A post which can be considered a staple of our renovations

Good afternoon, Our Shiputzim fans!

Please follow me upstairs as we begin our tour of today’s developments.

And we’re on our way…

As you can see, YZG and ASG spent a while on the porch screens this morning. Here’s what they accomplished today:

And moving a bit to the left, we have:

And, lastly, here’s a close-up for your viewing pleasure:

(Did you see the staple in the middle of the picture?)

YZG and his talented team of assistants still have one more section left to do, before moving on to the finishing touches, but they probably won’t get to it until after Tisha B’Av.

On a related note, I should point out that although we obviously will not be doing any actual renovations during the Nine Days, don’t let that prevent you from stopping by. We hope to get some [relatively] off-topic posts out next week, but no promises.

In the meantime, we’re taking requests: What would you like to read about?

See you next time….

A post you can sink your teeth into

Helloooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

Yes, we’re still here. I realize that blogging has been rather sparse of late, but let me once again remind our readers that the best way to revitalize this blog is by commenting….

Meanwhile, while we were away concentrating on TRLEOTB (the real life equivalent of this blog), we missed a very significant milestone. Yes, that’s right. We passed 1,000 hits. Way to go us!

The big moment occurred at precisely 2:40 PM on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. And who was our 1000th reader, you ask? He or she is a 012 (Kavei Zahav) subscriber, who uses Firefox, Windows 2000, and a monitor with a resolution of 1024 x 768. If this was you, please feel free to drop us line. We may consider having you write a guest post for this illustrious blog! (How cool would that be?!)

Not much to report on the renovations front. We’ve been making considerable progress on unearthing the playroom and taking out all the stuff that needs to go to the attic, but we’re not there yet…

Speaking of extracting (how was that for a segue?), ESG had a baby tooth pulled at a recent dentist visit.

Here’s a picture of his tooth:

I just know that you all want to thank me for sharing that!

That’s about it for now.

Watch this space for future updates and don’t forget to leave a comment.

The world according to ENG

“You don’t play games to win. You play to have fun. But winning is still good, because if, let’s say, you get a million points and then you win, you have fun.”

- ENG, right before she announced that she was waiting until the end of a recent Othello game to decide which team she would be on. (By what can only be described as sheer coincidence, each time she opted for the winning side.)

==========

See here for a previous example of an ENG-ism.

Episode #82 - in which the carpenter hatches an idea

Hellooooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

I’m pleased to report that you’re in for a real treat tonight. After weeks of anticipation, the carpenter is finally making his long-awaited blog debut right here in this very entry.

Yes, that's right. As our loyal readers know, the carpenter has been scheduled to arrive for some time now, and this afternoon, he finally showed up and immediately got to work on our brand-new attic hatch door.

Let's go to the videotape pictures.

Here's a view from inside the attic:

Shall we get a bit closer?

This is a close-up of the latch when the door is open:

Here's the railing with the hatch open:

This is a view from below of the attic stairwell with the hatch closed:

As you can see here, YZG still needs to seal up the holes around the railing:

Those of you who were really excited* to read about this latest addition to our renovations - and I can only assume that this includes our entire readership - will be thrilled to learn that the carpenter is due to make another appearance or two here at Our Shiputzim.

When will that be and what will he be doing, you ask? Ahhhh, but that would be telling...

In the meantime, please keep those comments coming and have a good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

__________

*Okay, so maybe it didn't measure up to roof views, but then again, how many things actually do?

Bloggin’ the fast away

Remember way back in the olden days? We’re talking about the early years of the 21st century – circa 2001-2004? Y'know, back when there was really only one effective way of spending the waning hours of a fast: reading cookbooks.

Well, fortunately, due to the miracles of modern technology, there’s now another way. Yes, you guessed it: It's called blogging.

So, on that note, allow me to bring you up-to-date.

We begin with the carpenter, who [surprisingly... NOT!] did not come by the end of last week after all. Instead, he told us that he's planning on coming tomorrow I"YH. (Hint: Don't hold your breath. We're certainly not. )

Meanwhile, YZG and his talented team of assistants began putting up the screening last week.

Here's a view from the outside:

Here's what it looks like inside:

Let's zoom in a bit, shall we?

After YZG finishes putting up the screening around the entire porch, he hopes to I"YH add some wood to the bottom of the screening. This way the screening will no longer hang below the porch from the outside. Also, we will then be able to latch it down and prevent it from flying out in the wind.

The Our Shiputzim staff wishes all of our readers an easy and meaningful fast.

May the Three Weeks be quickly transformed into a time of joy and celebration.

The beginning of the screening process

Hello?…. Is anyone still out there?… Hello?....

I realize that due to the extreme lack of postings, most all of our readers have long since moved on to other endeavors, but hopefully, a few dedicated fans will come back and see this.

We begin our news recap with what has become a routine item: The carpenter told us that he’ll be in touch “by the end of this week.” (No, you’re not imagining it; we have heard this before… For example, see here and also here.)

Meanwhile, after much discussion and deliberation, we finally ordered a high-riser for AMG’s room. It’s scheduled to arrive towards the end of August I”YH.

In related news, AMG finally got her birthday present - a new bike:

Finally, we purchased a roll of extra-large screening, as you can see here:

(No, the number on the yellow sticker is neither the price nor the size. Apparently, it's the store's internal product number.... or something like that.)

What's the screening for, you ask? Well, you see, our porch is something of a bird-magnet, a phenomenon which we hope to discourage by putting up screens. (Watch this space for future updates on the screening process.)

And that's about it for now.

Readers who would like to see increased/renewed blogging are encouraged to leave suggested topics in the comments section.

Have a good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

Head [but not] shoulders above the rest

We briefly interrupt our blog hiatus to bring you the following report:

So there I was, blow-drying [aka “doing a fen”, for the Hebraically-oriented among you] my freshly washed shaitel. MAG was kindly helping me by holding the shaitel head in what can only be described as a choke hold.

In a glance, YZG took in the situation and dashed out of the room. In practically no time at all, he was back with a wooden board, a cardboard box, a cardboard tube, a used CD, a plastic CD case, some nails, and a hammer in tow.

Then, in a scene straight out of “MacGyver”, he quickly proceeded to construct - see? this isn’t off-topic at all! – a [perhaps temporary and makeshift yet highly functional and very sturdy] stand for my shaitel head.

Here’s a picture of the stand:

Here’s a close-up of the nails:

The Our Shiputzim editorial board wishes to take this opportunity to express our appreciation and gratitude to YZG and to commend him for his very fine work.

In other news, the carpenter has still not arrived, but yesterday, he assured us that he would be coming “by the end of this week.” Meanwhile, ASG’s room has been more or less rehabilitated, and we are making slow-but-steady progress on the playroom.

We will of course bring you pictures as they become available.

And now back to your regularly scheduled hiatus…

La’pancake sheli shalosh pinot

Hellooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

Not much has been happening on the renovations front: The carpenter has yet to show up; we started to look around for furnishings for AMG’s room and the bathroom; and since ASG has been very busy B”H, the playroom is still filled with the furnishings from ASG’s room.

In short, there’s not much to blog about.

The problem is that as the intervals between posts increase, we find that we’re slowly losing our readership.

What to do? What to do? What… to…. do….

I know! I’ll write about food. It may be way off-topic, but everyone enjoys reading about food, right?

So, here goes…

We’ve recently added a new quick and easy meal to our supper repertoire: triangle pancakes.

I originally saw this idea on the Israel-Food list, and it proved to be quite the hit here in TRLEOOB (the real life equivalent of our blog).

We use the standard recipe for so-called “Kallah Latkes”, but instead of frying, we pour the batter into the sandwich maker. This means that the resulting pancakes are not only healthier and less fattening… but they look really cute, too!

Feel free to try this out at home.

B’tayavon and good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.