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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.