Stop the calendar!

water_bear88 ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 7:15 am

I find the mental switching back and forth difficult. Still, it was really nice for once to enjoy the second day of RH as chag and not feel rushed to prepare for Shabbos.

And just think, everybody- Pesach and Shavuot fall the same this year as they did last year, which means:
-we all have 8 days of Pesach again (yay for matza and peanut butter!)
-chol hamoed Pesach is full-length, no Shabbos or erev Shabbos in the middle!
-we can all feel rested for Leil Shavuot!
-Tisha B'Av is nidcheh again- though may we be zocheh to celebrate it on Shabbat this year, with no mourning to push to the next day.

↑ etky ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 7:17 am

m in Israel wrote:

I live in EY and I find this schedule much harder than last year's "3 day RH". True, preparing for a 3 day YT is hard, but then we have a whole week to prepare for YK and start Sukkos prep, and a whole 4 days after YK to prepare for Sukkos. On a year like this one I feel like every time I turn around it is Erev Shabbos or Erev YT again! Not to mention the "extra" Shabbos stuck in between YK and Sukkos which also needs to be prepared for. . .

Yup. And the supermarkets are complete bedlam with so many frantic shoppers on the non-erev days (and people filling in last minute on the erevs of course) and with their delivery schedules in dissarray what with so few 'non-erev' delivery days. In my area at least they're having trouble keeping the stores stocked.

Mama Bear ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 1:32 pm

The way it falls out this year is the hardest. Plus, school has barely started. there is very little time to prepare, and the kids are home a lot. It's constantly motzei and erev and motzei and erev. On top of it all, Thursday is, of all things, Eid Al-Adha, which is a public school holiday in NY for the first time! A day after YK, weak and exhausted from fasting, house a wreck, and my autistic son will be home! It's insane.

At the same time I thanked HaShem for not having any sudden mini crises or unexpected appointments etc and that I am actually bh able to do what needs to be done, even if it's draining.

By the way, as soon as succos is over, I'm way not off the hook yet. a week later is Columbus Day - my son is off again - and then I BH start having 3 nephews' weddings in the span of 5 weeks. I dont even have a dress or shaitel done. I also just undertook a massive writing project. And, I have 70 zillion semi-urgent appoiuntments I must take care of. I need eye surgery sooner rather than later, my oldest was approved for braces so I need to get them done asap. And many other such things. In the middle of all that is Election Day, Veterans Day, PTA half-day, 2 Thanksgiving Days, which are all public school off days, and right after that is Chanukah, followed by 10-days of winter holiday break for public school too. And I havent been able to find reliable help for my son for days off from public school. Fun!

So it's a roller coaster and treadmill right now. But maybe on Yom Kippur I can daven for a big yeshuah - if not for moshiach tzidkeinu!

A gmar chasimah tova....

↑ Mama Bear

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 1:55 pm

animeme wrote:

Mama Bear, a lot of the girls' high schools are off after Yom Kippur. You might be able to get some help or respite on Thursday. You can also try helpful mesivta bochrim. Hatzlachah!

I know... but I haven't been able to find girls or bochrim who would come help me, I dont even know where to begin to look. I'm not gonna go calling all the neighbors. Just searching for helpers is exhausting. Hopefully something will come up, I'll make some calls motzei YK.

heidi ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 3:05 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

Guess I'm the only one LOVING the erev yom tov Sundays! I love that I'm rested from shabbos to prep on motzei shabbos and lazy Sunday, rather than being exhausted and going straight from a regular work day to yom tov prep.

I'm with you!
Loving the Sundays (that are usually work days here in Israel).
Loving that my office considers RH and YK and Sukkot vacation days (as are the "erev days"-- meaning tomorrow there's no work!)
Loving that my big kids are coming home (in and out and sporadically) but at least we'll have the Shabbos between YK and Sukkot together and the first day of Sukkot.
Loving that my DH has finally (after decades of marriage) learned to go to the supermarket!
Loving that my maid finally came back from her 6 week vacation!

Gmar Chatima Tova to all!

Sanguine ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 3:54 pm

I also like the erev in between. I hate 3 day yontif. RH, I realized I hate two days too (TG we only have it once a year)

I hated being locked into my A/C temperature and times for 2 days
I hate all the dirty dishes cause I can't run the Dishwasher.
I hate restarting Yontif at night when it should be ending.
I just want to shower.

Saying that - obviously 3 days is torture for me

And I love Erevs. I don't have little kids. My kids come home on Erev. They help cook. We hang out in the kitchen together. DH and the kids work in the garden together or some other project. If it's a long Friday, my kids run off together to a maayan or some other activity. Friday or Erev Chag is always a family day where any other day everyone has their own things to do and places to be. In Israel most people are off on Erev Shabbat and Erev Chag so a Succot or Pesach with a Shabbat Chol HaMoed in the middle is better cause then DH is home for so many days of Succot.

And - I have to say. I've seen some of the menus posted here and some of the fancy dishes made for Shabbat or chag - A lot of the woman who find Erev so hard have to learn to make much much simpler meals. If I write chicken on the menu, it means I'll put onion soup or Silan on it before I pop it in the oven. Nothing where people ask me for the recipe here (though I have a great way of cooking it with onion soup Wink

). - If you have big kids they can help. If you have little kids and you do all the work that means you don't have to make fancy food at all. My menu only expanded when my kids got big enough to ask for other things and to make it themselves. For example - We never had this Challah course (who needs it?) Now my kids make fired mushrooms and onions on Chummous, a baked eggplant with Techina, some fried eggplant in red sauce thing, cabbage salad - Whatever they want for that course. If they're not home - we skip it.

israelgirl ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 4:36 pm

Eemaof3 wrote:

Shabbat -- Yom Tov -- Shabbat -- Yom Tov -- Shabbat -- Yom Tov -- Shabbat -- Yom Tov

STOP THE CALENDAR -- I WANT TO GET OFF!!!

Right there with ya babe-feel like im going to go totally crazy from all the erevs. It's like OKAY LETS CLEAN UP AND DO THIS ALL AGAIN! if it was a three day at least there is one hectic day and then nothing for 3 days! This way its the same clean up, kids home rush, make it, set up licht, redo food -def hard. And pray tell when we are supposed to set up sukka/buy arba minim??

and the lady who had a baby Rosh Hashana-no words-ur rocking this. I don't know how your doing it.

↑ israelgirl ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 4:46 pm

heidi wrote:

Chances are I'd love it all too with a maid!

↑ Eemaof3 ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 6:56 pm

I guess I also love three day YT. It is the constant stop and start and prepping that I am just sick of. Plus I love having guests but it is just so much preparation. I actually tried this year to hold off on invitations in the hopes of getting just a few but no such luck. Then of course we hear of this couple who has no where to go or this young single and suddenly our lunches have doubled in size and doubled our food bill. I keep losing track of what I have to do in between yom tov and shabbat. I keep running to store because oops I ran out of milk! But I did not notice all the other basic missing things because I am more focused on the yom tov meals. I just feel like I am spinning round and round.
Gmar Chatimah Tovah to all!

↑ Eemaof3 ↓

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 9:53 pm

Yes, sandwitched (BTW love the name!), I do dread them in some ways. Our finances are in the toilet and the pressure of yom tov makes me not sleep at night. By the time I am done cooking I do not even want to eat (I hear I am a good cook). I am sick of my wardrobe and thinking something will fit and find out I am wrong or finding my last pair of hose have a run and I do not have time to get new. Plus, we have a house guest for a month which absolutely puts me over the edge. I want to love yom tov but often end up dreading it. Sigh, maybe this year will be better.

wiki

Mon, Sep 21 2015, 10:01 pm

One thing that I love about the Thursday-Friday yom tov arrangement we've had so often in recent years is that the Aseres Ymei Teshuva feel like a real week. Here it's like, how can it already be Yom Kippur, if it was just Rosh Hashana followed by a weekend?

And while I love days off from teaching, it's really hard to teach when the days come so disjointedly. It's even hard to assign work for the kids to do on all the days off, when there are not enough "days on" to cover much ground.

While I like the 3-day-yomtov calendar the best (although it's unfair for me to say this, b/c I seldom host yomtov), and the weekend-killing calendar second-best (although it IS awful to go a month with only one Sunday), I find this arrangement a bit better than when yomtov falls out on Tuesday and Wednesday. That is certainly the most disruptive calendar.