Friday Afternoon

it  is 4:15 p.m. in the holy city of safed.   I am taking a break from my Shabbat preparations.  I've been on my feet since 10:00 a.m.   the kids told me that they were invited out for dinner after I cooked 2 packages of chicken and defrosted a package of chicken cutlets.  after a bit of deliberation, they decided to stay in this evening and go for a celebratory lunch for a newly married couple.  the little kids will stay with me as the couple live quite a distance from here.

I made fish fillets, stewed chicken, a sweet noodle kugel, beets, cauliflower, fried eggplant and chicken cutlets.  the kids like to eat schnitzel before Shabbat.  candle lighting these days is at 6:30 p.m. and the Shabbat meal starts around 8:00 p.m.   it is a long Shabbat.  I spent the week cleaning for pesach.  I managed to throw out chatchkas, dishes, books, and clothing that I no longer want.  the dining room area is done.  I have pesach goods in the closets and food in the freezer.  I want to do the actual cooking area next week.

I may have the kids with me next week.  I'm not quite sure when the holiday vacation starts.  it seems like it gets longer every year.  it is quite hard to do much when the kids are under foot.  they are so wild when they go outside.  they play with the hose and get everything full of mud.  they paint nail polish all over the walls.  it isn't easy being with them while I'm so busy.

my back is killing me.  I did the four kitchen windows yesterday and it was too much for me.  I may not get around to doing the bedroom windows.  the windows in the living room are impossible for me to lift out.  I spilled a boiling hot cup of tea onto my upper thigh last night.  it was excruciating.  I watched my skin melt away.  I ran outside for aloe vera.    I should have put cold water on it but I was in shock.  I managed to leave the plant on my wound for an hour but it still burned.

I had adhesive eye bandages which I covered the wound with because I was all out of sterile gauge pads.  it still burns a bit. I just burnt my finger and I poured boiling hot water on my fingers last week.  what is happening to me.?  I went to visit my friend at the old age home on Wednesday.   it was most unpleasant.   she is desperate and demanding and clingy too.  I had made plans with another friend for lunch and I was over an hour late.  we ate dried out cheese omelets and were glad to be alive.

I was exhausted when I got back to the neighborhood.  I felt that I had wasted a good cleaning day because the kids were at the other grandmother.  I decided to go to the large supermarket and shop for pesach.  I was in a trance.  I shopped by route.  I had come with a list but I just kept on going up and down aisles.  it took hours.  I bought the essentials but I still need lots of other things in town.  I bought the pesach dog food yesterday in the small supermarket downstairs.  the large supermarket is too religious to carry pet products.

there are two weeks left before pesach; but as I already stated, I'm on a race against the gan vacation.  if I only had me some bucks, I would hire someone to clean my house.  I'm at that stage where the thrill is gone.  I still need to buy: wine, nuts, dates, paint, and of course, veggies and fruits.  I need a new broom and mop.  that is pesach, folks.  meat was extraordinarily expensive  but I managed to get a couple of small pieces.  I bought chicken but I'm not sure what parts.  I went by prices and not cuts this time. 

pesach is only a week so I'm sure we'll manage.   I'm assuming that the kids will go to the Sephardi family for the second holiday of pesach.  the big kids will be working and i'll probably have the small kids.  we'll do picnics and playgrounds and lots of  French fries.  I bought really cheap oil but it fries up great.  I passed on the expensive walnut oil this year.  I'm not planning on baking.  I bought pesach cakes and chocolate and candy.  I made my famous matzah brie for the kids last year and they didn't want any part of it.  this year I bought chocolate spread for them.