Home

17 hrs flight time. 45 hrs travel time. 8000+ miles traveled.

Home at last.

Our Home

We moved into our new (to us) house in April of this year. Since then I have been thinking of posting some pictures of the house. After eight months, I am ready. Finally we have the entire house set up. There are not that many Christmas decorations. I am a little behind on all the festivities.

So, welcome take a look around.

This is our foyer area.


From the foyer, this is the view of the living room.

The living room. We put the border wallpaper after we moved in. We are old fashioned that way. We still love wallpaper. Also the living room has volume ceilings, so we needed some division.



Now, we have an "office room" downstairs. I put that in quotes because that is where hubby is supposed to be sitting and working. And that is the only room he never works out of.



Our mini technical "library" in the "office." Sorry about the blurry picture. There are still more books to go in there. One of the many projects I need to do.


The kitchen. Yes I know that the cook-top and refrigerator doesn't match but the fridge matches with the microwave and so it doesn't feel lonely. And although you can't see it in the photos, the black toaster keeps the cook-top company. So it is all very color co-ordinated.


The dining room where we eat only when we have guests. It is usually in pristine condition as we never eat there. Except for the one week when we said No to TV and ate our dinners there. I guess we will be more respectable when we have children. Or not. That is a bamboo plant my dear friend gave on my birthday. It is my kind of plant. It is still thriving and surviving with hardly any care at all. No, I don't change my table linens based on season. In case you were wondering. And yes, I reserve the right to change my mind next year. We have our small library at the corner of the dining room (not shown)


This is the look out from the kitchen to the dining room. And if you look carefully, you can see the granite sink. It is a necessity for clumsy people like us.


This is our half bathroom downstairs.


Now, come upstairs with me.


This is our guest bedroom. The previous owners used it as a nursery and we never changed anything as we are hoping to use it for the same purpose. But currently it functions as a guest bedroom as well. If you stay at our home, you can have pleasant dreams of Winnie the Pooh. That is the promise we give.


I haven't posted the pictures of our room because when I took these pictures, I was in the middle of this dilemma. I am happy to report that it is all sorted out now (thank you, friends!) and I will post the pictures shortly.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

You know you are sick...

When after drinking warm water you go Ahhh.... like it is hot chocolate or something

It is the worst time to get sick although I am not sure if there is a good time to get sick anyway. I don't have any life threatening illness, only a mild touch of flu. I have 3 current projects at work, my in-laws are visiting, so busy at home and I feel too sick to do it all. I took half day off from work, ended up cooking at home, and I think it is better to be at work. At least there are no fumes.

I have STILL NOT done most of the Christmas shopping. I am getting panicky at the thought now. The only time we can take the parents out are in the evenings and weekends (since both of us work) and so I have no time for shopping. (We only have one car). The worst part is I don't even know what to get for most people. Then there is a birthday and our 2nd wedding anniversary coming up. To crown it all, I am going on a 3 week vacation to India on the 26th and I have to pack and get ready for that. We are going for a 4 day trip as well- which I have to make reservations for including swimming with dolphins, parasailing, hot-air ballooning and what not. And we come back I have a 24 hour plane ride starting the next day. I have to get the house ready and make food for 15 people (including kids) tomorrow. And also I have to go shopping for the ingredients.

And did I mention I was sick?

Just writing it all out, I feel another headache coming.

I think I am just a wee bit overwhelmed.

Have a frugal little Christmas

Nothing in life is free. Well okay, some things are. Air, laughter and salvation. Although I wouldn't bet on anything other than salvation.

Couple of days back I got a gift card for Victoria's Secret (No, I am not linking. If you don't know what that is, google is your friend) It was for $10. Now, I did not need anything from VS technically, but I could not resist the urge to get something for free. Also, I had to do some Christmas shopping and so braved the mall which I usually avoid like the plague. I pick up a small $10 of perfume which I didn't really need and walk to the counter. The total came up to $10.70 and I gave my $10 gift card. The lady at the counter said that I cannot use it since the total before tax needs to be $10.01 for me to use the card. I think she made up the rule just then. And then she gave me an excellent suggestion. I could spend $10 more on stuff I do not need and use my gift card to get the 10 bucks off. What a truly ground breaking idea!! I never thought of that before!!! I said thank you very much, but no and gracefully walked out.

I think I would rather tear up the card than spend $0.71 there.

So, here I stand. I refuse to be manipulated by a store which sends you a gift card for $10 and not allow you to use it on a $10 product. I guess they were irritated that I did not come with a $10 gift card and leave with $50 on my credit card.

Enjoy with me and have a frugal little Christmas and do not forget that the best gift in the world (and the reason for this season) is free.

I need your advise, Internets

I need the help of all the seasoned homemakers out there. We recently bought a comforter set. The set has a comforter, bed skirt, shams and decorative pillows. Now, the problem is when we unpacked it, there is a musty smell. I can't exactly describe the smell very well. It is not a terrible smell per se, but it is strong and it is there.


It says specifically only to dry clean. I got this on Black Friday sale for $50 and I do not want to spend an equal amount of money dry cleaning it. Is there any way to get rid of this smell? I am guessing that when it says "Dry clean only", it would be tempting the powers that be if I wash is even on gentle cycle.


Please do let me know in the comments if you have any ideas. My in-laws are coming this weekend and I need to do something about this before that.


I truly appreciate your help.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

We were driving back home on Sunday night and there was an accident right in front of us. When we got there, the EMS people had just arrived at the scene. I mentioned to R that I could never be an EMS person as you never know what I would have to see everyday in my line of work. And then we got on to an interesting discussion about what jobs we couldn’t do. I had no problem coming up with a list, compulsive list maker that I am.

Me: It’d be interesting to put it in a blog

Hubs: Everything is blog fodder for you now

I think the man has a point.

Anyway here is my list of 3 jobs I could not, would not hold.

Nurse: Anything to do with blood? No thank you! I faint at the sight of blood or gore or twisted limbs or anything remotely related to these things. And Injections-giving or receiving? Heck! No!!

I am such a tender snowflake.

Water related jobs: I have a fear of drowning. I tried learning swimming twice. I can float like a lily in 3 ft water and that’s about the extent of my swimming capabilities. Not that I would get the job of lifeguard or Coast Guard rescuer. I have heard they have some funny requirements like you have to know swimming to qualify.

It is probably a good thing.

President (country, company whatever): I would totally crack under pressure. I cannot even decide whether to make red lentils or yellow one for dinner without doing a 5 minute meditation in various head angles and facial contortions in front of the pantry. I am the queen of indecision. But, once I make a decision I am pretty immovable.

Or so I like to think.

Do you have a job(s) which you could not, would not hold? It would be fun to hear from you.

Our furry friends

“What is the name of that geranium on the window-sill, please?”

“That is the apple scented geranium”

“Oh, I don’t mean that sort of a name. I mean just a name you gave it yourself. Can I give it a name?”

“Goodness, I don’t care. But where on earth is the sense in naming a geranium?”

“Oh, I like things to have handles even if they are only geraniums. How do you know but that it hurts a geranium’s feelings to just to be called geranium and nothing else? You wouldn’t like to be called nothing but a woman all the time.”

Anne of Green Gables

I agree.

We love naming everything. When we bought our new to us house, we named the trees, the animals that inhabited in and around the house. We are dorky like that. I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts on all of them.

Today it is about Max and Maxine and their love story. Max and Maxine are two squirrels and we used to see them on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I can’t find pictures of them and so this dialogue has to suffice.

Max: Hi, would you like to start a family with me?

Maxine: meh

Max: I am and plushy and furry and I have some treasures stored away for the winter

Maxine: This is Florida, dude. There is no winter.

Max: I love you

Maxine: whatever. And please do stop swishing your fluffy tail on my face!

Max pursues Maxine determined not to be deterred by her lack of interest. I am now happy to report that they are together. The fact that neither hubby nor I can tell Max and Maxine apart is inconsequential. But we have seen one of them chasing the other. Since I am traditional, I am just assuming that Max went after Maxine.

The next day we saw both of them sitting on Romeo’s (that’s another post for another day) boughs as cozy as you please. I think Maxine was just playing hard to get.

Of passports and travel and thanksgiving

Updated to Add

I am excited. Four days of holiday. I have lots of things planned for these days. We are not going anywhere for a change. Staying home and tending to home like things. We do not celebrate Thanksgiving in any traditional sense, but I have been thinking today on all the things I have been thankful for. Last three weeks have been tough for me due to various irritations. It all started when....

It has been almost two years since I got married and I had never got a chance to change my name in the passport. Since we are "aliens" here in the USA, any of these processes is a pain in the behind and I just kept putting it off as a disagreeable task. Finally, my passport was close to expiring and I had to send it in to extend it for another 10 years. We do not have a consulate here in Orlando, so I sent it in to Texas for processing. I sent it in on the second week in September. The website said it takes two weeks to process mailed in applications. Meanwhile I booked my tickets for a trip to India (on November 10) to see family and spend a precious two weeks there. I had saved all my vacation time from work for this and was really excited about it.

I am sitting here (US) and writing this post and it is past November 10, so you know where this is going, right?

I get the entire application packet sent back to me about 17 days later rejecting it, on grounds that one of the forms were not notarized. The funny part is the form was not even in the website when I sent in my application. Anyway I sent in my application again in the first week of October happily.

Are you asleep yet?

Two weeks passed, and then three. I started getting a little worried. I called the Consulate. It took me hours to just connect to the receptionist or the lady who picks up the phone. She did not even let me finish talking. Her sympathetic response was: "If you have sent the application in less than a month, don't bother us. The processing time is 4-6 weeks. You should have brought in the application in person. This is what happens to mailed applications."

What I did not know was after I sent in my application the second time, they changed the time from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. I wrote emails, faxes, called them everyday. No one ever bothered. I told them about my ticket. I did whatever I could. I was traveling on a Saturday. Up until Thursday I held on to hope. I ran to the mail box every day after I came home from work. Only to be disappointed.

Again and again.

The office of the Consulate General of India, Texas is the worst, most unprofessional, rude and incompetent office I have dealt with since coming to the US.

(Oh Ewok girl and all the rest of my readers from Texas- When I said Consulate in Texas, it is not Texans who are manning the office. It is Indians. Indians who are so rude that when you request them something, they speak to another person in the office in their local language and laugh loudly while keeping you waiting on the phone. The reason why I linked to them many times is I am hoping that when someone does a google search this would come up. I am that irritated with them.)

Finally, they sent in my passport on the 12th after I had canceled my India flight and left to the Adirondacks for my training. Much as I loved my training, I would rather have gone home since I would have received training in March anyway.

Now here is the kicker of the whole thing.

When they sent in my new passport, they forgot to change my name. They rejected my application first time around because they did not have enough documentation to do a name change.

I will give you a moment to digest that if you are still reading.

Husband and I are speechless. We decided I am going to retain my maiden name for another 10 years. I am totally rendered incapable of dealing with them. The damage of canceling my ticket and re-booking a new one is $500 and I paid $1500 to get the original ticket. And then there is whole thing of dealing with travel agents in getting a new ticket. There are no tickets available for the entire month of December. I am sick and tired of it all and I feel like licking my wounds, just paying a penalty and not making the trip. Then I hear my parents’ voice over the phone and I realize I do miss them a lot and how much I would enjoy 2 weeks with them. We don't get to see each other all too often with 10,000 miles separating us.

I realize this has been a pity post and I don't mean to rain on my lovely readers' thanksgiving happiness, but this is how I have been feeling for the past three weeks. I haven't cooked everyday, house is a mess, and temper is short. I do feel better after I wrote this. Yesterday, in the midst of all my doom and gloom, I was blessed by the words of Amy Carmichael:


If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for my worried self when troublesome things occur,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If stupid people fret me and little ruffles set me on edge; if I make much of the trifles of life,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.

I wish I could say that it was bright and illuminating and I was completely okay after that, but if I did, I would be lying. But I did feel that there is indeed a lot I have to be thankful for. And that is what I am going to do. Be thankful.

And some Christmas decorating.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving y'all!!!

Adirondacks

I have been neglecting my blog for a long time now. I have one week worth of blog visiting to do as well. I was up in the Adirondacks Mountains for a week of training. Our company has a corporate facility there and it was heavenly. I love work!!! This was my room.

It was singularly the best place I have ever stayed in my life so far. We had training in the morning, the afternoons we could do what we wanted. Evenings there was an exercise of what we had learned and after dinner at 6:30 we were free birds. The basement of the cottage had pool, ping-pong and foosball and we could do as we pleased. There were three homemade meals a day and cocktail reception in the evenings. Here is the great room where we had the training.

There was a great group up there and it was a great time for networking as well. I cannot even start to describe the beauty of the place. This was the view from my window.

And they were outside most of the time.

It snowed all night Wednesday and I woke up Thursday morning to this.

The one drawback of the place was that it was in so remote a place that I was virtually incommunicato. It was horrible not being able to talk to R 5 times a day. But there was wireless and so we got to email each other every day.

It was a training camp, but it was also a lovely break from the daily routine. No cooking, cleaning and driving. My flight back was on Friday and I reached Orlando Friday night. And the best part of the whole thing? Seeing hubby back on Friday. I got a chance to get recharged, learn some important work skills and appreciate yet again how blessed I am.

Of sports and extreme stunts

I think sports are a waste of time...

Only because I am terrible at it.

But apparently I have no issues stepping off in to thin air from a 100 m tower.

I must have been out of my mind

Or an air plane for that matter

Don't let the smile fool you. It was more a "goodbye cruel world" smile than anything else.

Are you good at sports? Have you done any crazy stunts?

Winner

Thank you everyone for participating in the give away. I had lots of fun doing it and hope to do it again soon. There were 99 people who commented and I asked husband to pick a number between 1 and 99 and he picked 9. My 9th commenter is Awesome Mom and she is my winner.

Congratulations, I will contact you via the email address you provided.

Irregularly scheduled blogging will soon continue.

My First Giveaway

I am doing my very first giveaway here at my blog. I thought it would be fun to join the carnival over at Shannon's blog. What I am planning to give away is an elephant.

Please don't go away. It is not real. You don't have to feed them or anything. It is 4'' x 6'' in size. The pictures are given below.


They are authentic Indian made, so it is coming from a local artist's hands in Kerala, India 10,000 miles from you. I got it from there during my last trip and I have one left which I would like to give away. Here is a close up.

All you need to do is let me know you visited in the comments below. I will leave this post at the comments open until November 2nd midnight and I will pick a winner on Saturday, November 3rd.


Bloggers and non-bloggers in US are welcome to participate. Let the fun begin.

For more free stuff, head on over to Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

Teaching Woes

I teach Sunday school once a month at our church. I don’t like the fact that I have to miss preaching the day, but I think it is great fun and very rewarding. Take yesterday’s lesson for example.

The lesson was about Joshua and Rahab.

Me: And Joshua sent two spies…

Student 1: What are spies?

Student 2: Are they people who take kiev of you?

Me: What’s that?

Student 2: Take KIEV!!

Me: I don’t understand you sweetie…

Student 1: Take kiev as in taking kiev of a baby

(She shows gesture of holding a baby)

Me: I see… Taking CARE! Yeah, ok. NO, NO. Spies don’t take care of you.

Student 3: Do they steal stuff?

Me: No, they just watch what you do and report you to your enemies…

Student 3: What is report?

(When will I learn I am talking to 5 year olds?)

Student: So are they BAD people?

Me: Hmm, well…you know…not always

(I was the picture of eloquence)

Student one or the other: Then why did Rahab save them?

This is when I realize I probably should not be teaching Sunday school. At least not to 5 year olds who are much smarter than I am.

Genesis to Revelation - It's all good

I am on a read-the-Bible-in-a-year program. It goes continuously from Genesis on to Revelation instead of jumping from Jeremiah to Jude. I am currently on Mathew. We made some changes in our schedules and habits to make it happen.

Here I go with lists again. I think I will lose my entire readership because of all the lists.

• We changed Netflix subscriptions from 3 to 1. Also since hubby and I like different things, I changed the order such that I end up getting only 1 DVD at a time. Saves money AND time. I still have a fixation for one show a week and I do watch that for an hour on Tuesdays.

• Not having cable really helps. We do not have cable not because we are cheapskates and very holy people and think it is a tool of Satan, but because we are out of control. Although, the one on being cheapskates is debatable.

• I love to read. I read at least 15 minutes a day. Now I do not allow myself to read unless I finish my passages for the day.

I keep thinking that it should not be so difficult. But it is as Paul says in Romans: The good that I should do, I do not do. I do not always do the right thing, worse still I sometimes do not even WANT to do the right thing. I prayed before that I would be able to go through with it and so far I have been able to. Now I am excited about it.

I once studied the book of Hebrew. Studied as in really studied as for an exam…Dictionary, concordances, root meanings- I can only describe the experience as exhilarating. I then discussed it with some senior friends and they were excited for me as well. I always worried that I might not be able to grasp the meaning and I may read too fast when I go over 4-5 passages at a time. That has always been my problem with these programs. But God has been good to me. I really am seeing certain things in a whole new light. It is surprising seeing as I must have read the Gospel of Matthew at least 25 times. And I know it is only by the work of the Holy Spirit.

He really is one good Helper. All you need to do is ask.

And another thing was yesterday’s preaching. It was about Personal Bible Study. It was a further encouragement and I am thankful to the Lord. I will write about (hopefully soon) what I learned in a coming post.

I am back

I cannot believe I didn't post anything for two whole weeks. I have been writing blog posts in other's comment boxes though. That should count, right? The world has not been bereft of my illuminating wisdom. I was so busy writing there that I never got around to writing anything here.

I never did post the birthday pictures, write about our trip, or the other things I wanted to do. But I did do many things that I never planned on doing.

• Arrange the coat closet, paired up the socks and put them neatly in a plastic bin
• Filed all the bills and paper work from the last month in another plastic bin
• Cleaned under the sink and put all the cleaning stuff in another plastic bin

Do you begin to see a pattern here? As I was saying some terribly exciting stuff was taken care of. Sarcasm aside, it was fun to organize stuff.

One fun thing I got to do was invite friends over to share pictures from our Grand Canyon trip. We love opening our hearts and home and spending time with people. Although I hate to invite people and have them bring food, (that practice is laughed at in our culture) they insisted that they bring food, and since I woke up with a bad headache that morning, I agreed. I made tuna cutlets for appetizer and fruit salad for desert. I found out minutes before my guests arrived that I did not have the bread crumbs that I needed to dip the cutlets in. So I asked my friend to please get some for me on her way to my home because she spends all of her days taking leisurely bubble baths, sipping tea and reading Victoria magazine, so please do some work already. (For my readers she is a busy homeschooling mama of 5 kids under 7. I can only IMAGINE what her days are like)

So when I say pot luck, I mean it. My guests bring the ingredients, we all cook around a pot, and if they are lucky, they get some food.

Much like our Christian forefathers.

But I do provide chairs and tables and plates and cutlery. I am generous like that.

I can only write posts when I am relaxed and that is usually at the end of a work week or in the night when I am home. Hubby's computer has been having issues and he has been using my laptop for his work, so I have been without a computer for some time. Which is probably the reason why I got some house organizing done.

Which is of course a good thing.

Now if only I can motivate myself to clean the bathroom...

Random stuff

I was talking to my mom today about our trip to the Grand Canyon and what we did there etc. Coincidentally at the same time, they had also taken a trip to one of the hill stations in India.

Mom: What did you do in Grand Canyon?

Me: We went on a helicopter to the bottom of the canyon and then took the boat ride on the Colorado River

(There is silence at the other end)

Me: Hello? Hello??

Mom: That is a risky thing to do. I have heard of many crashes. What with the height and everything

Me: Well, there is a certain amount of risk to everything. So, what did you do?

Mom: Oh, we just went on the ropeway

Thanks Mamma. Good to know that the "Do as I say and not as I do" is still going strong.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Couple of those work stories-

I apparently gave some misinformation to my boss (inconsequential) and that was caught by our client. (He is Indian)

Boss: You said ABC was not available

Me: That was what I thought, but this client is one smart guy

Boss: It takes one Indian to catch another one.

Me: I guess so

Boss: And that is why there are a billion of you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Couple of months back I had just finished a very difficult project and there was a lot of back and forth emailing going on. At the end of the day I was sending out the finished report and I wrote the customary line at the bottom. "Please don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions." Half way through I decided to say instead "Please feel free to call me...." It ended up being "Please don't feel free to call me" I did not send it since I got a chance to review it, but some days- that sentence captures my feelings exactly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got an offer from the insurance agency the other day- actually on my birthday. It was for long term care. Okay, so I do have my share of medical problems, but I am not there yet. Hello? I turned 27 not 72!

Getting dye off clothes

This is the first time I am participating in Shannon's WFMW.

My relatives in India, when they visited me gifted me with a shirt. It was a violent yellow and gold color and after wearing it once, I kept it aside on the floor to wash it separately. Hubby dear wanted to help me out and decided to do the laundry. He put it together with our other clothes and the result was pretty bad. All of his white T shirts and other white articles of clothing got dyed with a nasty yellow/orange. I tried bleach, washing it separately and it is not coming out. Can any of you suggest a method to get it out?

For more questions and answers visit Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.

Vacation photos

I am back from vacation and since there is a lot of work to be caught up with, I am just going to post some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I will have to finish my work before I write any posts and believe me there is plenty to write about- including the story of a fat aggressive squirrel, how my birthday actually turned out to be, and how there was yet another surprise after we came back. I don't think the pictures do justice to the majesty of the Grand Canyon-at least the pictures which have been resized by ofoto.

Older but not wiser

It is that time of the year again. Candles and cakes and flowers. I am turning 27 tomorrow. It sure seems like a lot of years. More than one third of my life is over. I cannot imagine where all the years went. Sigh.

DH had a surprise birthday party at one of our friends' houses. It was another friends' birthday as well and we all got together at one house. Hubby was the originator of the surprise party and he did a very good job of sneaking all the cakes and gifts past me. I had to admire him for his talent. It was all orchestrated to perfection. I never expected it. He says that it was a very close call at one point. I had gotten ready for what I thought was a simple get together and I went to the office room to take some printouts. Hubby followed me and when I got too close to the gift he spun me around.

Hubs: You look so beautiful!

Me: Wha?

I had worn the same dress the Sunday before and had not elicited any comments. Hubs generally doesn't pay me too many compliments. When I dress up, I pirouette like a little girl and totally force him to compliment me. So I was quite surprised when I heard this. And it totally had the intended effect. I completely forgot about the package I was investigating and went instead to admire myself in front of the mirror. Ugh!

I will post pictures of the party next Monday. In a few hours we are leaving for Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. A birthday treat from my dear husband. We had always wanted to go to GC and my birthday is as good an excuse as any to spend money and not feel guilty. Neither of us are very interested in LV, but since it close by we are spending two evenings there. That and the fact that our flight arrives and departs from there.

So I will see all you interpeeps on Monday. All five of you. With pictures of the party and the vacation and 1 year older.

Pride before the crawl

R and I have an unwritten code. It is not a code per se, but more like a thing. Whenever one of us boasts about something, our gloating is sure to come back and bite us in the bohonkous. We cannot boast to each other about anything. And we learned that early in the relationship.


The first instance I remember was when I was visiting him in his new apartment downtown after he moved out of our old neighborhood. There was a rather sharp curve to get to his lane and it was hidden by a clump of trees and bushes. When we were at the signal just before our turn I mentioned that the driveway was slightly hidden. Hubs replied that he *NEVER misses* it in spite of that and that he maneuvers the sharp turn gracefully. And then in the course of his elaborate discourse, he missed the turn, took a one way, then a U turn in front of ongoing traffic to get back. Of course, I made fun of him for days (years) afterward. These are the tender moments in our marriage when we point at each other and laugh.

Another time was when my sister, her husband and kids were visiting me and R was trying to impress his fair lady's family. He told me how he would make them fall in love with him by making his specialty side dish, Raita, and how it *never fails*. Well, the curse of the PBTC was wrathful indeed and it ended up so spicy no one would eat it. So he made an impression alright, just not the one he was hoping for...

And I've had my valleys of humiliation as well. The latest example of PBTC being just last week: I was telling hubby how fast I was getting at typing and now I can type *without even looking at the keyboard*. (Yes, yes, we still haven't learnt...)

Anyway, yesterday I made a power point presentation at work for an agency meeting. A line was supposed to read:

"ABC will be an add on package to the system"

I sent in the presentation with a record turnaround time and 5 minutes later my Project Manager calls me.

PM (the ever diplomatic): Annie, seems like there is an error on slide 8

(I look for the squiggly line to tell me where I went wrong and there is nothing)

PM: Um, if you look in line 3, there is A-S-S (he doesn't say the word) on package instead of ADD on

I think for the first time in my life I know the meaning of blushing hotly.

I don't think I can ever live this down. My pride is in the dust. My only consolation is it did not go directly to the client.

Is this true?

I heard something today that made me concerned and upset. I have not heard anything about it and I was wondering if you did. I am at work and so cannot do an extensive search.

I heard today that some people want the law changed to give parents the right to kill their babies 1 to 3 months old if they are born with deficiencies.

IF this is true, I have only one thing to say, Lord please do not tarry.

All pain, no gain

When people ask my husband and I if we are “trying” to have kids, I always assumed that it was because it was evident that I love kids and the fact that my husband and I have been married “long enough.” But yesterday morning, I realized that there could be an entirely different reason.

My stomach!!! It keeps increasing in girth every day. And there is not a whole lot I can do about it. It is hereditary-a gift from my mother. Thanks Mamma!

But for what it was worth, I darkened the door of a gym after a long time. I did stomach exercise, stretching, aerobic and even the monkey bar. I felt good, on top of the world. I was wondering why on earth I don’t do this every day. Everything went well until I got up today. Now I cannot lift my arms, all that’s there in me to hurt is hurting. And there is not a mite of change in my stomach.

R says I have to do at least 250 repetitions of the stomach exercise every day for a month to make any difference. I am thinking he might have told me that he does not love me anymore and doesn’t care if I live or die.

250 REPETITIONS EVERY DAY? FOR ONE MONTH?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

How much do you do? Do you have any suggestions to reduce the stomach inches? Please don’t ask me to reduce eating as that would be a waste of words. I love my food. I do not eat chocolates or meat much at all and wheat products-none at all. I do not easily put on a lot of weight, its just my stomach which gets bigger. Weird, isn't it?

Muhuhahahaha

Okay, if you all are still reading after the scary title, here is the thing...

Well, I totally mean to don't mean to brag about it, but I MADE PIZZA FROM SCRATCH YESTERDAY!!! From scratch people, from scratch.

Ok, so I know that you are all great homemakers and knew how to do it when you were 6. But give a girl (who could not peel potatoes 3 years ago) a break, okay?

I saw the recipe on Crystal's blog and the ingredients were handy and she made the process seem really easy, so I decided to go ahead and make it. I stopped at the store on my way back home and got the aluminum pizza pans and mushrooms and jalapenos and I was all set to go. I came home and announced that it is pizza for dinner.

Hubs: Where do you want me to order?
Me: No, I am making pizza
Hubs: You bought the crust?
Me: No, I am making it from scratch, with the dough and everything
Hubs: You are WHAT??
(I repeated the above sentence)
Hubs: Sweetie, that will take HOURS and I am starting to get hungry
Me: No, it will take only half hour according to the blog
Hubs: Okay, if you want to do it...What's for backup?
Me: Thanks for the confidence. It is reassuring

Anyway to make a long story short, I pretty much followed the recipe with slight variations to satisfy our palate and 1 hour later, there it was


Isn't she a thing of beauty? Well maybe not, but that's only because the camera was not working and I had to take it using my cell phone. But I do assure you she WAS a thing of beauty.

I got all my satisfaction out of LOOKING at my creation because you know I can't actually eat it (gluten allergy).

I am told that it was delicious and way better than the store bought one. Needless to say, hubby ate his words along with the pizza.

As if I hadn't enough to do already

I need another online game addiction like I need a hole in my head, but I saw this in my friend's blog and could not resist. It is really fun and cool. You might need to brush up some basic physics though.

This is the site. Enjoy and let me know what your score was for your first attempt.

http://www.myfreegamespot.com/game/22548/Play-Ramps.html

101,220 was my score. The screen shot I tried to paste is not coming up. So you have to take me at my word. :D

In the beginning...

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago before there was wireless, DSL, two merry girls were walking along the street talking of boys, fashion, and music. The year was 1998. I had just finished high school (equivalent) and was getting ready to go to Engineering school. At that time the whole Internet thing had just reached us folks in a big coastal city small coastal town in India. It was summer vacation and my friend Susan and I were walking back from special classes when we saw this banner: “Learn Microsoft Applications. Free Internet as a part of the course. ” This one caught our eye not because of the wonderful Microsoft Applications that we could learn and would possibly be useful for us as potential engineers. The lure was purely in the free Internet. We were the only girls in the class made up mostly of 30-something men. The teacher was probably in his mid twenties and a pompous guy puffed up with his superior knowledge. We giggled in the class at his mannerisms which probably made him curse his luck in getting us as his students.

Being the true cheapskates they were the theory class was always a lot longer than the practical. So most of the time we spent in learning about CPU, MU, ALU etc and hardly any time in front of an actual computer. As for the Internet, that was just like bait for the fish -which we fell for headlong. The everlasting theory classes ended one day and we were allowed entrance into the inner sanctuary with the freezing air-conditioning. We looked reverently at the computers and our hands itched to click on Internet Explorer which would take us to magic places. I especially wanted to visit the website for Prince Edward Island. At that time I considered that to be my ultimate dream and idea of earthly bliss. But it was not to be. The time in front of the computer was to be “solely used for the purpose of enhancing our knowledge that has been assimilated in the theory classes.” But as for Susan and I, since the only thing we accumulated were black looks from the teacher, we really had no clue as to what we were supposed to be doing.

We started clicking around and discovered MS Paint and then proceeded to draw our teacher. At this point I am not sure if that was part of our theory class or not, but I can assure you that the teacher did NOT look as bad as we painted him inspite of his slick well oiled hair and thick glasses. Looking back, I am totally amazed at our maturity at 17 years of age. It is something to be proud of.

So four days went on with theory and practical with not even a hint of Internet and finally on the fifth day, they took us to the conference room and told us that today we would be learning about checking emails. By that time we were too disillusioned with the system to expect anything, nonetheless went dutifully. Mr. Teacher came in and he was in his element in this setting and surpassed himself. The whole thing was way over my head. I very vaguely remember him talking about firewalls, plug-ins and what not. At the end of his monologue, he looked at us and asked: “Are there any questions?” There was silence in the room. I do not remember now a single thing that I learned there, but this memory stands out in my mind. A slightly older man in his late forties raised his hand and asked: “Could you please explain how to check email again?”

Why "Just About Anything"?

My real-life friend HopIQ was the first one who talked to me about starting a blog. I kept thinking and rethinking about it. What in heavens would I write about? It’s not like I have a bunch of cute kids whom I could write about or post pictures. Neither did I have a terribly exciting job where adventures happened on a daily basis that I could regale my readers with. Nor am I a heroine of the faith going through trials and tribulations so that I could be a beacon of encouragement to the multitudes. I am not a (die hard) feminist, anti-feminist, conservative, liberal, keeper at home, career woman, cooking whiz.

Yet I am all of this in part.

I cannot be in a box since I found out that I make everyone else in the box uncomfortable. That is why my title is Just About Anything. I could not find one single topic that I am passionate about.

I make conservatives uncomfortable with my environment care, liberals with my abortion views, feminists with my complementarian attitude, anti feminists with my working woman views.

I have no clique. I am a freak.

So I blog.

You love me! You really, really love me!!!

Kyla awarded me the Rockin-Girl Blogger Award. I feel like making a lot of self-deprecating comments, but I will just say Thank you. It is really very sweet of you. I guess most of the blogs I read already received this award. I am awarding it to

HopIQ –She is a good friend and the one who encouraged me to start blogging. Also, she is the only one I know who actually read the whole of my Greek Travelogue: $ She rocks!

Bubandpie –I started reading her only a while back. I don’t know how many times she has got this award. But, she is a darn good writer and then of course, the fact that she and I know the meaning of the same words.

True Womanhood –I would give them the Rockin chicks award just for this in their title “in celebration of the thinking (emphasis mine) Christian woman”. Their discussions are always pertinent and gracious and everyone is free to disagree. They rock.

Ewokgirl: She is a new friend. I found her blog through one bold disagreeing statement she made in another blog. I was immediately interested and I have since been a reader.

Kyla, I would totally give you this award, if you hadn’t awarded me first. It was great to “meet” you online and realize that there were other women out there in the blogosphere who have found a happy medium between career and home.

Hasta La Vista, TV

Changes are afoot here at our home. We have put a moratorium on the television for one week. I use the term television loosely and it includes all media entertainment. Since Monday we have not turned the TV on, and boy! what a difference!! We had dinner at the table (first time by ourselves, I am pretty sure!), we looked at each other and talked as opposed to eyes glued to the screen. We were both relaxed after a day at work. We got time to exercise, AND the curtains which have been sitting for 3 months waiting to be put up were finally up.

Truly, my cup runneth over.

I should probably have listened to hubby when he suggested before we got married that we should never buy a TV in our house. Neither of us had one before. But then I was by myself for 7 months after we got married, and I could not at that point stomach the idea of not having a TV. It seemed a little unnatural to me. I wanted some sounds about the house. Also I had all these gift cards to Best Buy from the wedding that I felt I had to spend.

We are seriously thinking about extending the moratorium to something more permanent. Like TV only for weekends or something. Both of us are really enjoying this TV free week. We get to read more, sleep earlier and do more productive things.

Try it, if you are up to it. It makes a big difference!!

Signs of Times

ETA: This is a verbatim example I found in one of those myspace like thingies. I did not make it up. And although I know it is used for texting, that is no excuse for inflicting it on the general public by posting on public forums.

"bUdDy (I changed the name)!!! De sweetest guy i've eva met on dis planet !!! Hs been wid me..as ma bst frnd n ma bro..thruout all ma bad n gud times !!!
He's dis guy who's alwayz busy wid sumthn or de othr tht he neva hs tym 2 cum online....bt thn weneva i'm in trouble he's thr rt beside me 2 console n brng me bck 2 normal....luv ya loaadddss !!! He's 1 of de vry few ppl wid whom i cn b maslf n trust ma life wid....i tlk wid him like i'm sum lil kid...bt he sez it's cute...he he !!! I still remembr...callin u n cryin ovr de ph @ midnyt....especially on day i rote ma acc. xam.....u were de only 1 2 whom i cud opn up sooo mch......i really dnt knw hw 2 thnk u 4 all dis."

Is the fact that the above paragraph annoys me no end because of it's blatant mutilation of the beautiful English language a sign that I am getting old?

This is one of my pet peeves. Do you have one and if so, what is that?

A journey of many hundred miles starts with... getting out of the driveway

Time : 4:40pm, Thursday
Me: I am home, and I am ready to go on va-ca-shiyon.
Hubs: I am ready...(appears in shirt and shorts and shoes)
After one look at my face,
Hubs: This outfit doesn't go well, right?
Me: (busy packing food stuff for the trip) Um, not so much. But if you are taking it off, please put it back in the suitcase

Scene: Outside our house getting ready to drive

I was sitting in the car, with the seat belt on looking up directions in my cellphone. We had packed enough stuff like we were going on a 3 week vacation instead of a 3 day one. In a rare show of foresight, I had packed dinner for us, snacks to eat on the way, fruits, water. Every time I got back to the car, I would think of something else and off I would go again. Finally after many to and fros we were settled in the car and as mentioned, I was looking at directions. Hubby came to the car, ready to take off.

Suddenly out of nowhere, he unhooks his seat belt and gets out.

Me: What is going on?
Hubs: Forgot something, be right back

And he comes back with this


Me: What's that for?
Hubs: I might need it if some wild animals attack.
I don't sound convinced, so hubs continues...
"I bought it a while back and I want to use it"
Me (giggling) : Not on me, I hope
Hubs: Very funny

We finally think we are ready to roll. And then:
Me: Are both the doors locked?
Hubs: Yeah, I think so, but let me make sure
Me: While you are there, see if the ac is off....and the faucets....and the range
Hubs: (Mumbles something incoherently)

He is back and turns the ignition...

Me (still trying to get directions): Sweetie, the trash can is sitting outside
Hubs: What's the problem with that?
Me: Burglars will know that we are out of town if they see it outside
Hubs: (Makes a face, but goes and puts it and comes back to the seat)
Me: Thanks sweets, but the garage light is on.
Hubs: That will go off automatically when we close the garage door
Me: Um, sweets, it's the tube light and the switch is inside the utility room. We have to manually put it off
Hubs: I need a vacation FROM this vacation.

This is an interesting picture...Tell me why!

For more pictures, go to Wordless Wednesday

Request

I hate going to the doctor. But God sure must have a sense of humor because in the past year I have had any number of doctor visits and at least 15 injections for various things. There is always something going on with me. If it is not one thing, then it's another. Life is never dull around here, that I can assure!

For almost one week I had been having trouble seeing out of my right eye. I kept waiting hoping that the blurriness would go away. Since it showed no signs of improvement, I finally took the plunge and saw a doctor. He did a lot of tests and all that, the details of which I will spare you all. The results show that I have a toxo infection in my right eye which is causing all this blur and haze. I can hardly see anything if I close my left eye. The doctor put me on an double strength antibiotic for 2 months and I have a follow up appointment in a week. And to top it all, I am having a busy time at work, especially since I had to take 1.5 days off. I have deadlines to meet, reports to finish etc which means I do have to spend time in front of the computer.

Since only one eye is working, my poor left eye is working overtime to compensate which causes a strain for me and gives me headaches if I spend too much time working. Doctor says it okay if I do my regular work, but I decided I am going to cut down. I am going to be on a blog reading and writing sabbatical for one week. I cannot prevent certain amount of computer usage-but I am taking frequent breaks and manage with the least I can get away with.

I am hoping that it would get better by the time I have my follow up appointment. Else, the doctor said he would need to put me on steroids. I have no medical knowledge to boast of, but steroids conjure up a negative image for me. And I would rather be not on them.

There is growth in pain. So much I learned in the past year. But the lessons are not easily learned. I am irritable because I cannot do the things I usually do with the same efficiency and productivity. I have to drive slower (peripheral vision), cut down reading. These things are not sitting well with me. I need a lot of grace this week.

So, this is my request. I know this is not a big deal in the bigger scheme of things-there are people suffering from devastating illnesses- But if you are a praying person, would you please remember me? I would truly appreciate your prayers for His will to be done.

Sunset, boat and the sea

Oh Lord, your sea is so big and our boat is so small

The balancing act

I was thinking for a while about writing something along the lines of encouraging fellow working women. I do love my job and home, but sometimes it is like walking on a trapeze trying to balance everything. And I do not even have children. I am not sure what I would do once we have a family, maybe I will become a SAHM. I do not know that now.

Anyway, the point is at this season of my life I am doing both and there are days when I have struggled to keep it all together. After coming from work, I would look into the fridge and spend 15 minutes figuring out what to make. And that saps up most of my energy. I cannot stomach the idea of having frozen, ready to eat store bought food at the end of a work day. I have to have a traditional Indian meal.

And let me tell you dear friends, that is no joke. It takes quite a bit of preparation and the cleaning up after that is not pretty. Recently, I developed a wheat allergy and so I can only have rice/corn products. That has added to the challenge of cooking quite a bit. Hubby likes to have wheat included in the menu once in a while and I end up cooking several different things a day. And all this cooking and cleaning makes me too exhausted to do anything else.

All this to give you a background. I for one, am a Christian who do not believe that all women who have a career are apostate sinners and pro-abortion feminists.

Now to answer the question. How to manage both? Yesterday I came across this post by Shalee. She has done a great job laying out some pertinent guidelines. I encourage y'all to go and read it. Since she has touched on all the aspects I could think of, I thought I would just add a few practical things that I do to keep me on track.

• I now have a two week menu list which I prepare during lunch hour at work. For me, it is a great help since I can save the 15 minute staring into the fridge. This helps me to include a balanced diet for both of us without making the same things day after day. Also, this way I do not have to find out at the last minute that I am out of something.
• And then we eat out 3 times a week :D
• I get groceries done on a weekday on my way back from work
• The night we eat out is usually not dine out but take home. Those days I get caught up with cleaning since there is no kitchen to clean. It is one of my failings/good points depending on the way you look at it. Whatever else is not clean, a dirty kitchen depresses me no end. So I make sure that is clean at the end of the night.
• I read in all these blogs about everyone doing laundry daily or every other day. I only do it on Saturday. That works fine for us. And once the clothes are done, I dump all the dry clothes into our bed. That way I can make sure that all the clothes are folded and put away before we sleep. Otherwise, we might start wearing from the laundry basket itself!
• My husband is the official veggie cutter in the family. Since hubby is a vegetarian, we do a lot of veggie cutting in the house. He does such a good job that I do not interfere with it. We get caught up with each others day during this time and we love this time together.
• In a new effort to be efficient, I am going to try something different for one week. Since I already know what I am going to cook for the week, I am planning on cutting all the required veggies at one shot during the weekend (when we are watching TV or something). That way my weekday workload will be drastically reduced.
• If for some reason I have not gotten caught up with the cleaning, we hire someone to do the entire cleaning of the house. It is totally worth it for us. And it is not all that often we do that.
  

Every family situation is different and none of this might work for any of you. I just wanted to share some things that has helped me.

I have still not achieved perfection. And I have no hopes of ever doing that. And that is okay.

100 things about me

Okay, don't hate me but I did not have too much trouble finding 100 things to write about. I had to actually stop myself at 100. Not because I wanted to obey the rules as such, but because I find it hard to believe anyone will even want to read to 100 let alone more. I have to warn you that there is nothing very interesting in the list.

So here it is.

1. I am a sinner saved by grace
2. I was born in a picturesque coastal town in India- A place where people go for honeymoons
3. I am the youngest of 3 siblings
4. Both my parents had careers up until a few months ago when they finally retired
5. I was always a sick child
6. Yet, I never wished that my mom would stay home and take care of me instead of having a career
7. I am glad I did not as she was very, very successful professionally
8. She is one of two women in India who was awarded her position at that time
9. I grew up with a lot of extended family close to us. So I am close to most of my cousins.
10. I came to US four years ago
11. I still have an accent
12. I stopped being sick after coming here-pretty much
13. English is not my mother tongue
14. But I bet I can beat most of you at word games. (that is arrogance for you!!!)
    
15. Without the luck factor of course
16. As a Christian, I guess I should not use the word luck
17. But I do
18. In my dark moments, I feel I am unlucky
19. But all the time I KNOW I am very blessed
20. Math is my favorite subject in the whole world
21. I invented a method for binary addition when I was in the 10^th grade and shared it with my teacher and friends
22. My teacher was too scared to use as she feared it won’t work in all scenarios
23. It does, but I can’t remember what the method is now.
24. I hate biology
25. The sight of blood makes me faint
26. I am a coward when it comes to needles
27. I was bitten by a dog when I was 10
28. I had to take 6 injections
29. I was scared of dogs since then-until I got Pappu
30. I still miss him
31. I have a BS in Civil Engineering and an MS in Environmental Engineering
32. I know to design a dam and mix concrete
33. I can bake cookies as well
34. They are not mutually exclusive
35. I lived in the same house for 23 years in India
36. After coming here, I lived in 5 houses in 4 years
37. I did not have a car for almost three years I was here
38. I walked 4 miles to and from school during summer
39. Sometimes even in snow during winter
40. Two years of grad school were the hardest years in my life so far
41. Not because I had to walk
42. But it was a time of personal growth
43. The first year my roommates were horrible
44. Second year was better in the beginning and end
45. I have taken one room mate to court (long story)
46. I have always wondered since if I could have done anything different
47. I was always fiercely independent
48. It was my dream to do grad school in US. Big dream for an average middle-class Indian
49. I was also determined not to trench on my parents savings for that
50. By the grace of God, I never had to.
51. I was on a scholarship and worked two jobs to support myself initially
52. My advisor once told me in anger that I was not fit to be in grad school
53. I graduated and published two papers in international journals
54. I have learned not to let someone’s negative opinion become the truth for me
55. I once fell down on ice while running for the bus to take me to school and injured myself bad
56. My MS is literally the result of blood, sweat and tears
57. I want to learn to fly a plane
58. I have done skydiving and bungee jumping
59. I dislike roller coasters
60. I have done white water rafting in icy cold water
61. I don’t wear a watch
62. Or makeup or jewelry
63. Most of the time
64. I taught for two years while at school
65. I love to teach
66. One of my students wrote me a letter of appreciation and baked me cookies
67. It meant the world to me
68. Another student had a crush on me
69. My best friend from school (US) is a guy
70. He is the best friend anyone could ask for
71. We still keep in touch and not just on birthdays
72. I could never get along with boys when I was a kid
73. I guess I was too much like them
74. I love women who think
75. Most of the time I would rather talk about predestination or some such topic that the color of the bedroom curtains.
76. I maintain a list of things I want to do before I die
77. I also maintain a list of my favorite memories so that it doesn’t slip away
78. I trust my husband implicitly
79. I always wanted four children and had their names picked out when I was 11
80. I love to hug
81. I could not imagine marrying someone less smart than me
82. My husband is way smarter than me
83. Even though I might be better at Math
84. I sleep during movies
85. I have no talent to sew/craft etc
86. I have a fear of drowning
87. I was scared of the beach as a kid
88. I was kind of a loner in school
89. Lack of sunshine makes me depressed
90. I want to travel all over the world
91. Hubby and I never went for a honeymoon
92. After nearly two years of marriage the thought still gives me a pang
93. I am pretty bad at sports. The only one I can play is badminton
94. I like my job
95. I love to help people
96. I love the smell of earth after the first rain
97. I read Little Women once every year when I was growing up
98. I finished reading ALL the books in one of my hometown libraries (It was not a big library J)
99. I am not very fond of sweet items-ice cream, chocolates, cakes etc.
100. The thing I wish for most in this life is to become a published writer.

Oh, and I am supposed to tag. I am not naming names, anyone reading this is welcome to do it. After you do, will you please come back and leave me a comment so that I can go and read yours as well?

Pretty please?