Friday All Day Long

it is 11:30 a.m. in the holy city of zefat.  i have the grand kids with me all day.  i managed to do a bit of cooking last night.  yes, the kids are with me for shabbat, once again.  the sephardi clan brings in shabbat early so there is little time for the big kids to rest after work.  they prefer to be here for shabbat.  they don't usually return home until 4:30 p.m or even later.  last week we filled up the pool right before shabbat began.

i got up early and washed the floors.  i did them on wednesday but with the kids and dogs here all day, they were a mess.  my hip is stiff and it's hard to bend.  my right knee is acting up and i suspect, it is a result of the fall i took a few weeks ago.  i had the boy with me all day and a friend came over.  i splurged and bought sherbet, ice cream, cottage cheese, grapes, mango and melon.  we had a fruit platter and cottage cheese and i served ice coffee for dessert.  i'm still off coffee.  i still can't stand the smell.

 i made corn on the cob, piquant fish and chicken with potatoes, pumpkin, squash, onions, red peppers, and chick peas.  i baked coconut bars and a sweet potato kugel.  i made a mixed green salad and will probably make a cole slaw.  i will serve instant couscous with the chicken.  i also made a few pieces of broiled chicken in a sweet chili sauce.  i'll serve it for lunch with the kugel.

i took out a loan from the bank so i could pay off my bills and buy some very needed, household supplies.  i needed a few weeks of quiet form the bill collectors.  my telephone payment was returned.  trying to get someone from the phone company to help me on the voice mail is impossible.  i gave up trying.  how many times can you listen to the same recording?

the kids are following me from room to room.  it is too cool to use the pool this morning.  i am tired.  i started eating sugary things again.  i'm too tired to resist.  i need to get my body back into shape.  a good friend of mine is in the country visiting her kids.  she will come up to zefat soon.  i'm excited.  i haven't seen her in a few years.  we both had cancer.  she opted to go macro biotic and i went with chemo and radiation.  she's bopping around and thin and i'm fat and struggling to move.

my niece came over with the family to retrieve some of her belongings.  i've been storing them for about 6 years.  it was a fast day and yet i washed the floors and made lunch.  i made bulgar with veggies and a salad.  no one touched anything.  i poured out some drinks and that was it.  as it was a fast day, they didn't allow their kids to use the pool.  they had to travel to the center of the country so i offered to keep the kids here for a few hours.  the kids really don't know me and they all preferred to leave with their parents.

my niece offered to make a pool date for the following day but it never happened.  i stayed  home with the grandson and waited to hear form them.  i got a message from my sister that her husband was taking the kids for a walk.  she invited me to bring the grandson over for a while.  i was too tired.to schlep over to her apartment complex.  i didn't feel like it, either.  i am tired of running over there.  she also called to ask me to come tonight to visit her son.  he is a grown man, starting med school next week, and is quite capable of coming over to say hi.  i am trying very hard not to get down or feel negative thoughts.  i don't like that no one will come over to see me here.  it brings up too much heart ache from the past and that ruins my plan to stay positive.