Show me the way to my habitual abode

Uh, so, I have a weird Jew-y dilemna.

I volunteer with my neighborhood "snow brigade", which shovels for folks who need help. We're due to get some gross "wintry mix" and "icy sleet" overnight, although maybe not much accumulation.

The couple I got assigned to emailed to say — well, here: "Hopefully there will be NO snow on Friday night and Saturday since for religious reasons we are not able to shovel. If it's not much we can deal with it Saturday night."

I emailed back to say that I don't consider helping a neighbor in need to violate shomer Shabbat and I would be happy to come by and make sure their sidewalks and steps are clear.

They said, "It would be our sin to have another Jew do any work for us on Shabbos. We very much appreciate your kind thoughts to help us. But if we can't do it, you can't do it for us either."

Uhhhhhhhhhh. I am not sure how to respond to this. I don't think this is a sin! I try to observe Shabbat in the sense of resting and renewing myself, but very much not in a traditional way — like, spending a couple of hours mending and embroidering might be part of Shabbat for me because it fills my cup and I don't always get the chance to during the week! Going to the farmer's market and spending half my paycheck and cooking something elaborate on Saturday is a profoundly Shabbosdik thing for me! I don't want to tell them "your theology is wrong" and I don't want to upset them by doing something they have told me not to do (and would apparently feel guilty about????), but ... I can't just leave an elderly couple trapped in their house with icy sidewalks for a day!

*pinches bridge of nose*

I gotta get in touch with the snow brigade coordinator and tell her what's going on so she can try to find a substitute, I guess. I wish I hadn't made it so obvious I am also Jewish, just said something cheerful about being happy to shovel in the morning, but it truly did not occur to me that their observance would mean this. My bad. Ugh.

This is gonna be a real fun conversation with the snow brigade coordinator.

ETA: Snow brigade coordinator is going to check if there's someone I can swap with for future Saturdays, but since the blizzard has been delayed until Monday, when labor is allowed, we will deal with it if and when it becomes a problem next. What a ridiculous shenanigan.

ARGH, the box where I stashed a bunch of pharmacy receipts has vanished into thin air and I cannot imagine where it is, nor can I persuade myself I would have thrown it out! This apartment is not large. I cannot remember the last time I saw it, but this doesn't say much.

I have made progress on the jeans I am repairing, except that there is a new spot that has worn out. It feels positively Sisyphean. Jeans of Theseus. Well, it keeps me from doomscrolling.

Steaming potatoes before browning them continues to be one of the great discoveries of my adulthood: it's so fast! and tidy! and produces perfect potatoes! I do need to acquire bamboo steamers for better steaming of fish and various Asian dishes and whatnot, but first I gotta figure out where would I put them? I have a tiny kitchen and a lot of equipment but I swear I use pretty much all of it (I would use the pasta roller more if eggs were affordable, but that really is the only thing I look at and wince, trying to justify the space). Semi-relatedly, the attempt to make the trash situation less horrible seems to be working: a small trash bin forces me to take it out more often, before the contents get gross. I should've gotten a foot-pedal model, but that is really the only flaw in the system, and I do like that the legs elevate it so I can clean under it easily. It's almost embarrassing how easy this dose of shame was to hack, but better late than never, I guess.