The news from the Dr Savta house is that Dr Savta finally is able to walk up a proper flight of stairs. This is very exciting. Of course, there is no railing which means that although it is safe for us, until the man comes to measure and makes the large glass panels that will protect people from falling off the ends of the stairs, grandchildren under the age of about 10 are not invited to visit. (That means that about 19 little children will find themselves banned from the premises.)

But that’s OK, since the air pollution level in here is probably at the toxic waste dump level. Everything (and I do mean everything) is covered with white dust. Depending on how many times I have cleaned the surface, the amount of dust ranges from unbelievable to alarming. Take for example, the bathtub… My husband made the mistake of walking into the bathroom on the second floor yesterday. He said, “Oh no, what happened!” I went to him. He said, “Oh, it’s only dust.” The dust in that bathroom was so thick and beige colored that he thought they had painted the bathtub, sink, and toilet beige. But it is not wise to clean up there because there is still construction on its way. Today they painted the door frames throughout the house and now we have no doors hanging– not in our bedroom nor in our bathroom… another reason why grandchildren (and children as well) including those from 10-15 (that’s 10 of them) also are banned from the house.

But wait… there’s more! We are lengthening the area of our kitchen window. So, for now, the wall has been cut almost all the way through– meaning that the entire dairy side of the kitchen is mostly defunct (yeah, more prohibited people).

Today, I met with a man who is moving from the US to Modi’in. He works in the therapy field and wanted to know if we could chat a bit about the realities of providing therapy in Israel. When I told him that I would invite him to my home, but that we were doing renovations, I am pretty sure he didn’t believe me. So to food court we went. If I never eat at the food court again this year, I still will probably break the frequency record for 2009 for most meals eaten at the Modi’in Mall.

But I digress…

The steps look really good. The walls look clean and pretty. The electricity is all working. We probably have 2 more weeks of this to go, but I think in the end, the Dr Savta home will be beautiful.

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does.

Early one morning we moved all of the pictures, knicknacks, and other movable objects our of the living room, dining room, kitchen, and all of the bathrooms (there are 4) so that the painter could wield his magic brush. Well, to be brief, everything that we removed to all places that we could get them to were already bathed in a layer of dust that rendered all of them white. But, last night and this morning, one by one, we brought items back into the living room and dining room and dusted and washed and shone and repositioned them where they had come from. And then I made a very very bad mistake. I went upstairs.

We had moved books from the bookshelves in the hall into the back bedroom as well as some pictures we had hung on the walls. Also, the lamp from my office was there as well as other objects. We left the floor mostly free. Today, that room looked as if some evil gang had come into it and spread everything around to destroy it. The electrical equipment was scattered, a wire that had been attached to the phonograph was cut, the phone plug pulled out of the wall and missing, and numerous books, papers, framed pictures, and other easily damaged items were out on our screened porch. The room next to it was no better. It was as if someone very angry had decided to do as much damage as possible to someone’s home without setting fire to it.

Now this all worries me because the gentle, calm, painter is not an Israeli and although he might rationalize his actions by saying we didn’t move all of that stuff and he was in a hurry, to my eyes, it looked like “in a hurry” is not the full story.

In any case, I do not have the stomach to go upstairs for another couple of days. I am not overestimating when I say that I have more than a week’s worth of work to do in order to get the upstairs looking anything like home. The downstairs is still a work in progress, but I am hoping that in a couple of hours, it will look ready for shabbat.

So here is the moral of the story: do everything you need to do to a house before you move in and when it starts looking like it really needs improvements, call a real estate agent and find a new home. Take it from me. Moving was never this hard.

It’s been a busy time. Our daughter gave birth to a baby boy in Monday night. Wednesday I brought her back from the hospital to her home where waiting for her were her husband and her 18 month old daughter who was running a fever. But nonetheless, I took off for home and packed my bag (unfortunately leaving out warm pajamas) because my husband and I were accompanying my oldest son, his son, and another grandson (the son of our older daughter) to Tiberias where our son was going to run his second marathon!

We drove to Tiberias which took more time than we had anticipated because we ran into traffic that was backed up for multiple kilometers, and by the time we arrived and checked in, we were ready for dinner. After dinner we went to the entertainment that is included at the all-inclusive “Golden Tulip” Tiberias. It was exactly the same entertainment was we had last year– the same young enthusiastic girl in the pseudo-military uniform (short skirt, of course) exuding charm as she ran slides that asked trivia questions about Israel and played a soundtrack with popular Israeli songs. We stayed about 10 minutes and opted for the room.

Our son and grandsons were in one room and we were in the other. We had forgotten that the hotel was blessed with neighbors (outdoor eateries) that blasted music until about midnight. In addition, the brilliant, energy-saving heating system that we had trouble getting to work blew cold air on us all night.

But morning finally came and despite the forecasts, the weather was perfect for a run! The start was exciting and the finish even more so as our son not only reached his goal in terms of time, but cut 11 minutes off his previous marathon!

We arrived home Thursday night tired, but happy.

Friday I had two goals: to make a really nice shabbat dinner and to help my daughter and her husband get ready for a shalom zachor. Fortunately, both of those things happened. My sister, who had wanted to learn to make potato kugel, was with me as I cooked which made it all much more fun. Helping with the cleanup at my daughter’s house (we’ve been changing her electric to three-phase which mean that the electrician has been drilling holes in her walls thereby making piles of dust) was satisfying and it gave me the opportunity to spend some time with my granddaughter and with the new baby.

In the evening, they made a lovely Shalom Zachor hosting some of their friends.

Today we went to a “Bubby-Mitzvah” of one of my friends. She chanted the haftarah beautifully and it was lovely to see her honored by the presence of her family and friends.

In the evening, we went to the engagement party of my distant cousin. His mother and I are third cousins, once removed, but partially because she lives here in Israel, we share a closeness and friendship that is very special. We wish the young couple, Avi and Shira, much happiness!

Oh, and the house…
Upstairs apartment now has tiled hallway and bathrooms! We still have no stairs. My sister is still sleeping on the sofa.

Life is anything but dull.

Two more things: Special thanks to my daughter Rachel and my son Akiva for their kindness and caring this week. I always love them, but this week, both of them showed themselves to be very very special people.

My younger daughter gave birth last night. Pictures are available here