I am 5’8″ and wear long skirts. I shop online at jcpenney and old navy. They both have a tall section online. I find their skirts are long and their tops have longer sleeves. G’luck!

First of all eclipse, Mazel Tov and upstairs people say Mazel Tov too. I bought a Fortune wig by Esther Tobias in Flatbush and I love it. Fortune wigs always have a variety of qualities and hair types/origins and of styles. They also have sales every couple of months and if you go to their website, you can sign up for email and/or text alerts to these sales. I also tried and disliked Shevy wigs and Aliza wigs and Milano wigs. I recommended Fortune wigs to a few friends and those who trust me, tried her wigs and love it. Hatzlocha

To frumnotyeshivish: please tell me your lifeguard certification expired and you didn’t!!!! You wrote that you are “an expired lifeguard” . Wow…and you came back to write to us on the CR! Oh, the pull of the CR.

By the way, I logged onto DMV website and ordered a muni-meter parking card. They sell these pre-paid $20, ‘$50, and $100 and they are great for those who don’t want to schlep quarters or pull out a credit card every time. I bought a $50 parking card and that is the only ma’alah of the muni-meter for me over regular meters.

When I was taking my son to various doctors, hospitals, tests, and such, I had to fill out so many forms that I wanted to order a pre stamped and pre filled out form! Anyway, one form I had to fill out for him asked for his gender -are you sitting down?- the choices were: male, female, undecided. Yes, I checked off undecided!!! Also, with the options ofhim being single, married, separated, divorced, widowed,….I checked off married a few times!!!! And why do they ask if you’re single or separate or divorced or widowed?! Those are all redundant descriptions of same status! Shouldn’t single or married be enough options?

When people ask how I’m doing and they obviously don’t really want to know-just asking to be polite. I usually answer “oh, my cat’s grandma died”. The best is when the reply to that is “that’s nice” said with a smile.

bli ayin hara…baruch Hashem…Well, we have lots to be grateful for! He gave me my get quickly on the scheduled day (said he was in a rush cuz he had tickets to Yankees game)…my oldest is starting high school…osotmy surgery is a lifesaver for my five year old…five year old accepted into wonderful yeshiva that was my first and preferred choice…both boys and I are confident and strong and settled and appreciate life and family and even the Ostomy..we have wonderful neighbors and friends…I have a parnasah…hodu l’Hashem ki Tov…Hashem loves us…we believe…ani ma’amin…I want to share my ideas of appreciation and joy…say Baruch Hashem

Moderators, please ask ‘newsreader’ for permisssion then forward my email address to ‘newsreader’. I would like to communicate with her regarding diet, suggestions, advice and such. Thank you

On Purim, my boys are allowed to eat 4 of the nosh they collect. On shushan Purim, we put everything onto the table and select 4 noshes to keep and we put everything else (not homemade) into a huge basket and bring it to a hospital for nurses and outpatient children and parents of inpatient children to enjoy. This idea came to me from all the times I was with my little one in different hospitals in different neighborhoods and states and felt lonely and hungry and sad. (thank you to the strangers in the hospital last pesach for sharing their food with me!)

Did you Try midwood suites in Flatbush? They’re on east 15th between avenues k and j. Very clean, friendly service, reasonable rates, near trains and buses and Shuls and kosher shopping and food

The woman’s side:

For over three years now, one painful question has been occupying my mind. AM I AN AGUNAH?

I understand an AGUNAH is a women whose husband refuses to give her a get. An AGUNAH is a woman who has fled the evil and manipulative spider spinning her marriage but is still caught in the web. She is a woman struggling to free herself of her marriage and to eventually, start living

AM I AN AGUNAH?

An AGUNAH is the wife of a man beis din has demanded three times to set free. Her husband refuses to obey the jewish court and she is given the honorary title of AGUNAH. She is then assisted by various rabbanim and batei din until eventually, she is free to live her life as she wishes and not as her husband demands.

AM I AN AGUNAH?

The rabbanim I went to for advice while I was still living with my abusive husband refused to help me. I asked numerous rabbanim for assistance and for strength to leave my angry and abusive husband. They refused. I then asked them to help me be able to live with him. They refused. The therapist I was seeing every week, alone-my husband said that since I have a problem of not being able to live with him I should go for counseling- said I must, for my physical and emotional health and for my son’s safety, leave him. I called rabbanim nightly, crying and pleading for help, and was criticized, lied to and betrayed. One rav said that as a neighbbor of my father-in-law, he can’t help me. Another said that my husband needs someone to vent on. I asked if I’m his punching bag and was told that I “have the zechus to be there for him so he doesn’t vent on others”. Another rav misquoted gemorah and wrongly explained to me that I “will be getting a great mitzvah if I stay with my husband”. Another said “he needs a woman so how can you abandon him?” after these rabbanim asked what I was doing to anger him, to make him lose his self control and temper and then physically and verbally abuse me, I realized they would never help me. I would have to leave my house with my infant son, in any weather and any time and stay out for hours, praying that he would be asleep before I returned. With the love of my families, I was eventually able to leave him and try to build a safe and calm environment for my son and myself.

I begged other rabbanim for assistance after I fled and lived in fear and hiding (I still live in fear and the rabbanim gave him my addresss). The rabbis now can not and I feel will not help me. They say calling my husband to beis din to grant me a get will not accomplish anything since he will not obey them. I am told there is nothing I can do but wait patiently and calmly for him to decide that I “deserve” (his words) the get. My husband curses me, threatens me, attempts to intimidate me and use my two year old son as spawn in his selfish and evil threats. He uses the get as another pawn, especially when he demands that I respect him and “take the gamble of getting the get this year or in twenty years!” he even chased me when I walked to my apartment and did so with his hand lifted as if to hit me, reminding me of my disastrous and horrifying marriage to him, an emotionally, verbally and physically (though according to beis din, since he never slapped me on the face I wasn’t physically abused!) abusive person. Beis din wanted to know what I did to him when he chased me and when I was married to him! They won’t allow me to obtain an order of protection or go to secular courts for help and they will not help me because in their words, I am “not an AGUNAH”

AM I NOT AN AGUNAH?!

I always hear of and read about the man’s side but most studies and most real life situations involve those of abusive men who continue to abuse by withholding the get or using it to avoid giving child support and use to blackmail and torture their wives and children.

I wrote this personal journey entry years ago and finally received the get after he came through my son’s bedroom window and was arrested and I ceased following beis din orders. I pressed charges, got an order of protection and showed him and bais din that I will do for my child and for me,whether or not I ever receive my get. It was then, when they had no more power over me, that they ordered him to give the get and me to pay for the get and forgo child support for several years.

Hatzlocha to anyone in similar abusive situations.

I wish my ex husband had told me during dating that I was too girly!!! After we married, he did not want or let me wear anything with flowers, feminine colors, designs, even makeup! He said its too feminine and too much. So yes, if he thinks you’re too girly, thank him for saying it now!

i don’t know if you have children in the house of corelle but they are not as breakproof as they claim. i gave away what was left of my corelle sets and bought melamine dishes online. melamine look like real, look like corelle, are super strong and being that they are essentially plastic, absolutely do not break. melamine is cheaper than corelle and do not need toiveling. i have beautiful sets from target.com and walmart. com that shock all my friends with how real they look and feel. also, with melamine you could more easily get matching serving bowls and trays and such. good luck

thank you so much for detailing the halacha and the way to fill it!! i am a single mom and do not always know of halachos and do not even realize or think to ask on many issues. you have done my sons and myself a huge favor and mitzvah and it should only be for a zechus for you and yours.

i only and always shop for appliances in drimmers/a&b housewares on coney island avenue between ave m and ave l. their service and prices and selection is amazing!!!! their delivery is speedy and on time. i especially like dealing with marcelo-he is not in on mondays though. they could also guide you on adjusting counters and cabinets and on finding hard to find appliances. if you go to marcelo, tell him devorah says hi

when that happens to me, i do point it out to the cashier. when i say anything, i make sure to also say that i am an orthodox religious Jew and that i always learned it was dishonest to keep silent and that i am proudly pointing it out and wanting to pay. now, that is how to complete the kiddush Hashem. Let them know who you are and where you come from.

my great aunt was 15 years old when the nazi’s took her/my great-grandmothers family to the camps. she was a beautiful and quiet girl and one of the important nazi commondmants (in charge) was instantly attracted to her. he promised her that whichever family members were in that camp would be well protected by him and his power if she would agree to live with him in his house or room on the edge of the killing fields. she agreed and the family was protected and given extra garbage to eat and slightly better fitting clothing and shoes to wear and not made to over work on shabbos and yom tov. after the war, he was killed and she and the family were placed on a train to a DP camp. she was only 18 years old and though her actions saved the family, she could not live with knowing what she had done with a nazi and she jumped out of the first train car as the train was picking up speed. she died, still al kiddush Hashem. we have not publicized the story so as not to shame her but i feel that we honor her strength and courage and love by sharing her story

eclipse: i’d love to meet you… i think we’re on the same wavelength! when i was told i have to wait 3 months before remarrying, i burst out laughing. and yes, i would like to remarry…a 95 year rich man who will sign a prenuptial that i get everything when he dies!!!

wow…this thread frightens me! when i was contemplating divorcing my abusive spouse, i was told that my sons would have a hard time with shidduchim if i get divorced. why should they suffer in their marriage after watching their mother suffer in hers?! i finally said my son’s will have to marry open minded girls from accepting families and i do guide them and provide healthy and stable and beautiful marriages for them to see and learn from and one day emulate.

and by the way, marrying from a divorced home? maybe that child is a better person for it. when my son picked up a hand to hit me, saying “why can’t i hit you? daddy does it all the time to you!” i immediately (though it was 6 years after the wedding) asked for a get and bH got it quickly. the message to my son? never hit, never hurt another person. so yes, his mother is divorced and sadly, proud of it.

ECLIPSE: i don’t know anything about you but when you say you are divorced (you go girl) and you have a troubled teen (sorry) i feel for you and want to tell you of an organization for single moms. have you heard of sister-to-sister? they’re major help in many areas let me know if you want phone number

you can read the letter on shmais.com

really? two years ago, in NYS, i paid $75 and now they charged $132!!!

Due to my son’s medical condition, his diaper must be changed at least every hour. Busy with him and with my 12 year old, my outgoing message is this: “hi, I’m busy changing diapers or doing homework. please leave a message and when i have a moment, I’ll try to remember and call you back.”

coffee room fan: i checked and you are right but it’s too late for me. best solution for anybody is to do what my ex did. settle on your debt then put it on your ex wife’s name (have some girl call with her info) so she’s left with the remainder of the debt and the IRS fee!!!