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Crafting for Jews with Hershey’s

April 3, 2014 by nancyjrab


easter basketOn Purim, Jews celebrate Persians trying (but not succeeding) to kill us, on Channukah, we commemorate how the Greeks tried (and failed) to kill us, and on Passover, we celebrate escaping being killed by the Egyptians. All this, Shalom Auslander points out in his novel, Foreskin’s Lament. And all this, is why there aren’t a whole lot of crafts surrounding the Jewish Holidays.

Take Easter:  The Christians have bunnies and chicks, and colorful eggs.  All lovely inspirations for fun family crafts. At that same time of year we have Passover:  famine, and locusts, and killing of the first born.  Is there a craft for that?

Well, there’s about to be.

Yesterday, I went to the Hershey’s Easter Party, a PR event where they showcased their adorable (and yummy) Easter crafts and products for 2014. Easter all the way.  Admittedly adorable. Easy to do crafts. Yummy treats.  But decidedly NFJ. (Not for Jews!)

So I say genug es genug (enough is enough – in Yiddish).  It’s time for some Passover Crafts!  And I’m here to help you adapt Hershey’s Easter crafts and Goodies for Passover.

1. Forget the Bunnies: Go Frogs Continue Reading »

Posted in cooking, Family, Humor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

St. Petersburg/Clearwater and Tampa: A Whole New Side of Florida

April 2, 2014 by nancyjrab


Busch Gardens, The Dali Museum, and The Chihuly Exhibit offered me media rates for my visits. All other expenses – and all opinions – are my own. Some links in this posts are affiliate links.

I’ve been going down to Florida for most of my life. As a kid – and into my 20’s – I went to visit my grandparents in Hallandale, near Ft Lauderdale on the east coast. Pre-Kids, my husband and I used to hit South Beach for the restaurants and fun club scene. I’ve been to Orlando with theme parks and without, and for the past 15 years – I’ve been going to visit my own parents on LongBoat Key near Sarasota on the West Coast of Florida.

I’ve written before about how different LongBoat Key is from the Florida I’d always known before – the east coast. But I’d never before taken the short drive from LongBoat to  Visit St. Petes/Clearwater to check it out.

I didn’t know what I was missing.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Top Five Things I Learned at Type A Parent Bootcamp at Walt Disney World

March 31, 2014 by nancyjrab


type aThis weekend, I attended Type-A Parent Bootcamp sponsored by Disney Parks at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Type A is a blogging-for-business conference that teaches bloggers how to work with brands, how to find new avenues of monetization, how to brand themselves, and more.
My KidzVuz co-founder, Rebecca Levey, and I gave a presentation on pitching brands for new business (rather than waiting for them to pitch you), called “From Pitch to Paycheck.” I certainly hope that attendees learned a lot from us about preparation, identifying targets, telling their story, organizing their efforts and more, since I know I learned a ton from the other presentations I saw and from the conference in general.

Here are my top five takeaways: Continue Reading »

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Perfect Bacon Bowl

March 4, 2014 by nancyjrab


Yum. Anything in The Perfect Bacon Bowl tastes better.

Yum. Anything in The Perfect Bacon Bowl tastes better.

Like the bad Jew that I am, I LOVE bacon.  I can’t help it.  It has all the things I crave: fat, salt, crunch. Yum.

So I was super excited to be invited to the Perfect Bacon Bowl Breakfast at the super fun Ellen’s StarDust Diner only a few train stops away. (full disclosure: while there, I ate a lot of free bacon, and I left with a free sample of the product).

We ate bacon bowls filled with eggs (awesome for me – -I’m on the Atkins diet (don’t ask!), bacon filled with crab meat salad, and I watched friends like Gay NYC Dad and The Can Can eat Perfect Bacon Bowls filled with slated caramel ice cream. Sounds awesome, looks awesome, tasted awesome.

BUT – (you knew there had to be a but, didn’t you?)  in addition to being a bad Jew, I am also a cynic.  So I figured that the perfect looking Bacon Bowls at the event would not be so perfect when I tried it at home.  Which, it being Shabbat the next day, I did.

I carefully followed the directions, wiped the Perfect Bacon Bowl Maker with a paper towel coated with Pam, cut one piece of bacon in half and crossed them over the base of the device to make the bowl’s bottom, then wrapped two other pieces around it to form the sides. I did have a little trouble deciding which was the fat side, since the instructions say “fat side up.” Aren’t both sides of the bacon the Fat Side?   Then I put them in the microwave (one at a time as per the instructions) and…

It worked!  Maybe my bowls were a bit shrunken, and maybe they weren’t quite as lovely as the ones at the event..but I’m pretty happy with them. And the way my family chowed down on ‘em…they were too.

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Posted in cooking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Worst Disease You’ve Never Heard of and How you can Help

February 25, 2014 by nancyjrab


rafi runkids Imagine having a child whose skin is so sensitive that even the clothing they wear rubbing against their skin can cause abrasions so severe they may never heal.  Imagine if hugging your child causes them to feel pain.  Imagine a child unable to avoid constant cuts, wounds and abrasions both externally and internally, and you can begin to imagine life with EB.

My friend Wendy’s friend, Rafaella Lily, was born with a severe form of a rare genetic disorder called Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).  Often referred to as “The worst disease you’ve never heard of,” EB is a devastating disorder which causes children’s skin to be so fragile that simply scratching an itch results in blisters and tears.  Kids with EB are known as Butterfly Children.  Their skin is as delicate as a butterfly’s wings.

Knowing this, a group of moms from Rafi’s preschool got together to make a difference.  They began Rafi’s Run two years ago to raise money to fund research for a cure for EB, and thanks to the amazing generosity of family, friends, and businesses, have collected $400,000 for the cause.  Every penny donated to Rafi’s Run goes directly to researchers who are already making amazing discoveries that will benefit not only kids with EB, but a host of other children with similar disorders and beyond.  Information about Rafi, EB and EB research can all be found on their website: www.rafisrun.com. Continue Reading »

Posted in Charity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Forget Football: Go Drama Geeks!

February 7, 2014 by nancyjrab


 

Bruno Mars wears Benjamin Eyewear "Nicole...

(Photo credit: The Guise Archives)

 One Mom’s rant against the deification of sports.

Raise your hand if you think the best thing about this past weekend’s Super Bowl was Bruno Mars.  Now raise your hand if your school has pep rallies, cheer leaders, and neighborhood celebrations for the school band, or the drama club, or the dance troupe.

That’s what I thought.

Despite the fact that 4000 former players recently sued the NFL over head injuries – despite the fact that 1.35 million kids go to the ER each year because of school sports related injuries – despite the fact that having a kid involved in team sports results in thousands of parents  standing on freezing fields, in the rain, early on Sunday mornings when really, they’d rather be curled up with a cup of coffee and the paper, or better yet, still asleep – despite all of that —  our culture idolizes sports and kids’ participation in it, and barely looks up when a kid is a star performer in any of the arts.

It’s time we gave arts programs for school aged-kids  at least the same love we give sports programs.
Continue Reading »

Posted in Rants | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments »

The Puppy Bowl Experience: Super (free) Fun for Kids

January 31, 2014 by nancyjrab


I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.

The Puppy Bowl ExperienceI hate the SuperBowl.  I’ve never been able to get excited about a bunch of guys in tight pants brutalizing each other for our enjoyment. But I LOVE the Puppy Bowl.  What’s that, you say? It’s puppies, playing on a “football field.”  That’s it. And it’s adorable.  Which is why I was so happy when Mohawk Flooring, one of the official sponsors of Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl , invited me, as a #CollectiveBias member, to The Puppy Bowl experience to see it live. Continue Reading »

Posted in Dogs, pets | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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