Overall, a good week

Despite having pissed off some people, I've had a pretty good week.

On Monday, with the help of a nice Machon Gold girl, I completely cleaned my apartment, something that hadn't happened since before UYO. All the dust is gone, the dishes are not only clean but also reorganized in the cabinets so that I can find them more easily, I gave the bathroom a deep scrubbing, and I am so relieved! Having everything clean at once is such a great feeling.

Monday night was the follow-up meeting for UYO, and almost everyone from the course came, and almost everyone had really positive things to say about constructive changes they'd made in the past week in their lives as a result of the course. It feels good to know that I provided a program that helped not only the participants, but many of those with whom they interact.

Tuesday night, I went out to dinner with my friend and former roommate Rivka K, who was in Israel this week scoping out various girls' seminaries as part of her job as Israel Guidance Counselor at a girls' high school in the States. It was very special, talking and laughing with her. I learn so much from her. Rivka K is my hero!

Wednesday night, three soon-to-be-new friends came over to watch Galaxy Quest. These are three geek friends I recently met, people with deep interests in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and none of them had ever seen this comedic classic, which pokes fun, brilliantly, at Star Trek fans! I couldn't believe it! So, they came bearing pizza, and we rectified this glaring hole in their education. I've seen the film, like, six times, but I still caught new jokes . . . and it was such a pleasure listening to the other three laughing hysterically.

And last night, I started cooking for Shabbat. I'm making Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Yeah, a week late, I know. Basically, I didn't make Thanksgiving last week because, what with UYO and all, I hadn't had time to think about it. But last Thursday I felt sad about missing it. So I'm serving Thanksgiving favorites tonight for a few friends. On the menu:

1) Beth's pumpkin and carrot soup, made with the immersion blender I just bought! It came out delicious!

2) Eight pounds of turkey, which I specially ordered at my local supermarket . . . and had the guy cut the bird in half for me, since I can't fit a whole turkey into my counter-top oven. It is baking as I write this. MMmmmmm . . . . .

3) Stuffing. Mmmmm . . . .

4) Cranberry relish. Mmmmmm . . . .

5) A guest is bringing a sweet-potato dish

6) Corn on the cob

7) A guest is bringing Apple Crisp for dessert. Mmmmm . . . .

Starchy, but so good!

AND, Michael Gibson finally finished the last episode of "Ambition," this interactive Mystery Game, so we finally found out who really killed Angie! Finally! Now I can sleep!

Have a Shabbat Shalom.