Are you a mother and do you eat healthy?

Being a stay at home mom (SAHM) myself, I have seen people assume that I have all the time in the world for me. Which is absolutely not true. It is rather the exact opposite of their assumption. Stay at home moms never have time for themselves. How many SAHMs you know spend time on themselves, indulge in activities far from their babies and homes, go for a walk when they please, spend hours at a mall...none right...

If this is the scenario for stuff that a SAHM does or does not do outside of the circle of the family, then it is often true even for the food she eats. I often do not cook especially for me, if A has a lunch meeting and does not need a lunch-pack, I raid the fridge looking for leftovers, just so that I don't cook for myself. I diligently make sure my son has eaten well, healthy food, fruits, juices, his multivitamin, his 'Chavanprash'....for him I am very careful.

But when it comes to me I am lazy or more accurately, I am exhausted by the time it comes to doing something for me.

But with all the health awakening going around us it is hard to ignore the facts that we mothers ignore for us. It is very important to take care of our health. We as mothers always give to our kids, husband, family etc. If we keep on giving and don't take anything for us, very soon we will have an empty well inside us. This could lead to a lot of health issues. If we are healthy, eat healthy, exercise, do activities outside the home like running in the park, playing a high energy sport, our children see us do it all and they will also take up that lifestyle.

It is necessary to take care of yourself before taking care of another; because if we are not healthy, how can we take care of another person?

I found this article on rediff, and it voices my concern about my health, my want of a healthier life for me.

Fulfilling multiple roles coupled with a lack of time leads young women to neglect their own diet and health. The fairer sex in particular is predisposed to developing iron deficiency anaemia, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Early lifestyle and dietary changes mentioned below can go a long way in preserving the working woman's health and protecting her from these preventable diseases:

• A balanced diet comprising of three main meals and two small snacks are good to keep up energy levels and metabolism through the day. The body needs a variety of essential nutrients. For a moderately active woman, six-seven servings of wholegrain cereals, five-six servings of vegetables and fruit, two servings of milk and three servings of lean proteins are ideal.

  Snacks can consist of nuts, high-fibre biscuits, chana and fibrous fruit.

• Women must consume iron-rich foods like green leafy vegetables, jaggery, eggs, organ meats, beans, lentils, figs and dates to compensate for loss of blood during menstruation or increased requirements during pregnancy. Vitamin C aids iron absorption, so plenty of citrus fruit like kiwi, strawberries, oranges and tomatoes must be included.
• Women are at a much higher risk of developing osteoporosis as compared to their male counterparts. Calcium is the most important mineral for healthy bones. High activity levels, weight-bearing exercises and consumption of calcium-rich foods like milk and its products, green leafy vegetables, beans and dry fruit can offer long term protection by improving bone density.
• Your diet must include plenty of omega 3 fatty acids found in fish, which help to keep cholesterol levels under control. Saturated fats often found in prepared or ready-to-eat foods should be kept to a minimum and trans fats should be completely avoided.
• Drinking at least 8-10 glasses of water daily prevents fatigue, headache and poor concentration. It flushes out toxins from the body and keeps the skin looking fresh.
• Women with sedentary jobs must get active. Joining evening salsa classes with a partner or simply taking a brisk walk or a refreshing swim four to five times a week for 30 minutes is enough to compensate for lack of movement at work.
• Most importantly, women must keep themselves updated on health issues

What is in your face cream?

Have you ever wondered what exactly is in your face cream, why do you prefer some cream over another? What is best for your skin type? etc etc...
I have these questions all the time...every cream/lotion brand seems to say the same thing...but we have to really try the brands to know which one suits us best...but how do we short list a few and then perhaps try...as trying brands can be expensive.

I stumbled upon this article at the RealAge site, and found it very useful in knowing what ingredients are really good for our skin and which are harmful.
This way when I am going to buy a cream/lotion the next time around, I will know what those ingredients mean and what I should buy and better still what I should not.



8 Ingredients Your Skin Will Love and 9 It Might Hate

Skin Winners
There are hundreds of skin care ingredients, including many with fancy names and expensive price tags. But there’s very little science to most of them, and no science to many of them. The list of ingredients that really can make a difference in the skin is small. These eight are examples of some that you can slather on with solid scientific backing:

* Vitamin A
* Vitamin C
* Vitamin B3 (niacin, or nicotinamide)
* Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
* Vitamin E
* Alpha-hydroxy acids
* Ubiquinone (small-molecule antioxidant)
* Ferulic acid (small-molecule antioxidant)


Possible Enemies
One of the tricks to using skin products is to not only find the ingredients that will help you but also avoid the ones that may damage or irritate your skin. Some ingredients you should think about avoiding:

• Imidazolidinyl urea and diazolidinyl urea: They’re used as preservatives to prevent bacterial growth (not fungi), but they’re also a relatively common cause of contact dermatitis.
• Fragrances: They may smell good, but these little molecules are responsible for allergic reactions in as much as 14% of the population. Most skin care products don’t really need added fragrances. But without the added fragrance, some -- like soap -- simply smell like the fats they are made from.
• Sodium lauryl sulfate: It’s commonly used in shampoos and cleaners to create suds and is relatively safe, but longer contact time can cause irritation and dryness because the detergent strips the skin of lipids.
• Mineral oil: Used as a base in some products, it may interfere with perspiration.
• Monoethanolamine (MEA) and triethanolamine (TEA): They’re common pH stabilizers, but when they’re exposed to air, they form potentially irritating substances called nitrosamines. And they have a tendency to clog pores and create blackheads.
• Toluene: This chemical solvent, which the EPA designates as hazardous waste, is found in fingernail polish. Toluene can cause headaches, eye irritation, and memory loss. Those won’t kill you, but if you don’t feel good, it’s worth experimenting to see if beauty products could be the source of your general blahness.
• Dimethylethanolamine (DMAE): This common “instant facelift” ingredient in wrinkle creams actually does its work by causing cell damage and swelling. Sure, the wrinkles will go away temporarily (they also will if you’re slapped in the face), but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

How to Give a Great Foot Massage

A good foot rub works for body and mind

* It elevates levels of oxytocin, which is the hormone that makes you feel warm and fuzzy (it’s the same hormone that a mother’s brain secretes when she’s breastfeeding).

* It causes arousal, as the foot contains its own set of sexual nerves.

* It stimulates lymphatic drainage. Massage helps drain waste material out of your system.


How to do it:

1. Clean up. To make your partner comfortable, clean his or her feet in a shallow basin of warm water or with a warm washcloth.

2. Use the right lotion. That’s one scented with lavender, which is perceived as an aphrodisiac by both men and women.

3. Do the whole foot. In reflexology (which shares some philosophical roots with acupuncture), the foot is seen as a metaphor for the body. The big toe is seen as the top of the head, and the sensitive area at the base of the toes represents the neck. The inner sole of the foot is the belly, while the outer sole is the spine. If an area is bothering your partner, spend some time there to get the good vibes flowing.

4. Work your way up. We store a lot of tension in our ankles, so move the foot around passively to help relax the joint. Start with the heel and push up toward the leg; pull the heel down and work it side to side. On the bottoms of the feet, use firm pressure with your thumbs (too light and it’ll be ticklish). Use slow, deep pressure, and work the whole foot, including between the toes. Pull each toe for 10 seconds. Rub the calves from the ankle toward the knee. Since the calves and feet are furthest from the heart and fighting gravity, it is challenging for them to move lymphatic waste along. You want to be moving in that direction anyway, and now you have an excuse.

Source: RealAge

Vijay Mallya buys Gandhi's belongings for $1.8 million

I just had to share this news with you all, I can't believe it for myself!!
Here's what happened: Yesterday while I was going through the news, I was pondering over the story about Mahatma Gandhi's belongings....somewhere in my mind....or to put it more accurately...my instinct told me that Vijay Mallya will buy it off. I don't know how I got this thought, but it lingered on throughout the day, and then I was thinking that somehow Vijay Mallya will be linked to this sale/auction.
And here it is in today's news that Vijay Mallya has bought all of them !!!

I am so surprised at what has happened !!!!

I knew I had a strong sixth strength, but this episode was too much for me to even believe !!

Here is the news for all to read.

New York: After a high drama, Mahatma Gandhi's five personal items, including the iconic round eye glasses, finally went under the hammer and were bought for 1.8 million US dollars by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya.

The auction went off despite the owner of Gandhi's prized memorabilia, James Otis, saying he has decided not to sell the items in the light of controversy.

The items which went under the hammer also included a pocket watch, a pair of sandals and a plate and bowl besides the rimmed glasses used by Mahatma Gandhi.

The prized memorabilia of the Father of Nation is expected to return to the country soon as the Antiquorum Auctioneers will handover the articles to Mallya within two weeks.

Earlier, speaking to reporters here, Otis said: "In the last few hours, I have decided, in the light of the controversy, not to sell Gandhi's personal items."

Otis' move came after intense negotiations between him and Indian diplomats at the Indian Consulate in New York.

Otis earlier in the day set new conditions including that India shift priorities from military spending to health care especially for the poor if he has to call off the auction.

source of news: Expressindia.com

Press Trust of India

Posted: Mar 05, 2009 at 0232 hrs IST

Test post

sorry this is not a regular post,
this is just a test blog or rather a confirmation post for technorati, for which I am trying to sign up...
apologies !!!

Technorati Profile

Not just another home...mind you..

This is the bachelor pad of my good friend Jeevan.
Jeevan is an Enginner from PICT and an MBA from SIBM. He currently lives in Bangalore, and has recently taken it upon himself to making his home his shrine.
When he told me this, I was not expecting what I saw in the photographs that he sent me. I was/am super impressed at his neatness, his choice of colours, his attention to detail.
Don't believe me? Well see for yourself...

This is the living room. Notice the colour coordinated sheet and cushion covers, the brown sofa and rug goes so well with the orange. It looks warm and inviting to me.





Here is his bedroom. It is neat, can you actually believe the guys' shelf being so nicely stacked? Mine starts off like that and ends up all topsy-turvey!! Well getting back to Jeevan's home. I loves the green pillow & the matching sheets. Also notice the nicely folded blanket at the foot of the bed.





Jeevan is a health conscious guy, so you get to see the gym-ball near the bed and the white board.
I wonder what he writes on the white board though .....


In this photo you get the full view of the shelf area. You can also see the curtain at the entrance to this room....green ain't it? How cool is that!!! And I could get used to man who can make a bed that nice ;) I meant the crease-less bed sheet ladies.....how naughty are we!!





The room with a view... That is somehow very common to anyone from the green (well it used to be) city of Pune. We (from Pune) need our greenery, and some view. Again the window curtain is also green. I just love this tinge of green, it's just so fresh and cool.


Way to go Jeevan boy!!!

For all those who want details of Jeevan, you know where to mail me. If there is enough demand, I will put up a photo of Jeevan, and let me warn you he is GOOD LOOKING!!
So all you married girls will have to send off husband darlings to office and then drool over my friend ;)

Steps to Finding Your Passion

I was browsing the Oprah website and came across this. I have been following Oprah closely for quite some time now, and am very impressed. I have discovered things about myself, that I never knew you can even think about !!

Some months back, I started working on myself. I started thinking about "what is my passion?"

I'll tell you why I started this quest.
Through a lot of reading, and numerous Oprah Shows later, I came to the understanding that if you do what you are passionate about, first of all the work becomes an amazing experience every day, you are self-driven to do it, you just love everything about it; and best part is that success comes and it comes BIG time !!

There are lots of examples around of people who followed their passion and are successful in their endeavour. There are people who love cooking and they followed it up and became super chefs, there are people who like acting and are great actors...you pick any field, famous or not famous and you will see examples of people who just followed their passion.

Being brought up in a typical middle-class family in India, I never was told about knowing your passion or taking up subjects that really interest you. I today can tell you all that I would have loved to study Architecture, Arts, Archeology or even loved to be a Doctor. I have missed out on all these things as an education, but I do follow each one on my own level. One decision A and I have made about our son (and future children) is that we will help him/them to discover their passion, and help in every way to follow it.

OK, now back to discovering my passion. I found this article by life coach Cheryl Rishardson, and was amazed at how simply she has explained the discovery process in easy steps. I have to share these with you all, so that it helps you in discovering your true passions.

Step One: Get Quiet.
For most people, the road to connecting with passion begins with practicing good self-care. This means slowing down, spending time with yourself, taking good care of your body and mind, nurturing your spirit, and engaging in activities that will move you out of your head and into your body. Once you become passionate about your self-care, you'll know you're on the right track.
This step is about, first of all appreciating yourself, realising your self-worth and discovering the little joys that are hidden in a manicure, or a new hair cut. Get to know your body, what creams you like, what scent puts you in what mood, etc. Don't you come across some people who know themselves so well that they can absolutely pick up the most accurate lipstick shade, give clear instructions to the hair stylist. These people are in-tune with themselves and know things about the self. The bottom line is that you have to love yourself first in order to do something that you love.

Step Two: Become Sensitive to Your Environment.
Once you're more connected to your feelings, you'll be ready to do a little exploring to discover the specific, personal things that best ignite your passions. Spend one week paying close attention to what excites you, touches you, inspires you to think in a whole new way, or even frustrates you. Watch for clues. Stories in newspapers, programs on television or conversations with friends may give you an indication of those things that will lead you to your passions

Often times, you maybe reading the same kind of blogs, news, like reading about the latest trend in furniture, the tiger conservation project in your country, the political scenario in the country or elsewhere etc. Gather such information about yourself, better still write it down.

Step Three: Answer a Series of Questions.

• What interest, passion or desire are you most afraid of admitting to yourself and others?
• What do you love about yourself?
• Who do you know that's doing something you'd like to do? Describe yourself doing it.
• How could you make the world a better place for yourself and others?
• What's stopping you from moving forward with exploring your passion?

Believe me the above questions are not simple. You have to dig DEEP to answer them truthfully. You could have some sobby moments, you could need to talk to your friend, your mom who ever you think can understand what you are trying to achieve, and someone who can help you find those dots to join in to make the picture perfect.

Step Four: Go on a Treasure Hunt.
Go on a treasure hunt in your own home. The things you hold onto can provide clues to your interests and passions.Do you make connections to old pictures? A special memento from a memory that means something to you? How does what you find make you feel about yourself and your dreams?

Oh this was fun for me, because I realised that I love collecting artifacts, quaint pieces and put them together. I often get compliments on the little collections I have in my home. I love small pottery items, older the better. I love books, reading them. I love stationary items, pens, pencils of every kind. I love cooking the 'not-everyday-stuff' like paav-bhaji, chole, biryani, cakes, etc. I love being 'in-touch' with friends, knowing what is going on at their end. I love giving advice!! ha ha ha I know a lot of times it may seem like an unwanted or un-solicited advice; but hey I'm working on it; coz I've now learnt that 'knowledge speaks and wisdom listens' !!
I have also realised that I love to write, and it brings back memories from school days when my teachers would love all my essays and biographies. I remember once I had done a biography of a road !! Gosh my imagination sure was running wild on the road !! But you know what, I love that about myself, being able to imagine, empathise, and actually put it down on paper. One big Muaaahhhh to myself !!

Step Five: Take a Risk.
Stop thinking about your passions and start doing something. Take a risk, and step out to try something new. By challenging your fear with action, you'll not only raise your self-esteem, you'll expand your comfort zone. If you're not sure of what to do, ask a trusted friend or partner for ideas. Remember that good luck happens when you're in action. And, if you try something new (even if you're not sure of the outcome), you may discover a passionate interest by accident!

I have yet to do something drastic or not-in-my-comfort-zone kind of activity. But will keep you all posted.

Happy discovery!!

Do let me know when you find your passion, and if you need any help along the way, just drop me a line at: neelum@gmail.com

Where is my green hill?

The above photo is of the construction work going on on my living-room side.

This used to be a lovely green hill.

This photo just shows 1/3rd of the ex-hill. It used to be so nice, full of birds of different kinds flying by so often. It was much cooler also, least of all or rather the most important feature of all was that the green hill was a soothing sight.

Now since the construction is ON, there is noise from 8 in the morning up to 5 or at times 6 in the evening, Monday- to Saturday!! There is just no escaping the noise.
It has become quite hot, and we can actually experience heat-waves when it has not rained for a couple of days.

They are building luxury homes here, individual units, each costing around 3.5 Million RM.
Talking of recession, I was thinking that maybe...just maybe they would halt or go slow on the construction, but No !! they seem to have enough funds to keep it going !! Actually I heard that this project was sold out in the first 3 months itself !!

One more thing I discovered about myself from this episode is that I love greenery, hills and peace & quiet. This has also strengthened my resolve for environment conservation.

Vegetable Pattice

I made some Vegetable Pattice:
What you basically need: puff-pastry sheets (frozen), vegetable filling of your choice, a little butter and you are ready to go.
What I did for the filling was: boiled some potatoes, and made a basic potato-bhaji (dry vegetable) with some boiled peas, and a bit of Chaat Masala to add that surprise element.
Then you have to cut squares out of the pastry sheets, and then mark the diagonal, then place the filling close to the diagonal, then close in the square, forming a triangle. You may need to brush a little water along the edges just to seal off the Pattice. (I did not as I wanted a closed and open kind of pattice).

Bake it in the oven at 200 C for 25-30 minutes (go according to the temperature stated on your frozen puff-pastry sheet box). You may want to brush some butter on to the pattice before you set them in the oven. I did not do this as I was trying to not add more calories!!
But my pattice were quite nice on top, crisp, crunchy, actually just nice.

Here are some pictures to make you drool ;)

Finally writing in

Just thought i would write a list of things that i have been upto while i havent been writing:
1. reading the blogs regularly - must say just love all the stuff Neelum writes about - i want to so meet up - hopefully it will be soon... and yes those paper clips are gorgeous.
2. taking driving lessons - the pass rate in London is the lowest in the country - so trying to get as many lessons before the test day.
3. managed to take on a part-time job - i just got a payslip in the mail - after three years it felt really nice to find something else other than bills in the mail - and ofcourse promptly spent some of my earnings on some interesting new toys for Mihir.
4. trying to play badminton - i must say i am finding it harder to get into the swing of things - have been battling stiff muscles - and well participated in the local badminton tournament and lost (so was disappointed in myself - not practising enough and zero fitness levels can only mean one thing).
5. had a long vacation in India - seven weeks - attended two weddings - that was pretty special - so now trying to shift all those extra kilos off my waist.
6. Trying to sort out various child care options - like baby sitters, nursery, friends, and hopefully i will manage to sort it all out.
Well it feels good to finally write in - the weather is getting better and i have finally got a well deserved night-in with Shrirang out to participate in a quiz and Mihir in his bed and work out of the way. Now i am just going to sip on some refreshing cool water and read a magazine and have an early night. And hope to write in more regularly now that i have got some elements of daily routine sorted out.

Some old promised stuff

I had told you about our past Sunday when we were mall hopping etc etc.
Well to begin with we parked at Tesco, then hopped into The Curve and then to Ikea and back to Tesco. All are located in Mutiara Damansara and are linked so one is not zipping in and out, it's more like gliding from one to the other !!

Here is what we did:
Tesco 1: only parked the car, then went into The Curve.
The Curve: we checked out Daiso (I have written about this already, click here to read it again). At Daiso Aadu picked up a very cute red bucket, he wants to fill it with sand !!
After Daiso we went into the Yamaha Music Store to get some Guitar string for A's guitar (funny thing is we could not remember if it was the second string from top or from the bottom!!) so we did not buy any !!

Ikea: first stop was the restaurant, where we ate, drank, and rested our tired feet. Then we were off to the Children's Section, where the little brat that is my son, picked up a sheep/dog (soft toy), and a shovel. A picked up some white board markers for Aadu's board. Someone has to help me out on this one, my son always forgets to cap the pens, hence within a week we are left with dry markers..
Then it was off to some wandering in the show-area, where Aadu admired the kitchens, living rooms, some kiddy furniture, and let out exclamations like 'wow'..'so cool na' etc. I was pretty amazed at how he liked and soaked in the designs and I was more amazed at his taste. I predict here and now that my son is going to have one amazing house.
We then cut short the route to enter the 'market-place'. Glanced around, and I remember picking up an ice cream scooper but it was not there in the cart by the time we were at the check-out counter. Oh yes below is the picture of my the 18-piece dinner set I picked up. I love the blue colour ...




Then we re-traced our steps to The Curve to get back to Tesco. On the way Aadu found these battery operated animal rides, so we enjoyed ourselves on this Elephant-cum-dog ride.



Then I saw some stuff put out by Metrojaya, so stopped to check it out, and ended up buying two night dresses, what I liked about them (besides the price ;)) was the soft hosiery-cotton material and amazing softness. Both pieces were very well priced at 20 and 24 Ringgit.

Tesco 2: this was majorly grocery-shopping, so our cart was full of vegetables and fruits. I also picked up some 'potato bread' this time, as I have always seen locals buy this hot off the shelf. I must say when we came home and tried it...I was amazed at how yummm it was..it was very-slightly sweet, and had the texture of a 'paav' from back in India.

At last

I have been planning to put up some art-work, and a few picture frames for more than 3 weeks, or shall we say weekends..
Well today I finally got A to get going and help put them all up.
Here is proof:

This is my bathroom mirror, I stuck some jelly-stars on it to just spice up the white and bland canvas.




Here is a close up of the same mirror



This was something we had bought in Singapore from Ikea, and had not put this up in this house yet. I put this in the master bedroom, facing the bed...so before I doze off and when I wake up I can see this picture with the cool blue colours.



This is another corner of the master bedroom, The big one with three photographs was clicked at a professional photo studio, again in SG, and we had not put it up yet. The two picture on the adjacent wall are kind of motivational (more of that later in another post). The two smaller ones are of my in-laws on the left and my family on the right.



This art work is actually a Warli-painting done by my Mom, I love the green, red and the white figures on it. This I put up in the guest room. This piece we placed according to the center of the bed, we could not go by the position of the lamp because the lamp's position defies all logic. Below the lamp, you notice a brown frame like thing....that is a long mirror (not ours) so we have not touched it.



Finally this one is the Living room, this is the dining area.



Now that the photos, and art-work is up on the walls, I have realised that I don't like bare walls. Some personal artifacts do warm up the place and make it really feel like home :)

I have been to many expat homes and was often appalled by the bare walls, their reason being that they did not want to have nails on the walls and spoil the house...the landlord may create a scene while checking out.
My reason for bare walls (in this house) till now was laziness.

Hey but I did not put a single nail through any of the walls, I used the wall hooks by 3M, and also a new product called 'Picture Hanging Strips'. This is an amazing product, and what it basically is that it has pairs of strips, that are coated on one side by a plastic-Velcro and on the other side by the adhesive. So when you stick one strip to the wall, and the other strip matching the position onto the frame, you later just Velcro the two strips together. And BINGO !! you have frames on the wall minus the nails.

random thoughts

something got me thinking...some great movies that I see with Aadu are all about father & son; the mother is often 'just another' character. The movies in point are 'The Lion King', 'Finding Nemo', 'Madagaskar'.
They focus on the father-son bond, the way their relationship matures, seasons, and finally they come up as a winning team !! All very fantastic, but my point is 'what about the mother?'
In Finding Nemo, the mother dies when Nemo was just an egg, so fine there is no scope for a mom-figure. But in the other two, it is too obvious that it is a father-son movie.
I have no issues that they are so; I am just concerned that they happen to be my son's favorite movies; and do not wish him to have an impression that father-son only matters. Well I may be going a bit too far with that...but hey .....these are random thoughts !!

I was reading to Aadu one of his 'I wonder why' series books about Mothers & babies, and found some very interesting stuff there. Here are some for you:

• Best mother: A baby Gorilla has one of the best mums, the mother may look frightening to us, but she is loving and gentle to her baby. She grooms her baby and feeds it for upto three years and protects & helps it for longer still.
• Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Gibbons & Orang Utans all make good moms.
• Tree Shrews are part-time moms. They leave their babies in the nest, only popping in to feed them every other day.
• A baby Elephant has lots of aunts: that's because Elephants love in large family groups of up to 50 animals. In fact a new calf has plenty of aunts, grannies, sisters and cousins too.
• When a Hippo mother goes off to feed, she leaves her calf with a baby sitter !!
• A mother giant Panda gives her cub so much love and attention that she can only cope with one at a time. By looking after her cub for a year or more, she is helping to make sure that her baby survives.
• If a hungry hunter threatens a Plover's nest, the mother pretends to be wounded. She flaps a wing as if it were broken, and flutters weakly along the ground moving away from the nest. She wants the enemy to think that she is injured and would be easy to capture. That way the enemy will go after her and not her babies.
• The badger is known for the cleanest nest that is provides to its babies. The parents regularly line their burrows with fresh dried grass & leaves. They even dig special holes well away from the burrow, which the entire family uses as toilets !!
• One more about Elephants: when a baby Elephant is being naughty, it's mother whacks it with her trunk !!

I feel I am becoming a Panda !!!
Which Animal Mom do you most identify with? Send me your answers....

Paper clips

This Sunday (I know I have to do a write up about the entire day and the mall-hopping) we went to 'The Curve'; and specifically to the 'Daiso' store located on the 2nd floor. First of all let me just tell you that I like this mall, because it is spacious, not too crowded, has plenty of seating to plonk onto when one is tired from all the window gazing.
Well now back to Daiso, the store is a 5 RM store; meaning that all products are priced the same at 5 RM. The Daiso stores in Singapore have a flat rate of 2 SGD; which means that the Malaysian store-products turn out to be slightly expensive than the Singapore ones.
The store is also much smaller compared to the Daiso in IMM Mall @ Jurong in SG. Product wise also SG stock is more.
But none the less, Daiso is Daiso...I enjoyed myself in the store. It is stocked with amazing goodies, stationary, car-stuff, gardening, photo frames, tools, cleaning tools, brushes, sponges, cleaning liquids, laundry bags for every kind of clothing imaginable, hangers, beauty products, kitchen ware, crockery, plates, neck ties, belts, etc. etc.
As you may know I have a fetish for stationary, and can not leave a stationary store without buying something. So the same thing happened at Daiso, where I saw these amazing paper clips, more like small wooden clasps or clamps or pegs, like the one we use for holding the laundry in place when we put it out to dry.
These are made of wood, and have cute animal faces on the front side. I loved them immediately, and had to buy them. I am going to use it to clamp together some sheets of paper. I love them...I love them.....

Our Saturday

(Aadu at 'our-spot' at the Lake Gardens)



Plan for this weekend was to do the outings on Saturday and then chill at home on Sunday. But we did the exact opposite !!
On Saturday, we did our usual ritualistic visit to the lake gardens, where Aadu and Papa had a game of cricket (now wait...they tried to would be more apt) ...Aadu got some pearls of cricket-wisdom from his dad. I plonked myself on the mat and drove my hands down the bag and fished out my neatly packed bottle of nail-polish-remover and cotton squares !!! Amol was so shocked when he saw this...he was like 'did u come here to do THISSS?' well 'yes' I said and continued to rub my nails ;)
I also had my February issue of O Magazine, and just when I was thinking of getting it out, the grass-cutters decided to make it more noisier for us !! Can you imagine, chopping off grass with those noisy chopper on a Saturday morning when there are a lot of families at the lake gardens to relax, play and chill??? It drove me MAD. We decided to go to take our butts to another green spot, but decided against it and just went to the car and drove off to Amol's office, he had to pick up his laptop, and some other stuff.
While at his office, I noticed that his cabin looked pretty shabby, so the "good girl" in me voiced herself, by offering to straighten-up his work place !! He obviously was overjoyed with the God-sent offer and accepted at once. I got to work, threw off some very old magazines, calendars etc and stacked things in 3 categories. Then explained to him what the stacks were (Don't want him calling me on Monday morning..'where the hell did you keep xyz?') !!
After office, it was time to drop off our Singapore bus/train cards etc at Anand's place in Taman Desa. Aadu and I stayed in the car coz the little one decided to take a nap.
Back home, very hungry, cooked some palak-daal and rice and sat back and saw a couple of episodes from Monk's second season.
We did not yet again put up the photos on the walls !!
I was pestering the two A's to go to Ikea, but they did not budge !!
So Sunday had a lot of carry-over activities.
All of our Sunday in the next post with photos !! Coming up by evening....

online stores for Bento goodies

Taking my Bento fascination further, I looked around for online stores that sell Bento products.
Some of them are:

http://www.japancentre.com

http://www.jbox.com

From all the blogs that I read about Bento, one store being mentioned throughout is 'Daiso'. It is a Japanese company, and they have stores in lot of countries, the link below shows the countries where they are present and once you click on the country, it gives you information about the store address in that country.

http://www.daiso-sangyo.co.jp/english/storeinfo/storeinfo03.html

I found another interesting blog, this lady has taken the pains to explaining all the equipment, why it is needed, what you can do with it etc. Do visit it.

http://www.cookingcute.com/bento_equipment.htm

Then there is always the good old Ebay, for purchasing any Bento product/equipment.

www.ebay.com

Finally Aaditya's blog !!

As promised the much talked about and much awaited blog is here.
The title: 'Fruit of my labour'

The link:http://aaditya-my-son.blogspot.com/

Please do visit it. It is just the basic blog, and I have still to add any features. I will do that eventually.

I will write a post of the relevant day in the past (remember this blog is about Aaditya's journey through his Open Heart Surgery); and also do a parallel post about his progress on the present date.
Sounds cool?

Do let me know and also tell me all your suggestions. I am Listening !!

Oh what a day and what a night.....

Yesterday the 14th of Feb

While most people were celebrating V-day, we three were heading to Pantai Medical Center just to say Hi to Aaditya's doc, and have a general check up. It was a good hour and half before our turn came, and even though we had a mental list of what we had to discuss with the doc, we ended up missing out 2 points !!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
OK the good news is that all's well with Aadi and the doc told us not to fuss about his weight and instruction to be given to school as it might lead to a situation where the teachers get too careful with Aadi and restrict his play etc. Now that his 6-month total recovery period has passed, he is as fit as any other kid his age; and has no restriction what so ever now. We agreed with the doc on this account and decided not to tell too caution the teachers again and again, we have spoken to the vice principal and he said we should speak to the class teachers on day-1 of school. So that will happen only in April.

After Pantai we went hunting for the '100 yens' store in PJ, we had to do a bit of looping around the same roads to locate it but once we got there it seemed to be an easy location to find. It is a very small shop compared to the 'Daiso' in SG, but it had some Bento stuff which I bought.

We came home around 2 PM, then lunched, watched some episodes of the 'Monk' series-1.

I put Amol with the task of finding a good layout for Aadi's blog, I din't like any of the blogspot themes and switching to wordpress is like being a traitor to google...which I am not going to do!!
So he searched the WWW for free templates, but we still din't find anything that we like!!

Late evening we watched 'Hidalgo' a movie that Amol wanted us to see together, he loved it when he saw it so wanted us to see too. We liked it a lot, and while the movie was on, I was trying to write a blog-post with very little progress.

I knew I had to do my daily post and also start my blog about Aaditya. But the laptop and Internet were both not on my side. I stayed up till 2:30 AM trying frantically to get my laptop to run FASSSTTT but it was just now budging, coz for two days it's been busy burning some DVDs!! poor thing must have been exhausted ;)
Amol's laptop is so slowwwwwwwwwwwww that you can start explorer, enter your website name, and go and have a stroll around the house, but still it will not load the site fully. It's not THAT bad, but yesterday it seemed to be on 'vacation'.

Anyways, Aaditya's blog will be up today for sure.

My new found fantasy...hobby to be

Bento - this is my new found wonderful world of creative food preparation and presentation.
Bento is a Japanese term, which roughly means a single-serving of multiple course meal. The Japanese have these special Bento-boxes, which are compartmentalized to hold each course of the meal.
Some photos to help you see.















I came across Bento while following some mom-blogs and they use the Bento concept to create wonderful, healthy, nutritious, beautifully presented lunch food.
Again some photographs to enthrall you.











Once I had seen and read about Bento, I was immediately hooked on, as it is an amazing way to present food to the little ones and it actually entices them to eat the food while in school or day care.

Making Bento requires some basic equipment, like cutters, rice-shapers, sushi rolling mat (we can use this to roll rice or even sheera or upma), there are tiny pans in all cute shapes for shaping those pancakes (think Dosa, Uttapa here), there are some egg-moulds, I think one has to put in a boiled egg inside the mould. The orange and green paper you see in the first photo is actually edible, and is used to make leaves/flowers, animal ears etc.

Once you have some basic equipment one can experiment and come up with ideas for lovely creations. I went to the '100 yens' store in SS2 section of PJ and got myself some. In Singapore you can get it at 'Daiso'. I hear there is a 'Daiso' at 'The Curve', but I have to check it out to confirm. Basically any store where you can get Japanese stuff. Isetan is also a good option.
These equipments are not at all expensive, and the good thing is that they can be used for a really long time so your cost is actually just one time.

The above photographs are from some of the Bento blogs that I follow. These are moms who take all the trouble to make these amazing meals for the kids, and most importantly never forget to photograph them. One needs creativity, enthusiasm, whimsical, patient to do Bento. But at the end its great fun.

Some blog links for you to look up more Bento:
allthingspurple.blogspot.com
babieslz.blogspot.com
montessorimum.com

Do visit them for endless inspiration!!
I've got mine, and with the newly acquired Bento equipment in hand, I am ready to try and brush up those creative skills of mine !!!

My to-do list

Today was a stick to to-do-list-day. I have to get these things done TODAY !!
Well it's not too big a list but still it is a 9-item to-do list.
1. Write to FIL for A's medicines
2. Pay water bill
3. Fix date for Astro installation
(It's got nothing to do with astrology !! the sole cable company here is called Astro)
4. Check payment transfer status
5. Find Camera USB cable and Sony phone charger
6. Work on list
(I am trying to help A with some of his mountain of work)
7. Email for Mangala
(Mangala is my maid, and she is a refugee here, and wants me to write to my friends in other countries to hire her through the UN Refugee office)
8. Email a friend who is supposed to come home for lunch/dinner tomorrow that we should postpone it coz it struck me only today that tomorrow is the 14th !!!
9. Call Aadu's Paediatric for tomorrow's appointment.
Tomorrow marks the 6-months to Aadu's OHS, so just want to show him to the Doc and get his opinion on his weight!! And most importantly instructions for school etc.

Out of all the above I have done all except two. Number 5 and 6.
I wasted my entire morning working through drawers and cupboards in every room, at the same time using this opportunity to tidy them as well. But those two things are no where to be seen !! The camera USB should be in Aadu's toy room that's the only room that has not gone under the radar; and the Sony Hand phone charger...well the phone first of all is 5 years old, what's worse is that it's not working !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The last time I must have used the charger was more than 4 years ago !! How am I expected to know where it is?? I know I keep my things in order and know where most of my stuff is, but 4 years of "Out of sight" has definitely made it "out of mind". And I have zero hopes of retrieving it.

Well it's now 4:45 PM and I have enough time to do Item no. 6.

When we went down to the management office to complete items 2 & 3, we carried some juice to sip by the poolside...good idea? NO VERY BAD IDEA !!
Here's what happened: While I was paying up and fixing up the date, Aadu decides to peel off the plastic from the straw that is attached to the juice tetra pack. In doing so he a small piece of that plastic gets stuck in his throat and we leave the office in a hurry, to the passage leading up to the pool, he is coughing, throwing up a bit...I am trying to ease his agony...and finally it is out, and Aadu manages a weak "Mamma I am OK".......
Then knowing the clean-bean that I am (well of sorts) I ask the man (he is the owner of the small shop that is near the office) to help me find some water, and he runs off to find me a bucket. OK Bucket in hand...but water? He says "water in bathroom madam"...well I may be living here but I don't know the bathroom near the management office!! So he offers to fetch it for me (Bless his soul). So now water in bucket and bucket in hand I get to cleaning the little mess as best as I can. That done, and suddenly Aadu spots his favourite Milo in the shop. So we go in and buy it along with a small (est) pack of Cheezels.
So now after the drama mom and son are relaxing on by the pool-side, and sipping on Milo etc. After some Milo has entered his system son is in a mood to pose and asks me to click, so we got some cute and funny shots !! Shall upload on facebook !!