A true global integration

is when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving (an American Holiday) by getting together and eating Chinese food!

Yep - the menu for this year's Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by the Kays is:

Appetizers: Sweet corn soup, spring rolls.

Main Course: Veg Fried rice, Chow Mein, Veg Manchurian and Chili Paneer

Dessert: Cheesecake

Happy Thanksgiving all!!

The rebellious teenager

Mommy(singing): Where is Ninni? Where is Ninni? Here I am! Here I am! How are you today Ninni? Fine thank you! Fine thank you!

Ninni(grumpily): NO fine thankyou!!

We are all the same

Outside M's daycare:

I saw a hunky dad in long hair, with a car seat in his hand, coming out of the daycare and I went "Oooooooooooooooh!!" *wolf whistle* (the wolf whistle was inside my mind)

Inside the daycare (as I walked in with M):

One of the daycare providers came out of a room with an infant in her arms and asked another "Did you SEE his dad??!!" and the other one went "Oh yeah!!" *wolf whistle* (The wolf whistle, I am sure, was inside their minds. It was definitely on their faces :P)

LOL!!

Note: J, I still love you and ONLY you. This was just one incident where my inner, primitive woman came out :P:P:P

I think...

...it is time I stopped blaming various elements from my past for ruining my chances at having a decent career and took charge of my future. What say?

But how?

I know I need more certifications (due to the lack of professional experience) to beef up my resume. I even attended a training in mid-august after which I could have easily cleared the certification for that technology but right around that time I got a job offer and had to join that job in quite a haste. I just got one week to put my affairs in order - finding childcare being the main one. Now my routine is hectic and I barely get enough time to cook, clean (some) and do some exercise. The exercise, I feel, is the most important and most required part of my routine. I need to get back in shape if I don't want to land with various ailments as I get older. My biggest fear is that I will develop diabetes if I don't lose some weight fast.

This is my general routine:

6.30 am - wake up. Get ready for work. Pack lunches etc.

7.55 am - Out the door. Drop S off at her school then drop M off at her daycare.

8.30 am - Arrive at work.

8.30 am - 5.30 pm - Work, work, work (and exchange a few emails with some friends)

5.30 pm - Leave for home.

6.15 pm - Get home. Start cooking dinner. Make and pack lunches for the next day.

8.00 pm - Go to the gym. This is an iffy part. Some days I can't manage to go.

9.15 pm - Get back from gym. Eat dinner. Watch a TV program (or half). Clean up the kitchen. Make list for the next day - what to pack in whose lunch bag etc.

10.30 pm - Take a shower. Check email. Blog. Clean up a little around the house if I am feeling up to it.

11.30 pm - Get in bed.

Repeat Monday to Friday.

Now the only time I can take out to study is the hour long lunch break that I get at work. Will try that. It is like a vicious circle - I can't get work if I don't study and I can't study if I work. And I can study only if I am earning something to be able to pay the tuition. What a mess!!

Privacy shrivacy

When I hear parents of young (even VERY young) kids talking about their kids' privacy, I choke on my own spit. I get the concept of privacy for certain things - like privacy when they use the bathroom. But there ARE situations when a parent might have to invade his/her kid's privacy. If I were afraid my daughter were falling in with the wrong crowd or were using drugs, I wouldn't hesitate in snooping around. To me, it is more important to have her well and alive on this earth somewhere, than to have her living with me and/or on talking terms with me. If I invaded her privacy for a valid reason, she found out and got upset with me, I'd live with that. But to suspect, not do anything and then to find out she made a huge mistake - I wouldn't be able to live with that. And of course, I am going to resort to snooping only when I have exhausted all other avenues of talking with her or having some other trusted adult talk to her. To me, that is love. Tough love.

So, what would you do?

What is the point..

... of keeping the treadmill at full incline and then walking as you literally hang on to the handrails? And of almost doubling over with effort because the weights you are training with are too heavy for you to lift?

The mistaken assumption of "more is better" I suppose.

Priorities

Edited to add J's comments at the end

Gas for driving 220 miles @ $2.27/gal (10 gallons): $22.70

Grocery for the next 4 months: $286.58

Bags carried from car to kitchen: 17

Hours spent driving from and to home: 3.75

Friends met: 2

Getting a haircut you will love to live with for the next 4 months: Priceless!!

Here is what J had to say about this post-

Gas price @2:79/gal (10 gallons): $27.90

Haircut : Looks good J

When you can't think of anything at all

Post Pictures!!

He he! Couldn't resist this one! She is pushing a weighing scale in front of her.

Off to middle school we go! S' first day of middle school.

Ninja! M wearing her sister's swimming cap.

In lehenga on Ganesh Chaturthi, pretty soon after her mundan.

Same dress, same day, different pose.

Simple suggestions

You tell your wife you like long hair?

Grow yours, by all means!

You want you and your wife to have the same last name?

Sure, take up her name!

You like pierced noses?

Get your own done.

Just some simple suggestions!

A fleeting moment

...etched in her mind. 

They are walking back from the restaurant, after having had lunch together. She shivers. There is a cold breeze. She has her coat in her hands, but was too lazy to put it on. He chides her for not putting it on, then extends his arm around her shoulder and shields her as best as he can. Who'll say it is soon going to be 14 years?

A fleeting, tender moment.

From "I lolue" to "GO AWAY!!"

We have come a long way. Now not-a-baby-anymore-M wants only her dad. Mom is under the "go away" status. Didi, who used to be under that status is now exempt from it because, frankly, what do you do when you want to avoid mom at all costs and dad is, say, in the bathroom? You go to didi, that's what!!

I don't know whether to be sad or upset at this. So I choose to laugh at it!

A recipe for disaster

I went to a women's clothing two nights ago. While I was standing at the counter to pay for my purchases, a sales associate returned with a driver's license and "returned" it to me. It belonged to the woman who paid for her purchases before me - she must have applied for their store credit card because that is when they ask for your social security number and driver's license (to complete the application). She had drifted away to look at some other things. Now, if I had even a little bit of criminal tendencies, this was a great chance for me to make away with that driver's license. Instead I refused to take the card saying it didn't belong to me. The woman whom the card belonged to probably didn't realize how lucky she was that I wasn't someone looking for easy money/credit. I could have simply walked away with the card and used it to apply for new credit cards or open new bank accounts or possibly empty out her current ones. I would have been at least one step closer to doing all that.

I always follow one rule when handing out a credit card or an ID card to someone - I keep my wallet open in my hands until I get my card back. It has become a habit now. If I have my wallet open in my hands (while waiting for someone to finish processing some transaction), it means they have my card. Recently this habit saved me from losing my older daughter's Insurance card. I had given it to the receptionist at a doctor's office to copy for their records. She got caught up with other work while I waited and only after I reminded her did she remember to return it to me.

So a little bit of gyaan in today's world full of identity theft risk - never leave your ID card unattended in another person's hands. DO NOT drift away while someone else is taking down your information from it.

To elaborate on my last post

No, I am not turning my blog into a Quotable Quotes repository. One - I was testing the post by email functionality of blogger. Two - I really had that thought in my mind for the last few days.

I have been through some emotionally tough times recently. Nothing drastic, just something that was a culmination of the medicines I am taking for various conditions and events that have happened in the last year. I had been feeling very down in the dumps, felt like something was pulling me down deep and keeping me there. Please notice the past tense in the previous sentences. I don't feel that way any more. Not all the time anyway. And THAT makes all the difference in my outlook on my life.

A few months ago, I was so blue I could find NOTHING in my life that was worth living for. I was, even in my darkest times, thankful for what I have - a wonderful husband, two beautiful miracles of kids, a great family including my mom and brother who care a lot about me. But even these positives couldn't overcome the shadows on my mind.

About three months ago, I stopped taking one medication that was adding to the depression - the progesterone. Slowly my emotional condition started to improve. Now I am at a point where I still sometimes get blue but those times are far and few between. And not as intense. While earlier I would get all engulfed into the darkness, now I skillfully tread the waters until the darkness dissolves. I had begun thinking of myself as a complete and utter loser. Now I think I will be a loser only if I give up. I won't. And that makes for the previous random thought.

The BIG difference between winners and losers is

that winners don't give up.

When the face is calm

the mind is in BIG turmoil.

One thing that bugs me about cooking shows

is that the cooks/chefs featured in them don't think twice about tasting a dish they are cooking and then dipping the spoon back in it. Ugh!! There is this concept of food getting "jootha" in India that I cannot explain properly in English. I don't know if there is an equivalent word in English. When someone eats from a plate, or tastes with a spoon, it is considered "jootha". Now if you dip that spoon back into the pan/pot, the entire pot is considered jootha. Makes sense to me too - when you put a spoon in your mouth, you transfer germs from your mouth/saliva to the spoon and when that spoon is dipped back into the pot, the germs are then transferred to the entire contents. I just don't think it is very hygienic.

Another thing I have noticed in some shows is that the chefs don't wash their hands properly even after handling meat. Another hygiene alarm. I don't think I'd be able to eat in their kitchen with a carefree mind!