Slowly Getting Back to Normal

Well, Pesach is over. I'm not turning the kitchen back until after Shabbos though. It's just too much work. Especially when we have to go to our paid employment tomorrow morning. Dear Child is still off school and could stay home with her brother-in-law and the girls but has voted to go to work with Abba [Daddy] for the day instead. I'm going to leave work an hour early and pick her up on the way to go get Dog!

It has been a very expensive time, as it is every year, and I'm going to have to sit down and figure it all out sooner or later. Last year was the first time I put my notes, menus, shopping lists, etc. onto the computer and I'm planning to update all of this year's stuff with how it went very soon (before I forget). What got wasted? What went over like a lead balloon? What was finished off way too early? What did DC like last year but not this year or vice versa?

Right off the top, we did much better this year with getting the right amount of matzo. I've got about 1 lb. left, mostly broken up pieces. We have 4 bottles of grape juice out of six but that's not a problem because they were a couple of bucks per bottle cheaper than the ones I usually buy. Not a different brand, a different place. We'll use them over the next couple of months and that will help lower the weekly grocery bills over that time period.

I also have 4 or possibly 5 bottles of wine left. Now, one bottle is because my son brought 2 bottles to the seder when I thought he was just bringing one. But I'm surprised that I have so much wine left when I think I had more people drinking wine this year than usual. I know Eldest Son normally has 1 glass of wine and the other 3 grape juice when he has to drive home. This year they all slept over so he had wine. Hubby had less wine the second night, after having a headache the first day, but I don't think anybody else did. And there were no pregnant or nursing mothers this year. Again, it's not a problem per se. Shabbos comes around every week and it will be lovely to make kiddush on wine. We've been using grape juice for quite a while because we couldn't afford wine. But I paid a lot of money for the wine. The bottles I bought ranged in price from $9 to $25 and that's all money I actually spent up front because BC Liquor Control doesn't allow you to run a tab (for obvious reasons)! That's $69 (or $78, if there's still a bottle of Manischewitz left) that could have been put to other things.

Like my tab at 2 kosher food stores. Yes, I tabbed most of the food (the meat, dairy and a bunch of grocery items, plus candles) and will be paying it off over time. So it makes me a little sick to my stomach to realize that one $21 roasting chicken has been sitting thawed out in the back of my fridge on the bottom shelf for the past 8 days, behind a bunch of other stuff. I don't think it can be safe to eat any more but it's going to hurt to have to throw it out.

As I mentioned previously, I bought a new kind of Shabbos warming tray and never used it (partly because it's too big for my counter space and partly because it only has one heat all over). I'm going to try to take it back but I don't know if they'll refund my money or not. We'll see. It was $95 though, so it's really worth trying.

It's getting late though, and I have to get up in the morning so I'm going to go to bed now. I doubt that I'll have time to write tomorrow before Shabbos, what with the 2 hours it will take to bring Dog home and all, but I'll be back soon. Maybe Motzai Shabbos [Saturday night, after dark] or on Sunday.