Something Positive

There is so much one could complain about in Israel. Unfortunately, it's easier to complain in general than to look at the positive. And then we run the risk of speaking Loshon Hara (gossip) about our homeland.

So even though I have a million things on my list of things to do today (OK, I'm exaggerating a little), I needed to pay attention to a positive that just happened here, and write about it.

I don't know why I bother really. Making dinner these days is unnecessary. Except for the fact that Ari will not eat pasta every night - which is the easiest to make - I have to make something he'll eat. No one these days is home for a sit down dinner time. The big girls are running in and out to activities for Bnei Akiva (youth group) and their own afterschool things. DB is in Yeshiva, although last night when I was kvetching to him, he offered for me to come pick him up, "I'll eat your dinner's Imma." ELY is happy with a bowl of cereal. So why do I bother?

I think I bother because most of the time I enjoy cooking (or is it eating I like?!), and I do like to make nice meals for Ari. So last night I defrosted the ground meat, put a up a pot of water for the corn on the cob, and a pot for the pasta - baked ziti with meatballs and corn, was the menu. I knew I would have leftovers, but then I wouldn't have to cook twice this week. I had the onions chopped and the oil heating to make the meat when all of the sudden, all my gas went off. Three pots on the stove and no gas. I groaned!

The way gas works here is you have gas "balloonim" as they are called. Gas tanks. We have two for our stove and Ari's grill. The last time Ari was in the states and the gas ran out, I figured out, on my own, how to turn one off and the other on. This time, since Ari was still at work, I found the flashlight, went outside and turned the tanks off and on. But when I tried to light a flame again on the stove, nothing happened.
I remembered the last time I ran out of gas on my dryer, which is a separate tank, I asked the guy to check my other tanks - he said they were full.
Not quite! Mistaken!

So I called the gas company immediately and told them we needed two new balloonim.

Ari had frozen pizzas from the toaster and NED and MB had baked potatoes from the microwave. Just as good, I guess. Just not as fancy...

This morning, I tried to call the gas company again, after leaving two messages last night. No one answered. I went to the shull (synagogue) for some Torah learning and when I got home, there was a guy with a truck and my two new and full balloonim! What service! Not only that, but since Tuesday is the actual day of their delivery to our area, and I called special, I would usually have to pay a "special" extra rate. The guy was the same guy who came last time and said he checked these balloonim. What he thinks happened is that the balloonim, which are situated within lots of overgrown brush from the empty lot next door, was being held done by roots that had grown between the holes on the bottom of the tank. When he went to lift the tank last time, he thought it was heavy, but really it was being held down.

Their mistake! No "special" extra rate! He came in and made sure the burners turned on before leaving and said, "l'hitraot" (goodbye) as he left. (And, by the way, this entire interaction with the gas man was done in hebrew! Go me!)

What service! And now I can finish frying the onions which have been sitting in oil since last night (is that healthy?) and finish making dinner!

Gotta recognize the positive!!

Have a happy day!

P.S. Happy Birthday to my old friend Ari from Chicago (not my husband)! You are now officially in your late thirties! :)