Last Minute Shabbos Guests

The night after Chanukah, my former roommate from seminary got married. My hubby, baby and I went to the wedding. It was a lot of fun. We saw people we hadn't seen in years from our circle of friends and acquaintences. One person we saw was A. A. told us that she had been looking into our yishuv. She and I were talking about it. Last week, she called me up to tell me that her owner wants to sell her apartment that she and her hubby are renting in Neve Yaacov. That means that she'll have to be out of there by Feb. 10th. She's desperately looking for somewhere to move. We spoke at lenth about our community. On Friday morning she calls me with some questions about the forms. She also mentioned that she'd like to come for Shabbos. I casually said, "Oh, well next Shabbos we're supposed to go away to friend but maybe this Shabbos would be good." She realized that I didn't really mean it. A little while later she calls me back to ask me if it would be at all possible. They are desperate after all. I call my husband to see what he would say. Now we were planning on having a nice quiet Shabbos. We haven't had one of those in a while. He said it was okay. I called A. back and we discussed how to split up the menu. I'm so bad at dividing up work that I ended up doing most of the work.

I had already finished my cooking actually. I had put up the chicken and the soup and was planning on making couscous. We decided that we'd have chullent (that I'd make), pasta salad (that she'd make) and baked potatoes. So I quickly tried to get as much done as soon as possible. We suddenly went from a relaxed Shabbos to a guest Shabbos. I was more relaxed because I know that they're laid back people and wouldn't really judge me by what they saw that I did on a moments notice. I cleaned the guest room and the living room. Things were rushed. Luckily, somehow we were able to get ready for Shabbos early enough for my husband to show them around. They really appreciated that. Shabbos was very nice. They took quite a number of walks around the yishuv. They didn't mind the hills. They seemed like they liked it. Now they're trying to send in the forms and find a place to live. Her hubby is learning and she's working so they don't have too much money. It looks like they're hoping to find a caravan. I hope for their sake that they are successful. It would be nice to have a good friend in the neighborhood.

I have never in my life done anything so impulsive. I couldn't believe myself. I just said yes and somehow made everything work. Usually, I start planning for Shabbos on Tuesday and cook on Wed. and Thurs. I was amazed at my ability to cook for us plus two on such short notice. They were so thankful and they had a good time. The kids went to sleep late so they were kind of nutty by the end of Shabbos. Other than that I think that everyone enjoyed it.

Shabbos guests

This week I decided to try to be extra good about keeping the house clean. I tried to tidy up every night after everyone went to sleep. That meant I got less sleep this week. We've had these icky small fly things in our house and they're always flying in the kitchen. That was part of the reason I was trying to be so clean this week. I didn't want their number to increase. They multipy like rabbits.

Anyway, so I was keeping the house so nice and clean. Then a friend asked us if we could host a couple for sleeping and a meal on Shabbos. I thought about it. First I responded that having them sleep here shouldn't be such a big deal. We would just have to clean up the office/guest room a bit. I told my friend to try to find them meals elsewhere but when she was unsuccessful, we decided to have them here for lunch.

So on Wednesday I started cooking for Shabbos. I made cranberry crisp which I had been craving ever since I gave birth and the neighbor made us a very yummy one. On Thursday I got a recipe from a different neighbor for her potato kugel which we got to taste after I gave birth as well. My husband really liked the consistancy of this kugel. I made potato kugel and sweet potato pie as well as chocholate cake and shnitzel on Thursday. That was definately a record for amount of food cooked in one day since I gave birth (and probably even before-like since I was in my 8th month or so). On Friday I made chullent.

The cute young couple arrived Friday afternoon. The wife had a bad cold and slept a lot. The husband it turns out is the brother in law of a girl I know from seminary. They were very nice. They ate out Friday night at a different family. Shabbos day they ate here. My son kept asking me why the wife was always sleeping. We played some Jewish geography, which is always lots of fun. For shalosh seudos they ate at our neighbors next door. I think they had a nice time and got to see the yishuv. Since they have no kids I don't understand why they would move out of Jlm but they are from Chicago and don't like the city so much. Although they said that they think they'll be seeing us around the yishuv again I wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't. Usually young couples prefer to live in the city where there are many more conveniences. You don't move to a yishuv only for the grass and the wide open spaces.

So I was impressed with my ability to pull that off. I remember after my first son was born. I stayed with my mom for the first month. I didn't feel like I had recuperated from the birth until 6 weeks afterwards. I didn't get the nursing going well until 2 months. This time, I didn't tear which meant no stiches and less pain and being able to sit. I already had tons of practice nursing. I already mastered nursing while being covered up. I was worried about the baby wanting to nurse during the meal but that wasn't a problem because he ate right before and slept the whole time. When my son was an infant I used to go into the bedroom and close the door while I nursed and my hubby entertained the guests. I guess things have gotten a lot easier. So, all in all, having guests wasn't so bad after all.