Happy To Blog

it is 3:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. it has been way too long since i last blogged. it was due to a computer mal function as well as a personal mal function on my part. i am currently downstairs watching the kids. i am not feeling well at all. i actually went to the doctor yesterday to make sure that i was not sick. as everyone knows, i hardly ever do that. i usually consult my homeopath. my throat is killing me. in the past month or so, each member of my family has had a throat infection. some of the members got antibiotics and some went without medication. i only run to doctors for the referrals that i need for the hospital tests and visits. my insurance carrier recently refused the MRI request for my back. yes,they actually needed more information from the neurosurgeon. i had already decided not to do one anyway because i didn't feel like traveling to the south of the country while we were having ketushas dropping and mad men stabbing random individuals. i didn't even know that my request for the procedure had been denied. it kind of ticked me off, to say the least. after all, i am still considered to be a cancer patient. i discovered a new female doctor at my clinic. she seems genuinely interested in her patients. i get to vent about my past illness and she seems to get it. she doesn't tell me horror stories about her previous patients nor does she vent about how little she earns, like the seasoned doctors do. i have never been one to prefer a female doctor but this one i really like. i actually felt at peace with the world after seeing her. as usual, i had a bit of a meltdown at the clinic last week.

once again, my paperwork came back addressed to the wrong hospital. and once again, i complained about the inefficiency of that office. i got nowhere with the office person and all of the aggravation made me sick, once again. i'm sure they view me there as a crackpot. i don't even care. i had an MRI scheduled for 3:00 a.m. that next morning and the insurance carrier would only provide a taxi one way. i was obviously concerned about my return to zefat at such an unholy hour of the day. i was pretty sure that i would have to hang out there for a couple of hours until daybreak and i just couldn't bare the thought of being there any longer. as i tried to explain to this bureaucratic office worker, the actual MRI takes a lot out of one's self. once again, i was reminded that i could do these tests closer to home. i countered as usual, with the fact that they knew my case right there in tel hashomer. so much for dealing with bureaucrats.

 i am sick and my throat is burning. i also got into a tiff with the check out lady at the big supermarket that morning. i tried to return two cans of coconut cream at the check out counter. i had bought them thinking that they were half priced. i was rudely informed by the check out gal that the sale was only on coconut 'liquid' and not cream. go know the difference! i even went back to check out the sign again. yes, there it was in microscopic letters coconut 'liquid'. the fact that there were only cans of coconut cream on that shelf next to the half priced sign with identical pix of the cans of cream didn't seem to matter. as i approached that same check out gal, the very next day, with my new purchases and the two cans of coconut cream, she rudely told me that i had no right to bring food items into the store. she rudely pointed to the store's front office and rudely explained that people have to approach the woman at the counter. yes, she pointed to the same lady from the day before, who told me to approach the check out lady in aisle 1. when i answered that the counter lady had referred me to her, aisle 1 gal, she rudely told me that the counter lady wasn't the manager and that i should have gone to the office in the back. is there any wonder that i don't leave my house too often and deal with the public? my last errand of that day was to return a deodorant spray that i had bought the day before on sale at the pharmacy. it was a "buy one and get the second one for a shekel" sale. i reached for two dove deodorants. when i got home i realized that i had bought a generic brand instead of the dove. i have been using dove deodorant spray for years. the generic body sprays don't do the trick for me. i asked the salesgal if i could exchange the one deodorant. she told me that according to the board of health it was illegal to return deodorants. really?? when i reasoned that it was still in the same bag that i had purchased it in, she once again, told me that it was against the law. she repeated the mantra over and over again. i then addressed a young man who may have been in a managerial position for help. he wanted to help. apparently, he never heard about the health department's edict but couldn't help because the sale was over already. there was a difference of about 6 shekels which threw them both into a quandary. i offered to add the amount and they gave me the deodorant.

 i got home and went to bed. i was genuinely tired after my outing. i had even walked home. i had stopped off at my friends' home to rake their leaves before they returned from america that night. it took about an hour and a half to get the job done. i had gone over almost every day to leave food for their outdoor cats. that's right, rain or shine i braved it out of my house and over to my friend's home. admittedly, it is all of about a seven minute walk. i don't think i had the kids with me that day. i actually had quite a break from babysitting last week. the kids went away for shabbat so i was also spared from cooking shabbat meals. i did make a pot of chicken soup with turkey meatballs and some rice to bring to my friends. i also stocked their fridge with staples because i knew they'd be tired. i spent the shabbat morning reading a fascinating book about the peace agreement with sadat that ended with us returning the sinai. i guess you could say that it was the beginning of the end for us in terms of having to give back land for peace. it was amazing that world opinion hasn't changed about us one bit since the 70's. i had some chicken soup and went to bed about 7:00 p.m. on friday night. i slept until the next morning. i felt awful. the house was very cold but it was quite warm outside in the sun. i sat outside for about an hour but felt dizzy and queezy. i went back to bed until the afternoon. i got up and dressed and went over to see my friends. i stayed until about an hour after the sabbat ended. i was feeling unwell.

 i have been binge eating for a couple of months now and living in my house robes. i have put on a ton of weight and my stomach is huge and swollen. getting dressed is not easy. my clothes no longer fit. i started a diet once again yesterday. yesterday the big kids threw a birthday party for my granddaughter. she turned 3 on shabbat. i had wanted to buy her a pink tricycle but i never made it to town. i bought her two talking stuffed toys from the magic garden television show. they weren't cheap. she got two talking baby dolls from the sephardi family. one actually cries until you put the pacifier in its mouth. it is actually quite annoying. my grandson pretty much adopted the stuffed toys for himself. my granddaughter kept thinking they were teletubby dolls. oh well!

 the party was excruciating for me. young nursing mothers, 3 newborn babies, and a slew of little kids running all over the place. originally, my daughter-in-law wanted the party upstairs in my living room. lucky for me that she changed her mind. we have an enormous laundry room downstairs which co-functions as a playroom. i was once again put upon to make a cheesecake. i ran to the store to buy honey because the sephardi grandma was making morracan crepes. these non dairy crepes are not filled but served plain with honey. i can't stand them. they are quite doughy.

before the party i cleaned and shlepped in all of the plastic chairs that i could find and even brought down some of my kitchen chairs. i dragged in two large plastic tables from outside and another heavy folding table from the neighbor. my friend had given me some party goods from the states and i put a huge plastic disposable tablecloth on the wall which covered up the water damaged plaster and added a festive party look. the entire wall was covered in balloons. i usually stay upstairs when they have kids' parties but yesterday i was in it til the end. at one point i made hot chocolate for all the kids and served coffee ad tea to all their mothers. there were loads of cold drinks but everyone seemed to prefer hot drinks. there were tons of candy and nash but no real food for a party set at supper time. the sephardi grandma's batter didn't work so she turned it into fried donuts. there was birthday cake, cheesecake and fried donuts. not a great day to start a diet. i still think pizza or some other food dish like spaghetti would have been more appropriate. what can i say? i'm from another generation, another country and another planet apparently. i don't like a lot of kids running around and i don't love babies.