Fatigued Friday… in July

It was early Friday afternoon.

The door opened, and, well, SOMETHING stumbled into the house.

Actually, it was a pair of somethings, to be precise.

Having had much experience in this regard, I suspected that two of my favorite people were hiding somewhere beneath the heaps of dust, sweat, and grime standing before me.

And so, I immediately directed said heaps to the shower, after instructing them to throw all their clothes into the washing machine.

Several minutes later, my suspicions were confirmed.

Once all the layers of dirt had been scrubbed away, the arrivals indeed proved to be the two Shiputzim kids who had spent the previous few days wallowing in the mud in the machaneh (literally, camp).

In fact, amazed that two people could be so filthy, a Shiputzim teen – a longtime veteran of many a machaneh in his/her own right – wondered in surprise, “I didn’t used to be THAT dirty when I’d come home from the machaneh, did I?!”

In any event, I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you why I decided to label this a “Fatigued Friday” post - a moniker which is generally reserved here on Our Shiputzim for the day after we change the clocks in the spring.

Because if you’re the parent of Israeli kids, you’ll know that when it comes to exhaustion, “spring forward” has nothing on the day that one’s darling offspring return from the machaneh…

!שבוע טוב וצום קל ומועיל

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P.S. Did you know that you can receive Our Shiputzim updates on Facebook? All you have to do is head on over to the Our Shiputzim Facebook page and click “Like.”

Season finale

…And so ends yet another successful (according to all accounts) “early Shabbat” season.

But first, before I get ahead of myself, a bit of background for the uninitiated:

As I noted elsewhere, here in TRLEOOB (=the real life equivalent of our blog), we’re huge fans of starting Shabbat early on summer Friday afternoons, and in addition, YZG has been serving as the gabbai of our local early minyan for many years now. (Check out my original early Shabbat post for further details.)

</bit of background>

Apparently, many (myself included) were somewhat surprised that the season was ending already. After all, we won’t be changing the clock for a while.

But, as YZG explained, it’s a psychological thing.

You see, on a typical week, our community’s early Shabbat minyan boasts about 50-75 congregants.

In fact, some people even walk over from other neighborhoods, where they don’t have their own early minyan.

However, as soon as minchah dips below 5:30 PM, attendance drops dramatically.

Even many regulars, who never miss a single week throughout the entire summer, feel that 5:25 (which is when minchah would have been this coming Shabbat) is simply too early for them.

Which brings me back to the beginning of this post and the fact that this past Shabbat was the early Shabbat minyan’s season finale.

When did/will your community’s early Shabbat minyan go on winter hiatus?

P.S. The latest Haveil Havalim is available here. Special thanks to Ima2Seven for including my Ein Afek post.

Fatigued Friday: Pesach might be coming edition

Fatigued Friday is an annual Our Shiputzim tradition, which basically involves me writing a post on the day we “spring forward”.

Not coincidentally,  this also happens to be a day when most of the country is sleep-deprived.

A day when exhaustion abounds, and hilarity ensues.

A day when it’s time to list:

The Top Five Signs That Pesach Might Be Coming Soon

(5) The males in your family are in desperate need of haircuts.

Note that this overgrown state of the hair, er, I mean, affairs has been in effect for several weeks now – and is only exacerbated by said males’ reluctance to use a comb  - but all your attempts at convincing them to remedy the hirsute situation have been met with variations of the following response:

“It doesn’t shaveh to get a haircut NOW. I’ll wait until much closer to Pesach/Sefirah…”

(4) Your local email list is inundated with free giveaways and with advertisements from preteens running day camps during Pesach vacation.

(3) Half of your acquaintances are busy gloating about how much they’ve accomplished - while the other half are busy worrying about how much they have left to do. (On a personal note, this post proves that here in TRLEOOB*, we’re right on schedule… :-))

(2) Your menus have been getting stranger and stranger, as you try to find new and creative ways to use up your chametz. ({flips through cookbook} “There has GOT to be at least ONE recipe in here that calls for ¾ cup flour, ½ cup oatmeal, four packages of whole-wheat crackers, and several bags of pasta…”)

(1) Two words: Fatigued Friday…

!שבת שלום ומבורך

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*TRLEOOB=the real life equivalent of our blog

Fatigued Friday

Last night, we changed the clocks here in Israel.

As a result, this morning, most of the Shiputzim family – and, I daresay, most of the country – stumbled out the door, bleary-eyed, mumbling incoherently, and way behind schedule.

The lone exception was a certain Shiputzim daughter who had her gan birthday party today. In fact, she was up and dressed way before anyone else’s alarm had even gone off!

Unfortunately, however, our shul’s “early Shabbat” minyan won’t be starting until next week IY”H.

And so, we’re taking bets: How many members of the Shiputzim family will have fallen asleep on the couch before Kiddush tonight?

!שבת שלום ומבורך