It's 11:00 P.M Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

it's 11:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i just got home from babysitting the grandkids. i picked up sahar from daycare at 3:30 p.m. i had wanted to visit my niece who is visiting from india. just as i arrived, sahar was being changed. he had pished through his clothes. there weren't any extra underware or pants at the maon. i had come by cab because it was very hot and i returned by cab too because, sahar was nearly naked.

as usual, i got up at 6:00 a.m. cloey the pincher, wakes me up every morning. i don't remember taking them out. it's possible that i simply opened the front door for them and went back to sleep. i probably, took them for a walk around 7:30 a.m. i caught a lift at the next block with a van that goes to the seniors' center. i was at work by 8:45 a.m.

i serched the fridge and discovered that last night's dinner was virtually, untouched. i think there are only a handful of boys left at this point. apparently, they don't want to eat grains. i heard this through the grapevine, this morning. i took out last night's tomato and cucumber salad and boiled some eggs. i also made quinoi.

i left the yeshiva to go to a torah class for an hour and a half. i returned about noon and made lunch and dinner. i boiled up a bunch of potatoes but had no time to oven roast them. i merely added them to the left over bulgar and carrots that i made the day before. i cut up a red cabbage salad but it didn't get touched. i made a vat of sesame spaghetti and went to pick up my grandson.

we played together in the sprinklers for awhile. sahar didn't want to go back inside even though his lips were turning blue. i left him downstairs, naked and crying. when he soiled himself, i carried him back in. i made him a huge bubble bath. he didn't want a bath so i let him transfer most of the bubbles into the toilet for awhile. he then got in and didn't want to get out. he was humming away and talking to himself. he was quite the happy camper.

i was on the phone with a friend and he was on the bed in the computer room, coloring. after a while, i noticed magic marker all over sahar and the sheet. i tried my best to scrape off the marker from sahar and let him watch television. we took the dogs out for a short stroll and sahar was pleased with himself for climbing down a lot of steps. he asked if we were going back to his house and was happy to note that we were going back to grandma's house.

he had a large roll and a lot of milk laced with date honey. we both hit the chocolate pretty hard. my son came over at 8:00 p.m. he was not a happy camper like his son. he was furious. he had just had a scene with his mother-in-law. he left his young bride with the sephardi mommy dearest and waked over to his mommy's house. after 'venting' to me he went off to a torah class, leaving me with sahar. gal was home and had her hands full with the baby. i had to carry sahar home because, once again he had wet his pants and i had no replacement clothes. i did have a pair of over sized jeans that kept on falling off him.

when i got to gal's, she asked if i could babysit while she took a walk. i tried to put sahar to sleep and nearly succeeded, when shenhav baby started crying. i scooped her up and put her on my lap. she was restless and it kept sahar awake. i finally dumped her in her carriage in another room so i could get sahar to settle down. she cried herself to sleep and he took almost another hour to fall asleep.

zvi returned and continued his tirade against his mother-in-law. it was a bit of poetic justice for me. the kids overpaid for electricity at their store rental. the owners are not being very straight. it's kind of ironic. the amount they overpaid is precisely the amount they stiffed me, back in the winter. and let's not forget the thousands of shekels for electricity that they left me to pay by myself. it's divine retribution at it's clearest moment, i think.

Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64

hello again! it's 3:30 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i haven't had the energy to blog in a very long time. we just got though an excrutiating heat wave. it was like living in a sauna. zefat is typically, hot and dry. not this year. it is muggy! the heat wave officially broke, before last shabbat. we suddenly had a breeze. it was so liberating.

i've been doing 7 hour work shifts at the yeshiva. that's seven hours, straight, standing on my poor feet. i can't work sitting down. i don't know how ladies cut veggies sitting at the table. i don't take breaks. i work until i finish and go home. i get back home and collapse on the t.v. sofa. i usually pass out. i have had to run over to my son's to babysit a few times, recently. the next day, i usually feel like i've been run over by a truck.

i had it out with the heads of the yeshiva last week. they expected me to come in on fridays and make a shabbat meal. they wanted me to give them three fridays out of every month, in addition to the 5 days that i put in, already. they weren't planning on paying me any more, either. i first, agreed to come in and then i refused. enough is enough!

i emailed them that the job was already taking me 7 hours a day to do. i let them know that this was border line exploitation. i told them that for what they were paying me i could only give 2 meals a day. they quickly found someone else to do the shabbat meals. they asked how much more i required but i refused to work another day.

i am currently suffering from back pain, leg pain and hip pain. i have inflammation of the right ankle. it is hard to walk. i started going in to work a little later. i had been coming in at 7:30 a.m. but i didn't leave until after 2:00 p.m. breakfast is served at 10:30 a.m. and lunch is served at 2:00 p.m. i decided to come in at 9:00 a.m. i lose my rides in to town now. i just can't get myself out before that anymore.

the dogs wake me up every day at 6:00 a.m. and i take them for a walk. i come back in and go back to bed. i'm not alive until 8:00 a.m. i can catch the bus at 8:45 a.m and i'm in the kitchen by 9:00 a.m. this morning i found a bit of leftovers, so i was ready for breakfast pretty fast. i served cucumber and tomato salad, chopped eggs and fried onions, and the last of the bread pudding from last night's supper. i also made corn fritters from the left over corn.

i made a tray of oven roasted potatoes and a pot of spicy red lentils for their lunch. i left a huge pot of bulgar with steamed carrots and onions with a salad for their supper. one of the guys had a birthday so i stayed an extra hour and baked him an eggless banana, chocolate and peanut butter cake. i bake eggless cakes because one of the boys is a vegan. i don't want him to miss out on the cakes. when i serve kugels, i usually make some rice or oatmeal for him. i know, i am a pushover for these kids.

i really like the boys. most of them are in their 20's. they are so sweet. they are very helpful,too. they actually thank me after each meal. one boy told me this morning, that since he has been eating my food, he has developed self esteem. i nearly cried. the birthday 'boy' turned 39 today. he's my helper in the kitchen. he's a chef and could well do my job himself, but he's not motivated to work that hard. he's been learning hebrew in school and has been busy all day long. he makes me coffee every day. for that alone, i'm indebted to him. he will do the floor when i ask him to. he is living there and helping out in lieu of rent. the problem is that i always have to ask. he lacks initiative.

i had a birthday last week. i turned 61 and not 64, as in the blog title based on the beatles' song. i didn't feel like celebrating this year. i didn't have the energy to invite anyone over. i didn't have the money, either, to do anything. i knew that the kids were busy and i didn't want to bother them to come over. my sister had wanted to go out with me but i was simply, too tired. i didn't get her message until late that night. i collapsed in bed as soon as i arrived home. i didn't even take the dogs out.

my friend came to the yeshiva last week, right as i was preparing breakfast, to celebrate my birthday. i was pretty busy and not in the mood to be seranaded with 'happy birthday'. i had already been on my feet for hours and the boys were due in for breakfast. she left a large gift package under the work shelf and left in a huff. i didn't have a moment to open it up. and besides, it was a day early. my birthday wasn't until the next day. i know this sounds so petty, when i relate the story. alas, i found the lovely piece of mousse cake, that was crammed into the package, too late. i had to toss it. so much for birthday surprises.

tonight, the same friend, is having a birthday party for several of us women, who all have birthdays in the jewish month of tamuz. she hasn't spoken to me since last week. we sort of had a falling out over cigarette smoke. i hate it and can't be around it. she thinks that i am being controlling by not sitting in her apartment while she smokes. i said that i wouldn't come around anymore because of the smoking issue and she told me to have a good life. "friendship, friendship, what a perfect blendship".

Don't Stop Me Now

it is 11:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i just went down to see the new tenants. i was babysitting for the kids, when they arrived. the daughter in law went for a walk and the son went out to dinner with a friend. i put the grandson to sleep and watched a bit of t.v. i just got back and already i had 'requests'. more hangers and dish towels were needed. who dries the dishes nowadays, anyway? and then we had the remote control questions and where is the key question.

i have been very worn out from the job lately. i usually fall apart as soon as i come home. yesterday, i caught up with my laundry. i needed to do most of it before the folks settled in, today. i was in the middle of the washing cycle, when my son called to ask if i could babysit. they had a wedding to go to. i had no time to hang out the wet clothes. i left all of the undies on the washing machine to dry.

i put the grandson to bed at 9:00 p.m. i left the baby in the living room in a toddler seat, watching t.v. she wasn't ready to sleep. i gave her a bottle and a little while later she was fast asleep. i also, passed out on the sofa, while watching 'law and order'. the kids got back at 1:00 a.m. i got a ride home. i live about a five minute walk from the kids, but i was exhausted. i ate about a hundred sandwich cookies at the kid's home.

i got up at '6:00ish' and walked the dogs. i then went downstairs and mopped the entire apartment. i didn't dare start with buckets of water. i threw in another load of laundry. i hung it all out to dry. i brought up all of the other clothes. i still need to put it away. the laundry rack is standing in the hallway, right now.

i quickly showered and got dressed and caught a ride to town. i was locked out of the kitchen. i left my keys and uniform at home. the good can opener was in the uniform. i bought another good opener on my way in to work. i woke up one of the yeshiva guys and he found the duplicate keys. i went into mass food mode. there were a lot of leftovers. perhaps, they are getting sick of my food. i found a bag of apples and a few oranges.

i wanted to make an apple cake. i wanted to make an apple kuchen. there was no sugar. we were low on eggs. there was no salt. i got a buchor to buy me salt. i decided on makimg a sweet noodle kugel. i used up the last of the spaghetti. i threw in about 12 eggs, so this sucker, wasn't dry. i made a fruit salad out of the apples and oranges. i cooked up a ton of quinoi. no one touched it. i didn't bother cooking eggs today. i made a sweet tahina paste, using a bit of someone's personal stash of honey.

the boys were all out and about. the tables and chairs had been left outside last night. i simply left the food on the counter, and ran over to the seniors' center. i returned at 1:00 p.m. and decided to prepare a cold lunch. i opened 2 huge cans of tuna and cut up pickles and added mayo. i also opened a huge can of corn but left it in a mustard vinagrette sauce. the vegan doesn't eat eggs during the week. i heated up the barley mushroom soup from last night, but no one except the rabbi, partook of it. i also heated up the rest of the spaghetti from the night before. that went.

i cooked up a vat of diced potatoes and added it to the vat of bulgar, left over from last nite. i couldn't care less if they eat it or not. the thrill is gone! i made a cabbage salad and split. i don't work on fridays. thank the Lord!!!! i told one of the boys to clean up after i left. i also had them put away the supplies that had just been left in the hallway. in the past, i would have stayed to deal with it. not any more, baby.

my son called to ask me to pick up my grandson from gan. i caught the bus and scrambled to pick him up on time. i taxied us home. i let him play with water outside in a little pool. he peed in his pants and pooped in the front yard. he was rather proud of not pooping in his underpants. i felt a bit pressured to finish up downstairs but i didn't panick. when he left at 5:00 p.m. i went back into work mode.

i brought down all of the kitchen items from the upstairs apartment, and washed the kitchen floor. the tenants were thrilled at the cleanliness. they will be out for shabbat, thankfully. i hope to get paid tomorrow.

the kids are coming for shabbat meals. i am not bothered at all. cooking for 3 is a breeze. i will hit the supermarket in the morning. i also need to do a real cleaning job upstairs. i hope my energy will last a little while longer.

We're Having A Heat Wave

it's 9:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. my grandson and son just left. they came to visit for a short amount of time. i was in no condition to babysit. i went to work at 7:00 a.m. this morning. i didn't finish until 2:00 p.m. i can't seem to get everything done in less than 7 hours. i am only getting paid for part time work. i am working full time.

it is pretty hot. cooking and baking all day is hard. i am on my feet all day long. i never sit or take a break. i drink my coffee standing up. i eat my food standing up. i am getting pretty fed up. i don't think i can do this much longer.

i got in this morning to: no electricity/no vegetables or produce/and no bread. i have been demanding bread for 2 weeks. the guys need bread. i can't keep on making cakes and kugels to stuff them up. we need bread! i was planning on making a couscous cake and a potato kugel. i wanted to leave early. i was planning on taking my tenant to the winery for lunch. there were no potatoes to use. there was only a bit of flour left. the oven was out of order.

i quickly, started to make corn latkes. i only have a small fry pan so i could only do about 4 at a time. it took close to an hour to get them all done. i wanted to use the left over spaghetti to make a kugel. i tried making a pan kugel but it didn't work. i served scrambled eggs and noodles. i took yesterday's quinoa and added a good amount of couscous to fill up the pot. i added more spices and a few cranberries. they raved about it.

the new kids are quite easy. they're not serious health food fanatics. they love can corn, and tuna and macaroni salad. they like the mayo, too. i make egg salad every day. they especially, love my spaghetti. most of the health food freaks are gone. the eggless vegan guy loves everything. he'll eat potatoes and corn and pasta as long as i don't add eggs.

i try to make eggless cakes for him. the other guys love the sweets. i made a pumpkin, banana and peanut butter loaf on sunday. it was a bit raw but the guys wolfed it down, anyway. today i made a vat of red lentils and bulgar for lunch. i made a salad with the few veggies i had brought in on sunday. i took the rest of the lentil soup from last night and used it for a base to make veggie chili. i added a lot of kidney beans and chick peas. it took forever to cook up.

i am spent. i am truly tired. i don't know how much longer i can keep this job up. it is a lot of work. the boys are wonderful. they really love my food. they are so thankful. that keeps me going. i need more money. they are going to have to come up with a better plan. or perhaps, they will go back to catering greasy food. i need help. it is really hot in the house. i had the fan on before, but i started having the chills.

i went off my diet and have been binging since shavuot. i can't look at food. all i want to eat is icecream and cookies. what a shame. i've put on quite a bit of weight. i was finally getting down to my ideal dress size. i don't know how to turn it around. i am not a happy camper.