A visit with Abbi, and the bug in the challah dough

What I've been up to this week:

1. Met Commenter Abbi in the park. Her children are so sweet! (Sorry about the photo quality--I can't get through to Canon about repairing the camera.) I was glad for an excuse to get out of the house and socialize. On a related note, I don't understand how Israeli mothers manage to spend every afternoon in the park and still get their kids into bed at a reasonable hour.
2. Got a new closet installed, leading to a major reorganization of stuff. Anybody want lighting equipment the electrician had me buy when we moved in four years ago? The contractor had already bought the identical items. Thinking about that electrician still gives me palpitations. I once heard that Jews should never become politicians or electricians.
3. Baked challah with Mimi--I hope one of us will post more on this. While kneading the dough later in the afternoon my daughter (14) saw a bug jumping in, but we could not locate it. Whole bugs can't be nullified by 60 times the amount of kosher food, but since it's possible that the bug jumped out the rabbi said to go ahead and bake it.  Don't tell my Shabbat guests.
   
4. Held the first meeting of our new writing group, also with Mimi. Prepared the second.
   
5. Went chug-hopping with Y., my 7-year-old. (chugim = afterschool activities.) The pretentious science chug involved too much arts and crafts. I thought ju-jitsu would be the winner because of the climbing, crawling, and somersaulting, but Y pronounced it boring. Y chose basketball, the last chug we tried, and the cheapest. It's run by Elitzur, an organization that promotes sports in the religious community in Israel.
6. Took pictures at the shmitah store for an update. Fortunately, my camera decided to cooperate.I spoke to two farmers who happened to be visiting. Look for those post(s) next week.
7. Prepared a shiur on Ki Tavo, this week's Torah portion. I decided to examine previous mentions of maaser, tithing, in the Torah. There are three types of tithes: one for the Levites who guard the Temple, even though they are more famous for singing; one that the owners may consume but only in Jerusalem (they can also redeem it for cash to be spent on food in Jerusalem), and one for the poor including the stranger, widow and orphan.
8. Thought a lot about Rosh Hashana preparations. We don't go for pineapple kugel and honey chicken; spicy chicken and potatoes make my family happiest. We will also have sweet challah, honeycake, fish and matzah balls (because they are round).

Shabbat shalom.