Before and After

This week, my Shabbos preparations got off to a particularly slow start, since I'd left my shopping till Friday morning (and because we finally got around to bringing the fridge from the rental to our new house after my grocery run.) Anyway, I found myself baking challah less than 2 hours before candlelighting, which is a little too close for comfort in my book. A certain klepto-child helped herself to a sample of the rising dough: We made our first meal on the wacky fold-down burners: and Esti worked a little magic wit our new, eco-friendly cloth napkins: Anyway, everything got cooked in time, cleaned in time, and ready in time. We had a lovely supper and a pleasant evening and woke up to a very chilly an almost-Arctic basement. Now, those of you who live in colder climates know that this is a resoundingly bad thing. We shut off the water to the house, and the plumber will be spending his Sunday with us. Not ones to be deterred by a little thing like busted pipes, we gleefully deferred the sinkful of dishes and popped some sweet potato fries into the oven: Jess fired up the gas-fire, and from there on out, it was all books, games, and Star Trek, the Next Generation.

Norman Rockwell, eat your heart out.