Sara In Akko

A recent Blogher post caught my attention. It is the pledge of a a woman who blogs over at Time' s Fool to spend a month being thankful by writing a thank you a day for 30 days.

I (perhaps foolishly) have taken on this superb personal challenge by declaring my undying love for the art of thank you note writing in a public forum, and  have pledged to spend this month being thankful. In addition to my normal posts, which I promise will be more forthcoming in the nearing days, I will also be posting a daily thank you note for the many things I have to be thankful for.

February 1, 2011 Thank You Bobby McFerrin. Truly, thank you.

Dear Mr McFerrin,

When I got in the cab on my first day of my new job early this morning I heard something quietly playing in the background. I thought to myself that this song would carry me through a day of bureaucratic paperwork and processing with the gentle guidance back towards the larger picture of life.

When I learned that I had jumped the gun and arrived for a job that I apparently did not yet receive, I stayed calm and hummed quietly in my head the words I heard earlier. When I thought of tearing up just a bit out of embarrassment, I played your voice back  as my mantra and as I waited for the cab that never came to take me home and remove me from this catastrophic inward hate-fest I repeated it louder to myself.

Some words can be manipulated to sound angry when used out of context or turn around to bite us when we shout them inside our own minds. Your words seem to be so perfectly clear that even in some very unpleasant situations they can pull a person through.

So  thank you Mr McFerrin for your prolific advice. I did not for an instant worry but instead, decided to be happy.

Please accept my most sincere thanks for your guidance.

PS Next time I write you, would it be alright if I called you Bobby? I know we've never met before but I feel like the two of us have been through so much today, it only seems right that we bypass the  formalities.

This is the world's most expensive dessert which I will not be trying anytime soon.

I don't care for birthdays much. There, I've said it. I'm just not a fan.

I am not concerned about aging and most often don't remember how old I really am. Seriously, who asks another adult "So, how old are you?" I just find this doesn't happen once you are out of grade school.

On the few occasions I've been asked this in any professional context (I work in a field with many older men and it singles me out for the question at the most inopportune times), I make a note to resent the heck out of my inquisitor and make them feel purposefully old by throwing around social media language that they can't grasp.

My dislike of birthdays is born out of my old-soul from birth and wallflower nature, I enjoy going by unnoticed. A birthday is like a day of people staring at you wherever you go (ok, not everywhere but it can feel like that).

Now personally flowers agitate me, gifts make me nervous and the 100's of shallow facebook wishes make me rethink my friending policies. I may be a total pain to buy a gift for but I do happen to be an excellent gift giver.  

So this year I will be embracing my birthday, with gifts for you! A Giveaway a day all week long! Come back throughout the week for fabulous birthday gifts and super tutorials.

Here's some more exclamation points in case I didn't use enough to show my excitement!!!!!!!

I'm beginning to see the beauty of the many crafty blogers who scan the Anthropologie catalog for things to remake. First, the style is often simplistic and lovely. But then, there is the part that these simple snazzy accessories can cost a good chunk of your hard earned cash. Where's the fun in that?

So here is my latest inspiration, ripped from the (online) catalog. It's a purse, it's a garden, it's a work of wearable art. It's also $268... umm no, for many reasons not in this lifetime.



Let's see if I can't make this for under $5.



Start with my favorite (not quite) a dollar store clutch hardware (ripped from the infamous cigarette purse).

I happen to have a few spare yards of black chintz from an old project so I'll be making the basic clutch out of that.

While I would like to keep in the spirit of the garden that abounds, I actually don't love the pinked edges or these tones 100%. So I made an insane amount of fabric flowers from scrap chiffon.

The rest is in the art of assembly and color play.

Looks like I just saved my family $263. I'll be putting that in my birthday fund.

Actual time for this craft, 1 week of idle sick-time on the couch or possibly 1 hour for the bag and a few hours to cut and assemble all those flowers.

Bonus purse!



I was not in like with the colors of the first attempt, so I tried a few different combinations. You should too, it's fun.

I've successfully moved on from clouds to stars and from adding graphics on top of photos to starting from scratch. Progress is slow but steady. Here are some name prints.

I know that everyone is writing their 2011 lists of wishful thinking and hopeful goals but I spent today trying to cross an old resolution off my to do list. This particular one is so old, I can't even tell which year it's carried over from.

Learn to use some fancy photo editing software.

I've come to notice that in the US, coins have been nearly eradicated. Here in Israel (Europe as well) our coins are worth actual money. I can easily pay for the bus, a cab, a carton of milk or even leave a tip at a restaurant all in coins.

On a recent visit to Chicago I made a purchase for $4.67. I handed the clerk a $5 bill as well as the $.67 in change to get back a single $1 bill. The man looked positively befuddled. I thought I was making his job easier. I've learned that nobody would throw and handful of coins at their barista's tip jar, I was told by people in the know that anything not a bill is rude. I doubt any cashier would have the patience to count  a handful of coins to pay for a latte.  I even saw a home clean-up show where the family found a small fortune in forgotten change behind furniture and in the couch cushions, enough money to open a checking account for their college bound teen.

So I just have to wonder, doesn't anybody know that these coins are still worth money? Maybe in these difficult economic times people have started holding on to their nickles and dimes.

One of my new favorite places to look for tutorials happens to have a love of remaking jewelry found in a fancy store called Anthropologie.

Despite my second college major*, I have had to admit that I have no idea what Anthropologie is. I've got a fancy shopping bag with the store's logo somewhere around my home, but I've certainly never been in the store. I know there was one in a neighborhood I used to pass through on my way to work in my young-er single-er life, but I wouldn't be able to tell you what they sell.

Curiosity has definitely killed this cat. I loved the tutorial found here  and am proud to report that not only have I now created my own lovely (albeit flawed) version, but I've also looked up this online retail mega-boutique.

I have to say it seems pricey, hence all the skillful remakes I keep seeing around the web. but as I've said before I'm just not that fancy... I probably won't be going on any online spending spree but will be on the lookout for jewelry which I will spend hours making only to never wear.

Learn from my Mistakes: Flamingotoes suggests using glass beads, large wood beads and four cuts of wide ribbon. Next time I will believe the expert as I used the tiny seed beads I had lying around with 2 cuts of ribbon I folded in half and the plastic beads I found in my daughter's craft bin. Needless to say, I had to use more strands of seed beads to obtain the fullness of the original, the plastic beads had jagged edges that put runs in the ribbon and the ribbon itself was just barely wide enough to finish this project. Why oh why is there not a Michael's where I live?

*I was part of a program that combined medical anthropology and the anthropology of genocide. It wasn't as cheerful as it sounds, I assure you.

The trouble my children have with sharing toys isn't usually their lack of desire to share, it is mostly their lack of desire for sharing to interrupt their own toy enjoyment.
Take, for example, our doll farm. This is what my four year old calls a wooden barn house where all the small doll live with their tiny pieces of furniture and accessories. Also residing in the doll farm are the many tiny animals that belong to my two year old.

For the most part, these toys live together in harmony. Unfortunately, for the two year old to get to his toys, he must rummage through his older sister's well-organized doll house.

The solution? The felt barn toy carrier.


This is inspired by one of my favorite tutorials from  UKLass. This tutorial also appeared in One Yard Wonders, but I personally like the original dollhouse from the blog the best.


I decided against the fold out design and side closures because two is a delicate age where all sorts of hidden toy elements set off tantrums on occasion. Best to steer clear with something more straight forward that I won't have to open and close a thousand times a day to appease two year old whims.

This year's party had a fish theme, not for any particular reason other than I had fish cookie cutters, a great goldfish stamp and tiny goldfish to work with lying around. I thought I'd give it a swim (sorry).






Where are the pictures from the party itself you ask? Don't ask me, I was passed out between the kitchen and the buffet shortly after the cake (loaded with lit sparklers) was presented to a happily confused birthday boy.

First, I want to say how much fun I've had this week reading everyone's comments and thank you all for stopping by to participate in the giveaway. You would never know that giving away something for free could be so fun. I have to say I'm surprised that so many of you seemed to like the white lotus, which I love, I just didn't know it would be so popular. I'm off to make more!


Next, I wanted to let you all know that even if you haven't won this giveaway, I'm offering 3 very special coupon codes to use for the next month.

Visit ModaMama  to receive 20% off the purchase of any jewelry items by entering BLOG20. You can get any of the rings, pendants or sets for a great price until the end of January. I usually list these items individually so if you don't see the colors you want please convo me and I will set up a private listing for you to purchase with your coupon. I am happy to give you the discount on larger orders as well, just let me know. 

Or

Visit OldAkkoShuk.com and enter coupon code BLOG20 for 20% off any purchase of Dead Sea cosmetics, spa products, olive oil or other fantastic and unique products from the Middle East. 

Or

Visit Old Akko Shuk on Etsy and enter BLOG to receive a free gift with purchase until the end of January. 

And now for something  you'll really enjoy. (Sorry the Random Number Generator Widget is acting wonky but I assure you it's what I used). 


OUR WINNER IS COMMENT #10 Katie who said:

I LOVE the White Lotus Blossom, Large Pendant, choker but the Gothic Fairytale is really pretty too! Thanks for the great giveaway!

If you are a reader of SewMamaSew's blog, you know that today is their official giveaway day, encouraging bloggers who are also crafters and sewists and general supply hoarders to spread the joy of Giveaway Day. 

So without further ado... the Giveaway!!!

Or one of these White Lotus Pendants

How to Enter:
Hop on over to the www.ModaMama.Etsy.com and leave me a comment on this post letting me know whether you'd like a ring or a pendant and what color you'd like if your the winner chosen at random. They come in  a dozen colors and I'll try to get you the one you really super want if you win or "Follow Me" for a chance to win. One entry of each type per person please.

I'll be closing comments at 12AM PST December 17, 2010 and posting the winner shortly after. 


Choose from: (see numbered photo)
1. Violet
2. Lavender Fields
3. Burgundy Cream
4. Lilac Parade
5. Wisteria Cream
6. Gothic Fairytale
7. Poison Plum Passion
8. White Lotus
9. Black Widow
10. Enchanted Bordeaux
11. Peaches and Cream

*BONUS* Keep checking back for our winner this week and I'll be giving out a coupon code for 20% any one jewelry item from ModaMama good through the end of this month.

It seems that 2 is about the age where Mr. Potato head becomes wildly appealing in our house. Unfortunately 2 is not an age where you can successfully cram all of Mr. Potato Head's gazillions of parts into his backside storage or his silly trunk (that never can stay closed).

Tired of the pieces on the floor, we've made Mr. Potato Head a new sack for storage. Now to see if a 2 year old can keep this tidy. Right.

Although he is a beloved member of this family, there is a finesse involved in making sure a felt rendition of Mr Potato Head doesn't seem like some sort of racial epitaph. Turns out I'm not the only person who has had some trouble with this spud in the past.  Read the Washington Post here.

I am an unfancy mother, I mean that as plainly as you can take it. But, I am the mother of a fancy child.

My daughter seems to have inherited the same phantom fancy genes that my sister has. Part of this rare genetic condition must be in it's random selection of sufferers. Despite the fact that they see one another rarely, my four year old has found that her kindred aunt spirit is the one to go to for the glitz and glam her mother so obviously lacks. She is drawn to the glamor of an aunt who travels with a make-up bag and full wardrobe, an aunt who knows about the importance of being fancy.

When preparing for a wedding some months back, my daughter was a ball of giddy excitement. Auntie Leah was coming to paint her nails. I spent days listening to how she would hold her hands very still to allow the polish to dry, how she would hold her fingers to show everyone her nails, and hours upon hours deciding what color each tiny nail would be.

One wedding? Sure, I could handle ten little non-toxic painted nails for a few days while outside of our normal daily routine.

But somehow while on this particular vacation, there where so many reason to need nail polish. At least by my four year old's reasoning:

-Dinner out was pretty special, we don't do that at home.
-Off to visit a new friend, super special.
-On our way to bug-camp, a camp entirely about bugs, crazy special
-"Look mommy, I ate all my dinner!" Will the special-ness never cease?

I put my foot down swiftly, I wouldn't be humoring this particular flight of fancy the entire vacation.

"Painted nails are for very special occasions only like weddings. When you are much bigger you can paint them as often as you'd like. For now, no!"

My four year old is the rational sort, she knew the rules and I really didn't hear another word about it for the rest of the summer.

But just half a year later, our family was preparing for another wedding... the kid knew her rights. Weddings mean fancy, fancy means nail polish and she wanted what was coming to her.

I bit my tongue knowing that I myself had come up with this rule.

We painted nails with her special polish (oh why did it have to be neon pink?) and had fun showing everyone her very lovely manicure. She was happy, I was happy she was happy and the whole event was probably more pleasant because of this compromise.

So why am I still raking this over in my mind?

It seems to me that mothers once said "Nail polish on children? That looks cheap." But somewhere along the road to a nail boutiques in every city and hamlet it became acceptable and even popular to let girls have their nails done right along with mom and friends. And why not, if there is a safe way for kids to have fun and play grown up, what's the harm?

Personally, my soul gnaws at me over this one. Playing grown-up is the harm. Little girls who are tiny grown ups with a tiny person's adult sized demands are a problem. Vanity and fickleness, these are concerns I have about raising a fancy daughter.

We don't have a television at home, we don't have licensed character apparel, toys are homemade and books take up more space than any other single item in our household.

Does one tiny pink bottle undermine all of these well-honed values?

Searching the web I really thought I'd find some people who found it distasteful to let little girls wear nail polish but instead I found this blogger who asks at what age is nail polish appropriate but seems to come up with only supportive answers, little kids love nail polish let them paint away.

I've also turned up a posting board for step parents deals with this from the opposite direction, why does this make our children slutty? The consensus is that it doesn't. Even trend spotters have taken note of little Suri Cruise's painted piggies and her favorite brand of nail polish.

To be honest, the tiny painted nails didn't bother me as much as my gut told me they should but I feel like I'm failing a mom test if I don't say that this is inappropriate.

Maybe I can bare polish for those once in a while occasions, but I'm not ready for 4 to look and act like 12. I'm even not ready for 4 to think it should look and act like 12.

What do you think, is nail polish OK on little kids or does it make you uneasy?

These sweet potatoes were the start of an important discussion. One my husband and I had been having for some time. One I'd almost forgot to have with my children, but one they would most certainly be effected by.

"Do you see how this sweet potato grows on it's own? What would happen if we put it in the ground to grow?"

"Would it grow us lots of sweet potatoes Mommy?"

"Yes. It would work with other kinds of vegetables too."

"Then we wouldn't have to go to the store, you would say, 'Go outside and get us vegetables from the ground' and we would say 'Nummy, ground vegetables!'"

Her tiny reasoning was music to my ears.

Essentially my husband and I have been having, not so much a debate, but an evolving conversation that has grown with us over time. How do we want to live?

We're inching towards moving off the grid. Not in the romantic wilderness way but slowly planning for a future that involves self-built and ecologically sound housing and a micro-farming business. Some kids, some small animals and we'll call it a hard fought win.

We're hoping that in the next year or so we'll be ready for the big move from rented apartment dwellers with with potted herbs in the kitchen to home builders with the start to a healthy and self reliant life.

But there is finding land, being absorbed into the community, searching out suppliers, finding the right builders, obtaining permits, learning our limitations, the hunt for financing, government loans and and and...

There is an ever growing list of single tiny hitches that could derail the utopia of our plans at every bend. Just thinking of how to go about a life change of this magnitude isn't easy and so I can only imagine what life on a tiny farm would actually mean to our entire family.

So this is the first step.

"Don't you think it would be nice to live somewhere where we could grow our own food?"

"That'd be awesome Mommy! Let's do it."

Maybe someday soon we will.

Looks like one of my favorite pastimes is gaining some street cred around Israel.*

Check out this commercial from a popular clothing chain in Israel

Love it!

I loved my first encounter with Urban Knitting or Guerrilla Knitting aka Yarn Bombing a few years back and still find it "the least offensive form of graffiti" around. In fact it's downright cheerful.

While living in Jerusalem, I felt ridiculous when I'd find myself to be the only woman on the bus not busy at work crocheting kippot for my husband, son or brother. I simply didn't know how.

Being that it was the apparent city-wide sport of my peers, I taught myself.

Rather, this great woman taught me how to crochet. She makes the most instructive and helpful YouTube tutorials I've ever found. Have a look.

* For the record, we don't own a TV and I just happened to see this commercial which sent me into a frenzy trying to find it online to share, I just think it's that neat.

Thanks to everyone who entered this weeks Chanukah Crayon Giveaway. While there were a ton of great ideas that I will save in my crafting bank for later the final project is a variation on an old favorite.



Much like the Dreidel Gelt Bag which can be seen here I stitched up a tinier version that takes up a quarter sheet of pre-cut felt for each student. This is the perfect size for a set of crayons and a Chanukah note from our family to the 31 kids in the preschool class. The tutorial for this simple project can be found in the link above.



What about our prize winners you ask. The random number generator from Random.org has told me the lucky winner is #5 Shalom. Thanks to everyone for entering. Our winner SHALOM should contact me this week to get me details on how to get your prize to you (you never left me an email).

See, I let my kids craft a little too.


I have my happy little Chanukah Goblins hard at work crafting their own Chanukah cards to send to family and friends.

As we all know a well planned for craft can keep little hands busy and out of trouble. Also, it seems that family and friends like the stuff kids make in a few minutes as much as the stuff mom spends hours thinking of how to craft.


These are simple white crayon on card-stock, greeting card messages that have been painted over with watercolors by my children, 4 and nearly 2. I prepared the super-simple designs and let the kids go wild with the paints. A heavy cardstock was perfect for this project because 2 is too little for watercolors and the result is a very damp but still usable card in the end.

REMINDER: There is still time to leave your comments for the Chanukah Giveaway HERE