Granted she had to pull me away from my distractions by showing me that she already made this: 
Ok, in the time it took me to make this:
My daughter made:
In a failed attempt to be helpful (???) someone we showed our accomplishments to afterwards advised me to “do what you are best at, coming up with designs and ideas, and let your daughter do the painting.”
Jaw drop.
Ok. I know I need more practice. Yes, I know art flows from my daughter’s hands as naturally as 6-strand challah (bread) braids flow from mine. (Ok – yes, she can do that too!!).
Looking past the surprising delivery and timing of the comment, I can consider ‘Was their unsolicited advice true?’ Maybe yes and maybe no – I know I have done much better pieces in the past (I have been painting glass plates about once or twice a year for the past several years) and that I am capable of doing much better. It’s been a long time – this was just getting my feet wet again. I love to share artistic ideas with my daughter and take great pleasure in watching her turn them into things spectacular beyond my imagination. A very big part of my dreams is to share the crafty things I like to dabble in with others and be a catalyst for them to soar with them.
But, the most essential point was completely missed by the meant-to-be adviser – I made a move!! I took dreams I started several years ago, materials I bought several months ago, and a design I sketched out several weeks ago and put them into action. I then went on and started on another idea I’ve been developing:
It’s a start. Small. But, tangible! And I am eager to do more… to keep the ball rolling. And, this time, with the help of my commitment to YOU in ‘Made-a-Move Mondays’, I really think I will.
Thank you, Darren Hardy, for the great advice!
And, Thank YOU for keeping me to my commitment!
Lets continue to grow and blossom together!
- DebBee
בס”ד
Here it is, last day of Winter break and I have accomplished none of the projects I have been dreaming about doing – I got one of them set up for someone else to do during break. It still sits out waiting for me to make use of it.
My paints have been calling me.... no answer... "Line is Busy"
I was able to put over 2 hours into making and decorating a cake for someone – but no time to do the artwork I want to do for my dreams.
My DH has been begging me to “Do Something”. He believes in me. He has been infinitely patient with my plans to make and sell all kinds of things I dream of doing. But finances are increasingly tight and my ability to focus and accomplish continues to allude me.
I’m going to take the advice of the Rabbi Friedman video clip I saw yesterday and not waste time, and derail myself further, by asking WHY I am not doing what is so clear in my mind that I want to do, but instead work on the question of WHAT I am going to do about it.
In a recent posting, Darren Hardy spelled out what I need to do about it. He stated: “It doesn’t matter your goal and it doesn’t matter your anchor, the formula is the same.
Take your goal and anchor it with something tangible. Track it and display your tracking publicly.”
I am very determined and dedicated to keep my commitments to others and I am careful of what commitments I agree to – whether it is to my employer, to my kids, to people I bake bread and desserts for, etc.
So, here is my commitment to YOU, my DH, my Uncle S, and myself. “Made-a-Move Mondays” - My commitment to be SNM – Stuck-No-More!!! My commitment (bli neder) to post on every Monday (IYH) something, anything, I created in the past week. – It could be one of my crafting projects, a writing, a prototype …. Something tangible – not just more ideas to add to my wish list. Not just progress for setting things up for future projects – but actual things I completed.
I welcome you to join me in being SNM. Share with me how you are making a move to be “stuck-no-more” – what are you committing yourself to accomplish? What progress did you make on that commitment this week?
Wishing all a good, happy, healthy and successful 2012!!
Lets grow and blossom together!
- DebBee
בס”ד
The name and description of The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, caught my eye from a site advertising the previous book I reviewed, Between Shades of Gray. This book, too, I requested from the library thinking it might be of interest to my teenage daughter. And, again, it turned out to be more for me than her. The copy I received from the library was an audio format, which did make it more complicated to find time to get through the book, out of earshot of my kids, as a couple scenes in the book weren’t very kid-appropriate.
The story begins with a girl, Victoria, as she turns 18 and is emancipated from being a ward of the state her entire life – after a life of one foster home after another and one group home after another. She begins life on her own filled with feelings of anger, distrust, guilt, and a hope for a new beginning. The book alternates between her building a new life for herself at age 18 and the “new life” that she experienced at age 9, when, for the first time, she lived with a woman who gave her unwavering love and had wanted to adopt her. In addition to teaching Victoria trust and to accept love, Elizabeth taught her about flowers and how different flowers can be used to express different emotions and sentiments – the first being common thistle, expressing her feelings of anger at the world. Victoria begins her “new life,” at age 18, with a deep connection to flowers and their meanings and the desire for solitude. Her fond memories of her time with Elizabeth present the mystery of what went wrong that resulted in her going back to the foster care system.
As both stories unfold, the author takes the reader on Victoria’s new journey along with the backdrop of her past, giving insight into her reactions to life’s situations along with hope for a better future. The book carries with it messages of growing up, discovering more mature ways of seeing all aspects of life, searching for and recognizing a deeper side to the people and things around us, the importance of forming and developing relationships with others, getting past the road blocks we have set for ourselves as coping mechanisms at previous points in our lives, and of reconciliation.
A few days after finishing the audio of this book, I realized how subtly inspirational it was. I didn’t notice it while listening to it – I was too caught up in the unfolding of the life story of the main characters and in wanting things to work out for them.
While my life has been much different from that of the characters, I was able to relate to some of their experiences and responses. After completing the book, I found myself feeling closer to my husband, and making nice dinner meals for my family and washing dishes each night out of wanting to – not as a task to do at end of a long, tiring day. Just under my consciousness, I felt somewhat of a weight lifted from me in:
I cannot explain why “reading” this book had these effects. I just hope that, little by little, they will reshape the patterns I have fallen into, bring me to reconciliation with the painful points in my past and help me to grow and blossom.
בס”ד
An important part of tending a beautiful garden is taking the time and effort to get rid of weeds and prune unhealthy growths away. Last week we got over 9 bags of “over-growth and weeds” out of our house for garbage and donation pick ups.
It is amazing what you can discover. In my attempt to get rid of some the “weeds” (ie clutter) in my closet, a few weeks ago, I found a whole prairie!
The prairie was in a book published by Scholastic Inc., I am Nobody! Who are You? Poems by Emily Dickinson. I read through the pages, searching to glean one(s) that spoke for me. The message that I took away from the book was about the incredible gift of perception Emily Dickinson had through really taking the time to see, perceive and describe the details of simple things in life.
Initially I thought that my challenge in building a business of my own was in the fact that I see so much potential in the basics that I don’t move beyond them to become an expert in anything. But, then again, Emily Dickinson managed to write about 1800 poems with just the basics – a deep look into the basics. Appreciating and seeking to utilize basics is what I love – searching for the basic truths in life, without all the frill, is what draws me to the spiritual philosophy and lifestyle we have chosen for our family. So, how does this fit into the poem I found myself attracted to?
Thoughts to ponder…
So, what is my “prairie”? What do I want to “make”? I have a lot of dreams.
Perhaps I dream and pray for things that are too big? Maybe I need to go back to the basics – the clover. And then,The Prairie.
I know a beautiful “prairie” is in store when we start with, and concentrate on the basics, and grow from there.
- DebBee
בס”ד
It has been a long time since I was drawn into a book. I used to love to read fantasy novels and would get lost in them for hours. I just don’t have the attention span anymore for them and with so many pressing things to do, I don’t have the desire to “waste” my time getting lost in them.
I borrowed the book Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys, from the library thinking my daughters might be interested. It turned out to be more a book for me than them. I read the first page and was hooked.
The book is a historical fiction about what happened to Lithuanian families during the 40’s and 50’s when the Soviets took over their country. The author interviewed many people who lived through experiences of that time and she incorporated their stories into the events of the book. Ruta Sepetys writes the book from the perspective of a 15/16 year old girl, Lina, who goes through the experience of being deported with her mother and brother, along with hundreds of others, from their home in Lithuania to Siberia.
The author takes the reader along with Lina through the uncertainty of what will happen to them, the longing for home, and the horrendous living (and in many cases dying) conditions and the treatment she and the people around her lived through. It does so without focusing on gory details, but rather with the messages of hope, dreams, truth, love, family, importance of self-expression and perseverance through difficult times. Shades of gray permeate the view of their surroundings, both physically and figuratively. Even some of the harsh experiences Lina saw as “black” she later saw had shades of goodness mixed in.
As the author requested, I am passing on the word of truth about this period of time that was kept secret for too many years. Truth not for the sake of horrifying, but instead for better appreciating the good life we live, seeing good in ‘shades of gray’ around us, recognizing the importance of hanging on to hope through difficult times, and to motivate us to do what we can to help others in need and when we see injustice done to others.
May we all soon see the day when the grandest of hopes and dreams are realized – when those longing to go home will do so and everyone will live together in peace, health and happiness!
Apples and Honey are a favorite treat for a sweet start to the Jewish New Year.
This Awesome Apple Cake recipe is a close 2nd!! It is sooo easy and delicious – try and enjoy!! (Recipe is adapted from the “One Bowl Apple Cake” recipe from the Can’t Believe it’s Kosher! cookbook from Congregation Beth Israel Sisterhood, Milwaukee, WI)
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon and oil. Peel and slice the apples and add to mixture in bowl (coating as you go to keep apples from turning brown.) Mix together the baking soda and flour and add to the ingredients in the bowl. Mix well (best with a fork) until all of the flour is absorbed by the wet ingredients. Pour mixture into a greased 9″ x 13″ pan or 2 – 9″ round pans. Bake for approximately 55 minutes.
A very Sweet, Happy, Healthy, and Successful year to All!!
- DebBee
בס”ד
When life is busy, it can be overwhelming to be seeing all of the input around us all of the time. With having 6 kids and facing mood swings of several members of my family, I know I have to put ‘blinders’ on to block out some of the constant conscious and semi-conscious demands for my attention. I think the busier we are, the more we need to filter out some of the frustrations and distractions so we can focus on completing what we need to. So, on go the glasses.
Different types of glasses can serve the purpose – blinders to block peripheral distractions and tinted glasses to filter out some of the constant input. They work, so we use them. When we have a high stress lifestyle, we depend on them to get us through.
But, then there is the down side to the glasses. The faster we race around to get things done and stretch ourselves beyond our human limits, the more dirt and smudges get on our glasses and cloud our vision. Sometimes, as the glasses get darker, a person’s view of the world and their life becomes darker and more negative. The blinders give tunnel vision. So much of the beauty around us can be missed. When people see darkness, the more others tell them ‘the bright side of things’ the more annoyed they get because ‘seeing is believing’ and they know how dark things are.
Sometimes life gives a ‘wake-up call’ with a splash of water in our face that clears some of the dirt away. These can be inspirational movies, books or speakers; meeting someone who really wants to be able to have kids and cannot; hearing others who comment on the special things they see in your life; etc.
Other times, major curve balls in life knock the glasses totally off, as we hear about in life-changing events as told by survivors of cancer and tragedies, such as in the stories we heard from 9/11 survivors.
We need to stop, take a break from the constant running, and take a clear look around us. Other people face similar challenges that we do and maintain a happy outlook. If life looks dark, it could be that we just need take off and wash our ‘glasses’ – to truly see and appreciate the good things in our lives. It is so much better to stop, look, see and appreciate the beauty in our kids rather than just hearing from others how wonderful they see them! We need to see and appreciate the good and beautiful things that we, ourselves, do rather than others just telling us about the great things we did that we didn’t notice – ‘all-in-a-day’s-work.’
As we just passed the anniversary of 9/11, let’s stop racing and take our own glasses off for a good cleaning. Let us really appreciate the incredible blessing of life and the beauty around us.
- DebBee