Blog/January 2022/Jan 14th

January 14th

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It was a very (!) busy week for us.

As soon as I “turned the corner” on 60, the health-fund sent me an SMS informing me I was eligible for, and should take, the fourth COVID shot. I wasn’t actually going to do that, but then I watched the gents at “Triggernometry” talk about their recent experiences getting COVID. So I got the jab and my right shoulder hurt like hell for a day.

This in addition to my continually painful left arm, for which the various treatments have so far yielded little relief: so, painful left arm (as well as shoulder). Then, from shabbat onward I had a very painful sore throat as well as a cough, making me wonder if I’d already contracted the WuFlu. But I didn’t have a fever, nor (as far as I knew) did anyone I’d come in contact with have similar symptoms or have that diagnosis. So I assumed it was a regular mean old cold; and in fact, today I’m mostly fine again. B”H!

All that is just to give you a feeling for the conditions under which we were working to continue our efforts to reclaim our room…

Last week we got the paper storm mostly under control, but there were still large pieces of furniture in there which we needed to remove. So I moved a heavy wooden table up to my office, and was going to do the same with a large chest-of-drawers, but it was far too heavy and bulky for me to do that (even with Esther’s help). So we put it outside and advertised that whoever wanted it could come and take it. So far, only the mirror has been claimed; so if nobody claims the rest, I’ll try to salvage the wood from it for something else.

When we moved the “vanity”, we found it was moldy and the wood was also rotting; so it’s also outside and we’ll have to move it to the Dumpster next week. But the mold was also on the wall behind the vanity, so we did a bleach treatment on the wall.

But since we needed to repaint the room anyway, we scraped and filled and cleaned the walls. I did one coat of paint (so far) on the ceiling, and in the next few days we’ll finish painting the room.

Then we found that Mom had apparently wedged a shoe in the rolling mechanism of the sliding doors of the closet, breaking two of the wheels. So we called the company from which we’d purchased the closets, and they informed us that they no longer have the parts for the closet. Anything older than five years, you see, is “too old”. So we made a valiant scrounging effort in Talpiot to try locating appropriate wheels, but were rebuffed by everyone telling us “nobody has just wheels, you need an entire mechanism”. Which is utter BS, but you can’t get what they won’t sell.

Fortunately, my much better half recalled that we had another closet in the house with the same mechanism; so I scavenged the wheels from a door we rarely use, and fixed the one in our room-in-recovery. I still need two wheels, but I’m looking on Amazon (despite “Bare Shelves Brandon”, some things are still shipping). I also tried AliExpress, but the CHICOMs want minimum orders of 1000 wheels. I suppose I could do that if I were serious about last-week’s business idea…

All of this nonsense in addition to both of us trying to work and earn a living. It was a long, long, week; and most of my muscles are protesting. But at least we did accomplish quite a bit.

Our quiet shabbat feasting will include:
homemade ḥalla, mushroom soup, meatballs, ḥawayij braised short-ribs, rice, various salatim, and apple crisp.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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