A long hot soak in a very hot bath heavily laced with epsom salts is one of the most wonderful options in modern life.

And Shir, dark humor away! Sounds like a very good coping mechanism for a truly awful situation.

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are you turning into an "Almost Famous" movie, Israeli style?

I never seen "Almost Famous".

Also for "Melody Pond", who I don't know

Oh, thank you! I'll let her know. Melody is my ex-roomate and a friend.

Now, an update that will make you happy: guess who has two thumbs and isn't in the range of rockets from Gaza for the next 55+ hours? This girl, who can sleep with whatever pajamas she'd like tonight, because there's no danger she'll have to run out (and frankly, I have no idea where the shelter is. Not in target from Gaza! [I'm in target from Lebanon and Syria, though, and I pray my government isn't stupid enough to open another front]).

Now, just to remind myself that the random sounds I hear on the street are not the start of a siren by any mean. It happens about 15 times per day.

Sadly, however, many of my friends are still in the targeted zones. Many houses and buildings in Tel Aviv area don't have proper shelters, and I have several friends who are with PTSD due to the sirens and rockets. It's bad to see them in that state, and I keep reminding myself we're the luckier and more privileged side; We have sirens.

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Good to hear you are going to be able to get some decent rest, Shir. Continued prayers for those in harms way.

Well, I went to the office, but the A/C is off in the building on Sunday so I departed after an hour. Went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving and other stuff. A number of family members are coming by in about an hour for stuff on the grill and salad and stuff. We are low carb dieting so I am making a spinach/artichoke dip served with split baby peppers and sliced cukes for scooping.

But I have an hour, so first a nice swim! I love this time of year when we can eat and play outside again.

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Sending my best to you and yours Shir.

And I think UPS is a really good place to grab for a bit Sean. A rock in the middle of a roaring river gives you time to think and plan with your head abouve water.

we have 2 5 by 5 units of this in our bed room

[link] and the various basket

this is dresser/ bookcase/ storage - in our bed room and works neatly. a smaller verion might work well in a closet

we also used to have this unit -- with cloth draers that worked well [link]

not as nice looking , but it worked

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My BiL worked at UPS for years; as far as I know he really liked it there.

We are low carb dieting so I am making a spinach/artichoke dip served with split baby peppers and sliced cukes for scooping.

That sounds delicious. Low carb would be a bit of a Thanksgiving day challenge, although fun to try out new things. You could swap mashed cauliflower for the 'taters, and I love roasted Brussels sprouts.

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Thinking of you and yours Shir.

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Looks like I am hosting T-day at my place for mom and her "BF". He's purchased a turkey, and wants to cook it. Since mom's place is a dust/moldy-boxes-smell place, I thought the food would be more appetizing at my place. Plus, my table is a bit more comfy to sit around. So, my first hosting of T-day. um. woot?

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Thanks for the continued updates, Shir, and I'm glad you can get some rest.

D's mother got a flight out today, a few days early.

omnis, could be fun? I don't remember, do you like and/or get along with her BF?

Gods, I am just WIPED. I don't feel like I even did that much this weekend, and I certainly didn't do anywhere near as much as I wanted to. I am ready for bed and it's only 8 pm. It's a little ironic (or something) that Mr. Energy (D) is pretty much bedridden and me, Little Miss Lazeabout, is the one who has to do stuff. Not that I envy him his broken ankle! It's just hard(er) to be productive when I could be snuggling.

Right, enough whinging. Setting a timer - going to do dishes, prep for tomorrow, let Frankie out one more time, and then get into bed. Maybe change the sheets, depending on how things go.

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The dip was sooo yummy. All the food served was low/no carb and everyone including the vegetarians were well satisfied.

Not so worried about thanksgiving. I will take a break from the low carb for a day, but I wouldn't need to. I haven't eaten turkey in decades. I'm not hosting for the first time in years. I told them I wasn't up to it. So I am making a cauliflower casserole with cheese and sour cream, a cranberry/apple cobbler thing, and pumpkin pie. My SIL is making stuffing that I can eat and a sausage variety for the others. But I expect to eat mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and all the yummy non-meat carbs available.

eta: always think of Trudy when I get the 999 posts!

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23-skidoo-thousand!

omnis, could be fun? I don't remember, do you like and/or get along with her BF?

For the most part. He goes from annoying lazy to in your face-I'm-right-and-doing-it-my-way-not-listening to you if he is doing anything. That's when he is annoying. But when just chatting, he's fine. He's rather handy-man type. So that is helpful. But he keeps wanting to charge full labor rates for handyman jobs. "well, a plumber would charge you $xxx for that, so, how about $xxx - $10." Um. Well. The plumber is also license and bonded and has overhead. Also has the misc nuts/washers/etc, and doesn't require 20 trips to Home Depot to finish the task. So, he gets annoying in that aspect. I wanna throw some work his way (he's unemployed tile guy), but saving less a couple % isn't getting you the job. Just saying.

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