I hope all of you had a wonderful Purim!  We had a great Purim, beginning with the megilla reading, followed by the Purim shpiel – it’s even more fun to watch when someone you love has been involved in putting it together.  I’m not a hammy kind of person, so it’s good for my kids to have my dh as a model of being comfortable being funny or out of character, in a good way. 

The next morning there was a forty minute window in the morning that was very hairy. Not very fun at all.  But that’s how life is –  you plan and think you have everything worked out, and then you get a major curve ball that forces you to reevaluate fast.  And sometimes you can’t change mental gears that fast. 

Since my dh took our only vehicle to work at noon, which I hadn’t initially been taking into consideration, we ended up having only 35 very rushed minutes to do our deliveries.  That was the part that wasn’t part of the plan and wasn’t fun, and usually this is my favorite part of Purim.  But we adapted and when we got home and he got off to work, I mentally resolved to be relaxed, enjoy the day, and shift out of that overly hectic and pressured head space.  The kids ended up doing a lot of deliveries on foot – we only had time to do the furthest deliveries by car – so they were pretty busy during the afternoon.  I stayed busy organizing and reorganizing all the various mishloach manos that came in (it’s a non stop effort clearing the table on Purim), as well as trying to keep the two little ones out of it – that wasn’t so easy!  I also had time for three long phone conversations with friends, and a couple of pleasant visits with other friends who stopped by.  It was nice to be able to slow down and enjoy connecting with others during the day.

The seuda was very nice, and was also different than what I planned.  About 1 pm, I decided to totally make a different meal plan, and to do dairy (we’ve never done that before).  It was pretty simple, but everyone enjoyed it – challah rolls, thick vegetable soup, homemade pizza (equal to about three or four pies), chevre (goat cheese), cottage cheese, roasted potatoes and yams with rosemary, and a big fresh salad.  And we put out orange juice and milk to drink, in addition to water.  For dessert we had banana chocolate chip cake, chocolate cake (both cakes were from shalach manos), and rice pudding.  It wasn’t traditional but it was definitely enjoyed by all!  I was able to put it together in the afternoon for the most part even without the kids being available to help (they did end up making the veggie soup and pizza later on), and do it without rushing, which is why I changed gears.  I realized plan A wasn’t going to work as planned. 

Today was a mellow kind of day.  I always think it’s good to take at least a day off to slowly get back into regular life.  The boys two days ago decided to totally rearrange their bedroom, which meant moving everything around.  And that meant that there was a lot of stuff that had been hiding under beds, behind the dresser, etc, that came to the forefront.  Yesterday ds15 took care of some of the big stuff, and this morning they all finished up together.  I reminded them that in a week they would have been cleaning for Pesach anyway, so they’re counting themselves fortunate to be able to kill two birds with one stone and get it done now.  It’s nice to know that one room is already done, and without me saying a single word of suggestion about it!  I wouldn’t have thought of the set up they did, but it looks great, is a better use of the space, and they’re happy with it. 

Then two of the girls decided they wanted to also totally shift their bedroom around, but I didn’t like their ideas, and suggested that they clean it thoroughly instead.  Nice of me, hmm??  Then ds15 and I went to the building reuse supply place, to buy some materials for him – he wants to do something to the inside of his closet.  I’m honestly not sure what he’s talking about – pulling everything out, covering parts of the inner closet walls with plywood, building sliding doors for the shelf at the top, and repainting it all in a lighter color – I really can’t picture what he’s describing.  But I bought the materials he said he wanted, and trust him to make it look good.  I guess you could say I’m giving him artistic license.  He’s earned it after past building projects in our house that he’s been involved with.

Then we popped into the thrift store on the way home, and got the youngest four boys shirts for Pesach, along with new sneakers for my older toddler and some Shabbos shoes in the next size up for him, and couple of very nice ties for ds15 (good thing he was along with me – that’s the one clothing item that I can’t buy without him, I just don’t have an intuitive sense of what kind of ties he likes).  I have a few new shirts still in the packages for ds15 and dh that I bought around Chanuka time, and the girls and I also did some shopping in the winter when there was a big going out of business sale of one of the modest clothes designers.  I bought the girls shoes a month or more ago, and they also cleaned out the bottom of their closet, as well as their very full shoe box, and discovered they had nice shoes that they had forgotten about.  I got ds15 and dh shoes last month, and ds10 and ds6 have shoes in good condition (though ds6 usually isn’t sure where both shoes are at the same time on any given Shabbos ), as well as Shabbos shoes the next size up in the attic.  So I think they should all be basically set for Pesach clothes at this point – I’ll check the boxes in the attic on Sunday and make sure that everyone has what they need.  You know how it is, there’s always someone growing out of what you thought would fit them!

My ds6 is challenging me to find clothes that fit him properly.  Like all of my kids, he’s tall for his age, but he’s also huskier than his older brothers.  So anything that fits in the waist is too long, and all the clothes I have in the box for his size are too tight.  I bought him three pairs of pants today, and count myself lucky that one of them fit him.  The others won’t go to waste – they’ll go into the attic boxes for the next boy to wear.  It’s great having so many kids, because it takes the pressure out of clothes shopping.  I don’t worry about getting something that doesn’t fit and wasting money, because I know it will end up fitting someone, eventually! 

I spent a little bit of time today making a schedule for Pesach cleaning – I refuse to clean anything for Pesach until the Sunday after Purim.  I won’t even think about it.  There’s a season for everything, and I like to really have Purim over with before moving on to preparing for the next yom tov.  I was feeling a little more time pressured than I usually do, because right before Purim I realized that after Purim, it’s just four weeks until Pesach, and I’m officially due three weeks after that.  That might not seem so close to you, but last time the baby was born three weeks early, and when a week ago my midwife gave me the list of supplies to get for the birth, and told me that she’ll be coming every two weeks instead of every month, suddenly it didn’t seem very far away at all.  It was almost unnerving.  Not only that, but most people around here still have no idea that I’m pregnant (well, they might be wondering a little, but no one is saying anything), unless I outright tell them!  

I always find it relaxing to make the schedule, because it gets all the things to do out of your head and onto paper, and then it leaves my head empty.  (That doesn’t sound right, does it? :))  Empty of the pressure of keeping track of all of those little details is what I mean.  And this time was no exception; the kids and I went over when everyone wants to turn over the kitchen (I don’t have very strong feelings about it, so I take into account their opinions on this – they’re a lot more motivated to be involved in the cleaning when the schedule is created according to their preferences), and it’s all down in my planner now.  Once it’s on the planner, the main work has practically been done.  Stephen Covey says the first creation is the mental creation, and that’s certainly true.

Then I did my next tiny bit of Pesach preparations, doing an inventory of the pantry for chometz to use up.  (Actually, my ten year old did this, but I did tell him to do it, so maybe I still get credit for doing it?)  That’s helpful because I don’t like to eat imbalanced meals (like pasta every single night) for the last week before Pesach just to use up the foods that would otherwise be thrown away.  We don’t have too much to use up, mostly eight boxes of spelt soup croutons and a few boxes of pasta.  And loads of oatmeal. 

So it was a nice relaxing day, and I’ll go to sleep in a few minutes feeling accomplished and ready to get back onto our regular homeschooling routine in the morning.

Avivah