Pesach 2015

it is 6:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat.   I just moved all of my grains, pasta, beans and legumes out of my main kitchen to the small kitchen pantry. I went shopping for Pesach today and spent a small fortune.  I know it's a bit early but I couldn't face being in the house.  I am having a hard time concentrating on the Pesach cleaning this year.  I am all over the place and I find it very frustrating.

I decided to buy cleaning supplies and ended up buying tons of chicken, meat, napkins, disposable plates, aluminum foil, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, soap, tuna fish, grape juice, potato chips, cakes, garbage bags, tea and coffee all kosher for Pesach.  yes, the toilet paper is kosher.  they didn't have the round matzos so I will have to get them next week.  I want to buy a  really good bottle of wine for the Seder.  we usually get some from a winery in Dalton where my son once worked.

the daughter-in-law's family is going away for the Seder.  she asked if she could invite her married sister and family.  you know, the one with the 4 month old crying baby and two little boys.  they ruined my tu b'shvat Seder so I guess it's only natural that she wants to ruin my Pesach Seder, too.  my son does a great Seder every year.  he reads it rapid speed and we are at the meal part in no time at all.  as we all are drunk after 4 cups of wine, we sing all of the Pesach songs and it's really a blast.  the baby's crying will drown out all of the Seder.  my son will lose it and so will I.   the kids will be wild and leave the table and it will be a mess.

I ran to town to get to the hardware store yesterday.  I spent a small fortune there too.  I was able to find rat poison so I'm hoping to avoid another invasion this summer.  I started spot painting.  I painted over my grandson's crayon designs.  it took a few coats of the white paint but they are finally gone.   I didn't have the patience to start scrubbing the walls in the television room.  painting was much faster.  I didn't have to do entire walls.  I just needed to brighten up areas where little kids leave their mark.  I used to undo my dad's finger prints from the walls.  oh how I miss the man.  it will be 10 years since he left this earth in may.

I still need to put away all of the Purim costumes and props.  they are strewn all over the bed.  the closet doors were jammed shut so I didn't have access to the closets.  my son opened them a bit so I can reorganize my Purim things.  I will still have to get a guy in from the furniture store to fix them.  I am getting agitated.  it is getting harder to function with the kids to deal with all day.  they are so wild.   I had a particularly hard time this afternoon when my grandson's friends took a hike down the stairs from the gan.

the mother of these two 'angels' helps me by delivering my grandson to the gan at my corner.  his gan is about a 15 minute walk home.  my grandson finds the walk difficult.   I in turn, pick up her 3 year old boy when I get my 3 year old granddaughter.  the boy is a handful.  he refuses to come with me most of the time and he is always throwing rocks.  today the big brother, who is 5, made a run for it with his brother.  we all went running down several flights of stairs after the brats.

as if this wasn't enough stress, the 3 year old boy went running down the street to my house with my grandkids.   I could not, for the life of me, find him.  my grandson wouldn't tell where he was   hiding so I searched every room on both floors for him.  the mother was outside nearly hysterical thinking he was lost.  I screamed and begged my grandson to let me know where the kid was.  he was hiding under a chair downstairs.  his hands were wrapped around the chair so I couldn't pull him out.  I gave him a firm swat on the behind and yanked him hard.  I was ready to kill him. I was completely finished after that.

the kids are here for Shabbat.  the house was trashed by the puppy who pees and craps everywhere.   I got up at 7:30 a.m. to do the floors.  we were having a horrific winter rain storm.  it was freezing this morning.   this storm came right after a 2 day heat wave.  is there any wonder I'm confused?  I just put up a pot of soup for tomorrow night.  I bought turkey necks yesterday.  I have tons of chopped turkey so I'm going to make stuffed peppers tomorrow.  i'll make chicken wings for Saturday's lunch.  I was planning on making teriyaki liver, but i put the liver back in the freezer.  I don't feel like bothering.

last week I made a frozen pudding pie.  they can have left over hamentashen this Shabbat.  I'm really tired.   maybe i'll make some cranberry muffins in the morning.  i'll make kasha tomorrow.  I have two large bags of rice that I don't want to open.  it will be a simple Shabbat.  last week was intense.  I got drunk on Saturday and felt lousy all week long.  I couldn't move on Sunday or Monday.  I am really just plain tuckered out as they say in the south.  only I live in the north.  to be continued..........