Run, Run, Run!!

no energy to edit/no time for links -- forgive me.... please...
------------------------------------------------------------------


Slept late, thank God. Would have slept more, but too much to do.

Got up and quickly threw in two more loads of dishes. Still trying to clean up from the... did I mention we had a... mouse!?!?... for the FOURTH time since we moved into this apartment! No one (not even our really great exterminator) can figure out how the creatures are getting into our home!!! aaack!!! (they are NOT cute when you do not want them in your home!!)

Do you know that I am a really messy germ freak?!?! I know... you are wondering how those two traits can go together. Well, they can.... and it is not pretty!!

God bless her, my newest ANGEL from the heavens came by today. She is a friend of a friend, who has been davening (praying) for me for months, and recently asked to join our food rotation. (Twice a week friends cook meals for us, to help ensure that my kids and I get at least a few balanced meals a week). Anyway, when she stopped by to drop off food, she looked at our balagan (mess) and said "I can help with this."

Once again, Moshe's words echoed in my mind.... "just say YES!"

So, I looked this energetic woman straight in the eye and said, "Thank you; that would be so helpful!"

Without missing a beat, she set a date for the following week. Then, she set another date for this week! She is a powerhouse! I am in awe of this lady, who is ten years my senior and seems full of boundless energy!

In the end, I cancelled OT so that we could finish today's project. We finished cleaning out my parve cabinet, as well as the cabinets under the sinks and... most importantly, my countertops! I cannot begin to express how nice it is to see my countertops again!!

Such a simple pleasure.....

In the middle of all that, someone from ZM (Zichron Menachem) called to convince me to send my kids to today's special program (I did not even know there was a special program today!). OK, I can do this. I called the school and, miracle of miracles, my kids got the message that I was looking for them and called me back! My youngest could not attend because today one of the kids in her class had a birthday party. But my son agreed to go. So I called ZM back and the coordinator said she would send the hasa'ah (transport) for him.

Great! Until a few hours later, when a different coordinator from ZM called to say that she might not have a way to pick up my son unless he left school half an hour early. That is no good!

I called the school again, but did not manage to speak with my son.

Meanwhile, the coordinator called me back, told me that my son should just take a cab to ZM. I still did not know how I was going to find my son.

At around 3:00, my ANGEL left to go help out our mutual friend and I continued trying to figure out logistics.

Just then, my daughter called; she could not go to a friend's home after school and wanted to know what to do. If she came home, she would need to take two buses to the birthday party, unless I wanted to take her. I really did not want to take her. But there was nothing for her to do in the meanwhile. So, I told her to come home, hoping that after resting at home for an hour she might be willing to take another two buses to the birthday party.... (ok, it was a long shot, but I was desperate!)

I also told her to tell her brother to take a cab to ZM and that they would pay for it when he got there. It should be so simple!

A few minutes later, my son called, anxious about the taxi ride. What if the cab driver does not let him out of the cab without paying?? I tried to reassure him, without much success. Just then, the school "superman" (this guy does EVERYTHING for the school, it just seems insufficient to call him the maintenance man) got on the phone. I explained the situation to him and he helped my son get a cab; he explained everything to the cab driver, so my son just had to get in and go. Phew!

OK, it was now 3:30. I wanted to go pay a shiv'a call to my neighbor, whose husband just died from a brain tumor (more on that another time). Today is the last day of the shiv'a and I had hoped to clear a full hour to be with my neighbor. If I had to take my daughter to the birthday party at 4:30, I would have almost enough time.

Then, just as I was about to leave my home, my friend called and told me that my neighbor was resting until 4:00. There goes that idea. I did not have enough time to go. OK, I would go later....

... maybe I could persuade my daughter to take another bus... or two.... If not, I would have to go to the shiv'a afterwards (I hoped there would be enough time).

My youngest walked in the door, close to 4:30, visibly upset. It turns out that she waited around to help her brother, who was less than gracious, then she missed not one but TWO buses, and arrived home with no way of being on time. No way I could send her by bus at that point -- she would have been super late and she was already exhausted her bus rides home. She was so generous with her brother, I had to take her.

As soon as I got back, I went to the shiv'a (more on that another time too. maybe.)

I stayed as long as I could. Then I left with another friend to a laughter workshop with Yehudit Kotler at Beit Natan, in English. It was so much fun!!! I really needed that pick-me-up on so many levels!!

I was happy to see two other friends there, one who I know from chemo and the other who I know from a mutual friend and who has become a friend in her own right. I was sorry to meet another old friend there, who I did not know had "joined the club." (She has some sort of Leukemia, and I sure hope that she will be ok!) I met several other really special women there too. And, of course, I laughed a LOT!!!

My friend just came along for the fun!

We went straight from the laughter workshop to tonight's local English Rosh Chodesh Shiur. This month's guest speaker, Naomi Grumet, led a very interesting discussion based on her doctoral research about Nidah (Family Purity). It was fascinating!!

Usually the shiurim end some time between `10:00 and 10:30. Women kept asking more questions (me too) and we did not finish until almost 11:30!!

Then, when I came home, I had to make popcorn and drinks for the kids to barter tomorrow at their school's shuk kach-ten ("give and take" market). Kids are supposed to bring old toys and stuff to "sell" (for special school money, good for that day only) or trade. My kids learned early on that kids always want to "buy" food, so that became our "standard fare," in addition to whatever stuff they wanted to bring.

So I stayed up for another hour or so making popcorn and packing it into sandwich bags and making iced tea (our new "thing").

Then I spent a few minutes with Moshe, eating dinner and chatting. Then a "quick" blog post (done!) and off to bed!!

Whew!!

And I have chemo tomorrow???



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA