What an awesome, warm, sunny, cloudless, G-dfilled day!

I woke up to the doctor calling me with the results of my lab test from last week. He told me that I had a pretty virulent whatever-it-was and warned me to keep taking the antibiotics. He said no bacteria showed up but he's pretty certain it's still there and said my white blood cell count was off the charts (or way too low, I can't remember which). After I dressed and davened and ate a filling breakfast (these are all firsts for the last week, you should know), I said goodbye to Emma and walked down to the bus stop. And rode the #143 all the way to the takanah merkazeet (central bus station) without feeling sick at all! I had an ophthomologist appointment in Givat Shaul that took over two hours, counting waiting in the waiting room for my turn and for my eyes to dilate. By the time I got back to Kochav Yaakov, I'd been gone six hours! Never ever ever underestimate the value of a) a car that works and b) time.

By the time I got home the sky was totally cloudy and everyone in the bus was probably wondering about the crazy lady in the sunglasses (remember - dilated eyes). Poor Emma was very glad to see me (after my not being out of her sight for the past ten days), and was especially happy to uncross her legs and make a mad dash for the yard.

Now it's 7:45 PM and about an hour ago, I HIT THE WALL. If I weren't here typing, I'd be sacked out on the couch with my blankie. Why aren't I, you may be asking? Because I have an ulpan class here in forty-five minutes and I already cancelled on them last week. Rachel can't have it at her house because she has little kids, and Penina can't have it at her house because her second lift arrived this morning and I'd be willing to bet her house is in total pandemonium right about now. I tried to study my verbs from last year's ulpan, but the words kept swimming in front of me (to swim: לשחות)(I cheated; I just looked that up...).

David started back to ulpan after work tonight, too, after his Chanukah break. He finishes at 8:30, when we start, but by the time he grabs the #14 to the bus station and catches the 9:15 bus home, he doesn't get home until almost 10. Long day for him. Sometimes he gets tired from all the hours away from home, but sometimes he's actually energized by it. I wonder how much more energy we would have had if we'd made aliyah sooner?

By the way, did I mention we now have grass? Let me re-phrase that: WE HAVE GRASS!!! Since we've had a few rains now, grass has been sprouting like crazy in our yard. Okay, I admit there's more than a few weeds mixed in - and green onions, for some reason, but I'll take 'em! Now I have to find out, come Spring, if I can water and mow the yard. During Shemitta year there's a lot you can't do, especially to promote growth, but there are some things you can do to keep it from dying a slow, dry death. I'll keep you informed.