I'm Still Losing Weight, but...

...I haven't posted a new edition of the diet carnival.  It was more work than it was worth.  It didn't bring me more readers, and that's not just because this blog covers so many more topics than weight loss.

The vast majority of posts submitted were commercial and didn't obey the "rules of the game."  My carnival wasn't mentioned on their blogs and sites.

Slowly, slowly the excess weight is disappearing.  My modified low carbohydrate diet is very easy to live on.  I'm never hungry, but that's one of the rules.  I always have something to nosh on.  It's very similar to a diabetic diet; I'm just not really as limited in terms of the fruit I can eat, and of course I don't have to check my blood sugar.

Over 30 pounds, 15 kilo are already off!

Busy Shabbat Coming Up

If today was lazy day, I did nothing physical, it looks like Shabbat I'll be making up for it.

There are two big events in the main Shiloh Tabernacle Synagogue.  One was scheduled thirteen years ago, yes, a Bar Mitzvah, and the other was scheduled last Shabbat when a baby boy was born.  Yes, the Brit Milah.  And that's not all.  Going down and back up the hill home once on Shabbat is no problem, but the Shiur Nashim, Women's Torah Class will be in memory of Avihu Keinan, and that will be down in the lower neighborhood, too.

I'll need to wear a big hat, long sleeves and comfortable walking sandals.

I Needed Today

Today I stayed home.  I needed it.  You just can't imagine how much.  Yesterday when I got to work I felt like I had too much caffein in my system, but I hadn't had more coffee than usual.  I just hadn't had enough sleep this week.

I forced myself to relax and ate a few walnuts, I now keep in my bag for when I need some food.  And then I went to teach and felt fine, even though it was a long day.

Luckily I hadn't made any plans for today, other than to be home and relax.  I even turned off my alarm.  But strangely I dreamt that I was awake.  There are people who think they're insomniacs who do that all the time, but it's rare for me.

My big plans for today involved cooking for Rosh Hashannah.  I cooked chicken which is now already in the freezer, and I made some Gefilte Fish, a little differently from my usual.  When the fish cools, I'll freeze it, too.  It's really very easy.  The ground fish has been in the freezer since before Passover.  We always get extra. 

I defrosted it and added shredded/grated onions and carrots, a couple of eggs, matzah meal, salt, pepper, sugar and dehydrated parsley. 

While it "sat," I boiled water with sliced onions, salt, pepper and sugar.  When it was boiling hard, I "double-spoon" dropped the fish mix into the water.  I added sliced carrots, covered and let it all cook for an hour or so.

Yes, that's it!  It's really that easy to make Geffilte Fish.  For basic quantities:

per half kilo or one pound ground fish (whatever is available)-

• a medium onion
• an egg or two, depending on size
• enough matzah meal, so it sticks together, not runny

Crowded Classrooms

Israel is now in one of its frenzies of breast-beating, because according to statistics, we have an outrageously large number of students per class compared to other academic countries.  I get a kick out of under thirty, 27.6 being considered too many.

When I was in elementary school, P.S. 46, Bayside, NY, along with my fellow baby-boomers, my classes had an average of 39-40 kids.  Yes, I do remember the numbers.  We were five classes in our grade, and we did well.  Not all the classes had that number, because after the first grade we were divided by ability-success.  The top class averaged over forty kids per year, and I was in the "second top" class.

The students who needed more help were in smaller classes.  No, I don't remember how small.  By being divided in homogenous groupings, rather than the more pc heterogeneous classes, it was easier for the teacher to teach and for us to learn.

Another difference was the noise level. I never would have succeeded in today's noisy and active classrooms.  It was much easier to concentrate in the "more repressed" 1950's.

We also got more sleep, and so did the teachers.  It makes a big difference.  Insufficient sleep causes memory, concentration/attention and impulsivity problems similar to ADD and ADHD.  Two to three more hours of sleep per night would be more effective than ritalin or any other medication.

Our foods had fewer additives, and many experts say that the additives aren't good, possibly effecting children very seriously.  Our world was also quieter.

To wrap it up, class size isn't everything when it comes to education, and I didn't even touch the topics of curriculum and methodology.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow...

I hope I don't have to wake up early.  Rare for me, I plan on turning my phone alarm off.  If a phone rings ok, but otherwise, I need sleep.

This morning I was at the pool at 7:45am for a 15 minute session (I hate swimming.)

Then I went to work and had a long day, the longest so far.  Of course, when I worked in the yeshiva high school I sometimes finished at 7:15pm, when the day started as early as 1pm.  Not every day, of course, but I missed all sorts of weddings etc.  In the girls high school the breaks are much shorter, generally five minutes, so things go better.  In the boys school it used to be that way, but then they doubled the breaks, so the kids began going to the dorms in between classes and missing classes or coming back very late, because ten minutes aren't really enough to do much.  But their sense of time is awful.

I've been bringing food for lunch, even though there's a great cafeteria.  I just need the quiet and less rush, just walking to and fro are too much.  There's  a fridge in the teachers room, which I can use. 


Tomorrow's my day off and I'm planning on cooking for Shabbat and Rosh Hashannah, no, not everything, just the chicken for the last/fourth meal.  Then I can freeze it, so it won't take up space in the fridge.

Yesterday At 6am...

...I got one of those phone calls:

"Your mother is in the hospital.  She fell in the bathroom and..."

Please add both my parents to your "Refuah Shleimah," complete and speedy recovery lists:

Shifra bat Chaya Raisia
Alexander Ziskind ben Genella

Thanks

JPIX-- Found!

Yes, after some very sophisticated detective work, JPIX has been found here, by your trusty senior blogger.

Enjoy and pass the riches, so lots of people get to enjoy it, too.

And now I can go to sleep!!

I think I just lost JPIX

It seems to have gotten lost someplace.  I'll look.  It should have been published, but I think I goofed the date, so who knows where it's hiding...
I spent hours I should have devoted to other things...
And a few minutes ago, I went into the livingroom expecting a TV show, which I thought was late, but I was an hour early.

Now for some detective work.

JPIX—Since a picture is worth a thousand words…

A few months ago, enjoying my free time as an "unemployed," with very little to do which wouldn't put us further in the "hole," I volunteered to host two Jewish Blog (Jblog) Carnivals, JPIX and Havel Havelim both scheduled for September. To make it a Jblog "hat trick," after months of enjoying the fact that other jbloggers were hosting the Kosher Cooking Carnival that, too, has fallen to me. (Unless someone is willing to take it on…)

Way back when Mr. BagelBlogger, very ably assisted by his beautiful wife, the lovely Baleboosteh, took up my challenge and started JPIX-The Jbloggers Picture Carnival. Seventeen editions later they retired from the jblogging scene. After that, Little Frumhouse announced that she wanted to bring JPIX back to life. And she did! And now JPIX is organized by Leora of Here in HP. I last hosted one almost a year ago.


This time, I must admit that various pressures and a lack of preplanning are forcing me to produce the type of carnival I don't really like.  I'm taking advantage of the "instacarnival" that blog carnival offers.


Baruch Hashem, we have an enormous amount of posts for your viewing pleasure.  Please have the blog-courtesy to post about this and mail the link around, too. Thank you!


Here it is, drum roll please:
Leah Lipszyc presents Up and Down Day5: Shechitah -- Like Sheep to the Slaughter - chossid - Photoblog.com posted at chossid's photoblog.

Leah Lipszyc presents The Creator's World -- Two Stories - chossid - Photoblog.com posted at chossid's photoblog.

Leah Lipszyc presents Bless the Sun! - chossid - Photoblog.com posted at chossid's photoblog, saying, "Better late than never? Sorry, somehow I didn't see recent notifications for Jpix."


mottel presents The Grand Wedding of the Chief - The Legendary London Trip III posted at Letters of Thought.




Mottel presents Out and About London - The Legendary London Trip II posted at Letters of Thought.




Mottel presents The Legendary London Trip - Part I posted at Letters of Thought.

Robin presents Summer Stock Sunday #7 - Summer in the City posted at Around The land, saying, "The one above typifies an average summer day in my little Israeli city. This second one is another "life in Israel" type post:
http://aroundtheisland.blogspot.com/2009/06/summer-stock-sunday-5-park-nachshonit.html
Or if you prefer something more artsy, use this instead:
http://aroundtheisland.blogspot.com/2009/07/pink-hibiscus.html
Your choice, use any or all of them :)."

Summer in Shiloh is spelled: pool!




Yisrael Medad presents Tisha B'Av 5769 - 2009 posted at My Right Word, saying, "A few pictures of the "Little Kotel" along with the Rav Goren Minyan on Tisha B'Av with a bonus vid."

Yisrael Medad presents My Right Word: Undergoing Harrassment posted at My Right Word, saying, "MyRightWord got stuck (along with Shiloh Musings) in a traffic snarl near their home and disproves the "apartheid roads" calumny"




Yisrael Medad presents My Right Word: Shiloh's Entrance Undergoing a Facelift posted at My Right Word, saying, "Shiloh is undergoing "expansion" according to needs of natural growth.


Leah Lipszyc presents HELP US WIN $25,000 FOR OUR ORGANIZATION PLEASE - chossid - Photoblog.com posted at chossid's photoblog, saying, "Too late for the contest? In any case, this will give you a small taste of Jewish life in Crimea, a too often corner of the world."

Art for Art sake

The Jewish SIde presents Where I Would Go posted at The Jewish Side, saying, "The second house picture"
Sharon Katz of Voices Magazine features her latest TV star.  Voices, which some of you probably now as a paper magazine, has now gone online, too.  It offers not only it's usual features and columns, but now, it also has TV.



Elke Reva Sudin presents Elke Reva Sudin illustrator extraordinaire | Frum Satire | Jewish Comedy posted at Frum Satire.

Eretz Israel

shorty presents Israel+JWRP+129.JPG (image) posted at Shorty's Adventure, saying, "This is from my trip to Israel..."
shorty presents Israel+JWRP+112.JPG (image) posted at Shorty's Adventure, saying, "This is walking along the beach at the Dead Sea...someone left this gift for me to photograph."


Mrs. S. presents Fauna Friday: Chameleon edition posted at Our Shiputzim: A Work In Progress, saying, "Thanks for doing this! I look forward to seeing the final product IY"H."

For the past five years, Jerusalem has enjoyed a new landmark, a building of great beauty, inside and out, the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

Family and Friends

Devo K presents Relaxing posted at In the middle, on the right.

History

Ilana-Davita presents Overnight Stay posted at Ilana-Davita.

Judaism

Leora Wenger presents By the Light of the Silvery Moon posted at Here in HP.

Other

Wolfish Musings presents Hand In Foot posted at Wolfish Musings.

Israel presents Sabra Album Take 6 – Marketing Edition posted at The Weisser's Journey to Israel.

Time's never wasting while waiting if you have a camera...  the Knesset never looked better.

Out and About

Robert J. Avrech presents Friday Fotos posted at Seraphic Secret, saying, "My beautiful neighborhood in Los Angeles."

Jerusalem's Mamilla Mall has more than food and clothes.  But the Malcha Mall is better for kids.

Summer Photos

Leora Wenger presents Nature Notes: Sparrow, Groundhog, and Tall Flowers posted at Here in HP, saying, "sparrow or flowers, not the groundhog!"


proudmommy0f4 presents proudmommy0f4: Sore, tired, but we hiked! posted at Shema Bekola.

Travel

Soccer Dad presents Where was i sunday night? posted at Soccer Dad.


Leora Wenger presents The Rock of Gibraltar posted at Rubicon3, saying, "See the very last pic of the kosher bakery"

Trips

rickismom presents Calypso Cascades posted at Beneath the Wings.


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
j pix - jewish photo carnival
using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags:
j pix - jewish photo carnival, blog carnival.




Enjoy! Please blog about it on your blogs, and pass around the link and encourage everybody to visit all the jblog posts and meet the jblogs.

Thank you!

PS  I'm going to have to change my suggested instructions on how to host a blog carnival, because things have changed, at least on my computer.  When I copy from word onto blogger, I now lose the embedding and had to redo everything.

j pix - jewish photo carnival, blog carnival.

Now that it's illustrated, I feel better.  I now have lessons to plan and papers to grade.

Shannah Tovah U'Metukah!  May you have a good and sweet year, especially a healthy one!

Moi, The TV Star

Sharon Katz's Voices Magazine is now multimedia.  It's not only a hardcopy magazine you can read on Shabbat, but it's also on the internet.  Sharon's vision of how the world of periodicals, newspapers and magazines, is developing is all encompassing.


I've had a regular column, Voices from Shiloh, for quite a few years.  Now, with the new set-up, I'll also have a "TV spot."

JBlogger Conference and Other JBlogger News

Ya'aqov won't be attending the conference.  Here's my comment to his post announcing his decision:

"hate mail," G-d forbid, my once almost neighbor. I'm saddened that you won't be attending, especially now that we don't meet across a junction.



Actually, as a political observer, I got a lot out of the Bibi and rebranding sessions last conference. You must trust me that I didn't fawn.


I agree that there should be some focus, even minute on the blog carnivals, maybe you want to host the KCC....
 

I'm looking forward to the conference, although I'll probably be arriving pretty late, since I'm teaching in Ofra until 3pm that day.  Too bad they couldn't make it in August like last year's.


My decision to attend has nothing to do with the program, nor the venue.  G-d willing I won't have any unpredictable nor uncontrolable reason not to attend.  Just like my supporting of JBlog carnivals, I believe there is an inherent value to the international community of Jewish Bloggers.


And as I've said before, the jblogger carnivals keep us connected, so please participate by sending in your posts, promoting and hosting them.  They are Havel Havelim (the very latest, hot off the press edition,) the Kosher Cooking Carnival and JPIX.

The Calm Before The Storm, or Last Chance to Live it Up

The day before meeting my students, I was at the Mamilla Mall.  It's a photographer's dream there.

I'll be busy with teaching and lesson planning and grading papers, so I really won't have all that much time for the computer now.  Unfortunately, I committed to a few jblog carnivals this month, actually all three!  Yes, insane, isn't it?  I'll have to cut back on my daily blogging to do the big stuff and the teaching.

Shavua Tov, Have a Good Week!

Record # of Comments

Just a week ago, I posted on Shiloh Musings about how Likud voters who support Jewish Life in places like my beloved hometown Shiloh "were had."  Comments are still coming in, and it may be a record for me, since there are already over thirty.

Cheap Coffee, Yuck!

I went into a giant discount supermarket the other day, specifically, to pay less on coffee.  The last time I did it, in another store, I discovered that I could easily cut about one-third to one-quarter off the price from the local store.  And the espresso/turkish I buy is easy to carry, neither bulky nor large.  And the store I chose is near the bus station and doesn't have long lines.

I was surprised to see a new brand, much cheaper than my usual.  But I was disappointed that my usual cost more than expected, though less than locally.  I figured that there was nothing to lose, so I bought one of the cheaper and one regular. 

Yes, you guessed it from the title.  It tastes like that fake faux coffee, Chico, I used to buy when I was off coffee.  Yuck! 

It's a silver package, if you're curious.

They Have Returned.

As if they're independently mobile.  Yes, I ought to change the title to one which is more accurate.  It's written in "active," when bus shelters don't move on their own.  The title should be in "passive."  Somebody must have moved them.

That's what happened a month or so ago.  Suddenly, when everything was under construction at the entrance/exit of Shiloh, and the air was filled with dust... when else?... when we needed the protection of a bus shelter, they were removed.

And now, they have been returned.

Welcome back, bus shelters.  We missed you!

Getting Ready For That "First Day"

Yes, that's my name on my official Teachers Locker.  Today, I meet some of my students and start teaching.  This new school, besides the fact they are both high schools, is totally and utterly different from the one I used to teach in.

Yesterday, before going to bed, I packed my bag, wrote my name on the books I'm bringing, just like a well-prepared student!  In Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, it says (someplace--no time to search) that the best teachers, or is it "the wise," people, learn from everyone.  So, yes, that makes me a student, too!

Eating Out in Jerusalem at Joe's and Eldad's

After a rather dry spell, I ate out a few times recently.  One of Jerusalem's most handsome bachelors went with me to "Eldad V'Zeh Hu," one of the Jerusalem restaurants, which recently decided that for money, rather than love of G-d, they'd make it kosher.  We kosher food eaters are the beneficiaries, especially, since the prices are very reasonable. 

Handsome Bachelor, once known as the trekker, ordered their Beef Stroegenoff (forgive my spelling) and I had the Mixed Meat and Vegetable Kabob.  We were both very happy with our meals.

Yes, some of you may think it rather humorous that the Medads were at Eldad's.  If you don't know your Bible you won't get it.

And about Joe...
Israel has a chain of coffee shops called "Cup of Joe."  I hadn't eaten in any... that is until a couple of weeks ago, when I had two meals in the Jabotinsky Street, Jerusalem branch, late lunch and supper, with two different people.
 
I was so hungry when I saw my lunch, a Hot Goat's Cheese Salad, that I just gobbled it down and never shot a picture of it.  The servings are enormous, and my friend was rather amazed that I cleaned the plate.
 
Later when my "sil" and I needed to find a place for dinner, I recommended it.  We shared the Onion Soup, which wasn't very photogenic, but tasty, not too salty. And then we shared the tuna salad.  It really is that sort of restaurant.  Portions are large, and "sil" and I have also done shared meals in New York.  Ther's more than salads on the menu, but since I don't eat carbohydrates, they're most suitable for me.

Bit The Bullet!

After kvetching, ranting suffering constant embarrassment over my inability to spell 100% accurately and correctly, while using the new "create post" toolbar on blogger, I finally....


....wrote to blogger support!


If you're a blogspot blogger, please join in the campaign and write:
support@blogger.com
Here's my letter:

I do like the new toolbar on create post, but it's missing one extremely essential element, a spellcheck. When are you adding one?


Thanks,

Batya

Things Have Sure Changed

Traffic jam by the schoolyard!

Twenty-eight years ago, when the modern (verses the Biblical where Samuel the Prophet spent his school years) Shiloh Elementary School opened for the first day of learning, there was hardly a car in Shiloh, espcially during the day.

A van transported the kids who lived in the tromasbestim, caravans, and eshkubiyot, prefabricated cement houses, near  Tel Shiloh all the way up to my neighborhood, a kilometer and a half (a full mile) where the school spent its first year.  After school, they trekked home by foot.

The following year, the school moved down near the Tel and my kids and their neighborhood friends did the trekking.  There was some transportation in the morning for those on time, and then it was up hill, not the idiom, I mean they, we walked the mile up the mountain.

My youngest is a "November baby," so he wasn't yet three when he started nursery school.  And, yes, he, too trekked up the hill.  It seemed to take half the afternoon, but it established a strength and endurance, no doubt.

I'm not writing this to brag, G-d forbid.  I'm writing it, because today, by mid-morning, our town email was filled with complaints of traffic jams near the school.  Consider this. The school is now in the middle of Shiloh, no more than a kilometer from anyone, and generally much closer.  But in today's world most young parents have cars and would never consider letting their children, even school-aged children walk to school, especially on the first day.

If parents want to accompany their kids, let them all walk together.  It would be so much healthier.

Pigging Out

The latest research in losing weight and keeping it off has some surprising news. Not only are we supposed to "eat in-between meals," but once a week, or at least every two weeks we're supposed to eat more than usual. We're supposed to eat something we theoretically shouldn't eat. It keeps our metabolism hopping instead of forcing it to slow down and conserve energy.


For many that's great news, but I have trouble with it. Not that I'm tempted to do it more often or that I exaggerate and eat too much. My problem is that sometimes I forget, because I'm so satisfied with my new eating routine that I'm not tempted by other foods. Or sometimes I keep delaying the "special day," because I don't want to waste it on something that isn't really a treat.

Quite often the most calorie or carbohydrate laden food I eat is an innocuous starchy vegetable, like pumpkin. So, yes, I treat myself by pigging out on pumpkin. I prefer it to most ice creams.

That's what happens when you eat the food that suits you. You don't crave anything else.