Wednesday evening's Chanukah dinner in downtown LA (with Judy & Schlomo, Oren & Cara & 22-month-old Winter, and Leeav) was quite enjoyable (though I could have done without the long drive there and back.) Marcela and Steve were always invited to share the holiday at Judy's, but this was the first time she'd been to son Oren's house, so though Steve was missing it was the new normal and didn't hold the same memories of previous years.

Thursday was spent around the house, mostly mucking and organizing things while Tima cleaned the house (and ultimately killed the washing machine.)

Friday morning Tima & I emptied Steve's huge conference table (which has sold, and which we thought was being picked up later that day) & one of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves while Marcela took Elena to have her wisdom teeth removed.  After making a zillion (possibly more) trips up and down that flight of 19 steps relocating the boxes of equipment out to the garage, I didn't feel quite so guilty about missing my Friday session at the gym.

The afternoon and evening were spent nursing Elena (she'd had a horrible infection last week in one of her bottom wisdom teeth, which is what finally precipitated her getting around to finally having them taken out) and binging on Season 2 of Downton Abbey.  While I haven't yet seen the first season, I got brought up-to-speed and enjoyed watching - though of course now I am motivated to catch up on that first season.  Absolutely love Maggie Smith's biting wit!

Marcela and Elena's boyfriend Alex (who spent the day with us) tried out the salt shot glasses and tequila that had been a gift from Elena's boss.  I texted my Alex, assuming he knew about the glasses (though he didn't) and he was not really surprised to hear that I was just an on-looker and not a participant in the activity.

Saturday morning Alex worked diligently, trouble-shooting issues with the washer.  He and Marcela did pull out a treasure trove of coins, including a half-dollar, from one of the hoses, along with a sock.  While those obviously did not 'help' the washer, their removal still didn't fix it.  It was old, and Steve had said that it was on its last legs despite having replaced this part and that in recent years.  So Marcela and I spent the afternoon at quite a number of appliance stores, comparing washers and prices.  After dinner, we took the pickup back to Fry's (for an episode of The Three Stooges Sell a Washing Machine) and Alex and Patrick installed it (which took considerably less time than buying it....)  We ran a load, and it worked great, so one less crisis at this end.

Today's plan (always subject to change!) includes supervising the removal of the heavy conference table IF the buyer makes it over this morning; each day he's been trying to coordinate strong bodies and a large enough truck.  We missed Ramona's dance recital on Friday, but hope to make it over to see her this afternoon and take her to do a little shopping for the family.