I'm grateful for: better relations with my relations (brother and sister); doing better physically; a successful chicken soup.

Drat, how did it get to be after 1am? The clocks must be speeding up or something.

I finished watching The Waterdancer tonight, which has now been dubbed in our family 'the Wesley Snipes cripple movie.' It's a really terrific film. I hope someday they can make 'normal' movies with crips in them, rather than just 'cripple' movies. The only one I can call to mind now which includes a 'differently-able' person as just a person is Shallow Hal.

Anyway, Waterdancer is a really good movie and I would recommend it, it's sweet, funny, and has plenty of violence and excitement - although probably nothing like you're imagining. :-)

Tomorrow John goes back to work. He's planning on being gone all day and most of the evening at least. So at least I can't say I don't know what to expect. I am reassured with the thought that I could go borrow David's car is I really have to go out. I love driving David's car. I need a stick shift. No, really. I hate driving automatics. Well, anyway, a day without John. Should be good. If I don't fall over.

We are officially no longer a vegetarian household with the addition of a fleishigs (meat) crockpot, one boiled chicken and some delicious chicken soup. The chicken is a little bland, but the soup is delicious. A little too much nutmeg, perhaps, but none of the kids or husband are complaining. I made it, which is to say I told the husband what to do (as far as chopping things and so on). I rubbed the spices on the bird and everything else was done by John or the kids at my direction. It's not the same as cooking myself, but on the other hand, the kids are learning - at the very least not to be afraid of doing new things in the kitchen.

Zechy is having a bit of angst over no longer being vegetarian (it's been pretty much his whole life so far), so I suggested instead of going whole hog on meat, we try to do a lot more with fish instead.

We are a mixed family - I was a vegetarian on principle until I was finally convinced that I could not stay healthy without some meat in my diet (and that took a couple of decades, I was stubborn). I am hoping that if the surgery works and that darn bleeding stops then perhaps I won't require meat any more, but I'm not quite holding my breath.

John is vegetarian because it allows him to feel superior (to me, when I eat meat). He has nothing against eating meat per se, and was a typical American for eating meat before he married me. However, since he knows I feel strongly about not eating meat (I've nothing against free-range eggs or non-commercial dairy products), he has to try and grab the moral high ground. *sigh*

Havva was and is vegetarian more because she is a terribly picky eater in the first place, and one only has to suggest a reason why eating one food or another might not be good and she's talked herself into not being able to eat it. I know as I write it I sound awfully unsympathetic, but the truth is I really think that if she'd just relax a bit and open her mind to the idea that food as such can be good, she'd be better off (and eat a much wider variety of foods). In any event, she decided years ago (when she was six or eight) that the thought of eating meat was yucky. End of story thus far for her.

Hans is a vegetarian largely because it was easy for him. He is a voracious fish eater, which in some people's book makes him not a vegetarian. Such is life. He doesn't care that much, and I suspect that if they were big meat eaters at Jessica's then he'd be eating meat now, too. As it is, the three of them have more food issues than any three of Havva, which is amazing when you think about it. How do they eat?

Zechy, as I said, is a vegetarian because our household was vegetarian for his whole life. I doubt he's ever actually given it a lot of thought. He is now, though. And he's thinking that he's not really sure he wants to give up a vegetarian diet.

Both Zechy and Eliyahu have been craving meat since we came to Israel. I blame it on the lack of healthy food options. There's plenty of good fruit and veg generally (I don't remember if that was true up north, here on our agricultural moshav it is not a problem). And they could eat humus and pita forever, with cottage cheese and yogurt. If only they would. Yeah, right.

Well, anyway, they need something - more protein certainly and possible more things than they are getting from a diet suddenly (as of three years ago) full of things like white flour and sugar that they rarely if ever ran into when eating at home. And lacking in hard cheeses, which were certainly a very important part of our diet back then. I *really* miss having decent cheddar cheeses. I can't tell you.

I'm tired, and probably just babbling the last few paragraphs. So tired. Hopefully I will sleep in tomorrow and if not be able to get back to sleep.

We had a wonderful discussion tonight, my sister, brother and a friend, on the subject of when we were kids, how our mothers used to wake us up by screaming every morning - and how we lived in a constant state of fear and alertness. Literally afraid to go to sleep because of letting down our guard; but unable to stay on guard 24/7 because you can't, even if you could do without sleep. At one point one of us asked (I can't remember who) if there was a school for this? It's amazing how similar they were despite so many differences in everything else. This sudden (there was no warning) attack of mind-numbing and life threatening screams, and for each of us always as the sun was coming up, or about that time. Crazy.

It was so timely for me because just last night I was fighting falling asleep and trying to figure it out. It's not that I didn't want to sleep, but I surely didn't want to be asleep because of -- what? Nothing that exists in my life today.

So bearing that in mind, I am going to try and sleep now. 'Cause I just have to sleep. And she is not going to come and attack me, except maybe sometimes in my dreams. I am relieved that she is (mostly) out of my life. I hope someday it's more than mostly. She can't live forever, right?

My brother actually called me a couple of times this week. I guess the long freeze-out is over. I'm glad we are getting along better. I've missed him.

I'm listening to my fan and the seltzer bubbling a bit.

:: 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