Botticelli me thumbnail
- Profile -+- Notes -+-Archives-+- E-Mail -+-Diaryland-+- Fotolog -+- Latest -

Honey is Sweet

A birthday - 2006-10-04

I'm grateful for: doing so much better today than last year at this time; a successful party; not making plans.

Today was one of those days which remind me it's good I don't really make plans. I was awake, sort of, by 8am, managed to eat and dress, mostly. We had to be out the door for 9am, we thought, for the dentist.

Fortunately, they dental clinic phoned us a few minutes before nine - so we hadn't left the house yet - to say that they needed to reschedule our appointments. Other than I'd really like to get my teeth properly cleaned before I lose any more of them, I am fine with this.

I hadn't phoned Alina to tell her about the dentist appointments, but I hadn't spoken to her since she hadn't come last week for sick twins. I didn't know if she might be by, so I waited to see, and she didn't. Suddenly the whole day opened up.

Unfortunately my guts chose this morning to act up more than usually, so I couldn't do much with this found time, although I did get a chance to read some of my email.

Tomorrow (today, now) is Eliyahu's birthday, and John and I had done nothing to prepare for it, as we were busy preparing for the holidays and just getting through each day. A package arrived from my mother for Eliyahu which, although it contained nothing toxic, also had nothing from Scooby-Doo. My guy just wasn't going to be able to take a whole birthday with nothing Scooby easily.

He had made it quite plain that that was what he wanted. My mother (*sigh*) in her usual twisted way, took my request that she get him some Magic School bus stuff to an extreme, and what was in the box was ALL Magic School bus. Three dvd's, and two books. Eliyahu had very clearly indicated on his wishlist that he *really* *wanted* some Scooby-Doo.

The big problem is that John and I had gone looking for Scooby stuff for Eliyahu last year. And found, exactly, nothing. Zip, nada, clum. So I expected it wasn't going to be easy. When my guts finally settled down enough I thought we could go, John drove us to the Post Office, where I told him we immediately had to return home. Yup. But we managed another exit and made it as far as the first gas station past the machsom. Fortunately, it has a rather good bathroom, unlike so very many in Israel. After that and a whole medium bag of rippled potato chips the guts settled down pretty well.

We went to Toys R Us in Petakh Tikvah first, and of course found nothing Scooby. Found nothing at all that we wanted to buy for Eliyahu. There were some little pokemon figures that were selling for at least twice what they would have been worth if we had even wanted them, and some Legos which were likewise rather pricey. About twice what you pay for a similar little set in the states. I did however find a really neat little puzzle book which was on sale. How could I resist? It has multiplication that Simcha can practice with, connect the dots and mazes that are perfect for Eliyahu, and word games for me, in Hebrew, simple enough I have a shot of being able to do one or two of them. Wonderful.

From there we headed off to Tower Records. Jackpot! We got a Scooby movie which I guess is supposed to be one of the better ones, and there were dvd's of the new Scooby television series, but we didn't get any. I'll have to go back for them, they were certainly inexpensive enough. About $5. For four episodes. Good to me.

We also got him a Tom and Jerry classics dvd. Eliyahu really loves Tom and Jerry. We have a few dvd's already, but they are all with Hebrew. This one has Hebrew and English, which ensures he will love it, and we can still use the Hebrew track for learning.

Next we went to Office Depot, and bought him a single hole punch. He's been borrowing John's page punch, multiple holes, you know, and he's needed to use the one at one corner to make a single hole, not very good. He's been nuts making art projects using both the papers he punches the holes in and the holes. The hole punch was a present for Zechy to give to him, as Zechy had asked us to find something for him.

Although I tried (I really did) we were unable to find anything else in Office Depot to buy, and so we headed over to a supermarket.

Did I mention I was walking for all of this? I don't think I did. The wheelchair was in the back of the van, but I walked everywhere. I haven't been able to do that, and I was still pretty dizzy, and weak as well. To put it succinctly I felt like shit. I kept saying to John 'this is supposed to be good for me, right?' I trust it is. *sigh*

We went to Chaviv, which is a sort of buyers club, think BJ's or Costco but on a MUCH smaller scale. We had only intended to buy a few things there and then head to Hetzi, but it turned out that there was such a terrific deal on frozen pizzas that we just had to take advantage of it, and that meant having to go straight home afterward so they wouldn't be completely ruined/melted. We did very well there, actually, and on top of good prices I got what I think is the very best loaf of bread I've seen in years. It's a huge loaf of very heavy Russian bread, with rye and caraway seeds. So very yummy! I must go back for more of that stuff.

Finally we came home. I can't tell you how much my feet hurt, and my legs were shaky as well. We picked up a couple of trampistim coming home, and then in the yeshuv took a mom and two daughters from the kenyone to their street in Ginot. When we got home I just about crawled into the house and collapsed into my chair, where I have been pretty much ever since.

We were having scheduling problems, because if we held Eliyahu's birthday party in the morning, Havva would have to be at work and would miss it, and if we held it in the evening, Neil would be at his class in Jerusalem and would miss it. So our final conclusion was to have it this evening. After checking that everyone could be ready in time and that Havva was up for it. Simcha baked a cake from a box mix (we won't be doing THAT again!).

The birthday party was a huge success. Eliyahu is old enough for the first time to really get the whole deal. We have our format for birthday parties. Open presents, give hugs and thanks to each giver in turn, then cake with milk and playing with gifts. He was so very happy. Unfortunately most of my photos didn't turn out. I have to have the camera checked, as the photos were blurry even though they were perfectly sharp when I took them. I know that doesn't make sense, English, I'm not up to figuring out the right words to make it right. Oh, well.

We also spent some part of the day trying to figure out a sukkah, and we think we have a really good answer. John is going to pick up a lot of bamboo poles (cheap). We're going to lash them together, use some bamboo for the top, and the sides will be shower curtains - assuming I can't find any cloth ones for cheap enough. Which is a fair assumption. We are *so* broke.

I was reminding myself, coming home from shopping, that this time last year I had no disability and John wasn't working or getting paid at all, so this is a huge improvement. A little perspective helps.

Not much else to say. I am just too tired. I am hoping to sleep twelve hours or more - since John is working from home tomorrow and we have nothing at all planned. I really need the sleep.

Life is good today. I just wanted to say that.

I'm listening to the Grateful Dead 1982 concert at Manor Downs: Drums

0 bleats so far

:: Yesterdays : Tomorrows ::

~~~Last Five Entries~~~
Hi and goodbye - 2010-10-15
I'll be moving on - 2010-10-10
Gold membership and stuff - 2010-10-10
Decisions, decisions - 2010-10-07
Days to go - 2010-10-06