Lovin' Yo Enemies

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that Burnside Writers Collective posted something I wrote about loving your enemies. Some of the material was posted here first, but it's a bit more organized now. Check it out if you so desire. 

happy pumpkin day!

*so this was supposed to be posted yesterday, but i got kind of distracted by my husband's detainment by the israeli army. he always takes all the attention...*

today is pumpkin day. also known as my due date (or i guess actually my mom's due date when she was going to have me). also known as not-my-birthday day. my mom sent me a pumpkin outfit for hiba, since her half birthday falls on pumpkin day. so cute!


in honor of it not being my birthday, i'll take this opportunity to remind you that my birthday is soon (although not quite as soon as my mom would have liked...) and give you a list of things i would like for my birthday.

-mint chocolate chip ice cream
-the settlers to leave jason alone
-the soldiers to leave jason alone
-episodes 4 - 14 of season 4 of "the office" from iTunes
-20 lbs. of cheddar cheese
-peace in the middle east
-a season pass for season 5 of "the office" from iTunes
-winter clothes that are not stretched out from an enormous pregnant belly
-12 hours of sleep in a row
-a private jet to fly my friends and family here for a really awesome birthday party
-money, time, and energy to throw a really awesome birthday party
-black boots
-rain, but only if it doesn't come with really cold and windy weather
-a shopping spree at old navy or gap
-a case of dr. pepper
-an iPhone that is unlocked
-money to pay for all the cool apps that could come with an iPhone
-ziad's chickens to be fired

ziad and his chickens

last year (right around this time) when we bought our car, we thought we were getting a really good deal. ha! if only we had known... i mean, we were glad to have bought it when we did (since i was with child and not a fan of riding on the scooter), and we did end up paying less for it than we had planned. but since then, i has been the bain of my existence. i think our first clue should have been when the fuel pump happened to break as we were starting the car to drive home, literally one minute after shaking the guy's had that we bought it from. since that moment, we have had so much trouble with it. i think we've paid almost as much to fix the car as we did to buy it. too bad we didn't just buy a nicer one on a payment plan. i can't even list all the things we've had to get fixed but a short list includes the fuel pump, the water pump, the ignition, the distributer, the lights, the breaks, and oh yeah - rebuilding the engine.

so since we have a car that likes to visit the garage every other week or so, we have to have a mechanic. enter ziad. now, ziad is the second bain of my existnence. on the one hand, he is great. he is so nice, he will come resuce us wherever we happen to be stranded, he will let us borrow his car when ours is being fixed, he lets us pay him whenever we can. on the other hand, he sucks. the main problem with ziad is that he's our friend now, so we can't dump him. you just don't do that kind of thing here - you stick with whatever mechanic, gas guy, plumber, or other guy that you start with, espcially if you become friends. his other problems include that he's at least an hour later than he says he will be to resuce us, he takes at least two hours longer to fix our car than he says he will, and we always, always, ALWAYS have to take it back to him to tweek something.

we think we've figured out why this is. ziad has some chickens in his garage. they just run around while he works on the cars and they're always covered in motor oil, much like the mechanics are. the chickens are very important to ziad. he's told us this. our newest theory is that when we take our car to his garage, ziad sticks the chickens under the hood, closes it, lets them peck around for a few minutes, opens the hood and calls it fixed. then he drives our car around for a while to see if it works, and when it sort of does, he brings it back to us. then the next day when it won't work for us, he comes to our house and actually does the work here.

and if he doesn't let the chickens fix it, he has very, shall we say...unconvential ways of fixing things. for example, the water from our ratiator leaks. this is after the chickens pecking at it at least five times. so the other day, which he was working on the distributor, i mentioned that the water was still leaking. then i went inside becuase hiba was taking a nap and i figured she would wake up soon. a few minutes later, andrew (our neighbor who works with jason) shows up at the door holding a cap to a water bottle and says: "ziad needs you to fill this with black pepper". yes, that is right. apparently, if your water leaks you can pour a cap full of black pepper in the radiator and it works as a plug. i think the chickens were hungry.

the palestinian sonic

so there is an ice cream place right near our house, flavors. when we first moved in here i was really excited about it because i was pregnant and could eat ice cream all the time (you know, cravings and all that fun stuff) and it wasn't too expensive. it was 4 shekels for a cone and the cones were a good size. and they always gave me extra. but then it closed for the winter (because eating ice cream in the winter makes you sick...) and when it opened this last spring, it had a new owner. they changed the menu and added a bunch of stuff like sandwiches and pizza and slushies, which i was very excited about. but then we realized that it is way more expensive than last year and the cones are smaller, so we stopped going. if i wanted ice cream, i just got it from the grocery store and i didn't think of trying the slushies because i figured they were way overpriced. i was kind of boycotting it, not so much actively, but i just never went to flavors. all summer - like when it was really hot and a cold treat would have been really nice. especially a slushie.

last week, my friend jessie came over and she brought slushies from flavors. they were sooooooo good. kind of like a palestinian sonic slushie. and they are only 5 shekels and come in medium subway cups. they have four flavors and you can mix them if you want. my favorite is berry-lemon. it's delicious.

last night after going for a walk with hiba, i stopped and got one. when i got home, i was very hot from pushing her huge stroller, but she was really hungry and ready to go to bed, so i stuck the slushie in the freezer, fed hiba, and put her to bed. i was still quite warm, so i was excited about my berry-lemon slushie. i ate it really fast. when i was done, i was freezing. so i put on a big sweatshirt and closed all the windows. i was about to light up the heater, but i thought might be a little dramatic. but even though it made me freeze, i still loved it and am glad i discovered them.

it's too bad that i discovered this in OCTOBER, now that it's getting cold. it is especially cold at night, which is when i like to go for walks, and therefore the most likely time that i will buy one. but, unlike most people around here, i don't mind eating cold treats in the winter. i'll go buy a slushie and then come back home and eat it in front of a heater. or put on lots of warm clothes and climb under my down comforter. i just hope that flavors stays open this winter so i can enjoy my new found favorite treat.