The Best Laid Plans

Okay, I admit it, the garage sale did not happen. Instead of doing something new I reverted to my usual modus operandi with one small twist. I gave stuff away to family and friends, sold a couple of big ticket items through craigslist and word of mouth, and I've started listing things on freecycle again.

Oh how I love freecycle. I figure that anyone who is willing to take the Subway, walk or ride their bike across to town to pick up one or two Piano Primers deserves them!

There have been two small disappointments on the road to decluttering. We have each discovered that our treasures are not as valuable on the open market as they are to us. In the children's case it is the problem of what to do with their stuffies. Some toys and books can be given to smaller cousins but the kids were really hoping to make a small fortune from selling their huge collection of stuffed animals. Why, you ask, do they need so much cash? Didn't their mother already blog about their generous allowance? The answer, of course, is that they need more money to buy more stuffies! Perhaps if you were eight years old you would understand.

In the case of the grownups of the household the problem has been what to do with the hundreds of classical, jazz, world and alternative cds (every song's a treasure) in our collection once they've been burnt to the hard drive. The answer, yet again, is give them to nieces, nephews and siblings. The after market for used cds is just not what it used to be. And why were we hoping to receive this windfall from selling our cds? To buy more music on iTunes of course! Plus ca change!

Giving Thanks and Giving Back Garage Sale Saturday October 10th

As we prepare to move into our new home, and as we enter the season of Thanksgiving we realize that we are blessed by an overabundance of possessions. For a number of years our "Family Charity" has been the Therapeutic Clown Program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, fondly referred to as Sick Kids. To quote Flylady we are going to Bless our home by getting rid of the things we don't need and Bless the Therapeutic Clowns by donating all the proceeds to their program.

Please consider digging through your closets and storerooms to help make this event a huge success. Contributions of furniture, pictures, books, cds, baked goods, toys, games, tchotchkes or anything else you'd like to get rid of will be welcomed at the old house until October 6th and at the new house starting October 7th.

Tell anyone you know who may be setting up a new home that we'll be selling lots of big ticket items: a dining room suite, couches, dressers, bookshelves, and hundreds of books and cds.

Come on out and see the new house and help support the Therapeutic Clowns.

See you on the 10th!

Celebrating Mishpochah

I was so touched and proud to hear that my beloved Auntie Eleanor has been reading and enjoying my blog. When one sends these rambling thoughts out into the ether there is no knowing who (if anyone) will show up.

What a wonderful word mishpochah is. I love the fact that there are a dozen different spellings, just as there are dozens of different ways people can be connected to you to count as part of your mishpochah.

Yesterday I attended the funeral of my cousin's cousin's mother. My Dad's sister's SIL. A woman who proudly laughed back in 1982 that her BIL's, BIL's, BIL's BIL and her BIL's, BIL's BIL had both won the Nobel Prize! The sweetheart who threw a wedding shower for me and my husband at The Stream, her gorgeous country retreat. Who invited me to sing at fundraisers and encouraged me to be active in her children's theatre company The Golden Horseshoe Players and her pet charity for Israeli children Birthday Angels.

The funeral, interment and shiva were all models of grace and dignity. The honour and love that everyone feels for Sharon, Larry and their whole family was palpable.

My cousin Nomi asked me to tell her what I saw and heard. At the shul I saw a little boy quietly and respectfully comforting his Dad. At the cemetery I saw many of Max's descendants striding through the beautiful Holy Blossom Memorial Park in search of his stone before heading back to the fancy stretch limo for the drive back to the shiva house. At the shiva I saw a nephew perched on the arm of his bereft Uncle's chair for a long quiet chat in the midst of all the laughing, talking and reminiscing.

I bumped into an old friend who I didn't even know knew the Enkins. But he is 'like us', and like them. And he and all the other friends who were there are part of their mishpochah.

I heard story after story of Sharon Enkin's goodness, determination, generosity and encouragement.

I Must Be A Gemini

My interests shift and change. Gardening got me through last summer,designing and making charity quilts and Judaica was my passion over the winter. And now I am obsessed by tables, couches and colour as we prepare to move to our new home. Our lifetime home. The house is beautiful and old with a rich history (fitting since one of the present owners is named Rich). I'm told that the house was originally built on spec for Lawren Harris I feel a responsibility to the house and to my family to make it lovely and welcoming.

A simple colour scheme, comfortable furniture, a hidy hole for each of us to do our thing. For the children it will be their bedrooms and a room in the basement. I won't call it a playroom because they are big 8 year olds and have gotten rid of most of their toys. Emily is even ready to give away her American Girl. I persuaded her to keep it for a while so she can have something to play with when her AG obsessed friends come over to play. The main amenity of their room will be a comfy couch to sit on while they wait for their (short) turn on the wii.

Eyal will have his study. I see glossy teal walls, antique furniture and a Persian rug. He sees a lighter palette. The drama unfolds.

My studio will be on the second floor. I have claimed a longish room on an E/W axis with windows on each end. Light will stream in throughout the day. A welcome change after my years spent in the basement. But what will I do in my studio? What will my new obsession be? Truthfully I feel a pull back to music.

Which leads me to another room entirely. The living room is going to be heavenly. A grand piano, beautiful sofa and chairs and French doors leading to the garden. The music studio may call me away from the crafting studio for the next while. That is after the "Extreme Makeover" has happened, of course.

I lie in bed making lists in my head - this carpet needs to be pulled up, these built ins have to come out and the walls need to be replastered (or is it drywalled?), wallpaper needs to come down in several rooms. Almost the whole house will be painted. OK, let's say the whole house for argument's sake.

But soon it will all be done and we will relax and be home. And then I will open myself up fo the new obsessions to begin.

Artists For Change

I just joined Artists For Change a Kiva lending team.

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named SOPE MAME DIARRA THIOUNE II Group in Senegal. They still need another $400.00 to complete their loan request of $1,075.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!). Help me get this entrepreneur off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to SOPE MAME DIARRA THIOUNE II Group too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=115047

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, I know that I'm helping them build a
sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

Thanks!

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What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'
-- BBC

'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'
-- CNN Money

'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'
-- The Wall Street Journal

'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'
-- Entrepreneur Magazine

Better Late Than Never

This gorgeous Anniversary card was made for me by my darling husband using a soon to be released My 3D Scenes template. I love the way he has used these images from our life together. They bring back happy memories and make me look forward to the years of happiness we have ahead of us.

You can use the arrow buttons at the bottom of the picture to scroll around this 3D greeting card. Click on the Stevie Wonder album cover and you will hear the first song from our wedding June 9th, 1996.

Thank You Yalli, I Love You!!

A Woman of Valour

A difficult text. Don't analyze it. Just hear the love, the appreciation, the awe for what women accomplish. We can aspire to be everything that the words describe, and more. The postcards that I created with "A Woman of Valour" as my inspiration are almost ready to fly around the world. The creative effort has kept me rooted in my head for the last couple of months. It has been a time of dreaming and problem solving rather than my usual creative enterprise of sitting at my sewing machine for hour after hour.

First - fabric dye with sparkles sponged over a cut out of a woman's profile onto commercial cotton

Second - the fabric is pressed onto a 4 by 6 piece of Fast 2 Fuse (in some cases the base fabric is the portrait in many it is navy fabric with a crisscross Magen David pattern)

Third - on the cards with the Magen David fabric the portrait is machine appliqued

Fourth - a line of quilting to delineate the features

Fifth - remnants from cutting fat quarters are used to make the woman's hair

Sixth - fabric markers are used to enhance her features and to add symbols (Heart, Hamsa, Magen David) to some of the cards

Seventh - a white rectangle of fabric with these handwritten words is pressed to the back of each card :

Self Portrait as a Woman of Valour
Full of Beauty, Love and Imperfection.

Eighth - more fabric remnants are zigzagged around the edges to frame the card and hold the layers together

Ninth - make two more postcards because when I went to the address list I realized I was supposed to make fourteen of them!

As I worked on these cards I found myself relishing the flaws. The way the faces looked less and less real, threads dangling from the stitching and and from the fabric remnants. When I showed them to my family they saw some of them as masculine and had trouble seeing the face in some of them. I welcome this ambiguity.

From my Journal:

Self Portrait as a Woman of Valour

Each card is unique. Each has its own beauty and its own flaws, just as I do each time I look in the mirror. I am grateful to the author of this prayer and to our tradition which honours "women's work".

When I was in second year University a young man in my program felt empowered to classify the women he studied with as GW or not GW. I had the honour of being proclaimed not a GW - not a Good Woman. Sadly he was struck down by cancer before graduation so I never had the opportunity to speak to him as an adult about the injustice of his words.

With this series of postcards I am now reclaiming my place in the world as a GW "A Woman of Valour"!