As the hot water fills up my tub, I decided to take a minute to update the blog. I cleaned the apartment tonight for almost 2 hours straight, as I had to scrub my floor after Friday's dinner got a bit messy, and am looking forward to an evening of pampering. I've got a bath bomb (don't ask) and a mud mask, some India.Arie music and the end of a really lousy book to finish before turning in. I make no excuses for this evenings activities as I truly deserve it.
Fast forward to Thursday, one of the busiest days of the year thusfar. The window guy came at the crack of dawn (8:00 a.m. for me) and literally woke me up. I had half an eye open as he caulked the hole between the window and my wall. Now, we wait for the next big rain storm to see if it's enough. After the window guy came and went, I hit the laundromat to wash all of my bedding and towels and gym gear. When I moved the wash into the dryer, I noticed a dead, big black bug in the washer. I hope to g-d it didn't come from my clothing, cause it was big and furry and nasty looking. After the laundromat, I headed back to the apartment to plan the rest of the day and ended up agreeing to go to lunch with Lana. We went to our usual place and it was a nice break for me, especially since I was to spend the next 12 hours preparing for last night's dinner.
I headed over to Supersol to buy the crucial ingredients for my meal and then I went back to Boris's place for the fruits and vegees. By the time I got everything ready for cooking, it was already 4:00 p.m. and I had only made the chicken and meat loafs! I ended up cooking chicken soup, an apple kugel, marinara gfilta fish, noodles for the chicken soup, steamed string beans, brown rice and peas, white and dark chocolate covered strawberries (these were the hit of the meal!), blondies and a carrot kugel. We were, at that point, only 9 people so I figured I had enough food. Itai managed to convince Vera to come on Friday before Shabbat to clean the apartment, so I went to bed happy with what I had accomplished. The cooking was done and all I needed to do was assemble the salads and set the table.
Friday morning I jumped out of bed and ran out for my last minute errands including changing money (to pay for Vera), picking up my dry cleaning (the table cloth), and buying drinks. Lana called while I was at Tuv Taam and told me she was coming for dinner, so now I was up to 10 and had a vegetarian at my table. I quickly picked up two bunches of asparagus and ran home to cook them and make a cauliflower kugel. By the time Vera came, I had the kugel in the oven and the salads and fruit salad were all assembled and waiting to be dressed. I didn't have enough time to blow dry my hair straight though, as Shabbos somehow crept up on me, so I quickly jumped in the shower and got dressed with 2 minutes to spare.
The meal was a lot of fun! Lana and I were the only Americans and so the apartment quickly filled with conversations in fluent Hebrew. That worked fine for me as I spend most of the time in the kitchen when I entertain. This group didn't drink as much as my usual group does, and we only polished off one bottom of white wine. Oren and El Jeffe showed up for dessert and, since I only have 10 chairs, Lana and I hung out in the kitchen and cleaned up. Somehow though, my floor got absolutely disgusting and I had to fight the urge to get out the sponga and make it look as sparkling as it was when Vera was finished.
For those of you who don't know me that well, picture Monica from Friends in terms of her neurotic clean tendencies. Magnify that a bit, and you've got me. My little sister can attest to that, as I once chased her around my Upper West Side apartment with a coaster so that she wouldn't leave a ring on my wood table. I know, I know - that's pretty anal. That being said, when people hang out for almost 4 hours, I'd say that's a successful evening. Buggy helped out a lot once people left so the clean up went pretty quickly.
I don't know how this happened exactly but somehow, I became the person who doesn't do dishes on Shabbos day. Oh, I do my dishes on Friday night, especially since I need them for Shabbos, but lately I've been leaving the dirty glasses and dishes to do as soon as Shabbos is out. So, tonight, that's exactly what I did as I caught up with Lana and El Jeffe to see how the rest of their weekend went.
That's when I broke one of my new, expensive wine goblets. I was pretty bummed out especially since that really nice glass was surrouded by the cheap wine goblets I got for free from the wine store on Ben Yehuda street. Why couldn't that one break? As I cleaned up the shattered glass on the counter top, I realized that the brand new washing cup my parents bought for me when they were here in October was also broken (the clay cracked) and I had to throw that out too. It's upsetting that these things broke but I'm keeping it all in perspective, at least it didn't break when people were here and no one hurt themselves.
Tomorrow I have to be up bright and early for my blood test and flu shots. I managed to get someone from Maccabi on the phone and I have no idea where these labs are but apparently, they are only open for a few hours in the morning so I have to get up again at the crack of dawn and make my way to get it down. After that, I am going to have to find some nurses station (don't ask, I should know more tomorrow after I experience this) for the flu shot. I want to get it before I come home to the States for a few weeks. I'm really making an effort to stay healthy and have even added a mug of green day each day to help stave off viruses and diseases.
OK, I'm off to have a relaxing soak in the tub. Literature of the evening is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, one of the greatest American writers who wrote about The Vietnam War.
Shavuah Tov!
PS. Yesterday was Ari Samuel's birthday, Happy Belated Birthday!
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