Tuesday, July 29, 2014

YooHoo, Big Summer Blowout!

Today was the last day of IKEA's big summer sale. Since I didn't have work and couldn't make money I figured I'd do the next best thing, spend money!

The Parentals and I hopped into the car and met Freddie and The Little Munchkin at IKEA for an exciting day of shopping. I got some essentials like a table, wine glasses and some dishtowels (you know, just in case I spill on the fancy new table). After a couple of hours of wandering around we realized that we were starving. Luckily, IKEA just happens to have a fine dining establishment where we had a delightful late lunch.

Earlier today I downloaded a new app on my phone to alert me about incoming rockets since the one that I had downloaded a few weeks ago wasn't really doing much for me (besides draining my battery). I hadn't "tried out" the new app yet and wasn't sure how accurate it was so when it started going off after dinner we weren't sure how to react.

The Crazy Lady was heading up to the top floor to move laundry when she heard the app on my phone go off. It sounds exactly like the actual red alert siren so she thought it was coming from outside and started to panic. I told everyone that it was just my phone and was about to delete the app for being so inaccurate when the real siren started going off outside.

After confirming that I had shut the app on my phone and that there actually was a potential rocket heading for us, we headed down to our bomb shelter. We heard a couple of explosions and waited a few minutes before dispersing.

I'm glad to know that the new app works and I feel a little safer sleeping in my tower, I doubt I'll be able to sleep through the siren on my phone and the one outside my window...

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Shakes, Sandwiches And Apartment Hunting.

Time sure does fly by when you're busy...

Last Wednesday we had markdowns at the store again. The managers surprised us with a new blender and sandwich maker which were promptly plugged in by the cash registers and put to use. I did not partake in the eating portion of the evening since it mostly involved things that I don't eat... 
Seemed like a fire hazard to me....
Shakes for everyone (except me :P)!!
Last week I began the arduous task of trying to find a place to live for the next year. The Crazy Lady was kind enough to shuttle me back and forth between the cities in search of the perfect place. 

There were many ups and downs, not to mention a plethora of scuzzy looking places, but we finally managed to find a nice place. A sweet older couple turned part of their house into a place for their son who lived there for two years before deciding to move to Tel Aviv. 

Since they were building it for their kid they really put a lot of effort into it and made it really nice. It comes with an electric stove top, fridge, microwave, washer and built in cabinets for storage. It's only a 20-30 minute walk to school and has a bus stop right outside for when I feel like being lazy. 

Due to the whole "situation" they cut back on hours at work for security reasons (and because during a war buying overpriced clothes isn't really a top priority for most people...). We got two shifts per person and are on standby in the unlikely event that there's a sudden influx of eager shoppers. 

I don't really have anything exciting planned... Anyone up for an impromptu trip to IKEA? ;) 

Monday, July 21, 2014

Chillin By The Dumpster

Living in Bet Shemesh has its perks, namely the generous 90 seconds that we get to run for cover in the event of a siren. Lately, its been quiet and siren free in our area. Sometimes the lack of sirens lulls you into a false sense of security so when a siren actually goes off, you don't expect it. Today was one of those days.

It was hot, humid and hazy out as I began to make my way to work. I was about three minutes away from the mall when a siren began to sound. My heart dropped to my stomach as I realized that for the first time since everything had started, I was outside with nowhere to run.

The sirens had become a bit of a routine, alert the people around you (since you can't hear the sirens in the store), make your way to a safe area or bomb shelter and check in with your friends and family while you wait until its safe to leave. You're inside and you're probably safe, mostly concerned about the whereabouts and safety of your friends and family, so there's no real panicking. But this time I was out in the open and there was no safe place to go.

I picked up the pace and did a quick survey of my surroundings. There were no walls to hide behind and the closest building was the supermarket at least a minute and half away. Time was ticking and I knew I wouldn't make it but I decided to make a run for it anyways.

I was entering the parking lot when I heard a commotion from what looked like a giant dumpster. I turned to see what was going on and saw an old man gesturing wildly at me from behind the dumpster. As I neared the dumpster I noticed a couple of other people already lying on the ground. The old man assured me that the big metal dumpster would save us, provided that the rocket land on the other side of it.

Time was almost up and there wasn't much to do so I joined the garbage crew behind the dumpster and waited another ten seconds till the siren ended. I didn't hear any explosions although the old guy was convinced that he had. He insisted on waiting behind the dumpster for another five minutes "just in case" and since he went through all the trouble of trying to save my life with a dumpster, I humored him and waited until he deemed it safe to leave.

I wished my dumpster angel goodbye and a safe remainder of the day and then continued my route to work. Despite the craziness, I made it to my shift on time. The rest of the day passed by quickly and quietly.

Tomorrow I have a day off and some tentative adventures with The Crazy Lady planned.
Hopefully my days of hiding behind dumpsters with strangers during air raid sirens have come to an end..!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Beyonce Pad Thai

Work continues to bore me beyond despair. So much so that when a customer apologized for knocking over a pile of shirts I asked her if she would mind knocking over another pile just so that I could feel like I had something productive to do, she declined and made an expeditious exit from the store.

I told another mother to give her kid free range of the store and even encouraged her to open the kids lollipop in hopes of some entertainment. The child turned out to be extremely well behaved and didn't make even the slightest bit of a mess. Which frankly, was a bit of a disappointment.

Home life has been quiet other than the 2am wake up siren the other morning. Hopefully things stay quiet and everyone has a safe shabbos!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Taking Snacks From Kids

Having the parentals at home has been fun. I no longer have to worry about cleaning up cat barf/pee, washing dishes, making dinner or making food magically appear in the refrigerator.

Oscar was picked up from his doggy vacation Monday afternoon and Frank returned from his cruise ship adventures early this morning (with plenty of stories and dirty laundry in tow). The house sure is starting to fill up again!

Monday was a quiet, siren free day. Last night there was a siren while I was at work, the iron dome intercepted 4 rockets and my manager refrained from going on any shoplifting sprees. Aside from the siren, work was exceptionally boring. The (almost) nightly sirens sure have put a damper on business....

Some little kid opened a bag of 'extra crunch' chips while her mom was looking around the store. She said that I looked hungry and gave me a handful of chips. I was actually feeling quite peckish so I gratefully excepted her offer, only feeling mildly guilty of taking a little kids food.

Today I start work at noon so I'm spending my morning lazing about and thinking of all of the productive things that I could but most probably won't do.

Here's to hoping for another quiet siren free day!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Welcome Home Dinners And Sirens

I spent the day preparing for The Mad Man and The Crazy Lady's highly anticipated arrival. We cooked and cleaned and then cleaned some more.

We made an "indoor" BBQ on our cast iron skillet. The food was delicious but produced a lot more smoke than originally anticipated. The smoke alarm went off and we opened all of the doors and windows. By the time our guests of honor arrived the smoke had mostly dissipated.
Doesn't it look so fancy?
We sat down for dinner and were chowing down on our burgers when the now familiar siren began to wail. Lori and I shoved the food into the oven for safekeeping (mostly from the cats) while the rest of the family ran downstairs. Once the food was safe we went to join the rest of the family in the bomb shelter.

The siren ended and we spent the next ten minutes reminiscing about earlier sirens and assuring my parents that we were going to be fine. When enough time had passed we went back upstairs ad resumed our dinner.

After dinner we waited as the parentals unpacked their suitcases and gave us our presents. Buzzy was super overtired so Lori&co headed home, the party died down soon after.

I think everyone is tired from their busy busy days. Hopefully tonight will be quiet and we can all catch up on some much needed sleep!!

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Washing The Porsche

Lori, Z and Buzzy came to join The Booger and I for shabbos. Lori and I split up the menu and went halfsies on the cooking so I didn't have too much to do.
There was a slight malfunction with my quiche and after adding too much salt, another half recipe of filling and then making more crust I ended up with four quiches of varying shapes and sizes.
They tasted pretty delicious when all was said and done.
Shabbos was nice and relaxing, there was lots of food (and more importantly, deserts...) and no sirens.

After shabbos there was a siren as Lori&co were leaving. They left the car smack in the middle of the street and ran back into the house to join us in the bomb shelter. We heard five booms and waited the obligatory amount of time before heading back upstairs.  Lori&co did a take two and made it home safely.

The Mad Man and The Crazy Lady are returning from there vacation tomorrow night.
The time may have come for me to tackle the mountain of dirty dishes in the sink.....

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Accidental Shoplifter

Work tonight was slow and boring so my manager sent me into the back to reorganize the entire machsan. Since it was so quiet, she decided to run over to the seamstress for a minute to pick up a skirt that she had dropped off yesterday for an alteration.

I had just climbed up to the top of the ladder when I heard a siren go off. I climbed back down and ran into the store with my arms flailing in an attempt to get everyone's attention. Loud music plays in the store throughout the day and drowns out the sound of the sirens so it makes things a little complicated. The flailing arms garnered the attention of my coworker and after yelling "azaka" (siren) at her she sprung to action and helped me herd the confused customers out of the store.

Outside of the store the siren blared and we all made a run for the closest safe area. We slid in just as we heard the first boom. There were several more booms and the walls shook a little. After five minutes of silence we deemed it safe enough to return to the store. 

Some overeager customers had beat us there and were already waiting by the cash register. Our manager arrived about thirty seconds later with her skirt in her hand and her cellphone ringing ever so persistently. Apparently she was getting ready to pay when the siren went off and accidentally "stole" the skirt in her panic to find a safe area. 

When the siren stopped and things seemed calm she opted to check on us before going back upstairs to pay for the skirt. My manager answered her phone and did her best to assure the seamstress that she would be there to pay just as soon as she was done checking up on us. The seamstress was clearly unconvinced and consoled herself by relentlessly calling my managers phone to demand her money.

Satisfied that we were fine and the store was still in one piece, my manager went to pay the poor seamstress the twenty five shekel that she owed her.

The rest of the shift was quiet and I got most of the machsan reorganized.

Here's to hoping the rest of the night stays as boring and uneventful as the end of my shift! 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Getting Mooned At Work

The last few days have been a little hectic. Work, sirens and vet visits are blurred together in my mind.

Today we got a "mini" collection (about 1,000 items) at work so it was a busy busy day. I spent most of the morning in the machsan opening boxes and trying to keep stuff neat. When all the boxes were opened and unpacked I ventured into the store to see what I could do to help.

One of my coworkers was struggling with the mannequins at the front of the store. I know that changing the clothes on the mannequins is no easy task but her technique was highly ineffective (as well as highly amusing to watch). I stood by the cash registers watching her until an arm flew across the store and narrowly missed a customers head and decided that the time had come to intervene.

Unfortunately, I got called away to help someone with something else. By the time I returned to the store front my coworker had given up and stormed off to find something else to do leaving disarrayed mannequin parts strewn about the entrance. One of them was modeling off one of GAP's bestsellers, the birthday suit.
We somehow managed to wrest the mannequins into their new outfits and the display ended up looking really nice.

After my shift I headed home and grabbed my shopping list before Lori&co arrived to take Timmy and I grocery shopping. The store was only moderately full and we made it out in an hour and a half.

Timmy made us a delectable dinner featuring my personal favorite, steak.

In other news, the light bulb in the entrance bathroom went out a few days ago.
How many Polly's does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one, so long as it's my dad.....

Monday, July 7, 2014

Catch That Cat!

Last time I posted my parents were about to embark on their three week vacation. They made it to their first destination safe and sound and from the pictures that I saw, they're having a great time. Yesterday they headed to SwissCheeseLand to hang out with the Freddie's for a while.

I've been "holding down the fort" while my parents are gone. It's really helped me realize a lot of things....
*The people in my family have some sort of aversion to loading and unloading the dishwasher.
*Changing cat litter is by far one of the least pleasant experiences in the world.
*Food is expensive.

Aside from some minor bumps, things have been going pretty smoothly. Mostly I go to work, fold shirts, come home, find food to eat and watch TV before heading to bed. A strenuous and demanding lifestyle but I'm surviving.

Today I tried to take the cat to the vet. He wasn't overly enthusiastic about the idea...
After an hour and a half of chasing him around and trying to coax him into the carrier, we appear to have come to a standoff.
Can you see the contempt on his face?
The vet is closing in twenty minutes so I guess he wins this round.  But there's always tomorrow...