Don’t Talk to Strangers Isn’t the Best Advice

For years, parents have been telling their children not to talk to strangers. And today NYC was shaken with the death of the Leibby Kletzky, the Borough Park boy who was abducted, suffocated and dismembered.

We went to look for Leibby on Monday night because I really thought I knew where he would be. I thought he had taken a wrong turn and went left instead of going right.  I did the same thing when I was a kid. The city streets are busy and when a child is alone, things look quite different. When Leibby turned the wrong way, he was lost and needed to talk with some adults to help him get back home. ”

So kids do need to talk to strangers sometimes. But we need to teach kids which strangers to choose.

1) If Leibby had spoken to a woman – she probably would have taken him home. What’s wrong with telling children to look for a mother with children?

2) Teach children that they don’t need to obey all adults. Leibby Kletzky came from a community where children are taught to obey adults so he probably obeyed Levi Aron easily because he wanted to get home.

3) Children need to know their parent’s phone number. Yes, everyone is using cell phones with phone numbers in memory, no one has emergency contacts memorized any more. Children and adults need to know numbers in case of an emergency. A child who is lost can be told to ask a woman to call their Mom.

4) If you can, give your child a cell phone so they can call you for help.

5) Pay phones are a thing of the past, but if possible teaching your older child to make a collect call could be helpful. This way they can reverse the charges and contact you.

I grew up in the aftermath of Ethan Patz. My mother was frantic. Try to relax and teach your children to be smart not scared.

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Funeral for Leibby Kletzky is Tonight

The Funeral for Leibby Kletzky is tonight at 7:00 – 56th Street between 16th and 17th Avenue

Tweeted:

The levaya (funeral) for Leibby Kletzky will be taking place tonight at 7:00pm (later tweets say 8:30 pm) in front of Rabbi Eisenberger’s shul (synagogue) at 1650- 56th Street between 16th and 17th Avenues.

It’s part of Jewish ritual to bury the body right away. The family began sitting shivah for Leibby at their apartment on Wednesday afternoon 57th Street and 15th Avenue in Brooklyn. Shiva will last for seven days. It is suspended on Friday at 1:00 and will resume on Saturday evening when Shabbat is over.

See photos from the funeral here and here.  

 Leibby’s father, Nachman Kletzky said, ““Here lies my child. Purity of heart. Very quiet and very respectful. Satisfied and never demanding. My child is gone. I’m in very deep sorrow.” 

 Video of Leibby Kletzky’s funeral.

Levi Aron abducted Leibby Kletzky on 7/11.  Who was Levi Aron? 

RIP Leibby. Prayers for his parents and sisters.

Topics: Brooklyn | No Comments »

Levi Aron Facebook page

Picture from @kikassKJ

Levi Aron’s Facebook page ironically shows that he has ‘liked’ a group that is suppose to be like the Family watchdog site and tell you if there is child molesters in your area.

Here’s Levi Aron’s FB page – Click pic to make larger

Levi Aron also used the username alev501 and had a MYSPACE PAGE THAT HE LOGGED INTO IN JUNE

And he had a Wink Account as well.

MORE: WHO IS LEVI ARON? 

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Levi Aron

Who is Levi Aron? Levi Aron could possibly be the most hated man in Brooklyn right now. This 388 year old man suffocated eight year old Leibby Kletzy with a towel and dismembered his body. Timeline of Leibby’s death. Leibby Kletzky was just looking to get home from day camp and he went to someone who writer Adam Dickter described that Leibby wasn’t wary of because Levi Aron appeared to be Orthodox or chasidic. Levi Aron lived at 466 2nd Street. (An old address online lists 549 East 2nd Street as the Aron home, but that may have been prior to purchasing their current home) in Kensington, Brooklyn with his family – father, brothers Rocky Aron and Joe, (Aron’s mother is deceased 8 years and his sister died in 2009).  He didn’t have a prior record except for public lewdness (urinating in public). On Tuesday morning, Aron went to work as a stockboy at Empire State Building Supply at 639 McDonald Avenue and acted like nothing happened. Mr. Michael Panzer, the owner of Empire State Building Supply said,  “it was a terrible thing.” Apparently, some people describe Levi Aron as slow because was in a car accident when he was younger and he had brain injuries. In 2004, Aron was married his first wife, Diana Diunov. They were married a year before they divorced. They did not have any children. In 2005, Aron met Debbie Kivel through a Jewish Matchmaking site. He moved to Tennessee to be with Debbie. They were married in 2006. She said she is in shock because Levi loved her two children from a prior marriage.  Aron was a security guard and butcher while he live in TN.  He and Debbie Aron divorced due to irreconcilable differences. After the divorce, Aron left Tennessee and returned to Brooklyn (two years ago).   Levi Aron’s facebook page. After his divorce, he was engaged again, but did not get married.

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What we can learn from Leibby Kletzky’s Death

Writer, Adam Dickter of NY Jewish Week wrote about the  disappearance of  Leibby Kletzky and how every parent teaches their children not to talk to strangers.

Dickter puts forth, “Borough Park’s parents generally have no cause to warn their children to be wary of their own kind” (see article below or link above)

Had Leibby asked any wo man ~regardless of nationality or religion ~ for help, we wouldn’t have the same outcome. I’m upset that we lost a Brooklyn kid in daylight hours so easily.

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RIP Leiby Kletzy – Missing in Brooklyn

Sadly, the body of Leiby Kletzy was found murdered and dismembered. RIP Leiby. Prayers for his family and the community who worked so hard to get him back.

I’m angry that this little boy went to someone for help and was hurt by him. There are some seriously sick people in the world. The murderer was a Sephardic man who people in the area knew.

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On Monday night around 4:50 pm, Leiby Kletzy left Boyan Day Camp located on 12th Avenue and 44th Street.  He was heading towards 13th and 50th Street, but then was captured on video on 17th and 44th Street.

We went out with a large supply of coffee and searched for him from 11 pm to 2:00 am. Why? Because he’s  just 8 years old and his family misses him.  Plus we know the surrounding neighborhoods well as we lived in Borough Park, Sunset Park and Dyker Heights. The people in the area have the streets covered looking for him. Besides checking the outskirts of the neighborhood, we went down to Toys R Us and checked there. No sign of Leiby, but there was a missing person sign for him there that we were glad to see.

Leiby is 4 feet tall and about 50 lbs. He has light brown hair and brown eyes. Leiby wears black glasses. He was wearing a blue (or greyish blue) with green and white stripes polo shirt, black pants, black shoe and a black yamaka. He may be carrying a black backpack with writing on the back. There is a $100k reward. See his missing person poster.

If you made a mistake and accidentally took him home, contact me.  I’ll help you return the boy to his family.  This video (at 39 seconds in shows Leiby at Dahill Road) He may have went into  a gold colored 1992 Honda Accord. Let’s get this kid home safe. His 9th birthday is at the end of the month.

Or call NYPD: 800-577-TIPS

Topics: Brooklyn | 2 Comments »

Gorgeous Duvet Covers

These duvet covers are beautiful and not too expensive. Target or Wallmart may have cheaper ones.

Of course I love Pottery Barn’s – this one is just $79 for a Queen! (cheap for Pottery Barn)

And who doesn’t love Anthropologie’s ruffle duvet cover?

This one is from Urban Outfitters.

Another one from Urban Outfitters – $69

This one from Blisshome is pretty, but it’s $270

More duvets from Urban Outfitters can be seen here.

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Vacationing in Long Island

Fantastic week – relaxing by the pool at our friends time share in the Hamptons.

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T-Fal Actifry Review

Lee loves french fries. A friend of his bought him the T-Fal Actifry for his birthday. Apparently, the actifry machine was shown on the Dr. Oz Show because it’s a much healthier way to prepare french fries. The actifry allows you to make crispy fries without deep frying them in oil. In fact this machine makes crispy fries with just a 1/2 teaspoon of oil.

I love new technology so I was ready to help Lee get started on using is new toy. The machine is super easy to0 use. After opening the box, the basket where the fries go has to be washed and dried. After we dried it, we placed the pot back into the base of the machine and then added the fries. It holds 2 pounds of fries. We seasoned the fries with paprika, salt and pepper. After adding a half of teaspoon of oil, we were ready to close the lid and start the machine.

We set the time to 28 minutes and pressed the ON button. The machine started up. Just as the directions explained there would be a weird smell. This smell goes away in a few minutes and it doesn’t return on future uses. The machine has a grey paddle inside which is continuously rotating in the pot and keeping the fries from sticking to the nonstick surface of the pot. It isn’t especially noisy, but it does sound like a hairdryer on low or less than that. It’s a fan or air blowing sound.

After the 30 minutes are up, the machine beeps and you have to turn it off. This is the only design flaw we found in the machine. When it beeps, it should turn off. After the beep, you click the button on the front which opens the top and you release the handle on the pot. The handled allowed us to pour the french fries out on a plate very easily.

The french fries come out beautifully and crispy. Our french fry expert, Lee thought the fries were incredible! Crispy, crunchy on the outside and much better than oven made fries. Our friends were over and they loved them too. In fact they went online to order the machine and we were all shocked to see that the machine cost almost $300.00. That’s a bit high for a french fry machine.

The instruction booklet gives ideas for making stir fry and some other tasty recipes as well. Lee decided to do onion rings in the machine. He quickly discovered that onion rings get destroyed by the paddle inside the machine. They came out crispy and crunchy like the fries, but they were in pieces.

Cleanup was a breeze. Usually that’s the downfall with many devices – the cleanup is horrible. The actifry basket shaped pan just needed a quick wash and dry.  I was impressed that it cleaned up so easily.

I asked Lee if he thought the machine was worth $300.00. He said absolutely. Now that’s a lot coming from a man who usually doesn’t love all my gadgets and keeps an eye on his wallet. Do I think it’s worth $300…..I don’t love french fries as much as Lee, but I think people who love french fries would really love this machine.

Good: Crispy fries without deep frying, cleans easily

Bad: Expensive, the machine doesn’t shut off unless you shut it off

Disclaimer: I am not in anyway associated with Actifry. The machine was a gift for Lee and the friend who gave it to him is not associated in any way with Actifry.  The friend paid full price for the machine because his friend knows how much Lee likes french fries and wants him to be healthy.

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Gross Meal Makes my Man Happy

I grew up in what is considered a large family. At the time, I didn’t think it was large because everyone I knew had the same amount of people in their home.

My mother wasn’t a good cook. She was good at many things, but she didn’t enjoy cooking. Maybe I won’t enjoy cooking after I am a mother for 20+ years and have to cook every night too. But for now I enjoy cooking. Lee is a former chef and a much better cook than I am. He cooks everything easily and can make the food fly in the air while it’s cooking. He washes the pots as he uses them and everything is clean when the meal is ready to serve.

I like to try new recipes and recreate the dishes on television shows. Some take many hours, but I don’t care. Everyone thinks I am a good cook and people like coming over for dinner.

Lee likes most of the meals I prepare. Yet, on the nights when I rush and make something that my Mom made many years ago, Lee LOVES those meals. My Mom made mostly easy casserole dishes that take just a few minutes to prepare. As a child, I hated a lot of those dishes!  So this week I decided to make Lee the dish my Mom made that I hated the most. I have never made this dish, but knew it was a standard weekday dinner in my house. The recipe came from a Campbell’s Soup Can (here it is) and involves making elbow macaroni, then mixing the macaroni with browned chopmeat and onion, tomato sauce and corn. Ugghhh so gross – I didn’t eat any of it because memories of the meal that was prepared over and over came back to me.  And Lee….as predicted loved it which of course we joked and laughed about for hours. Lee claims that his mother didn’t make casseroles so he really likes them.

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NYC Smallest Apartment & Home

My friend Kim wrote about small homes. I remember seeing a couple living in a tiny apartment in NYC. The apartment cost them $150,000 in this beautiful building in Manhattan.

Beautiful building in a great location and in NYC every real estate broker is always mumbling, “location, location, location….”    The apartment that Zaarath and Christopher Prokop paid a $150,000 for is only 175 square feet in total.

They prefer to eat out every night and don’t cook in their own kitchen. They said their apartment isn’t for people who prefer to stay home.

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West Nile Virus Returns to NYC

Get out your bug spray with Deet (I can’t see below) and check that there isn’t any standing water in your yard, mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have appeared in Staten Island.

Apparently, the Rockaways are having a hard time with mosquitoes this summer. The city does not spray pesticides unless the West Nile virus has been found. Maybe the government should be proactive, rather than reactive and take care of the existing mosquito population before it spreads.

I am a mosquito magnet, but I do a lot of things to keep them away naturally rather than using the deet spray.

1) We planted Marigolds and catnip around the deck as they keep mosquitoes at bay

2) Use Avon Skin So Soft – it really does keep the bugs away. I buy the original.

3) Put out sliced online – mosquitoes stay away

4) Bounce Dryer Sheets keep mosquitoes away

If you get a mosquito bite,  one quick spray of hairspray takes away the sting and the itch. I’ve done this for years and I think it works because hairspray has alcohol.

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