Author: Hettie D.

My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996. I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future. I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life. As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.

Mom’s Caregivers

It took almost four months, but my mom finally had all the services she could have. Setting up the homemaker service took five visits from different social workers and coordinators from different organizational levels, but finally, everything is in place, and the woman who comes to her is really nice! She has been there only once to do some cleaning, and it looks like I will need to tell her what she can do to help my mom because my mom can’t realize what she needs help with. I have a long list, however!

On Wednesday, a technician came, and her wearable device was set up, although she is complaining and does not want to wear it. Learning something new, including the simple thing of pushing a button and an overall concept of wearable, is challenging for her, so I am unsure how effective this device will be. I just hope for the best.

Another thing I was planning to do but am unsure about is setting up her paratransit. They need us to show up for an interview where they will determine whether my mom needs paratransit, and that’s a whole project on its own. However, since one of my friends uses paratransit, I know it entails long waits and possible delays, so I am not sure it will be worth using it instead of Uber. Still thinking about it.

Everyone who interacted with my mom through these months was either just nice or exceptionally nice, and I am surprised and happy to see so many dedicated people working in elderly care.

Cookie-Packing And Shipping

Although I managed to bake and decorate (with Igor’s help) enough cookies to send all my international packages and most domestic ones, I didn’t have enough time to pack them and print the labels. Knowing too well the speed with which they are (not) moving during the holiday season, I had no option other than to keep packing until done. Originally, I wanted to take Monday, December 9, off, but our remote manager was visiting Chicago that week, so I had to be in the office every day except for Friday (which I also took off). I ended up with several sleepless nights, but the mission was accomplished.

Unfortunately, none of the days which I took off to finish my Christmas stuff was spend on that – things kept piling up, and I kept doing everything except for Christmas (more on that to come).

After last year’s stolen packages disaster, I decided not to schedule a pickup anymore and brought all parcels to the post office in four separate trips, plus two Igor’s trips. The most frustrating part was (and still is) that most of the international packages didn’t leave Chicago yet, ten days after I deposited them at the post office. Overall, I did much better this year. I finally figured out how to create batches, and also, most of my recipients are in my USPS address book. So it not for the traffic jam at Chicago International Distribution Center, things would be perfect!

This year’s counts:

  • 1101 cookies
  • 29 parcels
  • 14 gifted in-person boxes
  • Gigantic box for the office
  • Still something left!

Several domestic packages made it to their recepients, but none of the international. Also, I received a package from my friends from Ireland:

I love this ornament! It’s already on my Christmas tree, and I need to take pictures of all my new ornaments!

The First Nutcracker

On Sunday, I took Nadia for her first Nutcracker, and the experience was exactly as I hoped it would be! Anna read the story to the girls, and they listened to the whole ballet while driving to Chicago, so Nadia was ready and excited. We had tickets in the second row and were exceptionally lucky because nobody was sitting in front of Nadia! It had to be a last-minute cancellation because the whole first row was taken when I purchased these tickets.

Everything was pure magic! Nadia was entirely mesmerized by the performance, and for a good reason! I can’t even describe how much I love Chicago’s Nutcracker, where the story unfolds in the barracks of the immigrant workers summoned to construct the World Columbia Exposition!

I saw this Nutcracker at least six times, probably more, and I can’t stop admiring it!

Classic Encounter At The CSO

Still filling in the blanks for last week :). On Thursday, my neighbor and I went to the CSO. The program featured four pieces related to the sea: Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest, and Korngold’s Suite from The Sea Hawk. A real gift, each piece is a gem.

That was also the only time this season when we had tickets for a pre-concert Classic Encounter with Terry Hemmert.

As usual, it was a great discussion, this time with Clarinet John Yen, and they played the sciences from the Sea Hawk on the screen. A side note – as a part of the cost cuts, I guess, they stopped serving food and only served wine and cookies (and they gave you a drink token at the entrance). Just to know for the future to eat before going there 🙂

Together

Vlad is in Chicago this week, and since it does not happen very often, everybody adjusted their plans. Anna, John, and the girls arrived on Saturday morning, and we all met with Vlad for brunch at Revival in Andersonville.

It was great to be together – it was at least a year since last time. Also, it was great to be in Andersonville. I realized that I have almost never been there since Vlad has not worked there for years, and I missed its vibe and being able to walk and stop at different shops and meet people.

Christmas On My Balcony

Gingerbread Houses With ODS

I did Gingerbread houses with my kids when they were kids, many once or twice, and I thought I was not into it. But when a staff member in the West Town Shelter suggested that I do this with the youth in ODS, I felt I should give it a try. She suggested we do it together with another volunteer. That volunteer spent a lot of time asking me whether I knew she was a jew and had nothing to do with Gingerbread houses, and I thought this whole thing was not going to work.

I purchased four houses, and I thought that there would be at max one or two residents interested and that we would end up doing houses by ourselves, but in fact, I regretted I only got four – we could use at least six if not eight, and the residents’ creativity and patience were astonishing.

The City Of Chicago 111th Annual Christmas Tree

Monday was the only day I could take my mom to see the Christkindle Market and thr city Christmas Tree, so we went despite my three sleepless nights before that. I will do it again with the gitrls in a couple of days, but most likely during the day, so I am glad we went!

Then we went to see the tree. I like it better when it is green-red-yellow than when it is white-clue.

We passed the skating rink – I didn’t get a chance to skate in the dark this season, so this is also on my list :). And even if I just went skating, I always want to go again when I see the rink! Same as when I see people biking 🙂

Tree Decorating

Since I have the pictures my mom took while Igor and I were decorating, here they are. I really liked my tree this year. After some hesitation, I ordered from Tree Santa again, and I am much happier this year. The tree is really fresh, and it is better shped than the last year’s one – not so chubby 🙂

Cookie-Making

All the cookies I baked on Friday afternoon and on Saturday:

Continue reading “Cookie-Making” →