Laundry Day

Today is a laundry day. With the impending onset of the nine days I will be spending the day doing load after load after load of laundry. What's the big deal, you may ask?

Doing laundry in Israel is slightly different then doing laundry in America. For starters, there are 3 compartments in an Israeli machine. The middle compartment is for powdered detergent. I have no idea what goes in the right and the left, and the Japanese instructions have proved to be completely useless. There is also a dial that will typically go from 1-25. 4 is whites, 6 is colors, 18 is done. I have no idea what the other numbers are for but I assume it's somehow directly related to the right and left compartments.

Now while an entire family's soiled garments can fit into an American washing machine, the standard Israeli washing machines can fit no more then a shirt and a sock. Furthermore, in America, a nice big load will take half an hour. In Israel, it will take an hour and a half and the black sock will come out red, and the pink top will be gone.

Starting from the moment the warranty expires, an Israeli washing machine will become possessed. It will randomly start and stop, leak all over the place, neglect its spin cycle, and will then fix itself by the time the repairman comes over, only to break again as he closes the door behind him. I have found this to be the case with many an Israeli appliance, as if to openly mock my foreign naivete.

Now for the drying. The frugal Israeli woman would never use their dryer. Laundry gets hung out on the line. As a less frugal American, I'm open to the idea of hanging my laundry out to dry, but I take issue to displaying the family's assorted underthings for all to see. I was walking down Bar Illan Street the other day to find a woman on the ground floor hanging laundry out her front window. People on the crowded street were head-butting her unmentionables. No thank you!

Furthermore I find that when I hang laundry to dry, it dries so stiff that my boys' pants can pretty much stand up and walk away on their own. In addition, if you leave it in the Israeli sun for 5 minutes too long, the front will be bleached white.

So you see, it aint easy. Wish me luck!

My Afternoons

This is the promised continuation post from the My Morning post.

So the children are home at 1:30. There's an American lunch (Sandwich, pasta, etc.), as opposed to an Israeli lunch, (soup, chicken, sides), and then homework. I need to start work at about 3:45. If all is quiet I put in some more overtime earlier then that.

From 3:45-12:00, I need to work, make supper for the yeshiva, make supper for the kids, make supper for my husband and myself, and get everyone settled. I'm very lucky in that my husband is home from teaching from about 1:30-3:00 and again from 6:45-7:30 so he can help me out at the crazier times. Until then, I rely heavily on Bourbon. Just kidding. No, really.

Making supper is the hardest part. Ideally, I try to have the supper prepared before work so I can run into the kitchen, throw an already prepared pan into the oven, and run back to work. There are many other tips and tricks, you have to find what works for you. Some working women will put everything in a crock pot in the morning. Some will freeze 6 dinners on Sunday. Find what works for you to make your life easier!

I won't lie, it's hard. And when everyone is fed and in bed I breathe a sigh of relief that another day went off without a hitch.

I think it's important (and I'm talking to myself here too)for any busy Mom to look at her day and say, "In 10 years will my kids care that growing up the house was always spotless? Or that growing up their Mom was a crazy raving wreck?" Sometimes you need to be happy with just the bare minimum. Is it really that bad if supper one day was cereal and milk instead of seared fillet mignon with a charred pomegranate chutney? Think if your kids would rather the cereal and milk with happy Mom or the fancy dinner with loony Mom. If everyone got fed that day and everyone made it into bed happy that day, then that was a successful day. Anything else (like a spotless house, all laundry folded, all dishes washed, etc.) is extra. If it happened, great. If not, okay. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not.

Just think what your kids will remember 10 years from now.

Yesh Gleetch

Oftentimes, when something goes wrong in an Israeli government office, they blame it on a 'Gleetch B'system'. The difference between an American glitch and an Israeli 'gleetch', is that in America it really is an unforeseen computer malfunction through no human error of their own. Here in Israel though, a gleetch is entirely human error. They physically deleted your name from the system and call it a gleetch.

I'm in the process of trying to get my 4 your old son approved for speech therapy. I've been warned many times over that this is a process that will make you want to hang yourself. It takes months and months of legwork, forms, and tests (which all need to be MAILED in) before they'll even call you down for an evaluation appointment, and after that, it takes many months more while they take vacation, drink coffee, and delete your name from their system. Any attempt on your part to somehow expedite the process, such as suggesting such 21st century conveniences as fax or email, will go unheeded. I was genuinely surprised they didn't make me send over my forms via horse and buggy.

So I had finally gathered all the requisite paperwork. I had the ten pages filled out by his Gan teacher, I had the seven and a half pages filled out by myself, (with some linguistic assistance from my 8 year old, but that's neither here nor there.) I had the various test results from the doctor as well as the hearing test results, (Making THAT appointment would be an entire blog post on its own.), and all this was MAILED to the office for approval. Finally...FINALLY...after months of waiting...waiting...they called us for an appointment.

The day finally came. The culmination of almost a year of forms, tests, and runaround. We get to their office. We step up to the counter. They look at us, smile, and say, "Who are you? We don't have your forms here."

Turns out, she explained, that they had moved offices recently, and due to an unforeseen "gleetch", an entire carton of paperwork got "lost in the move".

Lost in the move?!
Did they lose a desk?
Did they lose a therapist?
Why did the receptionist arrive at the new location unscathed, but not my file? Frankly, I'd rather the file.

So we're starting the process again. Hopefully, there will be no 'gleetches' in the system. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if after all this I get a letter in the mail that due to a gleetch in the system, he's finally been approved...

...for a mortgage.

Amazing Deals Today!

There are some amazing deals listed today in my Daily Deals section, as well as some great sales that still haven't expired from last week. I'm really excited about some of these, I can't understand why my husband keeps hiding his debit cards.

2 of my favorite sales today are:

1. $10 off your first order PLUS $5 off every case of diapers! Code: Fiveaff Click here!

2. $26.99 for 16pc. Corelle! Click here: Click here!

Many more great sales listed in my daily deals section. Click here or click on the Daily Deals menu tab at the top of the blog. Check back every day!

Sundays It Begins Anew

I started a diet today
It's going to be different then the rest
I'm determined, I'm committed, my head's on straight
and I'm going to try my best

I'll stick to the plan completely
It isn't even a question
Healthful snacks and leafy greens
And Tums to prevent indigestion

The day started with half a grapefruit
I washed it down with some camomile
A half an hour of jogging later
I was looking forward to my next healthful meal

Lunch got a little bit iffy
Things became somewhat amiss
I had my large salad with salmon
But I washed it down with a Hershey Kiss

Listen, it was only one
You have no right to judge
I did my exercise! I drank my water!
And who can resist the taste of fudge?!

At 3 o'clock on the dot
It was time for my well-earned snack
Fat free yogurt and celery sticks
And my perseverance began to crack

It was only 7 Potato chips
4 Jelly beans- just a small taste
I deserve it! I'd worked so hard up till now!
And I wouldn't want it to go to waste

I did a couple of sit ups
A half-attempt at yoga, for argument's sake
Drank a bottle of water
Washed it down with a brownie cake

By the time supper rolled 'round
I was armed with new-found conviction
But the healthy choices I'd painstakingly planned
Just didn't come to fruition.

I started off with a protein
And a dollop of something green
But dessert was the rest of the potato chips
Behind the sofa so I wouldn't be seen

It didn't end there, though I wish it had
A box of cookies, some chocolate, what sorrow!
Pringles, ice cream, a doughnut or three
Oh well....there's always tomorrow.

My Mornings

People keep asking me how I juggle 4 kids (With my husband, sometimes 5!), 2 jobs, and 'me time'. I think the main trick here is multitasking and prioritizing.

I work for an American company from 3:45-12:00 in the afternoon/night, which means I have my mornings free. In addition, 2 years ago, I somehow volunteered to cook for a small nearby yeshiva and deliver the lunch and supper to their apartment. The job is really not that difficult: lunches are relatively simple and chicken is usually not that much prep time, just cooking time. I figured that while I'm home in the mornings cooking anyway, I might as well put my time to good use and ask my American job if I can start working overtime for them in the mornings.

So now: my mornings consist of going to the grocery to get the lunch and supper ingredients. (I go daily because I like fresh fruits, vegetables, bread, dairy, etc. and it's not far.)Then I come home and prepare the lunch, and then I put in overtime at work until the kids come home at 1:30. This time IS flexible. I can work an hour, 2 hours, no hours, etc. I do what I feel I can do. My schedule may not always reflect it, but I'm a firm believer in 'me time', or 'down time', even if it's a nice relaxing shower or bath with a magazine. Even if it's 15 minutes in bed with a good book. Even if it's half an hour in a cafe with an iced coffee, to each their own guilty pleasure. Even a manicure or massage. It's important to always know that YOU, and YOUR well-being come first. Women can easily become shmattahs these days with our lives being juggling acts, but keep your priorities straight. I'm guilty of forgetting this myself, but a happy and calm mother change the whole atmosphere of the house!

At 1:30, I drop off the lunch at the yeshiva and pick up the kids/meet the kids bus.

I like to keep my posts (relatively) short since I know that we women are always running somewhere and doing something so I'll split my schedule into 2 posts. The next post will deal with working afternoon while making 3 different suppers. I'm getting tired just thinking about it! (And hungry!)

Raising Israelis

There are a lot of things one needs to get used to as an American raising Israeli children. On the one hand, I want my kids to be well-bred and polite. On the other hand, I don't want them to be pushed around in the tough Israeli culture. It's hard to strike the appropriate balance between the two but I think I've finally hit upon success. Rest assured, before my kids enter any aggressive confrontation with a classmate or peer, you will hear a firm but polite, "Pardon me".

I also had to get used to the Israeli insults. I had always taught my kids that we don't call people not nice words. Imagine my surprise then when I overheard them hurl the worst Israeli slur of them all, "Shokolad Banana", loosely translated, "Chocolate banana". Silly me. I had been so busy warning them against such slander as "stinky" and "stupid", that I completely neglected to address the flavored produce epithets. I learn something new every day.

Then there's the language barrier. We went on a shopping excursion to the butcher the other day to place a large order. When my turn arrived, I proudly smiled at my brood, and confidently stepped up the counter and ordered 10 'tachtonim', which logically should have meant bottoms, but was in fact underwear. At the butchers obvious confusion I turned to ask my eldest for her linguistic assistance, only to discover that she was already off in the corner trying her hardest to blend in with another family. The next 2 children seemed to had vanished as well. I looked down lovingly at my baby; at least I still had the unconditional support of my youngest child. Until I noticed that even he was flailing desperately in an obvious attempt to free himself from the reigns of his stroller.

And here I thought I wouldn't embarrass my children until they were at least 14.