Very Busy

it is 11:00 a.m. in the holy city of safed.  I am just getting up.  I need to go to the supermarket and buy cleaning supplies.  there is someone coming on sunday to check out my roof top studio apartment.  it has been trashed and unclean for about two years.  the pigeons have taken over the porch area, once again. that will be a load of fun to clean up all that dried up pigeon poo.

yesterday, I cleaned my house.  I spent the morning washing the floors and doing laundry.  the pincher dog has become incontinent and is making all over the house.  the kids trash the rest of the house with paper cuttings, potato chips and spilled apple juice.  I saw an ad for part time work at the old yeshiva that I used to cook for.  of course, I needed to start the same day.  it is only for supper and there are only about 8-10 young men at the moment.

the pay is pretty low but it will help pay for my dental crown.  I probably will have to stop working to have the brain surgery.  I made an appointment to see a local neurologist to get permission to have  both my wisdom tooth and another tooth removed.  I have been suffering from intense ear and jaw pain and the dentist is afraid that the brain tumor is presenting nerve symptoms in my face.  the ear doctor said to get another dentist.

I woke up two days ago and couldn't move my head to the right.  it is still pretty stiff and I have lower back pain, too.  it is a bit scary.  I can move my head now but it is still painful.  some how, I managed to work that day at the yeshiva.  the cooking doesn't take more than 2 hours, but the clean up and putting away leftovers does require an additional hour or two.

yesterday I spaced out and cooked enough rice to feed 25 people. I added way too much water and got a giant pot of yellow mush.  I made a kugel out of it by adding eggs and cinnamon.  they will be eating kugel for days.  I strained most of the rice and in the end, I could have presented it as some form of sticky rice.  I ate a bowl of it before I cleaned the kitchen.  it actually, wasn't so bad.

I got back home at around 5:00 p.m.  I showered and met a friend at 6:30 p.m. and we took off for the klezmer music festival in town.  I have been going to the festival for over 30 years.  I used to live in town and it was right in my backyard, so to speak.  now I live a good hour by foot to town.  I used to walk there and back.  I am pretty out of shape these days.  my friend and I did walk up and down the main pedestrian street in town last night.  we wanted to check out the food stalls.  it was mostly the usual stuff.  I thought about buying an eggroll at the thai-chinese restaurant.  my friend wanted popcorn and soft ice cream.  as much as I was tempted to get a frozen ice coffee, I held out.

my back was pretty much aching and sore and I was truly exhausted  form the day's work.  I ended up getting a slice of pizza.  I have been trying so hard to lose weight lately, but I haven't lost a drop.  I haven't been eating after 8:00 p.m. but I started nashing on sunflower seeds at night.  not great!  I only had about 20 shekels on me and that was for a cab if we needed.  the busses were running to 12:30 a.m. so we didn't need a taxi.  we were both ready to go home by 10:00 p.m.  It felt like two old ladies out to town.

there was an outdoor market so we walked around for a bit.  I didn't see anything to buy except a toy for the kids and I held out.  they are going away for 5 days to hotels for a vacation.  my vacation is not having to mind them for a few days.  I ended up buying a fresh fruit salad for 5 shekels.  even though I don't eat at night, it was refreshing.  it probably gave me a sugar rush.  I drank two glasses of almond milk when I got home from work.  I didn't have any real milk at home.  I added a bit of cinnamon and chocolate powder.  it was okay but I think I will buy some real milk this morning. 

we didn't walk all over the city looking for music.  we went to the central area where there was a huge outdoor concert space.  we saw an amazing Russian violinist named sanya kroiter.  I truly loved him.  he looks like a young Robert dinero and his music is out of this world.  I left feeling very satisfied.  it was a little bittersweet because I remembered the years before when I would be at klezmer with my young son and parents all night long.  I don't think I could handle being there alone with my grandkids.

 I am alone for Shabbat.  I will make myself something simple to eat.  I have a copy of the novel, 'the zookeeper's wife', so I will have something amazing to read.  I start my dog sitting gig on Saturday night.  my friend is bringing over her two small dogs for about a month while she has a family reunion in montreal.  that's right , I will have 4 dogs here.  I am planning on keeping her dogs downstairs.  I can't worry about the two males getting into macho alpha dog fights or peeing all over my house for territory.  I also, have to go over to my son's house and feed his horrible cat while they are away.  at least, my friend paid me for my services even though I already blew the money.

and now I must get dressed and out and somehow get the upstairs cleaned.  that will be quite a feat.  I don't truly believe that this woman will want the apartment but I must at least, try.  I let the water out of the pool yesterday.  it had turned green and I didn't have the money to buy cleaning agents.  hopefully, my son will clean it and put it away before winter this year.  we had a wonderful summer in it.  so that is my story for now.