Mac 'n Cheese

Buggy is back at school and it's so weird to be alone in the apartment. Don't get me wrong, I have a ton to do so it's not like I'm wandering from room to room, forlorn and sad, but it's still an adjustment. That, and the 6:45 a.m. wake up call this morning.

I apologize for not writing sooner. I've actually got a work gig and that means, everytime I sit down at the computer, I'm doing work. I decided to take some time this morning for a quick update before I get back to the daily grind.

An entire week has gone by and Buggy and I deemed it the final countdown of freedom, so that meant we spent a lot of time just being with each other and hanging out. We did some impressive cooking for Shabbos; Buggy's onion soup recipe was delicious fot Friday night dinner and so much better than boring chicken soup. We also had a very relaxing Shabbos day, which was nice, as Saturday night was really mellow. We watched the top 40 Soft Rock songs of all time - which will explain something in a minute.

Sunday, we spent the morning in Modiin at my eye Dr. and, after he dilated my eyes, we drove back to Jerusalem to spend the rest of the day enjoying Buggy's freedom before school. Since it was Buggy's Day, we did exactly what he wanted to do, which means that we spent the day being Mall Rats. First, we went to eat some lunch at Yotvata upstairs in the food court, and then we ran some errands. We needed to buy handles for the cabinets in both bathrooms, and I wanted to get a magazine rack now that our subscription to The International Herald Tribune began. My folks should be happy about that, P"G when they come to visit us in a few months there will be a daily paper to read! Personally, I'm loving the cross word puzzle so that's fun for me too.

After we left Home Center, we went to Steimazky's to get books for us, since we're both towards the end of the books we're reading now. Buggy is reading Forest Madge by Robin Hobb and I'm reading The Book Thief, which is really unique as the point of view is the Grim Reaper. I highly recommend the book for anyone looking for an interesting read. Anyway, we both picked up some books and then we went to a 4:30 p.m. showing of Stardust. Fortunately, my pupils were close to normal at that point so I wasn't in total agony throughout the movie, which I really liked.



Welcome back Michelle Pfeiffer!! She was really terrific, and looked as stunning as ever. Think she's had any work done? Lord, if I could do some plastic surgery I would totally get her nose and cheek implants. But, I promised Buggy no talk of plastic surgery until gravity really takes hold. Hmmm, one day perhaps?

Anyway, we got back to the apartment and I got to work on a Back to School mix for Buggy. It is the most eclectic mix I've ever put together, but he really, really likes it. Here's what's on it, and you'll understand where the whole Soft Rock Top 40 fits in:

Girls who Play Guitar, Maximo Park
Suburban Knights, Hard-Fi
Suspicious Eyes, The Rakes
Your Love is Not EnoughManic Street Preachers
Empire, Kasabian
Pina Colada, Warren Buffet version
Superstar, The Carpenters
BlackbirdSarah McLaughlin version
Bizarre Love Triangle, New Order
Moonlight Shadow, Mike Oldfield
We Are, Anna Johnsson
My Immortal, Evanescence
More Than a Feeling, Boston
Season of the Witch, Donovan (my suggestion, I love this song)
Hang on Sloopy, The McCoys
Wild Thing, The Troggs
Baba O'Reilly, The Who
Hey There Delilah, The White T's

So, that was a lot of fun putting together for him. I printed it out using my iTunes software so it looks really nice in the CD case and gave it to him as a present for school. We tried to sleep in yesterday morning, but we had a lot to do, so we were up and moving around. I put in about 4 hours of work before we had to go to Hadassah Ein Karem for my neurologist appointment.

Fortunately, I saw Professor Avinoam Reches, who happens to also be the head of Israel's Medical Ethics Committee and, which we sat reading the newspaper outside of his office, I read a quote of his on the front page of the paper. It made me feel good to see someone who was, well, ethical. Anyway, the meeting was going just fine and we were discussing my medical history and whether or not he thought that the Pseudotumor Cerebri had returned, when he asked to do an examination. And, sure enough, he did not like the way my optic nerve looked so he called downstairs and asked one of his colleagues in the neuropthalmology department to do him a favor and look at my eyes. He couldn't rule out papilliademia, which basically means that the optic nerve is getting crushed by a build up of spinal fluid in the brain. If someone presents with papilliademia, it's a serious emergency, because the person could go blind. And suddenly, it was November 2004 all over again and I was being rushed all over because the Dr's thought it was a big emergency. Fortunately for me, this time I was with Buggy, who tried to really calm me down as we raced downstairs to the neuropthalmology department. I almost forgot to breath and kept telling Buggy in the elevator that there was no way I was going to let them do another spinal tap. That's one life experience I never, EVER, want to relive.

The long and short of it is that, after a really uncomfortable exam by a very unpleasant Dr. who really didn't speak any English, he ruled out papilliademia. B"H! We went back to Professor Reches and he gave us the green light to, well, continue with our lives. We asked him if it would be okay for us to get pregnant, given my medical history, and he laughed and told us to go ahead, get pregnant, and we could even get pregnant that night if we wanted to. It was funny, and the laughter helped relax me a little bit. I just want to leave the whole pseudotumor cerebri thing way, way behind me. Losing another 20 pounds would help tremendously, and so we're really trying to get my weight down, but at least I know that at this weight my condition hasn't returned.

We left the hospital really, really happy and then went food shopping for school. And boy, did we buy lots of good stuff! We came home and I made Buggy two brown paper bags full of breakfast and lunch! It was so much fun. And then, early this morning while he was davening, I slipped a note into his lunch bag. Hehehe, I can't wait for him to read it!

And that brings me back to today. I don't think school is going to start any time soon. The Universities are striking because the Government owes them 300 million shekel. For some reason, I don't see Olmert writing a check anytime soon. It will be really interesting to see if I have class next week too! Unbelievable. I feel bad for people in the one year program, this will certainly throw a wrench into the year.

Meanwhile, all my husband wants for dinner tonight is Mac 'n Cheese and well, I can't make it for him. We bought all the ingredients last night and then I realized, I have one pot, and it's meat! I feel terrible, he's going to be so disappointed when he gets home and sees that we're not having his favorite dinner. Think he'll be okay if I surprised him with leftovers instead? Oy! I'm going to have to figure something out...

OK, I'm off to work. Hope everyone is having a good week!