The Indispensable Post-Pesach List

This is an update of a post  first published in 2009. The funny thing about Pesach is that you spend weeks getting ready, obsessing about crumbs and making sure that everything in your kitchen has been switched over and made kosher for Passover. No matter how simply you clean, it is still a ton … [Read more...]

Back to School Shopping Tips, 2010

We're less than a month away from the start of school. I have no idea whether my first-grader's class will remain intact. I lost the book lists, which mysteriously disappeared after I put them in a folder marked "school." A neighbor is holding on to a batch of books for my 11th grader, and I passed … [Read more...]

Four Pre-Passover Questions

Image by Daniel Greene via Flickr Please check out the new banner that Leora of Here in Highland Park designed for CookingManager.Com. She also designed the banner for this blog. Here at "A Mother in Israel" we've been known to poke fun at people who get too worked up about Pesach. But with … [Read more...]

Winter Fashion Retrospective

I know just what you've been waiting for: a new retrospective by your local fashion expert. In town yesterday to pick up school books, and I also examined some sweaters on sale racks. Each time I glanced up, the salespeople were staring at me with looks of desperation on their faces. It's been … [Read more...]

Shoes and Fashions

The other day I decided to go into town for some errands. My stops were: The tailor, to have a zipper fixed on a coat. The bookstore and toy store to buy gifts for a brit and a child's birthday party. The shoe repair, for the lining in my winter dress shoes. I debated whether to take both … [Read more...]

A Clean City with Lots of Shoe Stores

I remember my mother taking me from store to store trying to find a pair of shoes that fit. My own daughter is fairly easy to shop for, but we must have gone into fifteen stores over two days to find sandals for her rapidly enlarging feet. In most of the stores, she wouldn't consider even a single … [Read more...]

Unofficial Guide to Pesach Shopping in Israel

When my aunt first shopped for Pesach after making aliyah, she was excited by the huge assortment of kosher for Passover products. When Pesach was over, she learned that all those products contained kitniyot (legumes), which Ashkenazi (European) Jews avoid on Pesach. Israel has a much larger … [Read more...]

How to Spend Virtually Nothing When You Have a Baby

I would like to share my story regarding expenses for infants. In our culture, we are led to believe that babies require a lot of things. There is no reason to "buy in" (pun intended) to this mentality. Disclaimer: I have made the choices that were right for my family at that point in time. I … [Read more...]