I am grateful for: Everything! :-) Starting with the bathroom vastly improved, new roses, herbs and trees, baby chicks, some minor problems and irritants resolved, a wonderful, Wonderful thunderstorm; a clearer head; Doctor Who on dvd (we've had the collection on vhs, the dvd's take up SO much less space!); working computers (however vaguely they work), not falling over from sleep deprivation; double stuff 0reos; soft salami; my children, my grandchildren, things being a bit better with TH, well, I think; talking with friends; voice over internet phones; crockpots, fresh vegetables; I made soup!; going to bed before 4am.

I borrowed a keyboard, but I probably can't type very much. It's from a quite old computer and it's kind of like typing on an old manual typewriter, the keys require a certain amount of force, and my fingers aren't that strong anymore.

I used to be a typist and worked on manual typewriters, just long enough before the IBM selectric took over offices all over. That was a wonderful maching (the selectric), better than typing on a computer keyboard for sure. But anyway,

There's so much to say I can't possibly. Today was election day, and we all (four of us in this household) voted. Don't have the final results, but it looks like Kadima got the majority of the 'mandates' but that Likud has the best possibility of putting together a government. My nightmare, that somehow we end up with the same woman who failed to put together a gub'ment three months ago, going at it again while our failed PM 0lmert remains indefinitely in the PM's office. The man is simply amazing.

The cabinet recently approved spending Millions of shekels to build a new home for the prime minister, and I am convinced they did it because they knew they were never going to get 0lmert out of that house.

Whatever. We took S1's puppy in to be spayed today, it was traumatic all over the place. Of course it was traumatic for the puppy. And S1 has never had to do this before to a 'baby' of his own. Everything went well, but he's terribly worried about every little thing, and a little bit of blood seeped out around one of the stitches, and he was about to lose it for a bit there.

We did manage to get to the shuk (2nd time since the war), despite freakish weather. Winds strong enough I worried about S3 getting blown away if he didn't have something to hold on to, and he is not that small a child!

The McDon@ld's in Netivot mysteriously vanished in the past week. Last week it was there, this week it is not, and every single sign that it was ever there is gone. The sign at the entrance to the city is gone, and the storefront entirely stripped. I'd offered the kids some french fries (chips Americai) after the shuk, and we were entirely out of luck.

I haven't had the opportunity to mention painting the untiled walls in the bathroom purple. It is a trip, NOT the colour I would have chosen to redo my bathroom, but still a HUGE improvement over the old mess. In two days D3, with help from S2 and some from S1, scraped the old paint, plastered, filled holes sanded, and painted, and cleaned up the mess. It doesn't even do half of the bathroom, but you can't imagine what a difference it makes. Other things being possible I'd post photos, but as it is, you just have to settle for my poor descriptive powers.

The purple on the walls exactly matches the purple shower curtain we found serendipitously a year or more ago, and that is despite the fact that D3 asked for a more pale shade at the paint place. The colour just seemed destined. I hope Hashem has better taste when it comes to redecorating the bedroom and salon is all I can say. *wry grin* We still have to buy some white paint to do the window and door frames, and the rest of the bathroom. That may have to wait until we can finish building the mirpesset (porch). Which could mean forever, I suppose.

Yesterday we planted a peach tree and a rimon, and earlier we'd planted some roses. TH transplanted some sabra (cactus) earlier, and we now have some greens and herbs growing along the small house and shed, and some lovely flowers in a large decorative planter in front. The outside of our house is far from landscaped, or even nice, but we are making progress, things are getting done. It's like a miracle.

TH and I picked up - at HUGE expense - baby gifts for my grandchildren's father's new wife's kids as well. I didn't and I don't like it, but I've allowed myself to be somewhat blackmailed into it. I feel that the money is well spent if it gets me out of this. Now I get the fun of shopping for my grandkids. I'd really rather make something, but I still am not managing to knit, so rather than create another project I won't be able to do, I'll just accept that I am going shopping. I'm getting better at finding 'special' gifts - gifts that aren't just what you can get anywhere, but are hopefully a delightful surprize, rather than 'weird.' So, wishing myself luck on that.

Along with the thunder and lightening there has been quite a lot of hail. Hail is exciting. It's really small, so I'm not too worried about my plants or animals. Not like when we first moved here and got hit with hail like ping-pong balls. In size, not in weight. Those hurt!

TH is going to work tomorrow, so we're going to have to stumble along as best we can. Everyone in the house is sick. A horrible cold. It is just a cold, thank goodness, but it is really, really bad. S2 is sleeping in the family room tonight, for comfort. S3 came into my room to fall asleep, but we've gotten him back to his bed. I hope.

S1 has gone off to bed in the small house with his puppy. She is not really happy, but by tomorrow I'm hoping she'll be back to normal. It will help that now that she's spayed we can let her go out whenever she wants, and don't have to restrict her to the back yard.

We've got a ton of work to do, still, but it feels so good to be making progress, I cannot tell you. Having been seemingly stuck for so long.

I had something of a mental breakthrough Saturday night. I'm not going to try to write about it, at least not on this klugey keyboard, but in brief I discovered I'd been freaking out about something from my past, and I didn't even know it. I don't know how long I'd been freaking out about it, must've been quite a while. It's related to my uncle's death and some stuff with dead bodies from my childhood. No dead bodies here. I somehow needed to be conscious that it was bothering me, and then - voila! - it's not bothering me anymore. Cool. Weird, but cool.

My right hand and wrist is starting to hurt so i'm off.

I'm listening to the humming of the computer gear.

:: 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