Just Plain Tired

11:30 p.m. monday night in the holy city of zefat. sorry that i haven't been online in a few a days. the truth is that i've been too busy to blog. my friends from efrat came a few hours before shabbat. i spent the entire day thursday, cooking and baking. i also sent over a dinner of tuna patties and veggie noodle kugel to the family who lost their mother. i even made some orange cranberry muffins, too.

i made several salads on friday but i mostly shmoozed with my friends. my sister and niece decided to join us so i made some extra dishes. i made a few tuna steaks with teriyaki sauce and cooked up a batch of brown rice with almonds and cranberries for them. my sister, actually, ate with relish. my coconut cake with the chocolate topping, remained virtually, untouched. how could it possibly compare to michal's peanut butter and chocolate fudge brownies, anyway? however, my sesame cookies, were a really big hit! i might add, that there wasn't a corn muffin left over, either.

poor moshe from efrat, didn't get to have any potato kugel because i ran out of potatoes. once again, i made way too much of the mashed potatoes and eggs for lunch. i also made a cholent with black beans, wheat, chick peas, white beans, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and white potatoes. i threw in some meat bones, which the dogs really enjoyed, later on. zvi usually, loves to suck the fat out of these bones, but he prefered not to partake this shabbat. i threw in a few meat kabobs to boot. it was actually, very tasty.

after shabbat ended, the kids decided to go to the movies in nearby haifa, so we middle aged ladies got to babysit for sahar. it was sheer torture! he screamed his head off for many, long, hours. he was hungry but his nose was stuffed and he couldn't suck the bottle so he cried. then he couldn't breathe well because his nose was stuffed so he cried. i put his face directly into the stream of cold air from the vaporizer and he seemed a little better. he drank some of his bottle but he had gas so he cried. and then the bottle of milk was too cold so he cried. this went on all night. he couldn't sleep because his nose was stuffed. he couldn't relax because he had gas and a red tush.

i felt sorry for my friend from efrat. she came all the way to zefat to get some R&R and here she was again, having to take care of a baby even though it wasn't her own grandkid. we watched 'american idol' while sahar howled. there was little else on t.v. to watch so she decided to go to sleep. she had an early morning trip back to efrat, anyway. the kids returned after 2:00 a.m. and michal and i were really tired. gal was a little miffed that i over fed the baby. i had to give him formula because he was so upset. i finally got her to understand that the baby had drank only two bottles in the span of nearly six hours. she finally relaxed. as soon as she came in, the little rascal, stopped crying, smiled and cooed at her and even nursed.

the kids decided to catch a ride to tiberias, the following morning, with our friends from efrat. i of course, was asked to watch the baby again. i was a little afraid after the previous night, but of course, i agreed. michal watched sahar for an hour and a half, while i caught my yoga class on the next block. considering, that i didn't sleep very much, i was amazed that i actually made it out. i didn't sleep very well on friday night, either. perhaps the red port, that i drank, had something to do with it. all i know, is that everyone else said goodnight, and that i was still awake at 3:00 a.m.

when i came home from yoga, sahar was happily situated in michal's arms, drinking his bottle. he gave me his sweetest smile and gurgled hello. we took him outside for some sunshine and fresh air. he fell asleep in his carriage right away. michal and i headed downstairs with him for some sun, too. we drank tea and coffee and soaked up the warm sun for hours. when sahar woke up, we put him on a blanket on the grass. it was sheer heaven. he was so happy. he rolled around a little and played with the dogs and leisurely, drank another bottle. he had a 'poop' and a burp and he was one happy camper! when his parents came home at 3:00 p.m. he didn't even take notice. he was sitting propped up between my thighs, busily reading his book.

the kids went upstairs to have a meal and sahar fell asleep in his carriage. i started to warm up the shabbat leftovers for me and michal. i kept sahar downstairs for another two hours. zvi came downstairs to give us some leftovers from the thai take out. i stuck to my own food. even though i started the strict phase of my diet this week, i gave in to temptation and ate some frozen strawberry mousse cake and a bag of roasted pistashio nuts. i even ate the chocolate topping off several pieces of the coconut cake. i am not proud to admit to 'falling off the wagon'. i weighed myself today and i was shocked that i had already put on about 5 pounds.

after we had dinner, both michal and i were thoroughly, exhausted and wanted to go to sleep. it was only 6:00 p.m. i actually, dozed off as i read psalms. the next thing i know is that zvi woke me to tell me that the baby was awake. he scolded me about the baby blanket being in sahar's face. he also announced that he and gal needed to get to town and that i was on call, once again. i nearly cried, from being so tired. michal offered to help me but i sent her home in a cab with lots of lemons and oranges from the garden. after all, she had helped me out in the morning so i could go to yoga. the baby was his adorable self, and ate and went willingly, back to sleep. horray for the sun!

the kids got back at 8:30 p.m. and i can't remember anything after that. i struggled to get up today and it was not easy. i felt like i had been run over by a steam roller. i guess i'm really too old to be a full time nanny. i was supposed to do laundry today but for some strange reason, i decided to rearrange my photo albums. and rearrange i did for the entire afternoon! i didn't even stop for a coffee. i saw pictures that i haven't looked at in years. what a trip down memory lane that was! i am really beat.

i volunteer tomorrow morning with the dementia group. after work, i want to check out costumes for sahar. the kids saw a whale costume that they liked, and i need to exchange one of the wigs that i bought. i also volunteered to man the refreshments table for the purim show next week. i really have to start the baking. i decided on making muffins. i think a nice muffin and a hot drink is a lovely light refreshment at intermission time. all i need right now, besides a lot of flour, is some energy and a lot of strength. we really had a terrible scare on saturday night. my niece's in-laws run the beit chabad in pune, india and live across the street from the bakery that got blown up. they say that the beit chabad was the real target. my niece and husband and their 10 month old baby are heading there very soon, before pesach. i doubt that we'll sleep very well while they're gone.