Phyllis

I just read Brain Waves and really enjoyed it. But honestly my favorite Jewish novel is “Yours Truly” written by Chava Rosenberg. I am a real fan of her style of writing and the way she puts down the characters.

v Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

v A sharp tongue can cut your own throat.

v If you want your dreams to come true, you mustn’t oversleep.

v Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

v The best vitamin for making friends….. B1.

v The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

v The heaviest thing you can carry is a grudge.

v One thing you can give and still keep…is your word.

v You lie the loudest when you lie to yourself

v If you lack the courage to start, you have already finished.

v One thing you can’t recycle is wasted time. Ideas won’t work unless you do.

v Your mind is like a parachute…it functions only when open.

v The 10 commandments are not a multiple choice.

v The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime! It is never too late to become what you might have been.

v Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one’s who don’t.

v Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it change’s your life, let it.

v Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

v Friends are like balloons; once you let them go, you might not get them back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own lives and problems that we may not even notice that we’ve let them fly away.

v Sometimes we are so caught up in who’s right and who’s wrong that we forget what’s right and wrong.

outoftowner, I rememeber every boy i went out with, i dont see the big deal. not everyone dates 100 guys!

sleeplessmom, you are not alone. My sister in law wants to go to sem in Israel too. My Mother in law saw the price and called up. They are willing to cut the price, in fact I think the reason the price is so high is so that they have room to cut it for those that need it. Besides for that my sister in law is getting some scholarships which helps. I am not saying that this makes it cheap but it helps out.

I think it is not tzniusdig. Tznius is a way of not attracting attention to yourself. I saw a woman that was matching her kids with a big smiley face costume, yes, she attracted attention. Or ladies that wear funny makeup, or huge floppy hats…

Tznius is not only about covering ones knees…

I once heard a speaker put it very nicely. The husband and wife are as if in a play. The husband of course is the main actor. However, the wife is the scenery. The the backdrop in teh play is sunshine than even if the main actor wants to come in shivering and act cold, he can only do in the play as the backdrop allows. So the one that sets up the backdrop is actually setting the stage for the act that the main actor can play.

When I got married I did not how to fry an egg or saute an onion! Not that i grew up spoiled but my Mom had a “Keep out of the kitchen” policy. It’s really not hard to learn. I will suggest a cookbook , that has all the basic recipes and very easy to follow.

Neitra Ladies cookbook. It does have the fanfare, and fancy pictures of some other cookbooks, but uses all the basic ing. and has every basic recipe. its great for beginners!!

The Big One, I found your comment very interesting, as I havn’t thought about it that way.

i wouldn’t say there is no shidduch crisis by chassidim, but it is for sure less then in the litvish world. Maybe bec. most Chasidishe boys/girls do not go to college, so serious dating/sit ins starts earlier. This contributes to the fact that some college goers are “too busy establishing their career” to start dating, they wait till they get older, and then when they decide they are ready, they are set in their ways, so deciding on a marriage partner is much harder.

Who goes to a Pizza Shop on a date?!

I admire my sister, When it comes to costumes she takes her kids to the store and she lets them be whatever they want. There are so many children that have to be cows, lemons, flowers, bears etc…just to match their parents theme, or so that their mothers can win the originality contest. Her kids are thrilled with this setup, one is a policeman, the next one is a fancy lady, then u have a Kohen Gadol etc. not so original but the kids are so proud!!

A boy and girl were going out for a while, and the boy decided the shidduch is not for him. He decided he wanted to speak to the girl personally since they had already met so many times. He started by mentioning her positive qualities and then he said he has something very serious to discuss. To which the girl said “I cant believe i am about to get engaged.”

P.S. he was won over and they are happily married with a couple of kids!!

I did not hear this story firsthand, but i think its true.

We have a relative that does the same thing every year, it always looks really nice. She buys pkgs of pretty napkins. She give a bottle of wine, a nice box of chocolates, and a pkg of pretty napkins that can enhance your purim table! She wraps it in celophane with a nice ribbon. It is very classy looking and is I am sure is not too expensive.

Type in any e-mail address ex: landsend, then press cntrl and enter together and u will be led to that address without having to press www. or .com.

Depends where u r, here are some of my favorites:

Yerushalayim: Shayan – they have the best food, and it comes out fast, and Cafe Rimon

Boro Park: Cafe’ K , Kosher Delight, Side dish

Flatbush: Island grill, Cafe’ napoli

Here’s one I got via e-mail…

The Bathtub Test

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director

‘How do you determine whether or not a patient should be

institutionalized’

‘Well,’ said the Director, ‘we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a

teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to

empty the bathtub.’

‘Oh, I understand,’ said the visitor. ‘A normal person would use the

bucket because it’s bigger than the spoon or the teacup.’

‘No.’ said the Director, ‘A normal person would pull the plug. Do you

want a bed near the window?’

I love to hear these cholent ideas. Last week I added a little Terriyaki sauce to the cholent. It gave it a real nice spicy flavor. Another trick, after u add enough water, if u r afraid the cholent will dry up, add oil on top. Oil doesnt evaporate, so neither will the water beneath it. I always add potato kugel to the crock pot, I put it in a crock pot bag and i punch a few tiny holes in the bag. The Kugel then sits overnight in the cholent and it gets a really awesome flavor. Remeber that potatoes eat salt, so if add a lot of potatoes to ur cholent u will need to add more spicing. It works both ways. If u ever add to much salt by mistake, ( my husband once poured salt and the cover came out, the salt disolved so fast that we couldnt take it out ) stick in a few extra potatoes to save the cholent.

When it comes to Kishke, I find Mealmart frozen kishke is THE BEST!. I have tried so many recipes theirs tops it off!

I also find flanken fabulous meat for cholent, not that I’ve tried too many other meats honestly.

Yes, i was waiting to see if after e/o’s brilliant comments we would get at least one recipe. I am new to the baking world and was looking forward to a good recipe. I know therer are Reisman’s but nothing compares to HOMEMADE!

For those of you that think its fun when discussions dont stay on topic, are obviosly not interested in a good discussion. You are just in the mood of writing whatever comes to mind. I enjoy a GOOD lengthy heated discussion, especially where no one knows who I am so I can say what I REALLY think. When they get off topic then u dont get a complete thought with EVERYONE’s opinion.

Bas Yisroel, those jokes were for the books! I love the mental one!

Heres a good one,

Sadie Cohen lived in an integrated neighborhood on Long Island. Her neighbor was a very generous Black woman who stopped in one Saturday and asked “Mrs. Cohen, I have to go to NYC this afternoon to meet my daughter; can I get you anything? Mrs. Cohen thanked her and exclaimed “Listen, I have a commuter’s ticket for the train. Why don’t you use my ticket and you’ll bring it back tonight. After all, it’s all paid for – why should you pay extra. “The neighbor thanked her and got on the train. As the conductor came through the train, he happened to glance at the ticket and noticed the name “Sadie Cohen”. “Excuse me madam, are you Sadie Cohen the person whose name appears on this ticket?” The woman smiled sweetly and shook her head affirmatively. A little suspicious, the conductor asked “would you let me compare signatures – would you please sign your name?” The Black lady turned indignantly and snapped, “Man are you crazy? You want me to write on Shabbos?”

True story- I heard of a teacher that was teaching her class about saying thank you to parents for everything they do. Before school was over on Thursday, the teacher told the girls to try and than their mothers for the suppers they prepare. She joked with them – of course dont tell ur parents that your teacher told u to say thank you.

One Monday when the girls came back to school the teacher asked them how many of them remebered to thank their mothers after supper. So girls raised their hands and said how happy their mothers were. One girl raised her hand and said, ” I kept thanking my mother over shabbos, so she asked me ‘why are u thanking me so much lately’, to which I answered ‘my teacher said I am not allowed to say.'”!!

I thought this was adorable!

But thanking other people is great Middah. Notice the small things. Everyone loves to feel appreciated.

Arafat and his driver are driving along in Gaza. Suddenly a dog runs

out on the street and they run it over. Arafat feels terrible and

tells his driver, “go find the owners and tell them of my sorrow and

apologize for me.”

The driver goes off to deliver the bad news, and Arafat waits in the car. Twenty

minutes, thirty minutes an hour and the driver still has not returned. That’s it.

Arafat goes off to find him. When he does, he finds him sitting in a family room,

surrounded by dancing children, music playing, a cigar in his mouth and a glass of

champagne in his hand.

“What’s going on?” Arafat demands.

“I’m not certain,” the driver replies. “All I said was, ‘I am Arafat’s driver. The

dog is dead.'”

heimesheyid, wow, that makes his whole idea sound really foolish. Lets wait and see…

Lesschumros, of course women ARE treated with respect. Women are the essence of the home. Women were given their own precious Mitzvos. Women are the backbone of their husbands.

There is no greater respect than that of a women that accepts her role as an Ikeres Habayis with love, dresses modestly despite the outside influences etc.

Yes, Kol Kevudah Bas Melech Pinima, so maybe that restricts her from certain things, but certainly not things that lessen her respect. In fact its the observance of these basic things u mentioned, that make the women respected.

RoshYeshivah, Actually, this exact example is stated in Sefer CHofetz Chaim on shmirahs Halashon. ( under the topic of “not only is derogatory considered harmful)

Miami is the best place to stay in Florida for simplicity sake. Kosher food for one thing, my idea of vacation is not bringing along tuna fish cans…I know some pple tht try diff places in Florida and bring along tuna, mayo, crackers, oranges…might as well go for a picnic!