#BlogElul 5777: End

We’re approaching the end of an era at 12 Webster Road and my heart aches. Just typing these words makes me teary, even though I know the most important things in life aren’t, in fact, things or spaces. Nonetheless, I (ever emotional, reminiscent, and sensitive) am sad.

But, in a renewed effort to make lemonade from lemons, I am reminded that we’ll also see the end of:

1. Daddy waiting up until 4 a.m. for the plow guy to clear the driveway after a heavy snowstorm
2. A neighbor who doesn’t respect boundaries (or forsythia bushes)
3. Watching the house next door dilapidate
4. Worry about every creak and leak, the water spots, the water heater, and the banging in the wall we sometimes hear when the toilet flushes

As Maria says as she sets off from the abbey, bound for the Von Trapp home, “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” Although this window, of course, belongs to Daddy, I think it offers all of us a nice view into a new phase of his life – and our life as a family.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima , this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precede the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serve as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

Home, Sweet Home

Since I’m going to be spending so much time in my home, sweet home during the next few weeks, I thought I’d invite you in to have a look around--especially since I cleaned and vacuumed yesterday and the place is as shiny as the top of the Chrysler Building.

Here's the "nickel tour."

For starters, this is the mezuzah that greets you at the door.

Of course you’ve already seen it since it also greets you at the door of this blog.

Once inside, you’re in the dining area.  I’ve shared lots of good times in this space with family and friends and am looking forward to many more in the coming year.

Just past the dining area on to the left is the galley-style (but good size, by New York standards) kitchen. (If anyone knows how to display these two pictures side-by-side, I'd love to hear from you!)

Further on is the living room.

The television is my least favorite part of the room...although there are times when I do like to lazy about on the couch and watch.

Far more interesting than the TV, I think, is the Stromberg-Carlson radio that belonged to my grandparents.  It's a radio (from the pre-FM days) and a phonograph player.  Tucked into one of the musty storage sections are some old (are there any other kind?!) Enrico Caruso recordings. My mother always used to say that she remembered the radio from when she was a very little girl.  I wouldn't be surprised if they all used to gather 'round it to listen to Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats.

By far, my favorite part of the living room is what I always refer to as my reading nook.  Here's where I'd like to spend much of my time in the next few weeks.

The bedroom and the bathroom round out my home, sweet home.

Welcome…hope to see you soon!

Nesting Nellie

Last night I started to nest.

According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, the definition of nesting is “to build or occupy a nest, to settle in or as if in a nest.” 

And, although I’m certainly not pregnant, the description of nesting from Mama’s Health seems especially apt:  “Nesting is the term used to refer to an expectant mother’s instinct which gives her a surge of energy which prompts her to clean and do various chores around her home. Nesting usually arises as the mother nears her due date.”

It all started with the Fresh Direct delivery that arrived a little bit before 7 p.m.  Totaling nearly $200 (which is more than double the cost of most of my orders), it included, among other things, eight rolls of paper towels, a dozen rolls of toilet paper, a box of powdered laundry detergent, two dozen bottles of Gatorade, Jell-O, chocolate pudding, peanut butter, a box of Clementine oranges, olive oil, mint chocolate chip ice cream, bagels, apple juice, diet Coke, ginger ale, yogurt, salsa and chips, hummus, potatoes, onions, pasta, rice, beans, corn, diced tomatoes, and enough meat for more than one crock pot brisket.

Opening the freezer to put the frozen foods away, I found a jumble of unidentifiable packages and containers that were, as my mother always used to say, “from the year gimel.” Although they had never bothered me before, all of a sudden, they had to go.  And they had to go now.  So I started tossing:  ice-encrusted turkey bacon, a foil wrapped, plastic-bagged something or other, leftover lentil chili from last January, a started bag of frozen pineapple from Trader Joe’s (I don’t remember the last time I was in Trader Joe’s), hot dog buns that I may have moved here from my last apartment (I’ve been in this one for two and a half years), and a box of frozen veggies that were most likely picked when the Green Giant was still a little sprout.  With all that "stuff" out of there, there was plenty of room to neatly stack the new groceries among the freshly made containers of homemade soup, veggie lasagna and baked goodies that friends have thoughtfully and lovingly prepared for me in the last several weeks.

The same thing happened in the pantry cabinet.  Out went stale nuts, a box of Parmalat milk with a 2008 pull date, a box of matzo that the Israelites probably baked, a partially used bag of rock-hard dried cranberries, and a few potatoes with very big eyes.  After that round of tossing, I rearranged the canned goods, grouping them together by type, aligned the various boxes of rice, mac and cheese, cereal and pasta based on box size, and repackaged some opened bags of dried beans and pearl couscous in uniform, stackable plastic containers.  Martha Stewart would be proud.

But wait, there’s more…

My to-do list on Sunday includes:

1. Paying all bills through January 15
2. Making a batch of chili and freezing it in portion size containers
3. Cooking a brisket in the crock pot
4. Packing and shipping the stack of textbooks on the dining room table that are being “bought back” by Abebooks.com (using the one box from Fresh Direct that wasn’t flattened and put out for recycling)

My tasks on Monday include:

1. Washing:  clothes, sheets, towels, blankets, and mattress pad
2. Dusting:  the heavy duty kind, where you actually lift up the tsotchkes instead of just dusting around them
3. Vacuuming:  including the couch cushions and the POÄNG chair from Ikea
4. Scrubbing the bathroom until it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building:  tub, sink and toilet, as well as sweeping the hairballs out of the corners and swabbing down the floor

After that, Tuesday should be a breeze.  Fueled only by the calories consumed in clear liquids, I’ll run down to the library at Baruch (it’s closed until then) to print something out, returning home (to a sparkling clean apartment!) in time to await two separate phone calls from the hospital—one to review the events of the next day and one to let me know what time to arrive.  A Hibiclens shower—and hopefully some sleep—will round out the day.

Whew…after all that, I’ll really need those six weeks of R&R that are coming my way!