I'm grateful for: good books and good cookbooks; home-made dog food; more room in my room.

Oh it's freezing here. Okay, not freezing, not really. Not even close. But *I* am. The first real storm brought the cold temps that are more normal for around here, and I'm wishing I could have a heater in my room. I probably could, at least right now, if I could find one. D3 has one in her room. I believe that both S1 and S2 each have on in their rooms, but I haven't seen, only been told. There are at least two more heaters ... somewhere. I suspect only TH has the faintest clue where. If I'd thought I would need it - and if I could have figured out how to arrange things ahead of time - I'd have asked him to get one. We can only run so many things on each circuit. Because the landlord refuses to let us upgrade the electrical service to the house. So on the same circuit as my room is the washer and dryer, and the stove, microwave and refrigerator, not to mention two smaller heaters in each of the bathrooms, that are permanent - screwed into the walls so they can't be swapped around like the others. Oh! And the hot water heater.

That means that realistically I can only have a heater in my room if only one other item with a large power draw will be on for the entire 25 hours of shabbos. It requires some planning ahead and finagling.

On the other side of the house is the large mazgan/space heater in the salon that heats about half the house including the kitchen, and all the telephone/television/computer network gear. We can, if careful, sometimes manage to have a heater on in addition to the large mazgan/space heater, but it's not a good idea because of the other stuff. Don't want to be playing games with tripping circuit breakers with a bunch of expensive electronics connected. So there is either a heater on in D3's room, or in S3's room, or the salon heater is on. Sometimes we'll put the heater in the family room, but that has it's own challenges including where to put it where it's not endangering wires, plastics, people and so on.

In any event, I am freezing.

Almost no one in Israel has central heat or air conditioning. It's not really sensible or necessary, but for two months of the year it is awfully appealling anyway.

I suppose central air could be a good thing if you designed the house right, but they aren't.

For next summer, I either want to install a proper mazgan/space heater in the family room or in my room. AND I REALLY want to get the electrical service updated. That depends on either buying the house or getting permission from the landlord. So I'm not holding my breath.

Besides freezing I think I'm doing okay. It was a long, difficult day, but then aren't they all? I didn't wake up until after noon, which I still really HATE. I couldn't sleep last night though, and when I finally was managing ot fall asleep I got a horrible cramp in my right ankle. Not a normal place for a cramp, but it kept me up quite well.

D3 also woke up late, and she had to be at work for 12:30, so she was really upset when I first saw her. We took a moment to breathe (together) and mapped out what needed to happen and it all worked out. It's amazing what taking a moment or two (or ten) to just breathe and pray can do when stumbling about in a panic. I wish I could remember that for me as well.

Lessee, breakfast and I didn't end up doing either soup or the fondue, but the dog food came out really well again. Happy, well fed dogs for cheap. If I could only be absolutely certain I'm giving them everything they need nutritionally I would never buy prepared dog food again. This was the second time, and I think after another couple of times doing this we'll have it down so it can be quick and automatic. So much for it being a huge lot of work. :-)

What did I do? Oh, yes, I cleared out bunches of videotapes, and even found a home for them. I sorted through jigsaw puzzles and gave some to the same people I gave the videos to. This cleared a bunch of space in the salon, so we could actually use the table, sit on the sofa, and even use a bit of the hall tree, the number one flat surface for dumping things on.

D3 cleared the table, put on a table cloth, and then put everything (mostly bowls and platters of fruit) back on the table. News from TH is that the lemon harvest is so good that the farmers aren't even bothering to harvest them. The price has dropped so that if they paid people to harvest the lemons they would lose money. Our next-door neighbour has already arranged permission to go pick from some orchards whenever he/we want. TH didn't get out with him today, but I'm sure will manage to sometime soon. In the meantime the table is loaded down with tangerines, clementines, Jaffa oranges, juice oranges, apples, pomelos, pears, cherry tomatoes, parsley, and I can't remember what else just now. Not just a few of each, either. That's the good part of living on an agricultural moshav in Israel.

A quiet day in terms of rockets, and things are working out with having the cat food in my room so far.

TH made falafel, that turned out well but so much was going on and we were so busy I didn't get to enjoy it, and barely managed to eat it. We had popcorn and pizza with the movie Summer Rental, which is one of my all-time favourite movies. I couldn't even tell you why, but it is.

There was a nasty tiff between D3 and S1 while I was resting in my room, TH and S3 had taken some of the dogs for a walk. I don't know exactly how it started, but according to D3, S1 had cursed her under his breath, and according to S1, D3 had thrown a hanukkiah at him. This is a rather heavy, solid hanukkiah (menorah for hanukkah). I got out to find out what was happening and S1 threw something in the salon. Where the hanukkah candles were still burning.

I had a talk with S1, about not throwing things in a room with burning candles, ever. And about his part in the tiff. I focussed only on his part, and let him tell me whatever he wanted to about what D3 had done, but told him that he had to worry about what he had done and be prepared to take responsibility for his actions.

Then I went and talked to D3. She was already very upset, and when I asked her about throwing the hanukiah at her brother she burst into tears. She said she already felt terrible about it and what did I want from her? I told her if she really felt terrible then it wasn't about what I wanted or didn't want, but that she wouldn't feel better unless she made some sort of amends to her brother. About that time S1 came into the doorway, presumably having thought through about his part in it and being ready to take responsibility for it. He began to apologize and D3 cut him off because she felt so awful she couldn't wait to tell him how bad she felt about it. They talked it all out, with a little bit of help from me (largely things like hugging D3 when she got overwrought, and motioning S1 to come closer so they could hold hands while they made up), and S2 wandered by so we sent him to get chocolate and we all had some chocolate together to cement the family harmony.

S1 said something disgustedly about this being a scene from a sitcom, but I pointed out that in a sitcom it would have taken two minutes instead of ten, and no one would have had chocolate afterward. ;-)

So that felt really good all 'round. I don't think the issue of possession of the hanukiah has been resolved, but I am sure they will be able to talk about it calmly if/when it has to be dealt with.

The difference between teenagers and toddlers seems to be that when they are toddlers you have to tell them to say sorry, but when they are teenagers you point out that they are responsible and they figure out the rest for themselves. Pretty cool.

Although S1 is no longer a teenager. He's twenty. Close enough.

TH and S3 came back from their walk with a friend from the other side of the moshav, and we all somehow ended up involved in a game of Nuclear War. It's a card game, and I'm just not going to try and explain it beyond saying it's a lot of fun, and you have the theoretical possibility of blowing up the whole planet, and you try to annihilate the population of the other players first, before they get yours. It's very silly and it was a lot of fun.

I don't know what else happened because I was really exhausted. They may have played again, or they may have played a different game. This particular friend likes to play games, board games and card games. I came to my room, and in a while TH and S3 came in to read S3's bedtime story, and then S3 read a little book to TH.

There have been kids and animals and TH in and out of here pretty much ever since. I got to show TH the short video Robot Chicken Star Wars II. It is just way too silly. I can't think of anything else to say.

Oh, yes I can. I wanted to note that this time last year I couldn't possibly have stood the temps, or not had heater in my room. That I am not bleeding to death has all kind of different effects and I am discovering them little by little. I am so much more tolerant of the cold, and I am managing to do so much more, it amazes me. I'd kind of gotten used to being unable to do anything. I am liking this.

It's been over a year now, and it seems to have taken a full year for my body to recover enough to be more normal. My hair is stronger and thicker. I have more strength and more stamina. I can tolerate the temperatures and also tolerate dressing for the weather. I'm able to do so much more than I was that it feels kind of ridiculous.

I'm still disabled, I'm still officially clumsy (dx'd with 'ataxia' *sigh* of all things), I am unlikely to run in any marathons or loose a significant portion of the weight I have to carry around with me since becoming disabled. But - I'm doing better, and life is good.

I'm listening to the keys as I type, and a hissing sound from somewhere, I can't place it.

:: 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