We are very excited to be hosting some special shabbos guests this shabbos 
B and R. We haven’t had sleep-over guests in almost two months and we’ve never had a sleep-over couple so we are very excited! Of course this means that we have to shop, cook, clean and prepare….and it’s already Thursday! B also graciously offered to bring some of her own yummy-sounding dishes.
OK, countdown is on and I need to go shopping. Toodles!!
The rest of the day I was a quasi-mother as I picked up the girls from school, helped them with homework, fed, entertained, undressed and PJed, and (attempted to) put them to sleep. I also gave the baby a bath and put his cozy sleeper on. Yum, I love babies right out of the bath. Spaghetti went over well, but was a little messy. S refused to go to sleep and I didn’t know what to do. The baby cried for the longest time in the crib, and tried calling every one of his parents and siblings to come save him. I took him out and he was happy but was SOOO tired so I put him back in. At the end of the night I was exhausted and wondered how does my sister do this every day? I clean the house and am exhausted. And think I need a medal in the Guiness world records. How do mothers accross the world have the energy, patience, dedication and stamina to deal with all that comes with child-rearing?! And with absolutely no thanks at all….
I guess it’s good they usually come one at a time, right?
Today I had to drop off the car to get maintenanced and baby-sit my nieces and nephews. I got a late start to the day and decided to stop by Ty, where thankfully, only the uncle was home 
. I didn’t end up getting to the mechanic in Kew Gardens till 1 oclock. They said they think it;ll be finished by the time they’re closed, but I should call around 4 to find out. Then he said there was something wrong with the alignment of the car, and I have to tell my Mom to call him. OK, just one problem, Mr., she’s currently out of the country…I called her and she was by a seminary performance, i’ll call her back soon.
Anyway, I was shlepping around after, with my laptop which was heavy, but it was nice and warm out, what a nice change from the previous weeks and months! Anyway, I didn’t get to SR till 2ish and I was STARVING. And tired. I was hoping that there would be something good in SR fridge. And I opened it….and there was a pan…and there looked like something saucy…and it was LASAGNA!! YUM!!! I ate the whole thing. SR said it was supposed to be dinner for the kids, but I’ll just make them something else like spaghetti. Another plus is that the wireless internet is working so I can keep up-to-date on the worldwideweb!
Now, I’m going to pick up the girls from school. How fun is that? I have the baby with me and he’s getting so big and cute and talks so much!! I love them. I’m also meeting my good friend Laya with her two kids. She’s taking advantage of the nice weather to take a walk with her kids. I haven;t seen her since she had her baby almost 2 months ago!
Will post more later.
Adiel completely went all out to make me feel special on this special day. When I woke up, there was a ‘1981′
booklet on the table next to me. I didn’t even chop what it was till later but it has facts and ads from the year I was born in.
So cool! I love the ads for walkman and solar calculator!
Later, I came home to a surprise! A HUGE balloon, a card, a cake and a gift.
Here’s me, blowing out the candles:
And me trying on my new apron and chef hat!!
Later, we went to our friends’ vort, La Marais for a fancy dinner, and then Adiel surprised me with great tickets to the Arutz Sheva concert!
I was invited to speak at a teacher luncheon for the yeshiva I went to when I was a kid – before I went off to public school. It was a great honor that Rabbi Deutscher asked me to speak to the small group of teachers. When he made his request, he told me that he wanted me to point out something specific I gained during my time in the yeshiva. Here is the speech I gave:
“Thank you Rabbi Deutscher for the opportunity to speak here today at this luncheon. It’s not everyday I get to participate directly in a yeshiva function.
I eventually became religious after the summer and went to yeshiva where I ‘caught up’ with everything that was missed.
But I think that there was something in my education that led me to believe that being Jewish is where I was supposed to be.
My teachers in this yeshiva would tell stories of Moshe Rabenu and Rabbi Akiva and of other Jews all the time. They inspired us and turned on the flames of what it means to be a Jew. Being a Jew – religious or not – was like being a superhero. And we all want to be superheroes.
And when it came time for me to come back, I didn’t reject it or the system because since the respect for the system was there, I was more open-minded to the ideas that were brought to me.
I don’t know how the yeshiva is today with this regard but I hope that all of you motivate and inspire your students with Jewish values and stories and may they grow up to revere Torah – just like it was for me.
Thank you.”
I came home mid-day after doing a nice shopping to prepare a wonderful meal for my woman when i got home. i set up all the ingredients out first so that when i came back from teaching (4 o’clock-ish), i would start cooking fast.
Eventually, the table was set, candles were in places, and food was mostly cooked. I lit the candles and started serving the different courses:
1) Big Man Meatball Appetizer – gourmet style. This was a very large meatball made in my special sauce and garnished with spicy mushrooms and some parsley. See image…
2) Flower Salad – Valentine’s Day style.
3) Shoulder Steak and Asparagus. The steak was grilled and garnished with A1 steak sauce and sauted onions. The asparagus was steamed and garnished with lemon.
Esther is one lucky woman. Be Jealous.
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Today was not as great as yesterday cuz I had 8 kids instead of 5 (still very nice though) and there were no extr-curricular activities. Also Ty’s mom was there by therapy and I just felt like a bad therapist, no matter what I did. I will explain more about it another time, I promise.
But anyway, supper was good and than two cool things happened:
1) I was in the mood of drinking somethhing sweet. Not water. And we have NOTHING else. Not even a juicy fruit. And I really needed something sweet. And then, my eyes hit on something on the bottom of the door in the fridge: grape juice! It was perfect, exactly what I needed.
2) Then, i wanted to chew or suck something sweet (don’t ask me why the sudden sweet cravings). And I thought we were out of gum. Then I decided to check in the back of the closet where I would sometimes ’hide’ things just for such a rainy (snowy!) moment. And there, nestled in the back of the barbecue sauce, in front of the rice cakes was a beautiful, unopened box of red must gum! Hurray! And thanks Hashem. .
Now it’s snowing, btw. Just a little but it’s cool.
Two things:
A lot of work has been accomplished this morning. I’ve been planning a large marketing campaign for my computer services across the 5 Towns and Far Rockaway and they look pretty good. At the same time, some website ideas have come into better formation in my mind. I hope these will take off and be successful as some of my other sites have been. Although these aren’t ‘money-maker’ sites, they have potential for harnessing a gold mine customer base to which I can target my business services.
La la la la la la…
Monday was a fantastic day from beginning to end!
First, at school there were only FIVE kids for most of the day!! I usually have 11 and they have very good attendance. So this was very exciting and the day was a breeze. Plus, we had computers, an extra activity in the gym and it was actually warm enough (for the first and probably last time in weeks) that we could play outside for a bit!
Being that I had a car, I was able to drive home and start dinner during my break. Than at Ty’s house, his mom wasn’t there, only his uncle. And that always makes things easier. Than for dinner, we had greek salad, lasagna and potato soup. Unfortunately, Adiel ate a fleishig lunch at 1:30 (later he told me maybe later), so we waited until latish to eat they yummy food. And he made me start myself. But it was worth it. Than we watched an OK movie and shluffy time.
Just a great day!!
 
So Shabbos was fun and quite eventful.
We ended up doing a mitzvah on the way there, picked up my sisters MIL and BIL and dropped them off in Kew Gardens. It took about an extra 20 minutes but was a big help to them. B”H, when we made it to the Lower East Side, we found a parking spot almost right away which is a HUGE deal (I also davened for it).
Shabbos was nice. Friday night was quiet. Me and mommy got to shmooze which was nice. It was good to be ‘home’. Shabbos day Adiel davened in Bialystoker and they announced a welcome to him in front of the whole shul! The meal was also nice. Yummy food, divrei Torah and zemiros. We took a little nap and I made sure to leave the door opened in case any of my friends wanted to come visit.
After the nap, I checked and Leah F was there. She and I go way back and she knows to try the door if noone answered. Since we live on the 5th floor, it’s the most horrible feeling if you shlep upstairs and noone is awake to open the door. Anyway, we shmoozed for about 10 minutes and I heard another knock at the door and we said ‘That must be Toby.’ Boy, were we in for the shock of our lives.
In walked my good friend R from New Jersey. She was in her glasses and snood and with her husband and 2 kids. After big hugs were exchanged I asked what the heck she was doing there?! She had the craziest story of being on the way to Brooklyn, and realizing around the Holland tunnel that they weren’t going to make it. They tried calling my Mom but misdialed 3 SEPERATE TIMES!! (Obviously bashert). They tried to get to the LES but they got lost and there was traffic and they realized they just had to get to the closest hotel.
They made it to the http://www.hidowntown-nyc.com/ in Soho, mamash by shkiah. They had one kugel and beer for the first two meals. Her husband came to the LES for davening and told R that the walk wasn’t too bad, it took him 25 minutes. So they attempted it and B”H they made it. You can be rest assured that we pulled out all of our chicken and challah and other food for them. And the kids were just happy they had toys. Even though it was a real ordeal for her, it was a treat for me to see her and spend time with her. And an hour after they showed up, there was another knock on the door and this time it was Toby :).
After Shabbos, Adiel drove Y back to the hotel and we helped them down to the car and then we went to the annual LES mikvah melava malka / chinese auction. It was, like always, a lot of fun. Good food, nice prized, good music. And lots of people to see and introduce my ’arm candy’ husband too . I usually come single, and in fact, Leah and Toby reminded me that last year by the chinese auction, I was waiting for a phone call from Adiel all night. Wow how time flies!! Anyway, Adiel won a door prize stamp roller which he was very excited about and Mommy won a silver / SHabbos set which she said we can choose one time from. All in all, it was a fun and exciting Shabbos and Motzei Shabbos!
