Remember when I told you that I had some time and was doing stuff around the house that I have been putting off and also spending time in prayer. I am praying specially for all of you who requested prayers. Oh, and by the way, I have been praying for a friend of hubbys who had lost his job a month back and the Lord answered. He got a job yesterday. I am so happy.
And for the stuff around the house, I made a list of all the things I was supposed to get done. I learned my lesson from before and I no longer have things like Do Laundry and Wash Dishes on my list. Having such things on your list is surely the way to depression. Instead I have actual important stuff which I have been putting off for the last 3 months, but absolutely has to be done now.
1. Renew Drivers License
2. Do tire rotation and oil change and maybe some other mainntenance on car
3. I have to go to Walmart to do the tire rotation (it is free there) and while I am there, I have to buy a new trashcan, and develop some pictures for a family tree in our living room. I mean, the kids in the photo frame are cute and all, but considering they are not ours and are strangers, I think I should replace them with real family.
4. Deposit two rebate checks that has been sitting in my handbag (another junkyard) for the last one month. (I knew there was a reason I should not do rebate deals!)
5. Look for new homeowners insurance (Thank you State Farm for moving out of FL and leaving us in the lurch!)
6. Clean fridge.
It started out with these 6 things, but now my to-do list has ballooned to 24. Yikes! I will give you one chance to guess what will not get done by Wednesday. Let me see how well you know me. :)
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Junkyard Central
I have a question for you, my interpeeps.
HOW DOES TWO PEOPLE ACCUMULATE SO MUCH JUNK?
Sorry about that! I have found that these days I have a tendency to shout. There was nobody home yesterday evening to shout at, so I just mumbled all evening. First clean up was the car. It was junkyard central. Old receipts, bills, paper towels, empty plastic bottles, spoons, chewed up pieces of gum rolled up in paper (YUCK!!!), coupons, and all sorts of stuff. I deposited most of it into the kitchen counter. I have to sort thru all that soon. Then I came back inside the house and looked at my dining table. Stuff again. It totally baffles me. We don't even BUY a lot. I mean we don't even go to any stores unless we actually need something. Like food or toothpaste.
I have a theory. Before saying what the theory is, here is a little story from my childhood. We grew up in a state in India which is hot. Really, really hot. Hotter than FL. And we had no air conditioning. (Still don't). So whenever we came in from outside, a most precious commodity would be cold water from the fridge. We cannot EVER drink water straight from the tap in India. Even for cooking, all water is boiled. As for drinking water, we have a double filter and water is collected from that and then stored in the fridge. So basically, to drink cold water, someone has to catch water from the tap and store in the filter. Then the filtered water has to be collected from the filter tap and stored in bottles in the fridge. Being the nice, caring kids we were, we would always drink from the fridge, but never replace. So when poor Dad tries to get a drink, there would be nothing there. All three of us would deny being responsible for finishing the water. Dad, the ever patient one would then say: "It must be Devendran." Devendran in Hindu mythology is the head of gods and he is supposed to be a troublemaker.
So here is my theory - I am convinced that a third person secretly lives in our house. It creates all this mess.
Husband and I are innocent.
HOW DOES TWO PEOPLE ACCUMULATE SO MUCH JUNK?
Sorry about that! I have found that these days I have a tendency to shout. There was nobody home yesterday evening to shout at, so I just mumbled all evening. First clean up was the car. It was junkyard central. Old receipts, bills, paper towels, empty plastic bottles, spoons, chewed up pieces of gum rolled up in paper (YUCK!!!), coupons, and all sorts of stuff. I deposited most of it into the kitchen counter. I have to sort thru all that soon. Then I came back inside the house and looked at my dining table. Stuff again. It totally baffles me. We don't even BUY a lot. I mean we don't even go to any stores unless we actually need something. Like food or toothpaste.
I have a theory. Before saying what the theory is, here is a little story from my childhood. We grew up in a state in India which is hot. Really, really hot. Hotter than FL. And we had no air conditioning. (Still don't). So whenever we came in from outside, a most precious commodity would be cold water from the fridge. We cannot EVER drink water straight from the tap in India. Even for cooking, all water is boiled. As for drinking water, we have a double filter and water is collected from that and then stored in the fridge. So basically, to drink cold water, someone has to catch water from the tap and store in the filter. Then the filtered water has to be collected from the filter tap and stored in bottles in the fridge. Being the nice, caring kids we were, we would always drink from the fridge, but never replace. So when poor Dad tries to get a drink, there would be nothing there. All three of us would deny being responsible for finishing the water. Dad, the ever patient one would then say: "It must be Devendran." Devendran in Hindu mythology is the head of gods and he is supposed to be a troublemaker.
So here is my theory - I am convinced that a third person secretly lives in our house. It creates all this mess.
Husband and I are innocent.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Bahamas - Evening on the ship
Day 1
For my 28th birthday (which was a while ago), hubby booked a cruise for us to the Bahamas. It may be silly, but we don't celebrate any day including wedding anniversary as much as we celebrate our respective birthdays. I have no idea why. The cruise was great and it was a very different pace from our regular hyper-paced vacations. Since we had to do everything on a schedule, there was hardly any room for planning our own things. And for us, sometimes that is a good thing.
The cruise was a 2-day 3-night trip for Bahamas and we went with Royal Carribbean. It was my first real cruise. I had packed a suitcase the size of an airline carry-on bag and a hiking backpack. I was thinking that it was way too much for a 2 day trip. And then I saw other couples with two huge suitcases and then some more bags. And I immediately felt totally inadequate.
The food was great. There were three course dinners every night and while I enjoyed it very much, I could not repress an inward shudder at the amount of food that was possibly being wasted every day. We were assigned to the same table every night for dinner, and had the same head waiter and staff. There was Indian food the second and third night and I enjoyed it one day.
After dinner on Friday, there was a comedy show and we were planning to attend that. So after dinner, we loitered around the place and wasted time until 8 pm when the show was. Close to 8 pm, we started walking towards the auditorium for the show, and the people were coming out. Apparently, our cell phones did not adjust to the time and we were one hour late. So we missed the show.
I think hubby was actually happy since he could come back to the room and watch the Presidential debate. (Huh?) I took a book, got in the tub and almost went to sleep. It was so relaxing! I came out and went to sleep soon after.
For my 28th birthday (which was a while ago), hubby booked a cruise for us to the Bahamas. It may be silly, but we don't celebrate any day including wedding anniversary as much as we celebrate our respective birthdays. I have no idea why. The cruise was great and it was a very different pace from our regular hyper-paced vacations. Since we had to do everything on a schedule, there was hardly any room for planning our own things. And for us, sometimes that is a good thing.
The cruise was a 2-day 3-night trip for Bahamas and we went with Royal Carribbean. It was my first real cruise. I had packed a suitcase the size of an airline carry-on bag and a hiking backpack. I was thinking that it was way too much for a 2 day trip. And then I saw other couples with two huge suitcases and then some more bags. And I immediately felt totally inadequate.
Our room was one with a balcony and it was really beautiful. Here I am at the balcony of our room.
The food was great. There were three course dinners every night and while I enjoyed it very much, I could not repress an inward shudder at the amount of food that was possibly being wasted every day. We were assigned to the same table every night for dinner, and had the same head waiter and staff. There was Indian food the second and third night and I enjoyed it one day. R and I at dinner the first night.
After dinner on Friday, there was a comedy show and we were planning to attend that. So after dinner, we loitered around the place and wasted time until 8 pm when the show was. Close to 8 pm, we started walking towards the auditorium for the show, and the people were coming out. Apparently, our cell phones did not adjust to the time and we were one hour late. So we missed the show.I think hubby was actually happy since he could come back to the room and watch the Presidential debate. (Huh?) I took a book, got in the tub and almost went to sleep. It was so relaxing! I came out and went to sleep soon after.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Odds and Ends
Today was blog clean up day for me. I had some 10-15 posts sitting in drafts dating from 2007. Lots of times I have the ideas and phrases in my head which I want to develop into a post when I have the time, but as is often the case with me, I never get around to it. So, I deleted some of the drafts, put together into one draft rough ideas which I would some day develop into posts if that day ever comes. I have for a long time wanted to document travel memories for obvious reasons. There were many of those travel posts which never saw the light of the day because I wanted to include pictures. Pictures, unfortunately are not my strong point. Then there were those cringeworthy posts from back when. The writing is absolutely pompous and I am so glad I never posted it. I still kept it as a reminder to myself that my writing has improved in 2 years.
Anyway, not that there was any point to this post so far, I am hoping I would have some time over the next two weeks to do some things I have been putting off for a while. My energy levels are slowly returning and I hope that the sickness has gone to the land of no return. Along with doing things I have put off for a while, another thing I am planning to do is spend some blocks of time in prayer. I am inviting anyone who reads this blog to let me know in the comments if they have any specific request that you would want prayers for. If you are uncomfortable commenting, you can email me at annie.jaa@gmail.com
Pray without ceasing... 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Friday, February 20, 2009
Book Quote
A while ago I read the book Same kind of different as me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. I loved the book, albeit some um descriptions of heavenly visitations. I wasn't sure what to think about that. It is very easy to read and I loved the story. Here are a couple of quotes that I enjoyed from the book.
"I'm just messin with you. Even though I am seventy years old, I got a lot to learn too. I used to spend a lot of time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon' have no kind a' future. But I found out everybody's different-the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin' down the road God done set in front of us."
"The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin' in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless-just workin our way toward home."
Go read the book.
"I'm just messin with you. Even though I am seventy years old, I got a lot to learn too. I used to spend a lot of time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon' have no kind a' future. But I found out everybody's different-the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin' down the road God done set in front of us."
"The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin' in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless-just workin our way toward home."
Go read the book.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Valentines Day Weekend
So how are you all doing my dear interpeeps? I haven't been around much. The general sickness is getting better, and I am truly hoping it stays away. How was your Valentines Day weekend? Ours was terribly exciting and romantic. We flew first class to Hawaii for the weekend on an impulse trip.
If you believed that for one second, let me just say, welcome to my blog.
We did taxes all day long and madefaces (what is up with THIS expense?) eyes at each other all throughout. It is truly stuff warm fuzzies are made of. We had a LOT OF tax things to be done since hubby has a business and towards evening, I continued to do that while DH made his specialty Chinese Fried Rice (CFR). We are all about traditional gender roles in our family. Husband cooks and wife does the finance stuff. Wait, that is not traditional? Then we are all about flouting traditions in our household.
I kid, I kid. We don't care much about "gender roles" in our little family. It is about who can get the job done better, faster.
Anyway, CFR is a very time consuming and painstaking dish, so he makes it only sparingly. It has 9 vegetables, rice, 7 sauces and spices and it is GOOD. I remember he used to make it while we were in Ohio. I was in school at the time and hubby (not hubby then) was working. When he had to cook CFR, he would call me and ask me if I was busy. If I had any inkling he was planning to make it, I would run for the hills. Because, did I mention that 9 vegetables needed to be cut? Ok, so I was a bad, bad person.
Anyway, while I finished up the taxes, he made CFR. We bought some bubbly to go along with the nice dinner. The dining table was full of stuff and I had no energy to clean it. So, although it was a Saturday, we sat on the couch in our pajamas, watched Hell's kitchen on hulu and ate.
It was absolutely perfect. At this point, with my current energy level, I will take this over any Hawaii trip.
And the best thing? A hubby who would not only cook, but also (the most important part) clean up and put the dishes in the washer!
This is the CFR. I have to say it tastes much better than it looks.
If you believed that for one second, let me just say, welcome to my blog.
We did taxes all day long and made
I kid, I kid. We don't care much about "gender roles" in our little family. It is about who can get the job done better, faster.
Anyway, CFR is a very time consuming and painstaking dish, so he makes it only sparingly. It has 9 vegetables, rice, 7 sauces and spices and it is GOOD. I remember he used to make it while we were in Ohio. I was in school at the time and hubby (not hubby then) was working. When he had to cook CFR, he would call me and ask me if I was busy. If I had any inkling he was planning to make it, I would run for the hills. Because, did I mention that 9 vegetables needed to be cut? Ok, so I was a bad, bad person.
Anyway, while I finished up the taxes, he made CFR. We bought some bubbly to go along with the nice dinner. The dining table was full of stuff and I had no energy to clean it. So, although it was a Saturday, we sat on the couch in our pajamas, watched Hell's kitchen on hulu and ate.
It was absolutely perfect. At this point, with my current energy level, I will take this over any Hawaii trip.
And the best thing? A hubby who would not only cook, but also (the most important part) clean up and put the dishes in the washer!
This is the CFR. I have to say it tastes much better than it looks.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Tampa and Back
So, I am back.
It is good to be home. Even with the luxury mattress in the hotel that my company put me in, the insomnia didn't ease up. I slept a little better yesterday, and I am glad to be back with the dear husband. He missed me so bad that he wrote me a poem while I was away. It is 15 lines and quite cute.
The rental car was supposed to come and get me at 4:30 instead they came in at 5:45. I was upset since there was quite a storm that day and I wanted to be on the road before it got dark. That didn't happen obviously. Without my consent, they changed my rental location, which caused all the misunderstanding. I spoke slowly (I have a tendency to talk very fast) to the manager and let him know politely that I was disappointed with Enterprise and he apologized and gave me a free upgrade to a Prius. I patted myself on the back for not flying off the handle and getting a good deal. Prius means less gas, less money company has to pay and happier they are with yours truly. Well the self congratulation didn't last very long. The guy escorted me to a Prius and apparently, it is different than a regular car. I won't bore you with the features, but now I had to drive in the night, rain, fog, and wet roads to a place I was not familiar with, in a car I was not comfortable in. It was a great start. And I had yet to buy pjs for the night. Finally, when I started at 7 pm, my colleague called to say that we had to get some stuff from Kinkos and they close at 8 and if I would be there by then. Well, there was no chance of that and I told him that. Finally, he was supposed to come in at 10 and I said that we will meet at the airport and I started driving.
He called again later to say that his flight was delayed and he will come in at 10:30. He was also nice enough to tell me not to bother picking him up, but he will come in by himself since it was so late. I reached in front of Hyatt by 9 pm and spent until 9:45 going from street to street looking for their parking. I got lost and with all the one way streets, I was not even sure if I was in the way of the oncoming traffic. Somehow I ended up back at the hotel, requested valet parking, threw the keys to the guy, and checked in. I had had enough.
The fun thing was that it looked good that I drove up in a Prius for a Climate Change conference. Even though it is a rented one. By the way Prius is a good car once I got used to it, but don't buy it unless you care more about the climate than making a good car buying decision.
I didn't sleep well as I mentioned, but I had a full day ahead of me, and it went well. In the evening, there was a networking social and I pretended to be interested in everything and everybody and laughed at lame jokes and counted the time until I could go back to my room respectably. There was sushi and spring rolls and wine, champagne, and beer. My colleague and I and another lady we met went out for dinner and I had Paella. It is basically rice and a ton of seafood.
There was nothing good on tv when I came back to the room and so I tossed and turned and tried to sleep. Next morning we had sessions until noon and then I took my colleague to the airport and I left for home.
To drive home the point that I should probably not be giving any kind of advise to you all, I forgot to pack my toothbrush in the kit!!!
And on a totally unrelated note...
WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THIS COLD IN FLORIDA???
Okay, that shouting made me feel a little better.
It is good to be home. Even with the luxury mattress in the hotel that my company put me in, the insomnia didn't ease up. I slept a little better yesterday, and I am glad to be back with the dear husband. He missed me so bad that he wrote me a poem while I was away. It is 15 lines and quite cute.
The rental car was supposed to come and get me at 4:30 instead they came in at 5:45. I was upset since there was quite a storm that day and I wanted to be on the road before it got dark. That didn't happen obviously. Without my consent, they changed my rental location, which caused all the misunderstanding. I spoke slowly (I have a tendency to talk very fast) to the manager and let him know politely that I was disappointed with Enterprise and he apologized and gave me a free upgrade to a Prius. I patted myself on the back for not flying off the handle and getting a good deal. Prius means less gas, less money company has to pay and happier they are with yours truly. Well the self congratulation didn't last very long. The guy escorted me to a Prius and apparently, it is different than a regular car. I won't bore you with the features, but now I had to drive in the night, rain, fog, and wet roads to a place I was not familiar with, in a car I was not comfortable in. It was a great start. And I had yet to buy pjs for the night. Finally, when I started at 7 pm, my colleague called to say that we had to get some stuff from Kinkos and they close at 8 and if I would be there by then. Well, there was no chance of that and I told him that. Finally, he was supposed to come in at 10 and I said that we will meet at the airport and I started driving.
He called again later to say that his flight was delayed and he will come in at 10:30. He was also nice enough to tell me not to bother picking him up, but he will come in by himself since it was so late. I reached in front of Hyatt by 9 pm and spent until 9:45 going from street to street looking for their parking. I got lost and with all the one way streets, I was not even sure if I was in the way of the oncoming traffic. Somehow I ended up back at the hotel, requested valet parking, threw the keys to the guy, and checked in. I had had enough.
The fun thing was that it looked good that I drove up in a Prius for a Climate Change conference. Even though it is a rented one. By the way Prius is a good car once I got used to it, but don't buy it unless you care more about the climate than making a good car buying decision.
I didn't sleep well as I mentioned, but I had a full day ahead of me, and it went well. In the evening, there was a networking social and I pretended to be interested in everything and everybody and laughed at lame jokes and counted the time until I could go back to my room respectably. There was sushi and spring rolls and wine, champagne, and beer. My colleague and I and another lady we met went out for dinner and I had Paella. It is basically rice and a ton of seafood.
There was nothing good on tv when I came back to the room and so I tossed and turned and tried to sleep. Next morning we had sessions until noon and then I took my colleague to the airport and I left for home.
To drive home the point that I should probably not be giving any kind of advise to you all, I forgot to pack my toothbrush in the kit!!!
And on a totally unrelated note...
WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THIS COLD IN FLORIDA???
Okay, that shouting made me feel a little better.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Fried Brain
I am on my way to Tampa today evening for a work related thingie. This time I am going by myself and I am hoping I will be back in one piece on Wednesday. My brain has never been so fried as it has been in the past week.
Just in the last week,
1. I almost sent an email to a dear friend starting Dear Annie,
2. Almost deleted a long email from a friend becasue I didn't "recognize" the email address. She has had that email for the longest time.
3. Kept water for tea and completely forgot about it.
4. And to add insult upon injury, and after all my excellent trip organizing advice, I forgot to put in any night clothes for my trip today. I have to stop at Target to buy some jammies for the two nights. I am sincerely hoping I won't be looking for my car in the parking lot after that.
I think all the insomnia is catching up finally.
Just in the last week,
1. I almost sent an email to a dear friend starting Dear Annie,
2. Almost deleted a long email from a friend becasue I didn't "recognize" the email address. She has had that email for the longest time.
3. Kept water for tea and completely forgot about it.
4. And to add insult upon injury, and after all my excellent trip organizing advice, I forgot to put in any night clothes for my trip today. I have to stop at Target to buy some jammies for the two nights. I am sincerely hoping I won't be looking for my car in the parking lot after that.
I think all the insomnia is catching up finally.
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