It Takes A Lot Of Patience

it is nearly 12:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat.  i have been sleeping all morning long.  i spent yesterday in bed too.   i slept away the entire day.  i couldn't even talk to friends.  the 9 hours of laundry on thursday and the 2-3 hours of washing the floors on friday,  proved to be too much.  at least, i am not in pain.  i am just worn out.  as long as i eat a lot, i suffer less.

i didn't bother to check for weight gain.  i haven't taken a pain pill in two days.  i am able to move the old bowels, more or less.  i can't do anything more with myself right now.  i haven't gone upstairs since friday to check out the pigeon problem.  last i looked, there was a pigeon or two roosting in a far away part of the roof.  i probably need a professional roofer and exterminator.  it's only more money to spend.  money, that i don't really have right now, unfortunately.

the rat is still running around downstairs.  we have been trying to catch him at all hours of the night.  he usually appears after 11:00 p.m.  he has been spotted in the children's bedrooms, the laundry room and in the kitchen.  the dog had him cornered at one point, but he made a mad dash to beind the closet.  it is beyond frustrating.

the electrical outlet in the laundry room is shorting out the electricity in the house.  that's the one that he electrician played around with last week, when he checked out the maytag.  he is scheduled to come a little later.  i have been literally, stranded in pitch dark rooms, a few times this week.  it isn't pleasant.  i have a larger problem in the guest bathroom.  i believe a pipe is leaking under the floor.  my sister and brother are coming next week for a visit.  i need the spare guest room and i most definately, need the spare shower.

there is always water on the floor.  it took me a while to figure out that it wasn't from taking showers.  the shower stall needs to be re corked.  however, the water eventually dries out with the aid of a towel.  i kept on noticing that the towels were getting even more wet after a couple of days.  and yet it still didn't register that i was in trouble.

i called in my plumber yesterday,  he couldn't determine where the water was coming from.  i tried explaining to him the real situation.  he said that i needed to get in touch with my insurance company.  i have been paying through the nose for years.  i have never called the company , even when i should have.  when mom was alive, she simply paid for damages by herself.  she never thought about going through the insurance company.

i called the insurance man who is my second cousin.  his cell only took a message.  i was in the middle of sending him an email when i lost my internet connection.  my son had internet downstairs through my server so i was very frustrated.  he didn't want to come up for a moment to help me.  he never has a moment to help me.  he lives here for free and doesn't lift a finger to help out.  he finally agreed to check my computer out.  i had my connection back in a moments' time.

after all that fuss, the email came back.  so did my grandson for a couple of hours. i finally escorted him downstairs at 10:00 p.m.  we then had another rat sighting so i ran downstairs for a little while.  my son gets nasty when he's frustrated and tired.  someone flicked the switch to turn on the laundry room light, and i was once again, trapped in a dark room for a moment.   i spoke with my brother at about 11:00 p.m.  he mentioned that our cousin was out of the country.  i thought that i was screwed.  as soon as i hung up with my brother, my cousin called.  he had just gotten back in the country and had received my message.

i haven't spoken with my cousins since i got sick.  he was concerned that i might be worse off than i am.  he was relieved to hear that i was okay.  i called him a little while ago.  he had just gotten into the office.  he arranged for the company to dispatch a plumber from zefat to come over tomorrow.  now i will be at the mercy of a local yokel.  i can't use my own man.  and i really respect and trust my plumber guy.  he is a family friend.

so  that's the story.  i don't think that i'll be able to clean up the third floor roof top apartment by next week.  my siblings and i will have to camp down here together.  brother is only going to be here for a week, so hopefully, he'll cope.  i'm in no shape to offer them a pesach cleaning this time around.  i will not get to do windows and sills before they come.  i will not get the water damaged walls re plastered and repainted, either.

i read an article on line about cancer patients and survivors.  it is quite normal to want to get all these nudgy problems taken care of when we finish out treatment.  the lists of 'things to do'  weighs heavily on our minds. we just don't have the stamina to deal with them all at one time.  it takes a lot of patience to let it go.

To Catch A Rat

it is 9:30 a.m. in the holy city of zefat.  i am wiped out.  i was relatively pain free yesterday during the day.  i called a local repair guy because the 'maytag' washing mahcine kept shorting out the electricity.  it kept happening before the rinse cycle.  i have been paying through the nose for years to keep this machine alive.

i had two referrals from my sister and close gal pal for repair guys.  i couldn't find the number for a real maytag repair service.  parts are very expensive here.  i somehow knew, that the rat was the cause of my problem.  i called the guy who my girlfriend recommended.  he was suppossed to come over at 10:00 a.m.   i tried doing a batch of laundry before he came.  it worked without any problems.  i did another batch on another cycle and it seemed fine.  i called the guy to cancel.

i gathered up all of my laundry and threw in the mother of all loads.  before it even got to rinse cycle,  all of the electricity blew.  the water didn't drain and i was left with a huge amount of soaking wet sheets.  i somehow, managed to get it all out of the machine.  it left a small flood all over the laundry room and kitchen area.  i called the repairman back and he came right over.  he seemed to be able to navigate a maytag washer.  it wasn't as 'mystical' as the anglo repairman had led me to believe for years.

i was shocked to see what was inside the machine.  tons of rat droppings, assorted socks and panties, and a lot of doritos.  apparently, the rat stole a bag of doritos out of the daughter-in-laws' hand bag.  he or she,  apparently, is also, into socks.  i was disgusted.  thank goodness,  the rat didn't do serious damage.  it did shake up some wires.  no fancy over priced imported part was needed.  i paid the man for his time and found out that he was also, an electrician.

i asked him to replace the outside garden lights.  i had bought new fixtures a couple of years ago.  it isn't easy to find repair guys to do little jobs.  electricians here are all so 'dear'.  it took the guy quite a while to finish.  he had to climb up and down from his ladder a lot.  in the middle of this, he got an emergency call to come to the local school.  he did return a little bit later to finish the job.  unfortunately, the special pencil thin halagon bulb that came with the fixture, was broken.   we have only one functioning outside light now.  i have to go to town to get another one and then i have to get my son to replace the bulb.  so small feat!

there wasn't enough light in the laundry room for the the repair guy to work.  i enlisted him to take a fluorescent bulb out of a fixture in the t.v. room and replace it in the fixture in the laundry room.   i have been nagging my son for the past two years, to buy another fluorescent bulb for the laundry room.  again, no small feat.  at first the bulb shorted out the electricity.  it needed new starters.  i reached into the drawer where i had put the starters years ago.  i had also nagged my son to put in new starters.  it still shorted out.  i spent the morning running up and down the steps to turn on the electricity.

the repair guy played around with the fixture until it was working.  that is how i found out that he was also an electrician.  anyhow, i spent the entire day doing laundry.  to be exact, i worked for about 8 hours.  i hung it all outside in the sun.  i still have a bunch to take down.  it was too cold at night to finish.  i can't move today.  my back started burning in the evening.  i have had these pains for a month.  i took a pain pill at 800 p.m.  i was finally comfortable and fell asleep.  my son woke me up to help catch the rat.  it was now in my grandson's bedroom.

i brought down the pincher and she went into hunting mode.  i went through all of the toys, bedding, and clothes closets, looking for the rat.  he had gone back to the laundry room.  at one point, the dog had him cornered.  he made a mad dash for the washing machine but was temporarily, blocked off by a wooden board.  he then climbed up the wall and hid behind a clothes closet.

in the meanwhile, i cleaned out an empty closet, that was covered in droppings.  my son was beside himself.  he was mad at the dog for having had the rat elude her.  he was mad at me for cleaning rat droppings and accused me of not being more involved.  my back was inflamed and it was midnight and i was tired.  the daughter-in-law got back from work and brought home a pizza.  we were all starving.  the pizza was awful.  we all felt horrible.

apparently, the supermarket where she works, is going under.  she hasn't been paid in a while.  they were liquidating the merchandise last night.  she and another gal went there to collect their wages.  my son was in a rage.  he wanted her to take money from the cash register.  i had to explain to him that it was considered theft and that she could be jailed.  luckily, she is more practical than my son.  he is a royal pain in the neck.  his living here is making me crazy.  i do love being with the grandkids.

a little while ago, he woke me up by looking through my closets for cookies.  who has cookies?  i have fish, chicken, and string beans in the freezer.  there are no cookies here.  i am not a cookie person.  i eat yogurt, whole wheat rolls and eggs.  i like cottage cheese and cherries. i sometimes like a piece of cake.  i never indulge in margarine.  i have enough stomach pain without going in that direction.

i asked my son to help me trash this enormous mattress that was standing in front of the empty closet in the laundry room.  guess what?  he wasn't interested in doing it just right now.  the laundry room looks like a tornado hit it.  you need to minimize the boxes and clutter in order to catch a rat.  you need to put all food stuffs inside the closet.  you need to keep the counters free of food stuffs.  you need to shut all the closet doors.  you need to grow up!

Happy Birthday To Me

it is 6:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat.  yesterday was my hebrew birthday.  i no longer celebrate the gregorian calendar birth date.  the kids threw me a surprise party.  i kind of figured that they were going to do that, but i pretended to be surprised.  i was genuinely surprised not to have heard anyone enter the downstairs.  the dogs were silent. several clan members parked below on a lower street.   i originally offered to take the kids out for dessert in town.  they tried to use this as the ruse to get me out of the house.  we were going out for 'frozen yogurt'.

i made sure to get showered and dressed up.  i even put on makeup.  i knew that i couldn't go downstairs and face the clan in my nightie.  i seriously needed to bathe, too.  i used the ruse that we were going to town to motivate myself.  i called my sister to give her my birthday blessings and broke down on the phone.  i couldn't stop crying.  i really felt that i was one lucky gal to have survived my bout with cancer.  i was actually, happy that i was having a birthday.  i wasn't minding a surprise party, either.  i deserved one.

after speaking with my sister, i started to doubt if they were indeed, throwing me a surprise party.  it didn't sound like she knew anyhting about the party, for real.  here i was made up and ready to party.  i wanted to eat pizza and birthday cake.  my son came up at 8:30 p.m. to escort me out.  we stopped downstairs for a moment to 'see' if  my daughter-in-law was ready to go out.  the first thing i saw was my grandson all dressed up.  he greeted me with a loud 'mazal tov!'  then i saw various members of the clan.

i then saw my two nieces and my sister and i started to cry.  i felt so overwhelmed.  i survived cancer!!  i made it to 62 years old.  i have a male suitor.  who knows?  maybe i'll get married this year.  my son handed me a gift package.  they bought me two, very lovely, and stream lined dressy tops.  my son adorned my neck with a lovely silver and pearl necklace.  the purple beads went really well with my purple stone earrings, that my sister had made for me, while she was in india.

my daughter-in-laws' mom made me a really beautiful cake.  they tried to take a lot of  pictures but i shied away from the camera.  my face is ever, so slightly,  twisted and my right eye muscle is a bit weak.  my sister made me mention that to the neurosurgeon last week.  he didn't seem the slightest bit interested in that bit of information.  there was a lot of action and noise in the downstairs apartment.  the little kids were all running around and yelling.  the older uncles and aunts were all over the place.  it was stuffy downstairs.  i needed air.

i stuffed my face with pizza.  i ate all the cream off my slice of birthday cake.  today i ate about 10 scoops of ice cream.  so much for being cancer svelte.  my stomach is beginning to churn and burn.  i need to go through my medical papers and present a bunch of them to the social worker, tomorrow, at my clinic.  i'm not up to it just right now.  maybe i'll do it as soon as i wake up.  that's about 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. these days.

the maytag washing machine shorted out this morning, while the daughter-in-law was doing her laundry.  i have invested thousands of shekels to keep that old machine running.  i think that the fat rat that has been eluding us, is inside of the maytag..  the pincher dog has been lying next to the machine all day; without a break.  i am waiting for my son to come home to move the machine.  this rat is crafty!!!

i spent about 2 hours shoveling pigeon poo off the rooftop apartment.  i wore a mask, don't worry.  there are many pigeons roosting up there, i'm sorry to say.  the poo was ankle deep.  i did as much as i could.  i banged my head on the wooden boards many times.  that can't be great for a head tumor.  i got pretty tired and quit.  i needed to shower.  i took down a lot of the insulation materials.  the house is filthy now.  there are feathers, and poo all over the upstairs apartment.  i need to do a huge clean up.

i managed to catch and throw 2 pigeons off of the roof top apartment. i even cleaned up the upstairs porch and watered the succulent plants. i tried blocking the ledges of the roof with tiles.  there were eggs everywhere.  this is a major job.  i doubt that i'll finish it by myself.  i need to take the pincher upstairs to catch some of the pigeons.  right now, i can't get her away from the washing machine.  are we having fun yet?