The Best Made Plans

it is 6:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat.  I have been cooking since 4:00 p.m. because I thought my niece and family would come over for dinner. they are returning to India on Tuesday.  I got to see them once in two months.  they called at 3:00 p.m. because they were ready to visit.  I was waiting for the electrician to come.  we still do not have electricity in 3 of the rooms downstairs.

the air conditioner installer who played with the electric box for 4 hours on Thursday could not come today.  I doubt that he will ever come here again.  he clearly did not know what he was doing.  a local electrician form the local shul promised to 'jump over' at 3:00 p.m. 

my friend is coming here tomorrow around 2:00 p.m. hence, I invited the family for dinner tonight.  I don't want them to come tomorrow while my friend is here.  I washed the floors with plenty of bleach this morning.  we had 4 dogs here for Shabbat and it was awfully unpleasant.  I ran out of perfumed floor polish and the dish soap did not cut the smell of dog pish.  there was assorted dog hair all over the place.

I made bean soup, fried eggplant, fillet of salmon, cole slaw and  macaroni for supper.  I guess I can serve it tomorrow for lunch.  my friend is planning on staying the night and we are going to Netanya together to visit a mutual friend.  I haven't seen her in over 10 years.  I plan on coming back on Wednesday.

the yeshiva needs me to sub for their regular cook, who replaced me when I got sick two years ago.  the gig is for 3 weeks.  I really need the money.  I hope I can still get it together to cook for 20 people.  it's been a long time.  I hate people seeing me so overweight.  I gained 25 pounds since I last worked at the yeshiva.

I am getting really uptight about the electricity.  I have stayed home twice now for nothing.  I am planning on being out of zefat for two days.  this Shabbat ends in a fast.  tisha b'av starts on Saturday night.  it is a rough fast. I am not looking forward to it.  I do not know what to do with the giant puppy, either.  having paying guests downstairs is going to be a hassle with 3 dogs upstairs.  I know the dogs are going to make a lot of noise.

I am already too tense.   I simply cannot go with the flow. my son procrastinates about every thing.  he promised to paint the hallway but I know he won't.  if I didn't have the 3 dogs I would stay in Netanya for the week.

Epilogue: my good friend from America came to visit on Tuesday.  about an hour after she arrived my niece came with her family.  no one was hungry.  the kids played outside while their parents took some of their belongings from the downstairs closet.  I have been storing their belongings for over 7 years.  I said goodbye to them and spent the evening with my friend.  I helped her go through old photos until 2:00 a.m.  I've been storing her belongings for years, too.

we made up to go to Netanya on a late afternoon bus.  we had a ball with our friend and laughed our tushies off.  I headed back to zefat and my friend went on to Arielle.  I threw out all the food that I had made when I came home on wednesday.  I went off to the yeshiva on Thursday to check out the kitchen.  on Friday I spent the day cooking for Shabbat.