Free At Last

it's 6:30 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. pesach is almost over. i spent 18 hours straight, on my feet, finishing up the cleaning on sunday. i ended up doing the picture windows outside as well as the living room windows. zvi helped me take them out and of course, put them back in for me.

the kids pulled an all nighter on saturday night. they left me with sahar and didn't come home until 5:30 a.m. they managed to open the shoe store on sunday morning. zvi went off to his work. i went to sleep at 4:30 a.m. and got up to start my pesach work at 9:00 a.m. sahar had slept until 1:00 a.m. but he didn't return to sleep until 4:00 a.m. i did all of the candlesticks; gal's and my siver ones, and mom's brass ones, while he slept.

we managed to do the check for chometz about midnight. we were all beyond exhausted. i had sahar the next day and kept him in his playpen, while i cooked the sedar meal and prepared the sedar. i played chassidic negunim while i worked. sahar was content in his playpen and didn't give me a hard time. gal came home around 3:00 p.m. i took out all of the pesach utensils and dishes and set the table. i was remarkably, calm and collected. my hands were like lobster claws.

we were all pretty tired by the time we sat down to the seadar. never the less, we finished the sedar pretty early. zvi zipped through the haggadah at rapid speed. we were finished by 11:00 p.m. poor gal, fell asleep at the table. sahar managed to drink a little grape juice and eat a small piece of matzah before falling asleep. he did here dayenu in his playpen. he was so excited eating matzah. it was his first time. i fell asleep, after i did all of the washing up. that was approximately, 1:00 a.m.

we had a leisurely lunch and the kids went to sleep. sahar and i spent the afternoon outside in the garden. later on, the kids went over to gal's family. i spent the rest of the chag, shmoozing with my friend.

on wednesday night, we did a barbecue. zvi and his brother in law did the meats. i did chips for hours. i always forget how long it takes to make french fries on pesach. everyone was happy and relaxed. there were plenty of marshmallows to melt. on thursday, we all went to the little zoo in town. we all spent time chasing after sahar.

tonight, the kids are going to gal's family for shabbat. i am going to be here by myself. i've already made a lamb stew for my dinner. it is cold and rainy today. i don't really look forward to being alone, but i really don't want to walk home in the rain and wind.

my hands and arms are on the mend from various cuts and caustic cleanser burns. my foot is still cut but i'll deal with it later. at least, my hands don't look like claws. you can't imagine how swollen my hands and feet were a few days ago. by next week, i'll be fine, again. i always say, pesach should be a month long. it isn't fair that we do so much work and the holiday only lasts for a week.

i'm having a few guests for sunday night chag and monday daytime. it will be a bit of a challenge to come up with recipes with the remaining food and veggies. i think i'll manage alright. zvi will probably want to do another daytime barbecue. i have chicken wings and steaks in the freezer. i think i'll make potato latkes for a change. i'm pretty sick of the mashed potatoes by now. we finally ran out of avocado so it will be eggs and fried onions for chag. i may also make fried eggplant slices. we shall see!

in the meantime, my house still shines and it's a pleasure to be here. i wish you all a good shabbat!