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?