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?