Winter Blues, Blahs, and Blechs

We have been home from Israel for a whole month, and life is just not back to normal. Just to highlight some of the major issues:

1. The house is a mess. Don't get me wrong, the house is usually a mess. However, every once and a while the mess builds and builds and gets completely out of control. Packing 5 people for a 3 week vacation and then returning from that vacation has created a situation that is just out of control. It is going to easily take a month of Sundays to fix...What's that? Pesach is coming?

2. We are sick! We came home with 2 sick kids, and all 3 have been rotating being out of school and on antibiotics for 4 weeks. If I see another runny nose, fever over 103, cup of Omnicef, or kid in their pajamas at noon, I might seriously lose it! Add to that my sinus infection that won't go away and poor H is ready to run screaming for the hills!

3. Work stresses. Mine bad, H's good.

4.Money Stresses. On our head: the economy, food prices, tuition payments, camp registration fees, the house not falling apart (poo, poo, poo) and so on...

5. The war in Gaza. Okay, this really needs a separate post, and I will get to is as soon as I can. Let me just say, we are worried. Very, very worried. Personally, I'd rather be there then here.

What a grumpy post. I could really use a funny Trips story. I'll let you know as soon as I get one.

We're Baaack!

So we've been home for a couple of days, and you would think things would be back to normal. I guess that depends on your definition of normal. A has not been to school yet, due to a funny little bug that starts with vomiting, moves on to a fever and congestion, and ends with a croup like cough. C had it too, but went back to school today. B is fine, if you call whining, kvetching, and beating on siblings fine. Ah, life with 4-year-olds. Oops, I mean 4 and 3/4...

Eruv Shabbos last week I received an upsetting email from my boss that included a list of all the projects that I was supposed to complete in the past year, but have not. I have never been one to deal well with failure, and this one hit especially hard. The fact that the email ommitted all the extras that I have done, and the real causes for the delay in the completion of those projects made it tougher to swallow. The advice I have received is "Don't respond, just get them done." It has made my return to work very hard.

The Mumbai Massacre reminds me that Jews are not safe ANYWHERE in the world. Aliyah is on my mind all the time.

Boy, this is a kvetchy post. Maybe I caught it from B! I guess I need 8 unpacked suitcases, a clean house, a stocked fridge, a good meal, feverless kids, and a full night's sleep...when is Shabbos?!