Sukkah is up B"H!

We hired a couple teenagers and the sukkah is up! This is a record. The pannels live on our third floor, getting them all down to the backyard is a huge job and putting it up is a job as well. Generally we are racing the clock, putting up schach and hanging up decorations right before we welcome in the holiday, with power tools on the dining room table throughout the holiday.

This year the decorations are half way up, the power tools are away and the holiday is in three days!!

I didn't have to lift a finger or nag either. The money we spent was a wonderful investment!! My husband is working afternoons and evenings all week and it was just too much for him to do on his own.

Outside of the sukkah supervision and 45 minutes at a friend's daughter's engagement party I am not sure where the day went.

I have a lot to do tomorrow. My kitchen needs help, I need to buy chicken, and I still haven't made challah. I have a dream of Sukkos pies and buffalo wings. We have decorations to hang and the last little bit of the girls room to finish.

I did it!!

B"H for the first time in quite a while I managed to finish a fast, no eating or drinking, and feel pretty much okay at the end.

My house looks like a herd of children were playing here, which there was. My kids were here and my neighbors kids were here as well. Though the house shows it, no one complained of boredom. They play so nicely together that having them over makes my life easier. I did okay fasting, but not well enough to get them to clean up after themselves. :)

Now I have bread baking in my bread maker for tomorrows lunches. I have to work on getting everything together for the kids to leave for school in the morning. Going from Yom Kippur straight into a school and work day still feels odd, even more odd than Shabbos directly into a work and school day. I miss my American Sundays.

We have company IY"H arriving Wednesday for Sukkos. I have baking to do and lots of cleaning and my husband needs to get our Sukkah up. I am in search of a margarine and dairy free pie crust recipe since the only soy free margarine here seems to have been discontinued.

I am hoping for another great week!

96.6% 66.6%

My girls room is now 96.6% done. Tomorrow IY"H we will be a little closer. Even more exciting than our bit of progress though, we have the mattresses!

We needed mattresses. We IY"H have company arriving next Tuesday or Wednesday for Sukkos and though we were only short one bed we had two fewer mattresses available than guests arriving. When my youngest daughter got a loft bed from a relative it didn't come with a mattress. We just took one of the trundle bed mattresses, though it was a bit smaller, and put it on her new loft bed.

Today I searched the internet for cheap mattresses and finally found a place that was cheaper than the rest, but they couldn't deliver before our guests were due to arrive. I was frustrated so my husband took over and called a local store for me. Not only did they say the mattresses will IY"H arrive well before the holiday but they were 120nis less per mattress. B"H!

Later this evneing the mattress store called to say that they are delivering the mattresses IY"H this evening. We ordered them today! B"H I don't have to worry if they will arrive on time or not. Going into yomtov will be much easier.

You know the 3.4% that needs to be done in my daughter's room? Most of that was stripping and remaking my youngest daughter's loft bed. As it comes out the trundle bed mattress we put on her loft is a bit smaller than a standard mattress and the mattresses we purchased will not fit. The new mattress needs to go on her bed, so if we had stripped and remade her bed today we would have had to do it again tomorrow when we put that mattress on the trundle and the new mattress on her bed!

66.6% is the amount we have emptied the pool. We can't let out too much water without flooding the yard, so we are doing it a bit at the time. The kids had a blast today in the 1/3 filled pool. As much as none of them were excited to swim all week, they were all in there, happily, today!

As much as the fall is wonderful, leaving behind a wonderful summer is always a little difficult.

93%, Progress is being made

The pool is 50% empty. The girls room is 93% finished. Hopefully the kreplach will be 100% done soon.

I got a nap this morning but I am still exhausted, probably because I was on a roll. There were things to accomplish and I did a fair bit. It was one little thing followed by a rest followed by another little thing followed by a rest followed by another thing accomplished all day. I was on a roll.

At the end of the day all of the little things added up. One refrigerator drawer cleaned out, the bedside table cleaned off, the wading pool bleached and sprayed down, dough made for kreplach and meat and onions fried, one child's bed cleaned off and sheets changed (I played a supervising roll in that one, but I got her to get it done, so I get credit, right?), a sink full of dishes washed, pool towels and swing suits laundered, and the pool half emptied.

I am so sad to be emptying the pool. Summer is really coming to an end. It was wonderful. I enjoyed the time with my children.

School is great too, in such a different way. The structure, more kids around for my kids to play with, new friends, my youngest daughter talking, and the quiet in the mornings. My morning naps help me be a happier and more productive mommy when they happen.

I am off to cook a bit more. First I need to get the kreplach to 100%, then wash a couple more dishes, pack my son's food for tomorrow, find some food for me so I can take my meds and then hopefully go to sleep. It may take me four or five more work and rest sessions, but IY"H (if G-d wills it) I can do it.

90% is good enough?

I am so tired. Yesterday was a lot. Today was not so very productive.

I went for blood work (my calcium is down a lot, but not critical) in the morning, a fitting for my outfit for my brother in law's wedding after that and this evening I went out with friends for bagels and ice cream.

It was a good day, a busy day, but I didn't manage much around the house. We didn't finish the girls room (though DH took all 9 bags of rummage to the gemach). It is so nice, but 90% isn't good enough. I want it perfect. Once it is done we can order the mattresses and be ready for our company!

I found another couple totes of clothing that I want to go through, but they are neat and not in the way, so no hurry.

By Friday I want to do a bit more organizing, and need to make a batch of challah and make kreplach. I need a down day, but it seems that that isn't happening.

Organization

I am fully taking advantage of the days that I am feeling relatively well.

Today I spent the afternoon today purging and cleaning out my girls room as well as some of the totes of saved clothing. We got rid of almost all of the saved clothing that is too small for my third daughter, plus a large portion of that clothing that fits her or is still too big.

She is one girl, who wears uniforms six days a week, coming after two sisters who wore the same size at the same time. We also got a bunch of very nice hand me downs from a neighbor, so she had clothing for three well dressed girls. All said and told, we have eight big garbage bags worth of clothing ready to leave to move onto different homes. I have five empty storage totes as well.

I was definitely in a purging mood and it felt good.

We weeded through the older girls clothing as well. Though there is still some work to do there we made good progress. I didn't realize how much clothing they had! It was mostly hand me downs so it came in little by little but they are certainly well taken care of. It is time to figure out what they love and let someone else love the rest.

Sometimes less is more. IY"H we will finish their room tomorrow and get the purged clothing to a gemach* so that other little girls can benefit!

I am not always up to decluttering like this, neither physically or emotionally, but we did a great job today. Once the bags are out I may be looking at my closet for the next round.

* A gemach literally means an "act of kindness". In this case it is a place that sells second hand items for very very low prices, just to cover their expenses.

Real life

B"H real life is good too, just a huge change from holiday, together, family time. Switching gears takes a lot of effort, but we will get there! I know we will.

The kids all got off to school today. The house got put back into normal weekday order. The white tablecloth is off, the green one is on, the kitchen is mostly back in order, just one sink of dishes left to wash and about a dozen loads of laundry have been done.

I am tired. I am overwhelmed. Being a mommy is a lot of work and it never stops. No matter how tired I am, the kids have to be fed, clothed, cleaned, and loved. We are B"H making a lot of progress with my son with his toileting, but still dealing with a lot of accidents. It is exhausting both mentally and physically.

We changed the clocks, which makes it get dark so early. Bedtime is easier, in terms of getting the kids to sleep, though. The girls actually had themselves upstairs in their beds before I asked them to go to sleep tonight. We shall see if it helps my bedtime too.

I think pool season may be over here. My kids haven't asked to swim in about a week. I am running the filter and keeping the pool chemicals right, but for what? It has been hot enough IMO (82-84*F during the day) but between school, friends, and homework they just aren't interested any more.

I am worried to let the chlorine evaporate, I don't want the pool turning green, but I don't want to chlorinate the trees either. I should probably let the chlorine level drop and bit and start watering the trees this week.

If it is getting dark before seven and the pool is being put away it must really be fall.