levels of tzedakah and why i'm a little annoyed now

Levels of Tzedakah
Certain kinds of tzedakah are considered more meritorious than others. The Talmud describes these different levels of tzedakah, and Maimonides organized them into a list. The levels of charity, from the least meritorious to the most meritorious, are:
Giving begrudgingly
Giving less than you should, but giving it cheerfully.
Giving after being asked
Giving before being asked
Giving when you do not know the recipient's identity, but the recipient knows your identity
Giving when you know the recipient's identity, but the recipient does not know your identity
Giving when neither party knows the other's identity
Enabling the recipient to become self-reliant
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/tzedakah.htm

so remember a few weeks ago i wrote that my coworker and i bought soup for one of the homeless guys we see all the time outside union station, and that he wasn't there when we passed back? well, we tried again yesterday. of course, he wasn't there again when we went back to the office. (this time we had tomato basil soup...i had a cup, too. it was tasty.) another dude asked for money, so i offered him the soup.

dude - "got any money?"
me - "no, but do you want this soup?"
dude - "yeah i want some soup!"
me - "here you go, enjoy!"
dude - "thanks! (mumble mumble mumble) you know what the greatest story ever told is?"
us - "no, what?"
dude - "i have no idea (mumble mumble)"

we begin to walk away and the dude keeps talking to us, mostly incoherent something about home made american money? he asked for money, a dime or nickel. i replied that we only had the soup, so he asked my coworker, and she said sorry, just the soup. he sort of got a little mad at us then. hey, pal. i just gave you soup and a nice crusty piece of baguette and you're asking for a dime? i don't understand that, man. i felt good at first, then i got mad. is that wrong? how would some coins help you then?

i'll continue to try to buy soup for the original guy. he has no teeth, so i may rethink the crusty bread.

sharks and birds and sweater update

first off, are you WATCHING THIS??? i am watching now and not really looking at the computer too much so let's see how i type. go discovery channel, go! (in case you're not interesting in clicking, i am watching the discovery channel's planet earth series which started about 32 minutes ago.)

did you see that great white shark get the seal? amazing. totally amazing. that one second kill was stretched out to 47 seconds. you can almost see each drop of water fly in the air.

i have a new philosophy on courtship. i think humans should follow bird behavior. males should clean up their nests to make it attractive for a mate. then, he should get all gussied up and dance, >DANCE!< to impress the ladies. we'd have our pick of the best housekeeper, dresser and dancer who's all about doin' the deed and makin' some baby chicks. sure, he won't stay around but it'd be fun while it lasts.

if you haven't noticed, check the "movies" section on the right. i am updating this section every time i see a movie. i am putting a link to imdb there, too. most of them are from the cable "on demand" thing. i have it, i may as well use it! very nice, considering i'm spending a lot more time alone now. boo.

anyway, i am once again obsessed with tyrone power. he's so dreamy. i watched 1939's "jesse james" with ty (we're on a first-name basis) and henry fonda. yes, yes, i'm the one who threw things at the tv while watching "the patriot" several years back thanks to the historical inaccuracies, but there were lots of things i didn't like about that movie. this one was good because tyrone powers is so dreamy. i had a major hollywood crush on him my freshman year of college. too bad he had died 39 years earlier.

so, here is a sweater update. i went to wonderful stitch dc today. marie hosted a "yarn tasting" fundraiser for a woman doing a triathalon benefiting the leukemia and lymphoma society. i went to knit with others and make a donation. (marie also said they're going to be updating their web site soon, so more on that later.) everyone was impressed with my seed stitch abilities because it isn't as easy as straight knitting...k1,p1,k1,p1...and so on. it hurts my hands a lot sooner than usual. here is my progress. after 5 days, i am pleased. if i continue like this i should have the back done by saturday.
i need 40 cm and i'm at 22, as you can see.



plus, rabbit enjoys folding socks.

DSM, friends and my favorite model gets a new sweater

i spent a few days in iowa for work. i took these pics on the plane on the way back. i also took some in the airport at 630 in the am and was convinced i'd get cuffed, interrogated and put on several "lists." good thing no one paid attention...
i finally see some iowa farmland.

sorry, but this was just too freggin' awesome to pass up.

luke is getting a new sweater! he has outgrown this one so i am going to make a new one for him. his dad said that he enjoyed wearing the striped one, so i feel i've done well. i told him to keep it for their next kid, too.
for the next project, i have chosen a moss stitch sweater with collar in the cotton DK from Number Three. so far i've accomplished a lot after starting tuesday night!


a boxty update...they are headed to the arlington street people's assistance network soon, hopefully. i hope they will be enjoyed.

also to follow up...the music goes on! more music postings soon. i'm glad that won't end. :)

the old saying was right....

WARNING: this is a depressing posting, so please read with sorrow.

so i made 154 boxty pancakes for the party tomorrow....
sunday, monday, tuesday and wednesday nights. each night. all evening.
boiled and/or grated 10 lbs of potatoes and three onions.
fried 'em all up.

froze them on cookie sheets.

bagged them for the freezer...with reheating directions.


then i was told last night that i am no longer wanted.
no more party.
no more music.
guess i couldn't make boxty.

the great boxty experiment

Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan, If you can't make boxty, you'll never get your man

i will be single forever.

ag and housemates are planning a big st patrick's day party for this coming weekend. i said i would make boxty. fried anything goes well with lots of beer, no? all excited, i bought a 10 lb sack of potatoes on friday and googled "boxty." that's where i went wrong. 94,000 hits. argh!

i just called a friend to ask his advice...not because i thought he knew how to make them, but that he knew how to eat them. he said they're little fried balls of potato...the recipes i've seen have been flat like pancakes. ok that didn't help much. but he's right; every family would have their own recipe.

i set out to make my irish latkes. c'mon. that's what they are.

i made less than half of the whole batch. i have the other half of the batter from tonight in the fridge and i will play with it tomorrow night to see what happens. ideally i will freeze them and just reheat saturday afternoon at the party.

potato--> mashed and grated, buttermilk, flour and some baking powder. i threw in some grated onion for good measure. why not? i already had no idea what i was doing. i weighed everything out...


love the box grater...no fingers!


here's my batter. i wound up adding about another 1/2 cup flour after this point.


love that splatter guard


hm. how do they look? they taste nice and greasy, but i don't know if they're supposed to taste like that. they're not burned, but super crispy. soft on the inside. probably another minute would have burned them, though.

i've only had boxty once, with the lovely friend who received my panic-stricken phone call tonight, so i really have no frame of reference.

HELP!!!!
do you know how to make boxty?
do you enjoy eating boxty?
readers! (i know you're there!) please assist!

i'm back, and i bring popcorn!

i took today off. i'm about to go grocery shopping, which should be very exciting. i will work on some other projects later on in the day and will post later this weekend.

before the conference started last weekend, i made a massive bowl of popcorn. it took me (and doll) several days to finish it.

>pop!<
>pop!<



lots of pop


so i try to keep my knitting projects separate. i have enough trouble staying with one project at a time as it is now, so i had to figure out how to keep all my stuff for each project together. my brother moved back to NY a few months ago and he gave me a bunch of stuff when he moved. next to the bookcase and tv, he gave me a costco size box of zipper-type ziplock bags. i decided to use them for the projects!

each project gets one bag. i have a little pair of scissors and a few yarn needles that move from bag to bag. if i have a larger piece completed, such as the back of a sweater or a sleeve, i'll just take it out of the bag. also great to toss into my backpack or suitcase.

i feel like a genius.

>update!<
1:02 pm

just returned from the grocery store. i asked for help unpacking, but it seems that my assistant decided to eat my stuff instead...

still around

i have been at my association's conference for several days now...knitting has halted, so there have been no posts.

several days of fake smiling and chatting with folks from around the country has tired me out. more on that later.

i'd much rather be knitting and blogging, but i have to bring home the soy bacon.

updates soon!