Monday All Day

it is 12:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  I haven't posted in a long while.  I have been too tired.  I've had the grandkids with me a lot and I've been cooking supper, five times a week for 22 yeshiva students.  I haven't had the strength to do laundry, pay my bills or do any other errands.  I have been binge eating without stop.  my back hurts and I'm terribly out of shape.

my sleep has been erratic and I'm basically a wreck.  last week I had to sub two times for the other cook.  she is also breaking down physically.  I put in 61/2 hours on Wednesday and then another 7 hours on Thursday.  that's all standing on my feet.  I can't seem to cut veggies sitting down.  the conditions in  the kitchen are primitive.

the oven isn't working and we are down to three gas burners.  we use a large toaster oven to bake kugels and cakes and roast veggies and make casseroles.  it takes about 2 hours or more.  I spent an hour yesterday mincing chicken cutlets and turkey meat to make 2 shepherd's pies.  I didn't have the hand strength to fully mash a vat of cooked potatoes.  it was quite lumpy.  and the pies were too liquidy. I didn't have any more time left to bake them more.

my granddaughter was with me for about an hour and a half and I was pressured to pick up my grandson from school.  I called my son to bring my grandson to the yeshiva.  I needed more time but I was too tired to continue working.  I put the leftover salads from lunch into plastic containers and washed out the many very large plastic dirty bowls.  I scrambled to clean the stove tops and the floor.  did I mention that the sink gets clogged and I have to bale out the mirky water after every set of pots and bowls that I wash??

 I started to cut up tomatoes and cucumbers to make an Israeli salad but I gave up.  there was plenty of leftover cucumber salad, egg salad and macaroni salad.  I threw the remainder of the carrot salad into the macaroni salad.  I did manage to make a side dish of cooked zucchini with chickpeas in soy sauce.  hopefully, there was enough food for the guys.  the food processor is a 'challenge' to use.  the cover flies off and you have to insert a knife onto the starter button to make it run.  I am afraid to use it.  the other cook has the magic touch.  she makes all kinds of salads with it.  I stick to a knife and make chopped salads or cooked veggies.

I probably could have stayed another half an hour to finish the Israeli salad but I wanted to go home.  my son was giving me a lift to my house.  otherwise, I have a twenty minute walk back to the bus station and at least a half an hour wait for a bus. I also have a half an hour bus ride now since they changed the route. I obviously, opted to go home by car. I was so tired that I found myself telling my son where to let me off.  crazy??

I had the grandkids for the whole Shabbat.  I picked them up in town from school on Friday and rode the school bus home with them.  it is not for the fainthearted.  the older kids are animals.  they put their school bags on the seats so the little kids don't get to sit down.  they also scream and literally, hang from the rafters.  there is no adult on these busses.  last week I screamed at them to sit down and shut up until I lost my voice.  on friday, I turned my back to them once I made sure that most of the little first graders had seats. I ran to the supermarket early in the morning to get veggies and fruits.

I bought a ton of treats in town on Thursday. I didn't get home until after 8:00p.m.  I spent a real fortune. I felt bad for the kids being away from their parents.  they slept at the Sephardi grandparents' house on Thursday night.  their parents went to a hotel in Tiberius. I washed the floors before I went to get the kids on Friday morning.

on the ride back from school on Friday morning, we stopped for more kids at another school.  I  tried to get the kids to go to the back of the bus to clear the aisle for the other kids to get off the bus. I went to the back of the bus and started tossing school bags off of seats.  the bratty kids were pretty shocked and enraged at my behavior.  I finally got the new kids to get seated before I made my exit.

 I am currently dog sitting for another friend. this dog is old and ugly and has managed to rip out most of her hair. she scratches non stop and also poops and pees non stop throughout my house.  I am not digging this at all.  my dog also has a scratching problem.  I believe that he is allergic to fleas. 

I read that coconut oil remedies this.  I try to slather some on his body whenever I find a moment.  I haven't been entirely successful.  I really should do the other dog too but I can't stand to touch it.  my granddaughter had some kind of break out herself, on Saturday.  it first looked like a few mosquito bites.  when she woke up her face had huge red marks like hives.  it wasn't on her back or other parts of her body so I didn't think it was chicken pox or measles.  I applied coconut oil to relieve the itching.

she complained that her belly button was hurting. sure enough, she had a huge swelling there too.   I was a bit anxious because she recently had a hernia surgery.  after lunch I let the kids go visit friends.  they were at the local park binging on sweets and I thought I might get a bit of a rest. at 2:00 p.m. I became alarmed.  I found them playing in the dirt and my granddaughter looked like a demon.  she had huge patches of redness over her eye lids and under her eyes.  I assumed that it might be an allergic reaction to the coconut oil. I asked my neighbor, who is a fledgling nurse, if she thought it was an allergy.  she didn't really commit to an answer.

I managed to get the kids back to the hose and promptly showered them and put them into clean pajamas.  we played bingo for a while.  Shabbat is pretty short now.  it ends at 5:30 p.m.  I couldn't wait to call their parents and let them know that their daughter needed medical attention.  they didn't seem too concerned.  an aunt came over and took pix and sent them to the parents who were out of town.  I asked my son to come home earlier. they like to go to the movies and mauls.  we were driven to my son's apartment so the kids could go to sleep in their own beds.

I was tired because I had missed my Shabbat nap.  I forced myself not to fall asleep. there is nothing more wrong than to be found sprawled out and snoring on the couch when I'm babysitting.  the parents returned home at 1:00 a.m.  I never did fall asleep.  I could barely stand yesterday.  I would have asked the other cook to sub for me but she was just barely back on her feet after having suffered a kidney stone attack.  I came home with my son yesterday at 5:00 p.m.  I usually get home at 7:00 p.m.  I think I passed out after my cooking show at 7:00 p.m.  I do not have to watch the kids today. I am planning on going to the yeshiva around 3:00 p.m.

I am desperately trying to curb my food binging.  I do not have a real plan.  I am trying to eat one food item at a time.  I had one egg for breakfast.  I had one banana for a snack.  I had one red pepper with one large spoon of peanut butter for lunch.  I did have a nice bowl of green salad.  last night I had one chicken cutlet for supper. and I had one grapefruit for a snack.  I don't think that I can commit to a fruit fast at this moment in time.  and I don't think hat I can deal with the south beach diet anymore.