Keeping Busy

it is 7:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i have nearly finished doing the dishes left over from shabbat. my son told me that it was a nice shabbat. i worked very hard to make a decent meal. after the long holiday, i was really not in the mood to cook any more. i had left over meatballs in artichoke bottoms that i 'refreshed' with a splash of tomato juice.

i was planning on making chicken cutlets for dinner. i had sahar with me all day long. we shlepped down to the super to buy challahs and veggies. i put him in the shopping wagon for a ride. he wasn't all that happy. we stopped off to put the empty plastic bottles in the recycling cage. they have them now practically, on every block. sahar loves putting the bottles in the holes. i bought him some bambas that put him in a better mood. he also loves dried banana chips.

the store was out of chicken. there were two slimy chicken steaks in the fridge, that never made it to the holiday barbecue. i shredded them and made up a soup for the couscous. i threw in canned chickpeas, pumpkin, onions, squash, potatoes and tomatoes. i added a sufficient amount of chili to spice it up. i cooked up some fresh corn, too.

i made a vegetarian cholent with white potatoes, sweet potatoes and barley. i bought icecream and cones for a shabbat treat. for a change, i baked a banana cake with both white sugar and flour. it went in a big way. i forgot to buy chumus so i made some from a partial can of chick peas and tahina paste. i made a tossed green lettuce salad with tomatoes. i grated two raw beets with a splash of lemon. i was economizing.

i spent the entire sunday doing the kids laundry. i watched sahar in the late afternoon when he came back from daycare. i spent monday morning taking down the sukkah decorations and curtains. it looked like rain. it only took an hour, where as, it took over 3 hours to string up the plastic fruits, in the first place. i washed the sukkah curtains, immediately, and put them away for next year.

i had to pick up sahar from daycare at 3:30 p.m. as the kids went off to tel aviv to buy new shoes for the store. i picked him up in a cab and returned home in a cab. i stopped off briefly at the store to buy some milk. when i got home i discovered that we were out of diapers. we headed out, once more, to the super. i took him in his bicycle/ buggy. he wanted to go out on his scooter, but i knew better than to attempt that.

the kids called from tel aviv and wanted to stay the night. i honestly, didn't mind. sahar was tired and nearly asleep. it didn't seem that hard to manage until the morning. however, the kids decided to come home. i was nearly asleep on their couch when they got back. it was around 1:30 a.m. sahar had just gotten up but returned to sleep with a warm bottle of milk. gal brought home a lot of boxes of shoes. i carried in the heavy boxes and quickly organized them. they are stored on the shelves in the laundry room. i emptied a top shelf to make room for more of the shoes. by the time gal arrived home, it was all done. i even threw out the cartons.

i watched sahar yesterday from 4:30 p.m. til 8:00 p.m. today, i spent the morning in bed. i was rather tired. i finally got up in the late afternoon to dismantle the sukkah. i removed the wooden boards and started to tape them together. it makes it a lot easier when they are in bundles. i was whacking away at the metal bars when my neighbor came by to help. he was very upset that i hadn't asked for help. i honestly, only ask for help, when i can't physically lift something. he unhinged all the bars and carried them downstairs for me. i placed them all back into the storage area.

zvi came back and was astonished that it was all 'magically' done. i let him know that the neighbor had done most of the work. zvi, actually, sat down to talk with me. one of the rare occurances since he got married nearly 3 years ago. we seemed to have 'bonded' again lately. i guess it's never too late.

we are all feeling a bit anxious about the arrival, soon to be, of the new baby. apparently, my daughter-in-law plans to come home straight from the hospital this time. you may remember, that i started my blog about 2 years ago because i was so stressed out about the new baby being at the other family for the first month. i didn't get to hold him for the first month.

i am a bit fearful that i will be expected to help out a lot more this time. i can't imagine taking care of both children at the same time. i have already been informed that sahar will need a lot of attention. thank goodness, that he will be in daycare til 4:00 p.m. i can't imagine giving him any more attention than i already give. i hang on his every word. i sit snd watch him ride his scooter. i sit and watch cartoons with him. i sit and watch videos on you tube with him. i watch him in his bath, while he swims and splashes and gets me all wet.

as it is, we are attached at the hip when we're together. i am not much of a baby person. they, honestly, scare me. i like them around 6 months old when they are already people. i am very over weight right now and desparately, need to trim down before the new baby arrives. i am eating everything right now but eliminating sugar from my diet. i can't seem to get back on my 'south beach' right now.