I'm grateful for: a less stressful new year; Kitten and Chamudah asleep on my bed, and there is somehow room for me, too; too many good books to read.

It's the first day of the new year, except it's not day yet, it's just after 3:30am. I suppose I've stopped trying for sleep. It will happen or it won't as Hashem wills, I suppose.

I talked to S2 a couple of long conversations today. I know it's hard for him to be away for the holiday, and can't do much besides be with him on the phone, so I was. He appears to have finally gotten what he wants, which is a to be transferred out of his current unit into one which does 'real' fighting. Nothing is certain, it's only in the earliest stages, but from what he told me today it looks good. I am just praying that he ends up where he is supposed to be, and that he manages to be satisfied, if not happy, wherever that is.

D2 is here, and we had a couple of really rocky moments with her here already - but they passed, thank goodness. I can't be anyone other than who I am, and I guess she has to come to terms with that in her own time and her own way. So I am going to stop trying to make things all right and just do what I need to do. She's twenty-three, a big girl now. I know that, but it comes on so gradually that I had to get pretty far off balance before I could see it was time to let go of that part of it. This parenting stuff - it's just one thing after another.

She appears to have made up with N., although the shine is definitely off the apple. I hope that, assuming they do get married, this means she will be more able to live with him as he is, more prepared for the reality, as much as one ever can be. If they don't end up married, which is really looking unlikely at the moment, she's got everything to fall back on. I'm most worried that the differences - homeschooling vs. a dread of being unconventional for instance - might prove unresolve-able further down the line. So better I guess if they do take a while getting to the point.

They don't have to agree on everything, just be willing to keep and open mind and talk about things. At the present, that does seem to be a problem as she described him at one point as being something of a 'glowing-eyed monster,' that is, seeming possessed and saying things by rote rather than because he really believes them. You can't talk to someone who isn't willing to actually think about the things that are coming out of his/her mouth. Well, okay, you can talk...

So, I managed to get a soup put together. I haven't tasted it, I hope it turns out okay. I cheated and used this dicer thing we bought on all the veggies. Everything came out so nice and small and neat. The problem with that is that it needs to last the two days of the holiday, and smaller bits tend to get softer and mush or just dissolve into the soup. I also seasoned by guess, and dropped a jar of honey into the pot. Oops! So it may be way sweeter than normal. Will see tomorrow.

I also got outside to feed the animals and lock up the chickens - my absolute favourite part of the day. The new chicks and their mom are nicely settled in to the small lul. In the large lul we now have four different generations/sizes of chicks from a few weeks to half-grown. With extra roosts in the big lul everyone fits, but it's a trip.

I want, if possible, to get another lul built, this one solely for egg production. We have so many hens, we'll put a half dozen or more hens into a lul with no roosters and be able to collect all the eggs for eating instead of having to wait until we find eggs that no one is setting on. Since chicken production is going so well, we can spare a few hens for good eggs. We've all gotten a bit spoiled on our own eggs and goats' milk here, and it's no fun when we have to supplement with milk or eggs from the store - store bought, conventional, not fresh, it just doesn't taste as good.

S1 took a video of D3 milking a goat, and he says he did or will put it up on U-tube. When I have a link I'll put it here. It is such a treat! Okay, to some people I know this is weird, but then people who live what is considered 'normal' city lives are weird to me. It takes all kinds.

The people here on our moshav who were evicted from their homes in Gaza are (at least in theory) FINALLY getting new homes. The gub'ment says they are building for them in another agricultural community just outside of Netivot. If true, the moshav will become much less crowded. Not so good for the guys who want teams to play soccer (football) on a Saturday night, but much nicer for those of us who like quiet, peace. There will be less cars, less people possibly complaining about our dogs, less lights at night. And they will finally have real homes again. It's only been four years.

I read aloud and finished the last story in the book of short stories I was reading, and am almost finished with The Prince. I am so glad. Sometimes you pick up a book and it seems to go on, and on, and on, and on, and on... The Saki collection I am reading is like that also, but I am almost half-way through. It's not like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but I do see progress happening so someday it will be done.

I actually enjoy reading the books, it's not that I want them to be over because I don't like them or something like that. But, being in the middle of so many books means that much more clutter and piles on my bed. I've no place else to keep the books I'm reading and still be able to pick them up when I want to. I'm also in the middle of a Hebrew children's book, and a Hardy Boys book that we are reading aloud to S3 at bedtimes.

There is another book I'm dying to start, but I simply couldn't do it until I've cleared some of the other books off. It's Tears of the Giraffe, the second book ins the series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I really loved the first one and since this arrived (bought used from Am@zon) I've just been so impatient to finish the other stuff. Soon, soon.

I know I 'should' try to sleep, but I know I don't want to be forcing myself. That's the worst thing. So I'm going to stop typing and try to finish The Prince. If I fall asleep over it instead, that's good, too.

I'm listening to the humming and whirring of the fan on the air conditioner.

:: 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