Lists, lists and more lists...

'Make a list' says my DH for everything! Most of the times I disagree with him (need I mention that?), but sometimes (??) it has helped me a lot. Yesterday I had so many things on my mind and wanted to jot down what all needs to be taken care of! I wrote down in my journal and voila...4 are already down!

Umm...Indian style chinese fried rice

 Just to get out of mundane food, I made Indian style chinese fried rice for dinner! Bingo, super hit, loved the taste. I wish I had green beans too!! Better luck next time :).  Planning to prepare watermelon rind dosa and heerekai chutney tomorrow.

Jr. had spinach paratha and curd rice (both are his fav). He hadnt eaten rice in almost 4 days, and was excited to have curd rice with protein layer (cream on the milk). Currently watching Ben10 Alien force! 

BTW, when I was in DWD this time, I saw a board infront of a fast food dhaba - Fride Rice!! LOL!!

It rained for a change!

If one wants enjoy rain, they should move to Arizona! It rains about 7 inches a year! We had enough of triple degree temperatures this summer!! It has been raining for a couple of days now.

Re-living My Childhood!!

What a relief that schools have re-opened and Jr. is in 3rd grade already! Kids grow so fast. After 6 weeks of vacation in India, it took quite a while for all of us to get out of jet lag. Almost 10 days after we landed in US were pretty bad since Jr. was home all the time not knowing what to do!! All he had was TIME IN HIS HANDS!! At that point, I realized why our parents said 'Saali yavagara shuru agatado ivatardu'! Trust me, every minute I was awake, I recited the same old line for nearly 10 days!

And Yey... the school re-opened on 10th. Our home came back to living in peace from pieces!! Its been two weeks since Jr.'s school started. Two days Jr. came back from school and was telling about his day. He said 'Today we had a table change for most of the kids" (his class has 5 tables with almost 6 kids each and each one has an assigned spot. Places are generally changed after every quarter). It kind of surprised me as to why would his teacher change the places in the first week of school and I asked him the reason. His reply was 'Because if you are friends with other kids on the table, they would be chit-chatting and not paying attention to the teacher'!! Both of us burst into laughter!! It reminded me of our school days where we used to talk all the time (esp. in high school).

Cheers to our kids who remind us of our childhood everyday!!

Cool drinks in hot summer :)

Jr. got Crystal Light (sugar free) fruit punch powder to mix with his water! The other day he found out that if he dumps the entire packet in a glass full of water, it will be a blob and when he punches it from spoon, blob will burst and he could play with powder! Well.... I have wondered how come boys come up with such messy ideas in day-to-day life!! 

Buguri (Spintop)

I remember boys playing buguri, chinni dandu when we were young. On our last trip to India, D got a buguri for Jr. and not to mention their practice is always at home. Jr. is happy with is battery operated spintop where as D wants to try the spintop with the thread, which takes him back to his childhood!

Beauty

We got so much stuff from India, both for ourselves and for our home. The other day when D was cleaning up all the bags and gifts, he took a picture of this 'supari dabba', which we got from Surat. It looks so cute in this picture! Call me lazy or busy, I have been waiting to clean it and serve some supari in that :) .

Oh, and this evening, when D was eating some supari, Jr. asked "whats that?" and even before we answered, he said "I know, its air freshner"!!.

End of Grade One....

Jr has exceeded the grade standards for the first grade. Today is the last day of school for the year. He got his report card. I am so Proud of him. I remember holding him for the first time, tightly wrapped in a blanket, and here is he completing first grade! I still remember my first grade days.....

Time just flies by....hard to believe he is 7 and grew up so quickly.


HHMM... How come I didnt post this one a year and a half ago???!!!!

Blood clot and stroke!

"I hate commercials" both Jr. and I keep yelling while watching an interesting programs. I particularly hate the medicine commercials! I would rather have the problem than the reactions caused by the medication. But on the other hand, though Jr. hates the commercials, he keeps asking the meanings of the medical terms. 

Yesterday, while Jr. was watching movie while lying on the sofa, I happened to notice a blood clot mart on near his knee. I thought he got it from wall climbing adventure last week. I asked him "How did you get this blood clot?". His immediate question was "So, will I have a stroke?" (He knows blood clots lead to strokes, but what kind??)!! Yeah, thanks to comemercials!!

Its been almost a YEAR!

Its been such a long time since I scribbled something in my blog (almost a year!!). But one never knows how fast time passes! So many things/events have taken place since I wrote last. To name a few -
Obama got elected, Michael Jackson died, India elected Congress (again), Record low jobs and record high unemployment, The Big Three declared bankruptcy, bought Wii & Wii fit, bought digital SLR on Valentines Day for D, Jr. completed 2nd grade with a straight A, went on a vacation to India. Pretty eventful eh!!

Had great fun back home with all the relatives and friends; ate all the stuff which I generally miss eating here; long time wish came true - my cousin put mehendi on my hands (well, what can I say, she is an expert in drawing mehendi designs); ate mango sheekarni and jack fruit (my favorite fruit).

I would love to post some of the pictures we took while we were in India. Till then keep waiting!!

Cheers....

Is Phelps a Perfect Example?

Olympics are over and the wait is on for next one! With all the medals and records, it was a pleasure to watch (though not live, thanks to NBC!!). It was great to watch Michael Phelps break so many records and see the nail biting wins! How could anybody compete with Fish!! All his hard work, dedication paid off. Even China proved itself by not only hosting the never before seen arrangements and not to forget the highest number of golds!

This morning, when I was on the treadmill listening to the songs on my iPod, this thought came to my mind- Is Phelps the perfect example for 'Khudee ko kar buland itna ke har taqdeer sepehle khudaa bande se khud poochhe, bata teri razaa kya hai " (Make yourself so strong that before God writes your fate, let him ask you, tell me what do you want me to write)? I happen to love this Sufi song, which is so inspiring.

Debbie Phelps told in an interview about Michael's childhood - He had ADHD, was teased and alughed at by other kids for looking different and he used to come home crying everyday (and who is laughing now!!). So she put him in swimming so that he could spend his energy in the pool. His coach realized his potential when he was 11 and said 'This kid could achieve something no one has achieved before'! What a foresight, and yes, HE DID IT!!

The teenagers could use Phelps, Shawn Johnson, Usain Bolt, Abhinav Bindra, Dara Torres and many others who have achieved purely on their hard work as their ideals rather than some movie stars spending thousands on drinks and going to rehab! There is so much positive to do in life. Cheers to all the winners in Olympics :).

I was going Nuts!!

"I was going Nuts" said Michael Phelps a.k.a. 'Baltimore Bullet' yesterday after winning the Gold in Men's 400M relay in Olympics (Swimming). It was tough! World record broken and the nail biting competition was a great sight to experience.

All the pain of training, countless hours in the pool, learning new techniques and not to forget the 'believe in yourself' part, are forgotten when in an instant. It was such a proud moment to see everyone reaching their goal to get the Gold! Phelps is trying to break the record of 7 golds in this Olympics and would love to watch him win!! Here is the link for the relay and Phelps cheering his teammates.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0811_HD_SWB_HL_L0194

Man's Greatest Creation - GOD!

OK, I read this thing on CNN - Bombers want to be beheaded, not shot to death!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/29/bali.appeal.ap/index.html

Whats going on!!! Didn't they think about the people whom they injured/paralyzed for life when they bombed Bali? Or have they forgotten the suffering of the people whom the victims left behind! A person who died was a son, brother, husband, dad and a good friend to many! Can you make THEIR life painless? You appeal for a painless death or asking for mercy to give you a painless death - does it make any sense??!! I have never believed in life after death and you will have to face God - but think for yourself, you have something called Conscience, which needs you to answer right and wrong! Be true to yourself, you don't have to answer GOD!!

World's Most Expensive Cities

Wow, read this article about World's Top 15 Most Expensive Cities. Lucky I do not live in any one of them, but definitely would love to visit all the places listed in there. Take a look:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/23/cities-expensive-world-forbeslife-cx_zg_

0724expensivecities_slide.html?partner=yahoo

Why Should I Hire You?

Changing jobs is such a strenuous work! These are the two most common questions:

1. What are your plans for next 5 years?

2. Why should I hire you?

I don’t know about what one plans for five years, but I read this interesting article about 'Why should I hire you' thing on CareerBuilder. Take a look if you are interested!

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/msn/careeradvice/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=

1569&SiteId=cbmsnhp41569&sc_extcmp=IV_1569_home1&GT1=23000&cbRecursionCnt=

1&cbsid=1fb55af7a7dc4bfeb91206294d179d6a-270664561-wo-6

Refuse to Lose...

Last weekend, I watched ‘Provoked’ by Jagmohan Mundhra, starring Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews and Nandita Das. An excellent movie, truly inspiring. Aishwarya Rai has acted better than any other movie of hers so far.

It’s a movie based on a true story. Kiranjit is convicted of murder of her husband. Kiranjit is from Punjab, and is married to a guy named Deepak Ahluwalia who lives in UK, who abuses her physically, mentally and sexually for nearly ten years. One night, after a fight, she pours gasoline and lights her husband while he is sleeping. Thought she did not intend to kill him, he died of his injuries ten days later. It’s awful to see the way she was abused. She fights, gets help and is convicted of involuntary man slaughter. Her two kids were generally the witnesses to the violence, which no kids go through!

I searched some more on her story and here is something I found out – In an interview she claimed: "I decided to show him how much it hurt. At times I had tried to run away, but he would catch me and beat me even harder. I decided to burn his feet so he couldn't run after me.” She also claimed: "I wanted to give him a scar like those he had given me, to have him suffer pain as I had.”

I cannot imagine what she might have gone through for those ten years! Being abused on a daily basis by the one you love and trust! Well, in a place like India, family honor is the most important thing, doesn’t matter even if a woman has to sacrifice her life! Till we teach our daughters to stand up for themselves, this will continue! It is a relief that she got justice, but I cannot imagine the hardships she had to go through to get out of the memories of those ten years, and gather herself together to start a new life. Cheers to her new life and refusing to lose.

World is becoming smaller

When the quote turned from 'It's a small world' to 'World is becoming smaller', we were definitely talking about the technology, e-mails, phones, etc. E-mails were very exciting about ten years ago, especially for the older generations who did not know what was a computer, leave part what it did!! E-mails are definitely super fast, easy and inexpensive compared to the regular letters a.k.a. 'Snail Mail'.

I love writing letters. It’s a pleasure to hold a pen and write your mind on the paper. The scratches, spelling/grammar mistakes, the up-down arrows give that letter a personal touch. Even to the reader, doesn’t matter if you write the mundane stuff, it’s a pleasure holding that piece of paper in his/her hand and read it over and over again.

I still have the letters written by my friends when I was in high school. Even now when I open my 'Treasure chest', I can go through the letters, greeting cards (for all occasions), and trinkets and not to forget the beautiful letter pads.

All this came to my mind when I saw this article on MSN today. Here is the list of celebrities who are not tech savvy.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/10/celebrities-technoloy-technophobe-personal-cx_
ew_0611sanstech_slide_2.html?partner=msntech

Shame on Humanity

During my break time a couple of days ago, I was reading this article on CNN about the sex slaves from war torn Bosnia. Trust me, I didn’t realize the tears rolling down my cheeks! After reading that, it felt like ‘Death is painless’. Death comes to you only once, but whatever those women went through, is like dying every day! But the only thing I did not understand was – What were those soldiers made of? Weren’t they HUMANS? Or to put it in proper words – do/could HUMANS behave this way? I reading somewhere – When the humanity ends, the world will end! I am clueless as to what else could happen! Here is the link for the article if you are interested!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/22/sarajevo.rape/index.html

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, there will be peace!

Ah Men!!

Today one of my friends sent this funny thing about men:

Please note.. these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.Let us be clear on this one:Subtle hints do not work!Strong hints do not work!Obvious hints do not work!Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria 's Secret girls, don't Expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done. Not both.If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really .

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

And here is my reply to him:

Yeah! Thanks for reminding!!! So many are true with me on a daily basis!!! esp the thing you want us to or the way you want us to do, and the directions part is huge topic for fight!! Thanks to GPS (has reduced the fights nearly 80%). Well, do you really need a reason to fight!! LOL

Well Columbus didnt need directions (agree to the part). Here are my points:

1. He had compass.
2. He was on water, so matter where he went, he was bound to find land somewhere!!
3. He didnt have his wife on board! We dont know what the scenario would be if he had taken his wife (or anyone's wife on board for that matter)!!

Keep smiling :-)

Missed blogging for a long time...

It has been such a long time since I wrote anything on the blog (its one of my non guilty pleasures!). Hard to believe – no entries for nearly two months on the blog. So, today I thought I would update the blog while having my evening coffee. Traveling, stress, family and work have taken the leisure time away from me. Yeah, I know blaming something else is easier! On the other hand, this business travel has made me more confident. Now I don’t have the fear of driving the unknown car, finding my way around the unknown city/area. Well, everything comes at a cost! I have lost so much of the family time I used to get when I was home. That’s the most important thing which is bothering me! The major disadvantage of traveling is the diet and exercise part of life! I cant cook the food I want, and pretty much tired to exercise every day. So, I have gained about 6 lbs in a month!

Jr. was really happy the first week of my travel. He didn’t have to go through the restrictions which mommy puts.TV/computer/DS time. Well, after a day, he says – ‘No particular reason, but I kinda miss you’. After I get back home, he says he missed me because ‘Pappa doesn’t know how to prepare curd rice’! AAHH… here goes the valid reason – no favorite food, so miss mommy! When mommy says not to eat maggi, that’s unfair, but when dad feeds maggi for all the three dinners when mommy was away, it’s boring! Trust me, after that week, he never really has asked me for maggi!! Whenever I am home, Jr. gives me a list of things he wants to eat! I prepared ‘Saboodani khichadi’ this weekend, and he said ‘Yeah… ball khichadi’. It was good to see that smile back on his face.

It was worth all the labor :-) .